Qiuyuan

Quick Verdict

Pull Qiuyuan if you own — or plan to pull — one of the Echo Skill carries: Sigrika, Galbrena, or Phrolova. He is the specialized amplifier for exactly that archetype, and he is complete at S0. If your account has no Echo Skill damage dealer, he does very little for you: his buffs are locked to one damage type, he applies no Negative Status, and he does not heal.

He is completely team-dependent, but in the right teams he asks for very little: one short, easy rotation (his support teams test at difficulty 0–2), no signature weapon requirement, and a moderate Energy Regen target. At S0 he is a support; the sequence chart's jump to 356% at S3 is where a main-DPS version of him appears, and S6 (523%) is the whale ceiling behind it.

How Qiuyuan Works

Everything runs on his Forte gauge, Swordster's Soliloquy (600 points maximum). He builds it from four sources: his Intro Skill (400 points), Basic Attack Stage 3 (100), each stage of his enhanced Basic Attack (100), and his Dodge Counter (100). The gauge has three thresholds:

Holding Normal Attack during Inksplash of Mind consumes the gauge to perform his three Forte heavies in order — To Teach, To Save, and To Sacrifice — counted as Heavy Attack damage, and each one is also considered an Echo Skill cast. The state ends when the gauge is spent, and the gauge is cleared — it rebuilds from zero next rotation.

His Inherent Skills round out the loop. Quietude Within triggers when he enters Inksplash (once every 22 seconds): the three heavies deal 50% more damage, and To Sacrifice restores 30 Concerto Energy on hit — the energy that lets him Outro right after the combo. Drink Away Woes Age-Old: casting his Echo Skill brews Flowing Panacea, which is consumed the next time he gains gauge for +10% ATK for 20 seconds.

His Resonance Liberation is an Echo-typed hit that also buffs the team: for every 1% of Crit Rate he has above 50%, all nearby active Resonators gain 2% Crit DMG for 30 seconds, up to 30%. The math: the cap is 15% Crit Rate above 50%, so 65% Crit Rate caps the buff. The page's 70%–78% Crit Rate build target sits above that on purpose — the buff is maxed with room to spare, and Crit Rate is also his best personal damage sub-stat.

His Outro is the signature move: a small Echo-typed hit plus 50% Echo Skill DMG Amplification to the incoming Resonator, lasting 14 seconds or until that character swaps out. Trace the delivery chain carefully: it reaches exactly one character — whoever swaps in directly after Qiuyuan — and only while they stay on the field. It is not a team buff, and quick-swap playstyles that rotate the carry off the field lose it early. Bamboo's Shade and the Liberation buff use the same "active Resonator" wording: they buff the character on the field, not off-field or coordinated attackers.

His Resonance Skill, Through the Groves, is a forward dash counted as Echo Skill damage; if it is cast as an enemy attack lands, Qiuyuan is immune to that hit and stagnates nearby enemies — and the Stagnation is removed if you swap off him. The hold version is a stamina-powered air dash used for traversal, not for any tested rotation. None of these control effects are Negative Statuses: Qiuyuan applies no Negative Status at all, which matters when he is compared with Lucilla for an amplifier slot (see Team Fit & Account Value).

Standard tested rotation — about 6.96 seconds of field time:

Intro > Basic 3, 4 > Skill > Heavy, Heavy, Heavy > Liberation > Echo > Outro

This string is the same in every tested team — there is exactly one support rotation to learn — with one small build-dependent difference: teams where he wears Moonlit Clouds place the Echo last, right before the Outro (as printed above), while his Law of Harmony and damage builds cast the Echo right after the Intro.

Fast variant — about 5.76 seconds, and a trap:

Intro > Basic 3, 4 > Skill (cancel) > Heavy, Heavy, Heavy > Liberation > Echo > Outro

The speed comes from skipping the Skill's recovery — but letting the animation play is part of his Energy income. The tested team notes are blunt about the cost: at around 130% Energy Regen, canceling the Skill leaves his second-rotation Liberation without enough Energy, and even a Cost-3 Energy Regen Echo (pushing him toward 160%) cannot sustain the canceled version in later rotations while also desynchronizing Shorekeeper's Liberation. Let the Skill animation play.

