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

Talent priorities

Try to remember what each of Hu Tao’s talents does while playing Genshin Impact. The talents you level use whopperflower materials and Diligence books (from the Taishan Mansion domain every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday).

“Guide to Afterlife” – This elemental skill was already discussed in our section about Hu Tao’s best weapon in the game. However, it’s still worth citing that this will be your bread-and-butter given the ATK scaling from Hu Tao’s max HP.

Since this buff cannot exceed more than 400% of Hu Tao’s base ATK, then stronger weapons and ATK-boosting artifacts will benefit you greatly. You should also remember to apply the “Blood Blossom” burning DOT via dash attacks. You only get one stack per enemy and the effect lasts four seconds. But, Hu Tao can refresh the stacks herself. Furthermore, watch Hu Tao’s HP. Although she can’t die from skill activation even when low on health, that drop could kill you if an enemy gets a lucky shot. Lastly, the entire “state” lasts 10 seconds, so try to make the most out of it while you can.

“Secret Spear of Wangsheng” – This improves Hu Tao’s attacks in general.

“Spirit Soother” – Hu Tao’s elemental burst/ultimate does an AoE Pyro blast. It even allows her to regenerate her lost HP, triggered up to five times, based on the number of enemies that she hits. If Hu Tao’s HP is equal to or below 50%, then the damage and healing from the burst are both increased. This is basically Hu Tao’s emergency heal and super nuke.

Hu Tao can either be a main DPS carry (she’s on the field for prolonged periods), or a nuker (she pops up to use her ult after her team has been set up). If you’re going with the former, then prioritize her elemental skill followed by her normal attacks or burst. If you’re going with the latter, go ahead and prioritize her elemental burst/ult before her normal attacks.

To be clear, you can focus on Hu Tao’s burst/ult if you’re going for a massive nuke setup (i.e., using buffs from Mona, Bennett, and Sucrose). It’s possible to hit over a million damage with her burst (shown in the video below from YouTuber Tony To). But, be reminded that these are “whale numbers” (i.e., C6/maxed-out characters). If you’re an F2P player or a “dolphin,” like the vast majority of those playing Genshin Impact, then this isn’t the ideal way to gauge how viable a character can be.

Okay, let’s go to the next part of our guide to talk about Hu Tao’s character ascension materials.