ETERNITY: The Ultimate Raiden Shogun Guide

Written by ZΛNTO#4984

Last Updated: 9/11/2021


Welcome to this comprehensive Raiden guide.

Here you’ll find literally everything you need to know about her. Raiden’s a very complex character so I do hope you’ll spend the time to learn all the intricacies to the Electro Archon herself. There’s a lot of information about her circulating the internet at the moment, but I’m here to condense all the good info into one credible source.

If you find any errors, have a suggestion, or simply want to ask a question, you can find me at ZΛNTO#4984. DM me, ping me in a server, I don’t really care.

Thanks to all the theorycrafters that are working on Raiden. There’s too many of you to name so I’ll just say thanks to everybody. While I’ve written this guide alone, most of the extensive testing has been done by theorycrafters across the Genshin community.

I’ll thank Mihoyo when they fix Raiden – Beidou.


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Should you play/pull Raiden?

“No salutations needed. My exalted status shall not be disclosed as we travel among the common folk. I acknowledge that you are a person of superior ability. Henceforth, you will be my guard. Worry not. Should any danger arise, I shall dispose of it.”

Raiden’s reception has been a bit of a mixed bag. In general, prominent Theorycrafting circles have started to realize that she is fairly powerful. Not as omnipresent and potent as the other Archons or Bennett, but still has places where she fits and can excel in. Overall, many Theorycrafters think she is balanced if not residing in the higher end of the arbitrary power spectrum. However this is not the case everywhere, as online platforms like Reddit have voiced and supported calls for “buffs” for not only Raiden, but the Electro element as a whole.

A lot of this outrage started with the Raiden – Beidou interactions (or lack thereof). Theorycrafters and casual players alike are extremely pissed off by this (rightfully so), but it’s important to not draw conclusions that don’t make any sense just because there is some momentum.

Here’s an analysis of what Raiden can offer and where she falls short:


  • Strongest universal battery, capable of providing energy for any element and any number of units
  • Top tier Electro particle generation as well
  • Does enough damage at C0 during her uptime
  • Good AoE potential while in Burst
  • Consistent and self sufficient off field Electro application
  • Team-wide Burst DMG% buff on Skill
  • Can gap fill in rotations up to 10 seconds at a time
  • Extremely powerful early constellations; basically caps out at C3
  • Good weapon selection; The Catch is cracked
  • Can build ER for comfort and energy gen without losing much damage
  • Lots of DMG% multipliers and high MVs; scales very well with buffs
  • Fun to play


  • Awkward identity, in between a Main Carry and a Sub Carry in playstyle and field time
  • Damage at C0 is lower than other Carries that use less or the same field time
  • Needs at least 6 to 8 seconds of uninterrupted field time in a rotation to get full value from Burst
  • While her Skill does consistent off field damage, the scaling is very low unless in large groups
  • Wants team comps built around her, especially for the rotation
  • Many elements already have good battery units; Raiden may not be a big improvement for some comps
  • Most of her current team options use highly contested units
  • Cannot drive Beidou at all while in Burst

So, should you pull for her? Ultimately that decision is up to you. While some units like Venti, Bennett, and Xingqiu will receive a “yes” from everybody, Raiden will require you to really think about her qualities and if she can bring something of value to your account. Or just don’t think at all and pull for the booba sword like most of us.

※ Raiden Guide TL;DR

Courtesy of KeqingMains

art by Lumo_1121

Chapter 1: Character Breakdown

“As I’m sure you’ve heard many times before, the Almighty Shogun seeks Eternity — an existence beyond the dominion of thought and longing. “Abandon mortal ties, strive for an unchanging Eternity”… The Almighty Shogun’s manner is always resolute, and I do not always fully grasp the meaning of her words. But this is her decision, and I trust her.”

– Kujou Sara

Following the trend of the previous Archons, Raiden’s defining feature is closely tied to what the element is good at:

Energy Generation.

Energy generation and Energy recharge are integral parts of Raiden’s kit. With how strong some characters Bursts can be, how certain teams revolve around effectively using Bursts, and how painful it can be to play around certain character’s costs, Raiden has an interesting niche carved out for herself. Thankfully energy generation isn’t the only thing she’s capable of doing, as she can also dish out some damage at the same time.

While her game plan may be simple, how she achieves it can be rather convoluted. Raiden has a lot of moving parts so it’s best to start with the fundamentals of what her abilities do.

※ Talents

Normal Attack: ORIGIN
Normal Combo


Raiden has a pretty standard set of normal attacks, with good frame data but unimpressive DPS. Her Charged Attack on the other hand has an unique animation similar to Xiao’s, but the scaling is still poor. Overall, her polearm normals are not moves you should be actively using or building around. In ideal rotations, you’ll never have to use them anyways.

However it should be noted that her N1CA is incredibly fast and loops into itself in around 70-75 frames, making it excellent for proccing Beidou’s discharges. Unfortunately, that means playing Raiden as an on field physical driver outside of her Burst, which is not optimal.

Normal talent levels do not increase the damage of her Burst normals.

AttackFrames [Total Frames]
N114 [14]
N217 [31]
N325 [56]
N446 [102]
N5 + recovery70 [172]
CA + recovery61 [61]
Mihoyo can’t stop me from playing Raiden Beidou!

Transcendence: BALEFUL OMEN
Elemental Skill


Raiden’s source of off field damage and team buffing. On paper, this skill does a lot; permanent uptime, high range, DMG% buffs, and damage. There are no crippling downsides or caveats in particular about this skill, aside from its low damage and the fact that it can cause unwanted reactions at times. Always try to start your rotations with this skill to ensure maximum uptime, and only casting it again at the start of a new rotation.

Coordinated Attacks only trigger on damage. Hitting a shield or anything that does not show a damage number will not trigger her Skill.

Technical Mechanics

Baleful Omen does not snapshot, meaning any stat changed to Raiden – positive or negative – will dynamically affect the damage of the current Baleful Omen. While snapshotting is a desirable trait to have, it doesn’t impact much about Raiden’s overall damage due to her Skill only contributing up to 25% of her total damage. Not having to worry about snapshots can make rotations much more fluid, as you don’t need to really think about when you press her Skill.

Burst DMG% Buff

The active character gains a Burst DMG% buff based on how much energy their Elemental Burst costs. The scaling of this caps at 0.3% DMG per energy at T9. Making sure Raiden’s skill is active at the very start of rotations means every character can benefit from this bonus. The DMG% buff does affect Raiden herself and does affect off field party members.

Burst CostDMG% Bonus at T9
90 Cost27%
80 Cost24%
70 Cost21%
60 Cost18%
40 Cost12%

Typically, the 80 costs Bursts deal more damage than lower cost Bursts, and they also receive more of a bonus from Baleful Omen as well. This design choice is one of the reasons Raiden wants to be slotted into teams with high cost Bursts.

Energy generation

The initial slash of Baleful Omen does not generate energy. Each coordinated attack has a 50% chance to produce one Electro particle. Since it can be proc’d every 0.9s, this puts her average particle generation to 35 particles per minute. For reference, Beidou full countering off cooldown is 32p/m, and C6 Fischl with perfect Oz uptime is also 35p/m.

Non-controlled character damage penalty

Baleful Omen will deal reduced damage when triggered by an instance of damage from a unit not controlled by the user. This is only relevant for coop, as each player will also receive a Baleful Omen but with only 20% of the damage. The reason this penalty exists is probably because other party members’ Baleful Omens have a separate ICD from the original one.

Interactions and Setups

Because of Baleful Omen’s triggering mechanism (triggers slightly after the initial hit), it can overwrite the Elemental Gauge applied by the initial attack. Understanding this is crucial for setting up abilities that are needed for reactions, and it may be beneficial to either whiff or hit the initial cast. For example, when needing to set up Electro Aura for a Swirl and still place down Bennett’s Burst, you can hit the initial cast of Baleful Omen. But, when you need to maintain Pyro Aura to Vaporize Childe’s Burst, you may want to whiff. For more on Elemental Gauges and why this works, check out the KQM Library page.

