Best Build for Alhaitham in Genshin Impact

Alhaitham is a 5-star Dendro

sword character in Genshin Impact. This guide covers the best builds, weapons and artifacts for Alhaitham.

Pros & Cons
Skills
Passives
Constellations
Ascension

Pros & Cons

Works as both an On-Field DPS and a Driver
His EM scalings make reactions (Spread) more valuable than investment in talents
- Prioritise level 90 over talents
High Dendro application and uptime opens to many possible team synergies
Works fine with F2P friendly weapons and no constellations

Value is determined by player's skill expression
- Needs to be played with a combo in mind to maximise damage and uptime
- Incorrect management of Mirrors leads to unwanted long periods of downtime
Suffers Energy issues in some teams
Story locked ascension materials hurt newer accounts

Skills

Template:Alhaitham/Skills

Passives

Template:Alhaitham/Passives

Constellations

Template:Alhaitham/Constellations

Ascension

Template:Alhaitham/Ascension

Teams

For a detailed breakdown of the best Alhaitham teams go to the Alhaitham team guide page.

Builds

Dendro DPS

Alhaitham is a Dendro DPS character who deals damage through his Dendro-infused Normal and Charged Attacks, his Skill's "Projection Attacks" and his Burst.
When Alhaitham owns Mirrors he deals Dendro DMG with his Normal/Charged/Plunging Attacks and triggers Projection Attacks simultaneously. Plus, each Mirror possessed adds 2 hits to the Burst, for a maximum of 10. When Burst ends, it generates mirrors based on how many were consumed:
3 - mirrors used = mirrors generated
(e.g. Burst consumes 2 mirrors, generates 1)
Ideally you want to always have 3 Mirrors to maximise his Projection Attacks damage. To do this, make sure to cast Burst without any Mirrors and use Skill/Charged Attack to create a new one after it disappears.

Talent Priority

Skill > Normal Attack >= Burst
All of Alhaitham's talents are worth upgrading, however most of his damage will come from the Skill. Burst is only equal to Normal Attacks if it's used in every rotation.

Stat Priority

Main stats: EM/Dendro DMG/Crit Rate or DMG
Sub stats: ER% (until requirement is met) > Crit > EM = ATK%
Alhaitham partially scales with EM so it's a better investment over ATK overall, since both his personal damage and reactions scale with it.

Weapons

Alhaitham's signature and best weapon, made specifically for him.

Light of Foliar Incision

CRIT DMG

Whitemoon Bristle

CRIT Rate is increased by 4~?%. After Normal Attacks deal Elemental DMG, the Foliar Incision effect will be obtained, increasing DMG dealt by Normal Attacks and Elemental Skills by 120~?% of Elemental Mastery. This effect will disappear after 28 DMG instances or 12s. You can obtain Foliar Incision once every 12s.

Other 5★ options still provide high DMG output. Jade Cutter is slighty below his signature weapon in terms of damage but it still offers the same Crit value. Mistsplitter and Haran too provide a solid Crit stat and a damage boosting passive which can be fully utilised by Alhaitham.

Primordial Jade Cutter

CRIT Rate

Protector's Virtue

HP increased by 20~40%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 1.2~2.4% of the wielder's Max HP.

Mistsplitter Reforged

CRIT DMG

Mistsplitter's Edge

Gain a 12~24% Elemental DMG Bonus for every element and receive the might of Mistsplitter's Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, Mistsplitter's Emblem provides a 8/16/28~16/32/56% Elemental DMG Bonus for the character's Elemental Type.

The character will obtain 1 stack of Mistsplitter's Emblem in each of the following scenarios: Normal Attack deals Elemental DMG (stack lasts 5s), casting Elemental Burst (stack lasts 10s); Energy is less than 100% (stack disappears when Energy is full). Each stack's duration is calculated independently.

Haran Geppaku Futsu

CRIT Rate

Honed Flow

Obtain 12% All Elemental DMG Bonus. When other nearby party members use Elemental Skills, the character equipping this weapon will gain 1 Wavespike stack. Max 2 stacks. This effect can be triggered once every 0.3s. When the character equipping this weapon uses an Elemental Skill, all stacks of Wavespike will be consumed to gain Rippling Upheaval: each stack of Wavespike consumed will increase Normal Attack DMG by 20% for 8s.

