Who Are The Best Pyro Characters in Genshin Impact?
When teambuilding in Genshin Impact, it’s important to take into account the elements of your party members.
Pyro is an element that is integral to multiple reactions, like Vaporize, Melt, Burgeon, and Overload.
And whether you’re looking for a DPS or support, there are plenty of Pyro characters to choose from.
With the release of Natlan, the nation of Pyro, fast approaching, let’s take a look at the top 7 Pyro characters in Genshin Impact as of version 4.8!
7. Gaming (4 star)
Gaming is ready to put on a show!
Gaming is a relatively new 4 star character, having been released in version 4.4. He’s a Pyro claymore, and he’s hands down the best on-field DPS available in the 4 star pool. He has a unique and satisfying playstyle where his Elemental Skill allows him to jump high in the air and follow up with a Pyro infused Plunging attack. He performs particularly well in Vaporize teams.
You should consider building up Gaming if you want:
- High DPS Scalings: Gaming has higher scalings than most other 4 star characters. If you’re lucky enough to have his C6, his damage output becomes competitive with some of the limited 5 star DPS characters.
- HP Manipulation: Gaming is able to decrease and heal his own HP, so he is able to self sufficiently run the Marechaussee Hunter artifact set without relying on Furina. This is great if you don’t have Furina or if you do have her but want to use her on your other team in the Spiral Abyss. She still makes a great teammate for him if you want to put them on the same team anyway.
- Strong Support Teammates: Gaming is very strong in his own right, and he has 2 extremely synergistic support characters in Bennett and Xianyun that make him even stronger. Bennett’s massive attack buff and Pyro damage buff (if he’s C6) and Xianyun’s Plunging damage buffs are perfect for his kit and take his damage to another level. That being said, he still has plenty of other viable teammates if you don’t want to use your valuable Primogems to pull for Xianyun when her banner is up!
6. Lyney (5 star)
Prepare to be dazzled by one of Lyney's famous magic shows!
Lyney is a 5 star Pyro bow character with a kit tailor made for mono Pyro teams. He deals 60% increased damage to enemies affected by Pyro, and this damage boost increases by an additional 20% for each Pyro character other than himself on the team to a maximum of 100%. He’s an on-field DPS with a Charged attack focused playstyle.
Lyney excels at:
- High Damage Scalings: You might be worried about Lyney’s damage output because his kit is designed to be played with other Pyro characters and not triggering reactions. But to compensate for that, his damage scaling is extremely high, and they only get higher the more Pyro characters you have in your party.
- HP Manipulation: Lyney’s kit allows him to consume and heal his own HP, allowing him to easily use the Marechaussee Hunter artifact set. This set gives a massive 36% crit rate boost at max stacks. Lyney also has crit rate as his ascension stat, so you can focus your stats on building attack and crit damage.
- Grin-Malkin Hat Support: Lyney is primarily a selfish on-field DPS who wants buffs from the rest of your team. However, he does have a little support for the rest of the team via the Grin-Malkin Hat created by his Charged attacks. These hats taunt opponents and will deal Pyro damage when they expire, even if Lyney is off-field.
5. Chevreuse (4 star)
You don't want to end up on the wrong side of Chevreuse's musket.
Chevreuse is a Pyro polearm character. She acts as a dedicated support character for Overload teams by providing powerful res shred to both Pyro and Electro damage. She also provides healing to your active character via her Skill that scales on her max HP.
Chevreuse is a great character to build if you want:
- Strong Buffs: Before Chevreuse, the Overload reaction was generally weaker than other Pyro reactions like Vaporize or Melt. But Chevreuse has turned Overload into a very strong team option. As long as your team only consists of Pyro and Electro characters, she’ll provide very strong res shred for both elements. She also provides an attack bonus to Pyro and Electro characters that scales on her max HP, up to a max of 40%. This gives 2 benefits to stacking HP on her - it increases her healing output as well as increasing the attack bonus she provides.
- Role Consolidation: By combining powerful buffs and healing into one character, Chevreuse allows you to dedicate the rest of your team slots to DPS.
4. Hu Tao (5 star)
When the battle is done, your enemies will be joining Hu Tao's ghosts.
Hu Tao is a Pyro polearm on-field DPS with a high risk, high reward playstyle. She has the potential to deal massive single target damage. Her kit revolves around sacrificing a portion of her HP in order to gain a massive attack bonus that scales on her max HP.
