Genshin Impact Hu Tao Guide: Best Builds

In Genshin Impact Hu Tao is 5 star character, belonging to the Pyro type and masterfully owning a spear. In a team, she can play the role of the main damage dealer, causing huge damage to opponents. In this guide, we will tell you about the best builds, weapons and artifacts for this fiery heroine.

Note: Right now on this fiery young lady active banner, which increases the chance of getting it during Prayers.

Features and abilities of Hu Tao

Skills and their use in combat

When performing a standard attack, the character makes up to 6 hits with a spear, and when charged (expends stamina), she performs a lunge that deals damage to all enemies in her path. Of course, not without a fall attack, in which the heroine falls to the ground and hits the area.

Elemental Skill "A Guide to Afterlife" allows you to push away nearby enemies and enter the "Butterfly Dance" mode, in which the undertaker's attack rate increases significantly (based on maximum health), and normal damage is converted into Pyro damage. In addition, Hu Tao has increased resistance to interruption, and her charged strikes cause the enemy to have the Blood Flower effect (every 4 seconds they take additional Pyro damage).

If Hu Tao is switched to another character during the Butterfly Dance, the effect of the skill will immediately stop, so we advise you to first wait for it to complete, then take another member of the squad, use his "ulti", Noelle: Protector or healing ability (if the heroine's health is close to critical ), and then switch back to the main DPS. By then, the elemental ability will have recovered and can be activated again. All this allows you to create powerful elemental combinations (Melting, Overload or Steam).

However, we do not recommend abusing the Guide to the Afterlife, otherwise you can leave the heroine without lives (she cannot die from the ability). However, if you have Noelle: Protector-capable units on your team, you can purposely keep Hu Tao on low health to increase her damage output.

As for the explosion of the elements "Spirit Soother", then it deals large Pyro damage in an area and restores a certain amount of maximum HP to the owner of the undertaker, depending on the number of enemies hit. If the character has a health bar equal to or less than 50 percent, then he deals even more damage and restores additional hit points. This is another reason to keep Hu Tao at low health by protecting her with shields.

If we talk about passive skills, then they provide the following bonuses:

Chrysalis Phase - Entering the Butterfly Dance mode increases the critical strike chance of all team members except for Hu Tao herself by 12 percent (effect lasts 8 seconds).
Blood Boil - If the heroine's life bar reaches or falls below 50 percent, then her Pyro damage will increase by 33 percent.
The More the Merrier - there is an 18% chance that a dish cooked perfectly will produce a "weird" dish of the same kind.

Talents (constellations)

They are unlocked with "character luck", obtained by dropping spears of the hero during prayers. Given the randomness of this process, you will be very lucky if you can unlock all the talents below. We advise you to stick with C1, as it is useful for both beginners and veterans. The rest of the constellations are useful only depending on the situation and at the same time are too expensive.

Crimson Bouquet – Charged hits no longer cost stamina after activating an elemental skill.
Bad Omen - Blood Flower deals 10% more damage (based on the heroine's maximum health). An Elemental Burst can also apply this effect.
Bloodletting Ritual - The level of the Guide to the Afterlife increases by three.
Garden of Eternal Rest - Killing an enemy with a Blood Flower causes team members to have a 12% increased Critical Chance (lasts 15 seconds).
Floral Incense - Spirit Rest's level increases by three.
Butterfly’s Embrace - If the character has one point of health left, then his resistance to elemental and physical damage is increased by 200 percent, and the chance of inflicting crits increases to 100 percent. The effect lasts for 10 seconds and can occur once every 60 seconds.

The best builds for Hu Tao

The best weapon

This fiery little girl is able to easily create Pyro-based elemental reactions with her skills, dealing massive damage to enemies. While under the protection of the shield, she will be able to maximize her attack, as you will be able to keep her life bar below 50 percent. As for her characteristics, we advise you to focus your efforts on increasing the critical damage and the chance of a critical hit of the heroine. To do this, as a weapon, you can take:

Staff of Homa (5-star; Critical Damage) - Increases health by 20 percent and increases attack bonus by 0.8 percent of maximum HP. If the life bar falls below half, then the attack is additionally increased by 1 percent. The perfect weapon for Hu Tao.
Primordial Jade Winged-Spear (5-star; Critical Hit Chance) - Hitting enemies increases Attack Rating by 3.2% for 6 seconds. The effect stacks up to seven times and occurs every 0.3 seconds. The second most powerful weapon for Hu Tao.
Deathmatch (4-star; Critical Hit Chance) - When two or more enemies are nearby, the Hero's Defense and Attack are increased by 16%. If the battle is with only one enemy, then the attack power increases by 24 percent. A versatile spear that will look great on Hu Tao in any squad.
Blackcliff Pole (4-star; Critical Damage) - Defeated enemies increase attack power by 12%. The effect lasts for half a minute and can stack up to three times. It is highly dependent on stacks, however, it can significantly increase crits, especially if Rosaria and Diona are in the team.
Dragon’s Bane (4-star; Elemental Mastery) - Enemies affected by Pyro or Hydro effects take 20 percent more damage. It is more difficult to assemble a squad under it, since it must have a Hydro Achievement: Hero.
White Tassel (3-star; Critical Hit Chance) - Increases damage from standard hits by 23 percent. A budget option that should be used when no other weapon is available.

