The best Genshin Impact Candace build - Candace weapons, artifacts, and F2P options
Like getting water from a stone
The best Genshin Impact Candace build is a bit trickier to get right thanks to the Genshin Impact 3.1 update’s new 4-star character’s unusual abilities. Any Candace build follows a more specific path than usual, and she won’t necessarily be a good fit for every team.
Anyone who missed out on Yun Jin will find a support character with similar potential in Candace.
Unlike Yun Jin, Candace usually won’t hold her own on the battlefield, though she does shine as off-field support.
When is the Candace banner release date?
Candace’s banner runs during the first half of Genshin Impact 3.1, which begins on September 27, or September 28, depending on your time zone. She appears on Cyno’s banner and Venti’s banner, alongside Kuki Shinobu and Sayu.
Both banners last for two and a half weeks and will end October 14, when Nilou’s and Albedo’s banners take over.
Since Candace is a 4-star character, she migrates to the permanent banner, Wanderlust Invocation, after her banner ends, though the chances of acquiring her there are lower.
Is Candace a DPS character?
Candace is, frankly, a bit of a weird one. She has a base attack stat just shy of 18, which is impressive for a 4-star character, but even more impressive is her normal attack damage scaling. At talent level one, it scales with a value of 60 percent, which puts her above most main DPS characters such as Ayaka and Ayato, with only a handful of the most powerful – Eula, Diluc, and Arataki Itto, for example – boasting higher scaling values.
That puts Candace in an odd situation, as the rest of her setup suits support options more than on-field attack. Candace’s skill is essentially a Hydro version of Yun Jin’s, where Candace creates a barrier that absorbs damage based on her HP. Once you release the skill, Candace deals Hydro damage, which also scales based on her HP.
Candace’s burst is also similar to Yun Jin’s, with a few key differences. Candace generates a Hydro blast that deals damage based on her HP, and she confers the Crimson Crown effect on the party. While this effect is active, characters who deal elemental damage with their normal attacks will do increased elemental damage, and swords, claymores, and polearms are infused with Hydro.
The scaling for these abilities is very low, so it takes a high HP number to get good returns.
Her only passive talent that actually augments her effectiveness is Celestial Dome of Sand, which boosts the power of normal attacks that deal elemental damage by 0.5 percent for every 1,000 points of Candace’s HP.
This is tentatively what you would want to build Candace around, boosting her HP and using her for elemental support in parties with:
- Catalyst users
- Characters whose attack elements that cannot be overwritten (Itto, Cyno, Raiden Shogun, and so on)
- Characters whose skills deal elemental damage with their normal attacks
Should I pull for Candace?
If you don’t have Yun Jin and do have characters who fit the criteria for Candace’s Scarlet Crown effect, she would be a useful, if somewhat overcomplicated, support character. She’s tentatively a strong fit for Cyno as well. The Hydro effect from her burst, coupled with the buff to Cyno’s normal attack, have solid potential for a two-person Electrocharge team, often called a taser team in Genshin Impact’s meta.
Anyone else, especially anyone with Yun Jin, would be fine to let Candace pass by for now.
What is the best Genshin Impact Candace build?
You can build Candace as a sub-DPS or even a main-DPS if you really want to try something different, but the most useful build seems to be one that boosts her HP and Hydro damage and caters to her support abilities.
Candace build - Best Candace weapon
Engulfing Lightning is a strong pick for Candace if you have a spare one lying around. The secondary stat increases energy recharge by 12 percent, which is handy since Candace’s burst requires 60 energy. The passive skill boosts attack and energy recharge, meaning Candace will almost always be topped up and can deal a bit of damage while she’s on the field.
Engulfing Lightning is also a rare 5-star weapon, and you probably have at least one other character it would fit better with.
If so, try the Favonius Lance instead. It also increases energy recharge and gives the user a higher chance of generating particles after they land a critical hit.
Black Tassel is another, slightly less orthodox choice, but also the polearm that might do Candace the most good. Black Tassel is the only polearm with HP as its secondary stat. The base increase is 10 percent, and that climbs to 46 percent at level 90.
The downside is the passive skill – which increases damage to slimes – is completely useless.
Candace’s F2P build gives her a few more weapon options, so skip down to that if none of these catch your eye.
Candace build - Best Candace Artifacts
Candace’s main source of damage comes from her burst, and you have a few options for Artifacts to help with that. Our top picks are:
- 2-piece Tenacity of the Millelith: Increases HP by 20 percent
- 2-piece Noblesse Oblige: Increases elemental burst damage by 20 percent
You get the best of both worlds with this setup. The HP boost increases Candace’s skill and burst damage and helps bump up the additional elemental damage your other party members deal thanks to her passive talent.
If you don’t have spare Noblesse Oblige pieces, try the two-piece Heart of Depth set instead, since it offers a 15 percent Hydro boost.
Whatever your choice, try aiming for a 5-star flower Artifact to get the biggest HP boost you can. Other important Artifact stats include:
- Energy recharge
- Hydro bonus
- HP
What is the best Candace F2P build?
Candace has more F2P weapon options thanks to a few unique free polearms, though the same logic guides her F2P Artifacts.
Candace F2P weapon
The Catch, Inazuma’s free weapon you can get by exchanging fish, increases the user’s energy recharge and buffs their burst power, making it close toa free version of Engulfing Lightning. You can also get the refinement materials from the fishing association.
Prototype Crescent, a forgeable weapon, is another solid choice that lets Candace stay on field for a bit longer. It also boosts energy recharge, but the passive talent increases attack damage after the equipping character uses an elemental skill.
Candace F2P Artifacts
The same Artifact sets work in Candace’s F2P build. New players who don’t have access to the necessary Domains can use these sets until they level up.
- 2-piece Scholar: Increases energy recharge by 20 percent
- 2-piece Exile: Increases energy recharge by 20 percent
- 4-piece Exile: Generates two energy particles for the party after using an elemental burst
- 2-piece Gladiator’s Finale: Increases attack by 18 percent
If you're saving up for future Genshin Impact banners, make sure to check out our up-do-date list of Genshin Impact codes for some free Primogems.