Genshin Impact Heizou best build and Talent, Ascension materials, Constellation, skills, weapon
Everything you need to know about Shikanoin Heizou in Genshin Impact.
Shikanoin Heizou was added as a playable character to the 2.8 update of Genshin Impact.
The young Tenryou Commission detective is included (and boosted) in the Leaves in the Wind and Sparkling Steps event Banners during the Summer Fantasia content of 2.8, alongside returning 5-Star favourites Kaedehara and Klee.
Whether you have him, or want to prepare for if you do Wish for him successfully, it’s good to know the best Heizou build in Genshin Impact, and what Constellations, Talent materials and Ascension materials are needed to level up Heizou to his full potential.
Be sure to check out our Genshin Impact codes page to get free Primogems that can be used towards unlocking Heizou and other characters.
On this page:
Heizou stats and materials:
- Heizou Talents, skills, star, element, and weapon
- Heizou Talent materials
- Heizou Ascension materials
- Heizou Constellation
Heizou build:
Genshin Impact Heizou Talents, skills, star, element, and weapon
Heizou is a 4-Star Anemo catalyst user who will most likely be best used in a DPS (damage per second) attacking role due to his Anemo damage and grouping abilities. Pairing him with good sub DPS characters to take advantage of elemental reactions can increase your team's damage even more with Heizou's swirl and explosion perks.
Here's a summary of Heizou’s abilities and stats in Genshin Impact:
- Element: Anemo
- Rarity: 4-Star
- Weapon: Catalyst
- Banner: Leaves in the Wind and Sparkling Steps
- Best build: DPS
- Normal Attack: Fudou Style Martial Arts
- Elemental Skill: Heartstopper Strike
- Elemental Burst: Windmuster Kick
- Passive one: Paradoxical Practice (When Heizou activates a swirl reaction while on the field, he will gain one Declension stack for Heartstopper Strike, this can be triggered once every 0.1 seconds)
- Passive two: Penetrative Reasoning (after Heartstopper Strike hits an enemy, all party members' Elemental Mastery - excluding Heizou - is increased by 80 for ten seconds)
- Exploration bonus: Pre-Existing Guilt (decreases sprinting Stamina consumption for your party members by 20%, but is not stackable with other characters' passive talents with the same effect)
Heizou Normal Attack: Fudou Style Martial Arts
Heizou's normal attack deals Anemo damage as he performs up to five melee strikes in a row. You can hold the normal attack button for a charged attack, which consumes stamina to perform a sweeping kick that also deals Anemo damage.
For his plunging attack, Heizo damages all opponents in his path, dealing AOE (area of effect) Anemo damage when hitting the ground.
Heizou Elemental Skill: Heartstopper Strike
You can either tap or hold your Elemental Burst button to perform Heartstopper Strike. Tapping produces a kick that deals Anemo damage, whereas charging the attack will unleash an even stronger blow when you let go, or when Heizou reaches four Declension stacks.
When four Declension stacks are obtained, Heizou's next Heartstopper Strike will be even stronger, and have a larger AOE.
Heizou Elemental Burst: Windmuster Kick
When Heizou's Elemental Burst is activated, he will leap into the air and produce an Anemo effect called Fudou Style Vacuum Slugger, then kick it at opponents. It explodes if it hits an enemy, causing AOE Anemo damage and pulling in nearby objects and opponents.
When Fudou Style Vacuum Slugger hits opponents affected by Hydro, Pyro, Cryo and Electro effects, the Windmuster Iris effect will be activated, which creates an explosion dealing AOE damage of the corresponding element.
Windmuster Iris can hit a maximum of four opponents, but a single enemy cannot be under the effect of multiple elemental Windmuster Iris'. For example, you can't get Electro explosions at the same time as Hydro explosions, and the same with Pyro and Cryo effects.
Genshin Impact Heizou Talent materials
To get the most out of using Heizou, you will have to level his skills up by using Talent materials, which vary from character-to-character.
For Heizou, you're going to need to farm a lot of Transience and Raven Insignia items (if you don't already have them) to fully upgrade his capabilities.
As Heizou has three Talents, you will have to spend three times the Talent materials listed below to fully upgrade all of his abilities.
