Youhu Guide – Builds, Teams, and How to Play

Aside from Frostfall, relics can also be gained by using Youhu’s Intro, Resonance Skill and Resonance Liberation, the last of which allows for selection of a specific one instead of relying on her gacha. This will be important for her Forte.

Using her basic attack after gaining a relic will appraise it as Youhu uses it against an enemy, dealing Resonance Skill DMG. Each relic also has a separate effect that enhances the move:

• Ruyi: Increases the attack’s base damage multiplier.
• Ding: Increases the damage done to the enemy stance, making them easier to stagger.
• Chime: Increases the attack’s Vibration Strength damage.
• Mask: Pulls in nearby enemies.

For all that haven’t caught on yet, yes, they are all ancient Chinese antiquities.

Appraising a relic also has the secondary effect of granting Youhu an Auspice that corresponds to each antique she appraises, represented by the icons above the Frost gauge. She’s able to hold four of them at a time and she cannot overwrite any of them in case she gains a new one while holding the maximum amount. No cheating!

Once she holds four Auspices, Youhu will be able to use her Forte attack Poetic Essence, which takes priority over Frostfall in case she meets the conditions for using both. The attack consumes all Auspices to deal AoE Resonance Skill DMG and briefly make Youhu invulnerable. This is further enhanced by the combination of Auspices consumed. The important ones are matching a pair, triplet and four of a kind, with each granting a varying degree of “more damage”.

One last unique thing to mention is her Outro. In the current state of the game - that is, version 1.3 - Youhu is the only character to grant a whopping 100% Amplify effect to attacks coming from the Coordinated Attack mechanic. This is a strong effect overall, though extremely specific and limited only to attacks explicitly stated to be Coordinated Attacks such as Zhezhi’s Inklit Spirits or Mortefi’s Marcato... as well as Jiyan’s Outro and Calcharo’s Resonance 6, if you enjoy c̵̢̠͔͓̲̦̠͛͒̂u̴̞̣̞̝̼̍̅͋̕̚ŕ̸̮̈́̆̀̾̒̒ś̸̰̹͇͚͎̫̌͆e̴̤͝ḋ̸̢̩͈̺͕͚͓̦͆̍̄̓͘ knowledge.

For a 4★ character, Youhu delivers an overall more-than-competent kit featuring enough flexibility to fit into either the main DPS or support role without major hiccups, as well as having enough unique gimmicks to feel fresh even amongst 5★ characters. While far from rivalling the premium characters, and even further away from being meta-defining, Youhu is nevertheless able to easily pull her weight and offers a refreshing change of pace in the general game content and future Illusive Realm editions.

Youhu Rotations

Rotations should always be taken with a grain of salt. Enemies are NOT sandbags and WILL ATTACK YOU. Several factors such as Parries, Dodge Counters, and being knocked back will affect how you approach the rest of your rotation.

Forte Circuit Loop

This is Youhu’s primary skill rotation, which can be used regardless of the role she fills. The only remotely important thing to keep in mind is that Youhu’s basic attack animations blend in with each other, which can be especially problematic to keep track of in combat. When in doubt, use her Frost gauge - one BA chain is enough to completely fill it up.

Parry Windows

Character Synergies

	Verina
	Verina, being an universally strong support, synergises well with all main and sub-DPS characters thanks to the ATK and All DMG Amplify effects that she offers. Youhu, who likes dealing damage, and preferably a lot of it, is no exception to that.
	Buffs
	• 15% Team-wide All DMG Amplify • 20% Team-wide ATK Bonus • Rejuvenating Glow and Bell-Borne Geochelone OR Fallacy of No Return

	Shorekeeper
	The Shorekeeper, being a more offensive sidegrade to Verina, offers the same All DMG Amplify effect as the resident botanist, though sporting a much more desirable Crit Rate and Crit DMG bonus instead of ATK.
	Buffs
	• 15% Team-wide All DMG Amplify • 5%~12.5% Team-wide Crit Rate Bonus • 10%~25% Team-wide Crit DMG Bonus • Stagger breakout • Rejuvenating Glow and Bell-Borne Geochelone OR Fallacy of No Return

	Baizhi
	Baizhi, being usually an alternative or backup support pick, shares similar buffs with Verina, albeit with the caveats of not being team-wide and needing interaction with an on-field item she drops.
	Buffs
	• 15% All DMG Amplify • 15% ATK Bonus • 12% Glacio DMG Bonus (Resonance 6) • Rejuvenating Glow and Bell-Borne Geochelone

	Zhezhi
	With the Coordinated Attacks mechanic being half of Zhezhi’s whole schtick, it should come as no surprise she is the prime target for being supported by Youhu. The duration of Outro buffs lining up perfectly between the two is just the cherry on top.
	Buffs
	• 20% Glacio DMG Amplify • 25% Resonance Skill DMG Amplify • 15 Resonance Energy regenerated instantly • Moonlit Clouds and Impermanence Heron

