The Definitive Answer to Who Goes Best with Xiao
So, you’ve got the Vigilant Yaksha, Liyue’s last remaining guardian, and you’re wondering, “Who goes best with Xiao?” Let’s get right to it. The absolute best-in-slot teammates for Xiao in the current meta are a combination of dedicated Anemo supports and powerful off-field buffers. His premium, top-tier team generally consists of Xiao, Faruzan, Xianyun, and Furina. This powerhouse composition addresses all of Xiao’s needs, turning him into an unstoppable pogo-stick of destruction.
Of course, not everyone has these specific limited 5-star characters. The beauty of building a Xiao team lies in understanding his core mechanics and finding the right characters to fill crucial roles. His best partners will always be those who can provide a steady stream of energy, keep him alive through his self-damaging Burst, and amplify his raw Anemo damage. This guide will dive deep into why certain characters synergize so perfectly with him, explore various top-tier team compositions, and help you build the ultimate Xiao team with the characters you have.
Understanding Xiao’s Core Needs: The Foundation of His Teams
Before we can pair him up, we need to understand what makes Xiao tick. He’s a Hypercarry, meaning the team revolves entirely around enabling his on-field damage. His playstyle is unique, centered around his Elemental Burst, “Bane of All Evil.” When active, he dons the Yaksha Mask, gains a massive damage boost, infuses his attacks with Anemo, and can perform high-flying Plunging Attacks. This power, however, comes with a few key challenges that his teammates must solve.
- Massive Energy Recharge (ER) Demands: Xiao’s Elemental Burst costs a staggering 80 energy. Furthermore, his Elemental Skill, “Lemniscatic Wind Cycling,” doesn’t generate any energy particles while his Burst is active. This means he has a very short window to funnel energy to himself, making an “Anemo battery”—a character who can generate a lot of Anemo particles for him—almost non-negotiable for smooth rotations.
- Sustain, Sustain, Sustain: The Yaksha Mask continuously drains Xiao’s HP. This self-inflicted damage can quickly leave him vulnerable, especially in challenging content like the Spiral Abyss. Therefore, a powerful healer or a rock-solid shielder is absolutely essential to keep him fighting.
- Buffing and Damage Amplification: As an Anemo DPS, Xiao can’t take advantage of powerful amplifying reactions like Melt or Vaporize. His damage comes from his raw talent multipliers. To push his numbers to their peak, he relies heavily on teammates who can provide direct buffs like ATK boosts, DMG% bonuses, and enemy Resistance Shred.
- Interruption Resistance: While plunging, Xiao is highly susceptible to being knocked around by enemy attacks. A stray arrow or a charging enemy can send him flying, completely ruining his damage sequence and wasting precious seconds of his Burst uptime. This makes shields or other forms of interruption resistance incredibly valuable.
The Unquestionable Core: Xiao’s Best Anemo Supports
The most crucial slot in any Xiao team, besides Xiao himself, is the second Anemo character. This character serves as his battery and, in recent years, has also become his biggest damage amplifier. The release of Faruzan and Xianyun has fundamentally changed how we build Xiao teams for the better.
Faruzan: The Designated Anemo Hypercarry Enabler
If there’s one character that feels tailor-made for Xiao, it’s Faruzan. She is, without a doubt, the single best Anemo support for him. What she brings to the table is a suite of buffs that no other character can replicate.
What makes Faruzan so good?
Her Elemental Burst creates a field that provides a massive Anemo DMG Bonus and, more importantly, shreds enemies’ Anemo Resistance by 30%. This Resistance Shred is a rare and incredibly potent multiplier for Xiao’s damage.
Pre-C6 vs. C6 Faruzan: A Tale of Two Characters
It’s important to distinguish between Faruzan before and after her sixth Constellation.
- Pre-C6 Faruzan: She is still a fantastic buffer, but she has immense energy problems of her own. You’ll need to stack an enormous amount of Energy Recharge on her (often upwards of 250-300%) and equip her with a Favonius Warbow to ensure she can use her Burst every rotation. While she’s a big damage increase for Xiao, managing her energy can be tricky.
- C6 Faruzan: This is the holy grail for any Xiao main. Her C6 is arguably one of the best constellations in the entire game. It not only solves her energy issues by generating particles off-field but also grants a staggering 40% Anemo CRIT DMG to any character buffed by her Burst. This elevates Xiao’s damage to an entirely new level, making C6 Faruzan his undisputed best partner. With C6, her ER needs drop significantly, allowing you to build more offensive stats on her as well.