Hu Tao is great at:
- High Vaporize Damage: Hu Tao is best played in Vaporize teams with fast Hydro application from characters like Xingqiu and Yelan. She can struggle in AoE combat situations, but she is one of the top single target DPS characters in the game.
- Self-Sufficient: Hu Tao’s Burst heals her in addition to dealing damage. If her HP is below 50%, then both the healing and damage are increased. This helps to offset her HP drain and makes it possible to run her in teams without a healer.
- Crit Rate Buff for the Team: Hu Tao provides her team with a 12% Crit Rate buff, which is very beneficial for the off-field Hydro characters that she’s played with.
3. Arlecchino (5 star)
Be careful - Father has her eye on you.
Arlecchino is an on-field Pyro DPS with some similarities to Hu Tao. Rather than sacrificing HP like Hu Tao, Arlecchino places a Bond of Life on herself in exchange for increased damage output. Arlecchino is ranked higher on this list because she has higher raw scalings, giving her a higher damage ceiling and more team options.
Consider Arlecchino if you’re looking for:
- Flexible Pyro DPS: Arlecchino excels in a variety of teams, so she can be an extremely strong option in Vaporize, Melt, mono Pyro, and Overload (with Chevreuse).
- Self-Sufficient: Arlecchino can’t be healed by any of your other party members during combat, leaving her Burst as her sole form of healing. That being said, her Burst heals her for quite a lot, so you can run her without a healer.
- Strong Self Buffs: Arlecchino applies a Bond of Life to herself, enabling her to enter an enhanced state and infusing her Normal, Charged, and Plunging attacks with Pyro. She also increases her own Elemental and Physical Res based on her attack stat, decreasing the damage that she takes to mitigate her inability to be healed by the rest of your party. Lastly, she has a permanent 40% Pyro damage bonus. This allows her to greatly amplify her own damage!
2. Xiangling (4 star)
Can you handle Xiangling's signature spicy dishes?
Xiangling is a Pyro DPS that deals high damage from off-field through her Burst’s Pyronado. She deals damage in a huge AoE, and this makes her very strong in multitarget fights. She also applies Pyro very quickly, and her damage output in single target scenarios is nothing to scoff at either.
Xiangling’s key strengths are:
- High Damage Output: Xiangling has the potential to dish out a lot of damage. Her Burst hits enemies in a wide range and applies Pyro without any internal cooldown. This allows her to keep up with other characters who apply their own elements quickly to proc a lot of reactions.
- Enables Reactions: Xiangling is the best character to apply Pyro from off-field, making her an amazing teammate for any on-field characters that want to perform reverse Melt or Vaporize reactions.
- Pyronado Snapshots Buffs: Xiangling’s Burst retains any buffs that were active when it was cast. This means that any attack or damage buffs that Xiangling receives will buff the entire duration of her Pyronado, even if the buff expires before her Burst ends.
1. Bennett (4 star)
Bennett may have really bad luck, but he was fortunate enough to get a really strong kit.
Bennett is a 4 star Pyro sword. With his Burst, he provides single target healing and a huge attack buff to your active character. His attack buff is extremely powerful and irreplaceable in a lot of teams.
Bennett is amazing because he offers:
- Massive Attack Buff: The attack buff that Bennett provides to your active character is huge and is the single largest stat buff in the game. This makes Bennett an extremely flexible character who works well with almost any attack scaling character. His buff scales off of his base attack, not any attack substats that you might have on your artifacts. That means it’s extremely easy to maximize his attack buff by giving him a high base attack weapon.
- Role Consolidation: Bennett fulfills both the role of a buffer and healer in one teamslot, making team building with him very flexible. And his healing output is quite good - even though it’s single target only, he can top off most characters in just a few ticks of his Burst. That being said, his attack buff is so strong that he can also be run alongside another healer like Chevreuse to combine their buffs without the redundancy being an issue.
- High Energy Generation: Bennett’s Burst is high cost, however his Skill has a very low cooldown. This allows for easy spamming to get his Burst back up if necessary and to battery other Pyro units in your party.
- Pyro Infusion and Bonus at C6: If you have Bennett’s C6 activated, he provides all characters in his Burst a Pyro damage bonus and infuses melee weapons’ Normal, Charged, and Plunging attacks with Pyro. This is a great bonus to have, but it’s important to note that Bennett isn’t really a Constellation dependent character. His C1 is his best Constellation, and he performs his main job of being a buffer and healer exceptionally well even at C0.
Did your favorite Pyro character make this list? Let us know your favorite Pyro teams in the comments and what you hope to see for the Pyro element in Natlan in the comments!