	Yinlin
	Although Yinlin would much rather prefer to have her Resonance Skill DMG be Amplified instead, she can nevertheless make a surprisingly decent use of Youhu’s Outro thanks to her Chameleon Cipher.
	Buffs
	• 25% Resonance Liberation DMG Amplify

	Mortefi
	Similar to Zhezhi, half of Mortefi’s schtick is the Coordinated Attack mechanic tied to his Resonance Liberation, and as such can take a great advantage of Youhu’s Outro. Unlike other characters sharing the schtick however, he is more limited in the selection of characters he can effectively support.
	Buffs
	• 38% Heavy ATK DMG Amplify • 20% Teamwide ATK Buff (Resonance 6) • Moonlit Clouds and Impermanence Heron

Honourable mentions

	Yuanwu
	Really only seen in budget Jinhsi setups, Yuanwu can only make limited use of Youhu’s Outro due to his extremely mediocre Coordinated Attack damage and the longest attack interval (of 1.2s per attack) out of all the characters featuring this mechanic.
	Buffs
	• Shields (Resonance 4) • Moonlit Clouds and Impermanence Heron OR Rejuvenating Glow with Originite: Type IV and Bell-Borne Geochelone

Team Comps

Premium

Budget

Skill Priority

1. Resonance Skill
2. Forte Circuit
3. Resonance Liberation
4. Basic Attack
5. Intro Skill

Youhu’s primary source of damage and healing scales off of both her Resonance Skill and Forte Circuit nodes, and as such they should be prioritised. Her Resonance Liberation, meanwhile, only offers a bit more damage, though it’s still an overall greater increase than levelling either her Basic Attacks or Intro Skill.

Weapons

As far Youhu’s best-in-slot goes, it’s a tie between Verity's Handle and Abyss Surges, with Xiangli Yao’s signature gauntlets offering her slightly more damage output and the generic ones granting her more quality of life via extra Energy Regeneration. The practical difference between the two, however, is within the margin of crit RNG, so you may pick the one you like better.

The 4★ weapon selection meanwhile ends up fairly predictably. Celestial Spiral, being one of the newest additions, steals the show as the best budget gauntlet set, in large part thanks to their high base ATK rating supplemented by a respectable ATK% bonus and extra Resonance Energy. Hollow Mirage’s relative abundance of ATK% continues to carry their performance, though in Youhu’s case the bonus coming from casting her Liberation comes in too late to make a substantial difference over Stonard, which falls somewhat behind due to Youhu’s kit granting her more innate crit rate than usual.

If none of these options are available, Gauntlets of Night are, as per usual, a more than reasonable stand-in until a better weapon can be acquired.

Weapon Name	Comparison	Notes
Verity's Handle	102.13%	Yao’s signature gauntlets are a good stat stick. That’s honestly about it. Nothing exciting. Also, their Liberation Damage Bonus doesn’t work on Youhu.
Abyss Surges	100%	The generic 5★ gauntlets offer Youhu everything she’d want from a weapon in the form of high base ATK, a modest amount of Energy Regen, and Resonance Skill DMG Bonus.
Celestial Spiral	78.87% (Rank 5: 81.76%)	Newly released in version 1.3, these gauntlets find themselves at the top of the budget rankings thanks to their high base ATK, further increased by their secondary stat and active effect.
Hollow Mirage	76.10% (Rank 5: 76.97%)	A fairly competent, no-nonsense ATK stick that falls into the category of “it just works”. Its active effect, however, comes in too late to make a tangible difference in Youhu’s combo.
Stonard	74.93% (Rank 5: 76.00%)	A fancier set of punching gloves exclusive to the battlepass. A very strong alternative to the other gauntlets listed. But unfortunately for Youhu, it doesn’t scale well with ranks in her case.
Gauntlets of Night	68.04%	Reasonable alternative if no other offensive options are available.
Gauntlets#21D	64.81% (Rank 5: 67.39%)	A pair of gauntlets held back by their bad secondary stat and a gimmick that’s annoying to take advantage of, especially in the case of Youhu who can stagger enemies easily. If you find yourself having to dodge a lot of attacks, they may be worth considering, but they’re otherwise just far more expensive Gauntlets of Night.
Originite: Type IV	62.16%	A decent set of gauntlets primarily used in conjunction with the Rejuvenating Glow set. As Youhu features plenty of healing in her kit by default, they are best ignored in favour of better options.
Amity Accord	57.90% (Rank: 58.36%)	Sporting DEF% as their secondary stat and providing a bonus to Resonance Liberation damage, Amity Accord lacks anything useful that could help Youhu. Better kept on Yuanwu.
Marcato	57.44%	A utility-focused pair of gauntlets that enable faster rotations for certain characters by granting them more Concerto energy. Unfortunately, Youhu is not one of those characters due to the Concerto difference being too large to cover with Marcato, and is better off using another weapon.
Gauntlets of Voyager	56.29%	A beyond-terrible pair of gauntlets that by sheer miracle escaped the fate of being the worst possible weapon for Youhu. On top of DEF% being their secondary stat and Youhu scaling exclusively with ATK, their active effect fails to provide anything of value whatsoever. Best forgotten about.
Guardian Gauntlets	54.41%	Amity Accord Lite. Same problems, less base ATK, different paint job. In the current state of the game, it’s at least one of the primary arguments for pestering Kuro about adding transmogrification.

Echoes

Sonata effects

Utility

Set Effect	Comparison	Notes
Rejuvenating Glow 5p	N/A	The most obvious choice for a support sonata. Grants more healing and buffs the whole team with more ATK. Ol’ reliable.
Moonlit Clouds 5p	N/A	Used to buff the DPS units on Outro with extra ATK. While Youhu can make use of it if forced into the sub-DPS role, the rest of her kit doesn’t really support it and as such, she’s better off using either Rejuvenating Glow or Freezing Frost instead.

Damage

Set Effect	Comparison	Notes
Freezing Frost 5p	100%	The current best option for Youhu in the main DPS role. It offers a sizable Glacio% bonus with the condition of hitting an enemy with basic attacks, giving it a slight but noticeable ramp-up period.
Lingering Tunes 5p	90.26%	An alternative set suffering from a 6 second ramp-up period, an unfavourable buff type and a very low magnitude of said buff.
Freezing Frost 2p + Lingering Tunes 2p	89.99%	This combination should only ever be used as a transition set.

Active Echo Recommendation

Rejuvenating Glow: Bell-Borne Geochelone - A universally strong choice of an Echo, providing a team-wide 10% All-DMG Bonus effect and a shield blocking 50% of incoming damage for the next three hits on use. It does not stack with itself if multiple characters use its active effect. It has a stronger damage buff than Fallacy’s, albeit with a shorter duration as well.

Rejuvenating Glow: Fallacy of No Return - The flipside to Bell-Borne Geochelone, offering a team-wide buff of 10% ATK Bonus and 10% ER Bonus, plus damage on call that scales with the user’s max HP. In a vast majority of realistic cases however, it’s inferior to the turtle if you are able to keep its shield up, and the added utility is not enough to make up for the buff strength difference. On top of that, its damage also isn’t too stellar, especially on characters that do not stack max HP, but unlike with Geochelone, getting smacked around will not end Fallacy’s buff early.

Freezing Frost: Lampylumen Myriad - The best option while using the Freezing Frost sonata by merit of being second least annoying Echo in the set to use. It deals a decent amount of AoE damage and grants up to 12% Glacio Damage Bonus to the character that used it - with the caveat being that the animation cannot be reliably cancelled and it takes three hits to stack the bonus fully. Your mileage may vary.

Freezing Frost: Lumiscale Construct - A parry Echo saved from irrelevance by its damage multiplier. Suffers from its animation being impossible to reliably cancel and not granting any buffs by itself, but it attempts to compensate for this via raw damage and delivering its load faster on a successful parry. Highly situational. Depending on the encounter, it may end up better than Lampylumen.

Freezing Frost: Glacio Predator - A sub-par alternative of an Echo, trading away all buffs and most of the damage output for the convenience of being a summon-type Echo on a short cooldown. Lacks any other saving grace whatsoever, with its damage being on the lower end of the spectrum even by 1-Cost Echo standards. If opted into, it’s best used against immobile targets due to its specific method of enemy targeting - namely, the ground under them. Best treated as a placeholder.

Rejuvenating Glow: Whiff Whaff - A half-decent choice of an active Echo for when you’re just starting out and can’t easily farm Bell-Borne Geochelone. It lacks any buffs and its damage is very far from spectacular, but it can be used to stall enemies and generate some extra energy.

Main stats

Cost	Stat
4	Healing Bonus % / Critical Rate % / Critical DMG %
3	Glacio % / ATK %
3	Glacio %
1	ATK %
1	ATK %

In the offensive roles, Youhu will want to follow the usual rule of picking a 4-Cost Echo in relation to her equipped weapon. Gauntlets with innate critical chance bonus will prefer Critical DMG%, while the rest will prefer Critical Rate%. On the other hand, in the support role she will most likely prefer Healing Bonus% to increase her healing provided.

Not unlike Xiangli Yao, the choice of double Glacio% vs Glacio% + ATK% also mostly boils down to the gauntlet set she is using. See table:

Sub stats priority

Sub Stat Priority

Energy Regeneration (until 30%) > Crit Rate = Crit DMG > ATK% = Flat ATK > Resonance Skill DMG

Depending on the team composition and playstyle, Youhu may end up wanting more than 30% Energy Regeneration bonus. Although unlikely, you may want to increase her ER% up to 60% if you feel like she lags behind her team in the Resonance Energy department.