Xiangli Yao

Who is Xiangli Yao?

Xiangli Yao is the Principal Investigator in charge of academic affairs at Huaxu Academy's Jinzhou campus and the academy's youngest multidisciplinary scientist, a genius specializing in Automata Mechanics whose right arm has been fully replaced by a mechanical prosthesis. He wields Gauntlets with the Electro element. He fills Capacity and uses Decipher, then enters Intuition mode with his Liberation and lands Law of Reigns strikes, which count as Liberation damage, one after another. Almost all of his damage is Resonance Liberation damage, so he performs best with supports who boost Liberation, such as Yinlin.

How to get Xiangli Yao

Xiangli Yao is a limited 5★ Resonator and does not appear on the standard banner; you can only pull him with Radiant Tides while his banner is active. He first arrived in the second half of version 1.2 with the "Celestial Revelation" banner that opened on September 7, 2024; he got a rerun in 1.4 and returned in the 2.3 anniversary reruns and in the selector banner of 3.5. A 5★ is guaranteed within 80 pulls; your first 5★ has a 50% chance of being the featured character, and if you lose the 50/50, the next 5★ is guaranteed.

Best weapons for Xiangli Yao

1. 1
   Verity's Handle 5★ · Signature weapon

   Signature weapon. On top of a 24.3% Crit. Rate main stat and 12% Attribute DMG Bonus, it grants 48% Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus for 8 s after Liberation; each Resonance Skill extends this by 5 s (up to 3 times).

2. 2
   Moongazer's Sigil 5★

   Grants a 36% Crit. Rate main stat and 12% ATK; the 20% Resonance Liberation damage for 15 s after an Intro or Liberation lines up with his Intuition window.

3. 3
   Abyss Surges 5★

   The standard banner's 5★ Gauntlets; it offers a solid stat package with a 36.45% ATK main stat and an Energy Regen passive, while its Basic Attack and Resonance Skill bonuses are only partly useful.

4. 4
   Stonard 4★

   The best 4★ option: Its 20.25% Crit. Rate main stat and 18% Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus for 15 s after a Resonance Skill are made for Xiangli Yao.

5. 5
   Marcato 4★

   A 4★ with an Energy Regen main stat; it grants Concerto Energy with the Resonance Skill. Useful if you struggle with the Liberation cycle, but its damage contribution is low.

Xiangli Yao materials

Totals are calculated from game data: Every ascension stage from 1→90, skills 1→10 and every skill tree node.

Xiangli Yao skills

Normal Attack

Probe

Consists of a five-hit Electro combo, a Stamina-consuming Heavy Attack, a plunging attack and a Dodge Counter. Basic Attack hits fill Capacity, his Forte resource.

Resonance Skill

Deduction

A quick Resonance Skill that deals Electro damage to the target and grants Capacity on hit. When Capacity reaches 100, it is replaced by Decipher, which counts as Liberation damage.

Forte Circuit

Forever Seeking

When Capacity fills to 100, the Resonance Skill turns into Decipher, which counts as Liberation damage. In Intuition, Pivot - Impale, Divergence, Revamp and Unfathomed hits fill Performance Capacity; at 5 points, the Resonance Skill becomes the big hit Law of Reigns, which also counts as Liberation damage. Pressing Basic Attack right after Decipher or Divergence performs Revamp in midair.

Resonance Liberation

Cogitation Model

Deals Electro damage, enters Intuition and grants 3 Hypercubes; each Law of Reigns consumes one Hypercube, and the mode ends when all three are gone. During it, Basic and Heavy Attacks turn into the three-hit Pivot - Impale, the Resonance Skill into Divergence, and Dodge Counter into Unfathomed, which counts as Liberation damage.

Intro Skill

Principle

Deals Electro damage to the target on entry. It is a short entry move; after it, you start collecting Capacity with Basic Attacks and Deduction.

Outro Skill

Chain Rule

When the incoming character's Basic Attack hits a target for the first time, Xiangli Yao drops a laser there that deals AoE damage equal to 237.63% of his ATK. It triggers once every 2 s for 8 s, up to 3 times.

Inherent Skill

Knowing

After each Resonance Skill, he gains 5% Electro DMG Bonus for 8 s, stacking 4 times. In Intuition, the back-to-back Divergence and Law of Reigns keep the stacks full.

Inherent Skill

Focus

During Intuition, which he enters through the Liberation, Xiangli Yao's interruption resistance increases, so enemy attacks can hardly break your combo during the damage window.

Tune Break

Tune Break: Gauntlets

When the target's Off-Tune level is full, Xiangli Yao can perform the Gauntlets-specific Tune Break attack; it is a shared mechanic that opens an extra damage window on the staggered enemy.

Xiangli Yao sequences (Resonance Chain)

In 3.6 he has fallen behind the newer main DPS units, so consider his signature weapon Verity's Handle before any Sequences. If you do invest, S2 boosts his crit damage and S3 strengthens his Resonance Skill hits in Intuition the most; he still does the job in Electro teams at S0.

1. S1

   Prodigy of Protégés

   Law of Reigns also launches 6 Convolution Matrices, each dealing Liberation damage equal to 8% of the skill's multiplier.

2. S2

   Traces of Predecessors

   Using the Resonance Skill or Cogitation Model increases Crit. DMG by 30% for 8 s.

3. S3

   Ruins of Ancient

   For 24 s after Cogitation Model, Decipher, Deduction, Divergence and Law of Reigns deal 63% more damage (triggers up to 5 times).

4. S4

   Vessel of Rebirth

   Using Cogitation Model grants the whole team 25% Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus for 30 s.

5. S5

   End of Stars

   The multiplier of the Outro Skill Chain Rule increases by 222%, and Cogitation Model's multiplier by 100%.

6. S6

   Solace of the Ordinary

   Hypercubes are empowered and the DMG multiplier of Law of Reigns increases by 76%.

Xiangli Yao team comps

Xiangli Yao profile

Xiangli Yao tips

• Fill Capacity to 100 with Basic Attacks and Deduction, use Decipher, then immediately continue with Revamp in midair using Basic Attack.
• Use Cogitation Model after Decipher and spend all 3 Hypercubes on Law of Reigns before leaving Intuition.
• In Intuition, Revamp fills Performance Capacity the fastest (3 points); Divergence and the 2nd and 3rd hits of Pivot - Impale give 2 points each. Do not hold back Law of Reigns once you reach 5 points.
• Yinlin's or Lynae's Outro buff lasts 14 s, so go into Intuition right away when Xiangli Yao enters the field; landing Law of Reigns within the buff window raises his damage significantly.
• The Outro Skill Chain Rule is triggered by the next character's Basic Attacks; switching to a character who uses Basic Attacks after Xiangli Yao lets you get full value from the lasers.