Preview
Yelan is the latest Hydro 5-star bow character that was released in the long-awaited 2.7 version. Her skill is rather unique due to the lack of stamina consumption and crowd control abilities she has. Additionally, her scaling by HP and versatility make her a great addition to your team due to her flexibility in any team composition. She has a Sub-DPS role that supports members by Hydro application and high damage output with her Ultimate, some dubbing her as a 5-star Xingqiu. The materials she requires are below:
The Gilded Scale is earned through defeating the weekly boss Azhdaha, giving 1 or 2 each time at higher levels, while the Runic Fang required for levelling is obtained from the Ruin Serpent. The Lieutenant's Insignia is used to level Yelan and her talents and is dropped by Fatui enemies found throughout Teyvat. Her talent books required are Philosophies of Prosperity, which can be obtained in the Taishan Mansion. She uses Starconch as her levelling material, similar to Tartaglia.
This article will introduce you to the weapons and artifacts to use on Sara and the party setup you can use with her. I will include options for free-to-play players, as well as beginners.
Yelan Weapons
Yelan works best with Energy Recharge sub-stat weapons. If possible, I would recommend using a 5-star weapon (Elegy for the End or Aqua Simulacra for greater DPS). Otherwise, you can also use the F2P weapons Favonius Warbow and even 3 star weapons. You can use the weapons below:
The Elegy for the End bow is the best option for a Sub DPS Yelan since it can have a continuous up-time for her Ultimate, but might not be very attainable for F2P players, despite the current weapon banner wishing system. It increases Elemental Mastery by 60. When her Elemental Skills or Elemental Bursts hit opponents, she gains a Sigil of Remembrance. This effect can be triggered once every 0.2s and can be triggered even if said character is not on the field. When you possess 4 Sigils of Remembrance, all will be consumed and all nearby party members will obtain increased EM by 100 and increased ATK by 20% effect for 12s. Once this effect is triggered, you will not gain Sigils of Remembrance for 20s.
Alternatively, you can use the Aqua Simulacra which has a CRIT DMG sub-stat. HP is increased by 16%. When there are opponents nearby, the DMG dealt by the wielder of this weapon is increased by 20%. This will take effect whether the character is on-field or not. With the high CRIT DMG stat, this weapon is extremely desirable for increasing Yelan's damage output.
The 5-star weapons are rather unattainable but are not necessary since Yelan's main scaling is off HP and not ATK, so the high base ATK from 5-star weapons isn't something you strictly require.
For non-5-star weapons, you can use the 4-star Favonius Warbow. CRIT hits have a 60% chance to generate a small number of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character, which can only occur once every 12s. This is great to continuously generate Sara's ultimate due to its high cost of 80. This weapon is F2P friendly as you can obtain it by completing the Mondstadt archon quest.
Another F2P friendly weapon would be the 3-Star Recurve Bow due to the HP sub-stat. Additionally, defeating opponents restores 8% HP, something that might be helpful in harder levels of Spiral Abyss. 3-Star weapons can be used since Yelan does not need high base ATK.
Though Yelan's buffs scale off her HP, I would recommend focusing on Energy Recharge for the weapon since her ultimate should be consistently up for Hydro Application and reactions like Frozen, Vaporise, and Electro-Charged.
Yelan Artifacts
Yelan should use a 4-set of Emblem of Severed Fate to increase Energy Recharge and to give additional buffs to party members based on Yelan's ER%. This works well if you already have another character in your team that has the 4 Noblesse Oblige set since the buff cannot stack. The Emblem of Severed Fate set can be obtained from the Momiji Dyed Court Domain, which you can learn more about here!
The stats and sub-stats that you should prioritise are as below:
- Flower sub-stats: ER%, HP%, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG
- Feather sub-stats: ER%, HP%, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG
- Watch stat: HP% (or ER% if you lack sufficient ER%)
- Goblet stat: Hydro DMG Bonus
- Mask stat: CRIT Rate/CRIT Damage (try to have 40:80 at least for more burst damage)
If you are using the 4 Noblesse set, try to have at least 180% ER. If you are using the 4 Emblem set, try to have at least 200% ER.
Yelan Talents
The best order to upgrade your talents is below.
Depth-Clarion Dice> Lingering Lifeline > Stealthy Bowshot
There is no point upgrading her normal attack unless you wish to use her "Breakthrough" talent, which deals greater Charged Aimed Shot DMG based on her maximum HP. However, this is not recommended as ideally Yelan should be used as a Sub-DPS and have minimal on-field time.
Party Setup
With Yelan as the Sub DPS, you should use a variety of elements that can benefit from her increased HP from more elements. I would recommend Xiangling for Sub DPS and Raiden as a support, along with Kazuha to further decrease Elemental RES and increase DMG. Yelan has a rather flexible team composition, since she benefits from having more elements in the team and can be replaced for Xingqiu in almost any team composition. You can also try Permafreeze with Yelan which would be helpful with her Hydro application abilities. However, I would still recommend using Xingqiu with Hu Tao as sometimes Yelan cannot proc vaporise reactions with Hu Tao.
Conclusion
Overall, Yelan seems to be a very flexible Sub-DPS/support character with crowd control abilities that can be game-changing in places like Spiral Abyss.
We hope that you have found this article helpful! To learn how to build Xiao, you can refer to my article here or this article on his constellations and team compositions. For more information on Ayaka, and the permafreeze comp, you can take a look at this article. Do look out for more Genshin guides from me and let us know if there are other articles you would like to read!