Miss the initial cast, maintain Pyro Aura.
Hit the initial cast, maintain Electro Aura.


Initial Cast Gauge Value1A
Coordinated Attack Gauge Value1A
ICD of application2.5s/3 hits
Initial Cast and Coordinated ATK ICDSeparate

Elemental Burst


The defining feature of Raiden and what gives her a niche. While in the Burst, she gains a unique set of special attacks similar to Childe, but for a fixed duration of 7 seconds. Additionally, she also generates flat energy for all party members up to once every second, 5 times. As such, you want to stay on Raiden for at least 5 procs to get full value from the energy and you also want to use Raiden once all your other characters have rotated through their Bursts and can start accumulating energy.

The flat energy generated does not benefit from the ER of the character receiving it.


Ally Bursts give Raiden an amount of Resolve stacks based on how much their Burst costs. Raiden herself does not contribute to this amount. The scaling caps at 0.2 Resolve stacks per energy consumed at T10. At C0, in a team consisting of 80-60-60 cost Bursts, Raiden will receive up to 40 Resolve stacks before any A1 procs if they all Burst once before Raiden Bursts. Once A1 procs are factored in, you can expect around 44 – 46 Resolve stacks.

Burst CostResolve Stacks at T10
90 Cost18
80 Cost16
70 Cost14
60 Cost12
40 Cost8

Resolve Talent Value Bonus

When Raiden casts her Burst, she gains additional damage to her initial slash and each attack afterwards based on how many Resolve stacks she had beforehand. This damage bonus is additive talent values for both attacks. In the talent page, the larger number refers to the talent value bonus to the initial slash, whereas the smaller number is for normal, charged, and plunge attacks.

At T10, the Talent Value Bonus caps at 7%/1.31%. This translates to +420%/78.6% additional talent values for the respective attacks. These damage bonuses are not considered DMG%, neither additive nor multiplicative, they simply add to the shown talent values.

For example, the T10 initial slash does 721%. At 60 stacks of Resolve, it increases to 1141%. When it comes to each normal, charged, or plunge attack, the additional talent value is added to each attack per hit. As such, N4 and charged attack each benefit from this bonus twice.

As such, it is crucial for Raiden to cast her Burst after allies have Bursted. This is in line with her energy generation conditions as well, so you really should cast her Burst last.

Technical Mechanics

Like Baleful Omen, nothing about Musou Shinsetsu snapshots. Changes to Raiden’s stats during the duration will dynamically affect the damage of her sword attacks. Make sure you set up any buffs before swapping to Raiden such that they’ll last throughout her Burst duration, otherwise you’ll be losing a lot of her damage.

All damage dealt by the Burst is considered Burst damage, including the sword attacks. As such, this also means they are exempt from benefiting from Normal/Charged/Plunge attack damage bonuses. Generic DMG% bonuses work as always.

Interaction with Beidou Procs

Raiden’s Burst normals do not proc Beidou or EMC’s Bursts. It’s a deliberate design choice that Mihoyo has taken as stated in a dev post (or just a coding mishap, incompetence, etc), but a pretty terrible interaction nonetheless. Do not cast Raiden’s while Beidou or EMC’s Bursts are active, you will cry.

Hitlag Extension

Most stance skills benefit from Hitlag Extension, where the time spent in hitlag is added to the total time of the stance. This occurs because hitlag would essentially “cheat” you out of time, so the extension acts to balance it out.

The best ways to utilize hitlag extension is her Charged Attacks as they contribute noticeably more to the extension. Additionally, the extension scales with the number of enemies hit. Her CAs have a very impressive AoE, so using combos with CAs against groups of 2+ enemies can end up extending her Burst to 8 – 9 seconds.

Moreover, if Raiden is in an attack animation while her Burst were to end, the Burst will extend itself until the attack finishes.

Range and AoE

The initial slash of Musou Shinsetsu has relatively long range, but is only a frontal hit. As for each sword attack, the last half of the combo has very wide horizontal range, whereas the first few are primarily vertical. As such, you either want to complete the full N5 combo when fighting multiple enemies, or do Charged Attacks. Most of her Normals can hit enemies lifted by Venti’s Burst, and her Charged Attacks will almost always hit.

AttackAoE Modifier

AoE Modifier quantifies just how “good” the AoE of an attack is. A modifier of 1 means it will only reliably hit 1 enemy in a group, whereas 2 means it will generally hit most enemies in a group. It should be noted that all of her Burst attacks have a very long “lunge” range, meaning it is very unlikely that enemies get knocked outside of her range even when Overloaded.

Frame Data

Aside from her Charged Attack, her Sword Normals are extremely similar to her Polearm Normals in terms of frame data. However, her CA is notable slower. It cannot be looped as fast due to longer recovery frames. That being said, it is still very worthwhile to perform her CAs due to how they benefit twice from her Resolve bonuses.

Individual AttackFrames [Total Frames]
Slash105 [105]
N112 [12]
N220 [32]
N322 [54]
N441 [95]
N5 + recovery66 [171]
CA + recovery79 [79]

Optimal Combos

Since Raiden can only stay in her Sword form for 8~ seconds, maximizing how much damage she deals in that window can be important if Raiden’s damage to the team matters. Raiden has multiple combos, each with different damage values and execution requirements. Pick the combo that is most comfortable for yourself, as trying to execute combos you cannot perform well can end up being a DPS loss.

3x N3CA + N1CA

“Big booba energy”

Effective Damage: 106.5%
The most damaging combo, but also the hardest to execute. Messing up the timing and missing the last CA is devastating. High risk, high reward. Recommended to Dash Cancel for consistency, or use ATK speed boosts.

3x N4D + N3CA

“3 x 3”

Effective Damage: 104.3%
Easier to perform than the top combo, but harder to perform than the recommended. Good midway point, but does need you to get comfortable with N4 dash cancels which are not used elsewhere.

2x N3CA + N2CA + N1CA [Recommended]

“3 2 1”

Effective Damage: 100.7%
A toned down version of the 1st combo. Removing one attack makes the entire string very consistent, removing the risk of missing the last CA. Using this combo can help you transition into the 1st combo.

2x N4CA + N2CA [Recommended]

“Old reliable”

Effective Damage: 100%
Not the highest damage but also forgiving to execute. The N2CA can be tricky, but you can opt for N1CA instead. N4CA is very easy to perform, just hold down Left Click as Raiden disappears.
Can become N3CA with ATK speed, but very hard.

5x N1CA + N1

“Keqing 2.0”

Effective Damage: 97%
CAs can hit in Venti burst whereas her other attacks miss, so this is only recommended when paired with him. Make sure you have enough stamina before going for this combo (100 stamina). Can become 6x N1CA with perfect Dash Cancels and against normal hitlag enemies. If you can pull off 6 CAs, it is the highest damaging combo.

2x N4CA + N1CA [Recommended]

“Really old reliable”

Effective Damage: 94.7%
The same as the 2nd combo, but with N1CA instead. Lower damage but extremely easy to perform. Recommended for starters.

2x N5 + N4

“Small booba energy”

Effective Damage: 88.8%
What you get by simply mashing Left Click. Very unga bunga, low return.
Can become 3x N5 with any amount of ATK speed buffs or Dash Cancels.

Credits to Greyhound#7836 for calculations.

Dash Cancelling

Against enemies with higher than usual hitlag (like Ruin Guards), most combos become harder to perform. As such, you will need to Dash Cancel your charged attacks after they hit twice to proceed with your combo faster. This will take practice to get the timing down because if you cancel too early, you only get one hit of the CA. If you cancel too late, you end up making the combo even harder. Keep in mind that Dash Cancels do double your stamina usage, so ensure you have ample stamina beforehand.

Timing Dash Cancels can be tricky but to help yourself conceptualize when to Dash, first get familiar with the VFX of the CA. There are two distinct “hit marker” sounds, and they always occur in the same interval. Then, time your Dash to occur right after the second hitmarker sound plays. The same applies to Jump Cancels.

Animated GIF
Example of good Dash Cancels. Notice the CA hitting twice.
Animated GIF
Example of bad Dash and Jump Cancels. Notice the CA only hitting once.

