Genshin Impact Hu Tao build, artifacts, weapons, and more

Hu Tao is undoubtedly one of the most powerful DPS characters in Genshin Impact, arguably even the best character altogether. As an on-field main DPS, Hu Tao excels at Pyro damage and application, though with a few interesting quirks that need to be worked around. Therefore, you’ll want a strong Genshin Impact Hu Tao build, complete with good artifacts, weapons, and team compositions.

Hu Tao is set for a rerun at long last in the Genshin Impact 3.4 banners. Alongside Hu Tao, Yelan and Xiao are also returning after a long time away. All three characters are high ranking characters in our Genshin Impact tier list of best characters. If you’re looking to spend your Wishes on any of these great characters, then it’s worth keeping up with the active Genshin Impact codes to snag some free Primogems. Throughout this guide, you’ll learn the best artifact sets for Hu Tao, as well as her stat and talent priorities, alongside her best weapons and ideal team compositions that make a great Genshin Impact Hu Tao build.

Genshin Impact Hu Tao build overview

To give a brief overview of the best Genshin Impact Hu Tao build, here is what you’re going to want:

• Artifacts: Crimson Witch of Flames or Shimenawa’s Reminisence four-piece set
• Stat priority: Crit Rate/Damage, HP, and Elemental Mastery
• Talent priority: Elemental Skill, Normal Attack, then Elemental Burst
• Weapon: Staff of Homa or Deathmatch

Below you’ll find our full breakdown of each recommendation, as well as example team comps you should absolutely slot Hu Tao into.

Genshin Impact Hu Tao build artifacts

Hu Tao’s best artifact is Crimson Witch of Flames, available in the Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula, Liyue.

Crimson Witch of Flames works perfectly on Hu Tao since it not only significantly boosts Pyro damage, but also increases the damage of reactions. Most importantly, Crimson Witch of Flames can increase Vaporize damage, which synergises well with the best Hu Tao team compositions. Overall, Crimson Witch of Flames is Hu Tao’s most powerful artifact set while also being really easy to use, requiring no further steps to reach maximum potential, unlike Shimenawa’s Reminiscence.

Artifact	Effect
Crimson Witch of Flames	Two-piece set: Pyro DMG bonus +15%. Four-piece set: Increases Overloaded, Burning, and Burgeon DMG by 40%. Increases Vaporize and Melt DMG by 15%. Using an Elemental Skill increases two-piece set effect by 50% or 10 seconds. Max three stacks.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence	Two-piece set: ATK +18%. Four-piece set: When casting an Elemental Skill, if the character has 15 or more Energy, they lose 15 Energy and Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack damage is increased by 50% for 10 seconds. This effect will not trigger again during that duration.

Hu Tao is a five-star Pyro polearm-user adept in on-field Pyro damage through her unique Elemental Skill that will sacrifice a chunk of HP to infuse her weapon with Pyro damage, converting all attacks to Pyro. Furthermore, Hu Tao will also gain an ATK boost after using her Elemental Skill.

While Crimson Witch of Flames is Hu Tao’s best artifact set, it’s not the easiest to acquire. If you don’t have a four-piece Crimson set, then a four piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence can compete in terms of damage. However, Shimenawa’s will consume Energy used for her Elemental Burst which, while not the main source of Hu Tao’s damage, can be helpful to use as frequently as you can.

Genshin Impact Hu Tao build stat priority

Hu Tao’s stat priority is Crit Rate/Damage, HP%, and Elemental Mastery.

Increasing Crit Rate and Crit Damage is key to improving the damage of nearly all of Genshin Impact’s DPS characters and builds, and Hu Tao is no exception. Hu Tao is also unique for a DPS character since her attacks scale on her Max HP. For instance, her Elemental Skill provides an ATK boost based on her Max HP stat. Therefore, increasing Hu Tao’s HP will also increase her damage, with an added bonus if you have the Staff of Homa.

Alongside Crit Rate, Crit Damage, and HP, having at least around 150 Elemental Mastery is helpful since Hu Tao will be triggering plenty of Vaporize reactions. ATK% simply improves Hu Tao’s damage potential, so it never hurts to have more of this stat. Likewise, any additional Energy Recharge also doesn’t hurt.

Genshin Impact Hu Tao build talent priority

Hu Tao’s talent priority is Elemental Skill and Normal Attack, followed by Elemental Burst.

The majority of Hu Tao’s power comes from the effectiveness of her Elemental Skill and Normal Attacks. Her Skill will provide an ATK boost while infusing her Normal Attacks with Pyro damage. As such, her Elemental Skill and Normal Attack should be prioritised. Her Elemental Burst can be levelled last because, while it’s no slouch in the damage and utility department, it’s not the main focus of her playstyle or kit.

