Since his initial release, Childe's place in the meta has shifted over the course of the past two years. In this Childe Guide, we take a look at the best weapon builds and artifact builds for Childe in Genshin Impact, updated for the latest patch version 3.2.
Our resident friendly Harbinger is back again for another rerun, but a lot of things have changed this time around. Since version 1.1, a myriad of characters, weapons, artifacts, and even a new Element has appeared, which all completely changed the landscape around Childe’s team building strategies. In this article, we will give a refresh of his abilities, and teach you the best weapons, artifacts, and team compositions for Childe.
Childe Overview and Abilities
Tartaglia, or more well known to his Harbinger name as Childe, is a 5-star bow-wielding Hydro character, and is most notably known as the cornerstone of the “Childe International Team”. Aside from that, he’s an excellent Hydro damage-dealer and elemental-applicator, with the drawback of having a significant downtime to his powerful abilities when used improperly.
Foul Legacy: Raging Tide
Unleashes a set of weaponry made of pure water, dealing Hydro DMG to surrounding opponents and entering Melee Stance.
In this Stance, Tartaglia’s Normal and Charged Attacks are converted to Hydro DMG that cannot be overridden by any other elemental infusion and change as follows:
Normal Attack
Performs up to 6 consecutive Hydro strikes.
Charged Attack
Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to unleash a cross slash, dealing Hydro DMG.
Riptide Slash
Hitting an opponent affected by Riptide with a melee attack unleashes a Riptide Slash that deals AoE Hydro DMG. DMG dealt in this way is considered Elemental Skill DMG, and can only occur once every 1.5s.
After 30s, or when the ability is unleashed again, this skill will end. Tartaglia will return to his Ranged Stance and this ability will enter CD. The longer Tartaglia stays in his Melee Stance, the longer the CD.
If the return to a ranged stance occurs automatically after 30s, the CD is even longer.
This is Childe’s signature skill, and its variable cooldown lets you have the flexibility to adjust how your team’s skill rotation works. Childe’s wide-reaching attacks along with his Riptide allows for a ton of ICD-less Hydro application, which guarantees the other elements to trigger their reactions. This strategy gave birth to the Childe International Team, where Xiangling’s Pyronado always triggers huge Vaporises thanks to the generous application of Hydro.
Havoc: Obliteration
Performs different attacks based on what stance Tartaglia is in when casting.
Ranged Stance: Flash of Havoc
Swiftly fires a Hydro-imbued magic arrow, dealing AoE Hydro DMG and applying the Riptide status.
Returns a portion of its Energy Cost after use.
Melee Stance: Light of Obliteration
Performs a slash with a large AoE, dealing massive Hydro DMG to all surrounding opponents, which triggers Riptide Blast.
Riptide Blast
When the obliterating waters hit an opponent affected by Riptide, it clears their Riptide status and triggers a Hydro Explosion that deals AoE Hydro DMG.
DMG dealt in this way is considered Elemental Burst DMG.
This is a neat ability that has two different uses. The ranged version is weaker, but applies Riptide (more Hydro) and refunds a bit of energy, and is used more often from the sub-carry role. The melee version is much stronger, and is used very often in chamber or domain speedruns. Either abilities are flexible enough to be used anytime during a rotation, as long as you’re not forcing it during his Foul Stance.
Childe Guide: Best Weapons for Childe
Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst DMG increased by 12%. After a Normal Attack, Charged Attack, Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst hits an opponent, 1 stack of Ashen Nightstar will be gained for 12s. When 1/2/3/4 stacks of Ashen Nightstar are present, ATK is increased by 10/20/30/48%. The stack of Ashen Nightstar created by the Normal Attack, Charged Attack, Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst will be counted independently of the others.
Polar Star is Childe’s (actual) signature weapon, and is perfect for his hybrid play style. The unconditional damage increase to his skill and burst is already a strong boon for his Riptide and Havoc burst, and his usual gameplay makes it easy for him to obtain the max stacks of the passive, which would otherwise be clunky for other bow characters.
Increases ATK by 20% and grants the might of the Thunder Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, the Thunder Emblem increases Normal Attack DMG by 12/24/40%. The character will obtain 1 stack of Thunder Emblem in each of the following scenarios: Normal Attack deals DMG (stack lasts 5s), casting Elemental Skill (stack lasts 10s); Energy is less than 100% (stack disappears when Energy is full). Each stack's duration is calculated independently.
Yoimiya does a lot of normal attacks, which makes Thundering Pulse perfect for her, but so does Childe. If you’re also one of the few who obtained this weapon while trying to snipe Nahida’s signature one, then now’s the good time to try this on Childe. Despite the somewhat similar requirements to the Polar Star for obtaining this weapon’s passive stacks, the Thundering Pulse instead provides a massive boost to Normal Attack DMG. Lucky for Childe, his moveset still completely benefits from all the bonuses of this weapon.
Increases Normal Attack DMG by 80% but decreases Charged Attack DMG by 10%.
This weapon has no right to be this strong for a 4-star weapon, but it has always been this case for the longest time. Before the two previously mentioned weapons were released, a max refined Rust was generally better than any R1 5-star bow that existed.
Best Artifacts for Childe
2-Piece: Hydro DMG Bonus +15% 4-Piece: After using Elemental Skill, increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 30% for 15s.
It’s an artifact set with simple bonuses, but provides a lot of power for Childe. The 15s buff duration is more than enough, since most of the time, Childe will be staying in melee form in around 10 seconds or less.
2-Piece: ATK +18%.
4-Piece: When Normal Attacks hit opponents, there is a 36% chance that it will trigger Valley Rite, which will increase Normal Attack DMG by 70% of ATK. This effect will be dispelled 0.05s after a Normal Attack deals DMG. If a Normal Attack fails to trigger Valley Rite, the odds of it triggering the next time will increase by 20%. This trigger can occur once every 0.2s.
The 4-piece passive isn’t always consistent, but it’s fun seeing large numbers from normal attacks once in a while. This artifact set can be theoretically better than HoD, but the RNG can be undesirable (or desirable if you’re a masochist) for challenge runs, speed runs, or the Spiral Abyss.
Best Team Compositions for Childe
Childe International
Childe, Xiangling, Bennett, Kazuha. These four are meta giants, and can clear any content with ease once you learn the mechanics of the strategy. Childe’s role in this team is to provide the Hydro application that Xiangling needs to guarantee Vaporise on her Pyronado procs. Bennett increases the team’s overall ATK stat while providing healing, and Kazuha can not only swirl Pyro, but also Hydro if you learn his double-swirl method.
Childe Hyperbloom
Hyperbloom is the new kid on the block, and is now known as a surprisingly powerful Elemental Reaction with the right teams. The usual team for this is Childe, Kuki, Fischl, and Nahida. Childe here does what he does best, while Kuki and Fischl build EM. Childe’s constant Hydro application creates Dendro Cores when triggering Hyperbloom with Nahida’s Dendro, which will then get triggered by the two Electro characters.
Summary
Childe is HoYoverse’s prime example of character development, where a character is thought to be ‘bad’ on release, but subsequent updates make it better until it becomes enjoyable to play. Childe now stays as one of the best characters gameplay-wise, not by dealing a lot of damage, but by being a good support for many of the game’s characters.
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