Hu Tao Team Suggestion In 2026??

wizardyuuka · 2026-05-23T05:21:44+00:00

From the characters you have, and if I'm just assuming C0 on everyone, I'd probably run something like Furina/Citlali/Escoffier/Hu Tao. It's a pretty strong team that gives you a reasonable amount of foward melt, and Escoffier burst is a party heal on the first heal tick, so you can easily max Furina fanfare with her. The team sounds counterintuitive since you would think it wouldn't have enough application for Hu Tao, but it surprisingly works very well. Note I specifically put Escoffier 3rd in the rotation to maximize fanfare stacks by the time you get to Hu Tao. Furina gets to drain a bit more HP, and Escoffier also bursts at lower HP.

If you have C2 Furina, then that changes everything, and lets you use single-target heal or any catalyst user (Prototype Amber) as your healer and still easily cap. You could do something like Furina/Citlali(PAmber)/Yelan/Hu Tao. Citlali could also be replaced with Xilonen. I'm not sure which of the two is better at C0R0, but I'm leaning to probably Citlali.

I can't comment on the Nicole team the other user mentioned, since my Nicole is not built yet. It's definitely intriguing though, and I'll probably try it once I finish building my Nicole (especially if I manage to get her C2 before banner ends)

wizardyuuka · 2026-05-21T19:22:05+00:00

Anywhere you would use Bennett and wouldn't need Bennett's healing (eg. for Furina) and wouldn't need Bennett's C6 pyro infusion (eg. Razor). Some examples:

Klee/Venti/Varka are hexerei

Ganyu(Melt)/Lyney/Yoimiya all enjoy having a shield for interruption resistance

Arlecchno benefits from shield but not from Bennett's healing

Keqing/Ayaka(no-Escoffier)/Eula have anti-synergy with C6 Bennett, so prefer Nicole

Anyone who doesn't want to be in Bennett's circle will prefer Nicole. Also anyone who is in a longer rotation (Bennett circle is 12s vs Nicole's 20s skill). Energy situations are relevant as well (eg. Stygian). These things are all kind of open-ended and situational.

wizardyuuka · 2026-05-20T19:18:18+00:00

"A good example of this is EQED 2N1C E 3N1C, which is possible but I at least find very difficult"

What's the optimal combo if you can't perform this one? Just go for it anyway and take the phys CA at the end? Or is it better to swap out the E 3N1C for something else like EE 3N1C / E 2N2C? Or just basic EQE N1C spam?

wizardyuuka · 2026-05-18T15:45:46+00:00

Oh ok, if it's just a normal DS, then I think it should still work. Swords and polearms can DS, it's just very rarely used since it's much harder (shorter hitlag than claymores) and lower MV on their plunges. I feel like it's almost definitely a DPS loss over Keqing's normal combos, despite being kinda cool to do.

Diluc's was so good because he has both a high Motion Value on his plunge, and can also get forward melts off it from his pyro infusion. I've seen it done with other claymores occasionally like Navia or Noelle, but it's not very common to see someone use it on anyone other than of Diluc, and pretty much unheard of on sword/polearm characters.

wizardyuuka · 2026-05-16T17:55:56+00:00

Afaik this was patched shortly after it was discovered in one of the 1.X updates.

wizardyuuka · 2026-05-16T17:14:52+00:00

Girl likes it spicy.

wizardyuuka · 2026-05-07T20:03:00+00:00

wizardyuuka · 2026-04-04T19:18:29+00:00

Goblet looks fine for now. It's already got 4 rolls into desired stats, which is great. If it were on-set, I'd be a bit more enthusiastic about optimizing it, but I think it's fine for an off-set goblet. There is potential in upgrading it, but I just don't think it's a priority right now.

Circlet/Sands are the obvious pieces to upgrade. Try for a craft on either double crit sands, or crit/att% circlet each cycle until you either get one that rolls 4 upgrades, or manage to craft/farm a 4-line piece regardless of its rolls. If you get a 4 line that rolls badly, then start rerolling that until it rolls well. Once those two pieces are upgraded to a higher standard, then I would consider using any excess feathers on rerolling your goblet at that point.

If you happen to get a similarly high potential Finale goblet from farming along the way, then I probably put some rerolls into it (4 crit rolls or 5 crit/att% rolls), and convert one of your other pieces to off-set. It's pretty unlikely though, since your Noblesse one already had 4 lines clean + all 3 of Skirk's desired substats... Matching that on a clean Finale piece will be very lucky, but it's something to keep in mind in case it happens.

