How to build Keqing: best weapons and artifacts, stats priority, combos, early and endgame
A guide on Keqing’s skills, mechanics, weapons, artifacts, and combos. I will show you how to build her in the early-midgame (Pre-AR40) and in the endgame.
As always, there is room for flexibility in builds, so do not treat every word from this guide as law. I will offer general guiding principles to follow and try to convey adequately the pros and cons of each build.
Note: AR40 is considered the beginning of the endgame because this is when domains have a chance of dropping gold/legendary artifacts.
How to build Keqing
A lot of math has gone into determining the viability of different builds, but at the end of the day, each build performs best under optimal conditions.
Early-Midgame (Pre-AR40)
First and foremost, whatever gear you are using at this stage does not matter in the big picture because you will discard it in favour of 5* pieces in the endgame.
That being said, you should still follow a general set of rules when doing small to moderate investments, so that you can clear comfortably early-midgame content such as weekly bosses and character/talent/weapon domains (Artifact was left out for a reason. Don’t farm them till AR40). Another reason is to complete tasks from your Adventurer Handbook.
Artifact stat prioritisation and investment
My guiding principle for you is this: Pick out the most decent stuff in your trash pile.
You will have a lot of random blue (3*), a few purple (4*), and 1-2 yellow (5*) artifacts from normal progression through the questline.
Do not invest in an artifact just because it’s a higher tier.
Maxing out a 5* artifact with %HP primary stat will likely have less of a DPS increase than maxing out a 4* artifact with %atk primary stat.
Upgraded artifacts can be foddered (used as material) into future artifacts at a cost of 20% exp (that is, 80% of the exp will be transferred).
This means that it is still worth it to invest in and max 3* artifacts if the primary and substat lines are good.
Note that feeding one enhanced artifact will be cheaper than feeding a bunch of unenhanced artifacts.
As a rough rule, if your base attack is below 725, you are likely pre-AR40, and thus in the early-midgame.
Desired primary stat lines
For early-midgame, the rule of thumb is to only use and invest in artifacts that have %atk. The exception is the goblet.
The flower and feather will always have flat HP and flat Atk, respectively. Prioritise those with %atk and flat atk substat lines.
You will always want to look for %atk on your hourglass (Sands of Eon) and circlet.
Look for %electrodmg or %physdmg on your goblet. If none are available, use %atk.
Do not prioritise crit chance or crit damage in the early-midgame. Without getting into the specific math, it is likely that investing in either of those stats over %atk will either reduce your DPS or have less of an increase to your DPS than if you invested into the %atk equivalent.
%atk has more impact and value for your DPS in the early-midgame.
If you are intimately familiar with min/max ratios for %atk:ele/phys%:critdmg%, keep those concepts in mind for endgame.
Do not prioritise the following primary stats:
EM (elemental mastery): Most of your elemental reactions should be triggered by your supports.
HP%: If you’re dying to stuff in WL1-3, consider switching to Barbara main.
DEF%: useless stat for DPS.
Energy recharge%: Put it on your supports.
Healing bonus%: No.
Crit%/critdmg%: mentioned earlier.
Desired substat lines
This is of very little importance in the early-midgame. When choosing what pieces to use, your primary deciding factors should be primary stat line and set effects.
In order of importance:
%atk.
Flat attack.
Crit%.
Critdmg%.
Artifact set effects
Now that you understand which stats should be prioritised, let’s talk about artifact set effects, and what I would recommend for Keqing in the early-midgame. As mentioned above, we want to prioritise %atk until endgame at AR40.
Note: 2 and 4 set bonus effects can look nice on paper, but it can be a common pitfall to fall into.
Prioritise using %atk primary stat line pieces over using 2 non-atk% pieces just to complete a set effect.
For example, if you use a 4* Gladiator’s helm with HP% and 4* Gladiator’s goblet with Elemental Mastery over a 3* helm and goblet with 23.1% atk each, it would result in a loss of possible DPS:
2 set gladiator gives 18% atk.
The two random pieces will give 46.1% atk, which is a massive DPS difference.
In this case, it’s not worth it to invest mora and artifact fodder into levelling the gladiator gear.
