Summary
Each character inGenshin Impacthas a distinct playstyle that makes them stand out from one another. Some characters shine more when they take the field, while others prefer to help in the background with their off-field abilities. For the former, their preferred method of dealing DMG can come in the form of Normal Attacks, Charged Attacks, and on rare occasions, Plunging Attacks.
Xianyun, whom you might know as Cloud Retainer, is a five-star Catalyst user from Liyue who wields an Anemo vision. She possesses the unique ability to bless other characters with increased jumping ability, allowing them to leap into the air and perform a Plunging Attack. Master her adeptal tricks to take advantage of this new playstyle that she offers.

7She Opens Up New And Unique Playstyles
Before Xianyun’s release, Xiao was the only playable character who could spam Plunging Attacks, due to his Elemental Burst giving him increased jumping ability. Now, every character can simulate this playstyle, as Xianyun’s Elemental Burst, Stars Gather at Dusk, increases the jumping ability of your entire team.
Some characters havehuge Plunging Attack multipliers, such as Diluc, Hu Tao, and Raiden Shogun, that they can now take advantage of thanks to Xianyun. Pairing these large DMG multipliers with Elemental Reactions such as Vaporize, Melt, and Quicken will let you deal even more DMG than just using your characters’ regular Normal and Charged Attacks.

Xianyun’s Elemental Burst provides a buff called Adeptal Assistance to your entire team. This allows you to jump higher and perform Plunging Attacks. One cast of her Burst provides eight stacks of Adeptal Assistance, allowing you to do eight Plunging Attacks.
6Use Her Elemental Skill For Exploration
Xianyun’s Elemental Skill, White Clouds at Dawn, can be pressed three times before it enters cooldown, and each press will allow you to leap forward a certain distance, and can even be used in mid-air. Using a Plunging Attack after using this Skill will execute a special Plunging Attack called Driftcloud Wave, which has increased DMG and AoE.
This Skill is extremely useful for exploration because it allows you to cover some distance much faster compared to just sprinting. After using her Elemental Skill on the ground, you’re able to even use it to traverse through the air to jump between cliffs, as well as climb mountains.

If you don’t execute Xianyun’s special Plunging Attack after using her Elemental Skill, its cooldown will be reduced by three seconds, allowing you to use it much earlier.
5Tap Her Skill Once To Save Time
As previously mentioned, Xianyun’s Elemental Skill can be pressed three times, with each press increasing the DMG and AoE of the next special Plunging Attack used. This Skill will produce exactly five Elemental Particles after executing her special Plunging Attack regardless of how many times you press it.
If you’re only using her for her healing and supportive abilities, you can choose to just press her Skill once and immediately execute a Plunging Attack. This still produces five particles and will save you more time, especially in time-sensitive content, such as the Spiral Abyss, as it reduces the time it takes to finish casting her Elemental Skill.

4She Can Increase Your Team’s Plunging Attack CRIT Rate
After unlocking her first Ascension Passive, Galefeather Pursuit, each opponent hit by her special Plunging Attack will grant CRIT Rate for your entire team’s Plunging Attacks. This has four stacks, and each stack will increase your Plunging Attack CRIT Rate by four, six, eight, and ten percent respectively.
This passive is one of the rare sources of CRIT Rate buffs that’s available without any constellations and can help ease your characters’ CRIT Rate requirements. When fighting multiple enemies, ensure to hit at least four of them with Xianyun’s special Plunging Attack to get the maximum Plunging Attack CRIT Rate buff.

3Give Her A Lot Of Attack
After unlocking her fourth Ascension Passive, Consider, the Adeptus in Her Realm, when your team possesses stacks of Adeptal Assistance from her Elemental Burst, your Plunging Attack shockwave DMG will be increased by 200% of Xianyun’s ATK. The maximum DMG increase that can be achieved this way is 9,000, or when Xianyun has 4,500 ATK.
Although achieving 4,500 ATK seems unlikely for casual players, it’s still important to get her ATK stat as high as you can. Make sure to give her a bunch of ATK percent and Flat ATK in her artifacts to increase the amount of DMG she provides foryour characters’ Plunging Attacks.

2Increase Her Level To 90
Most support characters don’t need that much investment into their Levels, and should only be leveled up until you unlock their fourth Ascension Passive. With Xianyun, however, it’s important to reach her Max Level as it directly increases her ATK, which increases both her Plunging Attack DMG buff as well as her healing.
Every bit of ATK matters to her so getting her to Level 90 will make a significant difference in your characters’ Pluinging Attack DMG. This also increases Xianyun’s Special Stat, which is ATK percent, which increases every time you ascend her. More ATK percent means even more ATK for Xianyun.

1Only Her Burst Talent Level Matters As A Support
If you’re only planning to use her as a healer and support, the only talent you need to level up is her Elemental Burst. This increases the amount of healing that she provides.
Her Normal Attack and Elemental Skill talent don’t contribute to her supportive capabilities and are only there to deal DMG. If you don’t care about her DMG output, you can simply leave them at level one, which will save you a lot of Mora and Original Resin.