Main-DPS variant ("2x Heavy") — about 14.18 seconds of field time, tested but niche at S0:

Intro > Echo > Basic 3, 4 > Liberation > Heavy 1, 2, 3 > Basic 1, 2, 3 > Basic 1, 2, 3 > Enhanced Basic 1, 2, 3, 4 > Heavy 1, 2, 3 > Outro

After the first Inksplash combo he rebuilds the gauge from zero with Basic chains (Stage 3 gives 100, then each enhanced stage gives 100), enters a second Inksplash, and spends it again — two full Forte combos in one field stay. It is the only way to play him as a carry at S0, and the tested projection places those teams far below his support teams. At S0, main-DPS Qiuyuan is for people who simply want to play him on the field; Sequence Value explains why that changes at S3.

Build Priorities

His tested solo damage profile: Heavy Attack 62.18%, Echo Skill 37.82%. Every build choice follows from that split — Heavy Attack buffs feed the bigger share, Echo Skill buffs feed the rest.

• Sub-stat priority: Crit Rate > Crit DMG > ATK% > Heavy Attack DMG Bonus > Energy Regen.
• Build targets: ATK 2050–2137 with Aero/Aero Cost 3 (2300–2420 with ATK/Aero), Crit Rate 70%–78%, Crit DMG 265%–275%, Energy Regen 130%–140+%, Heavy Attack DMG 20%–35%.
• Talent priority: Forte Circuit and Resonance Liberation to Lv. 10, Normal Attack to Lv. 8, Resonance Skill and Intro Skill to Lv. 6.

His Echo set is decided by the carry he serves — this is the one character on the site whose set changes with his team:

• Moonlit Clouds (5-piece): his best-tested set when he plays only with Galbrena — the 5-piece gives the next Resonator +22.5% ATK for 15 seconds after his Outro, and that is worth more to her than his own damage. The page's comparison shows the cost plainly: on full Moonlit Clouds his personal damage falls to 79.63% of his damage-set baseline. The 2-piece's +10% Energy Regen is a nice bonus on a character who needs it.
• 3-piece Law of Harmony + 2-piece Moonlit Clouds or Sierra Gale: the one-build answer if you share him between Galbrena and Phrolova — 95.48% personal damage on the same comparison. The 3-piece effect is made for him: casting an Echo Skill grants the team 4% Echo Skill DMG Bonus for 30 seconds, stacking up to 4 times (16% total) — and because his three Forte heavies count as Echo Skill casts, he stacks it to full by himself every rotation.
• Sierra Gale or Windward Pilgrimage: the damage-dealer sets for his main-DPS teams. Windward Pilgrimage only works with Ciaccona in the team — its 5-piece needs the target to be affected by Aero Erosion, which Qiuyuan never applies himself. Without an Erosion applier, stay on Sierra Gale.

Main Echo: Reminiscence: Fenrico (12% Aero DMG and 12% Heavy Attack DMG in the main slot). Main stats: Crit DMG or Crit Rate on Cost 4, Aero DMG or ATK on both Cost 3, ATK on both Cost 1. The page's comparison — calculated with his signature weapon on his damage sets — puts Aero/ATK at 100% and double Aero at 99.59%: effectively tied, so sub-stat quality decides the second Cost 3.

Weapons, all at R1 from the page's comparison: Emerald Sentence 100% — his signature, giving ATK, up to 60% Heavy Attack DMG from its Bamboo Cleaver stacks, and a team-wide 20% Echo Skill DMG Bonus for 30 seconds when he casts his Intro — then Emerald of Genesis 84.91%, which the page notes beats Camellya's and Changli's swords by about 1.5% while also giving Energy Regen, a stat he genuinely needs. The advice fits his role: the signature is skippable. His personal damage is a small share of the team, so the 15-point personal gap costs little; what you give up is the Intro's team buff, which the page estimates at about 4%–5% of Galbrena's overall damage in her team. If Qiuyuan is a long-term partner for your Sigrika or Galbrena, Emerald Sentence is a real team upgrade; if he is a flex pick, Emerald of Genesis covers him.