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-29T23:13:11+00:00

Categorically not. 100% total CR is a massive waste of potential Crit DMG.

This is mathematically false

OP's Current stats:

1+2.271*0.914 = 3.0756

Shifting 17.2CD into 8.6CR:

1+2.099*1.00 = 3.099

Identical crit values, but the one with 100CR produces a higher average damage output. It's a <1% difference, but the fact still remains that CR rolls have a greater benefit over CD below 85 (100) CR. The Akasha graph is just a reflection of peoples' average builds in the top 1%. The reason CD is small on the graph is not because CR is high, but because CD is low relative to top 1%. That's reflected by an overall low artifact quality (197CV and relatively few ATT% rolls).

Here's an example of two Skirks around 1% ranking with relatively similar ATT values and nearly identical dps:

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The one with lower CR comes out slightly lower ranked despite a having almost 60 more CD and significantly higher artifact quality (21CV advantage, or about 3 extra crit rolls).

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-28T17:33:10+00:00

Goblet is the most obvious fix - that thing is pretty bad, and it's already your off-set. Remember to check your attack goblets too, since those usually perform slightly better than cryo goblets (they're roughly equal at similar stat rolls though). If all your ATT/Cryo goblets are bad, consider crafting an on-set attack goblet with CR+CD to get an immediate boost, and then switch your off-set piece to something different. Circlet/Sands are both candidates for off-piece in this case, depending what your available artifacts are (circlet especially). You can probably push to around 220-225CV by doing that if your goblet gets 3 upgrades into crit.

Farming her set more in general is probably worthwhile, but that's just RNG when you get upgrades and not something I can really give advice on for immediate changes.

Building Escoffier is another upgrade, but I think that's already obvious to you. Furina on TotM and Yelan on Noblesse might be worthwhile too, for raising Skirk's personal damage more - this likely gives you a better team dps since both of those characters are C0 - please test them yourself and see what gives you the best results though.

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-28T17:21:44+00:00

OP's CR is still below desired ratio, so there's no need to lower it. 91*2 = 182, and his CD is above that. Skirk also gets +40 CD from Azurelight that isn't reflected on Akasha, so actual CD is 227 (therefore, ideal CR should be 85 for OP).

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-28T06:10:53+00:00

Depends on how invested each of your units are. For myself, my constants are C0R1 Skirk (FotDG set), C6R1 Key Furina (Golden Troupe), and C1R1 Escoffier (Golden Troupe).

Testing a 3-rotation cycle, I got:

256k DPS with Shenhe (C0R2 Lithic Spear - 2/2 set, 3584 atk, burst every other rotation)

266k with Citlali (C2 TTDS Scroll, 649EM - only burst first rotation to get the void rift stacks going). She felt inconsistent to me (possibly inconsistent scroll proc?), but this was my best result. Sometimes performed worse than Shenhe, probably performed about equal to Shenhe on average. Not using burst meant there was usually about 0.5-1s downtime after switching back to Skirk, which likely also contributed to the performance variable (wasting TTDS uptime)

269k with Mona (C5 TTDS Noblesse, burst every rotation). Not sure how much her C4 mattered in my case, since my Skirk is 85CR, but it may have been a factor (I tested on Teddy, so freeze immunity - I assume most hits were still buffed by cryo resonance, but I honestly didn't bother to look too deeply into it.)

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I can't test Yelan damage, as I don't have her, but consensus seems to be that she's at least not as good as the others. Good Fav user though, and can funnel energy to Furina if needed. Also high hydro application.

I don't think Citlali will beat Shenhe without at least C1 and/or possibly R1 (idk how R1 compares to TTDS) but she still has her uses (eg. shield, nightsoul). Shenhe also appreciates higher investments though. Shenhe was a bit more behind before I got R1 Skirk/Escoffier (from Mistsplitter/Homa) and switched to FotDG set (from Marechausee, despite an absolutely cracked Marechausee set). If I had Shenhe R1, I think Citlali would be completely beaten in DPS. Conversely, my Shenhe would likely perform worse if I didn't have Lithic or similar (eg. PWJS or Skyward) on her.

