Background
Sayu is a 4-star Anemo character from the region of Inazuma that wields a claymore. She first appears within 2.1 of the game to help out the Traveler and Yae Miko find betrayal in the Tenryou Commission.
Many people in Inazuma are unaware of the existence of the Shuumatsuban, since they operate as a secret organization under the Yashiro Commission. Sayu specializes in the art of stealth and escape techniques. They don’t have much to offer in terms of combat, but are great for espionage.
Sayu grew up under the wings of the Shuumatsuban and is extremely loyal to them. However, she is also known to be lazy and can often be seen sleeping throughout the day. She likes to spend her free day taking naps and is a difficult person to track down. Oftentimes, her missions will be handed off to someone else since no one can find her. She is a great ninja, but doesn’t put in the effort.
Fun Fact: Sayu’s outfit, the Mini Mujina, was gifted to her by her sensei. She is particularly fond of its big hood. It resembles a tanuki, so Sayu often gets mistaken for one.
Sayu doesn’t believe that she is lazy, but wishes to reserve her energy for other matters like sleeping. One of the major things, Sayu is concerned about is her lack of height, which she believes sleeping will help her grow taller.
Sayu Skill Talents
Sayu is a support character that utilizes the Swirl reaction and can also heal her team.
Sayu’s normal attack, Shuumatsuban Ninja Blade, can perform up to 4 hits with her claymore. Her 4th attack will deal the most damage, while her 3rd strike will hit 2x for less damage with each hit. Sayu’s charged attack allows her to spin for 5 seconds and hit nearby enemies in exchange for stamina. After she finished spinning, Sayu will unleash a stronger slash on nearby enemies. Overall, Sayu’s normal attack doesn’t have much to offer. Her healing does scale off of ATK, so you can level up this skill to deal raw physical damage.
Sayu’s elemental skill, Yoohoo Art: Fuuin Dash, allows her to curl into a Fuufuu Windwheel to hit enemies at high speeds to deal Anemo DMG. With the press effect, Sayu briefly enters the Fuufuu Windwheel state for a short distance then kicks the enemy.
With her hold effect, Sayu will be able to control the movement of her windwheel, allowing you to maneuver her around the world. After triggering her hold effect, you don’t need to continue holding on to the button. Sayu will automatically end this state after 10 seconds or if you press her skill button again. The longer you use her elemental skill, the longer the cooldown. Sayu can have a cooldown between 6 seconds to 11 seconds. Sayu’s hold effect can be canceled by jumping or dashing, but she will not trigger her kick, resulting in loss energy. She will also not regain stamina while in this form.
When her hold effect comes into contract with Cryo, Hydro, Pyro, or Electro, it will trigger elemental absorption and deal extra elemental damage. Only 1 element can be absorbed at one time. This can also be used to create an ice bridge over water if Sayu absorbs the Cryo element. Overall, this skill allows Sayu to move around the battlefield while dealing damage to enemies. Even when using the skill to its max duration, the cooldown isn’t too high and can be used again after 11 seconds. Energy is regenerated through using the Fuufuu Whirlwind Kick at the end of the skill and by hitting up to 3 enemies. Characters that are able to apply elements on characters like Barbara or Xinyan can also be used to infuse Sayu’s hold effect with an element.
Sayu’s elemental burst, Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry, first deals Anemo DMG to nearby enemies then heals all nearby teammates. It will then summon a Muji-Muji Daruma that will do one of 3 actions at certain intervals over 12 seconds. It will act 7 times. If the HP of nearby characters is above 70%, it will deal damage to any nearby enemies. If the HP of nearby characters is equal to 70% or less, it will heal the active character with the lowest HP instead. If there are no enemies nearby, the active character will be healed even if they have more than 70% of their health. Sayu’s burst has a cooldown of 20 seconds and requires 80 energy to activate. The healing scales off of Sayu’s ATK stat.
Sayu’s burst requires a lot of energy and can be restricting to use without her constellation 1. Her energy regeneration will also receive a boost at constellation 4.
In co-op, Sayu can trigger Swirl and absorb an element with her elemental skill. She can also heal with her Swirl reaction when her ascension 1 is unlocked. Her Daruma healing will only heal the active character with the lowest health. Her initial burst healing can affect other party members, but they need to be nearby when Sayu triggers her burst. The range of her Daruma is pretty wide, so it shouldn’t be a problem to stay in its effect.
