Genshin Impact Kinich Build Guide | Kinich Best Weapons, Artifacts, Teams

The second phase of Natlan’s first major version update in Genshin Impact is about to launch, bringing with it a batch of new events as well as the third part of the Scions of the Canopy Tribal Quest, which focuses on one of the most aloof and mysterious characters in Natlan, Kinich. Phase 2 of Version 5.0 also adds Kinich as a new playable 5-star Dendro Claymore alongside his grouchy pixelated companion, Ajaw. Like Mualani and Kachina, Kinich’s playstyle focuses on staying mobile and aggressive with his unique grapple-themed Elemental Skill while exploiting Burning and Burgeon Reactions to tear down his foes.

Here’s how to make the best Kinich build in Genshin Impact Version 5.0. This guide will include a look at Kinich’s kit and which order you should prioritise levelling his Talents, what his best Artifact sets and weapons are, and what team compositions Kinich works best in. 

If you’d like to read more Genshin Impact articles, including some guides about Natlan’s hidden secrets, you can find some here on KeenGamer:

1. Genshin Impact | All Version 5.0 Natlan Shrine of Depths Locations
2. Genshin Impact | All Shattered Night Jade Locations and How to Use Them
3. Genshin Impact | All Broken Graffiti-Marked Stone Locations
4. Genshin Impact Mualani Build Guide
5. Genshin Impact Emilie Build Guide

Deadly Duo

Kinich Release Date and Banner Availability

First things first, let’s take a look at when Kinich’s Character Event Wish goes live and how long you’ll have to pull the champion of the Scions. Kinich’s banner will begin when Phase 2 of Version 5.0 launches and he’ll be running alongside the fabled Electro Archon, the Raiden Shogun.

Kinich’s Limited Character Event Wish, “Seeker of Flame-Wrought Secrets”, goes live on September 17th with the advent of Version 5.0’s second phase and it will last until the start of Version 5.1 on October 8th. During this period, any 5-star character you pull on Kinich’s banner has a 50% chance of being Kinich: fail to pull him and your next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured 5-star on the limited banner. Additionally, Chevreuse, Kujo Sara, and Thoma will all star as rate-up 4-star characters on both the Kinich and Shogun Event Banners.

You’ll need to act fast if you want to ensure Kinich joins your team, though, as he’ll disappear once his banner ends on October 8th. In that circumstance, you’ll need to wait until Kinich gets a rerun later in Genshin Impact which can take anywhere from 6 months to well over a year (in the case of poor Cryo characters like Shenhe). 

Seeker of Flame-Wrought Secrets

Genshin Impact Kinich Kit Overview

Normal Attack: Nightsun Style

Kinich’s first major ability is his Normal Attack, Nightsun Style, which he can use to perform up to three rapid strikes with his Claymore. His Normal Attack also has a unique interaction with his Skill where, after using Canopy Hunter: Riding High, Kinich can perform a Normal Attack mid-air before landing. 

Unfortunately, while Kinich’s Normal Attacks have some rather slick animations, you won’t be using them all too often. The key exception here is his mid-air Normal Attack after casting his Skill which, admittedly, does deal much higher damage than his other three slashes and will be used fairly often as you swing around the battlefield. However, once you lock onto an enemy with his Skill, his Normal Attack is overridden by a new attack which deals with Elemental Skill DMG, which is where most of his damage comes from. At the very least, Kinich’s mid-air Normal Attack is worth investing in, it just isn’t as important or as impactful as the rest of his kit.

Carve Through

Elemental Skill: Canopy Hunter: Riding High

Canopy Hunter: Riding High is Kinich’s Elemental Skill and the backbone of his entire playstyle. Using his big-game hunting skill, Kinich’s Elemental Skill uses a Dendro-infused grappling hook to either move swiftly across the skies or attack nearby opponents. When there are no enemies or objects nearby that he can grapple onto, Kinich will fire the grapple forward and swing through mid-air, decreasing the Skill’s CD by 60%. 

