Genshin Impact Hu Tao build and materials guide

The best build for Wangsheng Funeral Parlor’s director

Contents

1. Best Hu Tao weapons – Genshin Impact
2. Best Hu Tao artifacts – Genshin Impact
3. Best Hu Tao teams – Genshin Impact
4. Hu Tao ascension materials – Genshin Impact

The best Genshin Impact Hu Tao build melts, vaporizes, and burns enemies straight into the afterlife – and because this adorable Pyro character is so generous, they even get a rebate on their funeral costs. Quirky Hu Tao is one of the most popular Genshin Impact characters, and seeing how powerful she is in combat makes it pretty clear why that is so.

Just like Yelan, Hu Tao’s mechanics revolve around her maximum HP: Guide to the Afterlife, her Elemental Skill, consumes part of her HP to allow her to deal a large amount of Pyro damage with her Normal Attacks. Additionally, Charged Attacks deal Pyro damage over time during the duration of Guide to the Afterlife.

Her Elemental Burst, Spirit Soother, deals waves of Pyro damage and heals Hu Tao’s HP. The effect is much stronger if Hu Tao casts it when having less than 50% of her HP, so ideally you always want to play a bit of a risky game of chicken with her – keep her alive, but not too much to miss out on the additional damage. This definitely takes some getting used to, as it’s usually a good instinct to always heal your characters up as much as possible.

Best Hu Tao weapons – Genshin Impact

No need to look around for long: Staff of Homa, a 5-star polearm, is Hu Tao’s best weapon in Genshin Impact – not a huge surprise, since it’s her signature weapon.

It provides Critical Damage, but also increases the wielder’s HP by 20% and boosts their Attack by 0.8% of the wielder’s maximum HP. This bonus increases by 1% if the wielder’s HP is below 50%, which is where you ideally want to be with Hu Tao anyways.

Here are the best weapons for Hu Tao in Genshin Impact:

• Staff of Homa (5-star polearm)
• Primordial Jade-Winged Spear (5-star polearm)
• Staff of the Scarlet Sands (5-star polearm)
• Deathmatch (4-star polearm)
• Dragon’s Bane (4-star polearm)
• White Tassel (3-star polearm)

Best Hu Tao artifacts – Genshin Impact

Hu Tao wants it all: HP, Attack, Critical Damage and Critical Hit Rate, Elemental Mastery, and Energy Recharge – she is insatiable. Since she’s a glass cannon anyways, it’s alright to keep your focus on buffing her offense as best as possible, for which purpose Crimson Witch of Flames is the perfect artifact set.

Two pieces of the set provide a Pyro damage bonus of 15%, which is increased to 50% by wearing four pieces and using an Elemental Skill. In addition, four pieces grant a damage bonus of 40% to Overloaded and Burning reactions as well as a 15% damage bonus to Vaporize and Melt.

Hu Tao is a glass cannon, so focus on buffing her offense. Survival is optional / HoYoverse

You’ll want the following stat distribution on artifacts for Hu Tao:

• Flower: HP (main stat), Critical Damage or Critical Hit Rate, Attack %, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge (secondary stats)
• Plume: Attack (main stat), Critical Damage or Critical Hit Rate, Attack %, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge (secondary stats)
• Sands: Attack % (main stat), Critical Damage, Critical Hit Rate, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge (secondary stats)
• Goblet: Pyro Damage % (main stat), Critical Damage or Critical Hit Rate, Attack %, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge (secondary stats)
• Circlet: Critical Hit Rate or Critical Damage (main stat), Critical Damage or Critical Hit Rate, Attack %, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge (secondary stats)

Best Hu Tao teams – Genshin Impact

Hu Tao works well with Sub DPS characters, who have off-field capabilities that support her usage of Normal Attacks to create reactions or cause additional damage. Supports with shields or small bursts of healing are also great with her.

• Hu Tao (Main DPS), Yelan (Sub DPS), Xingqiu (Support), Zhongli (Support)

This Vaporize team has all the mentioned components: Yelan and Xingqiu’s off-field Hydro skills allow Hu Tao to create constant Vaporize reactions through her attacks, their Hydro Resonance buffing her HP on top of that. Xingqiu also provides a bit of healing and damage reduction. Then there’s Zhongli, who provides shields to keep Hu Tao up and running in dangerous situations. A more aggressive version of this composition features Kazuha in Zhongli’s stead. That makes it more risky, but Kazuha’s crowd control and resistance shred raise the damage the team can do.

• Hu Tao (Main DPS), Yelan (Sub DPS), Kazuha (Support), Bennett (Support)

An older variation of the Vaporize team mentioned above, this composition uses Hu Tao and Bennett’s Pyro Resonance to gain additional damage. You could also swap in a character like Thoma or Yanfei for Bennett, though you’ll miss out on his healing and damage buff in that case. Kazuha is there to drive enemies to one spot and reduce their elemental resistance. He can be replaced by someone like Sucrose as well. Yelan is always replaceable by Xingqiu at the cost of some damage output.

