At long last, Xiao finally gets his rerun, but along with the reruns of two other long-sought characters. In the first phase of version 2.4, Xiao will be appearing again in a banner, alongside Shenhe. Xiao is a 5-star Anemo Polearm character, adept at dealing huge amounts of AoE damage from Plunging Attacks. He is widely regarded as a great and balanced character, who excels in AoE but somehow falters in the single target department. In this article, we will discuss whether Xiao is worth your Primogems or not.

If you already have Xiao and you’re looking for a guide on how to build for his weapons and artifacts, check out this article. If you need to think about pulling for Shenhe, too, then check out our guide in pulling for Shenhe.

Reasons Why Xiao Is Worth Pulling For

As mentioned, Xiao might have problems in single target situations, but don’t get it wrong—it really only applies to the hardest content miHoYo has to offer. Xiao is still perfectly capable of dealing huge chunks of damage to all sorts of bosses, and can effortlessly clear Abyss 12 with the right team. Being Anemo, Xiao is very simple to play, which more casual players would gladly prefer. It’s the simple act of pressing jump and attacking right after, that makes Xiao so easy to play.

Xiao is also straightforward to build, and has a lot of good polearms to choose from. His artifacts are also simple and easy to find, where his best set is a mixed set of Viridescent Venerer and Gladiator’s. 

Here are 5 more reasons why you should pull for Xiao:

  1. You like his design and/or gameplay
  2. You want a character who can deal a lot of AoE damage
  3. You like Anemo characters in general
  4. You want someone to use your 5-star Polearm (Xiao works for every 5-star polearm!)
  5. You need another Main DPS

Reasons to skip this rerun Banner

Xiao’s flexibility with weapons and artifacts is also unfortunately his downfall, as he lacks specialized gear to reach his maximum potential. It’s really long overdue, but we still don’t have an artifact set aimed at increasing Plunging ATK damage. Shimenawa’s Reminiscence’s Energy penalty is somewhat detrimental for Xiao and is not advised unless you’re good at timing your rotations and funneling energy.

Xiao is also expensive to optimize since he is considered a hyper carry in the game’s meta. His best team is quite expensive, requiring two 5-star Geo supports (Albedo and Zhongli), and also ideally a Constellation 4 Jean for her Anemo RES shred.

If you’re also looking for another main DPS, there is Ganyu, a much stronger character arriving in the second phase of version 2.4. Unlike Xiao, Ganyu deals amazing AoE and single target damage and is not restricted by mediocre artifacts and energy issues.

Here are 5 more reasons why you should skip this rerun banner:

  1. You don’t like Xiao’s design and/or gameplay
  2. You don’t have a good DPS polearm
  3. You’re not sure if he can carry you through the hardest content
  4. You’d rather pull for a new 5-Star character like Shenhe
  5. You’re saving up Primogems for other reruns, like Ganyu or Zhongli

We hope that this guide helps you in deciding whether or not Xiao is the 5-star character for you for this patch or not. Let’s make use of Genshin Impact guides like this so we don’t end up accumulating thousands of dollars in debt.