Sojourner’s, Heart of Bravery, and Gladiator’s are the three sets obtainable pre-AR40 that give +18%atk in their 2 set effect. However, there are key disadvantages to keep in mind.
Gladiator’s can only be obtained from weekly bosses and as rewards from normal progression. They begin to drop from map bosses (eg Anemocube) at AR35.
You may only obtain Sojourner’s and Heart of Bravery through quest rewards and artifact domains at AR35.
In general, these sets should not be farmed before AR40.
Only use pieces of these gear if you can fulfill one of these 3 conditions:
It’s a cup that has %electrodmg or %physdmg.
It has %atk primary stat.
It’s a feather or flower.
In the early-midgame, don’t build crit% and critdmg%: prioritise %atk.
Recommended artifact sets for early-midgame
This assumes that the goblet/circlet/hourglass have their respective optimal lines.
Hourglass/Circlet: %atk.
Goblet: %electrodmg/%physdmg > %atk.
Feather and flower only have flat Atk and flat HP respectively (don’t need to worry about the line).
If the pieces comprising a set don’t have optimal lines, you’re better off just using random pieces with %atk.
Follow these steps:
Start from the top and see if you have pieces of that set.
If not, move on to the next option.
If yes, then check to see if those pieces have optimal primary lines.
If not, move on to the next option.
If yes, then you may use this set.
Note that If you are unlucky and can’t build a set with optimal lines, it is better to have no set effect and use gear with optimal lines.
4 set Martial artist + any 1 piece with optimal primary line
2 set: Increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 15%.
4 set: After using Elemental Skill (E), increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 25% for 8s.
Advantages:
Keqing has a 7.5s cooldown on her E (Stellar Restoration), so you can theoretically have 100% uptime of +40% dmg to normal and charged attacks.
Each time you cast E, you refresh the buff duration. If you space out the initial cast with the recast, you can extend the duration.
Disadvantages:
Incredibly hard to form a 4 set with optimal primary stats.
Does nothing to improve your E and Q (Starward Sword) damage.
2 set Sojourner’s / 2 set Gladiator’s / 2 set Bravery + a different 2 set from same category, or any 2 set below, or any other 2 pieces with optimal primary lines
2 set: ATK +18%.
Advantages:
If the 2 pieces (3* example) are able to roll for %atk, you can get 46.2% atk for a maximum of 62.2% with the set effect.
If you got lucky, you can form this set with a flower and feather. You don’t have to worry about rolling the optimal line since flower and feather only have HP and flat atk.
Stronger than 2MA for electro build Keqing.
Disadvantages:
You need to be lucky and roll the relevant optimal lines to make use of these sets. Otherwise, you’re better off using any random piece that has %atk.
Very unlikely that you’re able to build 2 x 2 set in this category for 36% atk bonus.
4 set Berserker’s + any 1 piece with optimal primary line
2 set: CRIT Rate +12%.
4 set: When HP is below 70%, CRIT Rate increases by an additional 24%.
Advantages:
Easy to farm, drops from chests, elite mobs, and bosses. At a certain point, most of the artifacts in your inventory will be Berserker pieces.
Because you’ll have so many pieces, it is highly likely that you will find optimal primary stats for goblet, circlet, and hourglass pieces.
At level 60/60 Keqing, your innate crit dmg should be 69.2%. This means that your optimal crit is 34.6%. The 4 set adds 36% crit rate which fulfils the 1:2 ratio.
Disadvantages:
Refer to the earlier section on crit rate.
Note: There can be specific scenarios where using 4 set Berserker results in a small (100-200dmg difference) increase in damage over using 2 sets of 18% atk (36% atk total).
When your playstyle involves constantly keeping your HP below 70%.
When you’ve begun to upgrade 4* berserker pieces and approach the %atk threshold where crit% becomes more valuable than %atk.
2 set Martial artist + 2 set from below, or any other 2 pieces with optimal primary lines
2 set: Increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 15%.
Advantages:
For both electro and physical builds, Keqing’s optimal combo is normal attack → charged attack.
