Genshin Impact Shikanoin Heizou Best Build Guide: Weapons, Artifact Sets, Roles, Talents, Constellations, and more

Shikanoin Heizou is a new playable 4-star Anemo character in Genshin Impact. An Inazuman detective with an “unfettered and unrestrained” demeanor, he is disliked by many. However, he is a young man of undeniable talent and constantly delivers excellent results.

In this guide, we will discuss Heizou’s talents, constellations, recommended roles, best weapons, artifact sets, and more! So, if you want to add this fresh new character to your team, read on.

While you’re here, you might also want to check out other Anemo characters in our complete list of Anemo characters.

Heizou’s Talents and Priority

Heizou has a Swirl-focused play style, which means that he needs other elements to fully maximize his kit. His 1st Ascension Passive allows him to easily gather Declension stacks, which help boost the damage of his Elemental Skill, after triggering Swirl. In case you need a refresher, check out all of the Elemental Reactions here.

On the other hand, his Elemental Burst can explode, allowing him to deal AoE damage to a significant number of enemies.

Lastly, he can also increase his party’s Elemental Mastery with his 4th Ascension Passive, allowing him and his party to deal more damage by triggering several Elemental Reactions.

As for Talent level-up priority, we recommend maxing his talents in the following order:

• 1st priority – Elemental Skill
• 2nd priority – Normal Attack
• 3rd priority – Elemental Burst

For more details about his Talents, be sure to check out the table below:

Normal Attack – Fudou Style Martial Arts	Normal Attack Performs up to 5 fisticuffs empowered by a mighty wind, dealing Anemo DMG. Charged Attack Consumes a set amount of Stamina to perform a sweeping kick, dealing Anemo DMG. Plunging Attack Calling upon the surging wind, Heizou plunges towards the ground from mid-air, damaging all opponents in his path. Deals AoE Anemo DMG upon impact with the ground.
Elemental Skill – Heartstopper Strike	Press Wields the swift winds to launch a Heartstopper Strike that deals Anemo DMG. Hold Charges energy to unleash an even stronger blow. He will obtain the Declension effect while charging, which will increase the power of the Heartstopper Strike. When the skill button is released or the skill duration ends, he will strike forward, dealing Anemo DMG. Declension Increases the power of the next Heartstopper Strike. Max 4 stacks. When you possess 4 Declension stacks, the Conviction effect will be produced, which will cause the next Heartstopper Strike to be even stronger and have a larger AoE.
Elemental Burst – Windmuster Kick	Leaps into the air and uses the Fudou Style Vacuum Slugger and kicks his opponent. The Vacuum Slugger will explode upon hit and create an Arresting Windtunnel that pulls in nearby objects and opponents, dealing AoE Anemo DMG. When Fudou Style Vacuum Slugger hits enemies affected by Hydro, Pyro, Cryo or Elecrtro, it afflicts them with Windmuster Iris. Moments later, Windmuster Iris explodes and dissipates, dealing AoE DMG of the corresponding elemental type. Fudou Style Vacuum Slugger can afflict a maximum of four enemies with the Windmuster Iris. A single enemy cannot be afflicted by Irises of different elemental types at the same time.
1st Ascension Passive – Paradoxical Practice	When Shikanoin Heizou activates a Swirl reaction while on the field, he will gain 1 Declension stack for Heartstopper Strike. This effect can be triggered every 0.1s.
4th Ascension Passive – Penetrative Reasoning	After Shikanoin Heizou‘s Heartstopper Strike hits an opponent, increases all party members (excluding Shikanoin Heizou) Elemental Mastery by 80 for 10s.
Utility Passive – Pre-Existing Guilt	Decreases sprinting Stamina consumption for your own party members by 20%. Not stackable with Passive Talents that provide the exact same effects.

Constellations and Effects

While Heizou without any Constellations is already good, his crowd control capability is enhanced at Constellation 2 (C2), giving him or the team the opportunity to deal more damage. In case you’re new to the game, Constellations are acquired when you get another copy of a character.

Moreover, his damage output is significantly boosted at C6 as his Elemental Skill’s CRIT DMG can be devastating at this level.

For more details about his Constellations, be sure to check out the table below:

LEVEL	NAME	EFFECT
1	Named Juvenile Casebook	For 5s after Shikanoin Heizou takes the field, his Normal Attack SPD is increased by 15%. He also gains 1 Declension stack for Heartstopper Strike. This effect can be triggered once every 10s.
2	Investigative Collection	The pull effect of the Arresting Windtunnel created by Windmuster Kick is enhanced, and its duration is increased to 1s.
3	Esoteric Puzzle Book	Increases the Level of Heartstopper Strike by 3. The maximum upgrade level is 15.
4	Tome of Lies	The first Windmuster Iris explosion in each Windmuster Kick will regenerate 9 Elemental Energy for Shikanoin Heizou. Every subsequent explosion in that Windmuster Kick will each regenerate an additional 1.5 Energy for Heizou. One Windmuster Kick can regenerate a total of 13.5 Energy for Heizou in this manner.
5	Secret Archive	Increases the Level of Windmuster Kick by 3. The maximum upgrade level is 15.
6	Curious Casefiles	Each Declension stack will increase the CRIT Rate of the Heartstopper Strike unleashed by 4%. When Heizou possesses Conviction, this Heartstopper Strike’s CRIT DMG is increased by 32%.

