Kazuha Guide
Kaedehara Kazuha is an Anemo Sword user from Inazuma and was the first 5-star character released from Inazuma. Since his release, he’s quickly become one of the most popular characters in the game, and for good reason.
Kazuha is arguably the best 5-star support unit in the game – in fact, we rate him as SS-tier on our tier list. I say 5-star because characters like Bennett and Xingqiu are in a league of their own, but Kazuha is right behind them.
In this article, I’ll be going over everything you need to know about Kazuha, including his playstyle, best artifacts, weapons, teams, and more.
Active Talents
Normal Attack – Garyuu Bladework
Like most Anemo characters, Kazuha is mainly utilized as a support, and thus, his Normal Attack is not a huge priority. However, even though Kazuha is mainly a support, his Sub DPS is still good to invest in.
Leveling up this talent is mainly for increasing Kazuha’s plunging damage, which will be utilized in conjunction with his Elemental Skill.
Elemental Skill – Chihayaburu
Kazuha’s Elemental Skill is an amazing part of his kit. It also has flexibility by having a tap and hold variation. When this skill lifts you up in the air, you can then use a plunging attack which will deal Anemo damage. This is why leveling up Kazuha’s Normal Attack Talent can be good.
There are a lot of interactions you can use with this skill. Pulling in enemies is also very useful for grouping. This will make it easier to deal with many enemies.
Elemental Burst – Kazuha Slash
This skill is where a majority of Kazuha’s damage will come from. This skill with remain while Kazuha is off field and deal continuous Anemo damage. Like Venti, this Burst will also absorb an element and deal that damage as well.
Character Talent Priority
Here’s a quick talent priority for Kazuha.
Elemental Burst > Normal Attack = Elemental Skill
For the most part, talent levels on Kazuha are not a huge priority in your team. As with most Anemo characters, Elemental Mastery will be our suggestion for builds. Because of this, talent levels don’t contribute to a majority of Kazuha’s damage.
Talents can still be easily leveled up to 6, but further investment should be a low priority.
Character Best Combos
Double Swirling
If there is one combo you should know about for Kazuha, it’s Double Swirling. Double swirling refers to being able to swirl Kazuha’s Anemo damage with two different elements, providing buffs to multiple team members.
Electrocharged / Freeze
You are able to double swirl enemies that are Electrocharged / Frozen if they have multiple elements applied to them. Electrocharged enemies will have Hydro and Electro applied, while Frozen enemies can be Frozen with Hydro on them. Using Kazuha’s Hold Skill, you are able to swirl one element with the initial slash, and then swirl the other element with his plunging attack.
There are complicated mechanics at play when trying to double swirl, but you can always test out skill orders for yourself and see if certain combos work for your team. An easy way to check if you successfully double swirled will be to check your Kazuha stats. If you see two elemental damage bonuses, you have successfully double swirled.
Other Interactions
Kazuha can also double swirl other elements with certain character skill interactions. It won’t be limited to only Freeze and Electrocharged. For example, you can double swirl Pyro and Hydro with Kazuha’s skill after using Bennett’s Burst and Xingqiu’s skill.
Passive Talents
Ascension Stat
As you ascend Kazuha, he will gain Elemental Mastery.
1st Ascension
Soumon Swordsmanship: If Chihayaburu comes into contact with Hydro/Pyro/Cryo/Electro when cast, Chihayaburu will absorb that element and if Plunging Attack: Midare Ranzan is used before the effect expires, it will deal an additional 200% ATK of the absorbed elemental type as DMG. This will be considered Plunging Attack DMG.
Elemental Absorption may only occur once per use of Chihayaburu.
This passive provides Kazuha with some extra damage, but this also allows him to swirl with his plunging attack easily. This combined with the initial slash of Chihayaburu lets Kazuha double swirl quite nicely.
4th Ascension
Poetics of Fuubutsu: Upon triggering a Swirl reaction, Kaedehara Kazuha will grant teammates a 0.04% Elemental DMG Bonus to their corresponding Element for every point of Elemental Mastery he has for 8s. Bonuses for different elements obtained through this method can co-exist.
This is the key passive that makes Kazuha an amazing support. Swirling elements will provide your team with a nice buff. This is also the passive that lets you check if you double swirled successfully. By checking the Elemental DMG stats, you can see if you double swirled the right elements.
This is also another reason why we recommend Elemental Mastery builds for Kazuha. It’s an effective way to increase his DPS, and also empowers his support abilities.
Utility Passive
Cloud Strider: Decreases sprinting Stamina consumption for your own party members by 20%. Not stackable with Passive Talents that provide the exact same effects.
Constellations
For the most part, Kazuha constellations aren’t essential as he is mainly used as a support. Furthermore, C3 and C5 which grant talent levels don’t scale damage very well due to Kazuha running an Elemental Mastery build.
If you absolutely love Kazuha, however, C6 Kazuha can transform his kit into more of a Main DPS. Other than that, there is C2 which is definitely a stand out constellation. The others are all useful, but not necessarily high impact.
- C1: Medium Impact
- C2: High Impact
- C3: Low Impact
- C4: Medium Impact
- C5: Low Impact
- C6: High Impact
Constellation 1: Scarlet Hills
Decreases Chihayaburu’s CD by 10%.
Using Kazuha Slash resets the CD of Chihayaburu.
Constellation 2: Yamaarashi Tailwind
The Autumn Whirlwind field created by Kazuha Slash has the following effects:
- Increases Kaedehara Kazuha’s own Elemental Mastery by 200.
- Increases the Elemental Mastery of characters within the field by 200.