Sayu Passive Talents
Sayu has a great passive skill that allows her to easily collect certain kinds of wildfire while she is in the party. Both of her ascension talents increase her effectiveness as a healer.
Sayu’s passive talent, Yoohoo Art: Silencer’s Secret, allows the party to not startle Crystalflies and other wildlife when approaching them. This talent will work on Crystalflies, frogs, Golden Loach, crabs, and lizards. Collecting one Crystalfly while others are around will still result in them flying away. This talent is great for resource collecting as many of these creatures can be difficult to obtain as they will normally run away when you approach them. It doesn’t have any use in combat.
Sayu’s ascension 1 talent, Someone More Capable, will heal all characters and nearby party members by 300 HP when she actively triggers a Swirl reaction. This healing will be increased by 1.2HP for every point of Elemental Mastery she has. The effects can be triggered every 2 seconds. The healing of this talent scales of her Elemental Mastery, so it is viable you raise it up if you plan to make use of this talent. With her elemental skill, Sayu is capable of easily triggering Swirl while she rolls, allowing her to heal the entire party with her elemental skill.
Sayu’s ascension 4 talent, No Work Today!, boosts the healing from her burst by allowing it to heal nearby active characters as well as increasing the range of its Anemo DMG. Sayu’s burst can only heal only 1 character with the lowest health near its range. With this ascension talent, Sayu will be able to heal more than 1 character in co-op, but her teammates will have to stay close to the character that gets healed.
Sayu gets a boost to her Elemental Mastery based on her ascension rank.
| Yoohoo Art: Silencer’s Secret Unlocked Automatically When Sayu is in the party, your characters will not startle Crystalflies and certain other animals when getting near them. Check the “Other” sub-category of the “Living Beings / Wildlife” section in the Archive for creatures this skill works on. |
| No Work Today! Unlocked at Ascension 1 The Muji-Muji Daruma created by Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry will ignore HP limits and can simultaneously attack nearby opponents and heal characters. |
| Complimentary Bar Food Unlocked at Ascension 4 The Muji-Muji Daruma created by Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry gains the following effects: When healing a character, it will also heal characters near that healed character for 20% the amount of HP. Increases the AoE of its attack against opponents. |
Sayu Constellations
Sayu needs her constellation 1 to remove the HP restriction from her burst so it can deal damage and heal at the same time. Besides that, her other constellations boost the damage of her elemental skill, while increasing her energy regeneration and allowing her burst to scale off her Elemental Mastery. Having her at C1 is recommended for her to be viable in combat.
At C1: Multi-Task no Jutsu, Sayu gains the ability to remove the HP restriction of her burst, allowing it to attack enemies and heal your active character at the same time. This constellation improves the effectiveness of her burst as you are no longer limited to its strict HP limitation that will have Sayu’s Daruma either heal or attack, depending on the HP of nearby characters.
With Sayu’s C2: Egress Prep, Sayu’s elemental skill gains two extra effects. The first effect is that the damage from her press effect is increased by 3.3%. The second effect gives Sayu more damage every .5 seconds she is in her windwheel form. This constellation boosts the damage of both the hold and press effect of her elemental skill. It is important to remember that although the extra damage is nice, Sayu will have a longer cooldown on her skill depending on how long it is used.
At C4: Skiving: New and Improved, Sayu will recover energy for her burst every time she triggers a Swirl reaction. With her elemental skill, Sayu can easily trigger Swirl and activate her burst more often. Sayu’s burst does require a lot of energy so this constellation will help minimize the high energy cost.