Yelan / HoYoverse

• Role: Sub DPS

Mechanically, Yelan is the perfect partner in crime for Hu Tao, as they both revolve heavily around their HP. Yelan sets up constant Vaporize reactions from off-field.

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Xingqiu / HoYoverse

• Role: Sub DPS/Support

See Yelan, but a little worse in damage output. However, Xingqiu provdes little chunks of healing instead, which is quite valuable for Hu Tao.

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Zhongli / HoYoverse

• Role: Support

Geo Daddy looks out for his children, providing shields to boost Hu Tao's survivability without boosting her HP and compromising her damage output.

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Kazuha / HoYoverse

• Role: Support

The wandering samurai assists with crowd control and shreds elemental resistances with his artifact set.

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Bennett / HoYoverse

• Role: Support

The premium Pyro healer and Support, Bennett is a welcome sight in Hu Tao teams.

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Albedo / HoYoverse

• Role: Sub DPS

Albedo creates Geo Resonance to strengthen Zhongli's shields, but also helps out Hu Tao with bonus Elemental Mastery, which makes reactions stronger.

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Yun Jin / HoYoverse

• Role: Support

Just like Albedo, Yun Jin delivers Geo Resonance in connection with Zhongli. In addition, she has some buffs for Normal Attacks in store, helping Hu Tao's damage.

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Ganyu / HoYoverse

• Role: Sub DPS

If you want to drench a battlefield in Cryo effects to set up Melt reactions, Ganyu is a very good choice.

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Diona / HoYoverse

• Role: Support

Diona not only provides Cryo application, but also some shielding and healing.

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Shenhe / HoYoverse

• Role: Sub DPS

Shenhe provides Cryo effects and can buff the team's damage output by reducing enemy resistances.

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Kamisato Ayaka / HoYoverse

• Role: Sub DPS

Ayaka is difficult to use in conjunction with Hu Tao, as she's usually an on-field Main DPS herself, but her Elemental Burst is a powerful addition to a Melt composition.

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• Hu Tao (Main DPS), Yelan (Sub DPS), Zhongli (Support), Yun Jin (Support)

Using two Geo characters reduces the damage output this team provides, but certainly makes for more comfortable gameplay as Zhongli’s shields will be much stronger thanks to the Geo Resonance. This will protect Hu Tao much better than is the case with other combinations. Yun Jin or Albedo are the preferred options to fill the second Geo slot here, as both can provide some beneficial buffs for Hu Tao.

• Hu Tao (Main DPS), Yelan (Sub DPS), Ganyu (Sub DPS), Diona (Support)

Based on the Melt reaction, this team also can’t quite reach the damage output of the Vaporize teams, but are pretty accessible. If you use Xingqiu instead of Yelan and Rosaria or Kaeya for Ganyu, you only need Hu Tao as the sole 5-star character. Shenhe, Layla, and Ayaka are options as well.

Hu Tao ascension materials – Genshin Impact

You’ll want to quickly raise Hu Tao’s level when you pull her, which means that you’ll need to farm her ascension materials. You’ll also require some material to upgrade her talents.

Here’s what you need to get Hu Tao to level 90:

• Agnidus Agate Sliver x1
• Agnidus Agate Fragment x9
• Agnidus Agate Chunk x9
• Agnidus Agate Gemstone x6
• Whopperflower Nectar x18
• Shimmering Nectar x30
• Energy Nectar x36
• Silk Flower x168
• Juvenile Jade x46
• Mora x2,092,530

Farming Agnidus Agate is pretty straightforward, as you can reliably get it from Pyro-affiliated enemies like the Pyro Hypostasis in Inazuma or the Pyro Regisvine in Liyue. Nectar spawns from any of the Whopperflower mobs you can find in Teyvat, while Silk Flowers grow in some areas of Liyue such as the Yujing Terrace and can be planted in your Teapot. Juvenile Jade is a boss drop from Liyue’s Primo Geovishap. As usual, Mora are easily farmed from Blossoms of Wealth.

Here’s what you need to upgrade each of Hu Tao’s talents:

• Whopperflower Nectar x6
• Shimmering Nectar x22
• Energy Nectar x31
• Teachings of Diligence x3
• Guide to Diligence x21
• Philosophies of Diligence x38
• Shard of a Foul Legacy x6
• Crown of Insight x1
• Mora x1,653,000

Fighting Whopperflowers is pretty annoying, but you’ll need to get more materials from them as well as additional Mora to upgrade Hu Tao’s talents. Scrolls of Diligence drop in Taishan Mansion on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday. Shard of a Foul Legacy is a boss drop you get from fighting Childe in Liyue, while the Crown of Insight is a frequent reward in timed events, so be sure to always grab it when available. You can also get some by leveling up the reward trees in Dragonspine, Inazuma, and Sumeru, or the Lumenstone in the Chasm.