There are plenty of reliable damage-dealers in Genshin Impact, but even with powerful new characters like Ayato and Yae Miko arriving all the time, you don’t necessarily need a five-star to do a decent job. Claymore characters like Razor, Noelle, and Beidou remain popular because, despite their rarity, they provide a lot of value to a party if they’re built well.

You can often get these characters for free, as with the Lantern Rite or Irodori Festival, and since they’re four-stars, you actually have a chance at unlocking their constellations without bankrupting yourself. Hell, some four-stars with unlocked constellations are more powerful than a lot of five-stars. Just look at Bennett.

Though Razor is available all the time on the Wanderlust Invocation banner, he hasn’t has boosted rates in ages, so his recent appearance on the Ayaka banner in version 2.6 is the best chance you’ll have if you’re eager to recruit the wolf-boy into your ranks. That said, you’ll still need a build. In this Genshin Impact Razor build guide, I’ll run through his best Physical DPS setup, as well as a great no-spend alternative.

The best Genshin Impact Razor build

Just as Eula is barely a Cryo character due to her focus on Physical damage, Razor also performs better when built towards pure damage. It would be a different story if his the Wolf Within burst state gave him elemental infusion as with Diluc, but the burst’s Electro attacks are performed alongside Razor’s normal attacks, as with Xingqiu.

Sure, his skill does do some Electro damage, but not enough to justify pushing him entirely in that direction. Razor can gather up to three Electro Sigils using his Claw and Thunder skill, before converting them into energy with his burst. These also increase his energy recharge rate, and his passive skill, Hunger, increases energy recharge by 30 percent when energy is below 50 percent. This makes Razor an extremely energy efficient character.

That said, the best Razor build focuses on strengthening his regular Physical attacks so you can get the most out of his burst state’s attack speed increase. This should do both:

• Weapon: Song of Skyward Pines or Wolf’s Gravestone
• Artifact: (4) Pale Flame

The five-star Song of Skyward Pines was featured a few versions back as part of Eula’s rerun, and it’s one of the best Physical damage weapons in the game. It boosts Physical damage as a substat and increases attack by 16 percent. It also introduces a stackable called a Sigil of Whispers. When a normal or charged attack hits an opponent you’ll get one of these. Once you gather four, all are consumed, and nearby party members gain 12 increased attack speed and 20 percent increased attack for 12 seconds. This synergises very well with the attack speed boost Razor gets from his burst.

Skyward Pines is extremely hard to get, though. A second five-star choice could be the Wolf’s Gravestone, since this weapon is always available on the Epitome Invocation weapon banner, though you’ll want to wait for boosted rates. Aside from fitting with Razor’s whole lupine aesthetic, this claymore boosts attack as a substat, and increases attack by 20 percent. When you hit an opponent with less than 30 percent HP left, party members also receive an extra 40 percent attack buff for 12 seconds.

For artifacts, you’ll want a four-piece set of Pale Flame. Two-pieces buff Physical damage by 25 percent, while four-pieces add an extra ability. When you hit an enemy with an elemental skill, attack is increased by nine percent for seven seconds. This stacks up to two times and when you hit two, that Physical damage boost is doubled to 50 percent. This works extremely well alongside the Electro Sigils that Razor gathers when using his skill. He could gather two of these, then activate his burst to convert them to energy, and also get that Physical damage boost this set provides.

For stats, you’ll want attack, crit damage, and crit rate, as well as a Physical damage bonus if you can get one. As mentioned, energy recharge is less of an issue since Razor has a lot of skills and abilities that boost it, but it’s still good to have some since he’s going to generate most of his value as a damage-dealer during that burst state.

Genshin Impact Razor F2P build

Even if you don’t have a five-star claymore, there is a really good three-star weapon for a Physical damage-focused Razor:

• Weapon: Skyrider Greatsword
• Artifact: (2) Pale Flame (2) Gladiator’s Finale

Skyrider Greatsword boosts Physical damage as a substat, and when you hit an opponent with a normal attack, it increases attack by six percent for six seconds. This effect stacks up to four times. Since it’s a three-star weapon it won’t be difficult to refine it in order to boost that attack increase, and with the extra attack speed from Razor’s burst, he’s going to be hitting enemies fast enough to maximize that buff.

In terms of artifact choice, four-pieces of Pale Flame is ideal, but you could always swap out two of those for a two-piece of Bloodstained Chivalry or Gladiator’s Finale. The former provides the same effect as Pale Flame, giving a 25 percent Physical-damage boost, while Gladiator’s Finale buffs attack by 18 percent. The fact that there are two Physical-damage boosting artifact sets means it’s easy to swap one or the other out, or go with two-pieces of both for a 50 percent buff.

Finally, for stats, you’ll want the same makeup as above: attack, crit damage, crit rate, and an artifact with Physical damage bonus if you can get one.

And that’s the best Genshin Impact Razor build. Good luck with getting him before the end of version 2.6!