Attack Speed Buffs

Any ATK speed buffs like Skyward Spines 12% can open up some new combo routes as well as make pre-existing combos easier to perform. Generally speaking, the latter is the most important, as the new combos are just as hard as some of the old ones without ATK speed. These new combos typically include adding one more normal to an existing N1 or N2 string. Unless you stack multiple buffs, it is unlikely for an additional N4 or CA to be added.


Initial Cast Gauge Value2B
Burst Attack Gauge Value1A
ICD of application2.5s/3 hits
Charged Attack ICDSeparate, ~1s

Ascension 1

Passively grants Raiden with 2 Resolve stacks whenever a party member gains an elemental orb or particle. Due to the ICD of 3 seconds, you can normally expect 2 or 3 procs of this in teams that set up buffs at the start then swap to Raiden early. In teams where Raiden Bursts at the very end of rotations, 3 to 4 procs can occur. Overall a solid talent but shouldn’t be something you alter your rotations for. To illustrate the impact of this talent, each proc effectively increases Raiden’s personal DPS output by 1.3%.

Ascension 4

Extremely important talent that increases Raiden’s synergy with Energy Recharge. Not including the base 100% ER she has, every point of ER increases her Burst energy generation by 0.6% and her Electro DMG% by 0.4%. While ER is a very desirable stat to build on Raiden because of this conversion, it’s important to remember that ER as an offensive stat still scales worse than Crit Rate/Damage. If you have Engulfing Lightning, ER is roughly equivalent to ATK%. As such, unless you have her signature weapon, you should only go as much ER as you need to Burst consistently, unless Raiden’s damage is not your primary focus.

However, because of this talent, Raiden loses less damage in comparison to other characters from building ER and she also has the added benefit of generating more energy for the team. In other words, she effectively shares a small portion of her ER with her allies in the form of her Burst energy generation.

Total EREnergy Gen BonusElectro DMG% Bonus
152% is the minimum ER by having level 90 + 4ESF.

The formula for calculating how much total energy Raiden generates is Energy * (1+Energy Gen Bonus). At T10, the total energy generation of her Burst over 5 procs is 12.5.

You can simplify her energy scaling to 3.75 additional total energy per 50% ER if she is T10.

Total ERTotal Energy Gen

※ Talent Priority

Burst >= Skill >>> Normals

Level Burst and Skill equally, but give your Crown priority to her Burst. You want to level her Skill despite its low damage because of the Burst DMG% buffs that it provides. However since Burst gives more overall damage, it should be crowned first.

Don’t level your normals, at most get them to level 6.

※ Constellations

C1: Ominous Inscription

Increases the amount of Resolve gained from ally Bursts by 20%, up to 80% if the ally is Electro. More Resolve means more damage in Burst, so this is nice to have. Think of it as a second A1 talent. With an Electro ally, you can easily cap out at 60 resolve stacks, or you can run 3x non-Electro 80 cost bursts.

DPS Increase: 5% – 10%

C2: Steelbreaker

Raiden’s best constellation, and at just C2. All personal attacks done while the effects of Elemental Burst are active will ignore the enemy’s DEF stat by a whopping 60%. On its own, the DEF shred equates to around 44% increased damage. DEF shred, unlike RES shred, also gets better the more you stack it, but Raiden’s C2 is not quite DEF shred. It’s considered DEF ignore which interacts with the DEF modifier after other sources of DEF shred are factored in. However, since the DEF ignore is only active for her Burst duration, it won’t affect any off field Skill procs which slightly diminishes the overall value.

DPS Increase: 39%

Total DPS Increase vs C0: 54%

C3: Shinkage Bygones

+3 levels to Burst. Very strong, very straightforward.

DPS Increase: 15%

Total DPS Increase vs C0: 78%

C4: Pledge of Propriety

Very situationally useful, borderline bad. You never want to use Raiden’s Burst first in a rotation, as all of her energy will go to waste. So, this constellation only really benefits her teams 2nd rotation, which may or may not be useful depending on the content and how invested you are.

DPS Increase: N/A

Total DPS Increase vs C0: 78%

C5: Shogun’s Descent

+3 levels to Skill. It’s bad.

DPS Increase: 2.4%

Total DPS Increase vs C0: 82%

C6: Wishbearer

Up to 5 seconds reduced from all party members cooldowns, except Raiden herself. This constellation is the hardest to evaluate, because it should be good on paper but has so many implications that a lot of playtesting will need to be done. The value of this constellation is heavily reliant on your team, as this is technically not a DPS increase for Raiden at all, due to it not affecting her own cooldowns. When playing with 20s cooldown Bursts, this brings them down to 15s, but they still need to be rotated in line with Raiden’s 18s cooldown. 15s Bursts go down to 10s, and 12s goes down to 7s. The lower cost Bursts get much more apparent value, as you can perhaps start casting them twice in a rotation as long as you have the energy. However, such teams have yet to be found.

DPS Increase: N/A

Total DPS Increase vs C0: 82%

※ Should you pull her constellations?

Raiden’s good constellations are concentrated into her first 3. Past C3, she won’t really have a noticeable damage increase. While it may be tempting to “max out” your Raiden by going for 2 or 3 more copies of her, consider this:

  • Unless you are playing Raiden as your Hypercarry, her damage is likely to only represent a portion of the total team damage. This can range from 20 – 40%.
  • Raiden’s early constellations only impact her personal damage.
  • Worst case, Raiden’s C2 only increases your total team output by 11%, going up to 22% in other teams.
  • Since they offer no gameplay change, it really only translates to faster clear times. If you already have the investment to clear content at C0, her constellations won’t do anything for you.

At the end of the day, it’s your money. But know that there is no pressure to pull her constellations in order to make her a “good unit.” Raiden has her niche and uses regardless of constellations and can help your account right out of the box if you put in the effort.

art by れぎ

Chapter 2: Playstyles and Gameplay

“All the world holds dear is but a backdrop of constant motion. I stand before it alone and unchanging.”

Figuring out Raiden’s playstyle is the hardest part about her. We know her game plan and what value she can potentially bring to her teams, but the biggest question is: how exactly does she do it? She has elements of her kit that both support an on-field and off-field playstyle, but instead of specializing into either, she needs both aspects to truly function. On the other hand, while units like Fischl and Beidou also have parts of their kit that can support both on or off-field playstyles, they ultimately have the ability to choose either and are generally just better by playing in one specific way.

Described by Mihoyo in their Raiden Preview, she is intended to be a support character. Overall, it’s best to play Raiden as an On Field Battery Sub Carry.

※ Main Carry Raiden

On the surface, playing Raiden as your Main Carry can seem very natural. After all, her field time demands already match some other stance-based Carries that exist and thrive, and her damage is not irredeemably low. She has high modifiers and multipliers, meaning she can be a good target for buffs like Sara and Bennett. A lot of the time, Raiden can very well be a main contributor to your team’s damage even if she isn’t slotted in to do so.

Hypercarry Raiden

It’s hard to truly play Raiden as your “Main Carry” without just fully committing into making her a Hypercarry. Overall, playing her like so can lead to some favorable results; her baseline damage is lower than average but she scales exceptionally well with buffs. If you’ve played Eula or Hu Tao who have short DPS windows, Raiden as your Hypercarry will feel good to play. However, there are many caveats to this playstyle. The most glaring issues are team flexibility and opportunity cost, which will be addressed in the Teams section of this guide. Overall, Main and Hyper carry Raiden are viable playstyles at C0 but require you to invest very heavily into her and have the specific units that make it work. Regardless of effectiveness, it is extremely enjoyable.

※ Sub Carry Raiden

Sub Carry is a bit of a weird role, as it’s basically used to define everything that isn’t a dedicated Main Carry but still deals a good amount of damage. Overall, Raiden should generally be considered a Sub Carry for most players.