When Sayu’s C6: Sleep O’Clock is unlocked, her burst will be able to scale off her Elemental Mastery, instead of just her ATK. With this constellation effect, every point on Elemental Mastery that Sayu has will add more damage to enemies and heal for more HP. Both of them do have restrictions on the amount, but the skills do allow Sayu to build up her EM for Swirl reactions and heal at the same time.
| Constellation Levels | Effects |
|---|---|
| C1: Multi-Task no Jutsu | The Muji-Muji Daruma created by Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry will ignore HP limits and can simultaneously attack nearby opponents and heal characters. |
| C2: Egress Prep | Yoohoo Art: Fuuin Dash gains the following effects: DMG of Fuufuu Whirlwind Kick in Tapping/Press Mode increased by 3.3%. Every 0.5s in the Fuufuu Windwheel state will increase the DMG of this Fuufuu Whirlwind Kick by 3.3%. The maximum DMG increase possible through this method is 66%. |
| C3: Eh, the Bunshin Can Handle It | Increases the Level of Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C4: Skiving: New and Improved | Sayu recovers 1.2 Energy when she triggers a Swirl reaction. This effect occurs once every 2s. |
| C5: Speed Comes First | Increase the Level of Yoohoo Art: Fuuin Dash by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C6: Sleep O’Clock | The Muji-Muji Daruma created by Sayu’s Yoohoo Art: Mujina Flurry will now also benefit from her Elemental Mastery. Each point of Sayu’s Elemental Mastery will produce the following effects: Increases the damage dealt by the Muji-Muji Daruma’s attacks by 0.2% ATK. A maximum of 400% ATK can be gained via this method. Increases the HP restored by the Muji-Muji Daruma by 3. A maximum of 6,000 additional HP can be restored in this manner. |
Recommended Builds
Support Build
This build for Sayu will focuses on her Switl reaction and ability to heal when she triggers Swirl with either her elemental skill or burst. Without another Anemo character on the team, Sayu will need to focus on Energy Recharge to fully make use of her burst due to its high energy requirement. Her normal attack is only necessary if you plan to attack with Sayu. You can choose to either focus on her ATK or EM. ATK will increase her healing, while EM will boost her overall reaction damage. At C6, her burst healing will also scale off of Elemental Mastery as well as ATK.
For her teammates, you will want another Anemo character to increase movement speed and lower elemental skill cooldown of the entire team. Kazuha can help damage the team’s elemental damage, but you can also use Venti or Sucrose. Ayaka will serve as the Main DPS for this build and is capable of dealing Cryo DMG with all her attacks. Xingqiu will serve as another support character to freeze the enemy along with Ayaka.
Sayu’s recommended 5-star weapon is the Wolf’s Gravestone as it will boost her overall ATK to increase both her damage and healing. It also has a passive that will increase the party’s base attack if the weapon hits an enemy that has less than 30% of their health. This effect can be triggered every 30 seconds and will last for 12 seconds. If you don’t have Sayu’s normal attack leveled up, you only need to hit an enemy at low health once and switch to another character to deal damage. If you have access to the Unforged, it can also increase Sayu’s ATK in its skill and passive stat. It does require a shield creator like Xinyan or Zhongli to be viable. This weapon will further increase Sayu’s attack when she lands hits on the enemy. However, it will only increase her own attack. The Skyward Pride is decent for Sayu because of its Energy Recharge passive stat. It will also increase her damage and deal additional ATK DMG when its effect is triggered.
For Sayu’s 4 -star weapon, the Katsuragikiri Nagamasa is a craftable weapon with an Energy Recharge passive. Its skill increases Sayu’s elemental skill damage. Hitting an enemy will also cause Sayu to lose energy, but regain more energy over 6 seconds based on the refinement level. The lost energy is easily made up for the energy gained with this weapon. This effect can trigger every 10 seconds. The Katsuragikiri Nagamasa provides more energy for Sayu to charge her burst while boosting the power of her elemental skill. It can be difficult to refine, so the Prototype Archaic is another viable option for Sayu. This weapon is also craftable and will also increase Sayu’s attack. Its skill unleashes additional attack damage on the enemy when Sayu uses her normal or charged attack.
Other 4-weapons that can be used with Sayu are the Sacrificial Greatsword and Favonius Greatsword. Both weapons increase Sayu’s Energy Recharge. The Sacrificial Greatsword has a chance to reset the cooldown of Sayu’s elemental skill when it is used, while the Favonius Greatsword provides energy for the team when Sayu lands a critical hit. The Favonius Greatsword will require Sayu to have a high Crit Rate to reliably be used.
The only claymore that will give Sayu a boost to her elemental mastery is the 4-star Rainslasher. To make use of this weapon’s damage boost, you must use Sayu in a team that can apply Electro or Hydro to the enemy.
