Yuanwu Guide – Builds, Teams, and How to Play

Overview

Yuanwu is a free 4★ melee Electro character who does well as a sub-dps. Unlike traditional sub-dps characters that offer buffs to the team via their Outro skill, Yuanwu forgoes this to deal bonus damage to enemies' break bar. This naturally means that teams with him will deal less overall damage, but will have bosses downed more often.

On top of this, Yuanwu’s kit has split scaling, with the majority of his kit scaling with DEF instead of ATK. This usually means you will have to level new Echoes, as generic ATK% pieces do not benefit his kit.

Yuanwu’s playstyle revolves around his Resonance Skill which summons a Thunder Wedge, allowing him to deal damage to enemies off-field. The Thunder Wedge performs Coordinated Attacks and generates Forte Gauge even if Yuanwu is off-field. 

If Yuanwu casts his Resonance Liberation or Forte Circuit while a Thunder Wedge is active, it will detonate the Thunder Wedge and deal damage to enemies. This will be your primary source of generating Concerto Energy. 

Note that most enemies are not stationary and will move outside Thunder Wedge’s AoE. If this happens, you will have to recast Yuanwu’s Resonance Skill to ensure enemies are always within range. This shouldn’t be an issue as his Resonance Skill has a short cooldown.

Rotations

Yuanwu’s rotation requires you to have 100% uptime on his Resonance Skill and enemies within its range. This allows Yuanwu to generate Forte Gauge as quickly as possible.

Follow-up/Burst Rotation

For Tempest Mephis, you will want to prioritize casting it before starting the rotation. As for Bell-Borne Geochelone, you will want to delay this until after the rotation to maximize uptime on your main-DPS. 

Heron can be used before or after the rotation. We recommend using it after the rotation, as using it before results in this sequence:

• Yuanwu Heron
• Swap to any character
• Swap/Intro to Yuanwu

Which is usually longer and can be harder to perform than just casting it after:

• Outro/swap to main-DPS
• Yuanwu Heron

Parry Windows

Disclaimer: This is a work-in-progress section and will be updated as we learn more.

Character Synergies

	Jinhsi
	One of Jinhsi’s best teammates is Yuanwu. He has Coordinated Attacks to fill her Forte Gauge quickly and doesn’t eat up a lot of field time. Yuanwu’s only main downside is that he provides no offensive buffs for Jinhsi and thus has a lower damage ceiling.
	Buffs
	N/A

	Verina
	Verina synergizes well with all main/sub-dps characters, and Yuanwu is no exception. She provides a team-wide All DMG Deepen and ATK buff. On top of this, Verina’s combos are short and do not take up a lot of field time.  Additionally, Verina has no problems running Rejuvenating Glow and Bell, offering the team a good mix of offensive and defensive utility.
	Buffs
	• 15% Team-wide All DMG Deepen • 20% Team-wide ATK buff • Rejuvenating Glow and Bell-Borne Geochelone

	Baizhi
	Baizhi is usually left as an alternative/backup pick, sharing similar buffs with Verina. Baizhi’s Outro only buffs the next character switching in, so you will need to adjust your rotation accordingly. Additionally, the ATK buff is NOT teamwide and requires your main-dps to interact with an item.
	Buffs
	• 15% All DMG Deepen • 15% ATK buff • Rejuvenating Glow and Bell-Born Geochelone

	Jianxin
	Mostly brought into stages that have enemies you want to gather. While this may sound underwhelming, there are stages in ToA that have multiple enemies in the same wave. She has the option of using Originite: Type IV for easy access to Rejuvenating Glow set effect at the cost of her own damage.
	Buffs
	• Gather • Rejuvenating Glow with Originite: Type IV and Bell-Borne Geochelone

Team Comps

Skill Priority

Sub-DPS 

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

As a sub-DPS, Yuanwu wants to use his Resonance Liberation on every rotation and maximize his Resonance Skill uptime. If you can’t use his Resonance Liberation every rotation, prioritize upgrading his Resonance Skill instead.

Weapons

Before diving into Yuanwu’s weapon recommendations, keep in mind that his Resonance Skill, Resonance Liberation, Intro Skill, and Forte Circuit scale off DEF. This means that only his Basic, Charge, and Plunge attack scale with ATK. This invalidates several Gauntlets that scale with attack and do not give any additional bonuses, as you will never be casting Charge and Plunge Attacks in an actual rotation.

