Genshin Impact Version 4.6 Update debuts the new event-exclusive 5* character “Dire Balemoon” Arlecchino (pyro/polearm). This guide will explain everything about how to build Arlecchino and play her in her best teams in Genshin Impact.
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Abilities description
Talent upgrade priority
Normal Attacks are her primary source of DMG.
Normal Attack >>> Elemental Burst = Elemental Skill
Normal Attack: Invitation to a Beheading
Normal Attack
Performs up to 6 consecutive spear strikes.
Charged Attack
Consumes a fixed amount of Stamina, dashing toward a nearby opponent and cleaving once.
Continuously holding this button will cause Arlecchino to consume Stamina and engage in up to 5s of high-speed movement.
Plunging Attack
Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
Masque of the Red Death
When Arlecchino has a Bond of Life equal to or greater than 30% of her Max HP, she will enter the “Masque of the Red Death” state, where her Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will be converted to deal Pyro DMG. This cannot be overridden.
When in the “Masque of the Red Death” state, Arlecchino’s Normal Attacks will deal extra DMG to opponents on hit that scales off her ATK multiplied by a certain ratio of her current Bond of Life percentage. This will consume 7.5% of said current Bond of Life. Her Bond of Life can be consumed this way every 0.03s. When her Bond of Life is consumed in this manner, All Is Ash’s CD will decrease by 0.8s.
Elemental Skill: All Is Ash
Summons forth Balemoon Bloodfire, dealing Pyro DMG to multiple nearby opponents and performing a dash-cleave against one of them, dealing AoE Pyro DMG. Opponents hit by the aforementioned attack will have a Blood-Debt Directive applied to them.
Blood-Debt Directive
- Lasts 30s. Every 5s, it will deal 1 instance of Pyro DMG to the opponent. Max 2 instances. This DMG will be considered Elemental Skill DMG.
- When Arlecchino uses a Charged Attack or her Elemental Burst, Balemoon Rising, she will absorb and clear nearby Blood-Debt Directives. Each Directive absorbed grants her a Bond of Life worth 65% of her Max HP.
- The maximum value of the Bond of Life she can be granted through Blood-Debt Directives within 35s after using her Elemental Skill is 145% of her Max HP. Using the Elemental Skill again during this duration will restart the count on duration and the limit on the value of Bond of Life she may gain from Blood-Debt Directives.
Elemental Burst: Balemoon Rising
Arlecchino’s great wing of Balemoon Bloodfire beats as she absorbs and clears Blood-Debt Directives around her. She deals AoE Pyro DMG before clearing the CD of All Is Ash and healing herself. The healing is based on her Bond of Life value and ATK.
Ascension 1 Passive: Agony Alone May Be Repaid
Blood-debt directives have the following characteristics:
- Arlecchino will be granted a Bond of Life worth 130% of her Max HP when an opponent to which she applied a Directive is defeated.
- 5s after a Directive is applied, it will be upgraded to a Blood-Debt Due. When absorbed, it will instead grant Arlecchino a Bond of Life worth 130%.
A Bond of Life created in the aforementioned ways cannot exceed the original limit on the value of Bonds of Life obtained through All Is Ash.
Ascension 4 Passive: Strength Alone Can Defend
Arlecchino gains 1% of All Elemental and Physical RES for every 100 ATK she has over 1,000. The maximum RES increase she can gain this way for each is 20%.
Utility Passive: The Balemoon Alone May Know
While in combat, Arlecchino gains a 40% Pyro DMG Bonus and can only be healed through Balemoon Rising.
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Abilities explained
Understanding the Bond of Life mechanic
Arlecchino’s entire playstyle is based around the Bond of Life mechanic. We need to first understand BoL before trying to understand her kit. BoL is a new mechanic introduced in Fontaine. It can be applied to characters by certain enemies and certain weapons.
