Genshin Impact Venti guide: weapons, artifacts, and more

Barbatos, aka Venti, is one of the most sought after characters in Genshin Impact - mainly because he makes every other character look so damn good. The ultimate enabler and he ain’t shy on damage either.

Here’s how to make the Anemo Archon ready for take-off.

Genshin Impact Venti guide

Weapons

Venti’s main goal is empowering his Elemental Skill and Burst. Any weapon that ups said skills from a category 4 storm to a category 5 is an immediate winner. With that in mind, here are some choice options:

The Stringless

(Picture: miHoYo)

If you feel you’ve been seeing this weapon in a lot of guides, that’s because The Stringless is fantastic at empowering supports and enablers. That holds true for Venti, too.

Elemental Mastery is great on Anemo supports and enablers, as swirl procs with every other element bar Geo and doesn’t immediately remove said element either. That’s especially strong with Venti’s incredible Elemental Burst “Wind’s Grand Ode.” On top of that, Arrowless Song buffing both Elemental Skill and Burst is as exceptional as it seems.

Favonius Warbow

(Picture: miHoYo)

Less raw Skill damage than The Stringless is counterbalanced by a vast amount of Energy Recharge both from stats and from the Windfall ability.

It really is a toss-up between whether you want to do more damage with Wind’s Grand Ode or just have it up more often - both options are very strong synergistically with Venti. You do want more Crit Rate with this bow, however, if you want to make the most the Weapon Ability.

Skyward Harp

(Picture: miHoYo)

Of course, while you could just run Venti as a pure support/enabler, you can also run him as a DPS option, especially if you have other characters to provide elements for Swirl to abuse.

Top of the list for that playstyle is the Skyward Harp. Upped Crit Rate and DMG alongside additional AoE is exactly what the (murderous) doctor ordered.

Other options if you’re shy of good bows (let’s be real, there are a lot of Bow users demanding good weapons in the game right now) include Compound Bow and Slingshot, which are more readily available.

Artifacts

(Picture: miHoYo)

Viridescent Venerer was tailor-made for Venti, so a full 4-piece set is best-in-class for either DPS or support. Added Anemo damage, with +60% Swirl damage and reducing enemies Elemental RES to the infused element in the Swirl is tailor-made to turn Venti’s skills into hurricanes of destruction.

Another option for support is to run full 4-piece The Exile with its added Energy Recharge and utility for Elemental Bursts, though the likes of Noblesse Oblige and Wanderer’s Troupe are also good. The latter is particularly good if you can get Constellation Level 1 for Splitting Gales, which increases the combat potential of Venti’s aimed shots considerably.

Consider running Instructor too if you are shy of other good artifacts. It offers Elemental Mastery as a base stat, and also as an amp after using his Elemental Skill - always good for Swirl.

• Read more: Genshin Impact Xiangling guide: weapons, artifacts, and more 

If you do want to go for a more DPS heavy build - which is increasingly more viable is Venti levels due to his Energy Recharge increasing - 4-piece Martial Artist is good, as is a 2/2 Split between 2-piece Berserker and a 2-piece +18% ATK set. Again, Wanderer’s Troupe is a good option.

He who is friends with dragons… (Picture: miHoYo)

Artifact Stats

Depending on whether you want to go DPS or support/enabler, there are two ways to build here:

Stats for Support/Enabler

• Energy Recharge (look for ~170%)
• Elemental Mastery
• Anemo DMG Goblet
• ATK

Stats for DPS

• Anemo DMG Goblet (key)
• Crit Rate (50~%+)
• Crit DMG
• ATK
• Energy Recharge

You do want at least some Energy Recharge as Venti, even as DPS, so don’t neglect it. This does become much less problematic at higher levels though with Venti’s Energy Recharge improving with his level.

Venti is the Anemo Archon for a reason - Wind’s Grand Ode is brutal (Picture: miHoYo)

Play Patterns

The number one rule with Venti is this: always have Elements ready to Swirl.

Electro, Pyro, Hydro, Cryo… it really doesn’t matter, he synergises well with all of these. Set enemies up with one of them, then group them all together with his Elemental Burst, Wind’s Grand Ode and watch the fireworks.

Even better, with all those enemies incapacitated, switch in someone who can abuse grouped up enemies with their own Burst or AoE damage and really lay on the hurt. Lisa, Diluc, Klee, Keqing, and Chongyun can all do impressive AoE damage and abuse the free Elemental Reactions available, but that is far from an exhaustive list.

It’s easy to see why Venti’s Elemental Burst is considered one of the strongest in the game, and it’s why much of his build is predicated on having it up as often as possible. Careful on your distance from enemies, though - too close and you can often overshoot enemies with Wind’s Grand Ode, and larger opponents like Ruin Guards aren’t launched or displaced back into it.

Remember as well that Venti’s charged shots become significantly more powerful at C1 with Splitting Gales, so don’t be afraid to focus on those.

As a last thought, Venti’s Elemental Skill, Skyward Sonnet, is often better used on press rather than hold - the cooldown is a little long on hold, and Swirl is more important than the higher base damage. Save hold for emergency escapes (it’s great versus the Electro Hypostasis’ wave attack, for instance) and high-end Bounties that are weak to plunging attacks.

• Read more: Genshin Impact Barbara guide: weapons, artifacts, and more 

And with that, Venti will make sure your enemies are gone with the wind - pun fully intended.