Unlocking Sayu’s Potential: Choosing the Best 4-Star Claymore

The question of which 4-star Claymore reigns supreme for our pint-sized ninja, Sayu, is a common one among Genshin Impact players. Let’s cut to the chase: the best 4-star Claymore for Sayu is largely dependent on her role within your team. However, if you’re aiming for overall utility and consistent swirl damage, the Sacrificial Greatsword emerges as the top contender.

The Sacrificial Greatsword’s Energy Recharge stat and its weapon skill that can reset her Elemental Skill, Yoohoo Art: Fuuin Dash, are invaluable. This allows Sayu to swirl more frequently, generating more Anemo particles for your team, and significantly increasing her healing uptime. While other options may excel in specific scenarios, the Sacrificial Greatsword offers the most reliable and versatile performance for the majority of Sayu builds and team compositions.

Understanding Sayu’s Kit and Playstyle

Before diving deeper into specific weapon choices, let’s quickly recap Sayu’s core strengths. She’s a unique character who excels in three key areas:

• Anemo Swirl Damage: Her Elemental Skill, Yoohoo Art: Fuuin Dash, allows her to roll around, applying Anemo to enemies and triggering swirl reactions, making her incredibly useful for elemental application and damage amplification.
• Healing: Her Elemental Burst, Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry, summons a Daruma that heals the active character and deals Anemo damage to nearby enemies. The healing scales off her ATK.
• Exploration: Her passive talent reduces the Crystalflies’ aggro range, making her a valuable asset for collecting essential materials.

Understanding these strengths is crucial for choosing a Claymore that complements her abilities. While ATK scaling affects her healing, focusing solely on ATK can sometimes diminish her effectiveness in other areas. Finding a balance is key.

Evaluating 4-Star Claymore Options

Now, let’s examine other notable 4-star Claymore options for Sayu:

• Favonius Greatsword: This is a strong alternative to the Sacrificial Greatsword, especially if your team struggles with Energy Recharge. Its passive generates Energy particles for the entire team upon dealing CRIT hits. If you can build Sayu with a decent CRIT Rate, the Favonius Greatsword can provide significant energy support.
• Akuoumaru: While potentially powerful, the Akuoumaru’s damage bonus scales based on the team’s total Energy capacity. This can be strong if built properly but is often too inconsistent compared to the other options.
• Rainslasher: While providing Elemental Mastery, it only increases damage against enemies affected by Hydro or Electro. This makes it a situational pick for specific team compositions, limiting its general usefulness on Sayu.
• Royal Greatsword: It is a sub-par option. Due to its ATK% secondary stat and lack of consistent benefit.
• Prototype Archaic/Snow-Tombed Starsilver: Both offer high Base ATK and Physical DMG Bonus. These stats do not benefit Sayu due to her focus on Anemo damage and Swirl.
• Katsuragikiri Nagamasa: If you need Energy Recharge and are willing to sacrifice some of Sayu’s healing scaling this is a good pick. The substat and passive work together to allow Sayu to use her burst very frequently.

The Sacrificial Greatsword Advantage

The Sacrificial Greatsword stands out for its ability to almost guarantee multiple uses of Sayu’s Elemental Skill. This brings several benefits:

• Increased Swirl Application: More frequent dashes mean more opportunities to trigger Swirl reactions, maximizing her damage output.
• Superior Energy Generation: More skill uses lead to more Anemo particles, providing greater energy recharge for both Sayu and the rest of the team, enabling faster burst rotations.
• Enhanced Exploration Utility: The ability to quickly reset her Skill allows for quicker travel.
• Improved Healing Uptime: More frequent bursts result in more consistent healing for the team.

While the lower base ATK of the Sacrificial Greatsword might seem like a drawback, the benefits it provides to her overall utility and team support far outweigh this disadvantage.

Maximizing Sayu’s Potential: Artifacts and Team Compositions

Choosing the right Claymore is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly maximize Sayu’s potential, you also need to consider her artifacts and team composition.

• Artifacts: A 4-piece Viridescent Venerer set is almost mandatory for maximizing her Swirl damage. For main stats, focus on Energy Recharge or Elemental Mastery on the Sands, Anemo DMG Bonus on the Goblet, and Healing Bonus or CRIT Rate/DMG on the Circlet (depending on your weapon and team needs).
• Team Compositions: Sayu shines in teams that focus on enabling elemental reactions. Pairing her with characters like Bennett, Xiangling, Fischl, or Xingqiu can create powerful and consistent damage output. She also synergizes well with characters who benefit from Anemo resistance shred, such as Xiao or Wanderer.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are 15 frequently asked questions about Sayu and her Claymore options:

1. Is Elemental Mastery important for Sayu? Yes! Elemental Mastery significantly boosts the damage of her Swirl reactions.
2. Should I prioritize Energy Recharge or ATK on Sayu? It depends. If you are using Sacrificial Greatsword then ATK will be better since you will have plenty of energy recharge, otherwise Energy Recharge is more important to consistently use her Burst.
3. Does Sayu’s healing scale with ATK or Healing Bonus? Both! Her healing primarily scales with ATK, but Healing Bonus will further increase the amount healed.
4. Is the Akuoumaru Claymore good for Sayu? Potentially, but the bonus damage will vary depending on the teams total energy capacity. Other Claymores are generally better options.
5. Can Sayu be a main DPS? Technically yes, but she’s not optimally suited for that role. She excels as a support and sub-DPS.
6. What are some good team compositions for Sayu? Raiden National (Raiden Shogun, Xingqiu, Xiangling, Sayu), taser teams, and teams that utilize multiple elemental reactions.
7. How much Energy Recharge does Sayu need? Aim for around 160-200%, depending on your team and weapon.
8. What is the best artifact set for Sayu? 4-piece Viridescent Venerer is the best for increasing her Swirl damage and shredding enemy elemental resistance.
9. Is the Sacrificial Greatsword’s passive reliable? Yes, especially at higher Refinement Ranks.
10. Should I use a CRIT Rate or Healing Bonus Circlet on Sayu? If you are using Favonius Greatsword and want energy for your entire team go for CRIT Rate, otherwise Healing Bonus is typically better.
11. Does Sayu’s Elemental Skill have invincibility frames? No, but it provides some resistance to interruption.
12. How does Sayu compare to other Anemo healers like Jean or Bennett? Jean offers better single-target healing and damage, while Bennett provides ATK buffs. Sayu excels at AoE healing, Swirl application, and exploration.
13. Is Sayu good for exploration? Absolutely! Her passive talent reduces the aggro range of Crystalflies, making it easier to collect them.
14. What are the best talents to level up on Sayu? Prioritize her Elemental Skill, then her Elemental Burst. Her Normal Attack can be left unleveled.
15. Can I use Sayu in the Spiral Abyss? Yes! She’s a valuable asset in the Spiral Abyss, especially in floors with multiple enemies where her Swirl reactions can shine.

Conclusion: Embrace the Swirl!

Choosing the right 4-star Claymore for Sayu comes down to understanding her strengths and optimizing her role within your team. While other options can be viable in specific situations, the Sacrificial Greatsword remains the most versatile and reliable choice, allowing her to consistently Swirl, generate energy, and heal your team. Don’t forget to invest in a good Viridescent Venerer artifact set and experiment with different team compositions to unlock Sayu’s full potential!

We hope this guide has been helpful in your journey to master Sayu. For more information on gaming and learning, check out the Games Learning Society at GamesLearningSociety.org. This organization explores the intersection of games and education, showcasing how games can be powerful tools for learning and development.