This is the standard line-up you want to use at the start of your Lithic Journey. Those types of teams are very comfortable with regard to Xiao’s Energy regeneration and buffs.

• Liyue flex: Ningguang and Yelan are the popular picks among this category;

  • Ningguang is slotted as Geo Resonance filler and can provide buffs upon equipping TTDS and/or Noblesse Oblige, although she can be a pseudo healer with Prototype Amber.

  • Yelan is one of the few off-field DPSes that offers a buff (Ascension 4) that last throughout Xiao’s Burst, making her more popular in Xiao Teams. She may present ER% issues, reason why she is usually paired with Raiden Shogun.

• Battery: since Raiden Shogun’s introduction into the game, Xiao has gained a new plausible battery, opening up possibilities of abandoning Anemo batteries like Sucrose, which rotation can be difficult for beginner players, for a simple character such Raiden Shogun. Jean is still relevant as a Battery and a Healer, and she can run either 4 Noblesse Oblige for its buff or 4 Ocean-Hued Clam for funny Bubble DMG.

Xiao Geo

This line-up is a classic Xiao Team - you cannot spell Xiao/Zhongli without Geo Resonance.

• Liyue flex: any character that has synergy with other characters, preferably a healer if Xiao is super squishy.

• Geo Resonance: known characters that can fill this role and provide different assets are Albedo and GMC.

  • Albedo is the premiere off-field DPS. He has decent particle generation through Elemental Skill and is cheap to build, and now with the introduction of Cinnabar and Husk Artifact he can reach a higher off-field DMG ceiling than ever before. However his Geo Construct doesn’t expand Zhongli’s Pillar Resonance area as well as GMC’s.

  • GMC’s Burst expands Zhongli’s Pillar Resonance area, increasing 4p TotM passive effect up time and creating a cage for enemies that get staggered easily by Xiao’s plunges. GMC offers a 10% CRIT Rate through his Burst. To make up for the lack of Anemo Particles, GMC can use Favonius Sword which passive is super simple to proc with their Burst.

Xiaoling

If you don’t have Albedo and don’t want to use GMC, then next line-up might be interesting to try out.

At first glance, you might consider this comp a failure since there is no Battery. However, Bennett is the True Pyro Archon that can make Xiangling's Pyronado DMG skyrocket (if she is invested). Let’s not forget the Pyro Resonance which increases ATK by 25%.

This comp is focused more on Team DMG than Selfish DMG - it relies on both Xiao’s and Xiangling’s DMG in order to cheese through waves of enemies.

Both Xiao and Xiangling will require ER% in order to sustain their DPS ceiling and avoid energy mishaps. If you still cannot reach those specific ER% requirements, you can swap out the buffer (in this case Bennett) for a Battery like Raiden Shogun who will help in achieving sustainability.

Xiao Hydro/Cryo

Another unique line-up.

• Liyue flex: Ganyu or Yelan can work good in this line-up

  • Ganyu’s role in this team is to offer AoE Cryo application which enables the Cryo Resonance requirement thus increasing the CRIT Rate of attacks that are inflected on Cryo afflicted enemies. Her Taunt helps with crowd control and she can deal decent off-field DMG without much investments.

  • Yelan can temporarily freeze enemies in place as long as Xiao is enabling her Elemental Burst with Normal Attacks (N1P, JET, NA cancels).

• Healer/buffer flex:

  • Rosaria is a unit that offers CRIT Rate through her Ascension 4, Shadow Samarita, which provides up to 15% CRIT Rate.

What if I don't have Zhongli?

Generally speaking, it isn't worth building Lithic teams without Zhongli. However if you're that pressed to make usage of this weapon, then these are your options.

Once you're at the point of considering these options, we strongly recommend an All-Favonius Weapon Team (with the exception of Xiao).

