In Genshin Impact, new characters are always an exciting ordeal. They have the potential to shake up the game's current meta and introduce new play styles and character combinations that never existed before. It also serves as a way to further the story, as each playable character's background is interwoven with Teyvat in unique ways. Fan excitement for Xiao has been relentless, with the Adepti frequently topping polls of most anticipated character addition. Now miHoYo has revealed more information about this mysterious character, prefacing his official arrival. Fans are expecting to see Xiao added to the game on February 3rd, 2021.
Genshin Impact releases two new characters with every major update. When the game first launched, those two characters were Venti and Klee, while the next major update brought Childe and Zhongli into the game. For version 1.2, players were treated to Albedo and now have the opportunity to get Ganyu. Xiao is next up with the launch of version 1.3.
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Xiao uses the polearm as his preferred weapon, which should help alleviate Genshin Impact's lack of polearm characters. He wields an Anemo vision, commanding the power of the wind much like Traveler, Venti, or Sucrose. In miHoYo's tweet about the character, he is described as a highly mobile burst damage dealer, with special attention drawn to his ability to sacrifice his own HP in return for increased damage and jumping power. This indicates that Xiao will probably not be a primary DPS character, but will be able to lay on a ton of damage at the cost of his own HP.
Canonically speaking, he is said to be incredibly powerful. In the story section of the character's showcase, miHoYo claims that Xiao "wages a constant war against dark forces powerful enough to consume Liyue in its entirety." If that's the case, he should have no trouble handling a few hillichurls. The tweet also shows off some of Xiao's voice lines as well as his favorite food, Almond Tofu. Players that have finished the Liyue story arc should know this is his favorite food since there's a quest centering around making it for him.
There's also a link featuring more data about the character that diehard fans have already begun delving into. Xiao is looking to be an extremely powerful 5-star character, and those that are lucky enough to get him from the upcoming banner should have a much easier time with end game content.
Genshin Impact is available now on PC and PS4, and later on Switch.