Recommended Roles and Teams for Shikanoin Heizou

While he has the supportive ability to increase his party’s Elemental Mastery, most of Heizou‘s Talents and Constellations require him to stay on the battlefield most of the time and deal on-field damage. With this, we highly recommend that you build him as a main DPS character.

Since Heizou needs to trigger Swirl all the time for optimal damage, he needs an off-field element applicator and a Sub-DPS. A good candidate for this is Yelan, especially since her Hydro Elemental Burst stays on-field and can be triggered with Normal Attacks. Other excellent characters that can apply Hydro off-field are Kokomi, Xingqiu, and Barbara.

It is also recommended for you to add an Electro character, and Fischl is a good choice as her Elemental Skill can consistently apply Electro off-field. You can even add Kuki Shinobu as she can do off-field damage, although significantly weaker, while also healing similar to Barbara. However, if you have the 5-star characters Yae Miko and the Raiden Shogun, you might consider them in this slot. They are excellent choices for their amazing off-field Electro damage.

As for healing and support, Bennett is always a good choice, but you can also use Jean. As an Anemo character, she can provide resonance with Heizou, giving the team an additional 10% movement speed and reducing stamina consumption by 15%. Moreover, she can reduce Anemo RES at C4 (if you have C4, by any chance), which is very helpful for an Anemo main DPS.

Recommended Weapons for Shikanoin Heizou

There are a lot of weapon choices for Heizou. Below are our top 5-star catalyst recommendations:

WEAPON	DETAILS
Skyward Atlas	Base Bonus Stat: ATK 7.2% Base Skill Effect: Increases Elemental DMG Bonus by 12%. Normal attack hits have a 50% chance to earn the favor of the clouds, which actively seek out nearby enemies to attack for 15s. Dealing 160% ATK DMG. Can only occur once every 30s.
Lost Prayer To The Sacred Winds	Base Bonus Stat: CRIT RATE 7.2% Base Skill Effect: Increases Movement SPD by 10%. When in battle, gain an 8% Elemental DMG Bonus every 4s. Max 4 stacks. Lasts until the character falls or leaves combat.
Kagura’s Verity	Base Bonus Stat: CRIT DMG 14.4% Base Skill Effect: Gains the Kagura Dance effect when using an Elemental Skill, causing the Elemental Skill DMG of the character wielding this weapon to increase by 12% for 16s. Max 3 stacks. This character will gain a 12% All Elemental DMG Bonus when they possess 3 stacks.

On the other hand, below are our top 4-star catalyst recommendations:

WEAPON	DETAILS
Mappa Mare	Base Bonus Stat: Elemental Mastery 36 Base Skill Effect: Triggering an Elemental reaction grants an 8% Elemental DMG Bonus for 10s. Max 2 stacks.
Solar Pearl	Base Bonus Stat: CRIT Rate 6.0% Base Skill Effect: Normal Attack hits increase Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst DMG by 20% for 6s. Likewise, Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst hits increase Normal Attack DMG by 20% for 6s.
The Widsith	Base Bonus Stat: CRIT DMG 12.0% Base Skill Effect: When the character takes the field, they will gain a random theme song for 10s. This can only occur once every 30s. Recitative: ATK is increased by 60%, Aria: Increases all Elemental DMG by 48%. Interlude: Elemental Mastery is increased by 240.

Recommended Artifact Sets and Stat Priority for Shikanoin Heizou

Below are Heizou‘s recommended Artifact Sets:

ARTIFACT SET	EFFECT	COMMENTS
Viridescent Venerer x 4	– Anemo DMG Bonus +15% – Increases Swirl DMG by 60%. Decreases opponent’s Elemental RES to the element infused in the Swirl by 40% for 10s.	We highly recommend this 4-piece VV set since Heizo is an Anemo character who focuses a lot on Swirl reactions.
Viridescent Venerer x 2 Gladiator’s Finale x 2	– Anemo DMG Bonus +15% – ATK +18%	If you don’t have 4 VV artifacts, or if you don’t only want to increase your Anemo DMG but also your overall ATK, you can try this set instead. There are also other artifacts that give ATK +18% such as Shimenawa’s Reminiscence x2.
Viridescent Venerer x 2 Noblesse Oblige x 2	– Anemo DMG Bonus +15% – Elemental Burst DMG +20%	If you want to focus on Heizou‘s Elemental Burst damage, this set is your go-to.

As for Stat priority, we recommend that you farm for artifacts (Sand, Goblet, and Circlet artifacts) with Elemental Mastery as the main stats. As for the substats, you can focus on Elemental Mastery, ATK%, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG.