Written by: 3b00d_09#2235
Updated for Version 3.1
Artwork Source panosarts
Welcome to KQM’s guide to Keqing! Keqing is an Electro 5 Star unit that offers a wide variety of playstyles, and overworld mechanics that add a flavor to exploration and combat. Moreover, Keqing is a unit that relies on her raw strength to output damage which further increases her flexibility.
Please note that although this guide endeavors to provide the most optimal ways to play Keqing, she is a perfectly useable and functional unit even without maximum optimization. If you can clear all the content you want perfectly fine, then don’t let the contents of this guide keep you from playing the way you want to!
With that in mind, lets dive right in!
If you are here for a TLDR on how to build Keqing, you can refer to the following infographics (click to expand)
Artwork Source 清心寡欲
Talent Priority
For Sustained Electro Keqing, level her Normals first followed by her Elemental Burst followed by her Elemental Skill. If you are playing Keqing in Aggravate teams you can level her Burst and Skill equally but her Normals should still be prioritized first.
It is heavily recommended to level Keqing to level 90 if you are playing Aggravate teams, as Keqing’s personal damage dramatically increases from level 80 to 90.
For Quickswap Electro Keqing, prioritize her Burst > Skill > Normals. You don’t need to heavily invest in her Normals.
For Physical Keqing, prioritize her Normals > Burst > Skill. Her Skill can also be left at level 6 until you are done leveling her Normals and Burst.
Talents Overview
Artwork Source 朱緋 茜
Keqing’s Constellations are catered more towards Electro Keqing rather than Physical Keqing, offering damage increase while retaining the same playstyle.
Note: The following DPS increase percentages are all calculated for Electro Keqing only.
Overall, it is not recommended to roll for Keqing’s Constellations, especially if you don’t play Electro Keqing. Don’t roll if you seek more damage – only roll if you love the character.
Artwork Source Saiivia_
Electro Keqing or Physical Keqing?
This is the first question that the majority of people ask after they get Keqing: “Should I build Keqing Physical or Electro?”
Generally, Physical Keqing is easier to build early on because you have access to a Prototype Rancour at Adventure Rank, 10 which should help you breeze through the early part of the game. As you progress, you should look to transition into Electro Keqing as soon as you have access to a Dendro character (God Bless Aggravate)
Unfortunately, Physical Keqing does not scale well into the later parts of the game. The lack of AoE damage, lack of access to consistent Electro-Charged and Aggravate reactions, and the fact that Superconduct only benefits your Normal Attacks unlike Viridescent Venerer, which benefits Electro Keqing’s entire kit, makes this playstyle fall behind quickly. Additionally, Kazuha can cause Electro Keqing’s damage to skyrocket by a whopping 50% with 4-Piece Viridescent Venerer and his Elemental DMG% buff. Do note that this does not mean Electro Keqing needs Kazuha to outperform Physical Keqing; Kazuha is just the icing on the cake.
Artwork Source 雨様
Sustained Electro Keqing
Pros & Cons
Pre AR-45
Aggravate Keqing
Weapons
Calc’d with 4 TF. Combo is Skill > Burst > Skill Recast > N1C > N1 > Skill Cast > 2 N1C. 12 Aggravates total. Substats distributed according to KQMS. Buffed is +60 EM Buff & 20% ATK.
Artifacts
These are ordered by strength.
EM or ATK Sands?
Generally speaking, the difference between ATK Sands and EM Sands is negligible, and you should use the Sands with better substats. However, if you are using 4-Piece Gilded Dreams, look to use an ATK Sands over an EM Sands as the difference between the two Sands for 4-Piece GD is noticeable (~3%).
Artwork Source SWKL
Non-Aggravate Keqing
Weapons
These are sorted by order of strongest to weakest out of the list.
Calc’d with 2 SR 2 Gladiator’s artifact sets. Substats distributed according to KQMC. Expect rankings to change under Bennett Buff.
Weapons that are not mentioned are not strong enough to be worth considering.
Mistsplitter loses to Jade Cutter in teams that forgo Keqing’s Elemental Burst
The premier 4 star weapon for Keqing
Not recommended to buy off the Starglitter shop.
Artifacts
Note: Any mentions of 2-Piece Shimenawa’s or 2-Piece Gladiator’s can be replaced with any artifact set that gives 18% ATK (there are too many to mention them all by name).
Art by 地主
Physical Keqing
Pros & Cons
Pre AR-45
Weapons
These are sorted by order of strongest to weakest out of the list.
Calc’d with 4-Piece Pale Flame. Substats distributed according to KQMC.
Weapons that are not mentioned are not strong enough to be worth considering.
wins out over Aquila provided you are using Sara or Bennett. The recommended 4 star weapon to use for Physical Keqing.Not recommended to buy off the Starglitter shop.Artifacts
Note: Any mentions of 2-Piece Shimenawa’s or 2-Piece Gladiator’s can be replaced with any artifact set that gives 18% ATK (there are too many to mention them all by name).