Here's what Heizou Talent materials and Mora you need to improve one of his abilities:
| Heizou Talent level | Talent materials | Mora cost |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 | x3 Teachings of Transience, x6 Treasure Hoarder Insignias | 12,500 |
| Level 3 | x2 Guide to Transience, x3 Silver Raven Insignias | 17,500 |
| Level 4 | x4 Guide to Transience, x4 Silver Raven Insignias | 25,000 |
| Level 5 | x6 Guide to Transience, x6 Silver Raven Insignias | 30,000 |
| Level 6 | x9 Guide to Transience, x9 Silver Raven Insignias | 37,500 |
| Level 7 | x4 Philosophies of Transience, x4 Golden Raven Insignias, x1 The Meaning of Aeons | 120,000 |
| Level 8 | x6 Philosophies of Transience, x6 Golden Raven Insignias, x1 The Meaning of Aeons | 260,000 |
| Level 9 | x12 Philosophies of Transience, x9 Golden Raven Insignias, x2 The Meaning of Aeons | 450,000 |
| Level 10 | x16 Philosophies of Transience, x12 Golden Raven Insignias, x2 The Meaning of Aeons, x1 Crown of Insight | 700,000 |
Here's what Talent Materials you'll need to fully upgrade one of Heizou's skills:
- x1 Crown of Insight
- x3 Teachings of Transience
- x6 Treasure Hoarder Insignias
- x6 The Meaning of Aeons
- x21 Guide to Transience
- x22 Silver Raven Insignias
- x31 Golden Raven Insignias
- x38 Philosophies to Transience
- 1,652,500 Mora
To upgrade all three of Heizou's skills, here's all the Talent Materials you'll need:
- x3 Crown of Insight
- x9 Teachings of Transience
- x18 Treasure Hoarder Insignias
- x18 The Meaning of Aeons
- x63 Guide to Transience
- x66 Silver Raven Insignias
- x93 Golden Raven Insignias
- x114 Philosophies to Transience
- 4,957,500 Mora
Genshin Impact Heizou Ascension materials
Just like Talents, you need to use Heizou Ascension materials to upgrade his health, attack, defence, and critical hit effectiveness.
For Heizou, you're going to need to farm a lot of Raven Insignias and Onikabuto materials (if you don't already have them) to fully upgrade his capabilities.
Unlike Talent materials, you only need to spend the below Ascension materials once to fully raise Heizou to his highest character level. There is also Acquaint Fate rewarded for reaching certain Ascension levels. You can spend this Fate on standard and beginner Banners to Wish for characters and weapons.
Here's what Heizou Ascension materials and Mora you need to upgrade him for each Ascension level:
| Heizou Ascension level | Ascension materials | Mora cost | Ascension reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 20 | x1 Vayuda Turquoise Silver, x3 Onikabuto, x3 Treasure Hoarder Insignias | 20,000 | x1 Acquaint Fate |
| Level 40 | x3 Vayuda Turquoise Fragments, x2 Runic Fang, x10 Onikabuto, x15 Treasure Hoarder Insignias | 40,000 | None |
| Level 50 | x6 Vayuda Turquoise Fragments, x4 Runic Fang, x20 Onikabuto, x12 Silver Raven Insignias | 60,000 | x1 Acquaint Fate |
| Level 60 | x3 Vayuda Turquoise Chunk, x8 Runic Fang, x30 Onikabuto, x18 Silver Raven Insignias | 80,000 | None |
| Level 70 | x6 Vayuda Turquoise Chunk, x12 Runic Fang, x45 Onikabuto, x12 Golden Raven Insignias | 100,000 | x1 Acquaint Fate |
| Level 80 | x6 Vayuda Turquoise Gemstone, x20 Runic Fang, x60 Onikabuto, x24 Golden Raven Insignias | 120,000 | None |
In total, here's all the Ascension Materials you need for Heizou in Genshin Impact:
- x1 Vayuda Turquoise Silver
- x6 Vayuda Turquoise Gemstone
- x9 Vayuda Turquoise Fragment
- x9 Vayuda Turquoise Chunk
- x18 Treasure Hoarder Insignias
- x30 Silver Raven Insignias
- x36 Golden Raven Insignias
- x46 Runic Fang
- x168 Onikabuto
- 420,000 Mora
Genshin Impact Heizou Constellation
By getting duplicates of Heizou from wishing on Banners, you will receive his Stella Fortuna. This material allows you to unlock Constellation levels, with each upgrade either improving an existing Talent or Passive ability.
Here are all of Heizou's Constellation level upgrades in Genshin Impact:
- Named Juvenile Casebook (C1): For five seconds after Heizou becomes active in the field, his normal attack speed is increased by 15%, and he gains one Declension stack for his Elemental Skill - Heartstopper Strike - but this effect can only be triggered once every ten seconds.
- Investigate Collection (C2): The grouping pull effect of Heizou's Elemental Burst - Windmuster Kick - is enhanced, with its duration increasing by one second.
- Esoteric Puzzle Book (C3): Increases the Level of Heartstopper Strike by three, with a maximum upgrade level of 15.