%dmg is a separate multiplier in the damage formula, so it has a greater impact than %atk as long as total %atk is greater than %dmg (electro/physical, and other bonus sources like Lion’s Roar).
Disadvantages:
3* and 4* version farmable at AR30, but this is not worth it.
The few pieces that you will have come from quest rewards and normal progression.
Will not affect your E and Q damage.
2 set Berserker’s + any 2 pieces with optimal primary lines
2 set: CRIT Rate +12%.
Advantages:
Refer to above section on 4 set berserker.
Disadvantages:
Crit % is not a very impactful stat in the early-midgame.
The set only spawns up to 4*, so doesn’t scale into endgame.
Endgame (AR40+)
Weapon selection
Generally, weapons in the early-midgame do not matter. However, they do play an important role in determining whether you should go for a physical or electro Keqing build.
F2P selection
If you did no pulls, do not plan on getting the Black Sword from the battle pass, or were unlucky in your pulls and never got a 4* 1H sword, you have two craftable options available. The recipe has a chance to drop from weekly bosses.
Prototype Rancour (4*)
Passive: On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks increase Base ATK and DEF by 4% for 6s. Max 4 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3s.
Secondary Stat: Physical DMG Bonus.
Advantages:
Physdmg% has good scaling into endgame.
Synergises well with Superconduct (the elemental reaction that gives monsters a -40% phys res debuff).
Disadvantages:
The %atk from the passive becomes more and more irrelevant in the endgame.
Physdmg% has no effect on elemental damage (purple numbers). It will only affect your white numbers.
When you use Stellar Restoration, you can never recast it because if you do, you convert your damage to electro, which doesn’t benefit from %physdmg.
Conditions for use: Aiming to go physical/superconduct build.
Iron Sting (4*)
Passive: Dealing Elemental DMG increases all DMG by 6% for 6s. Max 2 stacks. Can only occur once every 1s.
Secondary Stat: Elemental Mastery.
Advantages:
Keqing deals elemental damage almost all the time, allowing her to keep 2/2 stacks.
%dmg applies to all numbers (white and purple) and scales well into the endgame.
Disadvantages:
Elemental mastery is usually not considered good on Keqing because she is rarely the one triggering the reactions, and thus the EM used in the calculation is the support’s.
You have to keep stacks up to maintain the %dmg buff.
Conditions for use: Aiming to go electro Keqing.
All the other swords
I am going to summarise what you should go for in order of performance.
If you’re going physical/superconductor Keqing (assuming fully refined):
BiS (Best in slot): Aquila Favonia:
%physdmg is huge.
Flute:
Can stagger shield opponents from the passive.
R1-5 Flute will outperform R1 black sword on physical build.
Black Sword:
Is ranked above Lion’s Roar because the passive is not conditional upon electro-debuff.
Nice small amount of regen that is especially helpful for Abyss.
Lion’s Roar.
Prototype Rancour (F2P):
Please note that R5 Rancour beats R1 Black Sword in a physical build.
Skyward Blade:
At 90/90, Skyward has only 41 more base attack than a 90/90 Prototype Rancour.
The increased dmg is dealt separately.
Royal Longsword.
Conditional: assuming you haven’t hit 85% crit rate.
Iron Sting (F2P).
Descension.
Sacrificial Sword.
If you’re going electro Keqing:
BiS: Black Sword:
It is ranked above Aquila in a R1 v R1 scenario.
It is ranked above Lion’s Roar because the passive is not conditional upon electro-debuff.
Aquila Favonia:
Even though electro Keqing doesn’t make use of the %physdmg, she benefits from the raw stats at 90/90.
Black Sword:
Nice small amount of regen that is especially helpful for Abyss.
Please note that R1 Black Sword beats R5 Rancour in electro.
R1 Black Sword > R1-R4 Flute on electro.
R1 Black Sword < R5 Flute on electro, but only by a small margin.
Lion’s Roar:
Please note that R3 Roar beats R1 Aquila in electro.
Skyward Blade:
At 90/90, Skyward has only 41 more base attack than a 90/90 Prototype Rancour.
