How to play Xilonen in Genshin Impact: Rotations, playstyle, and ideal stats

Xilonen is a new Geo 5-Star character in version 5.1 of Genshin Impact who will soon become the mainstay in a lot of team compositions. Her support capabilities are so strong that she is being touted as a replacement for Kazuha by a large section of the playerbase. Her banner is featured in the first half of version 5.1, alongside Chiori's rerun banner.

Xilonen belongs to the Children of Echoes tribe and is renowned as one of the best smiths all across Natlan. As with all other Natlan characters, Xilonen has special Nightsoul-aligned capabilities that increase her movement speed and allow her to climb walls easily, similar to that of the Tepetlisaurs. She can be played both as a support and a DPS character, although her kit is intended for use as a support unit.

This article looks at the best way to play Xilonen in Genshin Impact, including her ideal rotations and stats.

---

How to play Xilonen in Genshin Impact

Xilonen's kit overview

Xilonen is a 5-Star Geo unit that fills the role of a support character in most team compositions. She has special abilities tied into Natlan's Nightsoul mechanics, which form a major part of her kit.

1) Elemental Skill

Xilonen's Elemental Skill is the most important part of her kit. Using this ability helps shred resistance of enemies to these elements: Pyro, Hydro, Electro, and Cryo (no Dendro and Anemo RES shred). These elements depend on the ones her teammates wield.

When you use Xilonen's Elemental Skill, she gains three samplers which start at Geo. For every other party member who is of the Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo elemental type, Xilonen's samplers convert to the corresponding element. If at least two of her samplers have undergone elemental conversion, Xilonen provides RES shred for those particular elements.

---

2) Elemental Burst

Xilonen's Elemental Burst deals AoE Geo DMG which scales off her DEF. Additionally, if at least two of Xilonen's samplers have had their elements changed, she will heal the active on-field character for a total of 12 seconds. If two of her samplers have not undergone elemental conversion, then her Elemental Burst will not provide any healing. Instead, it will deal two more instances of AoE Geo DMG.

---

Xilonen's playstyle and rotations

Xilonen's RES shred comes from her Samplers (Image via HoYoverse)

Xilonen's main utility as a support character comes from her Elemental Skill. When you use her Elemental Skill, she enters Nightsoul's Blessing state and gains three Samplers, which are by default aligned to Geo. For each other character in the team who wields Pyro, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo, she will convert one of the Samplers into the corresponding element.

For example, in a team with Mualani, Furina, and Xiangling, Xilonen will convert two of the Samplers to Hydro and Pyro, respectively, while the third will stay Geo. After two of her samplers have had their elements converted, using her normal attacks twice will activate her teamwide RES shred.

Keep in mind that to activate Xilonen's RES shred, a minimum of two party members need to be either Pyro, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo. In the absence of this, she cannot provide RES shred. For example, if you run a team with Navia, Gorou, Furina, and Xilonen, you will not get the RES shred since only one party member wields Hydro. If you swap Gorou with Xiangling, you can activate Xilonen's RES shred.

So for a team where you use Xilonen as a support character, the ideal rotation is to use her Elemental Skill, followed by two normal attacks to activate the RES shred. After that, switch to your DPS characters and attack the opponents like you normally would (or perform your standard team rotation, whichever it is).

In case you want to use Xilonen as a main DPS, you must ensure at least two of her Samplers remain in the default Geo state. For instance, you can run Xilonen in a team with Gorou, Itto, and Furina, which will convert only one of her Samplers to Hydro, while the other two will stay Geo. When this happens, Xilonen's normal and plunging attacks will deal an extra 30% damage, which is ideal for a main DPS Xilonen. However, do keep in mind that her kit mechanics favor her use as a support unit over a main DPS one.

---

Xilonen's ideal stats: Artifacts, main stats, and talents

Ideal stats for Xilonen (Image via HoYoverse)

The best artifact set for a support Xilonen is the 4-piece Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City. This artifact set is tailor-made for support characters, and Xilonen can make great use of it. Try and equip artifact pieces with the following main stats:

• Sands: DEF% or Energy Recharge
• Goblet: DEF%
• Circlet: DEF% or Healing Bonus

Focus on Energy Recharge and DEF substats as much as you can for an optimal support Xilonen build. Also keep in mind that her Elemental Skill provides RES shred, while her Elemental Burst provides healing. Level up her talents in the following order:

Elemental Skill > Elemental Burst > Normal attack

---

Check out these Genshin Impact articles:

• Controversial Xilonen idle animation allegedly reworked amid legal threats
• Genshin Impact Xilonen banner release date, 4-stars, weapons and rerun characters
• Genshin Impact 5.1 banners schedule and official character reruns
• Genshin Impact reveals Ororon, an upcoming version 5.2 character
• Genshin Impact reveals Chasca, an upcoming version 5.2 character