On Field Battery Sub Carry

It’s a big term, but you really cannot describe Raiden using the pre-existing role names. She’s not just a “Battery” because she takes up considerably more field time than other batteries, and she also does much more damage than other dedicated batteries. She’s not quite a “sub carry” because she takes up much more field time to access the bulk of her damage. Sub carries like Fischl and Xingqiu just need to use their abilities once for 1 second of field time then switch off, but Raiden is forced to spend 5+ seconds to cast her Burst. The closest sub carry to compare Raiden to is Kazuha, where he has the potential for off field damage and off screen buffing, but still wants to have some field time to access his powerful Skill.

As an On Field Battery Sub Carry, you want to find the perfect time in your rotation to give Raiden 5 – 8 consecutive seconds of field time. Generally speaking, many teams concentrate their damage into a certain window, then taper off near the end where units need to be batteried and set up again. Raiden fits naturally into the battery phase, and can also deal some damage while doing it. Overall, Sub Carry Raiden will be her most common role because the majority of her teams do not focus in on her maximum damage output, making use of her entire kit instead.

※ Support Raiden

Battery Support

While this is classified as a separate playstyle, it still follows the philosophies of the Swap Sub Carry. The main difference is in her builds, as Support Raiden will focus entirely on providing Energy Generation for the team and forget her damage in the process. By stacking ER, you can increase the amount of energy she generates to well over 25 for each teammate. Additionally, she is one of the best users of the 4ToM set, and naturally possesses Burst DMG% buffs. While not the default playstyle, Battery Support Raiden is cheap and may benefit certain teams more than others. Since Raiden needs field time, it can be hard to justify playing Support Raiden if she’s going to be doing no damage while on field.

※ Raiden in Rotations

As a Swap Sub Carry with high field time demands, Raiden will not naturally fit into every rotation style. Ideally, you slot Raiden into a team where she doesn’t disrupt the flow of the rotation. Being forced to stay on field to get value from her Burst is a downside, but you can minimize the impact.

Understanding uptime

Some team rotations deal their damage in one consecutive DPS windows, where a Main Carry takes up a chunk of the field time. In these rotations, you have to evaluate how long this crucial DPS window lasts in relation to the total rotation. For example, Xiao and Razor teams function on 22~ second rotations, with 17~ seconds of it dedicated purely for them. Then, they spent the next 5 seconds batterying units and setting up the next rotation so that it can be looped very smoothly. In these teams, Raiden will inevitably extend the team rotation longer than the usual 22 seconds, and Raiden’s existence feels forced, rather than synergistic.

But, other teams play on similar lengths of total rotation time, while also having less uptime. For example, Hu Tao works on 21 second rotations, but she is only active for 11 seconds at most. Childe, while he can stay on for a long time, doesn’t want to stay on field beyond 8 – 10 seconds. Eula has a 9 second DPS window for her Burst. In these team archetypes, where there’s a lot of downtime that’s usually dedicated to batterying and just waiting, Raiden can feel more natural. She does the job of batterying, and doing on some on field damage when there are no better options. However, in some cases Raiden will still end up extending the overall rotation time.

Finally, there are other teams that don’t really have uptime in the form of field time. Take Beidou or National teams into consideration; nobody really has to be on field for these teams. Instead, while off field abilities are doing damage regardless of who is on field, the downtime is combined with the uptime. Raiden in these teams can also feel synergistic, as anyone would gladly give Raiden some field time over Xiangling or Beidou (if she actually worked, Mihoyo please fix) who don’t really do anything while on field.

In conclusion, Raiden does have team limitations, and it’s important to realize that she is not a universal character in practice due to the anti-synergy she has with certain team archetypes, despite her universal battery capabilities suggesting otherwise.

※ Desynchronized Rotations and “Dual Carry”

Dual Carry teams have always been a meme. Stuff like Hu Tao and Childe simply do not work together. However, Raiden can fulfill this role infinitely better, as she not only needs less time to “carry” but also provides substantial off field utilities. However, while the potential is higher than before, we still need to a lot of testing to truly evaluate the effectiveness of Raiden in Dual Carry teams.

Normal rotations are crafted to repeat into themselves. It starts at one point and ends up back at that point. Between each rotation, the order of abilities ideally stays the same. A desynchronized rotation uses a different set of abilities upon repeating. It’s an extremely new concept that has only been explored for a few days, and we need a lot of testing to see if it’s actually worth it. Stay tuned!

art by きの

Chapter 3: Weapons and Artifacts

“The Inazuman arts of polearm and sword combat, as well as the blade-forging process itself, primarily originated with me. Since then, they have branched out and blossomed into a variety of techniques according to each master’s individual aptitude.”

Raiden’s gearing process can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. All facets of her gearing will be covered, but a TL;DR will be provided at the end for those that want simple answers.

Raiden’s gearing process can seem daunting at first; she has to balance numerous stats now that ER on her also directly amplifies her damage and energy generation. However, we can simplify a lot of it once we just run some numbers.

Refer to the Raiden Mastersheet for calculators. All conclusions are drawn from that rotation calculator.

Raiden’s gearing has a lot of moving parts. The results in the guide may not always be accurate for the state of your account. When in doubt, it is recommended to plug your stats into the above Mastersheet and figure out how your Artifacts can change her optimization.


Weapon rankings will change based on buffs, please refer to the actual weapon rankings section for complete details

※ Artifact Sets

Let’s start simple: Raiden has one clear BiS artifact set and many alternatives.

Best in Slot

4 Emblem of Severed Fate

Undisputed BiS set. It gives you everything Raiden wants in one package: ER on 2 piece, ER conversion to Burst DMG% on 4 piece. Combined with her A4 passive, it allows Raiden to go heavy into ER and still get some direct damage at the same time. There are no real caveats to this set on Raiden. Probably don’t run this if you, for some reason, want to run Raiden with very low ER. Simply equipping this 4 piece set onto Raiden will grant 20% ER, 38% Burst DMG, 8% Electro DMG and 1.5 extra energy generation. All of these stats may seem small at first, but they add up and keep on increasing as her ER increases.


4 Thundersoother

Alternative set. Worse than 4ESF in most cases, but can be a competitive option in any team that can preserve Electro Aura. Practically, this means it’s only usable in no reaction teams or Electrocharged teams.

2 Thundering/2 Glad/2 Shime/2 Noblesse/2 Emblem

Alternative sets. Pick any 2 set bonuses that give you the best substats. Generic damage boosts are always on and consistent, but never beat 4ESF unless the substat difference is immense.

4 Tenacity of the Millelith

Support set. If you want to prioritize Raiden’s supportive qualities like her energy gen and buffing, then 4ToM is a free 20% ATK for the team at 100% uptime. However, Raiden’s damage is not negligible in most teams if she is invested into, so this should only be an option if you want low investment returns.

Sets that don’t work

Any set that boosts Normal or Charged ATK DMG do not work with Raiden’s Burst attacks. 4Glad, 4Retracing, 4Shimenawa’s are all useless for Raiden unless you wanted to play Physical Raiden.

※ Artifact Main Stats


Crit Rate/Crit Damage. No questions asked. Pick the main stat that brings your closer to a 1:2 total ratio. Unless your substat distribution is incredibly skewed, this usually means Crit Rate on Crit DMG weapons and vice versa, and Crit Rate on non-crit weapons.


There is no “right” answer here for most weapons. If you want more damage, then go ATK% sands. Make sure you still have enough ER to Burst consistently. If you want more energy generation and better uptime, then go ER% sands. This is the most important choice you personally need to decide. Refer to the table below to gauge the tradeoff.

SetupDamageEnergy [Difference]
The Catch R5, ATK Sands100%19.84 [100%]
The Catch R5, ER Sands91%23.68 [119%]
Engulfing Lightning, ATK Sands100%21.87 [100%]
Engulfing Lightning, ER Sands 95%25.6 [117%]

Due to the way Engulfing Lightning scales (ER to ATK% conversion), it is recommended to go ER sands on Engulfing even if you go way above recommended ER values. You lose a marginal amount of damage while still maintaining the benefits of ER sands (team energy and comfort). Moreover, when unbuffed, Engulfing running ATK%/ELEC% does the same damage as ER/ATK%. When buffed, ATK%/ELEC% actually does less damage than ER/ELEC%.

Go ER sands with Engulfing Lightning.