If there is an opponent or object nearby, though, Kinich will attach his grappling hook to the target and enter Nightsoul’s Blessing. Interestingly, Kinich’s Nightsoul’s Blessing state acts very differently from Kachina’s or Mualani’s; instead of consuming Nightsoul points to keep the Blessing state active, Kinich will begin with zero points and slowly gain Nightsoul points every second. While attached to an enemy, using Kinich’s Normal Attack will fire off Loop Shots towards the target and cause him to loop around the grappled target based on his current movement direction. These Loop Shots are considered Elemental Skill DMG and generate 3 additional Nightsoul points. 

Riding High

Once Kinich maxes out his Nightsoul points, he can use Scalespiker Cannon, a powerful enhanced version of his Elemental Skill which will deal massive Dendro DMG. Kinich will then grapple onto the target of the Scalespiker Cannon. After grappling onto an enemy, Kinich will create a Blind Spot next to the opponent which he can dash into using his Loop Shots. Entering a Blind Spot will immediately regenerate 4 Nightsoul points.

While this Skill may sound rather complicated on paper, it’s rather simple in practice. After grappling onto a target with his Skill, Kinich will accumulate Nightsoul points as you attack with his Loop Shots or run into Blind Spots, allowing you to unleash a powerful burst of Dendro DMG when you reach maximum Nightsoul points. Within the 10s duration of Kinich’s Nightsoul’s Blessing, most players will be able to get off about three or four Scalespiker Cannon shots which can absolutely devastate an opponent while keeping Kinich mobile at all times.

Scalespiker Cannon

Elemental Burst: Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord

The final piece of Kinich’s main kit is his Elemental Burst, Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord. Once you have enough Energy, Kinich will unleash the power of the Almighty Dragonlord, K’uhul Ajaw (on a limited, conditional, restricted, contractual, partial, temporary basis), dealing Nightsoul-aligned AoE Dendro DMG in the immediate area. Additionally, Ajaw will unleash his Dragon Breath at set intervals, dealing more instances of AoE Dendro DMG, and Kinich’s Nightsoul’s Blessing will be extended by 1.7s if you use his Burst while he is still in the state.

Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord is the loud, explosive punctuation mark between Kinich’s other attacks. It’s a massive chunk of instant damage, as well as some prolonged damage over the next few seconds, which Kinich can throw at his foes as he dances around them. There’s honestly not much else to it, really: high damage, impressive scaling, relatively low Energy cost, this is a simple and effective Burst which can cause a lot of carnage. 

All Hail the Dragonlord

Kinich’s Passive Talents

Kinich’s first passive Talent, Swift Envoy, is available at Ascension Level 1 and shares a lot of similarities with his Version 5.0 counterparts, Mualani and Kachina. Firstly, it will reveal the location of nearby Natlan regional specialities on the mini-map when Kinich is at the party. Secondly, while you are in an area with Phlogiston Mechanics within Natlan, interacting with harvestable items will grant your party the Blazing Pursuit effect, increasing the Movement SPD of your whole party by 15% for 10s.

Meanwhile, his second Talent, The Price of Desolation, will become available at Ascension Level 2. When Kinich is in the Nightsoul’s Blessing state, opponents hit by his Elemental Skill will enter the Desolation state, restoring 7 Nightsoul points to him if they are affected by Burning or Burgeon. Kinich can gain Nightsoul points in this manner every 0.8s and the Desolation state will persist until this instance of Kinich’s Nightsoul’s Blessing ends. This Talent offers Kinich another easy way to earn Nightsoul points (which will contribute to high overall damage) while also pushing in the right direction in terms of potential team compositions and pairings. 

Kinich’s final Talent is Flame Spirit Pact and it will unlock at Character Ascension Level 4. After a nearby party member triggers a Nightsoul Burst, Kinich will gain 1 stack of Hunter’s Experience that lasts for 15s and can stack up to two times. When Kinich uses his Skill’s Scalespiker Cannon, all stacks of Hunter’s Experience will be consumed to increase the damage dealt by this Cannon shot by 320% of Kinich’s ATK per stack. While you’ll only be able to realistically benefit from this buff on the first Cannon shot per Skill cast, the damage increase is exponential, allowing Kinich to tear through his foes at an even faster pace than before.

