Raiden Shogun Guide
The Raiden Shogun is an Electro Polearm user with strong supporting capabilities with the ability to put out solid DPS, along with a lot of layers to her kit, so this guide’s main focus is to simplify that.
In this article, I’ll be going over everything you need to know about the Raiden Shogun, including her playstyle, best artifacts, weapons, teams, and more.
Active Talents
Normal Attack – Origin
Performs up to 5 consecutive spear strikes. Standard attack string with pretty animations. It is not recommended to level this whatsoever due to it having nearly no usage within rotations (except rarely proccing off field units such as XQ etc.) And the talent itself does not increase the Normal Attack DMG in your burst state.
Elemental Skill – Baleful Omen
Upon casting this skill, party members gain the Eye of Stormy Judgment, lasting for 25 seconds and initially doing an instance of Electro DMG with a high Electro gauge (strong Electro application).
While the skill is active, the eye will unleash a coordinated attack with a lower Electro gauge (weak Electro application) and standard ICD whenever your current character deals DMG.
In addition, characters who gain the Eye of Stormy Judgment will receive an elemental burst DMG increase based on each individual character’s burst cost. The higher the cost, the more the DMG% increase. The skill also has a 50/50 chance to produce a single Electro particle.
Elemental Burst – Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu
The ultimate source of Raiden’s strength and utility with underlying mechanics behind it to unpack. Upon casting, it does an initial slash of Electro DMG with a high scaling and puts you in a state that infuses your Normal Attacks with Electro with a duration of 7 seconds.
The Normal Attacks in this state are considered Burst Damage, which makes your Normal Attack talent levels/external Normal Attack DMG% buffs useless on her.
IMPORTANT: Performing attacks while in this state generates FLAT ENERGY for your entire team, not particles, meaning each individual character’s Energy Recharge is not taken into account. That being said, this mechanic is why Raiden can be regarded as a “universal battery” and effectively lowers Energy Recharge requirements for units that would normally need high ER (Xiangling, Xingqiu, etc). Note that she does NOT fix your Energy problems, which is a common misconception about her.
Chakra Desiderata: Additionally, her burst will do more damage depending on how many Resolve stacks she has when casting it. Resolve is gained when party members use their elemental bursts and the amount gained, once again correlates to the burst cost of each individual character casting it. TLDR; it is generally recommended to use all of your bursts before casting Raiden’s burst and the higher the cost the more stacks you gain.
Character Talent Priority
Here’s a quick talent priority for Raiden.
Elemental Burst > Elemental Skill >>> Normal Attack
Character Best Combos
Raiden’s most efficient and comfortable combo is 3 N3C + N1C ( 3 normal attacks + charge attack 3 times then normal attack once into a charge attack). This combo is very safe to execute as well as being easy to memorize.
I personally use the aforementioned combo and the 3 N3C + N2C variation due to muscle memory/comfort.
Keep in mind, it is very situational in teams with no survivability/healing and cases where you have to dodge + the type of content you are facing. The more you perform your combos, it is actually quite easy to create a mental clock of your burst duration to factor in how many attacks you can manage to get off in order to compensate for performing dashes/cancels.
That being said her combos are not needed and if you simply can’t execute them/don’t want to, just don’t. Her combos are simply to maximize her DMG in her burst state and she will still generate energy for your team as long as you are attacking.
Passive Talents
Ascension Stat
As you ascend Raiden Shogun, she will gain the Energy Recharge stat.
1st Ascension
Wishes Unnumbered: When nearby party members gain Elemental Orbs or Particles, Chakra Desiderata gains 2 Resolve stacks. This effect can occur once every 3 seconds.
4th Ascension
Enlightened One: Each 1% above 100% Energy Recharge that the Raiden Shogun possesses grants her:
– 0.6% greater Energy restoration from Musou Isshin
– 0.4% Electro DMG Bonus
This passive is an important part of Raiden’s synergy with the Energy Recharge stat. This passive is very potent due to the increased team energy restoration. However, it also makes her build paths quite tricky and team dependent.
