Keqing is a standard banner 5 star character that has been there since the start of the game. However, many players felt that she was overshadowed by her other fellow 5 star characters due to her lack of damage as well as the element she was associated with. Many players felt that although she had a brilliant aesthetic and her playstyle was entertaining and engaging, they felt as if she needed a buff if she was ever to become a relevant character in the meta. Despite this heavy criticism against her, there were players that still strived to bring out what damage she could muster up. These people were known as Keqing mains and they became a staple in the Genshin Impact community as people that were able to bring out the best in a character that was deemed average by most.
However, with the arrival of the Dendro element in patch 3.0 of Genshin Impact, everything had begun to change for this forgotten queen. No longer was she going to be looked down upon and she was finally going to give justice to the name Keqing mains gave her. She was finally going to show Genshin Impact players the reason why Keqing mains called her the Queen of Electro.
With all that said, this Keqing guide will tell you all about how to bring out the best in her. We will be discussing what the best weapons for her are, the best artifacts you should be giving her and finally the best teammates for her. Let’s get into it!
Keqing Overview and Abilities
Normal Attack – Yunlai Swordsmanship
Performs up to 5 rapid strikes.
Charged Attack
Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to unleash 2 rapid sword strikes.
Plunging Attack
Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
Among these attack patterns, the most used ones would be the first attack from her Normal Attack and her Charged Attack. This is because of a concept called motion values. The motion value of her charged attack is pretty low which means that it strikes very fast while also providing a lot of damage. Because of this, the most recommended attack pattern would be to use her first normal attack then immediately go into her Charged Attack. This lets her dish out damage swiftly while hitting the opponent multiple times. The only downside to this is that there is a possibility of knocking away lighter opponents and thereby wasting more stamina than needed when chasing them down.
Elemental Skill – Stellar Restoration
Press
Hurls a Lightning Stiletto that annihilates her opponents like the swift thunder.
When the Stiletto hits its target, it deals Electro DMG to opponents in a small AoE, and places a Stiletto Mark on the spot hit.
Hold
Hold to adjust the direction in which the Stiletto shall be thrown.
Stilettos thrown by the Hold attack mode can be suspended in mid-air, allowing Keqing to jump to them when using Stellar Restoration a second time.
Lightning Stiletto
If Keqing uses Stellar Restoration again or uses a Charged Attack while its duration lasts, it will clear the Stiletto Mark and produce different effects:
If she uses Stellar Restoration again, she will blink to the location of the Mark and unleash one slashing attack that deals AoE Electro DMG. When blinking to a Stiletto that was thrown from a Holding attack, Keqing can leap across obstructing terrain.
If Keqing uses a Charged Attack, she will ignite a series of thundering cuts at the Mark's location, dealing AoE Electro DMG.
Keqing’s Elemental Skill can be considered one of the reasons why she is very fun to play. Her Elemental Skill allows for her to teleport all over the battlefield while also infusing her Normal Attacks, Charged Attacks and Plunge Attack with Electro. This Electro infusion from Keqing enables her to make a lot of electro reactions possible considering that she does apply Electro to enemies very often. Because of this, the Elemental Skill of Keqing can be considered as the key component of all her damage output.
Elemental Burst – Starward Sword
Keqing unleashes the power of lightning, dealing Electro DMG in an AOE.
She then blends into the shadow of her blade, striking a series of thunderclap-blows to nearby opponents simultaneously that deal multiple instances of Electro DMG. The final attack deals massive AoE Electro DMG.
The Elemental Burst of Keqing is quite the aesthetic light show as it has Keqing disappear from the battlefield for a small time while she zooms all over the place slicing everything. However, this brilliant light show is not only simply for show as it deals heavy AoE damage as well as lets her escape some damage during the time it is initially used. In addition, considering that this deals Electro damage as well, this can be used to trigger Electro elemental reactions for even more damage.
Passive Talent: Land's Overseer
When dispatched on an expedition in Liyue, time consumed is reduced by 25%.
Ascension 1 Passive Talent: Thundering Penance
After recasting Stellar Restoration while a Lightning Stiletto is present, Keqing's weapon gains an Electro Infusion for 5s.