The answer to this is also a bit complicated, but there are correct answers. Deciding between Electro% and ATK% is ultimately a balancing act. Most characters default to Elemental DMG%, but since Raiden has 4ESF and her A4 to dilute that stat, the answer can be a bit more nuanced. Follow the below table to see what goblet to run in different situations. However, you should probably pick the goblet that has blatantly better substats.

Conditions at the top take priority over conditions at the bottom. For example: even if you’re running The Catch with ATK sands, you should go an Electro% goblet if you have a Bennett ATK buff active.

Condition HierarchyGoblet
1. Bennett/Sara ATK BuffElectro%
2. Vortex Vanquisher, any sandsElectro%
3. ER SandsATK%
4. The Catch R5 ATK SandsATK%
5. ATK SandsElectro%

※ Artifact Substats

Substat Priority

  1. Crit Rate/Crit Damage
  2. ATK%
  3. ER
  4. Flat ATK
  5. Everything else

ER’s priority can overtake ATK% depending on how much total ER you want, but it should rarely be prioritized over Crit stats.
Something else to consider is the tradeoff between ER substats and ER sands. In order to hit higher ER values like 200 ER, you can either opt for more ER subs in exchange for Crit subs, or change your ATK sands for ER sands.
When Raiden is unbuffed it doesn’t really matter which option you take, however it does favor dropping Crit subs.
When Raiden is buffed by Bennett or Sara, it is instead better to keep your Crit subs and simply opt for an ER sands.

※ How much ER?

Again, there is no “correct” answer to this, as it depends on what you wish to accomplish. Minimizing ER and settling for the 152% from level 90 + 2ESF and focusing on direct damage stats will yield the highest damage per Burst cast. In some teams, like double Electro, the 152% ER can be enough to still Burst off cooldown. However, because Raiden has teams outside of just double Electro, it is highly recommended to go beyond 152% ER for the sake of consistency and universality.

200% ER is the typical breakpoint. It’s enough to let Raiden solo-battery herself in most teams that don’t have atrocious energy generation. Additionally, it also allows Raiden to battery more for her team as it hits the nice breakpoint of 20 energy per Burst cast. 20 is a good number to be at, because it essentially shifts down your allies Burst energy class by one; all 80 costs can be considered 60 cost, and so on. 200% ER is also rather convenient to reach. All ER substat weapons hit this number by default, and all non-ER weapons can hit it with ER sands. Any amount of ER beyond this will require more investment from substats, which impacts your Crit stats. While there are goals for ER, there really is no hard limit. Raiden’s damage is still important though, as she needs to be able to justify her long field time.

If Raiden is your dedicated Battery Support, go as much ER as you can.

※ EM Raiden?

The “appeal” of EM on Raiden is to use her in an Overload team and take advantage of her off field Electro application. Since her Skill’s base damage is so low, EM could outscale other damage stats if you wanted Raiden to focus on her off field damage. However, this requires a relatively fast Pyro applier, like Xiangling or Klee in order to ensure that Raiden is the trigger. In any team where Raiden can efficiently use her Burst, or has access to any sort of external buffs, Crit and ATK builds will be better.

※ Weapons

All weapons are evaluated within a total 20 second rotation of:

  • 1x E cast
  • 16x E procs
  • 1x Q cast
  • 2x N4CA + N2CA

Changing the combo used would not significantly alter the relative rankings between weapons.
All weapons are given 25 average substats, distributed between Crit Rate/Crit Damage/ATK%/ER.
Sands will fluctuate between ATK or ER. Specific changes will be noted.
ATK and ELEC goblets will fluctuate as well.
Raiden is C0 and talent levels 1/9/9.
Stack-based weapons like Vortex and PJWS stack dynamically as the rotation goes on.
Deathmatch is set to the 2+ target version of its passive.
ER values are not capped, so the excess ER from Engulfing Lightning will still contribute to its damage.

I will only be including weapons that are relevant. Copium options will not be included. This mainly applies to the 4 star weapons that are simply worse than The Catch.

200% ER unbuffed

We’ll talk about 200 ER requirements since this is probably how much ER your Raiden will end up having. Raiden’s weapon rankings do change depending on the ER you’re aiming for, since ER substat weapons are undervalued at low ER.

For unbuffed non-ER weapons, 9 ER subs will be allocated to let them hit 200 ER. Doing so is generally better than running ER sands. ER weapons maintain their ATK sands.

All 5 star weapons are nearly identical to each other, with the exception of Engulfing Lightning which is in a tier of its own. All 4 star weapons are trumped by The Catch R5.

Weapon Ranking [200 ER]Notes
1. Engulfing LightningWhen Raiden is unbuffed, Engulfing Lightning’s package of raw stats carries it hard.
2. Staff of HomaRaiden will almost never have the sub 50% passive activated due to her having no way to enable HP loss like Hu Tao or Xiao. Still an extremely strong weapon, and you don’t need to pull for Lightning if you already have Homa.
3. Primordial Jade Winged SpearBecause Raiden doesn’t snapshot, she can actually hit 7 stacks partway through her rotations. Unfortunately she typically doesn’t get the 12% DMG bonus on her initial slash, but it’s still very strong nonetheless and pretty much identical to Homa.
4. Vortex VanquisherSimilar to PJWS, Raiden can dynamically benefit from the stacks of Vortex as she’s performing her rotation. Contrary to popular belief, the Geo weapons are all quite formidable if their passives can be utilized.
5. The Catch R5The Catch is the perfect 4 star weapon for Raiden; it gives her the ER she needs to run high ER effortlessly and has an absolutely insane passive. It’s as good as all the other 5 star weapons and good enough to make Engulfing Lightning not a very good pull. Bare minimum for Raiden; start fishing.
6. Skyward SpineBetter base stats than The Catch, but a worse passive. However, Skyward’s Spine ATK speed passive is quite good, and allows you to perform harder combos more consistently on Raiden. If you rely on the ATK speed to access her high damage combos then Skyward can absolutely be worth it.
7. Favonius LanceFavonius does not yield high damage, but will always be on the list due to it providing energy for the team. Incredibly potent at high refines because you can start getting 2 procs per rotation.

200% ER buffed [Bennett/Sara]

When playing 200 ER Raiden with team mates that can buff her ATK stat, the optimal stat allocation changes. Instead of allocating 9 ER subs and taking away from Crit, switching an ATK sands for ER sands is much better. This is because an inflated ATK stat makes multipliers like Crit more valuable as well as the DMG% gained from ER sands.

Homa Sub 50% becomes nearly impossible when using Bennett. It overtakes Lightning if you can pull it off/use Sara.

ER weapons maintain their ATK sands.

Weapon Ranking [200 ER buffed]Notes
1. Engulfing LightningEven when buffed, Engulfing Lightning maintains its number one spot. It’s sheer stats still makes it a tier of its own, but the difference between it and other weapons is not as large.
2. Staff of HomaStill within the realm of the other 5 star weapons, but comes out ahead due to its higher Crit Value.
3. PJWSAbove average Crit Value and DMG% on its passive, only slightly worse than Homa because its high base ATK doesn’t scale as well.
4. The Catch R5Beats out Vortex and remains nearly identical to PJWS.
5. Vortex VanquisherUnfortunately, ATK based weapons will not scale as well as their competitors that have higher multipliers.
6. Skyward Spine
7. DeathmatchShows up on the ranking due to how close it is to Vortex and Spine.
8. Favonius LanceLow damage as always, but is here for its energy generation.

250%+ ER

When going into even higher ER values, the general ranking of weapons stays the same as 200% ER rankings, both buffed and unbuffed. At this point, all weapons will start to lose damage as even the ER weapons will need to start investing into either ER subs or sands. Engulfing Lightning scales extremely well here, as its passive grants more ATK% for building ER.

152% ER unbuffed

Again, it’s important to remember that 152% ER is only viable when your sole focus is on Raiden’s personal damage. Burst uptime will be low and inconsistent without another Electro to provide energy for Raiden and your team will get less energy. However, if you want to play Raiden with this little ER, here’s the ranking. Favonius is not included in this ranking because if you are running Raiden with ER as low as this, you need to focus on her damage to justify it.