The Elemental Mastery-increasing effects of this Constellation do not stack.
Constellation 3: Maple Monogatari
Increases the Level of Chihayaburu by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Constellation 4: Oozora Genpou
When Kaedehara Kazuha’s Energy is lower than 45, he obtains the following effects:
- Pressing or Holding Chihayaburu regenerates 3 or 4 Energy for Kaedehara Kazuha, respectively.
- When gliding, Kaedehara Kazuha regenerates 2 Energy per second.
Constellation 5: Wisdom of Bansei
Increase the Level of Kazuha Slash by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Constellation 6: Crimson Momiji
After using Chihayaburu or Kazuha Slash, Kaedehara Kazuha gains an Anemo Infusion for 5s. Additionally, each point of Elemental Mastery will increase the DMG dealt by Kaedehara Kazuha’s Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack by 0.2%.
Playstyle
Since Kazuha is mainly a Support / Sub DPS, he doesn’t necessarily lean into a particular playstyle. His skills are very flashy and fun to use, and he can fit into a large variety of teams.
However, being that he is an Anemo support, he will mostly be used to amplify the elemental damage of other characters. If you’re the type of player that enjoys dealing physical damage (like Eula), or Geo damage (like Itto), or Anemo damage (say with Xiao), Kazuha won’t have as much appeal. However, those characters are edge cases, and for the majority of characters, Kazuha is a great support.
Artifacts
Viridescent Venerer
Viridescent Venerer, or VV for short, is the go to set for any Anemo character. Reducing Elemental RES is a huge DPS increase for other members on the team. Anemo characters are almost always included on a team because of this set.
This set makes Kazuha an even better support. Swirling the correct elements or double swirling will now result in reducing enemy resistance and increasing your team’s elemental damage.
Main Stats
As with most Anemo characters, Elemental Mastery is the go to stat to prioritize. This will be the easiest way to scale Kazuha’s damage, and it also synergizes with his passive talent buff.
- Circlet: Elemental Mastery
- Sands: Elemental Mastery / Energy Recharge
- Goblet: Elemental Mastery
The one exception for Elemental Mastery will be if you want to run an Energy Recharge Sands. This is to help you be able to use Kazuha’s Burst off cooldown. If you have great substats with Energy Recharge, you can use more Elemental Mastery, but that will depend on your own account.
Sub Stats
Here’s the order of sub stats to prioritize:
- Elemental Mastery
- Energy Recharge
- ATK%
- Crit Rate / Crit DMG
On Feather and Flower, you will want as much Elemental Mastery as you can get to scale Kazuha’s Swirl damage. On the other pieces, you will want to prioritize Energy Recharge. Once you hit a comfortable Energy Recharge, you can then look for pieces with ATK or Crit. ATK and Crit won’t scale Kazuha’s damage too much without heavy investment, but it’s still a bonus.
Energy Recharge: 150-200%
The Energy Recharge goal will be different for each team Kazuha is on, but a general ballpark is to be around 150-200% Energy Recharge. On teams with lots of particle generation, you can get away with lower, and on teams with low generation, you will want more.
Weapons
5-Star Weapons
For 5-star weapons, we mainly only recommend considering 2 weapons. There are many 5-star weapons with great base stats and sub stats, but these stats often don’t contribute as much to Kazuha’s damage as he will mainly scale off Elemental Mastery. The 4-star weapons are also very strong on Kazuha, making 5-star weapons not necessary for the most part.
Freedom-Sworn
This is Kazuha’s signature weapon, and it will be the best weapon for Kazuha. The sub stat is Elemental Mastery, which is perfect for Kazuha. Furthemore, the weapon is able to buff up your teammates damage, which is perfect for a Support / Sub DPS like Kazuha. Even still, this weapon is definitely a bit of a luxury.
Skyward Blade
This weapon is mainly a consideration if you want the Energy Recharge substat. If you can’t find a good Energy Recharge Sands, or your substats just aren’t good, you can always use this weapon to ease your Energy Recharge requirements. It won’t be the ideal weapon for Kazuha’s damage, but it’s still a fine option.
4-Star Weapons
Iron Sting
This is a craftable 4-star weapon that’s simply perfect for Kazuha. It doesn’t do anything fancy, but it has a useful ability, and an Elemental Master substat, which is all you really need. Since this weapon is so easy to obtain, there isn’t really any need to consider other weapons. There may be other weapons you can use that are more niche, but if you don’t know what to do, just use this weapon and know you’re picking a good one.
Teams
Kazuha is an extremely flexible unit. His support capabilities make him a strong inclusion on any team that deals elemental damage. Think of any Main DPS that deals elemental damage. Kazuha likely synergizes well with them.
Many strong teams reserve one character slot for an Anemo character for the VV shred and utility. Kazuha can easily be slotted into these teams.
There are plenty of team combinations that include Kazuha, it will be too long to list them all. If you’re just starting out, though, here is a powerful team that is very accessible.
Kazuha National
If Kazuha is your only 5-star character, this is a very powerful team that you can use. Kazuha will be able to swirl both Pyro and Hydro in this team. This will increase the damage of the team incredibly as you constantly proc reactions like Swirl and Vaporize.
Summary
Overall, Kazuha is one of the best support characters in the game. He can easily be slotted into many teams, and has a very satisfying kit to use.
Kazuha is a fan favorite character for a reason. He has the whole package. Amazing design, fun and stylish abilities, and is a very powerful character.
There are rumors that a rerun of Kazuha is coming soon in either 2.7 or 2.8, so make sure to plan your primogems if you want to wish for Kazuha.
