Which 4-Star Weapon Reigns Supreme for Tartaglia?
The unequivocal answer to which 4-star weapon is best for Tartaglia (Childe) is the Verde Hunt. This weapon, obtainable through the Battle Pass, provides a crucial Crit Rate substat and a passive that groups enemies together. While other options have their merits, the Verde Hunt’s blend of stat stick value and utility make it the most consistently effective choice for maximizing Tartaglia’s damage output in a wide variety of team compositions and scenarios. The Crit Rate allows easier building while the grouping effect helps to efficiently utilize his AoE capabilities.
Deep Dive into Tartaglia’s Weapon Options
Choosing the right weapon for Tartaglia is crucial to unlocking his full potential as a main DPS. He benefits greatly from weapons that offer Crit stats, Attack, and Elemental Mastery (EM). Let’s examine some of the best 4-star contenders, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses:
The Verde Hunt: A Battle Pass Powerhouse
As previously mentioned, the Verde Hunt stands out due to its Crit Rate substat. Tartaglia struggles with consistent Crit Rate, and this weapon alleviates that pressure, allowing you to focus on Crit Damage and other offensive stats on your artifacts. The weapon’s passive creates a Cyclone that pulls enemies together, a boon for Tartaglia’s Riptide mechanic. The grouping ability significantly increases the damage potential of his Burst and melee stance attacks, making it especially powerful in Spiral Abyss chambers with multiple enemies.
Serpent Spine: Risky Business with High Rewards
Another Battle Pass option, the Serpent Spine, offers a massive Crit Rate substat as well as a passive that increases damage dealt while on the field but decreases damage taken. However, this comes with the risk of damage received if you take hits. While the damage boost can be substantial, especially at higher refinement levels, maintaining stacks can be challenging in fast-paced combat. The Serpent Spine is better suited for teams that provide excellent shielding and can keep Tartaglia from taking damage. Furthermore, its effectiveness is significantly reduced in domains where enemies frequently inflict damage.
Rust: A Pure Attack Stacking Option
The Rust is a gacha weapon that primarily increases Normal Attack Damage. While Tartaglia does rely on Normal Attacks in his melee stance, he also needs Elemental Skill and Burst damage. Rust’s passive doesn’t enhance these aspects of his kit. Therefore, while it can perform well at higher refinement levels, it often falls short compared to weapons that provide a more balanced stat distribution or utility. It is easier to obtain than Battle Pass weapons, making it a viable option for some, but requires a lot of investment to reach its potential.
Blackcliff Warbow: Crit Damage on a Conditional Basis
The Blackcliff Warbow, obtainable through the Starglitter Exchange, boasts a Crit Damage substat. This is a highly desirable stat for Tartaglia, but the passive is conditional: after defeating an enemy, ATK is increased for a short duration. This passive is useful in content with many low-HP enemies, but it’s less impactful against bosses or single, challenging enemies where its effect is harder to trigger consistently.
Prototype Crescent: Aimed Shot Focus
The Prototype Crescent is a craftable weapon offering an Attack% substat. Its passive grants a Movement Speed and ATK increase upon hitting a Weak Spot with an aimed shot. While Tartaglia can utilize this passive, it goes against his melee-focused playstyle. Hitting weak spots with aimed shots isn’t practical or efficient in most combat scenarios. This weapon is largely unsuitable for Tartaglia.
The Stringless: EM for Elemental Reactions
The Stringless offers an Elemental Mastery (EM) substat and increases Elemental Skill and Burst DMG. This can be a decent option if Tartaglia is primarily used as an enabler for Vaporize or Electro-Charged reactions. The EM boosts the reaction damage while the skill and burst boost help his overall performance. While less universally useful than Verde Hunt, it can shine in specific team compositions designed around maximizing reaction damage.
King’s Squire: The Sumeru Craftable Option
The King’s Squire from Sumeru offers an Attack% substat and a unique passive that grants stacks of Forest Ranger’s Advice. When charged attacks hit opponents, these stacks are consumed to deal damage based on Elemental Mastery. While Tartaglia can use Charged Attacks, they aren’t a primary part of his damage rotation. This weapon is generally not optimal for him compared to other available choices.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is the Polar Star (5-Star) always better than the Verde Hunt?