Best Artifacts

As for the set of artifacts, you can collect the following sets:

Crimson Witch of Flames: 2 items - increase Pyro damage by 15 percent; 4 pieces - Damage from Overload and Burning is increased by 40%, and from Steam and Melting by 15%. Elemental skill increases Pyro damage for 10 seconds (stacks up to 3 times). Can be obtained in Wu Wan's Hidden Palace Dungeon. The best option for Hu Tao
Retracing Bolide: 2 items - increase the strength of the shield by 35 percent; 4 items - When the character is under a shield, their charged and normal strikes begin to deal 40% more damage. Can be obtained from the Gu Yun Realm dungeon. It should be taken if there is a hero in the team that can cast a Noelle: Protector on Hu Tao, for example, Zhongli or Dione.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence: 2 items - increase attack power by 18 percent; 4 items - If you use an elemental skill and have 15 units of energy, they disappear, but the damage from normal and charged attacks increases by 50 percent for 10 seconds. The effect does not stack. Can be found in the Momiji-Dyed Court dungeon. This set imposes certain restrictions on the use of elemental explosions. You will either have to stop using it or only activate it at the end of the stance and then not gain energy to reapply. You can also try to take two Favonius weapons and give them to your teammates. In this case, the restrictions will be lifted.

If you were unable to complete the Burning Scarlet Witch set, then you can try combining 2 of its parts with other incomplete sets, for example:

Wanderer’s Troupe: 2 items - Increase Elemental Mastery by 80%. It can be obtained from elite bosses.
Gladiator’s Finale: 2 items - Increases attack power by 18%. It can be dropped from elite bosses.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence: 2 items - Increase attack power by 18 percent.

Now let's look at the characteristics of artifacts. In the main ones: the crown (hat) should be taken for critical damage or the chance of a critical strike, the bowl - for the Pyro damage bonus, the hourglass - for elemental mastery or HP% (when using Dragonstorm). In additional, you need to give preference to: mastery of the elements (especially in the absence of Sucrose in the team), critical damage, chance of prits, HP% and attack power% (the listing goes from best to worst).

Top teams with Hu Tao

The best partner for this perky young lady is Xingqiu, with whom she can create a murderous reaction of Steam. Shield characters will look good with her. It would also be nice to increase her Elemental Mastery with Sucrose. In general, below we consider some of the most interesting units.

First option (Cryo reactors and resonance):

Main DPS: Hu Tao
Secondary DPS: Xingqiu
Support: Kamisato Ayaka or Rosaria
Support: Kaeya, Diona or Ganyu

Second option (universal unit with a shield):

Main DPS: Hu Tao
Secondary DPS: Xingqiu
Support (Noelle: Protector): Zhongli or Diona
Support: Sucrose, Albedo, Mona or Fischl

Third option (Pyro resonance):

Main DPS: Hu Tao
Secondary DPS: Xingqiu
Support: Eimiya or Thoma (may also make a good shield)
Support: Sucrose

Fourth option (with the addition of Overload from Electro):

Main DPS: Hu Tao
Secondary DPS: Xingqiu
Support: Fischl
Support: Beidou

Leveling Hu Tao

How to improve skills

You will need to collect certain materials, namely:

Teachings, instructions and philosophies about "Devotion" - obtained in Dungeon "Taishan Mansion" on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Whopperflower Nectar, as well as Shimmering and Elemental Nectars - Drop from Jumper or created using alchemy.
Shard of a Foul Legacy - Dropped by the boss Childe (Tartaglia).

How to level up a character

You need to collect a number of materials for the elevation. Their list and sources of obtaining are listed below. Note that leveling Hu Tao from level 1 to level 90 will require 1,672,000 mora. An additional 1,652,500 mora will need to be spent on each of the three talents, so a full upgrade will require 6,629,500 mora. Thanks for the calculations Hiori-chan.

First Ascension (Level 20; 20,000 mora) - 1 Agnidus Agate Sliver, 3 Mulberries, 3 Jumping Nectar
Second Ascension (Level 40; 40,000 mora) - 3 Agnidus Agate Fragments, 2 Immature Jades, 10 Mulberries, 15 Jumping Nectars
Ascension 3 (Level 50; 60,000 mora) - 6 Agnidus Agate Fragments, 4 Immature Jade, 20 Mulberries, 12 Shimmering Nectars
Fourth Ascension (Level 60; 80,000 mora) - 3 pieces of Agnidus Agate, 8 Immature Jades, 30 Mulberries, 18 Shimmering Nectars
Fifth Ascension (level 70; 100,000 mora) - 6 pieces of Agnidus Agate, 12 Immature Jades, 45 Mulberries, 12 Elemental Nectars
Sixth Ascension (Level 80; 120,000 mora) - 6 precious Agnidus Agates, 20 Immature Jades, 60 Mulberries, 24 Elemental Nectars

You can get Agnidus Agate from elite bosses Pyro Regisvine And Primo Geovishap. The latter also drops Juvenile Jade. The Silk Flower is a local curiosity of Liyue. IN separate guide indicated its exact location.