Ascension 4 Passive Talent: Aristocratic Dignity
When casting Starward Sword, Keqing's CRIT Rate is increased by 15%, and her Energy Recharge is increased by 15%. This effect lasts for 8s.
Although these talents are nowhere to be seen in the skill description in the game, this is where most of Keqing’s utility comes from. Her Ascension talents lets her infuse her attacks with Electro as well as increases her Crit Rate by 15% and her Energy Recharge by 15%. These are significant numbers as they significantly increase Keqing’s damage output.
Best Weapon for Keqing
Mistsplitter Reforged (5-Star)
The Mistsplitter Reforged is Keqing’s best weapon for her. Although it wasn’t tailor made specifically for her, the sword is able to give her a significant boost in power due to being able to obtain all the buffs that the sword can provide. In addition to this, the CRIT damage provided by the sword greatly helps boost the damage of Aggravate reactions.
Primordial Jade Cutter (5-Star)
Although it has a simplistic effect compared to the Mistsplitter Reforged, it is actually on par with the damage of the Mistsplitter Reforged especially in Aggravate Teams of Keqing. This due to the absurdly high CRIT Rate that the weapon has.
When it comes to 4 star options for the weapons, Lion’s Roar takes the cake as the best sword. This is because with the brand new Quicken aura, the passive of Lion’s Roar now has a lot of uptime compared to before.
With Aggravate Keqing utilizing Elemental Mastery for its damage, Iron Sting also proves to be a valuable sword especially for free-to-play players. This is because the sword provides a significant amount of Elemetal Mastery for Keqing which benefits her Aggravate damage.
Best Artifact Set for Keqing
When looking for artifacts for Keqing, there are specific main stats that the player should be looking for. The main stat for the Timepiece could either be ATK% or EM since with Aggravate, these two have relatively the same value. The headpiece depends on the weapon held but should generally have a main stat of CRIT Rate unless the weapon has a CRIT Rate Main Stat. In those cases, you should go for a CRIT Damage main stat instead. The goblet should generally have a main stat of Electro Damage Bonus as it greatly benefits her damage multipliers.
As of the moment, this artifact set is her current best artifact since with Aggravate, she benefits a lot from the damage boost this set provides. In addition to that, each time she triggers Aggravate, the cooldown of her Elemental Skill shortens which means that Keqing is now capable of a consistent Electro Infusion on her attacks while also making stamina management easier as most of the attacking she does are charged attacks.
This artifact set comes at a close second for Keqing considering that Aggravate has a high Electro uptime. However, what makes this slightly worse than that of Thundering Fury is in situations where there is a constant elemental aura around enemies. This makes it less flexible than that of Thundering Fury although it is still very much viable.
This is generally a solid set for Keqing as it boosts the stats that she needs. However, even with all the passives fired off, this set performs just a bit below the above artifacts.
Keqing Team Compositions
Aggravate Keqing (Keqing, Electro Sub-DPS, Dendro, Anemo/Zhongli)
For now, this is her most optimal team where she will be dealing a chunk of the damage. As for character options for the team slots, Keqing’s best partner for an Electro sub-DPS would be Fischl since Fischl is able to provide a lot of extra off-field damage with every Electro reaction that occurs. The Dendro slot goes to a Dendro character that can apply a significant amount of Dendro off-field. Characters like Dendro Traveller and Yaoyao work perfectly for this slot. Nahida may also work although she applies way too much Dendro and can override the Electro making team rotations a bit stricter. The last slot usually goes to an Anemo character that can use Viridescent Verner’s effect and can provide a damage boost to Electro as well. Usually, this falls on Kazuha or Sucrose as they provide a lot of extra damage. Zhongli also works perfectly well in this slot especially in single target situations.
Hyperbloom Keqing (Keqing, Xingqiu, Yelan, Dendro)
This Keqing team composition highly differs from the typical Aggravate composition as this composition has a totally different build on Keqing. This Keqing requires a lot of Elemental Mastery as she is the one responsible for popping the seeds. Because of this her artifact requirements will change and she will be typically running a 4 piece Gilded Dreams set with the main stat priority being Elemental Mastery.
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