Genshin Impact Hu Tao build weapons

Hu Tao’s best weapon is the Staff of Homa. Hu Tao’s signature weapon is without a doubt her best-in-slot weapon since it provides an ATK bonus based on the user’s Max HP. Given that HP is one of Hu Tao’s main stats, and that the Staff of Homa itself also provides +20% HP, Hu Tao can make extensive use out of this weapon’s unique effect. Furthermore, it also increases Crit Damage, another significant stat for increasing damage output.

Weapon	Effect
Staff of Homa	Reckless Cinnabar HP increased by 20%. Additionally, provides an ATK bonus based on 0.8% of the wielder’s Max HP. When the wielder’s HP is less than 50%, this ATK bonus is increased by an additional 1% of Max HP.
Staff of the Scarlet Sands	Heat Haze at Horizon’s Edge The equipping character gains 52% of their Elemental Mastery as bonus ATK. When an Elemental Skill hits opponents, the Dream of the Scarlet Sands effect will be gained for 10 seconds: the equipping character will gain 28% of their Elemental Mastery as bonus ATK. Max three stacks.
Primordial Jade Winged-Spear	Eagle Spear of Justice On hit, increases ATK by 3.2% for six seconds. Max seven stacks. This effect can only occur once every 0.3 seconds. While in the possession of the maximum possible stacks, DMG dealt is increased by 12%.
Deathmatch	Gladiator If there are at least two enemies nearby, ATK is increased by 16% and DEF increased by 16%. If there are less than two enemies nearby, ATK is increased by 24%.
Dragon’s Bane	Bane of Flame and Water Increases damage against enemies affected by Hydro or Pyro by 20%.

While the Staff of Homa is by far Hu Tao’s best weapon, there are several other weapons that work well if you have access to them, including some better suited to free-to-play players.

Deathmatch is the best free-to-play option, being acquired through either the Battle Pass or through Paimon’s Bargains using Masterless Starglitter. Deathmatch is a great option for a Hu Tao build if you don’t have Staff of Homa since it provides a large increase to Crit Rate via its sub stat, and will deal increased damage based on the number of enemies in battle.

Likewise, Staff of the Scarlet Sands, Primordial Jade Winged-Spear, and Dragon’s Bane also provide good bonuses to Hu Tao’s damage, with Dragon’s Bane being a more accessible four-star weapon acquired through the Gacha Wish system.

Genshin Impact Hu Tao build team comps

There are several Hu Tao team comps that you can create, with Hu Tao operating predominantly as the on-field Pyro DPS in a hyper-carry Vaporize playstyle.

Most team compositions will centre around Hu Tao as the driver, while the other characters are merely there to support her and increase her damage. Additionally, it’s important to note that a key part of Hu Tao’s playstyle is to actively remain below 50% Max HP to gain a damage boost thanks to her passive. Therefore, a healer is often discouraged while a shielder is preferred to help with survivability.

This team is perhaps Hu Tao’s most powerful and popular team, though it is quite an expensive one to create given the number of five-star characters involved. Yelan and Xingqiu will both offer excellent off-field Hydro damage and application while Hu Tao causes devastating Vaporize reactions and heavy Pyro damage. The support role can either be filled by Kazuha or Zhongli. Kazuha will offer the most damage potential through Swirl reactions and the Viridescent Venerer artifact set. On the other hand, since Hu Tao gains a damage boost when below 50% HP, a healer is discouraged but a shielding character such as Zhongli works wonders for survivability.

This Hu Tao team, while still focusing on Vaporize reactions to deal damage, will also utilise Geo Resonance from having Albedo and Zhongli. This will result in Hu Tao having even greater damage potential while maintaining high survivability. Furthermore, Albedo’s Elemental Burst will provide additional Elemental Mastery, further increasing Hu Tao’s Vaporize reaction damage. If you’re struggling to maintain Hu Tao’s health below 50% while also staying alive using a double Hydro team, this double Geo team will still deal massive damage while also helping you stay alive while under 50% health.

This is a more free-to-play friendly team for Hu Tao, using Xingqiu, Sucrose, and Thoma. As always, Xingqiu will be an excellent off-field sub-DPS that will apply Hydro for Hu Tao to cause the Vaporize reaction. Sucrose can group enemies and make them weaker to the Swirled Elemental damage, in this case you’ll want to Swirl Pyro so Hu Tao will deal increased damage. Finally, Thoma is a much more budget-friendly shield option that can protect Hu Tao, while also activating the Pyro Resonance effect to increase overall damage.

And that’s the best Hu Tao build Genshin Impact can offer right now. As always, we’ll be sure to keep this guide updated as new builds and compositions arise. In the meantime, check out a powerful Genshin Impact Ayato build or Genshin Impact Raiden Shogun build, two other incredibly strong characters.