Varesa vs Xiao in Genshin Impact: Who is the better Plunge DPS?

Varesa is the upcoming 5-star character, set to release in Genshin Impact 5.5. She is an Electro main DPS unit, who wields a Catalyst as her weapon and belongs to the Collective of Plenty tribe. As revealed in the Genshin Impact 5.5 livestream, Varesa is mainly a Plunge DPS who consumes Nightsoul points in order to deal massive Plunge Attack DMG.

While the unique Nightsoul mechanism is always a great selling point for Natlan characters, many players might be indecisive about getting Varesa, considering her Plunge ATK playstyle is very similar to Xiao's. This article provides a detailed breakdown of both these characters' kits, explaining their respective gameplay and combat styles as Plunge DPS units.

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Genshin Impact: Who is the better Plunge DPS unit between Xiao and Varesa?

While the 5-star Electro unit Varesa and the 5-star Anemo unit Xiao are both Plunge DPS characters with similar playstyles, their kits differ quite a bit. In order to decide who is the better DPS unit, let us first take a look at their respective kits and combat styles.

Varesa's kit and gameplay

Varesa in Genshin Impact (Image via HoYoverse)

As Varesa is a Natlan character, the Nightsoul's Blessing state forms an important part of her gameplay. Varesa gains Nightsoul points whenever she uses either her Elemental Skill or her Plunge Attack, making it very easy to fill out her Nightsoul points bar. Once it is full, she enters the "Fiery Passion" state, wherein her Plunge Attacks gain a huge bonus DMG multiplier.

When Varesa uses a Charged Attack, she leaps high into the air and plunges down to deal Electro DMG. This makes Plunge Attacks the mainstay of her kit, due to the massive damage boost that these attacks get.

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Xiao's kit and gameplay

Xiao in Genshin Impact (Image via HoYoverse)

Xiao's Plunge Attacks are reliant on his Elemental Burst. After Xiao uses the latter, he gets a massive DMG boost to his Plunge Attacks, which are automatically converted to Anemo DMG. This makes Xiao a Plunge DPS unit, as he deals the most damage to enemies using his Plunge Attacks.

Xiao's kit and gameplay are actually pretty straightforward, as his Plunge Attacks don't rely on any complicated setups to execute.

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Is Varesa better than Xiao?

Varesa offers a very slight DPS upgrade over Xiao (Image via HoYoverse)

Arguably, Varesa can be labeled as a better Plunge DPS than Xiao, owing only to the fact that her Plunge Attacks are not reliant on her Elemental Burst. This means that she can deal massive damage to enemies regardless of whether she has sufficient energy or not, which Xiao cannot. Xiao's Plunge DMG is limited to his Elemental Burst only, reducing its viability. However, Xiao is definitely a very strong Plunge DPS character, whose damage potential is greatly increased with supports like Xianyun and Faruzan in his team.

If you don't have Xiao, you can definitely pull for Varesa if her gameplay and combat style interests you. In case you already have Xiao, you needn't necessarily get Varesa, as she offers a very minimal upgrade over Xiao.

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