Edited to include 4-Blizzard Strayer
Intro
Kamisato Ayato is a character that’s completely ruined by super imaginative works of fans’ fan arts. Luckily, his persona makes up for it. Whether it's the mystery of his secret boba compartment or his habit of feeding Thoma with suspicious concoctions, fans are surely eager to see more of his shenanigans.
Conclusion
The new set, Echoes of an Offering, is one of the best artifacts for Kamisato Ayato. If you use a Freeze-comp, then 4-Blizzard Strayer is amazing too. Other than that, the old sets that enhance Normal Attack damage also work for him.
Artifact Main Stat:
• Timepiece: ATK%
• Goblet: Hydro%
• Circlet: Crit%
Since many of you are asking, no, it's not worth it to use HP over ATK.
Artifact Set:
1. 4-Echoes of an Offering ~ 4-Blizzard Strayer (Blizzard is for freeze comp only. Remember to not overdo the Critical Rate)
2. 4-Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
3. 4-Gladiator’s Finale ~ 4-Heart of Depths (Use the one with the better sub-stat)
4. 4-Retracing Bolide
5. 2-ATK+18% artifacts
6. 2-Heart of Depths + 2-ATK+18% artifacts
Only use Shimenawa if you have an adequate battery and ER. It’s possible to maintain 100% Burst and buff uptime, but it can be tricky. For easier options, use Echoes, Gladiator, or Heart of Depths.
Best Weapon For Ayato:
1. Haran Geppaku Futsu
2. Primordial Jade Cutter
3. Mistsplitter Reforged
4. Summit Shaper
What about the 4-stars, Nable?
5. Black Sword
6. Blackcliff Longsword
7. Lion's Roar (Electro-Charged team only)
8. Amenoma Kageuchi
9. The Flute
Since many people asked me about Harbinger of Dawn, I tested it and found:
R5 HoD is a great budget alternative to 4-star weapons. It's somewhat comparable to R1 The Flute.
Ayato's Mechanic
Elemental Skill
• Upon cast, Ayato leaves a watery illusion behind and blinks in another direction.
When the Illusion explodes, Ayato will gain the maximum Namisen stack (Indicated by the blue thingy behind him).
• This explosion is the only Ayato's hit that's considered Elemental Skill damage, so you can only rely on this to trigger the Sacrificial Sword's cooldown reset.
• For the next six seconds, Ayato can do some quick Hydro slashes. Afterward, it has a six seconds cool down, a much better deal than Childe's Skill.
• Ayato will gain a great resistance to interruption in his Hydro state.
Elemental Burst
Ayato's Elemental Burst is somewhat similar to Ganyu's. He creates an AoE of Hydro rains that lasts for 18s and has a 20s duration. (They even seem to have the same AoE size!)
Talent Level-Up Priority
1. Elemental Skill
2. Elemental Burst
3. Ignore Normal Attack
Ayato’s Hydro slash scales with his Elemental Skill, and unlike Childe who has Riptide multipliers on his Normal Attack, Ayato has nothing there. So you can ignore it.
Ayato's Constellations
C1: Shunsukien DMG (Hydro Sword DMG from his Elemental Skill) is increased by 40% against opponents with 50% HP or less.
Priority: Medium
C2: Namisen's maximum stack count is increased to 5. When Kamisato Ayato has at least 3 Namisen stacks, his Max HP is increased by 50%.
Priority: High
C4: After using Kamisato Art: Suiyuu, all nearby party members will have 15% increased Normal Attack SPD for 15s.
Priority: Medium
C6: After using Kamisato Art: Kyouka, Ayato's next Shunsuiken attack will create 2 extra Shunsuiken strikes when they hit opponents, each one dealing 450% of Ayato's ATK as DMG. Both these Shunsui Ken attacks will not be affected by Namisen.
Priority: Low
Choosing the Artifact
Tested Sets:
1. 4-Echoes of an Offering - Passive procs 50.2% of the time
2. 4-Shimenawa’s Reminiscence - Energy reduction will not be considered
3. 4-Gladiator’s Finale
4. 4-Heart of Depths
5. 4-Retracing Bolide - Shield is active
6. 4-Blizzard Strayer - Enemy is always Frozen
(I also tested 2-ATK+18% artifacts and 2-Heart of Depths + 2-ATK+18% artifacts, but will not include the result in this article)
Tested Main Stat:
1. ATK/Hydro/Crit
2. ATK/ATK/Crit
(I included HP/Hydro and HP/HP in Result Overview)
Choosing the Weapon
Tested Weapons:
1. Haran Geppaku Futsu - Always at 2 stacks
2. Primordial Jade Cutter
3. Mistsplitter Reforged - Tested at 1 stack
4. Skyward Blade - Passive triggers 15 times in the simulation
5. Black Sword
6. Blackcliff Longsword - Tested at 3 stacks
7. Amenoma Kageichi - Passive is not considered
8. The Flute - Passive triggers 3 times in the simulation
9. Sacrificial Sword - Passive is not considered - I'll try to consider it later.
10. Festering Desire
Simulation Assumptions
1. Kamisato Ayato is level 90
2. Enemy is a level 90 Hilichurl
3. Talent level 8, C0
4. Elemental Skill hits 14 times in the duration
5. Elemental Burst hits 18 times in the duration and it has a 100% uptime
6. Skill’s Illusion only explode at the end of the duration
Stat Overview
Damage Overview
Note:
1-hit 2 stacks = The first hit with 2 Namisen stacks
Simulation Overview
Note:
Skill hits = 2x Skill (28 hits total)
Explosion DMG = 2x Explosion
Burst = 18x Burst hits
Result Overview
Here, you can see that:
1. 4-Blizzard Strayer is highly viable in a Freeze-team composition
2. 4-Echoes of an Offering is still the best option among the other even with a 50.2% average hit rate
3. ATK/Hydro is better than ATK/ATK and HP main stat.
4. HGF outperforms PJC
5. Heart of Depths and Gladiator’s Finale are pretty much on-par, so if you’re deciding between the two, use the one with the better sub-stat.
Personal Opinion
I personally really like Ayato, and I think he has a great AoE. But I also think that he’s not that good. For Hydro application, Kokomi is a good enough option.
It’s super fun to go pew pew (or more like slash slash) with his Skill tho!
Penny for your thoughts
What do you think about Ayato?
Is he fun to use? Is he underwhelming in terms of damage?
As usual, if you have any questions, corrections, or feedback, feel free to throw them in the comment!
Recent Analysis:
Cinnabar Spindle VS Harbinger of Dawn for Albedo
Infographic Compilations
Interested in more? Click ☟
>> Link to all of my Analysis <<
Shout out to IWinToLoseGaming and Bobokrot @GenshinAcademy for confirming Echoes of the Offering’s average hit rate being 50.2%!
