With Kazuha’s rerun coming up, and Sumeru’s release just around the corner, many players have asked themselves if pulling Kazuha is worth it. Some people say that Kazuha is the best 5* support ever released, some say that Sucrose is always equal to or better than him, so it gets confusing.
Using the power of spreadsheets and testing, I will try to clear up that confusion.
Notes:
If a source isn’t stated, it’s probably information you can find in-game, or it’s an opinion/inference based off of my own experiences.
This guide is primarily meant for ftps and low-spenders who have to be careful with their primos. If you like Kazuha and want to pull for him, this isn’t meant to deter you from that.
TL;DR:
Kazuha is definitely worth it, even if you have other good anemo units. He’s easy to use, can buff almost all characters, and has lots of utility. He’s also easy and ftp-friendly to build.
Pros:
- Kazuha provides strong team buffing and utility through his passive talents, 4p VV, and CC from his skill.
- He has great AOE and elemental application from both his skill and burst.
- One of his best weapons is the Iron Sting, a craftable weapon, which you don’t need refinements for. The Favonius Sword, a 4*, is also very good on him.
- Full EM Kazuha doesn’t require investment into talent levels, crit stats, or atk. All he needs is EM main stats, some energy recharge, and a 4p VV set.
- Even with a low investment full EM support build, Kazuha can still deal good off-field AOE damage, acting as a sub-dps. He can also utilize the chain reaction mechanic to do even more damage.
- Kazuha fits well into many teams, ranging from very meta teams to very niche, off-meta teams. He can help off-meta characters clear harder content without heavy investment, leaving more resources for other characters.
- (opinion) Kazuha is fun! He rarely leaves my exploration team. I love the utility from his skill when I’m climbing or gliding, and the sprinting stamina reduction from his passive makes running around the map a little faster. 
- (opinion) Strong support characters age better than main dps characters. Diluc, Keqing, and other early main dps have fallen off, while early supports like Sucrose and Bennett are still very popular, since they are less likely to be directly powercrept and can be applied to a wider range of teams.
Cons:
- Kazuha needs EM main stats, which have low drop rates, from a specific 4p set, which are already in high demand by other characters like Sucrose and Sayu.
- He is not optimal in certain teams, where other strong anemo supports like Sucrose could be better.
- Kazuha is a sub-dps/support, not a main carry. Some people would rather have a main carry than a support.
- You have to be familiar with rotations, how reactions work, and other more technical aspects of the combat system to use Kazuha to his full potential.
Kazuha vs other anemo units:
A common misconception is that Kazuha isn’t good if you already have other good anemo units.
Kazuha has his own unique role in teams that no other anemo unit can fulfill. I know this, since I currently have every anemo character in the game. Kazuha is commonly compared to Sucrose and Venti, so I’ll focus on highlighting their differences.
Kazuha vs Venti:
- They’re both anemo units who debuff enemies with 4 VV and can deal good dps through swirl damage and chaining reactions.
- They both have bursts that can absorb an element and apply it back to enemies 5 times. Both bursts have an 8s duration, 15s CD, and 60 energy cost.
- Venti’s a4 restores 15 energy to himself and characters with the same element as the element absorbed by his burst, after his burst’s duration ends, which lowers the energy recharge requirement of other characters.
- Venti has slightly better CC than Kazuha, though some characters can’t hit small enemies stuck inside Venti’s burst.
- Kazuha can buff teammates more than Venti through his a4, which gives elemental DMG bonus to teammates with the same element as an element swirled by Kazuha.
- Kazuha has to build more energy recharge than Venti in certain teams, since Venti has an energy recharge ascension stat and an energy refund mechanic in his a4.
Kazuha and Venti can actually be used together to make strong teams for AOE content. (Source: My own experience + KQM)
Example team: Kazuha Venti Fischl Kokomi
I sometimes use Keqing Kazuha Venti Kokomi in Spiral Abyss. It’s a fun team, though not the best damage-wise…
Kazuha vs Sucrose:
- They’re both anemo units who debuff enemies with 4 VV and can deal good dps through swirl damage and chaining reactions.
- They both have bursts that can absorb an element and apply it back to enemies.
- They can both buff teammates by swirling a certain element.
- Kazuha buffs DMG bonus, while Sucrose buffs EM. This is an important distinction, since EM is valuable in some teams, and practically useless in others, which means that Sucrose can out-perform Kazuha in certain teams, and Kazuha can out-perform Sucrose in other teams.
- Kazuha has slightly better CC than Sucrose. This can be a big advantage in teams that utilize quadratic scaling, such as Childe+Xiangling vaporize and Ganyu freeze. (source: KQM)
- Sucrose has a higher energy cost burst (80) than Kazuha (60).
- Kazuha has better uptime on his burst than Sucrose. (6s duration, 20s CD vs 8s duration, 15s CD) He also has better elemental application, since his burst procs 5 times, while Sucrose’s only procs 3 times.
- Sucrose wields a catalyst, so she can use Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers to buff other characters. She can also use Sacrificial Fragments, which has an EM substat, unlike Sacrifical Sword, which has an energy recharge substat.
Generally, Sucrose is equal to or better than Kazuha in teams that get a large portion of their damage from reactions. This applies with transformative reactions, like in electro-charged teams, and amplifying reactions, like in vaporize teams.
Kazuha will outperform Sucrose by a large margin in teams that don’t benefit much from EM. This includes teams that don’t use reactions, like mono element teams, and freeze teams, which do rely on the freeze reaction, but don’t benefit from EM.
Example:
Xiangling Klee Kazuha Bennett is a good mono-element team that can even rival reaction-based teams. (source: KQM) Sucrose wouldn’t be a good Kazuha replacement here, since the team wouldn’t benefit from her EM buff.
Xiangling Xingqiu Sucrose Bennett is a well-known meta team. By swapping out Klee for Xingqiu, we get a reaction team. Kazuha is still good in this team, but Sucrose can outperform him, especially with her c6.
There are some notable exceptions to the general rule I previously mentioned. The source for all of these is KQM, along with some other guides I’ve seen in various places.
1. Ganyu melt (Ganyu Kazuha Pyro flex Flex)
Here, Kazuha acts as a good replacement for Xiangling, since Kazuha has good AOE pyro application from his burst that doesn’t require being near the enemy. Even though this team relies heavily on making Ganyu’s charged shots trigger melt, Kazuha’s pyro application is important, so he can’t just be replaced with Sucrose.
Similarly, Kazuha can replace Xiangling in Rational (Xiangling Xingqiu Raiden Bennett) due to his good pyro AOE application and potential to do lots of damage with chain reactions.
2. Childe/Xiangling vaporize (Childe Xiangling Kazuha Bennett)
Childe has some quadratic scaling, so Kazuha’s better CC let’s him win out over Sucrose. The buff he provides is less than or equal to that of Sucrose, so it’s his CC and Childe’s quadratic scaling that lets him win here.
3. Hu Tao VV (Hu Tao, Xingqiu, Kazuha, Pyro flex)
Xingqiu makes up a good portion of the team’s damage, and since Kazuha can buff both Xingqiu and Hu Tao, he pulls ahead of Sucrose here.
I hope this helps someone who is on the fence about pulling for Kazuha! If I made any errors or you have any questions or suggestions, don’t be afraid to leave a comment about it!
My information is sourced mostly from the game itself, math that I’ve done, math that the lovely folks in KQM have done, and various guides I’ve seen while browsing the internet. If you’re interested in learning more about Kazuha, I highly recommend you check out KQM’s Kazuha guide! 