Weapon Ranking [152 ER]Notes
1. Engulfing LightningStill Raiden’s BiS even when other weapons get better.
2. Staff of HomaCan overtake Lightning when consistently sub 50% HP, but Raiden cannot enable HP loss so it’s still generally worse.
3. Primordial Jade Winged SpearAlmost identical to Homa.
4. Vortex VanquisherAlmost identical to Homa unshielded, and better when shielded. Very potent but requires you to run an Electro goblet.
5. The Catch R5Falls down a tier and now no longer as competitive with the other 5 star weapons.
6. Skyward SpineIn teams where Raiden’s ER is low and her damage matters, having access to better combos/consistency can be a big deal.
7. DeathmatchIf you don’t want to fish, Deathmatch is here

152% ER buffed [Bennett/Sara]

Nothing much changes. Homa Sub 50 is still nearly impossible if using Bennett. It overtakes Lightning if you can pull it off/use Sara.

Weapon Ranking [152 ER buffed]Notes
1. Engulfing Lightning
2. Staff of Homa
3. Primordial Jade Winged Spear
4. Vortex Vanquisher
5. The Catch R5
6. Deathmatch
7. Skyward Spine

Support Raiden

Generally, support Raiden favors ER weapons since they allow higher overall ER values. Since damage doesn’t really matter in these cases, Favonius Lance becomes incredibly valuable as it allows her to generate even more party energy and, at high refines, can proc twice in a rotation.

art by Sakon04

Chapter 4: Teams and Synergies

“I declare you my chamberlain. In other words, according to my judgment, you are useful to the Shogunate and loyal to me.”

Raiden as a unit is only as good as the teams she is slotted into; she is not nearly as universally powerful as Zhongli or Bennett are. In this section, we’ll address Raiden’s synergy with the rest of the Genshin roster and give some team comps that have been proven to work well with Raiden.

※ Electro Units


Synergy: A-

Role: Off Field Carry

Unfortunately, Mihoyo killed this pairing. Raiden’s Burst attacks don’t trigger Beidou’s discharges, which means that if you want to use them together, you’d need to use Raiden after the 15 second duration of Beidou’s Burst. As I’ve highlighted before, these types of rotations are not what Raiden wants to be in. Overall this makes rotations feel cumbersome, and you’d need to find another Driver for Beidou during her uptime as well. Still provides everything Beidou wants, the combo just severely lacks fluidity. Some calcs show that despite longer rotations, the rest of their synergy is good enough to still yield high damage output.

Electro Traveler

Synergy: F

Role: Battery

Same situation as Beidou, Raiden cannot trigger EMC’s Burst. Additionally, having both on your team is just redundant, as your team will rarely ever need 2 dedicated batteries, and Raiden can generally sustain herself well on her own. EMC also provides next to no damage, so they can’t even be slotted in for that reason.


Synergy: B

Role: Off Field Carry

Mihoyo has let Raiden proc Fischl’s C6, which is a nice bonus but nothing game changing. Fischl generally does want a tiny bit of ER, but not enough to specifically justify running Raiden to battery her. Raiden typically does not want Fischl’s energy either, however it can be somewhat justified if you want to run low ER on your Raiden. Overall, Raiden often replaces Fischl in some teams, and they don’t have much reason to both exist in a team.


Synergy: A

Role: Support

She’s essentially a very low budget Sara, capable of holding TTDS and providing 15% DEF shred for Raiden. Lisa does appreciate the energy Raiden provides especially after her C1 bugfix, but Raiden almost always wants Sara over her.


Synergy: D

Role: On Field Carry

Razor’s prolonged rotation style does not match well with Raiden’s, and he does not particularly benefit form Raiden’s Burst DMG% buff. He does like the energy she provides, but Fischl can do it and with no field time commitment.


Synergy: D

Role: On Field Carry

Keqing does not need Raiden’s energy at all, and Keqing doesn’t provide much for Raiden either. Keqing’s Burst does not usually make up a large portion of her damage, but can in AoE situations. However, Keqing can be played Quickswappy, so she’ll never really need to fight with Raiden for screentime.


Synergy: S

Role: Support

Powerful ATK buff that can be set up to last Raiden’s entire Burst. Has a strong 80 cost burst that provides Resolve for Raiden and can be batteried. Obvious choice when you want to make Raiden your main damage dealer, and can also buff other units if set up properly. Almost mandatory for Main Carry Raiden at C0, must use at C6.

※ Pyro Units


Synergy: S+

Role: Support

An even stronger ATK buff than Sara, and with a lot less effort. Bennett lets Raiden take advantage of her high scaling so much so that playing Raiden as your Main Carry feels lackluster without him. Additionally, Raiden ends up taking a lot of damage during her Burst, so his healing feels very nice.


Synergy: F

Role: Support

She can use Elegy for the End, 4NO, and activate Pyro resonance, I guess.


Synergy: D

Role: On Field Carry

Diluc doesn’t have trouble getting his Burst back, nor is his Burst a large enough part of his overall damage to consider using Raiden. Diluc also has trouble hitting targets that have been Overloaded, since his N1 does not have any sort of lunge. Diluc does have flexible rotations that allow Raiden to take field time, at the very least.

Hu Tao

Synergy: B

Role: On Field Carry

Forced downtime on Hu Tao can make Raiden seem fine. Hu Tao’s Burst can make a large part of her damage at high levels of investment, and she sometimes has issues with generating her Burst. Overload is still an issue against certain enemies. Overall, the full potential of Hu Tao Raiden combos will need to be explored further and calc’d out.


Synergy: C

Role: On Field Carry

Klee will set Pyro Aura, which means Raiden will trigger Overload. That’s the one thing separates Klee from the other Pyros. Is it a feature that is particularly useful? No. Klee naturally wants to run Overload teams, in which case Raiden can either replace Fischl or Beidou. Raiden’s off field damage is simply worse than both of them and the rest of her kit isn’t particularly useful here either.


Synergy: A+

Role: Off Field Carry

Not needing field time is already a big bonus, but Xiangling also benefits from Raiden’s Burst DMG% and energy generation. Overload is not an issue when Raiden is in her Burst, but it can become annoying outside of that. Raiden and Xiangling pairings are good but mostly rely on the rest of the team to tie the synergy together.


Synergy: F

Role: Support

She has a shield I guess. Xinyan had some very niche uses in Sucrose Tazer comps, and Raiden can somewhat replace Fischl in those teams, but there’s nothing in particularly that draws them together.


Synergy: C

Role: On Field Carry

You can legitimately make more of an argument for Yanfei over Klee, as Yanfei does have an 80 cost burst that can be funded. However, Yanfei’s burst is not particularly impactful in Overload teams. Same caveats as Klee otherwise.


Synergy: B

Role: On Field Carry

Overall fine, Raiden doesn’t directly do anything for Yoimiya and vice versa, but she can take Fischl’s role as Beidou’s battery and off field damage. No direct unit synergy aside from Raiden covering downtime, but there is team synergy. Higher synergy rating because Yoimiya is a better Overload driver than Klee and Yanfei.

※ Hydro Units


Synergy: C+

Role: Support

Mainly serves as a buffer for one shots. However, Raiden stacks more DMG% multipliers than the average character which makes her Omen somewhat diminished in value. Mona also notoriously has terrible self-sufficiency in terms of energy, so Raiden’s energy gen is appreciated. There are also explorations of team comps that allow numerous Vaporize procs involving Mona and Raiden.


Synergy: D+

Role: Support

Barbara can hold TTDS. She also reduces the stamina consumption of Raiden’s Charged Attacks while her Skill is active. However, even with the help of Raiden, Barbara cannot Burst very frequently due to her inability to generate energy. As such, your rotations with her over time will start getting less and less Resolve, which can be a big deal.


Synergy: B+

Role: On Field Carry

You can slot Raiden into Foul Legacy teams to replace Fischl. However, since Tartaglia only stays on field for 8 seconds or so in these teams, it means that Beidou won’t get full procs if you switch directly into Raiden. As such, Raiden is serviceable but not an ideal slot-in over Fischl when playing these comps normally.