While it is tempting to stack as much Energy Recharge on her as possible, ATK % and especially Crit, is still more valuable as an offensive stat. I will go more in depth in the artifacts section but unless you have Engulfing Lightning, you shouldn’t value ER over other stats and as always try to have a nice balance of everything.
Utility Passive
All-Preserver: Mora expended when ascending Swords and Polearms is decreased by 50%.
Constellations
While Raiden certainly has some good constellations early on, they by no means define her. She is exceptional at C0 and her best constellations are basically personal damage spikes. And her damage alone, while important, is NOT the defining aspect of her kit. With that out of the way, here are her constellations explained.
- C1: Low impact
- C2: High impact
- C3: Medium impact
- C4: Medium/Low impact
- C5: Low impact
- C6: Low impact
Constellation 1: Ominous Inscription
Chakra Desiderata will gather Resolve even faster. When Electro characters use their Elemental Bursts, the resolve gained is increased by 80%. When characters of other Elemental Types use their Elemental Bursts, the Resolve gained is increased by 20%.
Essentially allows you to reach max resolve stacks more easily. Slightly increases your DPS but not by a significant amount. A quality of life constellation for the most part.
Constellation 2: Steelbreaker
While using Musou no Hitotachi and in the Musou Isshin state applied by Secret art: Musou Shinsetsu, the Raiden Shogun’s attack ignores 60% of opponents’ DEF.
Without a doubt her best constellation. Straight up ignores a whopping 60% of enemy defense. At the very least, it’s about a 50% damage increase compared to C0. However, this constellation is by far NOT required for Raiden to be considered valuable on top of already being exceptional at C0.
If you want to clear slightly faster go for it, just keep in mind it is a constellation equivalent to multiple 5 star characters and the value of a weapon/new character is more than likely going to be higher for your account.
Constellation 3: Shinkage Bygones
Increases the Level of Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Very simple talent increase and strong overall.
Constellation 4: Pledge of Propriety
When the Musou Isshin state applies by Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu expires, all nearby party members (excluding the Raiden Shogun) gain 30% bonus ATK for 10 second.
This constellation is quite hard to value. In regards to rotations, Raiden is generally bursting at the end of your initial rotation, making it outright useless until you reach your 2nd rotation. Can be useful however, nothing game changing.
Constellation 5: Shogun’s Descent
Increases the level of Baleful Omen by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Talent upgrade to your elemental skill. USELESS (xiao voice)
Constellation 6: Wishbearer
While in the Musou Isshin state applied by Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu, attacks by the Raiden Shogun that are considered part of her Elemental Burst will decrease all nearby party members’ (but not including Raiden herself) Elemental Burst CD by 1s when they hit opponents. This effect can trigger once every 1s, and can trigger a total of 5 times during the state’s duration.
Another tricky constellation to value. The cooldown reduction barely lowers rotation times and for a C6 it doesn’t seem to be quite impactful for now. A very high constellation for quite the small quality of life change.
Playstyle
Raiden is a unique case where she provides a lot of support utility (energy generation, damage buff) at the same time functioning as a pseudo on-field DPS. Usually supporting units that take up a considerable amount of field time aren’t optimal, however, Raiden is different.
Despite her on field time being about 9-10 seconds, (factoring in animation) it is typically not so much of a DPS loss due to her raw DMG output on top of her innate buffing with Resolve. Regarding Raiden as a carry, most external buffs in the game don’t last that long either (vv/ttds/noblesse) so buffing her during her DMG window relatively lines up with rotations to the point where her field time is actually justified.
Artifacts
Emblem of Severed Fate
Usually characters have different artifact options depending on team roles/utility. This is NOT the case for the Raiden Shogun and the 4 piece Emblem of Severed Fate is her uncontested best in slot option. The set is tailor-made for her and gives her anything and everything she wants.
