Hu Tao is one of the strongest characters to ever release in Genshin Impact. In terms of pure damage, few characters can stand in the same platform as her.

However, simply obtaining the character won’t do, as Genshin Impact is a game where you need to build your characters to bring out their potential.

Artifacts

Artifacts are undeniably the most tedious yet rewarding part of Genshin Impact’s character building system. Here are 5 different ways to build your Hu Tao:

Crimson Witch of Flames:

One of, if not the best artifact set for Hu Tao. This artifact not only increases her Pyro Damage Bonus, but also her Vaporize, Melt, Overloaded, Burning and Burgeon Damage Bonuses.

Pairing this artifact set with an off-field Hydro applier like Yelan or Xingqiu almost guarantees Vaporize each attack.

However, while you’re farming this artifact, keep in mind that the domain, Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula, is a thankless domain where you can barely use Hu Tao to farm because it is riddled with Pyro enemies. In addition, the other artifact set in this domain, Lavawalker, is considered very niche and not applicable in a lot of situations. So this might not be the best domain for your sanity.

If you need a more resin efficient domain where you can freely use Hu Tao, where the domain even buffs her, check out the next artifact set on this list.

Shimenawa’s Reminiscence:

This artifact set is incredible for Hu Tao. In terms of pure damage, Shimenawa’s Reminiscence is almost identical to Crimson Witch of Flames. In addition, the other artifact on this domain, Emblem of Severed Fate, is the best-in-slot artifact for many characters such as Beidou, Xiangling and especially Yelan and Xingqiu. Because of this, you can build Hu Tao’s greatest supports, Yelan and Xingqiu while you farm artifacts for Hu Tao.

However, Shimenawa’s Reminiscence isn’t first on the list for one major drawback: it limits Hu Tao’s elemental burst usage potential by a lot. Each time her elemental skill is used, if Hu Tao has more than 15 energy, the artifact set drains that for the damage bonus it provides. While veteran players or people with Zhongli might face little to no problem with this, using this method takes away Hu Tao’s primary source of healing along with huge chunks of damage.

However, in my personal opinion, the pros outweigh the cons by a lot, especially considering how grueling the Crimson Witch of Pain Flames domain can be. You can always farm Shimenawa’s Reminiscence first for your support characters and go farm Crimson Witch of Flames later in the game, because it is going to be a long ride otherwise.

There are also other options, while not being as good as the other two, can substitute for these artifacts. Keep in mind that the options below are not listed in any order, and it’s usefulness is entirely dependent on whether you have these artifact sets.

Tenacity of the Millelith + Crimson Witch of Flames:

Two Piece of Tenacity of the Millelith and Two of Crimson Witch of Flames can be a pretty good combination for Hu Tao. However, there is no reason to farm for Tenacity of the Millelith. The only circumstances where you give Hu Tao this artifact set is if you were farming on the Ridge Watch Domain and happened to get really good artifact pieces.

Paired with Crimson Witch, this artifact combination can be pretty good if it has really good sub-stats.

Tenacity of the Millelith + Elemental Mastery Artifact:

Haven’t farmed Crimson Witch of Flames yet? No worries! You can use excess elemental mastery artifacts you get from building other characters or use Wanderer’s set that you got from claiming boss drops to good use. Hu Tao needs Elemental Mastery and HP to perform well in a vaporize team. If one is lacking, her damage will suffer. This combination covers both bases, even though it isn’t the best option for her.

Crimson Witch of Flames + Elemental Mastery Artifact:

This combo increases Pyro Damage Bonus and Elemental Mastery. This is one of the better combinations of two-set pieces out there, so with good enough sub-stats, you can pull off a really good Hu Tao.

Stats to Focus On

Now that you have an idea on what artifacts to build, your question must be what stats to focus on. Building characters can be difficult as most character have different requirements. This is especially true in Hu Tao’s case, as she is reliant on HP as opposed to ATK like conventional DPS characters are.

For Hu Tao, the ideal stat distribution is as follows:

Weapons:

Knowing which weapons to use is very important to maximize your damage output. Although it initially makes sense to give her the strongest 5 star polearm you have, that might not always be the case. These are Hu Tao’s strongest weapons:

Staff of Homa

This weapon is the undisputed best-in-slot weapon for Hu Tao. While it might be difficult for free to play players to obtain this weapon, if you are spending money or if you have a lot of Primogems saved for a weapon, this weapon is incredible.

In addition to give immense amount of Crit DMG, this weapon increases your HP, increases ATK based on HP and in addition increases ATK even further when HP is lesser than 50%. All of these stats complement Hu Tao perfectly.

Primordial Jade Winged-Spear

This weapon is pretty good on Hu Tao. Although ATK doesn’t contribute much to Hu Tao, this weapon provides a lot of it. Since your artifacts don’t provide much ATK, this weapon won’t go over the diminishing returns line too much, making this a decent weapon for her. It also helps provide Crit Rate, which can help balance out the Crit Ratio.

Dragon’s Bane

This weapon is incredible for Hu Tao, especially at a higher refinement and when paired with a Hydro Character. Despite being a 4 Star, at higher refinements, it can easily overtake most 5 star weapons. It provides much needed Elemental Mastery for Hu Tao. In addition, it helps deal an additional 20% damage to Vaporize, which can create a reaction which can be incredible for her damage.

Deathmatch

If you have a Hu Tao and are willing to buy the battlepass, Deathmatch can be a relatively cheap alternative for Hu Tao. It increases your Crit Rate, which helps balance out Crit Rate to Crit Damage ratio.

White Tassel

No 5 or 4 star weapons? No problem! you can always rely on the good ol’ reliable White Tassel. This is a 3 star weapon that increases your Crit Rate and Normal ATK damage. Since Base ATK isn’t that important to Hu Tao, it won’t affect your damage much either. So if you don’t have any other options, just refine every White Tassel you find and give it to Hu Tao.

Talents

No character can be completely built without upgrading their talents. In Hu Tao’s Case, the talent level up priority is as follows:

Normal Attack > Elemental Skill > Elemental Burst.

However, this is only the order to level it up. Ideally, you want all three talents levelled up to the max. Hu Tao is one of the rare characters who benefit from leveling up all three talents.

With this, you should have a detailed idea on how to build Hu Tao. If you have any doubts at all, you can contact me personally through the email address I provided in my link. Hope you have a wonderful experience with your Hu Tao.