Flute:
Can stagger shield opponents from the passive.
Royal Longsword.
Conditional: assuming you haven’t hit 85% crit rate.
Iron Sting (F2P).
Prototype Rancour (F2P):
%physdmg is not useful to Electro Keqing.
Descension.
Sacrificial Sword.
Talent prioritisation
The prioritisation should be Autoattacks (Yunlai Swordsmanship) > E (Stellar Restoration) > Q (Starward Sword).
The basic reasoning is that the damage boost to autoattacks is unconditional since it has no cooldown. A significant amount of damage from Keqing comes from her normal and charged autoattacks.
E is prioritised before Q because it is used more often and has a shorter cooldown.
This prioritisation should be the same for both builds.
Note: Books (Prosperity) drop on Mondays/Thursdays from Taishan Mansion.
Normal/Charged attack combos
Keqing Normal Attack: Yunlai Swordsmanship
Tapping M1 (Normal attack) will result in the following:
Jab (small step forward).
Cross slash (small step forward).
Wide slash (medium step forward).
Cross slash and leg kick upwards into invisibility (2 hits).
Do a stab dash forward that passes through smaller opponents, reappearing near the end (large step forward).
There are a total of 6 hits if you finish the normal attack combo.
Holding M1 (Charged attack) will result in the following:
Jab (small step forward).
Cross slash twice (medium step backwards).
5 Hit Normal (5N)
Please note that this combo actually has a total of 6 hits.
Keqing performs 5 hits relatively quickly, kicking upwards and disappearing on the upwards kick. After a brief delay, she performs a dash attack (6th hit), reappearing near the end of the dash.
The delay between the 5th and 6th hit can be controlled. You have about 0.5s leeway before clicking again to activate the 6th hit. This is useful because sometimes Keqing will knock up the enemy such that the 6th hit misses entirely when activated too fast.
In the beta, the “blink” aspect between the 5th and 6th hits could be used as an i-frame. Current testing suggests that this blink no longer acts an i-frame because you can be frozen and damaged while “invisible”. It is also possible that this is due to high ping.
Use normal attacks only if you have no stamina at all (cryo domain Leylines) or are dealing with enemies that are constantly knocked back.
Normal Attack x 4 → Charged attack (4NC)
When Keqing disappears after kicking upwards, hold down M1 to convert the last attack into a charged one which will knock enemies back.
The charged attack hits twice so you get a total of 6 hits.
Use this combo when you are low on stamina or want to conserve stamina.
Use this combo when you need to reposition constantly to avoid taking damage.
Normal Attack x 1 → Charged attack
When people talk about “charged attack spam”, they are talking about this combo. It isn’t possible to perform a charged attack without the initial normal attack.
When holding down M1, Keqing will jab forward with 1 x normal attack, followed by a charged attack that hits two times while “recoiling” her back about the same distance.
I will refer to this combo as a cycle because technically it’s not a combo as we’re only really performing charged attacks. The normal attack is just bundled in.
Use this cycle against stationary/knockback-resist enemies or when normal enemies are up against terrain/wall.
This combo is one of the reasons why Physical Keqing is viable. Keqing has one of the highest autoattack speeds in the game.
At the cost of 25 stamina, Keqing can output 1 x normal attack and 2 x charged attacks in <1 second. This combo produces the highest DPS possible from autoattacks.
Tip: You can start the next charged attack combo before the first one completely ends by releasing M1 and holding it down again when you see Keqing’s sword extended to her rear right after the cross slash.
Physical or Electro Keqing
In the early-midgame, always go for electro Keqing if your RNG with artifact lines permits it. The reason for this is that electro-related elemental reactions have much higher damage in the early-midgame relative to the endgame.
Generally, this doesn’t matter in the early-midgame because you don’t deal a lot of damage anyway, and %atk affects both physical and electro damage.
Electro-related elemental reactions only scale with EM and level.
Related articles:
Disclaimer: This guide is a work in progress and may be updated in the future.
Credit to Doug#8888 who provided the information for this article. He is a theorycrafter in the r/KeqingMains subreddit and Discord.gg/Keqing server. - Images: miHoYo
