Genshin Impact Elemental Mastery – Best Characters and Reactions

You're certainly not alone if you're confused by Genshin Impact's unique character stat, Elemental Mastery. It's a factor that can greatly influence how much damage you do, particularly in the late game. You can get ahead of the curve and deal massive damage by reading this guide on how it works.

Which characters should build the Elemental Mastery stat in Genshin Impact?

Generally, Anemo characters should build as much Elemental Mastery into their build as possible due to the Swirl reaction. Venti, Kazuha, Sucrose, and Shikanoin Heizou all fall in this category. If you can get their Elemental Mastery stat to 900 or greater, awesome. Trading the potential CRIT increases, attack, and Anemo damage boosts for high amounts of swirl reaction damage results in greater overall damage. The exceptions to this rule are Jean and Sayu, who can use a full Elemental Mastery build but may also use a hybrid build if you want to use them as a healer. Xiao is also a major exception. He does much more damage built with additional CRIT values, attack, and Anemo damage boosts.

Other Main DPS characters can benefit from Elemental Mastery depending on the reaction they are triggering. Usually, you should aim for about 200 Elemental Mastery for most main DPS characters. You may need to sacrifice too much in CRIT values, attack, or elemental damage bonuses for the increased Elemental Mastery.

Dendro characters also benefit from higher levels of Elemental Mastery. Tighnari, for example, seems to want around 500 Elemental Mastery. Electro or Hydro characters that trigger reactions involving Dendro, such as Cyno or Nilou, benefit from higher levels of Elemental Mastery.

Related: Best Electro Characters in Genshin Impact (September 2022)

Which reactions gain the most damage from Elemental Mastery in Genshin Impact?

Swirl: Thanks to the update to Swirl damage calculations in Version 1.6, Swirl deals massive damage with higher levels of Elemental Mastery. For most Anemo characters, you need to get their Elemental Mastery stat as high as possible. Anemo characters are the only ones who can trigger a Swirl reaction, so they are always the character you build with a high Elemental Mastery stat.

Bloom: This reaction scales heavily based on the triggering character's Elemental Mastery. The bloom cores produced by the reaction also have a unique feature: they can not strike a critical hit. So, you can trade a CRIT rate or CRIT damage circlet for one with Elemental Mastery as its main stat, providing additional damage with very little loss.

Quicken, Aggravate, or Spread: These reactions can strike critical hits, so don't neglect CRIT rate and CRIT damage on characters using this reaction. That said, it does seem that increasing Elemental Mastery provides higher bonuses than increasing the attack stat when a main DPS character triggers these reactions. Particularly on a character like Tighnari, whose kit gives him attack increases for each point of Elemental Mastery he has.

Melt or Vaporize: These are Amplified Elemental Reactions that will scale based on Elemental Mastery and which element is triggering the reaction. You'll get the most damage from a Melt reaction triggered by a Pyro character with about 200 Elemental Mastery in their build. Vaporize will deal the most damage when triggered by a Hydro character with about 200 Elemental Mastery.

Related: All Dendro Elemental Reactions and Combos in Genshin Impact

The two golden rules of Elemental Mastery in Genshin Impact

Remember these when thinking about Elemental Mastery:

1. An elemental reaction only scales on the Elemental Mastery of the character triggering the reaction.
2. Each elemental reaction uses Elemental Mastery differently in its damage calculations. Some reactions need Elemental Mastery more than others.

This means that any support character primarily applying an element, like Xingqiu, who applies Hydro for other DPS characters, does not need any additional Elemental Mastery to boost your damage. It's also very important to determine your potential team composition first. Figure out what elemental reactions you intend to trigger with that team, then decide how much Elemental Mastery your main DPS character needs.

If you're looking for more information on elemental reactions, check out All Genshin Impact Elements, Elemental combos, and Reactions. For something more fun, check out Genshin Impact Quiz: Which element are you? here at Pro Game Guides.