Yelan is a 5* Hydro Bow sub-DPS who provides a ton of off-field DMG and Hydro application to any team.
Hydro is arguably the best Element in the game—with access to Freeze, Vaporize, and Electro-Charged Reactions. This alone would make her a desirable unit. But Hydro units with consistent off-field Hydro application are the best of the best. This is the reason Xingqiu proudly sits in the S-Tier in our Genshin Impact Tier List.
Given that she’s a power-crept version of Xingqiu with an almost identical Elemental Burst, it should come as no surprise that Yelan is also an S-Tier character.
However, she’s a bit more difficult to play and equip optimally due to her HP scaling. This not only means that her weapon and artifact choices differ from the sub-DPS norm, but also that some Supports simply don’t work with her, like Bennett who buffs ATK.
In this Yelan build guide, we’ll show you how to optimize her for difficult content by evaluating her:
- Talent priority
- Constellation value
- Weapon choices
- Best artifacts
- Team compositions
Table of ContentsShow
Yelan’s Talent Priority
| Talent | Description | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Attack (Stealthy Bowshot) | Normal Attack Performs up to 4 consecutive shots with a bow. Charged Attack Perform a more precise Aimed Shot with increased DMG. While aiming, flowing water will accumulate on the arrowhead. A fully charged torrential arrow will deal Hydro DMG. Breakthrough Yelan will enter a “Breakthrough” state after spending 5s out of combat, which will cause her next Charged Aimed Shot to have 80% decreased charge time, and once charged, she can fire a “Breakthrough Barb” that will deal AoE Hydro DMG based on Yelan’s Max HP. Plunging Attack Fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE DMG upon impact. | Yelan’s other abilities scale exclusively off of HP, but her Normal and Charged Attacks—for the most part—scale with ATK. The only exception is her Breakthrough Charged Shot, which gets additional HP scaling. This means that all non-Breakthrough bow attacks will hit like wet noodles, rendering this her least important talent. It’s still worth leveling up for the Breakthrough DMG, but do this only after you’ve leveled up the other talents. |
| Elemental Skill (Lingering Lifeline) | Fires off a Lifeline that allows her to move rapidly, entangling and marking opponents along its path. When this rapid movement ends, the Lifeline will explode, dealing Hydro DMG to the marked opponents based on Yelan’s Max HP. Press Moves a certain distance forward swiftly. Hold Engages in continuous, swift movement, during which Yelan’s resistance to interruption is increased. During this time, Yelan can control this rapid movement and end it by using this Skill again. Additionally, each opponent marked by the “Lifeline” when it explodes grants Yelan a 34% chance to reset her “Breakthrough” state. | Yelan’s Elemental Skill offers one of the best forms of land traversal in all of Genshin Impact, rivaled only by Sayu’s rolling. It also does a fair bit of DMG, thanks to the HP scaling. When using the Hold version, the ability will even displace smaller enemies for a bit of crowd control. All of this combined makes Lingering Lifeline Yelan’s second-priority talent. |
| Elemental Burst (Depth-Clarion Dice) | Deals AoE Hydro DMG and creates an “Exquisite Throw,” which aids her in battle. Exquisite Throw This follows the character around and will initiate a coordinated attack under the following circumstances, dealing Hydro DMG based on Yelan’s Max HP: • This can occur once every second when your active character uses a Normal Attack. • Will occur each time Yelan’s Lifeline explodes and hits opponents. | On an 18-second cooldown and with a 15-second duration, this ability will constantly rain down Hydro DMG at enemies to help facilitate Elemental Reactions, all while dealing decent DMG in its own right. This is easily Yelan’s highest priority talent. |
Yelan’s Passive Talents
| Talent Name | Description | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| Necessary Calculation | Gains 25% more rewards when dispatched on a Liyue Expedition for 20 hours. | Like all other passive talents of its kind, this talent is inconsequential. |
| Turn Control | When the party has 1/2/3/4 Elemental Types, Yelan’s Max HP is increased by 6%/12%/18%/30%. | While you shouldn’t let this passive talent lock you into using only rainbow teams, it sure rewards Elemental diversity in a meaningful way. Remember, on Yelan, more HP means more DMG. This talent is excellent regardless of how many types of Elements you have in your team. |
| Adapt With Ease | So long as an Exquisite Throw is in play, your own active character deals 1% more DMG. This increases by a further 3.5% DMG every second. The maximum increase to DMG dealt is 50%. The pre-existing effect will be dispelled if Depth-Clarion Dice is recast during its duration. | This talent is simply amazing. Keep in mind that it buffs the on-field character, so it won’t affect Yelan’s Burst while she’s off-field. But that’s even better, since you’ll likely have an on-field DPS capable of dishing out even more DMG than Yelan. |
Yelan’s kit is exactly what you’d get if you took Xingqiu—one of the best units in the entire game—and decided to make him better.