Xiao Diona

Diona’s shield will generally never come close to how good Zhongli’s shield is, however she’s a very comfortable pick due to her Hold Skill shield’s cooldown matching Xiao’s Burst cooldown (15 seconds). Additionally, she has extra capabilities that make her a great addition to the team:

• Her shield can cleanse, gives you a stamina reduction buff. Using the shield itself will generate particles, and additional particles if she runs Favonius Bow and has a decent enough CRIT Rate.

• Her Burst field will also decrease the enemy’s ATK.

Xiao Freeze

If you don’t trust Diona’s shield, might as well freeze your enemies to oblivion (except Bosses, those can still move). This team is beginner friendly and can offer a couple of perks such as:

• Cryo Resonance (increase CRIT Rate against enemies that are Frozen or affected by Cryo by 15%)

• DMG% Bonus provided by Yelan’s Ascension 4.

• Ganyu’s Taunt.

• Elegy and Noblesse Oblige Buff.

• Impressive off-field DMG.

Xiao Diona Xiangling

Even if Diona’s sole role is to be a bootleg version of Zhongli, she still is a Cryo unit that can enable Xiangling’s Pyronado. Not only that but if you add Yelan in the mixture you get:

• Shield.

• DMG% Bonus provided by Yelan’s Ascension 4.

• Access to Melt and Vaporize at the same time. With C6 Diona you also get 200 EM through her Burst, which is useless for Xiao, but very useful for Xiangling.

• Impressive off-field DMG.

If you don’t have Yelan, Xingqiu works as well however you will lose the DMG% Bonus for Damage Reduction (DR) and Poise Buff. Both Yelan and Xingqiu can deal impressive off-field DMG, as long as you’re using JET or NA cancels.

Xiao’s, Xiangling’s and Yelan’s energy hurdles may be noticeable in the higher investment spectrum, so for accommodation we propose using Lithic-All Favonius until the high-end builds can assure sustainability.

Beidou + Xingqiu

Beidou and Xingqiu are quite unique with regard to defense mechanism, both offering damage reduction (DR) via their Talents.

• Beidou’s Elemental Burst, Stormbreaker, provides the following:

  • Up to 37% DR (C6, T13)

  • Resistance to interruption

• Xingqiu’s Elemental Skill, Fatal Rainscreen, adds to the mixture:

  • Up to 53% DR (20% Base + 9% Talent levels + 24% as a portion of bonus Hydro DMG)

  • Poise Buff, increasing the resistance to interruption of the active character

  • Each Rain Sword will reduce the damage taken by the active character and heal them.

Hence, this pair can provide up to 90% damage reduction and enough resistance to interruption to dismiss any type of CC or mid-air animation interruption.

• The Flex Slot is allocated to another Electro/Hydro character with off-field application (e.g. Raiden, Yae, Fischl, Yelan, Kokomi) or Anemo character that is equipped with Viridescent Venerer (e.g. Jean, Kazuha, Prototype Sucrose).

YOLO

If we were to summerize YOLO Teams to a single word, it would be “impulsive”. These Teams make use of 2 off-field DPS that can have support properties along side Xiao, while all of them being hyper boosted by Bennett. The major drawback is lack of particles to funnel Xiao for continuity, which can be fixed in some degree if you plan to run (R5) Favonius Weapons.

Examples

✔ Plunge Spam play style.

✔ Off field DPS from Xiangling’s Pyronado and Ganyu’s Elemental Skill and Burst.

✔ Xiangling has access to Melt (x2 multiplier).

✔ Access to a taunt (Ganyu’s Elemental Skill) and Elegy Buff.

✘ Energy deficit due to lack of Battery; in some degree it can be fixed by running Favonius Weapons (e.g. Favonius Lance on Xiangling).

✘ Owning multiple copies of R5 Favonius Weapons.

Zhongli and Yelan will be using Favonius Weapons, preferably R5. Both will require somewhat decent CRIT Rate in order to trigger the passive. To avoid possible energy hurdles on Yelan, she will be running 4 Emblem of Severed Fate.

