Genshin Impact Candace Build Guide: Weapons, Artifact Sets, Roles, Constellations, and more

Candace is a playable 4-star Hydro character in Genshin Impact. Some say she’s a terrifying individual, who can summon the power of the desert, and that no one can escape from her grasp. However, some also say that she’s actually a caring and gentle person, who would even provide food for a Treasure Hoarder.

The truth is that Candace is kind to whoever visits her village. Try to violate the village rules or commit atrocities in it, however, and she’ll make sure you’ll never do it again. As the Guardian of Aaru Village, seeing the village in peace is enough to make her happy.

This guide will discuss Candace‘s talents, constellations, recommended roles, best weapons, artifact sets, and more! So, if you want to add this character to your team, read on.

Candace’s Talents and Priority

While Candace‘s Burst is somehow similar to Yun Jin‘s in a way that both buff Normal Attacks, Candace only increases the Elemental DMG of such attacks. However, she somehow remedies this as she infuses your party’s sword, claymore, and polearm with Hydro.

If you have a DPS character whose Elemental Normal Attacks cannot be overridden, of course, this buff works well with them, too. We will be talking about that in the Recommended Teams section of this guide.

As for her Elemental Skill, she raises a shield to block incoming attacks. However, this doesn’t make her a shielder for the party. This shield will only be active during the Hold version of her Elemental Skill, which is also quite similar to Yun Jin‘s.

With this, we recommend that you prioritize leveling up her Talents in the following order:

• Elemental Burst
• Elemental Skill
• Normal Attack

For more details about her Talents, check out the table below:

Normal Attack – Gleaming Spear: Guardian Stance	Normal Attack Performs up to four consecutive spear strikes. Charged Attack Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to lunge forward, dealing damage to enemies along the way. Plunging Attack Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
Elemental Skill – Sacred Rite: Heron’s Sanctum	Tap Rushes forward with her shield, dealing Hydro DMG to opponents in front of her. Hold Raises her shield to block incoming attacks from nearby opponents, forming a barrier that absorbs DMG based on her Max HP and absorbs Hydro DMG 250% more effectively. This barrier lasts until the Elemental Skill is unleashed. After holding for a certain period of time, Candace will finish charging, and when the skill button is released, the skill duration expires, or when the barrier is broken, she will perform a leaping strike that deals Hydro DMG to opponents in front of her.
Elemental Burst – Sacred Rite: Wagtail’s Tide	Raising her weapon high, Candace calls upon a divine blessing that deals AoE Hydro DMG based on her Max HP and continuously confers the Prayer of the Crimson Crown on your active character. Prayer of the Crimson Crown This effect has the following properties: – Characters deal increased Elemental DMG with their Normal Attacks. – Whenever a character takes the field, they will unleash a rippling wave of water that deals Hydro DMG to nearby opponents. There is a limited number of waves that can be triggered in the duration of this skill. – Sword, Claymore, and Polearm-wielding characters under this effect will obtain a Hydro Infusion.
1st Ascension Passive – Aegis of Crossed Arrows	If Candace is hit by an attack in the Hold duration of Sacred Rite: Heron’s Sanctum, that skill will finish charging instantly.
4th Ascension Passive – Celestial Dome of Sand	Characters affected by the Prayer of the Crimson Crown caused by Sacred Rite: Wagtail’s Tide will deal 0.5% increased DMG to opponents for every 1,000 points of Candace’s Max HP when they deal Elemental DMG with their Normal Attacks.
Utility Passive – To Dawn’s First Light	Decreases climbing Stamina consumption for your own party members by 20%. Not stackable with Passive Talents that provide the exact same effects.

READ MORE: GENSHIN IMPACT: CANDACE SPECIAL DISH

Constellations and Effects

As indicated in her Talents earlier, Candace‘s 4th Ascension Passive increases the buff she provides from her Burst based on her Max HP. With this in mind, Constellation 2’s HP bonus is a great way to further increase her buff.

However, to increase her damage output in your team, C6 unlocks a better off-field DPS potential as it triggers a series of waves that deal Hydro DMG once every 2.3 seconds. For more information about it, check out the table below. If you’re new to the game, Constellations are acquired when you get another character copy.

LEVEL	NAME	EFFECT
1	Returning Heiress of the Scarlet Sands	The duration of Prayer of the Crimson Crown effect triggered by Sacred Rite: Wagtail’s Tide is increased by 3s.
2	Moon-Piercing Brilliance	When Sacred Rite: Heron’s Sanctum hits opponents, Candace’s Max HP will be increased by 20% for 15s.
3	Hunter’s Supplication	Increases the Level of Sacred Rite: Wagtail’s Tide by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
4	Sentinel Oath	Shortens the Hold CD of Sacred Rite: Heron’s Sanctum to be the same as that of the Tapping CD.
5	Heterochromatic Gaze	Increases the Level of Sacred Rite: Heron’s Sanctum by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
6	The Overflow	When characters (excluding Candace herself) affected by the Prayer of the Crimson Crown caused by Sacred Rite: Wagtail’s Tide deal Elemental DMG to opponents using Normal Attacks, an attack wave will be unleashed that deals AoE Hydro DMG equal to 15% of Candace’s Max HP. This effect can trigger once every 2.3s and is considered Elemental Burst DMG.

Recommended Roles and Teams for Candace

C6 Candace needs to switch out of the field to trigger her waves. Add this on top of her Normal Attack buff for the team, and she can easily take the role of Sub-DPS/Support.

