Alright, so a few days ago, I was messing around with different builds for my Childe in Genshin Impact. I heard people talking about how Elemental Mastery (EM) could be good for him, so I thought, “Why not give it a shot?”
First off, I started digging around to see what EM actually does. Turns out, it’s pretty useful if your character’s attacks are, you know, actual elemental attacks. Like Barbara, she’s just slinging water all the time, so EM is her jam. For Childe, it’s a bit different since he’s also whacking things with his bow. But when he uses his skills, that’s when the EM could potentially shine.
Then, I learned that EM boosts something called “Transformative Reactions.” These are things like Vaporize and Electro-Charged. Basically, they add extra damage on top of your regular attacks, and the damage scales with your EM and your character’s level. The catch is, this extra damage can’t crit, and it doesn’t get boosted by your regular elemental damage bonuses.
Now, for Childe, people usually focus on things like Attack, Crit Rate, and Crit Damage, maybe some Hydro Damage Bonus. But I wanted to see how far I could push his EM. So, I started hunting for weapons and artifacts that had EM as a main stat or a substat. It’s kind of a pain because you’re relying on luck to get those stats on your artifacts. You gotta level them up and hope that the random stat boosts land on EM.
I equipped him with artifacts that had EM as a main stat, and then I farmed for weapons that also boosted EM. I ended up using a bow that gave him a good amount of EM, but it wasn’t the best in terms of other stats.
Then, I remembered reading somewhere that you should let your support characters use their bursts before switching to Childe. So, I tried that too. I’d pop all my support bursts, like Bennett’s for the attack buff and Xiangling’s for the Pyro application, and then I’d switch to Childe and go ham with his melee stance.
- EM Childe hits like a truck with his reactions. Seriously, the Vaporize damage was insane. I was seeing numbers I’d never seen before with my usual build.
- His personal damage takes a hit. Since you’re stacking EM, you’re sacrificing other stats like Attack and Crit. So, his regular bow shots and even his melee stance attacks weren’t hitting as hard as they usually do.
- It’s kind of a one-trick pony. You’re basically relying on those big reaction numbers. If the enemy is resistant to Hydro or if you can’t apply the right element for the reaction, you’re going to struggle.
Here’s what I found out:
So, is EM Childe the “best” build for him? I wouldn’t say so. It’s definitely fun, and it can be really strong in the right situations. But it’s not as versatile as a more balanced build that focuses on Attack, Crit, and Hydro Damage. If you want to see some big, flashy numbers and you don’t mind relying on reactions, then give it a try. But if you want a more consistent and reliable Childe, you might want to stick with a more traditional build. I went back to my old build, but hey, at least I had fun experimenting!
