What is the Best Element in Genshin Impact? [Unexpected!]

The Seven Elements

In Genshin Impact, there are seven elements that you can use in order to fight in Teyvat. In the order of the iconic loading screen, they are:

• Pyro (Fire)
• Hydro (Water)
• Anemo (Wind)
• Electro (Lightning)
• Dendro (Nature)
• Cryo (Ice)
• Geo (Earth)

Although these seven elements each represent a region, the actual damage and capability of each element differ from one another. I felt that there were too many points to consider from the seven elements, ranging from elemental reactions to elemental resonance and even the current state of enemies and their respective resistances, so I have decided to choose just 2 elements that really stand out in Genshin Impact!

Best Element #1 - Dendro

Well honestly, I think that dendro is indeed the strongest element around, and coincidentally easier to build than the conventional critical-damage oriented DPS (Damage Per Second) while still providing the damage. It is also the best element against Electro in Genshin Impact

The newest released element of Genshin Impact has other elements shocked with its appearance. The Dendro element can react with a total of 3 other elements, which are Pyro, Hydro, and Electro, to create some of the strongest elemental reactions around. If you follow Spiral Abyss guides these days, you will realize that around 60 to 80% of guides involve team compositions that encompass Dendro elemental reactions.

The best reactions that put Dendro in the top tier are:

• Aggravate - Quicken aura + Electro
• Spread - Quicken Aura + Dendro
• Bloom (Dendro core) - Hydro + Dendro
• Hyperbloom - Dendro core + Electro
• Burgeon - Dendro core + Pyro

The more widely used reactions in the Spiral Abyss are Hyperbloom, Aggravate, and Spread teams. These three elemental reactions alone occasionally cause debates in the Genshin Impact community regarding dendro currently being the strongest element around.

• Nahida - main Dendro applier, solid off-field DPS
• Yelan - Hydro applier number one, amazing off-field DPS with a buffing elemental burst that increases damage dealt to enemies.
• Xingqiu - Hydro applier number two, another unskippable off-field DPS that provides increased resistance to knockbacks.
• Kuki Shinobu - main electro applier that is one of the must-build four stars in Genshin Impact. She heals based on a hybrid scaling between elemental mastery and HP.

Best Element #2 - Hydro

Hydro characters have always been associated with supporting, from providing the core element needed for the strongest elemental reactions such as bloom, vaporize, and freeze, to becoming the team's supportive pillar, keeping everyone alive and healthy. Even though it sounds like they are more supportive than offensive, Hydro characters are also capable of being amazing DPS characters.

Hydro elements are usually sought for the elemental reactions below:

• Electro-charge - Hydro + Electro
• Vaporize - Hydro + Pyro
• Bloom - Hydro + Dendro
• Freeze - Hydro + Cryo

Powerful teams that are usually used in the Spiral Abyss are Vaporize, Electro-charge, and Bloom teams. Vaporize teams focus on well-timed elemental applications in order to maximize damage within a short period of time. Electro-charge and Bloom teams require less setup, where damage is constant over the battles you will face.

Hydro teams are super enjoyable as they include some of the most fun characters to play in Genshin Impact. Additionally, Hydro is the best element against pyro, which is a common element typing for enemies around the open world, so it's worth investing in a team like:

• Kamisato Ayato - main Hydro DPS focused on quick successive normal attacks
• Yelan - Hydro off-field sub-DPS that can be used for massive damage support
• Bennett - Pyro support unit for damage buff and healing
• Kazuha - Anemo support unit for swirl buff and grouping