Chen Qianyu Guide and Best Build

Kit Intro

Chen is a 5-star, Physical, Sword support damage dealer who specializes in low-cost Vulnerable application while also outputting solid personal damage without the need to soak up the team's resources. Unlike Physical spenders like Endministrator or Da Pan, Chen has no way to spend Vulnerable herself, meaning teams are rarely built around her, and she’s slotted in as a combo piece in other characters' teams instead.

The main reason to bring Chen to the team is her incredibly easy-to-activate Combo Skill, which only requires an enemy to become Vulnerable to activate, and which, on use, applies Lift and the Vulnerability stack that goes with it. Free application of Vulnerable is rare, and most Physical teams are starved for stacks and SP, making Chen a huge boon to the whole archetype.

The other reason Chen is a solid inclusion in teams is her solid personal damage and good Stagger output. Due to applying Lift on both her combo and Battle Skill, they each inflict more Stagger than most characters, assuming the enemy already has Vulnerability stacks. Add to that the fact she has a solid personal ATK% buff talent, another talent which causes her to inflict even more Stagger when interrupting enemies during their telegraphed animations, and a low-cost Ultimate with good multipliers. Chen is definitely capable of contributing nicely to the team's overall output.

Combo

Chen’s combo is her standout ability; it has a short cooldown and is very easy to activate, only requiring an enemy be afflicted with a stack of Vulnerable in order to trigger. Using it causes Chen to attack the target, inflicting Physical damage, and Lift. The snappy feedback of this combo and its ability to be used at any point during most Physical combos also makes it a strong ability for interrupting telegraphed enemy attack patterns.

Battle Skill

Chen’s Battle Skill is far less impressive than her combo, but still solid enough to use in some Physical team rotations. Using it costs 100 SP, deals Physical damage, some Stagger, and applies Lift. In teams without another character capable of applying Knock Down or Lift, and who only have other characters with Battle Skills that trigger Breach or Crush, its value does rise, though.

That aside, the main reason to use this ability over other characters isn’t its damage, Stagger, or Vulnerability, as none of those are unique. Instead, it's to build and maintain stacks on one of Chen’s talents, which grants stacking ATK%.

Ultimate

Chen’s Ultimate is simply a large single-target Physical nuke with an above-average damage multiplier and Stagger amount. Using it causes Chen to lock onto a single target and perform a series of 6 small slashes followed by a large slash, which deals far more damage; each hit from this attack triggers on-hit effects.

You can either use this ability's superior Stagger to push enemies into the Staggered state faster or save it for the Stagger window to take advantage of the Stagger damage multiplier and stats, such as DMG% vs Staggered enemies. A sub-stat common on Agility-based gear and many of Chen’s weapon choices.

Talents

Chen’s talents both contribute to her competent Stagger and damage output. The first, Slashing Edge, increases her damage by 8% for 10 seconds after she hits an enemy with a skill (Ultimate, Combo, or Battle Skill). The buff stacks up to 5 times for a maximum buff of 40% when capped out. When hitting multiple enemies with a single attack, each will grant a stack. Multi-hit abilities like Chen’s Ultimate also give stacks per hit. 

Tip: To maintain as high stacks as possible and for as long as possible, you can try to Stagger using Chen’s Battle Skill and Combo Skill slightly apart from each other.

Chen’s other talent, Momentum Breaker, causes her to inflict an additional 10 Stagger when using her abilities to interrupt enemies' telegraphed abilities (big red rings). Given how Chen’s combo and Battle Skills are fast to execute, using them for this purpose isn’t too hard. It often won't interfere with most standard Physical team rotations, even if you have to save them for a bit. You don’t have to take advantage of this talent, but if you do, it’s a nice bonus.

Note: Despite the wording, you have to use Chen’s abilities to interrupt enemies; you cannot use other characters and still get the bonus.

Gameplay

How you play Chen will depend on the team you’re using her in, but across most teams, there is still a rough priority you can follow:

• Against enemies without Vulnerable, use another character’s Vulnerable application before Chen’s, as some characters require the first Vulnerability stack in order to gain bonuses/functionality. If this doesn’t apply, Chen can open up first with her Battle Skill instead.

• After applying the first stack of Vulnerable on enemies, if Chen’s combo is available, use it to add another.

• Optionally weave in Chen’s Battle Skill one or multiple times for additional Vulnerability stacks if your rotation needs them, and if you have the SP to spare. For those looking to optimize, try to space out Chen’s Battle Skill from her Combo Skill as much as possible without hurting your rotation to extend Slashing Edge’s duration.

• When Chen’s Ultimate is available, either save it for when the enemy is Staggered to maximize its damage or use it to push enemies into Stagger faster thanks to its higher Stagger value.