Gameplay tips and character summary
We’ve already talked about Kuki Shinobu’s weapons, artifacts, talent priorities, and build in Genshin Impact. So, should you actually give her a chance?
As a healer
I must admit that the prospect of an Electro healer sounded interesting when I first heard of it. Then, I saw Kuki Shinobu’s kit and I genuinely rolled my eyes. Perhaps the main drawback is that she doesn’t offer strong healing capabilities compared to Kokomi, Qiqi, or even Barbara — her heals only affect the active character and not the entire party. And, while someone like Bennett isn’t necessarily just seen as a healer, Kuki also pales due to a lack of possible team-wide buffs. Worse, the weaker healing throughput also meant that you won’t get that much damage from the Ocean-Hued Clam’s bubble bursts.
As a sub-DPS/off-DPS
This is where Kuki Shinobu starts to get better. Both her elemental skill and elemental burst are useful, though a bit strange:
- The elemental burst’s damage scales off max HP.
- The elemental skill’s healing scales off max HP.
- Due to a passive, the elemental skill’s healing and damage also benefit from elemental mastery.
Ideally, you’re looking at a high-HP build with some EM thrown in the mix. EM doesn’t necessarily become your ideal pick for artifact main stats, but at least it’s of some use as a sub-stat for every piece.
As far as team synergy goes, you’ll mostly have Kuki pop up to use her skill and/or burst before swapping to a Pyro (Overloaded) or Hydro (Electro-Charged) character. If you can get her to C2, then her skill will have near 100% uptime for constant elemental reactions outside of her burst.
As a Physical DPS carry
This one is more of an optional take if you want to see huge numbers. It’s possible to turn Kuki Shinobu into an absolute killing machine thanks to her fast normal attacks. These are further bolstered by having someone like Yunjin. To see it in action, you can watch the video below from YouTuber Kekvin. For the artifacts, the player used 2-piece Bloodstained and 2-piece Gladiator’s, though you can also opt to try 4-piece Pale Flame due to the elemental skill’s duration and hits.
Genshin Impact is available via its official website. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.