- BoL covers the HP bar with a red bar
- It prevents the character from getting healed
- BoL is applied as a percentage of max HP rather than a fixed amount
- The total amount of BoL is 200% (2x of max HP). Since the red bar covering the HP bar is proportional to the BoL and max HP, it covers half of the amount of BoL. If the BoL is 100%, the red bar will cover half of the HP bar, if the BoL is 200%, it will cover the entire HP bar
- BoL acts like an additional HP that needs to be removed by healing before the actual HP of the character can be healed. For example, if a character has 100 points of BoL then they need to be healed for 100 points before their actual HP can be healed
- BoL can be cleared by healing a specific amount by visiting the Statue of the Seven
- BoL has a duration of 10 minutes, after which it will be cleared on its own
Arlecchino can apply BoL to herself through her Skill. This BoL is the most important part of her kit. Her Pyro infusion, her DMG increase, and her self-heal, all of them are based on the current BoL that she has. Arlecchino is the only character who can apply BoL to herself. She is also the only character who uses BoL as the center of her kit.
Normal Attack: Invitation to a Beheading
This is the primary source of her DMG. As long as Arlecchino has BoL that is over 30% of her max HP, she will gain a Pyro infusion that cannot be overridden. Her DMG is increased by a certain percentage of her BoL. Hitting enemies consumes the BoL, this means her DMG will go down as time passes. Consuming BoL this way also reduces the cooldown of her Skill.
It has a 30s cooldown, but normal attacking until the Pyro infusion runs out will make it so that her Skill is available again. One thing to note is that her Pyro infusion does not go away if she is swapped out. It is not reliant on any kind of cooldown either. The only condition for Pyro infusion is having BoL over 30%.
Elemental Skill: All Is Ash
This is the only way Arlecchino can gain BoL for her Pyro infusion. Marking enemies with her Skill and absorbing the marks with a charged attack will grant her BoL. She gains 65% BoL from 1 marked enemy and the maximum BoL she can gain from one use of her Skill is 145%.
This means she can max out her BoL by marking and consuming marks from at least 3 enemies. Since each normal attack drains 7.5% BoL, Arlecchino can unleash 19 normal attacks before the Pyro infusion runs out. One thing to note is that the theoretical maximum BoL is 200% but Arlecchino can gain only 145% from one use of her Skill.
However, when her Pyro infusion runs out due to BoL going below 30%, that BoL does not get cleared. When you gain BoL again, it is added to it. If she has around 25% BoL when her Pyro infusion runs out, getting 145% BoL from the next use of her Skill will end up with her having 170% BoL. As such, Arlecchino will always have more BoL in her second rotation since the leftover BoL from the first rotation will be added to it.
Elemental Burst: Balemoon Rising
This Burst does several things:
- Abosrbs all the marks from nearby enemies, which allows her to obtain maximum BoL (200%)
- AoE Pyro DMG
- Resets the cooldown of her Skill
- Heals herself based on her ATK and BoL
- Clears all BoL
The reason she absorbs nearby marks is because it grants her BoL and her healing partially scales off her current BoL. However, after using the Burst she will be left with no BoL and no Pyro infusion. But thankfully, she can instantly use her Skill since its cooldown will be reset by the Burst.
If Arlecchino is on the brink of death, it is possible to use her Burst to heal her, use her Skill and charged attack, and gain the Pyro infusion back. Since the Burst does not do much DMG, it is not the central part of her kit. It should only be used as a panic heal button.
Ascension 1 Passive: Agony Alone May Be Repaid
This passive is very important in single-target scenarios. It makes it so that defeating a marked enemy will grant 130% BoL. It means you would not lose out on BoL if an enemy dies before absorbing the mark. Waiting 5s before absorbing the mark would upgrade it to the next level and grant 130% BoL when absorbed. This part of the passive is irrelevant while fighting multiple enemies since there is a limit on the maximum BoL that can be obtained from one use of her Skill.
This passive is extremely relevant while fighting singular enemies, like bosses, since normally you could only gain 65% BoL from one marked enemy. Thanks to this passive, you can gain 130% BoL even against single enemies. This is not the same as the maximum of 145% but it is close enough. She can do 17 normal attacks before the Pyro infusion runs out.