Hanging in There

In addition to his core three Talents, Kinich also has access to an extra Talent focused on Nightsoul. Night Realm’s Gift: Repaid in Full allows Kinich to consume 10 Phlogiston points to perform an additional mid-air sewing after using Canopy Hunter: Riding High. 

Furthermore, while in an area with Phllogiston Mechanics, you can use Nightsoul Transmission: Kinich to immediately switch into Kinich with a special animation where he swings onto the field. Depending on your current circumstance, Kinich will perform one of several actions:

• If you are facing a Coilgrass Sigil (the floating green symbols which Yumkasaurs can grapple onto), Kinich will fire a grappling hook toward it to continue moving. 
• If there are enemies nearby and you are already in combat, Kinich will immediately grapple onto an enemy and use his Elemental Skill in the direction of the opponents. 
• If there is neither a Coilgrass Sigil nor an enemy nearby, Kinich will fire a grappling hook and swing forward, prioritising valid Coilgrass Sigils as future targets. 

Choose Your Weapon

Kinich Talent Priority Order

1. Canopy Hunter: Riding High (Elemental Skill)
2. Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord (Elemental Burst)
3. Nightsun Style (Normal Attack)

If it wasn’t already clear, Kinich’s Elemental Skill is the core that the rest of his kit is built around. Not only is it his most involved ability but it’s also where the majority of his damage comes from and is most synergistic with his Talents and Constellations. Increasing the level of Kinich’s Elemental Skill will increase its damage output across the board, boosting the Loop Shoot DMG as well as the Scalespiker Cannon DMG. You want both aspects of this ability to hit hard and so it should be at the top of your list when it comes to levelling Kinich’s Talents. 

Second to Kinich’s Skill is his Burst. Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord is only really good at one thing and that is dealing damage so you want to ensure that it is dealing as much damage as possible. Because it isn’t as readily available, nor is it as essential as his Skill, it takes a comfortable second place in terms of investment. Lastly, you should put some materials into Kinich’s Normal Attacks, mainly so that his mid-air swings can remain potent, but it shouldn’t be to the detriment of either of his other abilities. Nightsun Style is worth levelling up but his other two skills are simply more important. 

Kinich, Champion of the Scions

Kinich’s Constellations

If you get lucky while pulling on Kinich’s Character Wish, you may end up rolling multiple copies of him. The duplicate copies of Kinich will become Constellations which you can use to unlock special additional abilities and bonuses which augment his existing kit. These Constellations can lead to massive shifts in how you play a character, making them extremely important. 

1. Parrot’s Beak: After Kinich lands from Canopy Hunter: Riding High’s mid-air swing, his Movement SPD will increase by 30% for 6s. Additionally, Scalespiker Cannon’s CRIT DMG is increased by 100%.
2. Tiger Beetle’s Palm: When Kinich’s Elemental Skill hits an opponent, it will decrease their Dendro RES by 30% for 6s. Additionally, the first Scalespiker Cannon Kinich fires after entering Nightsoul’s Blessing has increased AoE, and its DMG increases by 100%.
3. Protosuchian’s Claw: Increases the level of Canopy Hunter: Riding High by 3. 
4. Hummingbird’s Feather: In Nightsoul’s Blessing, Kinich will restore 5 Energy after using his Loop Shots or unleashing the Scalespiker Cannon. Kinich can regenerate Energy this way once every 2.8s. Additionally, Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord deals 70% more DMG.
5. Howler Monkey’s Tail: Increases the level of Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord by 3.
6. Auspicious Beast’s Shape: After Scalespiker Cannon hits an opponent, it will bounce between opponents once, dealing 700% of Kinich’s ATK as Dendro DMG. If this Scalespiker Cannon triggers the buffs from Flame Spirit Pact or the Constellation Tiger Beetle’s Palm, the bouncing attack will also obtain the relevant buffs.