If 5★ weapons are too much to ask for, feel free to use these competitive 4★ options. Toukabou and Iron Sting give the same amount of EM and Base ATK. Toukabou is more effective in single target, while Iron Sting has more AoE potential.

Toukabou Shigure

Elemental Mastery

Kaidan: Rainfall Earthbinder

After an attack hits opponents, it will inflict an instance of Cursed Parasol upon one of them for 10s. This effect can be triggered once every 15s. If this opponent is taken out during Cursed Parasol's duration, Cursed Parasol's CD will be refreshed immediately. The character wielding this weapon will deal 16~32% more DMG to the opponent affected by Cursed Parasol.

Iron Sting

Elemental Mastery

Infusion Stinger

Dealing Elemental DMG increases all DMG by 6~12% for 6s. Max 2 stacks. Can only occur once every 1s.

Weapon Variations

Crit options

Harbinger of Dawn on paper has the same value as Mistsplitter/Haran, as its low Base ATK isn't really an issue here. However its passive is hard to maintain active due to Alhaitham's long field time and exposure to exploding Dendro cores. Better if used with a Shield.

Harbinger of Dawn

CRIT DMG

Vigorous

When HP is above 90%, increases CRIT Rate by 14~28%.

The Black Sword is locked behind paid Battlepass and it's mostly a stat stick. It gives lower damage than aforementioned weapons but it's still viable, especially for balancing stats.

The Black Sword

CRIT Rate

Justice

Increases DMG dealt by Normal and Charged Attacks by 20~40%. Additionally, regenerates 60~100% of ATK as HP when Normal and Charged Attacks score a CRIT Hit. This effect can occur once every 5s.

Blackcliff is its F2P counterpart and still contributes with some Crit DMG. Its passive is mostly situational.

Blackcliff Longsword

CRIT DMG

Press the Advantage

After defeating an opponent, ATK is increased by 12~24% for 30s. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others.

OR

These weapons are less efficient in terms of DPS but they contribute some ER%, which makes rotations smoother.

Xiphos' Moonlight

Elemental Mastery

Jinni's Whisper

The following effect will trigger every 10s: The equipping character will gain 0.036~0.072% Energy Recharge for each point of Elemental Mastery they possess for 12s, with nearby party members gaining 30% of this buff for the same duration. Multiple instances of this weapon can allow this buff to stack. This effect will still trigger even if the character is not on the field.

Festering Desire

Energy Recharge

Undying Admiration

Increases Elemental Skill DMG by 16~32% and Elemental Skill CRIT Rate by 6~12%.

Sapwood Blade

Energy Recharge

Forest Sanctuary

After triggering Burning, Quicken, Aggravate, Spread, Bloom, Hyperbloom, or Burgeon, a Leaf of Consciousness will be created around the character for a maximum of 10s. When picked up, the Leaf will grant the character 60 Elemental Mastery for 12s. Only 1 Leaf can be generated this way every 20s. This effect can still be triggered if the character is not on the field. The Leaf of Consciousness' effect cannot stack.

Artifacts

Gilded Dreams is Alhaitham's best set if another member of the team is holding 4pc Deepwood Memories. It gives him EM and ATK% which further boost his damage.

Gilded Dreams

2 Elemental Mastery +80.

4 Within 8s of triggering an Elemental Reaction, the character equipping this will obtain buffs based on the Elemental Type of the other party members, ATK is increased by 14% for each party member whose Elemental Type is the same as the equipping character, and Elemental Mastery is increased by 50 for every party member with a different Elemental Type. Each of the aforementioned buffs will count up to 3 characters. This effect can be triggered once every 8s. The character who equips this can still trigger its effects when not on the field.

Artifact Variations

If no Deepwood holder is in the team, this automatically becomes Alhaitham's best set. it is however really encouraged to use it on somebody else.

Deepwood Memories

2 Dendro DMG Bonus +15%.

4 After Elemental Skills or Bursts hit opponents, the targets' Dendro RES will be decreased by 30% for 8s. This effect can be triggered even if the equipping character is not on the field.

Any combination

Any 2pc combination of these set provides Alhaitham useful stats, however it's best to switch to 4pc Gilded later on, when you will be done farming.

Deepwood Memories

2 Dendro DMG Bonus +15%.

Gilded Dreams

2 Elemental Mastery +80.