She can be used to effortlessly enable Freeze teams, Vaporize teams, and Electro-Charged teams.
To this end, her Elemental Burst is her most important asset. Making sure that she can cast it as frequently as possible and minimizing its downtime is our most important consideration.
However, Yelan is more than just her Elemental Burst. Her Elemental Skill—in addition to making for the best open-world traversal and packing quite a punch—has a chance to trigger her Breakthrough state. This means that you can sprinkle fairly effective Charged Shots (that charge up very quickly) in between casting her abilities, which makes for an engaging playstyle.
On top of that, her second ascension talent buffs up the active character, giving her added utility beyond just mimicking what Xingqiu does.
All of this is to say that, at C0, Yelan feels like a complete and powerful character.
But what about her constellations?
Yelan’s Constellations
| Constellation Name | Description | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| Enter the Plotters | Lingering Lifeline gains 1 additional charge. | C1 is a substantial constellation, increasing Yelan’s mobility, Energy generation, and DMG all in one. |
| Taking All Comers | When Exquisite Throw conducts a coordinated attack, it will fire an additional water arrow that will deal 14% of Yelan’s Max HP as Hydro DMG. | At Burst talent level 10—the highest F2P players can get—each of the three arrows created by Yelan’s Burst deal approximately 8.3% of max HP as DMG. So this constellation increases her Burst DPS by approximately 56%. C2 is a massive DPS upgrade. |
| Beware the Trickster’s Dice | Increases the Level of Depth-Clarion Dice by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 5. | By taking her Burst talent level from 10 to 13, Yelan’s C3 adds 1.58% of max HP to her three arrows. This increases her DPS output by approximately 18%. These calculations don’t take into account the 4th arrow created by her C2. C3 is a substantial DPS upgrade, but not nearly as impactful as C2. |
| Bait-and-Switch | Increases all party members’ Max HP by 10% for 25s for every opponent marked by Lifeline when the Lifeline explodes. A maximum increase of 40% Max HP can be attained in this manner. | Yelan’s C4 is a utility buff that is guaranteed to increase her personal DMG output and also has the potential to benefit her teammates, what with how many characters scale off of HP. The floor on this constellation is decent, with the ceiling being much higher in certain teams. |
| Dealer’s Sleight | Increases the Level of Lingering Lifeline by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 5. | Yelan’s C5 is her most underwhelming constellation. It only increases the DMG of her Elemental Skill, which only accounts for a small portion of her overall DMG output. |
| Winner Takes All | After using Depth-Clarion Dice, Yelan will enter the Mastermind state. In this state, all of Yelan’s Normal Attacks will be special Breakthrough Barbs. These Breakthrough Barbs will have similar abilities to normal ones and the DMG dealt will be considered Charged Attack DMG, dealing 156% of a normal Breakthrough Barb’s DMG. The Mastermind state lasts 20s and will be cleared after Yelan fires 5 arrows. | Even with the 5 arrow restriction, Yelan’s C6 is incredible. Her base HP at level 90 is 14450. So if she didn’t have any talents, any Hydro DMG modifiers, and any CRIT DMG, she’d still be able to dish out well over 100000 DMG. Since her HP total will be much higher than this once we account for her artifacts, weapons, teammates, and even her own passive talent, you can imagine how quickly this already high number will balloon. |
Yelan’s constellations are—for the most part—incredible, with C5 being the only one that’s bad.
The developers seem to have gotten into the groove of making the C1 of new characters a nice quality of life upgrade and their C2 a massive DMG bump. If you’re looking to boost Yelan’s DMG, C2 is the constellation you should aim for.
However—and we cannot overstate this—do keep in mind that each constellation you get could have been a wholly new 5* character that would unlock new team compositions, play styles, and synergies.
No matter how good a constellation is, it’s not more valuable than an entirely new character.
