Qiqi spent years as the punchline of the standard banner, a healer nobody planned around. That changed with the arrival of Stellar Glimmer reactions and a set of buffs called Witch’s Revelation, which reworked how her Elemental Skill behaves off-field. She now applies Cryo consistently, generates Cryo Particles, and hands her whole team a large Stellar Conduct damage boost while her Skill is active.
Quick answer: Put Qiqi on 4-piece Tenacity of the Millelith with a Favonius Sword or Sacrificial Sword, build ATK% Sands and Goblet, and use her Elemental Skill on cooldown inside a Stellar Conduct team. Her Skill applies Cryo, makes particles, heals, and buffs the team’s Stellar Conduct damage by 50%.
Why Qiqi’s Skill carries her whole kit
Everything good about modern Qiqi flows through her Elemental Skill. With the Witch’s Revelation buffs, casting it applies Cryo to enemies whenever your active character hits them, so it keeps reactions going without Qiqi being on the field. The same Skill now produces Cryo Particles, which fixed her old energy problem, and it raises the entire team’s Stellar Conduct damage by 50% for as long as it is active.
Her Elemental Burst adds extra damage inside a Polestar Field in Stellar Conduct teams, plus more healing. You generally do not need to press it every rotation unless she is at C6, where her Burst scales up her personal damage. Normal attacks can be ignored entirely.
Note: At C6, Qiqi’s attack stat is converted into boosted Stellar Glimmer damage, which is why an ATK-focused build matters more once you reach that Constellation.
Best weapons for Qiqi
The right sword depends on one question: does your team need Qiqi to make energy? If it does, the Favonius Sword is the default pick, and you build Crit Rate to trigger its particle generation. If her Skill uptime is the priority, the Sacrificial Sword lets her recast the Skill in a single rotation for constant Cryo, particles, healing, and the Stellar Conduct buff.
| Weapon | Rarity | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Favonius Sword | 4-star | Energy Recharge plus a chance for crit hits to make Elemental Particles for the team. Requires building Crit Rate. |
| Sacrificial Sword | 4-star | Chance to reset the Skill cooldown, letting Qiqi cast it twice per rotation for full uptime on Cryo, particles, and buffs. |
| Freedom-Sworn | 5-star | Elemental Mastery plus teamwide ATK and attack-damage buffs, but only when Qiqi triggers reactions. Needs two triggers to pay off. |
| Key of Khaj-Nisut | 5-star | Boosts her HP and EM, and shares EM with the team at three stacks. Best only in teams that want more Elemental Mastery. |
| Finale of the Deep | 4-star | Craftable ATK stick that grows on Skill use. Solid when you do not need Favonius particles. |
Save 5-star ATK “stat sticks” like Finale of the Deep or Key of Khaj-Nisut for a C6 Qiqi, since that is when her attack converts into extra Stellar Glimmer damage. Before C6, the Favonius or Sacrificial Sword do more for the team.
Best artifacts and stat priority
4-piece Tenacity of the Millelith is Qiqi’s default set. Her steady Skill damage keeps the set’s teamwide ATK buff active, which stacks a 20% attack boost on top of everything else she provides. If another teammate already runs Tenacity and Qiqi is at C6 using her Burst every rotation, 4-piece Noblesse Oblige is the alternative for a Burst-based ATK buff.
| Set | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Tenacity of the Millelith (4pc) | General best set. Grants a teamwide 20% ATK buff on Skill hits, even off-field. |
| Noblesse Oblige (4pc) | For a C6 Qiqi using her Burst each rotation, when another character already runs Tenacity. |
| Instructor (4pc) | A budget buffing option that shares Elemental Mastery on reaction, but lowers her stats and healing. |
| Song of Days Past (4pc) | Converts her healing into bonus team damage when better buffing sets are unavailable. |
| Ocean-Hued Clam (4pc) | Gives Qiqi personal damage from healing, though a buffing set is usually stronger. |
For main stats, ATK is the priority because her healing and her C6 Stellar Glimmer buff both scale off attack. The Circlet choice flexes with your weapon.
| Slot | Main stat |
|---|---|
| Sands | ATK% (Energy Recharge if you use her Burst every rotation) |
| Goblet | ATK% |
| Circlet | Crit Rate with Favonius Sword, otherwise Healing Bonus; ATK% at C6 |
For substats, aim for Crit Rate and ATK%, followed by Energy Recharge. Crit Rate only matters when she carries the Favonius Sword to power its particle generation. At C6, favor ATK on the Circlet over Crit Rate unless you genuinely cannot land crits.
Best Qiqi teams
Qiqi is at her best as a Stellar Conduct support. She slots into nearly any Stellar Conduct party and does a strong job filling the last slot, thanks to her healing and her 50% Stellar Conduct damage buff. She can also run in Stellar Swirl comps, though a unit like Odette, Cryo Traveler, or an Anemo character usually squeezes out more overall damage there.
Stellar Conduct teams
| Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qiqi | Sandrone | Odette | Yae Miko / Alyosha |
| Qiqi | Sandrone | Cryo Traveler | Yae Miko / Alyosha |
| Qiqi | Sandrone | Yae Miko / Alyosha | Nicole / Escoffier |
| Qiqi | Cryo Traveler | Odette | Yae Miko / Alyosha |
| Qiqi | Cryo Traveler | Yae Miko / Alyosha | Sucrose |
| Qiqi | Wriothesley | Odette | Beidou / Kuki Shinobu / Alyosha |
| Qiqi | Cyno | Odette | Yae Miko / Alyosha |
| Qiqi | Cryo Traveler | Beidou / Fischl | Sucrose |
Stellar Swirl teams
| Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qiqi | Mizuki | Odette / Cryo Traveler | Sucrose |
| Qiqi | Mizuki | Odette / Cryo Traveler | Faruzan |
How to play Qiqi in a rotation
When leveling talents, prioritize her Elemental Skill for more healing, then her Burst if you want a bit more damage. Her Normal Attack can be skipped completely, and she performs fine even at lower Skill and Burst levels if you would rather conserve materials.
Do Constellations matter?
Most of Qiqi’s Constellations focus on healing she already provides plenty of at C0, so they are low priority. Two stand out. C1 grants a large chunk of Energy, which makes it far easier to fire her Burst every rotation if you want to. C6 adds extra Stellar reaction damage and is the point where an ATK-heavy build and 5-star weapons truly pay off. Everything between mainly boosts healing you do not need more of.
Built around her Skill and Tenacity of the Millelith, Qiqi now earns her slot as a free-to-play Cryo support who heals, applies Cryo, feeds particles, and buffs Stellar Conduct damage all at once. That is a long way from her Pity Destroyer reputation.