Almost all of Kinich’s Constellations increase the damage of his Elemental Skill in one way or another. As such, his C1 and C2 are pretty safe pick-ups for low-spenders looking to drastically improve the viability of their Kinich. His C1 is a nice quality-of-life upgrade to his Movement SPD while also massively increasing the CRIT DMG of his most powerful ability. Meanwhile, his C2 grants him inherent Dendro RES shred with his Skill while also increasing the damage of his Scalespiker Cannon shot even further. 

Boss Battle

Kinich’s Best Weapon in Genshin Impact

Best in Slot Claymore: Fang of the Mountain King

During the second phase of Genshin Impact Version 5.0, the Weapon Event Wish will be updated with the signature weapons for Kinich and the Raiden Shogun, with the former being the Fang of the Mountain King, Kinich’s best-in-slot weapon. Compared to some other 5-star Claymores, the Fang of the Mountain King is rather specialised as it focuses heavily on Dendro and Pyro Reactions, limiting its usability. However, for Kinich, who thrives in Burning and Burgeon teams, this claymore is a massive boost to his overall DPS, making him even stronger than he already is. 

At level 80, Fang of the Mountain King has 740 ATK alongside 11% CRIT Rate and the Turquoise Hunt affix. Hitting an opponent with an Elemental Skill will grant 1 stack of Canopy’s Favor while triggering a Burning or Burgeon reaction will generate 3 stacks. Each stack of Canopy’s Favor increases Elemental Skill and Burst DMG by 10% for 6s with a max of 6 stacks.

While this weapon can be used outside of Burning or Burgeon comps, it excels in team compositions that can reliably trigger one of these Reactions to gain the maximum amount of Canopy’s Favor stacks. Fortunately, Kinich can very easily trigger both and he already wants to trigger those Reactions for one of his passive Talents, making Fang of the Mountain King an excellent choice that simply rewards you for engaging in Kinich’s intended gameplay loop. With this Claymore equipped, Kinich’s most impactful abilities will all deal way more damage while also generating Nightsoul points at a much higher rate, increasing his overall DPS considerably. 

Fang of the Mountain King

Best 4-Star Weapons for Kinich

Of course, Fang of the Mountain King may be out of reach for many players. Whether you’re broke from pulling on Kinich himself or simply want to save for future Natlan characters, you’ll need to turn to alternative options to arm your Kinich. As luck would have it, there are several great 4-star options for our Scion Champion, including one which is easy to earn for free and compliments his kit perfectly.

If you need a good 4-star weapon for Kinich in Genshin Impact, we recommend using one of the following Claymores: 

• Earth Shaker (Craftable Natlan Claymore): After a party member triggers a Pyro-related reaction, the equipping character’s Elemental Skill DMG is increased by 16% for 8s.
• Serpent Spine (Battle Pass Claymore): Every 4s a character is on the field, they will deal 6% more DMG and take 3% more DMG. This effect has a maximum of 5 stacks and will not be reset if the character leaves the field, but will be reduced by 1 stack when the character takes DMG.
• Mailed Flower (Mondstadt Event Claymore): Within 8s after the character’s Elemental Skill hits an opponent or the character triggers an Elemental Reaction, their ATK and Elemental Mastery will be increased by 12% and 48 respectively.

Earth Shaker is the craftable Natlan Claymore and the best option for most players when it comes to outfitting their Kinich. Not only is the Earth Shaker a completely F2P weapon but you can also get it to R5 relatively easily, greatly increasing its potential for a small amount of work: by levelling up the Tablet of Tona, you’re guaranteed to get at least one or two Claymore Billets in Version 5.0 alone. As for the weapon itself, it compliments Kinich’s kit perfectly, improving his main source of damage considerably while also synergising nicely with his Talents and best team composition requirements. 

However, if you want to spend your Billets on other Natlan weapons, Kinich has a few more options. The Serpent Spine is an ancient Claymore which has been around since 1.0 and it is still a very strong and very reliable option for almost every single Claymore unit, with Kinich’s high mobility meaning that you’ll have super high uptime on the Serpent’s DMG stacks. Then there’s the Mailed Flower, a rare Mondstadt event weapon from a few years ago that pairs well with Kinich’s playstyle and will improve both his direct and Elemental Reaction DMG. 

