Xiangli Yao

Quick Verdict

Xiangli Yao is a complete, functional main DPS. At S0 the whole loop works, his tested rotation is identical in every tested team, and the only execution demand is one animation cancel. The pulling advice, however, is simple: he is not worth pulling right now. He is one of the game's early limited carries, and his tested teams sit at the bottom of the validated projection. The same investment goes further on a newer damage dealer. The rest of this review is for owners and returning players who want to build and play him correctly.

How Xiangli Yao Works

Capacity, the opening gauge. Xiangli Yao holds up to 100 Capacity. Every Normal Attack Probe that hits and every Resonance Skill Deduction that hits grants Capacity. At 100, Deduction becomes Resonance Skill Decipher, which consumes all 100 Capacity and deals Electro damage counted as Resonance Liberation DMG. Both sources require a hit that lands, so a missed Basic chain or Skill costs gauge as well as damage.

Intuition, the state where he actually plays. Casting Resonance Liberation Cogitation Model deals damage and puts him into Intuition. Inside it, three buttons change:

• Basic Attack and Heavy Attack become Basic Attack Pivot - Impale, a 3-stage chain.
• Resonance Skill Deduction becomes Resonance Skill Divergence.
• Dodge Counter becomes Dodge Counter Unfathomed, counted as Resonance Liberation DMG.

Entering Intuition also grants 3 Hypercubes. They are the state's real timer: Intuition ends when all three are consumed, not after a fixed duration, and only his finisher consumes them.

Performance Capacity and Law of Reigns, the payoff. Inside Intuition he fills Performance Capacity, capped at 5. Stage 1 of Pivot - Impale grants 1 point; Stage 2 or 3 grants 2 points; Divergence grants 2; Mid-air Attack Revamp grants 3; Dodge Counter Unfathomed grants 2. At 5, Divergence becomes Resonance Skill Law of Reigns, which spends the 5 points and 1 Hypercube and is counted as Resonance Liberation DMG. Three Hypercubes means three Law of Reigns casts per Intuition: fill 5, fire, repeat three times, then leave. Every source requires a hit; against a mobile boss the gauge fills slower and the third finisher is the one most likely to lose room.

Mid-air Attack Revamp is the efficient filler. Shortly after Decipher or Divergence, pressing Basic Attack performs Mid-air Attack Revamp at a stamina cost, counted as Resonance Liberation DMG. It grants 3 Performance Capacity, the best rate in the kit, so the tested rotation uses it after each Skill instead of grinding through full Basic chains.

Why the damage profile looks this way. Decipher, Law of Reigns, Mid-air Revamp, Dodge Counter Unfathomed, and Cogitation Model are all tagged Resonance Liberation DMG. Deduction, Divergence, and Pivot - Impale are not. A teammate buffing Resonance Skill damage reaches only the 16.92% slice, while a teammate buffing Resonance Liberation damage covers 65.15%.

Both Inherent Skills are selfish. Knowing grants 5% Electro DMG Bonus for 8 seconds after casting Resonance Skill, stacking up to 4 times for 20% at full stacks. Focus increases interruption resistance during Intuition, letting him stand through Pivot chains without being knocked out.

His Outro is damage, not a buff. Chain Rule calls down a laser on the first target hit by the incoming Resonator's Basic Attack, dealing Electro damage equal to 237.63% of Xiangli Yao's ATK. It lasts 8 seconds, triggers once every 2 seconds, and can trigger up to 3 times. The next character must keep landing Basic Attacks across the full window. His tested partners do, and the current results count the effect from the second rotation onward because the first opens on a teammate. It remains Xiangli Yao's damage; at S0 he gives the team no buff.

Tested rotation — about 13.1 seconds of field time, difficulty 1:

Intro > Skill > Heavy (cancel with Liberation) > Liberation > Skill > Basic Attack > Forte Skill > Basic 1, 2, 3 > Forte Skill > Skill > Basic Attack > Forte Skill > Outro

The line is identical in all four tested teams. Its one execution point is the Heavy cancelled with Liberation near the start: take the Heavy's hit, then cut its long recovery with Liberation. The tested guidance adds one flex step: use the Echo before Outro if Energy Regen is not high, filling the gap with a real hit; his Echo is worth 4.93% of his solo damage.

After Liberation, the string is three exact 5-point blocks, each cashed into Law of Reigns:

• Skill > Basic Attack: Divergence (2) plus Mid-air Revamp (3) equals 5, then Forte Skill fires the first Law of Reigns.
• Basic 1, 2, 3: Pivot - Impale grants 1 + 2 + 2, then Forte Skill fires the second.
• Skill > Basic Attack: Divergence and Revamp return to 5, then Forte Skill fires the third, spends the last Hypercube, and ends Intuition.

