Genshin Impact Childe DPS Build Guide

by Skyfrid

As a fighter, Childe can be versatile with the ability to change between long-ranged and close-ranged combat. He serves best as the main DPS of the team as he has one of the best elemental burst damage output in the game. His normal auto-attack, Cutting Torrent, can perform up to 6 shots that increase in damage with each hit. Childe’s gimmick is all about marking the enemies with the Riptide effect and dealing AoE Hydro DMG to them overtime. This niche makes Tartaglia’s charged shot incredibly powerful. Every charged shot you hit an enemy will apply the Riptide effect, which will deal Hydro damage when you hit them with another charged attack. Childe can also spread that effect around when an enemy is defeated with the Riptide effect. His bow stance works best when taking on just one enemy or to deal the finishing deal to spread Riptide to other enemies. A big con of Riptide is that his regular attacks don’t deal increased damage from its effect. In situations where you don’t have time to fire charged attacks, Tartaglia’s DPS potential goes down. However, even with this setback, Childe can still dish out powerful attacks.

Passive – Riptide

Passive Talent – Never Ending

His second and third talents make his Riptide effect even better by extending the amount of time and allowing Riptide to spread when Childe does a critical hit.

Elemental Skill – Foul Legacy: Raging Tide

Tartaglia’s elemental skill, Foul Legacy: Raging Tide, allows him to switch to a melee stance that will deal increased Hydro damage to enemies marked with Riptide. This allows him to also combo his elemental reactions with other characters to land more powerful hits. His melee stance is great for close combat situations when you don’t have time to hit an enemy with an aimed shot. He also hits pretty hard and can rapidly hit the enemies. For most players, the strategy would be to mark the enemy with Riptide, then use his elemental skill to attack. His hydro slashes can deal with multiple enemies, but has a major drawback in the countdown. The longer you stay in his melee stance, the longer the cooldown of his elemental skill. He has great damage output for 30 seconds, but has a 45-second cooldown that limits his potential. To minimize his cool down, it is recommended to switch back to his bow stance before 30 seconds.

Tip: A red symbol will appear on top of his head when you are reaching your time limit. Switch back to his bow stance immediately!

Passive Talent – Sword of Torrents

Sword of Torrents gives his melee stance a major boost.

Elemental Burst – Havoc: Obliteration

Childe is currently the only character that has two elemental bursts: Ranged Stance: Flash of Havoc & Melee Stance: Light of Obliteration. He has one for both his bow stance and melee stance. When in his bow stance, he shots arrows that apply Riptide and restores some of his energy. This skill is perfect for larger groups of enemies, so you can apply Riptide to all of them at once. I recommend switching right into his melee stance immediately right after to activate the Riptide Slash. In his melee stance, he does a powerful hydro slash that will also deal increased damage to enemies with the Riptide effect. This elemental burst has the highest damage multiplier in the game. The base skill power at level 1 is 464% but can easily reach over 700% by leveling up the skill. Compare this to Diluc, the best Pyro unit in the game, and his elemental burst only starting at a bast of 204%. Childe can easily rip enemies apart with his elemental burst alone and it also makes for a great finishing move.

Childe works great in co-op with his main gimmick of charged attacks. Other players can keep the enemy busy while Childe has time to charge his arrows. With the ability to attack close or long-range, players using Childe can also take the more aggressive approach and attack the enemies himself. The shields of the Pyro Abyssal Mages or the Pyro Regisvine will no longer be a problem with Childe’s ability to deal constant hydro damage.

Tip: Childe’s Hydro Damage will increase with higher ascension levels!

Passive Talent – Master of Weaponry

His first talent, Master of Weaponry, boosts the normal attack level of all members of your party by 1. This talent alone makes him an excellent party member due to the increased damage output for all members of your party. This talent also cuts down the cost of upgrading to a higher attack level due to a lack of materials.

Constellations

Without any constellation levels, Childe can still act as a powerful DPS character. His biggest drawback is the cooldown from his melee stance, but at higher constellation levels, the cooldown becomes less of a burden.

Critical Build

This build focuses on Childe’s charged attack and critical rate chance.

Recommended Weapons

The Skyward Harp is an excellent choice as a weapon due to its increased critical chance and damage due to its ability. The harp is also a 5-star weapon making it one of the strongest bows in the game. The stats you should prioritize are critical rate, critical dmg, and attack so you can deal more critical hits.

You can also use The Viridescent Hunt if you have it from the battle pass. It generates a cyclone on the ground that will pull enemies in and also deal damage based on his ATK. This makes it easier for Childe to apply Riptide and spread it around. The weapon effect also works in his melee stance.

Recommended Artifacts

For his artifact set, I recommend using the Wanderer’s Troupe if you plan on using his charged attack frequently. This set works well with niche and is more of a long-ranged build and not recommended for close combat. If you want a more DPS build on him, you can also replace this set with a Gladiator’s Finale or Noblesse Oblige. Put a focus on CRIT Rate to land critical hits more often. You can also focus on Hydro DMG as charged attacks will deal AoE Hydro Damage. Attack and CRIT DMG will also be nice to boost his damage even more.

DPS Build

This set works well with Childe’s high DPS potential and can deal immense hydro damage to all enemies. You won’t have to worry about aimed shots as much, as you will want to be in this melee stance for most of the time. This set works best in small bursts, due to Childe’s cooldown, but can easily rip apart an enemy’s health. You should focus on ATK%, but can also focus on Hydro DMG, so his melee stance hits harder.

Recommended Weapons

The Rust is the perfect weapon for a DPS build due to its increased damage. However, it lowers his charged attacks. You will only need to use aimed shots to apply the Riptide effect, so it isn’t a big disadvantage. The passive on Rust also won’t be applied to Childe’s melee stance. You can also use the Amos’ Bow, which is a 5-star weapon, but it might be harder to obtain than the Rust. Amos’ Bow works well with both Childe’s melee and bow stance because it increases normal attacks and can also increase the damage done by arrows.

Recommended Artifacts

For this artifact set, I recommend a split between the Gladiator’s Finale and the Noblesse Oblige. This will increase both Childe’s attack and elemental burst, making it even more deadly. With this set, Childe’s melee stances become a lot more powerful, but his bow stance will become more of a hindrance. You should focus on attack and Hydro DMG to deal more damage.