Sayu’s recommended artifact is the 4-piece Viridescent Veneer. This set boosts her Anemo DMG and increases her Swirl reaction, while decreasing the elemental resistance of enemies. This is the preferred set for any Anemo character! You can also choose to use the 4-piece Noblesse Oblige to boost the damage of her elemental burst and provide an ATK buff to any character she switches to.
You also have the option to build Sayu as a physical attacker that is capable of healing herself. However, her Anemo DMG and Swirl won’t deal as much damage.
For Sayu’s artifact stats:
- Sands: ATK% or EM (Energy Recharge if you are not using another Anemo character.
- Goblet: EM or Anemo DMG%
- Circlet: Healing Bonus% or EM
For the sub-stats, look for Energy Recharge, ATK, or EM. Crit Rate or Crit DMG are decent, but aren’t necessary on a support Sayu.
Healer Build
This build is similar to the first one, but focuses more on her healing rather than her Swirl reaction. You can use the same weapons as the first build. Building up her ATK is necessary to boost her healing power. You may choose to also build up her EM if you have her at C6. Her Elemental Mastery is also capable of healing when used together with her ascension 1 talent.
As a healer, Sayu can work in a variety of teams. However, she will benefit from having another Anemo character like Venti on the team to boost the recharge of her burst. Having two Pyro characters on the team like Yoimiya and Xiangling will provide the Pyro team buff to boost the team’s attack by 25%. Xiangling can also increase Sayu’s attack by picking up the pepper from her elemental skill. She can be replaced with Bennett who can heal and provide an ATK buff with his burst. Yoimiya will be the Main DPS and is capable of dealing massive amounts of Pyro DMG.
In the early game, use 3-star Debate Club to increase Sayu’s ATK. It can also deal additional ATK DMG when Sayu uses her elemental skill or normal/charged attack on an enemy. The Quartz and Bloodtainted Greatsword can also work, but it will depend on the elements you have in your team. For her artifacts, use a 2-piece Brave Heart and Resolution of Sojourner to boost Sayu’s ATK by 36%.
Sayu’s recommended artifact set for a healer build is the 4-piece Maidens Beloved to increase the amount she heals with both her ascension talent and burst. You can also use a 2-piece Emblem of Severed Fate and Maidens Beloved to boost her energy recharge as well as her healing effectiveness.
Sayu’s artifact stats:
- Sands: ATK% or Energy Recharge
- Goblet: EM
- Circlet: Healing Bonus% or EM
Look for ATK%, ATK, EM, or Energy Recharge in your sub-stats.
Recommended Party Members
Kazuha can also trigger Swirl and increase the elemental damage of his team. Having 2 Anemo characters will also increase energy regeneration of their burst and decrease the skill cooldown of the entire team with the Anemo team resonance.
Ayaka can easily apply Cryo to the enemy and is a powerful source of Cryo damage. She will be the main DPS of your team.
Xingqiu and Ayaka make a great combo as they can freeze the enemy. Xingqiu can also act as a healer when he triggers his Rain Swords.
Xiangling’s elemental skill can boost a character’s ATK by picking up the pepper. She can also activate the Pyro ATK buff with another Pyro character on the team.
Yoimiya will be the main DPS. She is capable of dealing single target Pyro DMG to an enemy with her infused Pyro arrows.
Venti has great crowd control and can also activate the Anemo team buff with Sayu.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Triggering Swirl can heal the team | Burst is restricting without C1 |
| Passive skill allows you to easily collect certain kinds of wildlife | High energy requirement of burst |
| Her windwheel form can be infused with another element besides Geo | Normal attack doesn’t have much to offer |
Conclusion
Sayu is a 4-star Anemo character that may look fragile, but she can easily wield her claymore in battle. She’s fast and agile, making her the perfect escape artist and ninja. Both her elemental skill and burst can trigger the Swirl reaction and heal. Her elemental skill will heal the entire party when she triggers Swirl, but the interval healing of her burst is more restricted to the HP of her active character. However, this effect is countered by the effects of her constellation 1. Sayu will deal more reaction damage if built with Elemental Mastery in mind, but will heal more if built with ATK.
What do you think of Sayu? Is there anything I missed? Let us know in the comments below! You can also reach out through our Twitter or my Discord handle Seyfrid#2589.
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The Informal Gamer 