Is The Stringless Bow Good for Childe? A Comprehensive Guide
The short answer is: The Stringless is not the ideal bow for maximizing Childe’s damage potential. While it can offer some advantages in specific situations, it’s generally not recommended as a primary weapon for a main DPS Childe. It’s more suited for support or burst-focused bow users. This article will delve into why, exploring its strengths and weaknesses in relation to Childe, and provide better alternatives.
Understanding The Stringless
The Stringless is a 4-star bow known for its Elemental Mastery (EM) boost and its passive ability to increase Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst damage. This might sound promising for Childe, who utilizes both skills and bursts in combat. However, the benefit isn’t as straightforward as it may appear.
The Pros of The Stringless on Childe
- Boost to Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst Damage: The Stringless’s passive can directly increase the damage of Childe’s Riptide Burst and the initial hit upon transitioning into his melee stance (Elemental Skill). This can contribute to a bigger burst damage number on these specific occasions.
- Elemental Mastery: EM increases the damage of elemental reactions. While Childe can trigger vaporize reactions, his personal damage mainly comes from Hydro hits in his melee stance. The EM bonus is less impactful than other stats like Crit Rate, Crit Damage, and Attack%.
- Accessibility: As a 4-star weapon, The Stringless is relatively easy to obtain compared to 5-star options, making it a potentially viable alternative for players who don’t have better options.
The Cons of The Stringless on Childe
- Lacks Normal Attack Buffs: Childe’s primary damage source is his melee stance Normal Attacks. The Stringless does NOT buff these at all. This is a huge drawback, as the majority of your damage output with Childe will be from his Hydro-infused normal attacks.
- Lower Base Attack: The Stringless has a lower base attack compared to some other 4-star bows and especially compared to 5-star weapons. This affects his overall damage potential.
- Sub-Optimal EM Scaling: While EM can boost reaction damage, Childe’s damage as a Hydro DPS primarily scales with crit stats and attack, not EM.
- Focus on Burst Damage: The Stringless encourages a gameplay style that’s heavily reliant on burst damage and isn’t optimized for Childe’s sustained on-field damage role.
Who Is The Stringless Good For?
The Stringless is more effectively used on characters who are:
- Support or sub-DPS characters who primarily deal damage with their Elemental Skill and Burst, like Fischl, Yelan, and Venti.
- Characters who trigger consistent reactions like vaporize or electro-charged.
- Characters who don’t rely heavily on normal attacks for their damage.
Better Weapon Options for Childe
Given The Stringless’s limitations for Childe, here are some far better alternatives:
- 5-Star Bows:
- Polar Star: Childe’s signature weapon is his absolute best-in-slot. It provides a massive boost to damage through its various passives that synergize perfectly with his kit.
- Thundering Pulse: Another top-tier choice that significantly boosts Crit Damage and Normal Attack damage, a crucial stat for Childe.
- Skyward Harp: This is an all-around great weapon that increases Crit Rate, Crit DMG, and provides an additional AoE damage. It’s a top choice if you have it.
- 4-Star Bows:
- Rust: An excellent and more accessible option, Rust significantly boosts Childe’s Normal Attack damage, making it a fantastic match for his melee stance playstyle.
- Hamayumi: A decent F2P option that increases both Normal Attack and Charged Attack damage. While Childe doesn’t frequently utilize charged attacks, its overall stats and passive provide good consistency.
- Favonius Warbow: While not as damage-focused, this bow offers energy recharge, making it viable for a more support-oriented Childe build.
Artifacts For Childe
For maximizing his damage, the Heart of Depth artifact set is a must. It directly increases Childe’s Hydro damage and Normal Attack damage after using his Elemental Skill. If you happen to have Nymph’s Dream, it is also a valid artifact set for Childe to further maximize his DPS capabilities.
Conclusion
While The Stringless isn’t terrible on Childe, it’s far from optimal. It only amplifies a small portion of his damage output and doesn’t address his primary needs as a DPS. If you have better options, especially Rust or any 5-star bow, you should prioritize using those instead. The Stringless should be reserved for other characters who can better utilize its EM and skill/burst damage buff.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is The Stringless the best F2P bow for Childe?
No, The Stringless is not the best F2P option for Childe. Rust is generally considered to be the strongest 4-star bow for him. Hamayumi is another solid F2P option if you cannot obtain Rust.
2. Does Elemental Mastery (EM) benefit Childe?
While EM can increase his Vaporize damage, Childe’s main damage comes from Hydro-infused normal attacks that scale primarily with ATK, Crit Rate, and Crit Damage. EM is less impactful than these stats for his overall DPS.
3. Does The Stringless buff Childe’s melee stance damage?
No, it does not buff his melee stance normal attack damage. The Stringless only boosts the initial damage of the Elemental Skill used to switch to melee and Elemental Burst.
4. Why is Rust considered a better option?
Rust directly increases normal attack damage, which is the primary source of Childe’s damage in his melee stance. It also provides a higher base ATK than the Stringless.
5. Is Skyward Harp the best bow for Tartaglia (Childe)?
Skyward Harp is a very strong option and is considered one of the best 5-star bows for Childe. It provides a significant boost to both Crit Rate and Crit Damage.
6. Is Childe better with Polar Star or Thundering Pulse?
Polar Star is Childe’s signature weapon and is generally considered his best-in-slot weapon. Thundering Pulse is a close second, but Polar Star’s unique passive mechanics synergize better with Childe’s playstyle.
7. Is it worth it to pull for Childe’s constellations?
Childe’s Constellations, particularly C4 and C6, can significantly improve his damage and playability. However, they are not essential. C0 Childe can still be a very powerful character.
8. What artifact set is best for Childe?
The Heart of Depth is the most optimal artifact set for Childe. Nymph’s Dream is also a viable artifact option for him as well, if you cannot farm Heart of Depth.
9. Does Childe need high crit rate?
Yes, Childe needs a high crit rate, ideally 70%+, to consistently deal critical damage with his normal attacks in melee stance.
10. Is Childe better than Raiden?
The answer to this depends on team comps and the players’ personal preferences. Raiden is often considered easier to play and more versatile for most situations. However, Childe can achieve higher damage potential when used in optimal team compositions.
11. Is Hamayumi a viable option for Childe?
Yes, Hamayumi is a decent F2P option for Childe. It boosts both normal and charged attack damage. However, since Childe relies more on normal attacks, Rust will be a better option.
12. What is Childe’s playstyle?
Childe is a versatile on-field DPS character that can seamlessly switch between range and melee combat. His gameplay involves utilizing his elemental skill to enter melee stance, and using his elemental burst to do high burst damage.
13. Can Childe be a support character?
Yes, Childe can function as a sub-DPS or a support in teams, but his true strength is as an on-field Hydro DPS. However, using weapons such as Favonius Warbow or Elegy for the End can help him be in a supportive role.
14. Why do some players use Rust on Childe?
Rust provides a massive boost to Childe’s normal attack damage, which is his main damage output in his melee stance. This makes it a highly effective 4-star option.
15. Is The Stringless good for any other bow characters?
Yes, The Stringless is excellent on characters like Fischl, Yelan, Venti, and Amber who heavily rely on their elemental skill and bursts for damage.