Best 4-Star Weapons for Kinich

Kinich’s Best Artifact Sets in Genshin Impact

When it comes to artifact sets, Kinich has two main options to choose from if you want to maximise his damage potential. The first set is a new Artifact set introduced with Natlan in Version 5.0 which will increase Kinich’s performance while he’s in the Nightsoul’s Blessing state. Meanwhile, the second set is also relatively new but is more focused on using the team’s Burning and Burgeon Reactions to empower and improve Kinich’s abilities. 

The best artifact sets for Kinich in Genshin Impact Version 5.0 are:

• 4pc Obsidian Codex: While the equipping character is in Nightsoul’s Blessing and is on the field, their DMG dealt is increased by 15%. After the equipping character consumes 1 Nightsoul point while on the field, CRIT Rate increases by 40% for 6s. This effect can trigger once every second.
• 4pc Unfinished Reverie: Increases ATK by 18%. After leaving combat for 3s, DMG dealt increased by 50%. In combat, if no Burning opponents are nearby for more than 6s, this DMG Bonus will decrease by 10% per second until it reaches 0%. When a Burning opponent exists, it will increase by 10% instead until it reaches 50%. This effect still triggers if the equipping character is off-field.

Obsidian Codex is the DPS-oriented Natlan artifact set and it works just as well on Kinich as it does on Mualani. The extra DMG dealt in the Nightsoul’s Blessing state is already a great boon as Kinich will have almost 100% uptime on it (as he enters the Blessing state whenever he uses his Skill on an enemy) but the real prize is in the extra CRIT Rate. While Kinich doesn’t consume Nightsoul points in the same way as Mualani or Kachina, he will be rapidly earning and then burning away Nightsoul points as he uses his Spikescale Cannon, ensuring that you almost always have 40% additional CRIT Rate after your first Cannon shot. 

The other major set in contention for Kinich is Unfinished Reverie, a set which focuses much more on Burning as the catalyst for a massive damage bonus. Firstly, as an ATK-scaling DPS, Kinich will enjoy the extra 18% ATK from the 2pc bonus. Secondly, thanks to Kinich’s playstyle, he’ll always be right next to his target and, with the constant stream of Dendro DMG from his Loop Shots, it will be very easy to keep enemies Burning for extended periods of time, ensuring that Kinich will have very high uptime on that 50% DMG bonus. It is a bit more finicky to use than Obsidian Codex, largely on account of needing to switch off the field, but it is still effective. 

Best Artifact Sets for Kinich

Most Important Stats for Kinich

Artifact set choice is only the first step to fully building a character in Genshin Impact as you’ll also need to ensure that the pieces from that set have the right main stats and substats. Fortunately, when it comes to Kinich, he’s fairly simple. As an ATK-scaling main DPS, you’ll mainly be hunting for ATK (to ensure that his base damage is high) as well as CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG (to improve his damage output even further). Additionally, because he relies on Burning and Burgeon, a smattering of Elemental Mastery is appreciated.

Here are the best main stats for Kinich’s artifacts in Genshin Impact: 

• Hourglass (Sands): ATK%
• Goblet: Dendro DMG Bonus
• Circlet: CRIT DMG / CRIT Rate

Then, here are the best four substats that you should keep an eye out for when farming for Kinich’s artifacts: 

1. ATK%
2. CRIT Rate
3. CRIT DMG
4. Elemental Mastery

Saurian Hunter

Kinich’s Best Teams in Genshin Impact

Premium Kinich Burning Team Composition

• Kinich (Fang of the Mountain King) | 4pc Obsidian Codex
• Emilie (Lumidouce Elegy) | 4pc Unfinished Reverie
• Xiangling (The Catch) | 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate / Dehya (Beacon of the Reed Sea) | 4pc Vourukasha’s Glow
• Bennett (Favonious Sword) | 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate

Emilie is this team’s sub-DPS and the perfect partner for Kinich on account of her unique interaction with the Burning Reaction. Her off-field Dendro application is very good, as is her damage if you manage to flood the field with constant Burning triggers (which will be more than achievable between her and Kinich), and she won’t be fighting with Kinich for Reactions as she doesn’t actually need to trigger Burn to get her own buffs. In this comp, Kinich and Emilie are the heavy hitters, seesawing back and forth as they inflict a steady and reliable supply of Dendro for their Pyro partners to ignite. They both deal good damage, don’t step on each other’s toes, and can both help the other get the buffs and bonuses they need from Burn.