Main Stats
- Circlet: Crit rate/DMG
- Sands: Energy Recharge/ ATK %
- Goblet: Electro DMG/ ATK %
Regarding ATK% vs Electro DMG goblet: It is dependent on a lot of factors. Within teams, you generally want whichever one you lack more. For example, if you already have multiple external ATK buffs (Sara/ Bennett, etc.) you want to get Electro DMG and vice versa. On top of that, the Engulfing Lightning passive also gives you ATK%, making other sources of buffing more valuable. If you’re not sure, just pick whichever ones have better substat distribution or if you want to be exact, use the Genshin artifact optimizer.
Regarding Energy Recharge vs ATK % sands: Mostly substat dependent. Generally you want an Energy Recharge sands with a non ER weapon. With an ER weapon, you can opt to go to an ATK sands, provided you have sufficient ER from your substats. Also since an ATK goblet is viable, you might want to consider an ER sands in that situation as well.
In general, it is very team dependent, but Raiden’s teams/weapons have a lot of sources of external buffs (Bennett/Sara/Kazuha, Engulfing Lightning, etc.) so Crit is still very important for her. As always, try and strike a nice balance of everything and compensate your builds accordingly depending on her team.
Sub Stats
Here’s the order of sub stats to prioritize:
- Crit Rate/ Crit DMG
- Energy Recharge/ ATK %
Energy Recharge
Around 200 – 220 at the very least. Obviously the more the better, provided you don’t sacrifice other important stats such as ATK and Crit.
Weapons
5-Star Weapons
Engulfing lightning
Raiden’s signature weapon and for good reason. The passive gives you more incentive to build energy recharge on top of your A4 passive, giving you ATK% over the base 100 Energy Recharge, on top of a 30% increase in Energy Recharge while in burst, so keep all of that in mind when factoring in main stat choices and substat distribution. This is why it is generally regarded that having Engulfing Lightning slightly makes Energy Recharge more beneficial due to the raw stats you gain from the passive.
Staff of Homa
A strong stat stick for Raiden. The passive is quite negligible due to the fact that there really isn’t a reliable way to reduce Raiden’s HP. However, the stats it gives you makes it a solid option in general.
Primordial Jade Winged Spear
High base ATK and Crit Rate stat which is always appreciated on Raiden. However, the passive does not benefit from her initial slash due to no stacks. That being said, after the slash, you are able to gain stacks as you take up field time attacking.
Skyward Spine
Decent option if The Catch is being already used and you got lucky on the standard banner. Attack speed is generally not a significant stat but she can still somewhat benefit from it, provided you are using her combos. Gives her Energy Recharge stats and high base ATK.
4-Star Weapons
The Catch
Raiden’s best true F2P option and baseline weapon. Gives her Energy Recharge and burst damage while being purely unconditional. And yes it is worth fishing for so have fun!
Wavebreakers Fin
Another solid option assuming you have high refinements. If you don’t, just use the catch. Gives you much appreciated ATK% and burst DMG based on the energy capacity of your team.
Lithic Spear
Not worth considering unless high refined. That being said, in arguably her most popular team, (Raiden National) she is able to get 2 stacks due to Xiangling/Xingqiu hailing from Liyue so it is comparable to the catch with these specific assumptions. However, the catch is still better in most situations.
Deathmatch
Very high Crit stat stick with low base ATK and that’s pretty much it. At low refinements it’s not recommended but an okay alternative if you have nothing else.
Teams
Raiden National
A very popular variation of the original national team composed of Raiden, Xiangling, Bennett, and Xingqiu. One of her most popular teams due to the extreme ease of use and DMG output. Very resin efficient to gear as Raiden, Xiangling and Xingqiu ideally want the Emblem of Severed Fate set.
A solid team for most types of content, being able to trigger reactions in the form of Over-Vape and boasting good DMG in both single target and AoE. Regarding the ease of use, the rotation is very robotic and as long as you’re snapshotting Xiangling burst and casting Raiden burst with resolve stacks, you can essentially turn off your brain and clear content without needing to incorporate much funneling.