Nothing in that loop is filler. Every press pays for or fires the next Law of Reigns, so a missed hit leaves a block short and delays the finisher. His 13.1-second stay is long against tested rotations lasting roughly 22–28 seconds, meaning he occupies about half of every cycle and leaves little room for a second damage dealer.

Build Priorities

His tested solo damage profile:

• Resonance Liberation: 65.15%
• Resonance Skill: 16.92%
• Basic Attack: 7.67%
• Echo: 4.93%
• Outro: 2.89%
• Intro: 2.42%

Build him as a Resonance Liberation damage dealer even though most of that damage is pressed with the Skill button.

• Sub-stat priority: Crit Rate > Crit DMG > ATK% > Liberation DMG Bonus > Energy Regen.
• Talent priority: Resonance Skill, Forte Circuit, and Resonance Liberation Lv. 10; Normal Attack and Intro Skill Lv. 6. His damage is genuinely spread across the Skill presses, Forte enhanced casts, and Liberation.

Build targets:

Weapon. His signature, Verity's Handle R1, is the page's 100% baseline. It grants 12% Attribute DMG Bonus and 48% Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus for 8 seconds after Liberation, extended by 5 seconds per Resonance Skill cast up to 3 times. His tested rotation presses Skill five times after Liberation, so the 8-second window reliably becomes 23 seconds and covers all of Intuition. For owners who play him, his signature at R1 is the standing recommendation.

The alternatives are Moongazer's Sigil R1 at 95.22%, Blazing Justice R1 at 92.58%, and Abyss Surges R1 at 84.80%. Moongazer's 12% ATK and 20% Liberation DMG work, but its DEF ignore requires a Shield; none of his tested teams provides one, so only its 3-second max-stack burst on Intro appears. Blazing Justice wastes the passive half that amplifies Spectro Frazzle, which he never applies.

Echoes. Use 5-piece Void Thunder with Nightmare: Thundering Mephis as the main Echo. Void Thunder grants 10% Electro DMG at 2 pieces and 15% Electro DMG per Heavy Attack or Resonance Skill cast, stacking twice for 30% at 5 pieces. Mephis adds 12% Electro DMG Bonus and 12% Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus; both apply to him.

Main stats: Cost 4 Crit DMG or Crit Rate, Electro or ATK on both Cost 3 slots, and ATK on both Cost 1 slots. The page's Echo comparison with Verity's Handle and Void Thunder:

• 1× Crit DMG Cost 4 + 1× Electro Cost 3 + 1× ATK Cost 3 + 2× ATK Cost 1: 100%
• 1× Crit DMG Cost 4 + 2× ATK Cost 3 + 2× ATK Cost 1: 99.74%
• 1× Crit DMG Cost 4 + 2× Electro Cost 3 + 2× ATK Cost 1: 97.38%

The top two are only 0.26% apart, so sub-stat quality decides. Double Electro loses through saturation: before a Cost 3 main stat, Knowing gives 20% Electro DMG, Void Thunder gives 10% plus 30%, Mephis gives 12%, and Verity's Handle gives 12% Attribute DMG. The second Cost 3 buys more through ATK. Follow the page rule for Cost 4: Crit DMG when the weapon provides Crit Rate, and Crit Rate when it provides Crit DMG or neither.

Team Fit & Account Value

His partners follow one rule: who amplifies Resonance Liberation damage and adds meaningful damage while he holds the field for 13 seconds. In every tested team he goes last after both teammates set up. His number 1 tested partner is Lynae. The third slot is nearly a tie: Lynae with Shorekeeper and Lynae with Mornye test almost identically, so choose by ownership and fight requirements. Use the live Team DPS section for current team ordering, DPS, equipment, and rotations.

