A young and talented detective from the Tenryou commission decides to join your squad. Shikanoin Heizou is the latest 4-star Anemo catalyst user who was released on Kazuha and Klee's rerun banner in v 2.8.
Just how strong is Heizou? Is he getting overhyped or is he living up to the standards? But first we must know what his kit contributes to your team.
In combat, Shikanoin Heizou acts more of a sub-DPS rather than a full-out DPS or support, mainly focusing on swirling elements of your other party members while rapidly punching and kicking enemies.
This means that Heizou is reliant on other party members that are well built, while this can seem overwhelming for some players, but most of the characters that go well with Heizou are relatively easier to obtain.
Playstyle
If you are familiar with taser team comps, you'll definitely recognize that Heizou's position in the team is similar to that of Sucrose, applying electro-charge from your electro and hydro members while building some swirl damage at the same time.
He excels exceptionally well in traditional team comps that require additional anemo damage, but not too much to fill in a slot of a main DPS like Xiao. Put Heizou in the National team and you'll see how fun it is to play him.
Generally, when you are playing Heizou in an elemental team comp, you really want to utilize the full effects of his elemental skill. "When Shikanoin Heizou activates a Swirl reaction while on the field, he will gain 1 Declension stack for Heartstopper Strike. This effect can be triggered every 0.1s." This means rather than holding down your elemental skill you can swirl elements by normal attacks and finish enemies off with a quick elemental skill.
While his elemental burst does send small enemies flying in a certain direction it isn't a reliable crowd control skill when you compare to Kazuha, Venti, or even Sucrose.
Unlike sucrose, however, he isn't a suitable battery for Xiao. Even though having a shorter cooldown in his elemental skill at 10s and Sucrose is 15s, she gets 2 charges which in some cases is a better energy provider for Xiao. Besides the point, Sucrose's kit works better with her crowd control while Heizou is centered more towards a sub-DPS
Artifacts
Since Heizou is a sub-DPS, there are a number of ways you can build him which is why I encourage you to experiment with what you have vs how good the substats are. You could try 4 pieces of Viridescent Venerer on him as it synergizes his kit and quick rotation of party members, the elemental resistant shred could help your team to dish out more damage overall while sacrificing his.
While some may say running triple elemental mastery is the way to go for swirl reactions, I do think it's better for Heizou to go for standard stats for dps which is ATK%/Anemo DMG Bonus/CRIT Rate or CRIT Dmg. Since you will be utilizing his fully charged elemental skill more, ideally he would want to be on the field more often than his party members.
The set that I recommend running on Heizou are 2 pieces of viridescent venerer and 2 pieces of Gladiator as this gives him an increase of ATK which can affect his DPS numbers. Running 2-piece Gladiator and 2-piece Shimenawa is also great despite the lack of Anemo dmg bonus from 2 x VV, but you definitely experiment and see what works well for you.
Weapons
Being a catalyst user, most of his best options are mostly 5-star weapons, and it's not because of his kit but because of how catalyst weapons are built in the direction to benefit support characters. If you have the 4-star catalyst weapon The Widsith, it should be able to provide him good stats although the passive effects on the weapon makes his damage very inconsistent.
There is a free-to-play option that can be sufficient for him and that is the Dodoco Tales, the weapon that you obtain from the first Golden Archipelago event which was designed to go together with Klee. It provides decent base attack, good ATK % stats, and a somewhat passable passive.
Talents
The talents on your Heizou could vary depending on your focus but I personally prioritize Normal Attack > Elemental Skill > Elemental Burst as he will be punching enemies with his normal attack more often.
Constellations
What makes Heizou really shine is in his 6th Constellation where each Declension stack will increase the CRIT Rate of the Heartstopper Strike unleashed by 4%. When Heizou possesses Conviction, this Heartstopper Strike's CRIT DMG is increased by 32%. This is what allows Heizou to deal massive damage just like you've seen in many one-shot montages. And Being a 4-star character, I would say grinding for constellations is easier and you'll probably obtain more overtime so that is something to keep in mind.
Verdict
Overall, I think Shikanoin Heizou is a pretty fun character to play and if you're someone who likes to experiment with team composition and builds you should definitely try to pull for him. The one drawback I could say is that although he is a sub-DPS, he does still rely on your other party members to deal damage as they work in tandem but if you're someone who is past AR 55 and have well-built characters, I'd say it should be a problem.
Playstyle: 4/5
Artifact Options: 3/5
Weapon Options: 3/5
Constellations: 3/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Shikanoin Heizou is somewhat free-to-play friendly provided you have other members to complement his damage.
What are your thoughts about our analysis of Heizou? Do suggest to us how you build him and let us know how we can improve in this series.
Next week, we will explore Yoimiya and how she could change your mind during her rerun
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