As for her teams, Candace can be a great buffer for a Main DPS Cyno in an Electro-Charged Team. She can also increase Ayato‘s DPS potential in a separate one.

Electro-Charged Team with CYNO

• In this team, Cyno will take the role of the Main DPS. If you’re worried about Candace‘s Hydro infusion messing up with Cyno’s Electro DMG, don’t be. Cyno‘s Electro Normal Attacks during his Burst cannot be overridden. This means that he can take advantage of Candace‘s Normal Attack buff without decreasing his Electro DMG potential.
• To trigger Electro-Charged, you will need to have a consistent off-field Hydro applicator. Candace can take this role effectively only at C6, so you might consider having another Hydro character. Here, Yelan is a great option. If you need healing, you can go for Kokomi. But if you don’t have these 5-star characters, you can use Xingqiu or Barbara. What’s great about having another Hydro character is the Hydro Elemental Resonance, which increases your character’s Max HP. This will greatly benefit HP-scaling characters such as Candace, Yelan, Kokomi and even Barbara.
• For the last slot, you can opt for more offense or defense. For more offensive gameplay, include an Anemo character with a 4-piece Viridescent Venerer set to decrease opponents’ Elemental RES. A great candidate for this is Kazuha, but if you don’t have this 5-star character, Sucrose can also take the slot. On the other hand, you can place a shielder such as Zhongli in this slot for more defensive gameplay.

READ MORE: GENSHIN IMPACT: CANDACE’S ASCENSION MATERIALS AND LOCATIONS

Electro-Charged Team with AYATO

• In this team, Ayato will take the role of the Main DPS. Just like Candace, he is a Hydro character, which means that he will benefit from Candace‘s Hydro infusion when his Elemental Skill is on cooldown. On the other hand, since his Shunsuiken damage scales with HP, unlocking the Hydro Elemental Resonance with Candace in the team is beneficial to both of them.
• Of course, to trigger Electro-Charged, you will need a great off-field Electro character like the Raiden Shogun. However, if you don’t have this 5-star character, Fischl is a great option.
• The last slot can go to a shield support character. Again, Zhongli is a great option for this slot.

Recommended Weapons for Candace

With its HP-focused effects and high CRIT DMG, Staff of Homa is a great 5-star polearm option for Candace. However, if you don’t have this weapon, our free-to-play options are The Catch and Favonius Lance. For more information, check out our insights for each weapon below the table.

WEAPON	DETAILS
Staff of Homa	Base ATK (Lv 1 -90): 46 – 608 Base Bonus Stat (Lv 1 -90): CRIT DMG 14.4% – 66.2% Base Skill Effect: 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.
The Catch	Base ATK (Lv 1 -90): 42 – 510 Base Bonus Stat (Lv 1 -90): Energy Recharge 10.0% – 45.9% Base Skill Effect: Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 16% and Elemental Burst CRIT Rate by 6%.
Favonius Lance	Base ATK (Lv 1 -90): 44 – 565 Base Bonus Stat (Lv 1 -90): Energy Recharge 6.7% – 30.6% Base Skill Effect: CRIT Hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s.

Staff of Homa (5 stars)

Provided that Candace has enough Energy Recharge from artifacts, Staff of Homa is a great option for her. With this weapon, her HP and CRIT DMG are greatly increased, allowing her to deal more damage and buff (with 4th ascension passive). However, this polearm can only be obtained via the limited-time weapon banner Epitome Invocation.

The Catch (4 stars)

This polearm gives Candace a high Energy Recharge bonus which will allow her to use her Burst more frequently. Moreover, her Elemental Burst, which is her most integral talent as a support character, will have both DMG and CRIT Rate increased. If you don’t have this weapon yet, check out our The Catch weapon guide here.

Favonius Lance (4 stars)

This polearm has a lower Energy Recharge bonus than The Catch, but this is your go-to if you still don’t have the latter. You can get this from Wish banners at a normal rate.

READ MORE: GENSHIN IMPACT GANYU BUILD GUIDE: WEAPONS, ARTIFACT SETS, ROLES, TALENTS, CONSTELLATIONS, AND MORE

Recommended Artifact Sets and Stat Priority for Candace

Below are our recommended artifact sets for Candace:

ARTIFACT SET	EFFECTS
Emblem of Severed Fate x4	– Energy Recharge +20% – Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus DMG can be obtained in this way.
Noblesse Oblige x4	– Elemental Burst DMG +20% – Using an Elemental Burst increases all party members’ ATK by 20% for 12s. This effect cannot stack.

The Emblem of Severed Fate x4 set allows Candace to constantly use her Burst. Doing so will result to a better uptime for her Normal Attack buff while also increasing her own Burst DMG.

On the other hand, Noblesse Oblige x4 allows her to provide a better team buff every time she uses her Burst. With this set, she can increase her team’s ATK by 20% on top of her Normal ATK buff.

As for her artifact stat priority, we recommend the following:

• Sands – HP% (priority) or Energy Recharge (if needed)
• Goblet – HP%
• Circlet – HP%

For the sub-stats, be on the lookout for Energy Recharge, Crit Rate, Crit DMG, HP%, Elemental Mastery, and ATK%.

That’s everything you need to know about building Candace! We hope that our recommendations will help you along the way.

Genshin Impact is an action role-playing game developed by miHoyo, also known as HoYoverse. The game is available on PC, PS4, PS5, iOS, and Android, while a release on Nintendo Switch is currently in the works.