Team Fit & Account Value

His number 1 tested team is Sigrika with Qiuyuan and Shorekeeper. Sigrika is the perfect recipient for his whole package: nearly everything she deals is considered Echo Skill damage, so his Outro's 50% Amplification, Bamboo's Shade's 30% Bonus, his Liberation's Crit DMG, and his signature's Intro buff all land on her one damage type. Better still, her kit counts her teammates' Echo Skill casts: Soliskin Vitality gains 10 points whenever a nearby teammate casts an Echo Skill (up to 60), and Blessing of Runes gains a stack per cast (up to 6). Qiuyuan provides four casts per rotation — his own Echo plus his three Forte heavies — covering 40 of the 60 Soliskin Vitality points and four of the six Blessing of Runes stacks by himself. Her other premium amplifier, Lucilla, has two tested versions of this same structure that bracket him — her normal-speed version slightly behind, her fast version slightly ahead — so treat them as level; his version runs at difficulty 0, the easiest structure he has. The full Lucilla comparison is at the end of this section.

Galbrena is his most-tested partner, alongside Shorekeeper. Her Afterflame gauge wants five Echo Skill casts before she transforms, and Qiuyuan provides four of them — Shorekeeper's Echo is the fifth. With him in the team, her tested damage breakdown shifts onto his buff type: her Echo Skill portion rises to 68.43% of her damage. The short version of the Lucilla comparison (in full below, and in Galbrena's review): the two structures test almost identically. Set notes from the tested teams, repeated because they matter: Moonlit Clouds if he plays only with Galbrena, the Law of Harmony hybrid if he is shared with Phrolova, and never a Cost-3 Energy Regen Echo — it costs him damage and desynchronizes Shorekeeper's Liberation.

Phrolova's number 1 team is Phrolova with Qiuyuan and Cantarella, and the reason is arithmetic. Her Maestro state allows 10 off-field Enhanced Hecate attacks per rotation, each triggered by an Echo Skill cast — and this team reaches exactly 10: 2 from her own Outro, 4 from Qiuyuan, and 4 from Cantarella. The buffs here need the same honest tracing her review gives them. Outro amplifications only cover the active Resonator and are removed on swap-out — and in this team the Outros circulate Phrolova → Qiuyuan → Cantarella → Phrolova, so his Outro actually lands on Cantarella, whose own damage is Basic Attack-typed; the 50% Echo Skill Amplification is mostly wasted on her, and no Outro buff can ever cover Hecate's off-field hits. What keeps buffing those hits instead are his persistent team-wide buffs: his Law of Harmony set (up to 16% team Echo Skill DMG Bonus, which his four casts stack to full by themselves) and his signature's Intro buff (20% team Echo Skill DMG Bonus for 30 seconds). This is also why the tested equipment splits the way it does: with an on-field carry like Galbrena he wears Moonlit Clouds, whose ATK buff rides his Outro to the next Resonator; with Phrolova he wears Law of Harmony, because her damage continues after her own Outro. In the Shorekeeper version of this team, his Outro does reach Phrolova — but still only her on-field window — and his first rotation opens with Liberation before swapping out, which the tested team note flags for the resulting downtime in alternating rotations. A dual-carry Galbrena and Phrolova with Qiuyuan team is also tested, where his casts feed both carries at once (Phrolova reaches 7 Enhanced Hecate attacks per rotation there).

Qiuyuan or Lucilla? This comparison follows him everywhere, because Lucilla's Echo Mode Outro grants the same 50% Echo Skill DMG Amplification for 14 seconds, and she is the direct alternative for his slot in every team named above:

• In the tested data they are level. Sigrika's and Galbrena's structures test almost identically with either of them — Lucilla's fast versions edge ahead, her normal-speed versions edge behind, and Qiuyuan's versions sit in between at the lowest difficulties (his teams run at difficulty 0–2, while Lucilla's fast versions need her Perfect Focus release trick — difficulty 4 in Galbrena's structure).
• Lucilla's edge is never damage — it is one stack of Glacio Chafe. Her Intro, Clip It, applies 1 Glacio Chafe stack with no mode condition, so it lands even in Echo Mode. Glacio Chafe is a Negative Status, and game modes regularly run buffs keyed to exactly that — for example, "enemies affected by a Negative Status have their attribute resistance reduced". One Intro switches that kind of buff on for the whole fight, for all of the carry's damage — and this applies to every one of his carries the same way: Sigrika, Galbrena, and Phrolova alike. Qiuyuan applies no Negative Status at all, so his teams can never touch those buffs. In a mode without such a buff the two are effectively tied; in a mode with one, Lucilla pulls ahead.
• For Phrolova, Lucilla is untested but mechanically sound. Her three Echo Mode Oblivion Forte hits each count as casting a different Echo Skill — so each one triggers an Enhanced Hecate attack even under the same-name-Echo limit — and her own main-slot Echo is a fourth cast: the same four casts Qiuyuan provides. Treat that as mechanics, not tested data, until the projection covers it.
• Qiuyuan's counters are comfort and availability. His structures are the more-tested and easier ones, his four casts come out of his normal rotation with no timing minigame, and Lucilla is Hiyuki's best sub-DPS — if your account runs both a Glacio Chafe team and an Echo Skill team, playing Qiuyuan here lets Lucilla stay where she is wanted more.