Now, if you’re what the gacha community would call a whale, feel free to ignore our advice.
However, if you’re a F2P player or even a low-spender, we highly recommend holding off on pulling for 5* character constellations.
We know they’re tempting. They’re tempting by design. But the payoff just isn’t worth the cost.
Best Weapons For Yelan
| Weapon Rarity | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Aqua Simulacra 5* | In general, Yelan doesn’t benefit much from using 5* weapons, with the one exception being Aqua Simulacra—her signature weapon. Its incredibly low base ATK doesn’t affect her DMG output at all, but the high CRIT DMG substat, as well as the extra HP and DMG bonus provided by the passive increase her DMG by quite a lot. |
| Elegy for the End 5* | Aside from Aqua Simulacra, the only other 5* bow worth using on Yelan is the Elegy for the End, thanks to its Energy Recharge substat and supporting passive. Yelan can effortlessly proc the passive to give the rest of the team extra Elemental Mastery and ATK. |
| Recurve Bow 3* | It’s not often that a 3* weapon gets featured in one of these guides, but the Recurve Bow is simply amazing on Yelan. As mentioned, all of her DMG scales off of HP, and Recurve Bow gives a ton of HP. Other weapons featured below may outdamage it at higher refinements, but even then, the DMG difference will be marginal. |
| Favonius Warbow 4* | Favonius Warbow features an immensely large Energy Recharge substat, which on Yelan is beneficial for ensuring maximum uptime on her Burst. The weapon also adds some extra utility through its passive, enabling Yelan to generate extra Energy particles even while off-field. This weapon gives no extra DMG to Yelan, but in most teams, her Hydro application is more important than her DMG, making this a worthy trade off. |
| The Stringless 4* | The Stringless is yet another strong contender for Yelan thanks to its passive which directly increases Elemental Burst DMG. That being said, even at R5, this weapon will just barely outperform an r5 Recurve Bow unless you also factor in the DMG derived from the Elemental Mastery substat. Elemental Mastery isn’t useful in all teams, which is why we’re pointing this out. |
| Slingshot/Sharpshooter’s Oath 3* | Slingshot and Sharpshooter’s Oath are two other 3* weapons that are phenomenal on Yelan, due to her kit completely ignoring the ATK stat. Slingshot adds CRIT Rate and Sharpshooter’s Oath adds CRIT DMG. They add more CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG than The Viridescent Hunt and Blackcliff Warbow respectively, which are 4* weapons with these substats. If you find that your Yelan is lacking one of these stats, don’t hesitate to use these 3* weapons! |
| Fading Twilight 4* | Fading Twilight gives Yelan both consistency through the Energy Recharge substat and extra DMG via the passive. In a sense, this is Yelan’s best and most versatile 4* weapon. However, we rank it this low because Fading Twilight is a patch 2.7 event-exclusive weapon. Normally, we don’t include event-exclusive weapons in these lists, but since Fading Twilight and Yelan were released in the same patch, we’ve made an exception for it this time. |
Best Artifacts For Yelan – 4-Emblem of Severed Fate
Any character who depends on their Elemental Burst for the majority of their DMG will want the 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate artifact set bonus, and Yelan is no different.
With this set, Yelan gets both extra Energy Recharge to smooth out her rotation and extra Burst DMG based on her max Energy Recharge.
The main stats you should use on artifacts for Yelan are:
- HP%/Energy Recharge on the Sands
- Hydro DMG on the Goblet
- CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG on the Logos
Use HP% on the Sands if your Yelan already has plenty of Energy Recharge, as she would by using Favonius Warbow and at least the 2-piece Emblem of Severed Fate set bonus.
Otherwise, use an Energy Recharge Sands. This will technically lower her DMG, but it will ensure she gets to use her Burst more often, which is the main reason why you want to use Yelan in the first place.
As for the CRIT stats, your goal is to get her CRIT ratio as close to 1:2 as possible. To decide whether to use a CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG Logos, check to see which one would get her closer to this ratio.
As far as substats go, you should aim for:
- CRIT Rate
- CRIT DMG
- Energy Recharge
- HP%
- HP
If you don’t have a 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate, you can use any combination of the following 2-piece artifact set bonuses:
- Emblem of Severed Fate
- Tenacity of the Millelith
- Heart of Depth
- Noblesse Oblige
Best Team Composition For Yelan
F2P Vaporize Yelan
- Yelan
- Bennett
- Xiangling
- Sucrose
Yelan is the team’s source of off-field Hydro DMG needed to drive Vaporize Reactions.