Xianyun (Cloud Retainer): The Plunging Attack Guru
Xianyun’s arrival was another monumental moment for Xiao mains. She masterfully consolidates two vital roles—healer and buffer—into a single slot, while introducing a brand-new buffing mechanic that is perfect for Xiao.
Her Elemental Burst provides strong, continuous, team-wide healing, completely negating Xiao’s HP drain and any incoming damage. But the real magic lies in the “Driftcloud Star” buff it provides. This buff adds a huge chunk of Flat DMG to Plunging Attacks, which scales off Xianyun’s own ATK. Because this is a flat damage bonus, it gets multiplied by all of Xiao’s DMG% and CRIT DMG, resulting in an astronomical increase in his personal damage.
Pairing Xianyun with Xiao is a no-brainer. She provides:
- Top-tier team-wide healing.
- A unique and powerful Plunging Attack damage buff.
- Decent Anemo particle generation, further lowering Xiao’s ER needs.
- The ability to hold supportive artifacts like Noblesse Oblige or weapons like Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (TTDS), although her own signature weapon is best for maximizing her buff.
Other Viable Anemo Options
If you don’t have Faruzan or Xianyun, don’t worry! Xiao has been a top-tier DPS since his release, and he has several other great Anemo partners.
- Jean: For a long time, Jean was the classic “all-in-one” support for Xiao. She provides solid healing with her Burst and generates a good amount of Anemo particles. At C4, she even provides a 40% Anemo RES Shred within her Dandelion Field, making her an incredible support.
- Sucrose: Sucrose is the premier F2P-friendly battery for Xiao. She can generate a ton of particles with her two Elemental Skill charges (especially with Sacrificial Fragments). She is also the best user of the Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (TTDS) catalyst, which can pass a massive 48% ATK buff to Xiao when you switch to him. Her Elemental Mastery sharing is wasted on Xiao, but her battery and buffing capabilities are top-notch.
- Venti / Kazuha: A common misconception is that these two premier Anemo supports are great with Xiao. While they are amazing characters, they have some anti-synergy with him. Their Bursts often lift smaller enemies too high for Xiao’s plunges to consistently hit. They can be used to group enemies *before* Xiao’s Burst, but their primary utility is often lost during his on-field time.
Building the Rest of the Team: The Flex Slots
With Xiao and his Anemo partner locked in, you have two flexible slots to fill. These are typically dedicated to a buffer, a sub-DPS, or a shielder.
The Gods of Buffing and Sustain
Zhongli: The Unbreakable Shield
There’s a reason Xiao and Zhongli are such an iconic duo. Zhongli provides everything Xiao could want in a defensive support:
- An Unbreakable Shield: His Jade Shield provides 100% interruption resistance, meaning Xiao can plunge without a care in the world.
- Universal RES Shred: The shield shreds the resistance of all nearby enemies to all elements (including Anemo) by 20%. This is a direct and consistent damage increase.
- Comfort and Safety: With Zhongli, you basically don’t have to worry about dodging, allowing you to focus purely on optimizing your plunge combos.
Bennett: The ATK Buff King
Bennett is, and likely always will be, one of the best supports in the game. His Burst, “Fantastic Voyage,” provides a massive flat ATK buff and powerful healing within its circle. The synergy is obvious: more ATK equals more damage for Xiao. The only minor drawback is that Xiao’s high mobility can sometimes cause him to jump out of the circle, but a skilled player can easily manage this by staying within its radius.
Furina: The Hydro Archon of DMG%
Furina represents the cutting edge of Xiao teams. Her Elemental Burst provides an absolutely massive team-wide DMG% bonus that ramps up as your team’s HP fluctuates. This synergizes perfectly with Xiao’s own HP drain and the team-wide healing provided by a support like Xianyun or Jean. She turns the entire team into a damage-dealing machine and provides significant off-field Hydro damage herself. The caveat? You MUST run a powerful team-wide healer with her. Trying to use Furina with a single-target healer or just a shielder will be an exercise in frustration.
