Varesa is a 5-star Electro Catalyst who does almost all of her damage through Plunging Attacks, which means her team slots exist for one reason: make each plunge hit harder. She is self-enabling, so you are not building a team to keep her on-field — you are building one to stack attack buffs, shred resistance, and keep her Burst rolling.
Quick answer: Put Iansan in every Varesa team. Her strongest lineup is Varesa, Chevreuse, Iansan, and Mavuika, which triggers Overload for Pyro and Electro resistance shred.
How Varesa’s damage works: Fiery Passion and Apex Drive
When Varesa’s Nightsoul Point gauge is full she enters Fiery Passion. A Plunging Attack in that state activates Apex Drive, which gives her a special Burst with no cooldown and a lower energy cost. That short Burst is woven into her rotation constantly, which is why her talent priority runs Normal Attacks first, Elemental Burst second, and Elemental Skill last.
Because her damage is frontloaded into a small number of very large plunge hits, she cannot use Melt or Vaporize the way a normal attack carry would. Her teams instead pile on ATK%, CRIT, plunge damage bonuses, and resistance reduction.
Varesa team comparison and peak damage
All five lineups below were run against the same target, the Lv. 103 Kongamato “Mountain King” boss, so the peak hits are directly comparable. The gap is large: the Overload dual-DPS build lands a single hit worth more than four times anything else on the list.
| Team | Lineup | Peak hit |
|---|---|---|
| Dual-DPS | Varesa, Chevreuse, Iansan, Mavuika | 1,271,690 |
| Hex | Varesa, Nicole, Durin, Iansan | 290,326 |
| F2P Hypercarry | Varesa, Chevreuse, Iansan, Bennett | 251,345 |
| Res Shred Premium | Varesa, Xilonen, Iansan, Xianyun | 238,902 |
| Lunar-Charged | Columbina, Ineffa, Iansan, Varesa | 180,922 |
Overload teams: Chevreuse is the core
Overload is Varesa’s highest-ceiling archetype. Chevreuse reduces enemy Pyro and Electro resistance whenever Overload triggers, and her Skill also heals and grants an ATK buff scaled off her Max HP. Both of those effects land on Varesa directly, and the shred applies to the exact element she deals damage with.
Chevreuse’s resistance shred only works if your party contains only Pyro and Electro characters. Slot in an Anemo or Geo support and the whole premise collapses.
Dual-DPS: Varesa, Chevreuse, Iansan, Mavuika
This is the damage ceiling. Mavuika applies off-field Pyro so Varesa’s plunges trigger Overload on contact, Chevreuse converts those reactions into resistance shred, and Iansan’s Burst hands out a mobile ATK buff that follows Varesa around instead of locking her to a circle. Mavuika also contributes real sub-DPS damage of her own, which is why the peak hit here is so far ahead of the rest.
Run Mavuika on Obsidian Codex or Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City with an Elemental Mastery Sands and a Pyro DMG Goblet. Chevreuse wants HP% on every main stat, since her buff and healing both scale off Max HP.
F2P hypercarry: Varesa, Chevreuse, Iansan, Bennett
Swap Mavuika for Bennett and you keep the entire Overload structure using 4-star supports. Bennett’s Burst provides a large ATK buff plus healing, Iansan stacks a second ATK buff on top, and Chevreuse still shreds. The trade-off is that Bennett’s buff is tied to his circle, which fights against Varesa’s mobility, and you lose Mavuika’s personal damage.
Overload knocks lighter enemies around, but Varesa’s movement in combat makes that easier to manage than it is for a grounded melee carry. Both Overload variants also scale hard with Chevreuse and Iansan constellations.
Res Shred Premium: Varesa, Xilonen, Iansan, Xianyun
This is the pure plunge hypercarry. Xianyun is the reason it exists — she raises teammate CRIT Rate and Plunging Attack damage, and she heals, which makes the rotation comfortable. Xilonen adds resistance shred and an elemental damage bonus through Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City, and Iansan supplies the mobile ATK buff again.
No reaction is required here, so this lineup does not care about enemy element or party composition rules. That makes it the safest pick when an Overload team would be blocked by Pyro shields or high Electro resistance.
Lunar-Charged: Columbina, Ineffa, Iansan, Varesa
Lunar-Charged pairs Varesa’s Electro with Hydro from Ineffa and Columbina, turning steady reaction damage into a second source of output alongside her plunges. Iansan holds the same buffing slot she does everywhere else. This lineup posted the lowest peak hit of the five, because its damage is spread across repeated reaction ticks rather than concentrated into one nuke.
Hex team: Varesa, Nicole, Durin, Iansan
Nicole works as a shielder and ATK buffer, and she prefers to be paired with at least one Hexerei character — Durin fills that slot here while also supplying Pyro. The shield removes the main risk of a plunge rotation, which is getting interrupted mid-animation, and the peak hit lands second among the five teams despite skipping Chevreuse entirely.
Which support slots actually matter
- Iansan — appears in all five teams; her Burst ATK buff has no circle restriction, so it follows Varesa mid-plunge.
- Chevreuse — the only support that shreds both Pyro and Electro resistance, but locks you to a Pyro/Electro party.
- Xianyun — direct Plunging Attack damage and CRIT Rate for the team, plus healing.
- Xilonen — resistance shred and an elemental damage bonus without demanding a specific reaction.
- Mavuika or Bennett — the Pyro enabler for Overload; Mavuika adds damage, Bennett adds healing.
Other viable options exist. Furina slots in alongside Xianyun and Iansan for an Electro hypercarry that leans on her damage bonus, and an Aggravate build with Nahida works but underperforms, since Aggravate rewards many small hits and Varesa’s damage is concentrated into a few big ones.
Stat targets and Energy Recharge by team
Energy Recharge is the one stat that changes based on who you pair her with. With a second Electro unit such as Iansan she only needs enough to fire her short Burst every rotation; running her as the only Electro character roughly doubles the requirement.
| Stat | Target |
|---|---|
| ATK | 2,000–3,000 |
| Energy Recharge (with another Electro) | 120–145% |
| Energy Recharge (solo Electro) | 190–200% |
| CRIT Rate | 50–60% |
| CRIT DMG | 180% or higher |
Long Night’s Oath is her artifact set, with an ATK% Sands, Electro DMG Goblet, and a CRIT circlet. An ATK% Goblet becomes reasonable in Chevreuse Overload teams or alongside Furina, where the damage bonus is already coming from elsewhere, though Electro DMG% is still the default. Vivid Notions is her best weapon by a clear margin, Kagura’s Verity is the strongest alternative, and The Widsith is the free-to-play pick, especially at higher refinements.
If you own Chevreuse and Iansan, build the Overload team first and worry about everything else later — it is the cheapest lineup that reaches Varesa’s highest numbers, and it upgrades cleanly the moment Mavuika joins the roster.