Bennett is the team’s healer and ATK buffer. While his buff may not benefit Yelan much, it still provides a ton of value for Xiangling and—should you choose to run him—Xingqiu. Alternatively, you can use Yanfei as your on-field Pyro DPS.
Xiangling is the team’s main off-field Pyro DPS. Her goal is to continuously Vaporize enemies with her Pyronado DMG. Plus, as the second Pyro character in the team, she’ll also unlock the Pyro Resonance, increasing everyone’s ATK stat. If you’re running Yanfei as the main DPS, you can replace Xiangling with Xingqiu for even more off-field Hydro DMG.
Sucrose is the team’s Anemo support, used to reduce the enemies’ Elemental Resistances thanks to the 4-piece Viridescent Venerer set. She also increases everyone’s Elemental Mastery, further boosting the effectiveness of Vaporize Reactions. You can use any Anemo character like Sayu, Anemo Traveler, and Jeanto proc the set bonus. Sayu and Jean will work splendidly in teams without Bennett for their healing utility. Alternatively, you can use Xingqiu or Raiden Shogun for more DMG, although the latter is hardly a F2P character.
F2P Electro-Charged Yelan
- Yelan
- Fischl
- Beidou
- Sucrose
Yelan is the team’s main source of Hydro DMG needed to proc Electro-Charged Reactions.
Fischl and Beidou cover the Electro part of the Electro-Charged equation. Both of these characters add off-field Electro DMG—single target and AoE respectively. Beidou deals more DMG but also requires more Energy, which is why using her together with Fischl—who generates a lot of Electro Energy—is a great. Replacements include Electro Traveler, Lisa, and Razor. If you’ve managed to get her, you can use Keqing as well.
Sucrose is once again here to serve as the team’s Resistance shredder and Elemental Mastery buffer. However, in this team she can also function as an amazing on-field attacker—unless you’re using Razor or Keqing—since all of her Normal Attacks deal Anemo DMG and can Swirl both Electro and Hydro at the same time.
Whale Yelan Team
- Yelan
- Hu Tao
- Zhongli
- Xingqiu
Yelan is the off-field Hydro DPS whose goal is to enable Hu Tao to Vaporize her Charged Attacks. Her Burst also increases the on-field character’s DPS by quite a bit, which in this case will be Hu Tao.
Hu Tao is the team’s DPS, looking to Vaporize most of her DMG thanks to the off-field Hydro applied by other characters. You can replace Hu Tao with any other Pyro DPS and not much would change.
Zhongli is the team’s shielder. Since Hu Tao needs to have her HP halved for maximum efficiency, Zhongli ensures that she won’t accidentally die. His shield aura also reduces both Pyro and Hydro Resistance, which equates to higher overall DPS for the team.
Xingqiu is our top pick for the last slot in this team. He’ll provide extra off-field Hydro DMG and ensure that Hu Tao never misses a Vaporize proc on her Charged Attacks. That being said, one of Yelan’s biggest appeals is that she’s effectively Xingqiu 2.0, allowing you to have a great off-field Hydro applicator for both teams in the Abyss. If this is the case for you, consider running either Albedo or Yun Jin. Albedo brings more DMG to the team but runs the risk of disrupting some of Hu Tao’s Vaporize procs. Both will grant access to the powerful Geo Resonance.
Is Yelan Worth It?
In case this wasn’t already clear, Yelan is absolutely worth it.
In many ways, she is a power-crept version of Xingqiu, who’s already one of the all-time best characters in the game.
The difference is that she does even more off-field Hydro DMG and that her Burst costs 10 Energy less to cast. Plus, her DMG buff to the on-field DPS also makes her a viable support for hypercarries who don’t rely on Elemental Reactions for their DMG, like Eula.
In addition to this, Yelan’s HP scaling also makes her incredibly easy to outfit with weapons and artifacts. What’s also great is that her DMG ceiling isn’t gated behind Bennett’s Burst, so you can separate the two in Spiral Abyss without making any DMG concessions.
Truth be told, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Yelan wouldn’t be useful, which is a mark of every great character.