Assembling the Best Xiao Teams: Sample Compositions
Now let’s put it all together. Here are some of the best and most popular Xiao team compositions, from premium hyper-investment teams to more accessible options.
| Team Composition | Key Synergy | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xiao / Faruzan / Xianyun / Furina | The ultimate damage ceiling. Triple Anemo lowers ER needs. Furina and Xianyun buffs stack for monumental damage. | – Highest potential damage. – Excellent healing and energy. – Fun and engaging rotation. |
– Very expensive (four 5-star characters, two of them limited). – Requires C6 Faruzan to truly shine. |
| Xiao / Faruzan / Zhongli / Bennett | The classic hypercarry team. Maximum comfort and high damage through stacked buffs. | – Extremely safe and comfortable. – Massive ATK buff from Bennett. – Universal RES shred from Zhongli. |
– Bennett’s circle can be restrictive. – Lower damage ceiling than the Furina variant. |
| Xiao / Xianyun / Zhongli / Furina | A variation that prioritizes Xianyun’s buff and Zhongli’s shield over Faruzan’s Anemo-specific buffs. | – Very high damage and survivability. – Smooths over Furina’s HP drain with ease. |
– Lacks Faruzan’s Anemo RES Shred and CRIT DMG (if C6). – Still a very expensive team. |
| Xiao / Sucrose / Bennett / Zhongli | A highly effective and more accessible version of the hypercarry team. | – Sucrose provides TTDS buff and great battery. – Still has the powerful Bennett/Zhongli core. |
– Significantly lower damage than teams with Faruzan/Xianyun. |
| Xiao / Jean / Albedo / Zhongli | The classic “Double Geo” team. Geo resonance provides a shield strength and DMG% bonus. | – Consistent off-field damage from Albedo. – Geo resonance is a nice bonus. – Jean provides healing and battery. |
– Older meta team; powercrept by newer supports. – Albedo’s flower can be fragile. |
| Xiao / Sucrose / Bennett / Fischl | A strong and F2P-friendly option. Fischl provides excellent single-target off-field damage. | – Very low investment cost using 4-star characters. – High single-target damage potential. |
– Lacks a shielder, making Xiao vulnerable to interruption. – Requires good dodging skills. |
Answering Your Specific Questions
Let’s tackle some of the most common long-tail questions that players have when building their Xiao teams.
How much Energy Recharge does Xiao need?
This is a crucial question, and the answer is: it depends entirely on his team.
- Without an Anemo Battery: Not recommended, but if you must, you’ll need upwards of 170-180% ER. This forces you to sacrifice a lot of offensive stats.
- With a good Anemo Battery (Sucrose, Jean): You can aim for around 130-150% ER. This is a much more comfortable and achievable target.
- With Faruzan (especially C6) and/or Xianyun: With his best-in-slot Anemo partners, who often hold Favonius weapons, Xiao’s ER needs can drop as low as 110-120%, or even less. This allows you to focus almost entirely on CRIT and ATK% stats for maximum damage.
Is Xianyun a must-pull for Xiao?
“Must-pull” is a strong term, but she is an absolutely incredible upgrade. She consolidates the roles of healer and a top-tier buffer into one, opening up the fourth slot for another powerhouse like Furina or Zhongli. If you are a dedicated Xiao main and want to push his performance to the absolute limit, then yes, Xianyun is as close to a must-pull as it gets. However, if you already have a well-built C6 Faruzan, Zhongli, and Bennett, your Xiao is still going to perform exceptionally well.
Can I run Xiao without a shielder?
Yes, you absolutely can, but it requires more skill. Teams with powerful healers like Xianyun, Jean, or Bennett can keep Xiao’s HP topped up. The main issue you’ll face is not damage, but interruption. Without a shield, you need to be much more aware of enemy attack patterns to avoid being knocked out of the air. This is a trade-off between the comfort of a shielder like Zhongli and the potentially higher damage output from a buffer like Furina or Bennett (if he isn’t already on the team).
Conclusion: The Evolving Meta of the Vigilant Yaksha
So, who goes best with Xiao? The answer has evolved over time but has now solidified around a core of exceptional, dedicated supports. Faruzan is his premier Anemo buffer, Xianyun is his best-in-slot healer and plunge-enhancer, and characters like Furina, Zhongli, and Bennett provide the final layer of immense power and utility.
Building the perfect Xiao team is a rewarding experience. It’s a puzzle of balancing his immense energy needs, his self-damaging nature, and his thirst for raw damage buffs. By understanding these core principles and choosing from the fantastic roster of characters who synergize with him, you can unlock the true potential of the Conqueror of Demons and let him stand proud as one of Teyvat’s most formidable and exhilarating damage dealers.