Additionally, Raiden slightly lowers the energy cost of your party members, making it so that you can go for more offensive stats on Xingqiu/ Xiangling.
An example of a general rotation goes as follows: Raiden skill > Xingqiu skill, burst > Bennet burst, skill > Xiangling burst, skill > Raiden burst into 3 N3C, N1C > Bennett skill into Xiangling > Repeat
Hyper-carry Raiden
A team that relies on maximizing Raiden’s frontloaded burst DMG by giving her a plethora of buffs before casting her burst. The team relies on Bennett’s massive ATK buff and Kazuha’s elemental DMG buff as well as another Electro unit/buffer such as C6 Kujou Sara or Lisa as a buffer.
Regarding Kujou Sara, her constellation 6 is highly required for her to be justified on this team, which is not easy to acquire so it’s something to keep in mind. Lisa on the other hand, has access to Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers on top of a DEF shred coming from her A4 passive, making her very competitive with a sub C6 Kujou Sara.
Example rotation goes as follows: Raiden skill > Bennett burst > Kazuha Burst > Sara/ Lisa Burst > Raiden Burst into 3 N3C, N1C > Kazuha skill, plunge > Bennett skill > Repeat
Sunfire Raiden Over-Vape
Another Over-Vape team consisting of Raiden, Xingqiu, Bennett and Jean. Functions similar to Raiden National but replacing Xiangling with Jean, making it more single-target oriented. The important part of this team is Jean’s burst and Bennett’s burst interacting in a unique way in that they both apply their respective element to any character that is within the burst radius, meaning that when you cast Jean burst while in Bennett burst, she can constantly swirl and spread the pyro aura that was applied to your character for the duration of her burst.
Example Rotations goes as follows: Raiden skill > Xingqiu burst, N1, skill, N1 > Bennett skill, N1, Burst, N1 > Jean N1, skill, burst, N1 > Raiden burst into 3 N3C, N1C > Repeat
Note: When swapping into Jean, make sure to use N1 to proc Xingqiu rain swords and Raiden skill before swirling to double VV the Electrocharged aura.
Quicken/ Aggravate Raiden
A Quicken-based team that relies on Raiden’s Aggravate DMG. The overall strength of this team and its meta viability is unknown so far but for those who want to incorporate Raiden in Dendro teams, this team is certainly an option.
It consists of Raiden, Dendro Main Character (DMC), Kazuha, and an Electro unit. DMC and Kazuha being highly required and Fischl being your ideal electro option unless she is wanted on another team. And in that case, units such as Kuki Shinobu/Lisa can suffice.
Kuki is able to function as a role consolidator, with comfort coming in the form of healing and buffing coming from Tenacity of the Millileth or the new Gilded Dreams set. Lisa functions similarly as a buffer/ DEF shred for Raiden as she would in her hyper-carry comp. It is also worth noting that this team frees up Bennett and potentially Fischl as she is highly wanted by many other teams at the moment.
A simple rotation with Fischl would be: Raiden skill > Kazhua skill, plunge > DMC skill/burst > Fischl burst > Kazuha burst > Raiden Burst, 3 N3C N1C > Repeat
Summary
Despite her initial reception, as of now the Raiden Shogun has solidified herself as one of the strongest limited characters in the Genshin Impact meta. Her energy mechanics, buffing, utility, and raw damage she provides are unique to her while being very effective.
She also opens up quite a few teams for you to use. However, despite her seemingly universal supporting capabilities, she does not fit on every team. Contrary to popular belief, I think her teams are quite limiting (for now) and deceptively rely on Bennett when it comes to her optimal teams. (Hyper-Carry/ Rational).
That being said, I’d say her strength as a unit is solid overall and her performance in her teams is very strong. But at the end of the day, pull value is still account dependent. It is ultimately up to you to carefully assess Raiden’s value to your account. If you like her go for her, but as always the recommendations in this guide are under the assumption of limited primogems, which is why blanket statements are avoided.
