Xiangli Yao, released in the latter half of game version 1.2, is a 5-star Electro gauntlet user who was given away to every player who completed the Moon-Chasing Festival storyline on time. While his kit contains tools that work against groups, he clearly specializes in single-target damage. This guide covers his mechanics, rotations, upgrades, weapons, and Echo setups.

Xiangli Yao’s Forte Circuit revolves around two separate resources: Capacity points and Performance Capacity stacks. They are tracked independently, and the game even continues tracking Capacity when its bar is hidden by the Performance Capacity tracker. Capacity points are gained by hitting enemies with basic attacks (4 points per hit) and his Resonance Skill (42 points). The gain happens only once per damage instance, so multiple enemies struck at the same time do not speed up the process. Once the Forte bar is filled, an audio cue plays and his Resonance Skill becomes Decipher. Casting it consumes all Capacity to deliver an attack roughly twice as strong as the normal skill, and its damage counts as Resonance Liberation DMG.

Performance Capacity stacks are tied to Xiangli Yao’s Resonance Liberation. After casting Liberation and entering the Intuition state, his attacks grant 1 to 3 Performance Capacity. In short, aside from the first Pivot - Impale in the basic attack chain (1 stack) and the Revamp follow-up (3 stacks), all other attacks grant two stacks. When all Performance Capacity bars are full, his Resonance Skill is replaced by Law of Reigns. Casting it consumes all Performance Capacity stacks plus one Hypercube from his Liberation to deal a powerful attack that is also considered Resonance Liberation DMG.

His Resonance Liberation deals damage on cast and puts Xiangli Yao into Intuition for 24 seconds. During this state his basic attacks are replaced by Pivot - Impale and his Resonance Skill is replaced by Divergence. Functionally, these moves are similar to the ones they replace apart from labels and animations. Three Hypercubes orbit him for the duration. They are consumed and visually disappear whenever Xiangli Yao uses Law of Reigns. If all three are used, the Intuition state ends early, but this does not affect the Liberation cooldown because it starts immediately upon cast.

There are two important quirks not listed in the ability descriptions. First, each variant of his Resonance Skill runs on a separate cooldown, letting Xiangli Yao chain skill casts under the right circumstances. Second, some of his attacks—namely the final basic attack, Resonance Liberation, and Law of Reigns—slow down the enemies they hit. The effect is not as drastic as Rover (Female)'s or Zig Zag's Stasis, but it can throw off parry timings during boss fights and open him to stray hits if buttons are mashed without thought.

Strengths and weaknesses:

✅ Very strong and fairly simple kit with an even damage curve

✅ Slowdown effect during Resonance Liberation helps reassess the field after flashier moves

✅ Obtainable for free through the Moon-Chasing Festival

❌ Picky with Echo substats

❌ Lacks budget characters that can effectively support him

❌ Built-in slowdown can throw off parry timings if used improperly

Rotations should always be taken with caution because enemies are not sandbags. Parries, Dodge Counters, and knockbacks will affect the rest of the rotation. Xiangli Yao’s primary skill rotation is used in the main DPS role. Most of the challenge comes from fitting Thundering Mephis into the overall team rotation because its bonus is tied to the final attack in a lengthy six-hit chain. A summon-type Echo can be placed virtually anywhere in the combo instead. The rotation can sustain itself infinitely with one extra basic attack chain at the end if Xiangli Yao has over 30% Energy Regeneration, but doing so outside Illusive Realm is impractical because he would miss out on teammate buffs.

The beginning of the rotation looks slightly odd but is important for two reasons. First, it activates bonus damage effects such as the Void Thunder set or Stonard's active, and the earlier they are triggered, the better the results for the rest of the combo. Second, the end of the opening attack sequence matters because Xiangli Yao does not gain Capacity points during his Liberation. Without squeezing in the extra punches and Deduction, he cannot cast the additional Decipher and Revamp, which limits his damage potential.

Upgrade priority is clear. Xiangli Yao’s three primary damaging moves—Law of Reigns, Divergence, and Revamp—take their damage multiplier from the Forte Circuit node and should be prioritized first, followed closely by the Resonance Liberation node. Basic Attack is the lowest priority because his Pivot - Impale strikes scale from Resonance Liberation alone, and basic attacks outside Intuition are only used at the very start of the rotation to enable his equipped weapon’s buff.

When it comes to weapons, Verity's Handle is the best gauntlet for Xiangli Yao. It boosts both Electro DMG and Resonance Liberation DMG while granting a large amount of critical hit chance. If that weapon is not available, Abyss Surges works as a stat stick, though its active effect bonus is modest and does not synergize particularly well. Among 4-star options, Celestial Spiral becomes the best budget choice in version 1.3 thanks to high base ATK, ATK%, and extra Resonance Energy. Before that, Hollow Mirage is the prime budget pick, and Stonard shoots past its competitors if obtained from the battlepass, though it requires spending money. If none of these are available, Gauntlets of Night is a reasonable stand-in.

For Echoes, the Void Thunder set offers several options, but they all have trade-offs. Thundering Mephis grants 12% Electro DMG and 12% Resonance Liberation DMG, but its six-hit attack sequence takes four seconds to finish and often becomes a net DPS loss when slotted into the team rotation. Tempest Mephis boosts Electro DMG and Heavy Attack DMG by 12%, which is half the bonus for half the problem. Electro Predator trades away all buffs and most damage for the convenience of not interrupting combat flow; it is a summon-type Echo and can be used twice during Xiangli Yao’s combo, but its low damage and delayed output make it a placeholder at best. If using Lingering Tunes instead, Mech Abomination is the only viable choice because it deals respectable damage and buffs ATK by 12% for 15 seconds without sacrificing field time.

Main stat selection:

Unlike most characters, Xiangli Yao prefers Crit Rate% on his 4-Cost Echo regardless of weapon because his minor stat nodes boost critical damage. The average damage difference is very small, so a Crit DMG% Echo can still work depending on rolled substats. For 3-Cost Echoes, certain weapons such as Verity's Handle and Stonard prefer Electro% + ATK% instead of double Electro%.

The 4-4-1-1-1 setup is a straight downgrade from the standard 4-3-3-1-1 setup. It sacrifices too much Electro% to be viable, and attempting to compensate with Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus would be better spent on a double Electro 4-3-3-1-1 setup. If a player still insists on using it, weapons with innate critical hit chance like Verity's Handle and Stonard prefer Crit Rate% + Crit DMG%, while all other weapons prefer dual Crit Rate%. To break even on the loss of elemental damage, at least three substats worth of Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus are needed on top of the usual ATK%, Crit Rate%, and Crit DMG%. Players should follow a 1:2 ratio for Crit Rate and Crit DMG.

Xiangli Yao exceeded expectations set by previously released characters in both raw damage numbers and playstyle comfort. His average damage output comes dangerously close to Jinhsi’s at lower Forte charge levels, and his combo achieves it with far less difficulty than Calcharo. The free 5-star Electro DPS remains an unexpected highlight of patch 1.2 in both gameplay and story, and his fundamentals still serve players well.

Data referenced from Newzoo helps frame why a free, high-output 5-star like Xiangli Yao can meaningfully shape player behavior: when a standout DPS is broadly accessible, more players can engage with endgame-style optimization—tight rotations, Energy Regeneration thresholds, and substat hunting—without the usual gacha barrier. In practice, that accessibility makes details like managing dual resources (Capacity vs. Performance Capacity), picking Echoes that minimize field-time loss, and prioritizing Forte/Liberation upgrades more impactful across the wider community, because a larger share of the playerbase can actually apply these optimization concepts.