Quick Links
The roster of playable characters in Genshin Impact is ever-growing since the world of Teyvat consists of seven regions, and each region has dozens of characters. Testing out a new character and finding different mechanics to increase their efficiency is a lot of fun, especially with a character like Alhaitham.
Alhaitham is a five-star Sword-wielding character who can use the Dendro vision. He played a major role in Sumeru's story, and his personality easily made a lot of people eager to try him out. If you pull this character, you'll have a pleasant time learning everything he's capable of.
He Performs Best In Reaction Teams
The Dendro element was the only element that wasn't in Genshin Impact at the beginning. Even though some enemies could still apply it to your characters, the entire element was released alongside Sumeru in the Version 3.0 update. This also brought different Dendro reactions to the game.
The developers are designing most Dendro characters in quite a special way, which makes them rely on reactions to deal high damage. This is the same for Alhaitham since he can deal constant Dendro damage using the Chisel-Light Mirror effect, but his base damage isn't the highest.
This lack of base damage is understandable because of the existence of the Quicken reaction. Through this reaction, you can increase the damage of a particular Dendro or Electro attack by two times or more.
To make up for the lack of base damage, it's best to use Alhaitham in a reaction team. The best choice that suits his play style is the Quicken team. After triggering Quicken, Alhaitham's quick Dendro application will trigger Spread, increasing the damage of this attack significantly. It's even better if the Projection Attack from Elemental Skill triggers Spread.
On the other hand, you can also run him in a supportive playstyle in the Bloom team. To do this, you need to have a character who can apply constant Hydro to the opponents. Although, a Bloom team isn't the best itself since the Dendro Cores explode after a long delay, giving the enemies time to escape their radius.
You can either use him in a Bloom team with Nilou since she buffs the reaction with her passive, or add an Electro character to your team to trigger Hyperbloom. The choice of Electro character matters when it comes to the Hyperbloom team since the character needs to have AoE Electro damage.
Finally, you can also put Alhaitham in a Burgeon or Burning team, but these reactions aren't the best. Alhaitham is tailor-made for these reaction teams because his Elemental Skill and Burst partly scale on Elemental Mastery.
Pay Attention To Chisel-Light Mirrors
Chisel-Light Mirrors are the most important part of Alhaitham's kit. This is evident since all three of your talents can generate these Mirrors in some way. You can get one Chisel-Light Mirror by hitting an opponent with your Charged or Plunging Attack every 12 seconds, and your Elemental Skill gives you one or two Mirrors based on the situation.
If you already have one or two Mirrors in your possession while using your Elemental Skill, you'll only gain one Mirror. On the other hand, you'll get two of them if you use the Skill with zero Mirrors in your possession.
Each Chisel-Light Mirror also gives Alhaitham Dendro Infusion for four seconds unless you leave the field. With all of this in mind, it's important to keep the number of your current Chisel-Light Mirrors in check. Ideally, you'd want to activate your Elemental Skill with zero Mirrors and then use a Charged or Plunging attack instantly after to get the maximum amount.
The number of Mirrors you possess is important because the Projection Attack damage from your Elemental Skill deals higher damage with more Mirrors.
He's Great For Fighting Hordes Of Enemies
While you can fight boss enemies with Alhaitham using a certain type of reaction team, he gives the most value if you use him against multiple smaller enemies. A lot of his damage comes from his Projection Attacks, and these attacks deal damage in an area. Moreover, his Charged Attacks only cost 20 stamina each.
Ideally, you'd want to use a few Charged Attacks while fighting enemies even when you won't get a Mirror from them. Moreover, the Anemo element has a ton of characters who can group these enemies, and it doesn't trigger the Swirl reaction with Dendro. This allows you to increase the application of any other element that you're using.
Make The Most Out Of Your Elemental Burst
The ability that makes Alhaitham extremely fun to use is his Elemental Burst. After getting enough Energy and filling the Burst bar, you can activate it to deal constant Dendro damage in a big area in front of the character. Although, the main reason this ability is fun is that it can last for different durations based on the Chisel-Light Mirrors in your possession.
The Elemental Burst lasts for four seconds if you use it when you have zero Mirrors, and two seconds are added to the duration for every Mirror in your possession. Although, these Mirrors are consumed during the process and they're the reason for your Dendro infusion.
Two seconds after the Burst is used, you'll get some Mirrors back based on the number of Mirrors consumed. Essentially, you'll get three, two, one, or zero Mirrors if the Burst uses zero, one, two, or three Mirrors respectively. This allows every player to use his Burst in many different ways:
- You can exhaust all three mirrors that you gain from using his Elemental Skill and Charged Attack, and then use your Elemental Burst at zero Mirrors to gain them all back. This will allow you to use the Dendro Infusion for a longer time.
- On the other hand, you can use Elemental Burst with the three Mirrors gained from Elemental Skill and Charged Attack to deal ten seconds of constant Dendro damage to the enemies in front, but you'll lose the Dendro Infusion. Using your Burst like this is only good against a group of enemies that you can crowd-control.
This mechanic is completely different if you have Alhaitham's sixth constellation since it gives you three Mirrors back after your Elemental Burst regardless of the number of Mirrors consumed.
Alhaitham Is Great For Exploration
While his Elemental Skill provides you with one or two Chisel-Light Mirrors depending on the situation, that's not the only good part about the ability. Whenever you use his Skill, it will teleport you to the location of the marker created. Moreover, you can hold this ability to change its direction.
If you enjoy open-world exploration in Genshin Impact, you've probably come across scenarios where you can't get above a certain platform because of the way it's designed. Without Alhaitham, you'd have to go around and find a way to get up there. But with his Elemental Skill, you can simply teleport above any such platforms.
You can't use this ability while you're flying, climbing, or swimming. Moreover, the ability has an 18-second cooldown at zero constellations. Ensure that you use this ability for easier exploration only if you're not about to be in combat.
Artifact Set Choice Is Important
The Deepwood Memories artifact set was released alongside Sumeru in Version 3.0 update as well. The four-piece bonus for this set gives you Dendro DMG Bonus and shreds the enemy's Dendro RES upon dealing damage. While this might seem like a go-to choice for Alhaitham's artifacts, it's not always a good idea.
An artifact set called Gilded Dreams was also released in the same domain, and it can give you up to 230 Elemental Mastery depending on your team composition. After reading Alhaitham's scaling, it's evident that you should get as much EM on him as possible. There's a way to give four-piece Gilded Dreams to Alhaitham and also have the Dendro RES shred on the enemy.
You can use the four-piece Deepwood Artifact set on one of the other party members. For example, the Electro character can have this set in his Quicken team. While this might decrease their personal damage, the buff given to Alhaitham will make up for it.