- Tome of Lies (C4): The first Windmuster Iris explosion of each Windmuster Kick will regenerate nine Elemental Energy for Heizou, with each subsequent explosion regenerating an additional 1.5 Elemental Energy, but it has a cap of 13.5 Elemental Energy per Windmuster Kick.
- Secret Archive (C5): Increases the level of Windmuster Kick by three, with a maximum upgrade level of 15.
- Curious Casefiles (C6): Each stack of Declension will increase the critical rate of the next Heartstopper Strike by 4%, and when Heizou possesses Conviction, his next Heartstopper Strike's critical damage is increased by 32%.
How to play Heizou in Genshin Impact
Judging from what we know of him from pre-release details the best build for Heizou is DPS. He's really the only other Anemo character made for a pure DPS role, apart from the formidable 5-Star Xiao. However, as Heizou is a 4-Star, his damage output isn't on par with Xiao or other 5-Star DPS characters, but he has the ability to take advantage of Elemental Reactions to make up for this.
When playing Heizou in a DPS role, you should aim to build stacks of Declension by charging your Elemental Skill attack - Heartstopper Strike - for increased Anemo damage, and even more damage when you next use Heizou's Elemental Skill.
Whether playing Heizou in a pure DPS or sub DPS role, you should also use his Elemental Burst - Windmuster Kick - as often as possible to create Elemental Reactions with Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, or Electro party members. Not only will this spread the elemental damage to multiple enemies, but it will also create Windmuster Iris explosions, causing further elemental damage.
Best Heizou team comp in Genshin Impact
With his Elemental Burst capabilities in mind, you'll want to have characters who can provide sustained elemental damage while off the field. Yelan or Xingqiu can act as a great support for Heizou in this regard, especially if paired with an Electro character like Beidou or Fischl to create a taser reaction that gets swirled by Heizou - with additional damage from his Windmuster Iris explosions.
As you can't stack Heizou's explosion with multiple elements, your fourth team member is quite interchangeable. You can take a support to help with healing, shields, or your team's Energy Recharge needs, with Bennett being a great pick for this role. Alternatively, you could bring another high DPS or sub DPS character with you to cause as much damage during your rotations as possible.
Best Heizou Artifacts in Genshin Impact
The best Heizou Artifacts in Genshin Impact for a DPS build will either increase his Anemo and swirl damage, lower an enemy's elemental resistance, or increase Heizou's critical hit effectiveness.
With this in mind, it's hard to recommend a better Artifact set than the four-piece Viridescent Venerer for Heizou. Even a two-piece will help increase his damage output significantly.
If you don't have the Viridescent Venerer set, or are using it on another character, you can also try the two-piece Echoes Of An Offering or Shimenawa's Reminiscence sets to increase your attack damage. Although, we recommend equipping a four-piece set for maximum damage potential.
Best Heizou weapon in Genshin Impact
For Heizou's best weapon, we recommend equipping the Solar Pearl catalyst. Normal attacks will increase your Elemental Burst and Skill damage when the weapon is equipped, and vice versa.
The best news is that it's actually a pretty obtainable weapon without grinding too much, as it's available from the Gnostic Hymm in the Battle Pass after reaching Level 30.
As an alternative, you could equip Sacrificial Fragments to help with Heizou's Elemental Skill cooldown, or Skyward Atlas for increased elemental and attack damage.
If you don't have any of these weapons, you should choose a suitable catalyst weapon for Heizou that meets your playstyle needs. DPS builds will need catalysts that increase attack and Anemo Damage. Whereas if you want to run more of a sub DPS kit on him, you'd be aiming for Energy Recharge capabilities in order to activate his Elemental Burst as often as possible.
Version 5.0 with Mualani, Kinich, and Kachina is nearly here! For now, in version 4.8 we have Emilie and Yelan. You can redeem new codes for Primogems to help pull them, and check out our regularly updated tier list. You need luck from the Pity and 50/50 systems to Wish with Fate for characters on Banners, and you always need the right Adventure Rank for events. Elsewhere, we have tips and tricks for beginners.
Best Heizou build in Genshin Impact
With all this in mind, if you want to take advantage of Heizou's DPS capabilities, we have compiled what we think is currently the best Heizou build in Genshin Impact:
- Heizou Best Weapon: Solar Pearl
- Heizou Best Artifacts: Four-piece Viridescent Venerer (try for at least a two-piece)
- Heizou Best team comp: A Hydro sub DPS (like Yelan or Xingqiu), an Electro sub DPS (like Beidou or Fischl), and a support (like Bennett or Diona).
It can take a lot of time to find these Artifacts and materials to level-up Heizo to his full potential, but could be worth it if you're lacking a damage-dealer and like Heizou's close combat style.
Good luck levelling up Heizou in Genshin Impact!