His own main-DPS teams — with Iuno, plus Ciaccona, Shorekeeper, or Mortefi — are tested and functional but sit far below his support teams at S0. Iuno is his best partner in them: her Outro's 50% Heavy Attack DMG Amplification matches his 62% Heavy Attack share, though he cannot self-shield, so he gets her Outro and her healing, not her domain's amplification. The tested team notes also credit his two Forte combos with generating enough Energy for the team that Iuno can skip her Skill and still cast her Liberation every rotation at around 130% Energy Regen. Ciaccona's presence is what makes Windward Pilgrimage usable on him. Treat these teams as a playstyle choice, not a projection choice — at least until S3.

Honest limits: he is a specialist. A carry whose damage is not Echo-typed — Liberation carries, Heavy Attack carries, Basic Attack carries — gets only his Crit DMG buff and little else. He provides no Negative Status application, no healing, and no shielding, and his Outro demands the carry swap in directly after him and stay on the field. Opportunity cost cuts both ways: Sigrika, Galbrena, and Phrolova all want him, and Lucilla covers the same slot in all three structures — tested for Sigrika and Galbrena, by mechanics for Phrolova — if he is needed elsewhere; the live Team DPS section shows every composition named here with its current tested values.

Sequence Value

Qiuyuan is complete at S0 as a support — all three team buffs, the full gauge loop, and the Outro work without sequences. The page's sequence damage chart (his personal damage): S0 100% → S1 117% → S2 130% → S3 356% → S4 380% → S5 412% → S6 523%. Read it with his role in mind: as a support, his personal damage is roughly a tenth of the team's output, so personal-chart jumps matter less than what a node gives the team.

• S1 — Sword Sheathed, Mind Unclouded (3/5): His three Forte heavies can no longer be interrupted, and he gains a permanent 20% Crit Rate — which makes the Liberation's 65% Crit Rate cap trivial to reach and frees up sub-stats. Comfort plus damage, but nothing the team feels directly.
• S2 — O Blade, I, Who Teach No More (5/5): The support node: Bamboo's Shade additionally grants the team 30% Echo Skill DMG Amplification. Note the stat type — Amplification, a separate multiplier from the base 30% DMG Bonus — handed to every active teammate. This is the one early sequence that makes him a better support rather than a bigger damage dealer.
• S3 — O Blade, I, Who Save No More (5/5): The transformation, and the chart's jump to 356%. Liberation's multiplier increases by 500%, and when his Concerto Energy is full outside Inksplash, his Skill becomes Straw Cape in Drizzly Rain (once every 20 seconds): it consumes 60 Concerto for a 500% ATK Echo-typed hit, restores 400 gauge, makes his next Basic Attack Inkwash Stage 3, and boosts his three heavies' multipliers by 600% — a second, stronger Inksplash combo in the same rotation. The cost is spelled out in the kit: after Straw Cape, his next Outro is replaced with Sheath Fallen, New Shoots Revealed, a pure damage hit — he loses the 50% Echo Skill DMG Amplification Outro that makes him a support. S3 is where main-DPS Qiuyuan begins, and it is a different character, not a better support.
• S4 — O Blade, I, Who Sacrifice No More (1/5): +20% ATK. Straightforward and small — the chart moves to 380%.
• S5 — O Blade, I, Who Await to be Wielded (2/5): He ignores 15% of the target's DEF. Personal damage only (412%).
• S6 — Thus I Heard, Thus I Saw, Thus I Spoke (5/5): The whale ceiling (523%). To Sacrifice stagnates nearby targets for 5 seconds, exiting Inksplash while he is active deals an extra 600% ATK Echo-typed hit, and Straw Cape grants him +100% Crit DMG for 6 seconds. Pure luxury damage for the main-DPS build.

Realistic stopping points: S0 for the support role most players will use him in; S2 if you want his one team-buff upgrade; S3 only if you are deliberately building carry Qiuyuan, with S6 behind it for whales.

Pull Value