Yuanwu’s best weapon is Amity Accord, as it provides the highest DEF scaling out of any Gauntlet and buffs his Resonance Liberation damage. Other alternatives are Guardian Gauntlets, which is basically a 3★ Amity Accord, and Gauntlets of Voyager, which is a more utility-focused weapon that generates energy. 

If you have decent Crit Rate/DMG substats and a 4-cost Crit DMG piece, Stonard stands out as the next best alternative. This is because it provides easy access to a Resonance Liberation DMG boost and has a Crit Rate secondary stat. 

Unfortunately, the only 5★ gauntlet, Abyss Surges, has ATK% scaling which makes it difficult to justify bringing this weapon. However, the Energy Regen and Resonance Skill DMG buff is always welcome.

As a tech option, you can consider running Marcato for faster rotations. In general, Yuanwu already has quick rotations and his Outro Skill does not provide any relevant buffs.

Weapon Name	Comparison	Notes
Amity Accord	R0: 134.21%	Your main choice on Yuanwu if you are looking for a DEF% scaling weapon.
Stonard	R0: 114.94%	Provides easy access to Crit Rate substats and extra Resonance Liberation DMG.
Gauntlets of Voyager	R5: 110.13%	Another DEF scaling weapon that gets value from providing extra energy generation, rather than boosting Yuanwu’s damage.
Originite: Type IV	R5: 108.18%	Can trigger Rejuvenating Glow and provides a Crit DMG substat.
Guardian Gauntlets	R5: 102.73%	Essentially a budget Amity Accord.
Abyss Surges	R0: 100%	Unfortunately, the high flat ATK and ATK% on this weapon are completely wasted.
Hollow Mirage	R0: 98.01%	Assumes no hits are taken.

Echoes

Moonlit Clouds: Yuanwu’s preferred set if you do not care about his personal damage output. It provides an ATK buff for the next Resonator that swaps in while also letting him run Impermanence Heron. Yuanwu needs around 25 to 40% ER and highly appreciates the ER provided by the 2pc effect. 

Void Thunder: If you care about Yuanwu’s damage output, this is Yuanwu's best set. Note that you may have to farm new 1-cost Echoes to maximize Yuanwu’s damage due to his DEF scaling. Generic ATK pieces that can work on Calcharo or Yinlin don’t transfer over well to Yuanwu for this reason. 

Rejuvenating Glow: A low investment set which can be used on Yuanwu as long as you have the 5pc active and Originite: Type IV. This should only be considered in ToA where you want 3 supports to fill teams. 

Set Effect	Comparison	Notes
Moonlit Clouds 5pc	100%	Your standard sub-dps set which focuses on buffing the main-dps.
Void Thunder 5pc	110.14%	A more selfish set that focuses on Yuanwu’s damage output.
Rejuvenating Glow 5pc`	100%	Should only be used with Originite: Type IV in ToA to fill support slots if needed.
Moonlit Clouds + Void Thunder 2[c	100.38%	Mostly a transition set and should never be your default option.

Active Echo Recommendation

Moonlit Clouds - Impermanence Heron: Your usual support Echo, which should be equipped if Yuanwu is running Moonlit Clouds. This provides extra buffs to your main DPS, allowing them to deal more damage.

Void Thunder - Tempest Mephis: An all-around strong Echo which can be switch-canceled for a quick burst of damage. You can also wait until the claw attack starts to gain the Electro and Heavy ATK DMG buff. Both options will have their own benefits - The former allows you to immediately switch-cancel to lower field time, while the latter provides more resonance energy and buffs for Yuanwu’s damage output.

Rejuvenating Glow - Bell-Borne Geochelone: A universally strong Echo that provides buff grinding a shield that lasts for three enemy hits. While the shield is active, it also provides a 10% damage boost for the whole team as well as 50% damage reduction.

Mainstat and Substats: 

Cost	Stat
4	Crit Rate/Crit DMG
3	Electro Bonus Damage%
3	Electro Bonus Damage%
1	DEF%
1	DEF%

Sub Stat Priority

Energy Regeneration > Crit Rate = Crit DMG > DEF% > DEF

Note: Follow a ratio of 1:2 for Crit Rate/Crit DMG and make sure to have around 25 to 40% total ER to ensure access to Yuanwu’s Resonance Liberation every rotation.