The new version has arrived, and with it, shrine maiden and all-around Electro fox (literally) Yae Miko. You can finally wish for the five-star character as part of Genshin Impact 2.5’s new banner, before the Raiden Shogun and Kokomi return for their reruns in the second half. She’s a fun time, too, weaving between enemies with her Sesshou Sakura, before summoning thunder from the skies to with her burst to smite them.

In terms of playstyle, she’s a little like Mona with her evade when she places a Sesshou Sakura, but also like Sara and her Crowfeathers. Yae Miko and Sakura have damage potential that activates after these things are placed. It’s a level of synergy between skill and burst that few characters in the game possess. But just like setting up Eula’s burst only for it only to miss, planting the Sesshou Sakura in the correct place can sometimes be tricky.

Luckily, the range of their AoE Electro damage seems quite decent. In this Genshin Impact Yae Miko build guide, I’ll take a look at her best setup, as well as suggest a no-spend option that takes advantage of the free catalyst you can get in the upcoming Three Realms Gateway Offering event.

The best Genshin Impact Yae Miko build

Unlike the recent influx of support characters such as Shenhe, Gorou, and Yun Jin, Yae Miko is a damage-dealer. A little like Mona’s Phantom of Fate, she uses her elemental skill to plant Sesshou Sakura around enemies, and these turrets periodically deal AoE Electro damage. But there’s another layer to this. When she casts her Tenko Kenshin burst, thunderbolts strike the location of each Sesshou Sakura, dealing powerful damage.

In some ways, this makes her playstyle a little fiddly, as you have to plant the Sesshou Sakura in ideal locations to maximize the effectiveness of her burst. But when all three thunderbolts do hit, it’s a big chunk of damage. As Yae’s burst is so expensive, it’s worth giving her energy recharge, but also buffing her Electro, and so the effectiveness of all her attacks. This build should do both:

• Weapon: Kagura’s Verity
• Artifact: (2) Gladiator’s Finale, (2) Thundering Fury

Kagura’s Verity is Yae Miko’s five-star weapon and it’s ideal if you’re looking to build her towards crits since it boosts crit damage as a substat. It also grants the Kagura Dance effect, which increases elemental skill damage by 12 percent for 16 seconds when you use one. This effect stacks up to three times and is great for buffing her Sesshou Sakura. Another decent five-star catalyst is Skyward Atlas, increasing elemental damage by 12 percent, and giving normal attacks a 50 percent chance to create a Favor of the Clouds that deals 160 percent attack damage to enemies.

For artifacts, you’ll want two pieces of Thundering Fury for its 15 percent Electro damage bonus, and two pieces of Gladiator’s Finale for its 18 percent attack bonus. In terms of stats, energy recharge is super important, since Yae’s burst is very expensive. Other than that, an Electro damage bonus is good, as well as attack, crit rate, and crit damage if you want her to hit some high numbers. Alternatively, if you don’t have any good energy recharge Gladiator’s Finale artifacts, you could swap it out for two pieces of Emblem of Severed Fate for that 20 percent energy recharge buff.

Genshin Impact Yae Miko F2P build

If you’re looking for some no-spend weapons to use with Yae, there are a few options:

• Weapon: Oathsworn Eye or The Widsith
• Artifact: (2) Gladiator’s Finale, (2) Thundering Fury

The Oathsworn Eye is a new catalyst arriving in Genshin Impact 2.5, and you can get it for free as part of the Three Realms Gateway Offering event. This four-star weapon buffs energy recharge by 24 percent for ten seconds when you use an elemental skill, helping Yae work up to using her expensive burst whenever she plants a Sesshou Sakura. It also boosts attack as a substat. A second option is the four-star Widsith if you happen to have it. Like Kagura’s Verity, it buffs crit damage and allows a random theme song to characters for 10 seconds when they take the field. Recitative increases attack by 60 percent, Aria increases elemental damage by 48 percent, and Interlude increases elemental mastery by 240.

All of these effects are good for Yae, including elemental mastery, since her Enlightened Blessing passive boosts the damage of her Sesshou Sakura by 0.15 percent for every point she has. For artifacts, you’ll want the same as above: two Gladiator’s Finale for the attack stat, and two Thundering Fury for an Electro damage bonus. If you are using Oathsworn Eye, energy recharge will be less of a priority, so you can build more towards attack, crit rate, and crit damage. You’ll definitely want to build towards those if using the Widsith, to take advantage of its crit damage boost. Either way, just make sure you have a decent level of energy recharge, as Yae is rather reliant on her burst.

And that’s our Genshin Impact Yae Miko build guide. We hope you manage to get her!