Keqing players love Genshin Impact’s new dendro element

Everyone hails the cat queen. Keqing, one of the most obsessed 5-star characters in Genshin Impact, finally has a favorable place in the game’s meta. Thanks to the Dendro element, her days as an overlooked Electro 5 star are over…for now.

Many Electro characters other than Keqing can consistently trigger elemental reactions. She just stands out because she’s the first 5-star character for many players and she’s always available on the default banner. Also, the number of Aggravate Reactions she can inflict with her Elemental Burst outweighs other low-budget options. Longtime Keqing haters can see the drastic change in her damage output when Dendro is involved.

In the days before Dendro, the usual Keqing experience went like this: you got them after losing a 50/50 on an event banner, or as a 5-star from the standard banner. She could carry you through the 12th floor of the Spiral Abyss, maybe even the whole game, if you use her right. But whenever you saved up enough gems to pull more OP for someone, Keqing became old news. Goodbye cat girl, hello sword breast lady!

“Keqing is the best electro for any newbie. Rapid cooling. electroinfusion. traversal. Fast Attack. Can use Black Sword. Has invincibility. kawaii”, genshin Player John Veldad told Polygon. “In terms of damage, she’s average. In terms of versatility, it is top notch.”

Before the latest update is the Genshin Impact The community generally treated Keqing like a “beginner DPS” – a character to use until you can find someone better. in one Reddit thread Beginning with being described as the “worst 5-star DPS,” players listed their criticisms, including the high stamina cost of her abilities, her tendency to knock back enemies, her undesirable constellations, and her element: Electro.

Other genshin Player Lowe Toserero shared similar thoughts with Polygon about what it was like to play against Keqing again Genshin Impact‘s earlier days.

“It’s a lot more viable now than it was when players used it on Overload and Electrocute comps. Now that Dendro Response has been added, their lack of DPS is covered by Dendro Response,” Toserero said. “I used Keqing around 1.2-1.3 but her burst multiplier is pretty low and her only high output attack is the charged attack. Now I use them for a longer time.”

Keqing has had a difficult time compared to more powerful characters like Raiden Shogun, who excels in several team comps thanks to her consistent Electro application, energy particle generation, and buffs. She’s a 5-star Electro character like Keqing, but her burst scales with the amount of damage her teammates deal with their bursts. However, Keqing is not intended to fill the same niche. It was always advertised as Physical DPS or Electro DPS.

Her role as Electro DPS is now on par with other top picks when paired with Dendro teammates. A Twitter user presented Keqings Synergy with Dendro Traveler against the boss Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto. When Keqing pops her burst, the Aggravate damage from Electro combined with Dendro eats up at least half of the boss’s remaining health. More specifically, her teammates and the new Dendro reactions have unofficially “buffed” her.

“Keqing, Fischl, Dendro MC, Kazuha/Sucrose make Keqing viable and actually quite strong due to Keqing’s attack speed. Keqing wins this patch fr,” said Braxophone, a Genshin Impact content creators, in a post on twitter. However, he also believes that she needs Fischl to reach her full potential.

“Sure, she’s fine with Dendro alone now, but the reason I’m saying she’s actually broken is because of her Fischl interactions on top of her new regular power level,” he explained in another tweet. Despite this criticism, he generally viewed the update as an overall “win” for Keqing Mains. Also, Keqing isn’t the only 5-star DPS that relies on Elemental Reactions. Many of them do, including Hu Tao, Diluc, and Klee.

As a Twitter user pondered it in a recent thread Genshin Impact‘s meta: “Keqing needs Dendro just like Hu Tao needs Hydro. If Hydro…or even XQ didn’t exist, Hu Tao would be a terrible character.” Hu Tao relies primarily on Pyro DMG from her Elemental skill in combination with Hydro/Vaporize reactions. In this case, Dendro Traveler is Keqing’s Xingqiu.

It’s hard to predict whether Keqing will remain over the horizon in the favor of alleged 5-star electro-polearm user Cyno. When asked about the longevity of her popularity, Keqing lead actor Ralph Marbibi said it probably wouldn’t last long.

“I think those who understand Dendro and those who like to try other comps would still use them,” said Marbibi, who has since managed Keqing Genshin Impact 1.0, “but to be honest a lot of people like to see bigger numbers and I have a feeling a lot of people would still stick with things like vaporize comps.”