Yes, the Polar Star is Tartaglia’s signature 5-star weapon and offers a significant damage increase over any 4-star option, including the Verde Hunt. The higher base Attack, Crit Rate, and passive effect are all far superior.
2. At what refinement level does Serpent Spine outperform Verde Hunt?
The Serpent Spine can theoretically outperform the Verde Hunt at higher refinement levels, especially R3 and above, provided you can consistently maintain its stacks. However, the ease of use and consistent Crit Rate provided by the Verde Hunt often make it the preferred choice for most players, even at lower refinements.
3. How important is Crit Rate for Tartaglia?
Crit Rate is extremely important for Tartaglia. Aim for a minimum of 60%, ideally 70% or higher, to ensure consistent critical hits and maximize your damage output. The Verde Hunt assists in achieving this target more easily.
4. Should I prioritize Crit Rate or Crit Damage on Tartaglia?
It’s generally recommended to aim for a 1:2 ratio of Crit Rate to Crit Damage. The Verde Hunt helps with the Crit Rate, allowing you to focus more on Crit Damage on your artifact substats.
5. Is Rust good for a beginner Tartaglia player?
Rust can be a viable option for beginners due to its accessibility. However, remember that it only boosts Normal Attack damage. As you progress, you should aim for weapons that offer a more balanced stat distribution, like the Verde Hunt.
6. What artifact sets are best for Tartaglia?
The most popular artifact sets for Tartaglia are Heart of Depth (2-piece bonus) and Noblesse Oblige (2-piece bonus) for a general damage boost. A full set of Heart of Depth provides increased Hydro damage, while the full set of Nymph’s Dream will increase Hydro damage along with ATK.
7. Does Elemental Mastery benefit Tartaglia even if I don’t focus on reactions?
While Tartaglia can function without reactions, Elemental Mastery significantly boosts his damage when used in teams that trigger Vaporize or Electro-Charged.
8. How does Tartaglia’s Riptide mark work?
Tartaglia applies the Riptide mark to enemies through his Charged Attacks and Burst. Enemies affected by Riptide take Hydro DMG when hit by Tartaglia’s Normal and Charged Attacks in his melee stance.
9. What are some good team compositions for Tartaglia?
Popular Tartaglia team compositions include:
- International Team: Tartaglia, Xiangling, Bennett, Kazuha
- Electro-Charged Team: Tartaglia, Fischl, Beidou, Healer/Shielder
- Vaporize Team: Tartaglia, Xiangling, Bennett, Flex (e.g., Sucrose, Zhongli)
10. How important is Tartaglia’s Constellation?
Tartaglia’s C1 (Foul Legacy: Tide With Me) is a significant quality-of-life improvement, reducing the cooldown of his Elemental Skill. This allows for more fluid rotations and increased uptime in melee stance. While constellations do improve his kit, he is functional without them.
11. Should I use Tartaglia as a main DPS or sub-DPS?
Tartaglia is primarily designed as a main DPS, capable of dealing substantial damage in his melee stance.
12. How does Tartaglia’s melee stance duration affect his damage output?
Managing Tartaglia’s melee stance duration is crucial. Staying in melee stance for too long results in a prolonged cooldown, significantly reducing his overall damage output. Practice switching out strategically.
13. Can Tartaglia benefit from Physical Damage bonus?
No, Tartaglia’s damage primarily comes from Hydro DMG, so Physical Damage bonus is useless.
14. Is it worth pulling for Tartaglia’s weapon banner if I have the Verde Hunt?
Generally, it’s not worth pulling on the weapon banner solely for Tartaglia’s weapon if you already have the Verde Hunt. The Verde Hunt is a strong alternative, and weapon banners can be expensive. Only pull if you also desire the other weapon on the banner.
15. Are there any F2P-friendly team comps for Tartaglia?
Yes! You can build a solid Tartaglia team using characters like Xiangling, Bennett, Fischl, and Sucrose, all of whom are readily available or obtainable through banners and events.