Ascension 4 Passive: Strength Alone Can Defend
Arlecchino gains all elemental resistance based on her ATK, maxing out at 20% at 3000 ATK. This is helpful since she cannot be healed by allies in combat, at least she will take reduced DMG.
Utility Passive: The Balemoon Alone May Know
This passive is a huge trade-off. Arlecchino cannot be healed while in combat, but she gains a 40% Pyro DMG bonus. This is only 6% less than a Pyro DMG Goblet. This is much greater than the 33% Pyro DMG bonus that Hu Tao gains while being below 50% health. This is even greater than the Pyro DMG bonus granted when Kazuha Swirls Pyro. Even without a Pyro DMG Goblet or any external buffs, Arlecchino gains a 40% Pyro DMG bonus. This is not even an Ascension Passive, this is available even at level 1.
In exchange for this huge jaw-dropping buff, Arlecchino can only be healed by her Burst while in combat. She can be healed by allies/Statue of the Seven while outside of combat.
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Playstyle
Arlecchino’s playstyle revolves around marking enemies and absorbing marks to gain BoL and Pyro infusion. The main goal is to always have BoL over 30%. While fighting multiple enemies or waves of enemies, you simply do not have to worry about BoL as long as you use her Skill whenever it is available. You don’t even have to wait 5s before absorbing the marks while fighting groups of enemies since 1 marked enemy grants 65% BoL and at least 3 marked enemies will grant the maximum BoL possible.
One of the best things about Arlecchino is that her Pyro infusion does not run out based on a timer, rather it runs out if you hit enemies and deal DMG. She has very little downtime on her Pyro infusion.
Another one of the best things about her is that she can heal herself, and it is a massive amount of healing. She is extremely self-sufficient. She does not even rely on others for a DMG buff since she has an innate 40% Pyro DMG bonus. She does not need healers since her Burst is the only way to heal her.
- Use her Skill
- Cycle through supports/wait for 5s
- Charged attack
- Normal attack until Pyro infusion runs out
- Only use her Burst if you need emergency healing
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Materials
As a Pyro character, Arlecchino uses Agnidus Agate stones for ascension and they can be obtained from the Pyro Hypostasis and the Pyro Regisvine. Her other ascension material, Fragment of a Golden Melody can be obtained from the “Statue of Marble and Brass”. The boss materials for her talents can be obtained from The Knave weekly boss. Players can check this out for a detailed breakdown of Arlecchino’s materials.
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Best Weapons for Arlecchino
Arlecchino’s kit revolves around scaling through ATK, with Crit and EM as sub-stats. Unfortunately for Arlecchino, her F2P-friendly weapons are very limited and there will be a significant damage difference as such. For weapons, you will mainly focus on any weapons that provide high Base ATK with a Crit sub-stat.
5* weapons
| Crimson Moon’s Semblance | Base ATK: 674 CRIT Rate: 22.1% Reason: Arlecchino’s second BiS weapon as it provides CRIT rate and a high amount of ATK bonus. |
| Primordial Jade Winged-Spear | Base ATK: 674 CRIT Rate: 22.1% Reason: Arlecchino’s second BiS weapon as it provides CRIT rate and high amount of ATK bonus. |
| Staff of Homa | Base ATK: 608 CRIT DMG: 66.2% Reason: Converts HP to ATK. |
| Staff of the Scarlet Sands | Base ATK: 542 CRIT Rate: 44.1% Reason: For a more EM-focused build to utilize Vape/Melt/Burgeon builds. |
4* weapons
| Deathmatch | Base ATK: 454 CRIT Rate: 36.8% Reason: Decent amount of CRIT rate. Battle pass weapon. |
| Blackcliff Pole | Base ATK: 510 CRIT DMG: 55.1% Reason: Decent base ATK for a 4* weapon, also a good amount of CRIT DMG. Bought from the in-game shop. |
| Ballad of the Fjords | Base ATK: 510 CRIT Rate: 27.6% Reason: Decent base ATK for a 4* weapon, also a good amount of CRIT rate. Battle pass weapon. |
| White Tassel (R5) | Base ATK: 401 CRIT Rate: 23.4% Reason: Decent amount of CRIT rate. Completely free-to-play. |
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Best Artifacts for Arlecchino
Arlecchino’s artifacts are fairly straightforward to farm and build. Arlecchino is mainly an ATK scaling unit and has a certain new mechanic added to her called the Bond of Life mechanic that takes away her HP to provide more enhanced damage.
