Genshin Impact: Hu Tao guide — Best weapons, artifacts, and talents

Hu Tao’s best artifacts: 4x Crimson Witch of Flames vs. 2x Crimson Witch of Flames and 2x Gladiator’s Finale/Noblesse Oblige vs. 4x Lavawalker

The most obvious choice here for Hu Tao’s best artifact set in Genshin Impact is the Crimson Witch of Flames. You can farm it from the Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula domain.

The two-piece set bonus gives her +15% Pyro damage. Meanwhile, the four-piece set bonus grants the following effects:

• +15% vaporize and melt damage
• +40% overload and burning damage
• Using your elemental skill increases the two-piece set bonus by 50% of its starting value for 10 seconds; stacks up to three times.

Naturally, Hu Tao’s elemental skill cooldown would mean that the stacks won’t be able to ramp up quickly. This is far different from what you’d experience with Diluc’s or Klee’s capabilities with this set. For the most part, though, the 4-piece bonus is used if you want to maximize elemental reactions.

Anyway, one of my go-to combinations is the Crimson Witch of Flames artifact set and the Gladiator’s Finale set. The two-piece Gladiator’s bonus grants +18% ATK, so you can have that plus the Crimson Witch of Flames’ two-piece bonus too. Alternatively, you can go for the full four-piece bonus solely from the Gladiator’s Finale set. It gives +35% ATK if the wearer uses a sword, claymore, or polearm.

Conversely, you can drop the 2x Gladiator’s Finale set in favor of 2x Noblesse Oblige. This is primarily if you want to boost her elemental burst/ult further. Sadly, I’m already using decent-rolled Noblesse pieces on Bennett, Mona, and Xingqiu. I couldn’t afford to hand the Noblesse pieces to Hu Tao and gimp these characters since they’re needed for burst nuke comps.

Lastly, another option seems to be the Lavawalker artifact set. The two-piece bonus is next to useless since it only grants you Pyro resistance. But, the four-piece bonus allows you to deal +35% damage against Pyro-afflicted opponents.

Artifact stat priorities

• Flower – HP (default)
• Feather – ATK (default)
• Hourglass/Sands – HP%
• Goblet – Pyro damage bonus
• Circlet/Helm – crit rate or crit damage

Ideally, the artifacts should roll with crit rate, crit damage, and ATK% as sub-stats. If possible, try to have HP or HP% sub-stats in those artifacts as well. Hu Tao’s HP-to-ATK scaling is ridiculously high, so you’ll want her to have a huge health pool.

Likewise, take note of her weapon’s sub-stat. If you’re using Staff of Homa (crit damage sub-stat), then try to have around 30% crit rate. The weapon, artifact rolls, and Hu Tao’s ascension will already take care of crit damage for you. Conversely, if you’re using Deathmatch (crit rate sub-stat), then you’ll want to have extra crit damage.

All right, let’s go to the next part of our guide to talk about Hu Tao’s talent priorities in Genshin Impact.