• Lynae covers him three ways. Her Outro gives the incoming Resonator 15% All DMG Amplification and 25% Resonance Liberation DMG Amplification for 14 seconds, and he catches both halves because 65.15% of his damage is Liberation-tagged. Prismatic Overblast gives all nearby Resonators 24% All DMG Bonus for 30 seconds. Visual Impact grants the team 40 Tune Break Boost for 30 seconds, letting Xiangli Yao fill Off-Tune and cast Tune Break. Team notes credit Tune Break damage to his rotation and the triggered Tune Rupture damage to Lynae, who lands that hit. She also carries close to 30% of the team's damage.
• Shorekeeper is the safe third slot: 15% team-wide DMG Amplification for 30 seconds, Stellarealm Crit scaling up to 12.5% Crit Rate and 25% Crit DMG, healing, and five interruption saves. She deals almost no damage; the team notes also record her Liberation occasionally returning late in these fast structures, costing time in the third rotation.
• Mornye trades Shorekeeper's Crit for 25% team-wide All DMG Amplification for 30 seconds and a Tune Break chain Xiangli Yao activates. Her Observation Marker becomes Interfered when a teammate deals Tune Break to its target. A target in Tune Rupture - Interfered takes more damage from the team: 0.25% per 1% Energy Regen above 100%, up to 40%. Xiangli Yao deals the Tune Break and Lynae supplies Tune Rupture, completing the condition. Syntony Field adds healing, interruption resistance, and 50% Off-Tune Buildup Rate. Mornye contributes only about 4%–5% of team damage, acting as support rather than a second carry.
• Yinlin is the older tested option and lands clearly behind Lynae. Her Outro gives 20% Electro DMG Deepen and 25% Resonance Liberation DMG Deepen for 14 seconds, both perfect for him, but she provides no team-wide buff, Tune Break Boost, or Tune Rupture damage. Xiangli Yao's share climbs to about 77%, the sign of a thinner team rather than a stronger one. Her quick-swap variant is his only tested structure with a meaningful difficulty cost; it outruns Shorekeeper's Liberation cooldown, while the normal-speed version restores the timing at the cost of speed.
• Untested but mechanically sound: Changli and Jianxin appear as page synergies without a current tested team. Changli's Outro gives the incoming Resonator 25% Resonance Liberation DMG Amplification; her 20% Fusion half is wasted and the buff lasts only 10 seconds, shorter than his field stay. Jianxin gives 38% Resonance Liberation DMG Deepen for 14 seconds and supplies the Shield that activates Moongazer's DEF ignore. Buling is the trap: her team-wide 15% DMG Amplification works, but Five Thunders Spell Array buffs Resonance Skill DMG, reaching only the 16.92% slice that is actually Skill-typed.

His honest limits: at S0 he gives the team nothing, because his Outro is personal damage and his only team buff arrives at S4. His 13.1-second field stay takes roughly half a cycle. Every point of both gauges requires a hit, so evasive targets slow the engine. The partner slot specifically wants a Resonance Liberation amplifier, and even his best current teams sit at the bottom of the validated projection.

Sequence Value

Xiangli Yao is complete at S0. Capacity, Intuition, all three Hypercubes, Law of Reigns, and his Outro work with no sequences. The page's sequence chart: S0 100% → S1 116% → S2 126% → S3 143% → S4 150% → S5 186% → S6 238%.

• S1 — Prodigy of Protégés (1/5): Law of Reigns launches 6 Convolution Matrices, each dealing Liberation damage equal to 8% of the Skill's DMG Multiplier. It is roughly half a Law of Reigns spread over six extra hits, three times per Intuition. Real damage, reaching 116%, but no gameplay change.
• S2 — Traces of Predecessors (3/5): Resonance Skill or Cogitation Model grants 30% Crit DMG for 8 seconds. Skill casts constantly refresh it, making the uptime effectively permanent. The chart reaches 126%.
• S3 — Ruins of Ancient (5/5): Cogitation Model increases Decipher, Deduction, Divergence, and Law of Reigns damage by 63% for 24 seconds, up to 5 triggers. It covers both Skill-button families, including Liberation- and Skill-tagged casts, for longer than his field stay. The chart reaches 143%.
• S4 — Vessel of Rebirth (3/5): Cogitation Model grants 25% Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus to all team members for 30 seconds, his only team buff. It pays only Liberation-typed teammate damage, and on himself joins an already saturated pool. The chart moves from 143% to 150%.
• S5 — End of Stars (3/5): Chain Rule's DMG Multiplier rises by 222% and Cogitation Model's by 100%. The 222% applies to an Outro starting at 237.63% ATK and worth only 2.89% of his damage. The jump from 150% to 186% comes mainly from doubling Cogitation Model, the largest cast in his 65.15% Liberation bucket.
• S6 — Solace of the Ordinary (5/5): Cogitation Model's Hypercubes increase Law of Reigns' DMG Multiplier by 76%. It lands on the move cast three times per Intuition, producing the chart's largest single step and the 238% ceiling.

Realistic stopping points: S0 covers his full kit. Owners who play him regularly can consider S3, the last relatively cheap node that meaningfully raises the buttons he already presses. There is no broader account-value case for his sequences.

Pull Value