Genshin Impact recently received its 2.0 update, which takes players across the sea to a new region called Inazuma. Alongside new quests, enemies, and areas to explore, new characters from the region have been revealed by developer miHoYo. As Ayaka's banner comes to a close, the next confirmed Genshin Impact character banner is Yoimiya, and it looks like Sayu will appear alongside her as a 4-star.
While Genshin Impact players will have likely encountered Yoimiya during the main storyline, Sayu remains more of a mystery, as very little has been revealed about her character. A small, agile ninja associated with the Shiyuumatsu-Ban in Inazuma, Sayu wields a claymore together with her Anemo vision. Based on her kit, Sayu seems to be a rather versatile 4-star that can fit a number of roles depending on how players build her.
Genshin Impact: Who Is Sayu?
Although Sayu has yet to appear in Genshin Impact, miHoYo has released some basic information about her. A small, agile ninja associated with the Shiyuumatsu-Ban in Inazuma, Sayu is a master of ninjutsu techniques. Interestingly enough, she thinks that her short stature is caused by not sleeping enough and as a result, she constantly naps in an attempt to grow taller. In order to nap as much as possible, she quickly honed her ninja skills to perfection and is an expert in hiding, fleeing, and transforming.
Sayu wields a claymore in Genshin Impact, alongside her Anemo vision. Although little else has been revealed about her, it's likely that she will have a small questline or event to go alongside her appearance on Yoimiya's banner. Much like Ayaka or Yoimiya, Sayu's status as a new character from a different region also means that she hasn't been mentioned by any of the current characters either. As a result, players will have to wait until the banner release to find out more about her backstory and role in Inazuma.
Sayu's Attack Patterns, Elemental Skill, and Elemental Burst
Like the majority of Genshin Impact claymore users, Sayu's standard attack pattern consists of four consecutive strikes. Her charged attack is similar to characters like Noelle and Chongyun, who continuously spin in a circle instead of slashing with the claymore. Although she has a higher base attack than most of the 4-star claymore users, her multipliers aren't as good and only favor her charged attacks.
Sayu's elemental skill is called "Yoohoo Art: Fuuin Dash" which allows Sayu to curl up into a ball and smash into enemies, dealing Anemo damage. At the end of the duration, Sayu will also deliver a whirlwind kick that deals AoE Anemo damage. Similar to other Genshin Impact skills, players are able to press or hold the button for different effects. When pressed, Sayu will simply roll forward a certain distance before using the whirlwind kick. When held, Sayu will continuously roll around gaining interruption resistance and can trigger Elemental Absorption. The skill has a maximum duration of 10 seconds and the longer players use the skill, the longer the cooldown will be.
Sayu's elemental burst is called "Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry" which deals Anemo damage to nearby enemies while healing all nearby party members. The amount of HP healed scales based on Sayu's attack stat. The skill summons a Muji-Muji Daruma afterwards which functions similarly to Bennet's burst. If the HP of nearby Genshin Impact characters is above 70%, it will attack a nearby enemy dealing Anemo damage and if the HP of nearby characters is lower than 70%, it heals the character with the lowest HP percentage.
Sayu's Passives And Constellations
Sayu has two main passives in Genshin Impact: "Someone More Capable" and "No Work Today!". The "Someone More Capable" passive heals all characters and nearby allies for 300 HP whenever Sayu triggers a Swirl reaction. Furthermore, Sayu will heal an additional 1.2 HP for every point of Elemental Mastery she has. The "No Work Today!" passive improves her elemental burst so that when it heals a character, it will also heal nearby characters for 20% of the HP. It also increases its AoE when attacking opponents.
Sayu is a 4-star character in Genshin Impact so her constellations are going to be more impactful and realistic for players. Sayu has three notable constellations: her first, second, and sixth constellations. Her first constellation is called "Multi-Task no Jutsu" and it's the most beneficial one as it causes her elemental burst to ignore HP limits while being able to heal and damage simultaneously. Sayu's second constellation is called "Egress Prep" which boosts the damage of her whirlwind kick at the end of her elemental skill. When the skill is held, it'll also increase the damage of the final whirlwind kick by 3.3% per second up to a 66% increase.
Her sixth constellation is called "Sleep O'Clock" which changes her elemental burst to benefit from her Elemental Mastery. Each point in her Elemental Mastery stat increases the damage dealt by 0.2% up to maximum of 400% while increasing the HP restored by 3 up to a maximum of 6000.
Sayu's Playstyle And Team Compositions
Sayu's kit has a lot of flexibility thanks to the fact that she can scale through attack while also having strong support skills. The most common build will likely be as a support or sub DPS as her multipliers are mediocre for the main DPS role. She can function similarly to other Anemo supports by generating Swirl reactions, shredding resistances and healing her teammates. In terms of artifacts, it's probably more beneficial to stack attack on her until the sixth constellation which is when Genshin Impact players should swap to Elemental Mastery.
Sayu is extremely versatile and fits in pretty much any team composition due to her Anemo vision. Paired together with a Pyro, Hydro, Cryo or Electro main DPS, Sayu can provide consistent heals and the ability to shred resistances with the Viridescent Venerer artifact set. Her second constellation also allows her to fill a quickswap or sub DPS role if she's paired together with supports like Xiangling or Fischl that have persistent skills after being swapped. Sayu can then roll around freely while the supports' skills follow her around and deal damage.
While Sayu's kit isn't super flashy, it provides depth to any Genshin Impact composition and can fit a number of different roles. As always, Sayu will appear on a trial run for any players unsure of her playstyle.
Genshin Impact is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5.