Artwork Source SWKL
Quickswap Keqing
Pros & Cons
Weapons
These are sorted by order from strongest to weakest.
20 Substats distributed optimally. Solo Keqing without team buffs and if no refinement is mentioned the weapon is R1.
Weapons that are not mentioned are not strong enough to be worth considering.
Recommended to use for easy and consistent results.not recommendedArtifacts
Note: Any mentions of 2-Piece Shimenawa’s or 2-Piece Gladiator’s can be replaced with any artifact set that gives 18% ATK (there is too many to mention them all by name).
Gear Comparison Calculator
The Gear Comparison Calculator can help you compare the damage of two different set of Artifacts / Weapons, and can help you figure out if you should use EM or ATK Sands given your stats. If you use GO, you should continue using it as it is the superior tool, and the Gear Comparison Calculator is only meant to help users who cannot use GO (Mobile / Console players).
You can find the calculator here.
Artwork Source SWKL
Keqing is quite versatile when it comes to your options for team compositions. This section will try to cover some of her most popular comps as well as niche ones.
Sustained Electro
With the addition of Dendro, Aggravate Keqing teams have been seeing a lot of popularity, and for good reason. Aggravate in itself does high damage, and paired with Keqing’s Electro application rate and AoE, Aggravate teams have shown to be powerful both in single-target and AoE scenarios, albeit less in single-target.
One of the strongest and most popular Keqing teams. The core of a standard Keqing comp is off-field Hydro application from units like Xingqiu or Kokomi alongside Fischl or Beidou and an Anemo slot that’s preferably Kazuha. Please see “Flex Options” for more details.
Important note about rotations: You should look to weave in a Normal Attack on your supports before swapping off them so you don’t waste Beidou or Xingqiu Burst procs. Furthermore, bursting on Keqing with both Xingqiu and Beidou / Yelan on your team IS A DPS LOSS.
Xingqiu Variant
Fischl Kokomi Variant
Mono Electro teams utilize the high amount of Electro Particles being generated as well as full uptime on Lion’s Roar and / or Thundersoother provided the enemy does not have an innate element. These teams usually consist of 3 Electro characters as well as an Anemo slot that’s flexible between a few characters.
Important note about rotations: Look to weave in a Normal Attack on your supports before swapping out of them so as to avoid wasting Beidou Burst procs.
Beidou – Fischl / Sara Variant
Quickswap Electro
To be honest Keqing can fit into so many Quickswap teams that I’d have to spend the next week just talking about the different variations you could run. Instead of doing that I’ll give a few sample comps and you can try different teams and see what you like most.
Really though you can play Quickswap Keqing in a wide variety of teams because she doesn’t have high synergy with anyone except Kazuha but can take anyone. Here is a list of the characters you can make your Avengers squad out of:
Sample Teams
Physical Keqing
Physical Keqing doesn’t need too much to function other than Cryo application every 10-12 seconds which is pretty much every Cryo character in the game. See “Flex Options” for more details.
“Whatever you want” Variant
Xingqiu – Double Cryo Variant
Artwork Source 夜蓝星炫
If you’ve made it this far thank you for reading It has been a pleasure writing this guide and I hope you can take something away from it to aid you in your journey travelers!
A huge thank you goes to xf3#3123 for helping with SR and rotations testing. He played a big part in helping write the guide and I truly appreciate it.
Thank you to the following individuals:
- jstern25#1399
- Peekays#2722
- Artesians#0002
- jamberry#7142
- Raf#7220
- jamie#9248
- taylor_series19#4689
- Luno#1337
- rockidayo#6969
- Rathalos#2875
- Cuzimori#1535
- Casdela#5121
And the rest ofKQM staff who helped make this guide happen!
- Aggravate Weapons by Luno#1337 [Atk Sands] [EM Sands]
- Aggravate Artifacts by 3b00d_09#2235 [Keqing Aggravate Artifacts]
Artwork Source SWKL
- 20th November 2021: Guide Release
- 9th December 2021: Updated HoD description for Quickswap.
- 6th February 2022: Release Keqing Gear Comparison Calculator.
- 3rd April 2022: Updated Weapons for Sustained Electro Keqing and Physical Keqing. Added Shenhe
- 27th June 2022: Physical Weapons updated
- 27th July 2022: Added Kagotsurube Isshin. Added Kuki Shinobu. Fixed Phys weapon calcs due to error in Pale Flame bonus.
- 15th Oct 2022: Included Aggravate content. Removed some teams. Removed 4 SR section. Moved the Gear Comparison Calculator outside the guide. Added Double Hydro team.
