Preview
Tartaglia is a great Main DPS character who is able to deal massive damage through his melee, charged shot attacks and ultimate consistently. Though his current kit still seems rather gated by additional constellations, he is still a character that you want on your team. With Pyro affected enemies, it is rather easy to make his Ultimate do at least 100k in real-world Teyvat. I was fortunate enough to obtain Tartaglia on his earlier banner and since then I have made several changes to his build. I hope to detail the build you should use for him, as well as the team setup since Hydro characters are more dependent on Elemental reactions. Due to his kit, I will be including a section on constellations to help you decide if you would like to get any constellations in the upcoming banner.
Weapons
Depending on your build, you will be looking for different sub-stats for Tartaglia. Using him as a Main DPS (i.e. using his Melee attacks) requires an ATK or CRIT Rate sub-stat. If you intend to just use him for his Ultimate (similar to a Mona build), then you can use an Elemental Mastery sub-stat for elemental reactions. I would recommend a Main DPS build over a Burst DPS build since he has the potential to be a great DPS despite his long melee cooldown.
Both the 5 star weapons Skyward Harp and Amos Bow are viable options for Tartaglia. The Skyward Harp has a CRIT Rate sub-stat and can be obtained from the standard banner. The passive of increased CRIT Damage is incredibly powerful as well. The Amos' Bow has an ATK sub-stat and is undoubtedly one of the best weapons you can obtain in the game. The passive increases normal and charged attack and can make your Tartaglia extremely powerful. Elegy for the End, the most recently released one, is not as good on Childe due to the Energy Recharge sub-stat. If you do not have these 5-star weapons, several of the 4 star weapons work as well.
If you are more interested in the Main DPS build, you can purchase the Viridescent Hunt from the Battle Pass. It has a CRIT Rate sub-stat and allows you to group enemies together for its passive. This is incredibly helpful for his melee attack as you can deal more damage and grouping enemies is always an advantage in the Spiral Abyss. If you would like to read more about the various Battle Pass weapons and who they are suitable for, you can read my article here. I am currently using Rust on Tartaglia and the ATK sub-stat definitely makes him stronger. However, do note that the passive of Rust decreases your charged shots damage.
The Stringless is more tuned to a Burst DPS build as it has a sub-stat of Elemental Mastery. I would not recommend using Tartaglia solely as a Burst DPS unless you already have two Pyro DPS characters (e.g. Diluc, Hu Tao) and would like to use Tartaglia only for reactions. I have previously tried to use the Stringless on Childe, and he did considerably less damage with his melee attacks and even his Ultimate. Hence, I would still recommend the Viridescent Hunt and Rust over the Stringless, as his cooldown can be mitigated through other means, which I will elaborate on later.
For F2P players, you can craft the Prototype Crescent, though it is more fixed for a Charged shot build and requires more precision for aiming, rather than a Childe melee build.
Artifacts
The best set to use for Tartaglia would be a 2 set of Ocean Conqueror (also known as Heart of Depth), as well as a 2 set of Noblesse Oblige. This increases both his melee and ultimate damage.
Ocean Conqueror was only released in the 1.2 update of Dragonspine, but it is incredibly useful for all Hydro characters. You can obtain this set at the Peak of Vindagnyr domain, which you can read about here.
The Noblesse Oblige set can be obtained from Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern, which you can read about here.
Alternatively, you can use a 2 set of Wanderer's Troupe and a 2 set of Noblesse Oblige if you want to have a Burst DPS build. The Wanderer's Troupe increases Elemental Mastery, which can be incredibly useful for a Burst DPS.
The Wanderer's Troupe set can be obtained from fighting bosses such as the Regisvines, Hypostases, Oceanid, Wolf, Childe and Stormterror or you can obtain them from completing the Spiral Abyss and Abyssal Spire.
If you just started playing Genshin Impact, you might want to use the Berserker's set 4 piece (which can be obtained from bosses) for the increase in CRIT Rate in the meantime, but definitely do switch out when you reach a higher level.
The stats and sub-stats that you should prioritise are as below:
- Flower sub-stats: Crit DMG, Crit Rate and ATK
- Feather stat: ATK; sub-stat: Crit DMG, ATK
- Watch stat: ATK%
- Goblet stat: Hydro DMG Bonus (can be any artifact set, as long as the main stat is Hydro DMG)
- Mask stat: Crit DMG or Crit Rate (depending on your weapon substat and other artifact substats)
Talents
The best order to upgrade Childe's talents is below, for a Main DPS build where melee is being used:
Foul Legacy: Raging Tide > Havoc: Obliteration > Cutting Torrent
The best order to upgrade Childe's talents is below, for a Burst DPS build:
Havoc: Obliteration > Foul Legacy: Raging Tide > Cutting Torrent
Constellations
Tartaglia's constellations make him a stronger DPS, but he is still a good character regardless. His first constellation is definitely the most valuable one, as it decreases the long cooldown for his melee attacks. If you have already obtained him on the previous banner, you can try for his first constellation, especially if you enjoy his playstyle already. His other constellations improve his abilities as well, but it would cost far too much money to obtain them. It is definitely difficult to obtain a C1 of a banner character so if you would like to refrain from spending hundreds of dollars, perhaps just settle for a C0 Childe and change your team setup a little.
Party Setup
Having Tartaglia on your team necessitates a Pyro character to inflict enemies with Pyro. If you do not have a decreased cooldown period from Childe's C1, you should consider having Hu Tao on your team. Her role as a Main DPS allows you to switch to her during Childe's cooldown and perform normal and charged attacks. After her Pyro-infused attacks have worn out, you can then switch back to Tartaglia for his melee attacks. This works incredibly well for me since I am able to perform consistent "Vaporise" damage. For example, this is my team setup below:
My team setup above allows me to have Frozen reactions with Ganyu and Vaporise with Hu Tao. If you do not have Hu Tao, a great Free to Play option would be Xiangling. Xiangling's Guoba can also generate greater Vaporise damage if Xiangling is built for elemental mastery. Otherwise, you can also switch to Childe's charged shots to do damage instead.
Materials
Conclusion
Tartaglia is definitely an amazing Main DPS character with a unique playstyle of both Melee and Ranged attacks. However, his playstyle with his current long cooldown could be a drawback that may not appeal to all players. Pull for the characters that you enjoy playing the most -- you can test Childe out through the Trial. We hope you enjoyed this guide, do let us know if there are any other Genshin Impact guides that you would like us to cover!