5 tips to easily beat Azhdaha in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact players have faced multiple weekly bosses on their journey through Teyvat, and now, a new one has been added to the list.

For many players, the new Geo dragon, Azhdaha, is likely the most challenging of the weekly boss battles. With extremely strong attacks and huge AoE radiuses, Azhdaha can easily drop a character who isn’t careful.

For those unprepared, this challenge may well be a nightmare. To help Genshin Impact players win this battle, this article contains five solid tips for taking on Azhdaha.

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How to beat Azhdaha easily in Genshin Impact

Azhdaha is (image via Genshin Impact)

Azhdaha is a weekly boss that Genshin Impact players can unlock by completing Zhongli’s newest story quest, Historia Antiqua Chapter Act 2: No Mere Stone.

Players can unlock this quest with a Story Key after fulfilling a few prerequisites:

• Reach Adventure Rank 40
• Complete Historia Antiqua Chapter Act I: Sal Flore
• Complete Chapter I Act IV: We Will Be Reunited

In the new Zhongli story quest, Travelers face off against Azhdaha for the first time, featuring Zhongli as a trial character.

Azhdaha has three elemental forms, each with unique mechanics and attacks. The first will always be the standard Geo Dragon, but it later crystallizes into a Hydro version of itself, and finally, it will crystallize into Electro. The dragon switches elemental forms when enough damage has been dealt to him.

With the following tips, players can survive and thrive in the Azhdaha challenge. These tips will help players avoid Azdaha’s many AoE attacks, and also take advantage of opportunities to deal significant damage.

#5 - Conserve stamina

Qiqi climbing with low stamina (image via Genshin Impact)

Azhdaha's attacks have such large radiuses, players have to sprint quite a bit to avoid massive losses in HP.

It may be a good idea to take things slow when possible, avoiding sprints when not necessary since they may need to dash more than once at a moment’s notice.

Azhdaha’s Electro form is the biggest reason here. Lightning and floor attacks, both will have players sprinting out of the way more than attacking, and not having enough stamina can be an easy way to lose a character in battle.

#4 - Use a bow wielder

Ganyu firing an aimed shot at the Genshin Impact boss, Azhdaha (image via MELOO)

Players shouldn’t expect to fight inside a phone booth when going up against Azhdaha. In several parts of the battle, players will need to get far away from Azhdaha, or else a character is very likely to fall.

There are several moments where it’s just plain unsafe to be near the dragon. On a few occasions, he will prepare a large AoE attack and give players a few seconds to run. It’s here that players can do extra DPS by having a bow unit at the ready.

#3 - Trigger elemental reactions

Azhdaha boss battle in Genshin Impact: Diluc triggering Vaporize (image via Mtashed)

Much of the current meta for the Azhdaha challenge is uniquely defensive, trying to minimize damage and evade attacks. However, to make any real progress, there needs to be some sort of attack.

Azhdaha is a tank, and when it’s safe to deal damage, that chance should be maximized.

When in its Hydro and Electro forms, it’s helpful to create elemental reactions that increase damage output. Pyro attacks work great against both of these forms, creating Vaporize and Overload reactions respectively.

#2 - Stay in safe positions

Azhdaha challenge in Genshin Impact: Electro danger zones (image via Mtashed)

Like with other weekly boss challenges in Genshin Impact, staying in optimal positions is key to avoiding damage.

In its Geo form, it’s best to orbit Azhdaha, moving from his tail to his head. This works because from behind and in front of him, it’s easier to read his attacks. When a character is in front of Azhdaha, he tries a frontal attack, and when characters are behind him, he tries a tail swipe.

In the Hydro stage, it’s best for players to keep their distance to dodge attacks and try to land mostly ranged attacks.

The final stage will have players dodging Electro damage from the floor. For the best chance of being able to get to safe parts of the floor, players should try to stay near the middle of the arena.

There are also some signals that tell players they need to create some distance. Before Azhdaha switches form, the dragon does AoE damage in a huge radius. Also, after he utters a voice line, it’s common that Azhdaha deals another large radius attack in the form of an earthquake.

#1 - Use a shield support character

Azhdaha boss battle in Genshin Impact: Zhongli's shield (image via MELOO)

Although some Genshin Impact players may have built a team that can tackle Azhdaha without a shield, this isn’t the case for most players. A shield support unit is practically mandatory for the Azhdaha battle.

In Azhdaha’s Hydro form, he fires orbs that debuff characters to deal very high damage over time, which often adds up to thousands of health points in the most difficult version of this boss battle. Jean can remove these debuffs, but most game mechanics won’t work to clean away these effects.

These debuffs, however, won’t work in the first place if the attack lands on a shielded character.

Shields are also important because of Azhdaha’s Electro attacks. In this form, the domain will take on a unique effect, glowing purple in some areas to signify impending Electro damage. Players can get out of the way, but their reaction time needs to be very fast, and many are likely to take a few hits. The damage here is also very high to unshielded characters.

Since shields are important in this battle, Zhongli would be the best character on a player’s team. His ability to maintain a shield throughout the whole battle makes things much easier. However, any shield character will help; it may even be worth putting two shielders on the team just to be safe.

As a side note, it should be known that some trusted leaks have shown Genshin Impact's newest boss controlling other elements apart from Hydro and Electro, so whether his abilities are rotated every so often remains to be seen.