Then we have the Pyro half of the team which is mainly here for supportive purposes. Xiangling’s Burst is an excellent way to reliably trigger Burn across a wide area and it doesn’t hurt that it does pretty decent damage as well. When she doesn’t have her Burst, her Skill is a decent way of ensuring that you can still trigger Burn without needing Xiangling or Bennett to remain on the field. Speaking of Bennett, he’s our main ATK buffer and healer, with his Burst serving both roles. Because all three of the other characters scale off of ATK, Bennett will drastically increase the overall damage output of the team.

Burning Kinich Team Comp

Premium Burgeon Kinich Team Composition

• Kinich (Fang of the Mountain King) | 4pc Obsidian Codex
• Nahida (A Thousand Floating Dreams) | 4pc Deepwood Memories
• Xingqiu (Sacrificial Sword) | 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate
• Thoma (Kitan Cross Spear) | 4pc Flowers of Paradise Lost

Compared to Burn, Burgeon is a lot harder to reliably trigger as you need to prock two Reactions (Bloom and then Burgeon) instead of just one. However, Nahida makes that job a lot easier. By marking enemies with her Skill, Nahida can share any triggered Dendro Reactions between a large group, even if you’re only focused on a single target. What this means is that you will very quickly amass a lot of Dendro Cores from shared Bloom triggers, opening the door for some easy, and very volatile, Burgeon procks. One of Kinich’s main weaknesses is that, despite having several sources of AoE Dendro DMG, his Skill will lock onto one target, making groups a bit trickier to deal with and Nahida can help side-step that flaw.

Dendro is only one side of Burgeon, though, as we’ll need a competent Hydro unit to reliably create Dendro Cores, as well as a Pyro unit to detonate them. Enter Xingqiu and Thoma, two sides of the same coin who both fulfil very similar roles in this comp. Both of their Bursts will let the Normal Attacks of the other party members deal additional Hydro or Pyro DMG, allowing Kinich to trigger both Bloom and Burgeon on his own. Thoma and Xingqiu are also good support units, with Thoma able to create a protective shield and Xingqiu able to heal and mitigate damage taken with his Rainswords.

Burgeon Kinich Team Comp

F2P Kinich Team Composition

• Kinich (Earth Shaker) | 4pc Obsidian Codex
• Dendro Traveller (Sapwood Blade) | 4pc Deepwood Memories
• Xiangling (The Catch) | 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate
• Xingqiu (Sacrificial Sword) | 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate

If you’re lacking some of the premium units that pair well with Kinich like Nahida or Emilie, you can still create a very powerful composition which uses both Burgeon and Burning at its core. Instead of Nahida, this F2P Kinich team uses Dendro Traveller as our secondary Dendro applier. The Traveller’s Skill is a great way to instantly apply Dendro onto a target whereas their Burst is an excellent source of off-field Dendro DMG. What’s better is that their Burst can interact with both Hydro and Pyro, increasing the Burst’s AoE (which, in turn, will trigger more Reactions across a wider area) or causing it to explode and deal high Dendro DMG. While not as reliable or potent as either of our other Dendro pairings, the Traveller is still a solid partner for Kinich. 

Then we have Xingqiu and Xiangling. Xingqiu will perform in essentially the exact same way as he did in our premium Burgeon team for Kinich: he’s there to provide off-field Hydro DMG and heal any damage your team takes with his Rainswords. Meanwhile, Xiangling is here to serve as another sub-DPS and our main way of applying both Burning and Burgeon. Compared to Thoma, Xiangling is less effective at triggering Burgeon reliably thanks to her Burst’s long cooldown but her overall damage output makes up for it, especially because you’ll be triggering Vaporize alongside Bloom, Burning, and Burgeon.

F2P Kinich Team Comp

That was how to make the best Kinich build in Genshin Impact.