Synergy: S

Role: Off Field Carry

Xingqiu checks almost all of the boxes; a high impact, high cost, and off field Burst that can be greatly accelerated by Raiden’s energy gen. Most importantly, Raiden can actually trigger Xingqiu’s Rain swords, so you’ll always get near full value by pairing these two together. The Electrocharged reactions you get is also not a detriment, which means these two can be paired in almost all situations.

※ Cryo Units


Synergy: S-

Role: On Field Carry

Raiden is quite good for Eula. She proc Superconduct with incredible consistency, help battery her Burst, and buff her up. Eula naturally has downtime during her rotations as well, so Raiden can fill that gaps well. Since Raiden is a much better battery for Eula, you can also afford to drop Diona as the Cryo unit in some variations of her teams, opting for Rosaria instead.


Synergy: C+

Role: On Field Carry

Can you use Ayaka and Raiden together? Conceptually, yes you can. Ayaka checks the same boxes as Eula but there are concerns about Raiden’s Electro application ruining her freeze. With just Raiden’s Burst, it is not enough for the Superconduct to break Freeze enough to matter. 1A of Electro every 3 seconds is very low. Just do not Ayaka Burst and Raiden Burst at the exact same time and you’ll be fine.


Synergy: C-

Role: On Field Carry

Very similar to Ayaka, where Ganyu is simply strong enough in her Morgana teams that adding Raiden would work because literally any unit could work when Venti and Ganyu are walking the dogs. However, extending Morgana’s ideal 15s rotations to 18s rotations can feel bad.


Synergy: C

Role: Support

Chongyun can offer ATK speed and CDR with his C2. While his utilizes can be beneficial to Raiden, his lack of damage is a hindrance. Additionally, the ATK speed he grants is only 8%, which is often not enough to make combos easier to perform or unlock new ones. His C2 can be an overall DPS increase only if you rotate efficiently. For the majority of players, this means wasting time is increasingly punished.


Synergy: D/A

Role: Support

You’d only every use them together because the team demands it. I guess if you had her C6 you can use her for Overload EM Raiden. Is an A rank in Eula teams due to the flexibility she offers for team building.


Synergy: D

Role: Off Field Carry/On Field Carry

The two can be used together to enable Superconduct in some teams. She can be a good support for Physical Kaeya as well, but please don’t run Physical Kaeya.


Synergy: D/A

Role: Off Field Carry/On Field Carry

The two will be used together as a standard Battery core for Eula teams. Combined, they can battery Eula consistently. A with Eula, D otherwise.


Synergy: F

Role: Support


※ Anemo Units


Synergy: S

Role: Off Field Carry/Support

Great buffer (albeit slightly diminished due to how much DMG% Raiden stacks) as well offering some extra off field damage. In teams where Kazuha, Raiden, and Bennett are all paired together, the passive damage he contributes with Overloads can also be very impactful.


Synergy: B+

Role: Support

Great healer and 4VV holder. Jean is rarely the best unit in any comp, but she is always serviceable and Raiden teams are no exception.

Anemo Traveler

Synergy: D

Role: Support

Unless you’re amazing at placing her Burst properly such that it doesn’t move, casting Anemo MC Burst into Raiden Burst simply doesn’t work. By the time Raiden finishes her animation, the tornado has gone too far and if you chase, over half of Raiden’s burst has depleted. Useful only for her Skill to proc 4VV.


Synergy: B

Role: Support

Sayu can proc Raiden’s Skill very fast and consistently. Otherwise, she’s budget Jean in most Raiden teams.


Synergy: B

Role: Support/On Field Carry

Using Sucrose as a budget Kazuha for buffs can be very clunky. In teams such as Hyper Raiden, you need to satisfy the conditions of: “switch Sara into Raiden” to grant her Crowfeathers and “switch Sucrose into Raiden” to grant her TTDS. There is a conflict in the rotation, which can make buffing with Sucrose very clunky for most players. Raiden and Sucrose can still be used together in Tazer comps, in which case she will likely not be better than Fischl due to the amount of A4 procs Sucrose can generate.


Synergy: S

Role: Venti

Venti can group enemies very well for AoE Skill procs, and Raiden can also hit enemies trapped in his vortex with her Burst attacks. Furthermore, Raiden and Venti combined is an absolute power plant of energy generation, as they can generate up to 35+ flat energy for their teammates.


Synergy: F

Role: On Field Carry

One of the biggest boons about Xiao is how fast his rotations are. He needs just one Anemo unit to prefunnel his Burst, and he can start plunging. His downtime is nonexistent with some ER and hitlag extension. Adding Raiden into the mix forcibly extends his rotations times by 7 seconds for something an Anemo battery can accomplish in 1 second.

※ Geo Units


Synergy: B

Role: Support

The biggest benefit of Zhongli’s shield, the stagger resistance, is heavily diminished on Raiden who has infinite Poise during her Burst. As such, the quality of life Zhongli provides is not as valuable. Zhongli will still end up finding himself on Raiden teams, but not because of Raiden. If anything, Zhongli can be seen as anti-synergy unless he is properly invested, as you are forced to press his Burst if you want Resolve stacks. If your Zhongli is geared for shielding, his Burst will hit like a pebble and take years to cast.


Synergy: C

Role: Off Field Carry

Albedo simply exists, just like he does in every comp. He provides some EM on his A4 if you really want to play EM Raiden.

Geo Traveler

Synergy: C

Role: Swap Sub Carry

GMC has a rather high impact Burst, but he rarely needs the energy due to his self energy refund at C4.


Synergy: C

Role: On Field Carry/Swap Sub Carry

Ning can either act as an On Field Carry or function more like GMC. You could already run Ning as a driver for Tazer teams due to her ability to proc Beidou’s discharges and Fischl’s A4, so at best Raiden is just replacing Fischl.


Synergy: C

Role: On Field Carry

Noelle can give field time, but when played right she can have relatively short rotations that flow into each other. Adding in Raiden extends these rotations and takes field time away from Noelle. While Raiden can battery for Noelle, it comes at a pretty steep cost.

※ Team Compositions

Team comps make or break the Raiden Shogun. Finding the right teams for her has been the biggest TC nightmare in a while. We’re still developing teams for her behind the scenes so expect to see updates to this section frequently.

Remember that these are not the only teams Raiden can fit into. These are just the teams that are cohesive enough to be recommended as one package. Raiden as a character can work as long as you build a team you are comfortable with playing.

Raiden National

National is a team that everybody should be familiar with at this point. It is a 3 unit core that incorporates some of the best 4 stars into one cohesive package. Before Raiden, the 4th slot was reserved for a buffer like Sucrose. Variations with Electro units like Fischl were never really explored, yet here we are. The teams works because Raiden can use her Skill to buff the two main damage dealers of the party as well as reduce their hefty 80 cost bursts. Overload is still a prevailing issue, but for the 8 seconds that Raiden is on field, it can mostly be mitigated. However, results and consensus about this team may be skewed due to the current Abyss cycle being rather favorable for Overload teams.


  • Good single target damage
  • Uses units you probably already have built
  • Easier building for Xiangling and Xingqiu
  • Allows Xianglings EM stat to be more valuable with Overloads
  • Raiden can take field time with no downside
  • Since Raiden’s damage contribution is around 30-40%, her constellation level does not make or break the comp


  • Somewhat lacking in AoE
  • Uses units that are contested in many other teams
  • Requires investment in 3 damage dealers
  • Overload knockback with no grouper
  • No flex slots; any change to the roster significantly alters the identity of the team


Placeholder rotations for now, better ones to come later.

Recommended Builds

WeaponThe Catch, Dragon’s Bane, Any 5 Star
Artifacts4CW >= 4ESF
Ideal ER120 – 165%
(depends on Guoba and funneling)
WeaponAmenoma, Sac Sword, Lion’s Roar, Any 5 Star
Artifacts4ESF >= 2HoD2NO
Ideal ER145% – 165% (145% at C6)
WeaponHighest base ATK weapon
Artifacts4NO > 4Ins
Ideal ERAs high as possible


There are no alterations to the team that preserve the overall identity. There is no Pyro character that can substitute for Xiangling. You can somewhat substitute Xingqiu for TTDS Barbara, but the single target damage difference is immense.