As such you would only need to prioritize ATK-related scaling and buffs. You would want an ATK Sands, a Pyro DMG Goblet, and lastly a CRIT Circlet. Sub-stats you should look for are CRIT then EM and lastly ATK, with ER being a bonus, but not needed. Keep in mind that the Sands and Goblet can be inter-changeable depending on your build and team preference when using Arlecchino.
| Sands | Goblet | Circlet |
|---|---|---|
| ATK% (EM for a more Vape Build) | Pyro DMG% (or ATK% for a more consistent build) | CRIT rate/CRIT DMG |
| 4pc Fragment of Harmonic Whimsy | 2-Piece Bonus ATK +18% 4-Piece Bonus When the value of a Bond of Life increases or decreases, this character deals 18% increased DMG for 6s. Max 3 stacks. Reason: Arlecchino’s best-in-slot set. The set provides ATK and gives DMG stack bonus when her Bond of Life changes. It can be maxed out up to 54% DMG bonus. |
| 4pc Gladiator’s Finale | 2-Piece Bonus ATK +18% 4-Piece Bonus If the wielder of this artifact set uses a Sword, Claymore or Polearm, increases their Normal Attack DMG by 35%. Reason: The set provides ATK bonus and Normal Attack DMG Bonus which is perfect for Arlecchino since her main damage will come from her NA and CA. A great set if you haven’t farmed her BiS set yet. |
| 4pc Gilded Dreams | 2-Piece Bonus Increases Elemental Mastery by 80. 4-Piece Bonus Within 8s of triggering an Elemental Reaction, the character equipping this will obtain buffs based on the Elemental Type of the other party members. ATK is increased by 14% for each party member whose Elemental Type is the same as the equipping character, and Elemental Mastery is increased by 50 for every party member with a different Elemental Type. Each of the aforementioned buffs will count up to 3 characters. This effect can be triggered once every 8 seconds. The character who equips this can still trigger its effects when not on the field. Reason: The 4-piece gives both EM and ATK bonuses, which is good for Vaporize/Melt and Burgeon teams. |
As for her ER target, it can vary from low to almost nothing. This is due to many factors, one of which is her Elemental Burst being a low Energy Cost so you’ll get it back fairly quickly depending on your team party and energy sources.
Another main factor is how her Elemental Burst is essentially less prioritized in her kit since it resets her kit’s mechanic and acts as a self-heal for her, similar to Hu Tao. You would only activate her Burst every 2 rotations or so. As such you should generally aim for 100%-130% ER with added Pyro party members.
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Best Team Compositions for Arlecchino
Arlecchino has near permanent uptime of her Pyro infusion, which makes her ideal for almost any team that is based around Pyro reactions like Vaporise, Melt, Reverse Melt, and even Overload. Mono Pyro team is also a great option for her. Check out this article for a detailed breakdown of Arlecchino’s team comps.
Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide: Constellations
She is a complete unit at C0 and she does not need constellations to function. C1/C2/C3 are all good early stopping points. Do not go beyond C3 unless you are a whale who is going for C6. Check out this article for a detailed breakdown of Arlecchino’s constellations.
Did you like our Genshin Impact Arlecchino Guide? Check out our other articles on Genshin Impact below:
- When Genshin Impact Version 4.6 update will be available to pre-install
- Genshin Impact Arlecchino Pre-Farm Guide
- When is Genshin Impact Version 4.7 livestream and update
- HoYoCreators Creator Program: How to join the Genshin Impact Creator Program
What are your thoughts about our guide on Arlecchino in Genshin Impact? Let us know in the comments below!
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