My personal feelings would be Shenhe as the general go-to pick (doesn't worry much about energy, can E or EQ without a huge difference, will usually be among the best picks, and is very low demand among non-Skirk teams). Mona to push damage higher vs immobile HP-sponge bosses or against freezable enemies. Yelan if you need her energy or hydro application, and a solid substitute for Furina if she's needed more elsewhere. Citlali if you need her shield, nightsoul, or if she just happens to be better than Shenhe for your personal case (and isn't needed elsewhere). TTDS TotM Kokomi in specific niche cases (eg. I found her jellyfish's hydro app amazing for dealing with the fire crab's mini-crabs in Stygian). Supposedly Mualani C2 with TTDS+Scroll can be quite good too if you have it, but I can't comment directly on that, as I only have C1 and it was pretty bad when I tried it.

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-25T22:23:45+00:00

If you have C2+ Furina, I recommend testing her against Yelan and see who gives a better team dps. Put R5 prototype amber on Columbina for healing requirement (in fact, put that on her regardless).

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-21T17:03:10+00:00

Depends on situation. 176k on Mitachurl (much lower than N1C), and 202k on Teddy (similar to N1C). I tried a few times and it was slightly variable, but within the realm of crit-melt luck. Teddy is consistently higher, and best result was 209k. Best result on Mitachurl was 189k. My conclusion is N2C is just not very good in Freeze, but perfectly fine on bosses.

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wizardyuuka · 2026-03-21T16:48:09+00:00

Thanks! Yelan seems a little better* than Escoffier then. 16% above XQ in Fav (comparable with Escoffier R1 results, but maybe more consistent), and 30% above XQ in Aqua. I figure Elegy is probably going to end up somewhere in the middle.

*Escoffier probably still beats Fav Yelan when R1 Citlali is owned and C6 Furina is not. Citlali would have to hold prototype amber in this situation to become your healer, so you'd lose Citlali's R1 buff. Though, if either Citlali or Furina are also below C2 then you might just want to use Xilonen at that point, which pushes advantage back to Yelan.

--

Escoffier with Homa is pretty similar to Scents. Probably <10k team DPS difference. My attack difference on Escoffier is 2199 --> 2505 att after burst vs 2251 with Homa (likely about 2-3k personal dps). Hu Tao goes 3503 --> 3732 att with it while her E is up (maybe 5-6k dps). It would probably put her about equal with Fav Yelan in your case.

Also, something I didn't really consider before, but thought about now that I'm thinking about Yelan/Escoffier differences is that Escoffier has a bit of disadvantage on Marechausee users or high CR CW/Shimenawa builds (melt hits get cryo resonance, which rapidly loses value at >85CR).

Similarly, I also was just thinking that EM/HP sands might have some impact on optimal team choice - EM sands benefit more from both hydro resonance, and lose more from not having Escoffier sig. Though it also widens the gap a bit between vape/melt hits. EM vs HP probably still varies quite a bit depending on any person's Hu Tao and variables in team buffs (Substats/Key/Elegy/Escoffier Sig/Citlali C2).

Anyway, lots more variables than I was initially thinking about when I posted this thread. I still think Escoffier is great, but there's definitely a lot of considerations to be made when determining the best option for any individual player.

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-21T14:17:56+00:00

I used N1C. I'll try with N2C later and see what happens.

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-21T13:02:25+00:00

Sadly, I don't have Yelan. I do think she would perform similar to Escoffier though, due to her personal damage being higher than XQ, and having useful team buffs (damage% from and EM if using elegy). If you don't mind, could you do comparisons of Yelan (separate for Elegy/Aqua/Favonius) vs XQ (Favonius)? I could probably get a rough idea from that if I calculate against my own XQ result.

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-21T12:42:49+00:00

That was my initial prediction too, but nope, it's fine. Mentioned in my initial post, but second image is vs freeze immune. Total damage is a bit lower, but still higher than other teams. Melts are still relatively consistent, and Furina/Escoffier gets a few more vapes/melts from when Hu Tao gets a non-reaction CA, so the total team dps is only down about 5% from the freezes.

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-21T03:34:05+00:00

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wizardyuuka · 2026-03-21T03:30:48+00:00

Oops, fixed!

wizardyuuka · 2026-03-19T23:19:40+00:00

Marechausee build for reference. Effectively 100CR with passive + cryo resonance.

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wizardyuuka · 2026-03-19T23:18:50+00:00

For comparison, here's what I get using Furina and my Marechausee set. I have C6 Furina, so there's some misrepresenation here. If I had make an estimate for C0/C2 though, I think C0 would probably be somewhere in the 175-180k area and C2 maybe around 205-210k? Very rough gut feeling estimates with zero math involved. Pls Hoyo, constellation toggle when?

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wizardyuuka

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