You can swap either Xiangling or Xingqiu for Kazuha, but doing so will either bring you into an Overload team or an EC team.

Raiden Hypercarry

Yes, this team gets significantly better at C2 and C3. However, that does not mean the team is unusable at C0. While Raiden’s baseline damage is not very impressive, because her multipliers are high and her DMG% stat is bloated, Raiden scales very well with the double ATK buffs of Sara and Bennett. However, this also comes at the cost of flexibility; Raiden is very reliant on these units to be truly used as a Hypercarry at C0. Demanding both Kazuha + Bennett has a lot of implications when they are both used in the International team, which outscales Raiden Hypercarry in both burst and sustained damage.


  • Can afford to put the majority of investment into Raiden
  • High frontloaded damage, decent sustained
  • Good in both single and multi target situations
  • Has potential flex slots at the cost of worse performance


  • Relies on Raiden’s constellation level and weapon the most
  • Reliant on the 3 units listed above
  • Overload knockback if Pyro infused
  • Questionable flex slots; Kazuha and Sara can be somewhat substituted for inferior options


Placeholder rotations for now, better ones to come later.

Recommended Builds

WeaponSkyward Harp > Alley Flash >= Sac Bow
Artifacts4NO >= 4ESF, 4ToM
Ideal ER150 – 180%
(depends on CA uptime)
WeaponFreedom Sworn > Iron Sting >= ER swords
Ideal ER130 – 150%
WeaponHighest base ATK weapon
Artifacts4NO > 4Ins
Ideal ER150 – 170%


Non-C6 Sara can be swapped for Lisa holding TTDS. At certain base ATK values, Lisa’s 48% ATK buff can outweigh a low level Sara. Lisa’s 15% DEF shred is worse than Sara’s C6, but better than nothing.

Kazuha can be swapped for Sucrose holding TTDS, but the rotation changes significantly if you want both TTDS and Sara buff to apply to Raiden. You also lose Kazuha’s damage which is non-negligible.

Eula Raiden

Eula and Raiden share the field time in this team comp. Raiden still provides off field damage, Superconduct, and buffs then takes the field when Eula’s Lightfall pops. Raiden helps alleviate Eula’s dire energy issues, allowing you to consistently rely on only 1 other Cryo unit (usually Rosaria or Diona) for energy. The Eula Raiden Cryo Flex shell has a lot of pathways you can take, making this one of the most flexible Raiden teams. Additionally, none of the units typically used in the team are highly contested, allowing your 2nd half to rest easy.


  • Flexible team options
  • Good in both single and multi target situations
  • Allows Diona to be not required as the Cryo battery
  • Does not contest popular units


  • Very long rotations; with imperfect play your downtime can be very long
  • Flex picks can be restrictive if Rosaria is used


Placeholder rotations for now, better ones to come later.

Raiden Skill > Eula Skill > Bennett Skill Burst > Rosaria Skill Burst > Eula Burst > Eula N4 Hold Skill N4 > Raiden Burst > Raiden Combo > Rosaria Skill > Eula Skill > Repeat
If running Bennett, it’s important to precast Eula’s Skill. That way, you still have time to Skill > Burst on Rosaria to snapshot the Bennett buff. Afterwards, Alt-Burst on Eula to save as much time as possible.

Beidou Variation: Rotation

Raiden Skill > Diona Skill Burst > Beidou Skill Burst > Eula N1 Skill Burst N1 Skill N4 Dash N2 Hold Skill > Raiden Burst > Raiden Combo > Beidou Skill > Diona Skill > Repeat

Eula should run an alternate combo to drive Beidou. It is recommended to at least get 1 perfect counter per rotation. It is preferred to cut Raiden’s field time short unless she is C2, opting for 3x N3D over higher damaging options.

Recommended Builds

WeaponAny 5 star > Serpent Spine > 4 stars
Artifacts4PF > 2BSC2PF
Ideal ER130 – 145%
WeaponFav Lance > Deathmatch
Ideal ER120 – 135 %
WeaponSac Bow >= Fav Bow
Ideal ER150 – 170%


The goal is to either run Rosaria or Diona, never both. The flex slot will depend on which Cryo battery you chose.

If Rosaria: most players will want a healer or shielder. Bennett or Zhongli are the prime candidates.

If Diona: you can afford a high damage slot. Beidou or Fischl are prime candidates. Literally any Off Field Sub Carry can work here if you wanted.

If whale: C4 Ayaka can replace your Cryo slot.

Screw you Mihoyo

Can you play Raiden and Beidou together? Absolutely. Should you? Depends on how much you want to. Mihoyo intentionally gutted the fluidity of these two units; you cannot use their Bursts at the same time. So, let’s just… not use their Bursts at the same time. Your rotations get slightly longer, but you still get all the benefits that would have normally made this Electro duo so great: good damage in AoE and single target, dropping ER values on Beidou, and team flexibility. The rotation will take some getting used to, and may even seem unintuitive at first since we Raiden Burst before Beidou Burst. But as the rotation loops back into itself, you can see it still completes at 24 seconds, and everyone has their Bursts up.


  • Strong 2x Electro core that self sustains itself
  • Many flex options in the other 2 slots, can choose to use highly contested units or not
  • Decent damage in single target and good damage in AoE


  • Mechanically demanding; need good proficiency with Beidou’s counter, timing discharges, and performing high damaging combos on Raiden
  • Will always make you wish these units just worked together in the first place


Sucrose Burst > Raiden Skill > Bennett Skill Burst > Sucrose Skill Dash > Raiden Burst > Raiden Combo > Beidou Skill Burst > Sucrose Skill > Bennett Skill > Sucrose Skill > Beidou Skill

Working around Sucrose’s TTDS can be a bit tricky. The above rotation is the “safe” play, where you pass TTDS onto Raiden at the start, but extends the rotation time slightly. If you want a streamlined but harder rotation, skip the Sucrose Burst at the start and do her Burst after her Skill Dash. However, the problem arises when you switch into Beidou after Raiden. As shown in the video, if you follow this rotation and switch into Beidou when Raiden ends, she still picks up the Bennett Buff and can snapshot it. Doing the faster rotation makes this window much shorter.

Kazuha Variation: soon

Recommended Builds

WeaponSerpent Spine > Archaic, Any 5 star
Artifacts2TF2NO >= 4ESF
Ideal ER110 – 125%
WeaponHighest base ATK weapon
Artifacts4NO >= 4TF
Ideal ER150 – 180%
WeaponTTDS > Sacrificial > Hakushin
Ideal ER150 – 170%


There are a lot of moving parts that can be swapped that still preserve the overall focus of the 2x Electro core.

  • You can drop Bennett if you want, and still have an ATK buffer in Sara.
    • Her C6 has massive value here, but you need to work for it.
    • You can fill your healer slot with Jean or Sayu and still preserve 4VV.
  • You can drop either slot for Xingqiu and turn it into a solid Tazer core.
    • Because of the damage reduction stacking of Beidou and Xingqiu, you can afford to not run a healer.
    • Your 4th slot can be whatever you wish.
  • You can drop your Anemo for Xiangling in content that isn’t affected by Overload’s knockback.


“The final stage of my journey, or Kaiden, is the study of the most profound techniques. Unavoidably, these draw heavily on elemental power, rendering them beyond the capabilities of most mortals. Most practitioners of other traditions are unable to ever reach this level.”

Finally, we’ve achieved Eternity.

It’s been quite an experience writing this guide within a week of Raiden’s release. While this guide may be released, there’s still a lot of work left to be done for Raiden Theorycrafting. Keep revisiting here, I’ll keep it updated as always. Hopefully you’ve learned something, and continue to learn as our understanding of the Raiden Shogun grows.

While I still have your attention, please do submit feedback tickets to fix the Raiden – Beidou interaction. If nothing else, allowing my two favorite characters to work together will make all of this worth it.

And with that, I have nothing else left to say.

– ZΛNTO#4984

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