Genshin Impact Kinich build and teams
Kinich is an easy-to-build character with high returns
You have a lot of options for putting together a strong Genshin Impact Kinich build, and some of his best teammates are characters you either likely have already or can get for free. Kinich is a main-DPS whose kit scales on attack and whose Nightsoul Blessing ability powers up when the right elemental reaction is present. That’s it. That’s all you need – plenty of attack and a touch of fire.
Our Genshin Impact Kinich build breaks down his best weapons and Artifacts, and we have some Kinich team recommendations as well.
Genshin Impact Kinich build
Genshin Impact Kinich weapons
Kinich needs the stats most main DPS characters need – attack, crit rate, and crit damage – and the way his skill works means he gets little benefit from the passive skills you find on most claymores. His signature weapon, Fang of the Mountain King, increases the equipping character’s critical hit rate and gives them a stack of Canopy’s Favor when they land a hit with their elemental skill, something Kinich will frequently do. If a party member triggers burning or burgeon, the equipping character gets three stacks. The maximum is six, and each stack increases elemental skill and burst damage by 10 percent for six seconds.
Wolf’s Gravestone works as a 5-star alternative, with a secondary stat that increases attack and a passive that buffs it even further. The equipping character’s attack increases by an additional 40 percent if they’re targeting an enemy with 30 percent HP or less. Skyward Pride is a slightly less good, but still perfectly functional, choice as well. It gives Kinich a small energy recharge boost and increases all of his damage by eight percent.
The strongest 4-star option to go for is Serpent Spine, which you can get after hitting the battle pass’ 30th tier. It increases how much damage the user deals by six/10 percent for every four seconds they remain on the field, an effect that stacks five times and only gets removed when the character takes damage. They also take slightly more damage, but if Bennett is in your party, that isn’t a concern.
Katsuragikiri Nagamasa is a useful – and free – weapon you can forge in Inazuma after obtaining the blueprint. It gives the equipping character an energy recharge buff and increases their elemental skill damage by six/12 percent, and since it’s a craftable weapon, you can hit that 12 percent buff without relying on luck and Primogems.
Finally, if you have Mailed Flower from one of 2023’s big events, you could give that a go and see how you like it. It gives the user a decent elemental mastery increase with its secondary skill and provides another mastery buff and an attack buff after they use their elemental skill. If you’re using Kinich in a burgeon or burn team, which you should be, having some extra elemental mastery helps increase how much damage he does even without being at full Nightsoul Points.
Genshin Impact Kinich Artifacts
Obsidian Codex is Kinich’s ideal set, though you have other options if you want to try something different or are struggling to get good stat rolls.
Obsidian Codex
- Two-piece effect: Character’s damage increases by 15 percent when they’re in the Nightsoul’s Blessing state and on-field
- Four-piece effect: When the equipping character consumes 1 Nightsoul Point, their crit rate increases by 40 percent for six seconds, and this can happen once every second
The only drawback with this set is that Kinich gains Nightsoul Points while his skill is active and only uses them in one go. You’ll want to fire off normal attacks regularly while Kinich is grappling an enemy to generate additional points and take advantage of the crit rate buff.
You could use use Deepwood Memories, if you have a good set already.
- Two-piece effect: Increases Dendro damage by 15 percent
- Four-piece effect: After the equipping character’s elemental skill or burst hits an enemy, that enemy’s Dendro resistance drops by 30 percent for eight seconds
While his skill is active, Kinich’s normal attacks count as skill damage, so the only time the second buff wouldn’t be active is if there’s a gap between his skill cooldown and when you use his burst.
If you’re having trouble with Obsidian Codex or don’t want to use a burning team for Kinich, consider mixing two pieces of that and two pieces of Deepwood.
And if you’re early in the game, you may want to combine two pieces of Gambler (increases skill damage by 20 percent) and two of Gladiator’s Finale (raises attack by 18 percent).
Genshin Impact Kinich stats
Kinich needs attack, crit rate, and crit damage, and he also benefits from bonus Dendro damage, some elemental mastery, and energy recharge to help meet the high cost of his burst. His damage only scales on attack, so you don’t need to split your stats or give too much elemental mastery. You can also ignore energy recharge to an extent if you have an energy battery such as Bennett in your party.
- Sands: Attack%
- Goblet: Dendro damage or attack%
- Circlet: Crit rate or crit damage
Genshin Impact Kinich teams
Kinich’s second passive Talent, The Price of Desolation, gives him seven Nightsoul points when his elemental skill damages an enemy – bear in mind his normal attacks while grappled count as elemental skill damage, too – and when that enemy takes damage from burning or burgeon. You can put Kinich on any team with good supports, use him for bloom triggers, or even replace Alhaitham with him if you just want a Dendro DPS. However, his optimal team is always going to have at least one Pyro support.
Kinich burning team
Bennett adds extra Pyro application, healing, energy, and attack buffs, while Xiangling’s burst helps spread Pyro across the battlefield. You can get by with just one of them, or swap one for Thoma, though they work nicely together. Pyro elemental resonance also gives Kinich a welcome attack buff.
Emilie helps apply Dendro more widely and gets a handy set of buffs when burning is present, but she’s more “nice to have” and not essential. If you want to keep Dendro around while Kinich is in cooldown, you could use Yaoyao, Nahida, Baizhu, or even Collei, or you could fill that last slot with a Hydro character to have burning and burgeon together.
Kinich burgeon team
If you need a Dendro reactions refresher, burgeon happens when Pyro hits a bloom core, the latter of which happens when Hydro and Dendro meet.
- Kinich
- Bennett, Thoma, Dehya, or Xiangling
- Yelan, Furina, or Xingqiu
- Free slot
Your free slot could include a second Pyro character for that resonance buff or another Dendro character to make applying that element easier. Yelan, Furina, and Xingqiu are the best at applying Hydro without having to remain on-field, though you could bring Barbara in for that instead. She has the added benefit of healing the party, which you’ll need since burgeon damages allies as well.
If you're saving up Primogems and materials for future Genshin Impact banners, check out our up-do-date list of Genshin Impact codes for some free Primogems.