Your last slot options consist of:

• Xiangling

✔ Off-field DMG, Vaporize only if you N1P with Xiao to trigger Yelan’s Elemental Burst.

✔ Can trigger Vaporize thanks to Yelan’s Hydro application.

✔ Increases ATK by 10% for 10s via Ascension 4 (picking up the Chili Pepper spawn by her Elemental Skill).

✘ Without a dedicated battery, she will suffer from Energy deficit which gates her from using high-end weapons. Must be equipped with either (R5) Favonius Lance or "The Catch".

✘ ER% are pretty damn high for sustainability, even if you’re using R5 Favonius Lance and funnel the white particles into her.

✘ Without Bennett, her DMG drops significantly enough to be noticeable, however she can cheese through enemies.

• Ganyu

✔ Off-field DMG.

✔ Potentially freeze the enemies in place (even if the status effect wears off once Xiao plunges).

✔ Taunt.

✔ Can equip Elegy and buff the team, or Favonius Bow to funnel Xiao and Yelan.

✘ You can potentially trigger the Ganyu Simps and META Slaves for running her as an off-field for Xiao.

✘ Without Elegy or Noblesse Oblige, her support capabilities are very niche.

• Xingqiu

✔ N1P, JET or NA cancels to proc his Elemental Burst.

✔ Each Rain Sword heals upon shattering.

✔ Can battery Yelan and himself with enough ER%.

✔ Hydro Shred at C2.

✘ Yelan/Xingqiu is single-target centric, the only AoE source would be Xiao’s plunges.

✘ To some degree he is Constellation gated: C1 unlocks the maximum number of Rain Swords which increases survivability, C2 offers Hydro Shred which is important for both him and Yelan, C6 is broken.

• Beidou

✔ N1P, JET or NA cancels to proc Electro-Charged.

✔ Damage reduction and Interruption Resistance.

✔ Can be used as a “meat-shield” for heavy attacks during her parry mode.

✘ Her ER% requirements for sustainability are mid-high, especially if you don’t necessarily funnel the Favonius particles onto her.

✘ Parrying is challenging due to enemies’s AI, so getting a perfect parry that generates the maximum amount of particles is burdensome.

• Qiqi

✔ Great off-field healing.

✔ 4 Ocean-Hued Clam for funny off-field DMG.

✘ Does not generate particles, unless she is equipped with Favonius Sword.

✘ Outside of 4pc Ocean-Hued Clam, Qiqi doesn’t offer any offensive value if she is not invested.

• Xingqiu

✔ Generates particles, and can equip Favonius Sword for additional particles.

✔ Damage reduction and Interruption Resistance.

✔ Can heal mid-Burst when a Rain Sword shatters.

✘ Healing-wise, Xingqiu is lacking. He heals 6% worth of his HP, so you would need to stack up on HP.

✘ Requires C1 to unlock the maximum number of Rain Swords.

• Ningguang

✔ Generates particles.

✔ Geo Resonance.

✔ 40 Burst cost with 12s cooldown, R5 Prototype Amber’s can regenerate up to half the energy.

✘ Healing-wise, R5 Prototype Amber heals 18% HP (6% every 2s for 6s) every 12s. This may raise some issues considering that Xiao’s Burst lasts 15s and he can become vulnerable mid-Burst.

✘ Cannot equip Favonius Codex for white particles.

The Immortal Adeptus

The name of this Team is derived from the defense pillow package you obtain when you combine Zhongli’s Shield and Beidou + Xingqiu DR Talents. The principle relies on the DR mechanic that will decrease the amount of DMG is inflicted upon Xiao, who is protected by Zhongli’s shield. Xiao’s playstyle with this team is N1P or JET spam.

The main issues with this line-up is the lack of offensive buffs (like Bennett’s Elemental Burst, Yelan Ascension 4 or TTDS) and energy deficit, which enforces the agenda of Lithic - All (R5) Favonius and 130+% ER% on Xiao.

Xiao Target Locked