Your guide to Hydro characters in Genshin Impact

Hydro in Genshin Impact is the Element of water, and is very useful for creating high-powered Elemental Reactions. When using Hydro characters, it's key you pair them with the right teammates to make best use of them. Here's what you need to know about Hydro characters and how to use them well.

Hydro is something of a support Element, but it's essential to make some very powerful Elemental Reactions: namely Freeze and Electro-Charged. Freeze helps you control enemies and keep them out of a fight, and Electro-Charged can blast lots of enemies at once. While a Hydro character might not be the centerpiece of your team, they're going to be important to a lot of strategies.

You'll often want a Hydro character paired with an Electro character or a Cryo character for two big, useful Elemental Reactions. Using Hydro abilities on enemies gives them the Wet status, which doesn't do anything on its own, but it makes them highly conductive to Electro abilities.

Applying Electro to any wet enemies triggers Electro-Charged, an Elemental Reaction that deals Electro damage over time, as well as Poise damage to enemies. Do enough Poise damage and you can Stagger enemies, leaving them open to attack. Using Cryo on wet enemies will freeze them in place, allowing you to then shatter them or to focus on other enemies on the battlefield.

Electro and Cryo characters are no-brainers when it comes to Hydro, but you get solid reactions from the other Elemental types too. Using Hydro on an enemy afflicted with Pyro creates Vaporize, which doubles Hydro damage. If you use Hydro on an enemy afflicted with Dendro, you'll create a Dendro core, an object that will explode in six seconds and deal additional Dendro damage.

Pyro on a Dendro core creates Burgeon, exploding it immediately to deal extra damage. Hit a Dendro core with Electro for Hyperbloom, which transforms the core into a seeking Sprawling Shot. A Geo ability on a wet enemy creates a Hydro shard, which you can pick up to create a Hydro shield, while using Anemo on a wet enemy causes Hydro damage and spreads the Wet status to any nearby opponents.

When you pair two Hydro characters on your team at the same time, you'll create an Elemental Resonance effect. With Hydro, Elemental Resonance increases your characters' maximum health by 25%, while you'll be affected by Pyro for 40% less time.

Freeze and Electro-Charged are very powerful Elemental Reactions, so as long as you have a Hydro character paired with a Cryo or Electro character, you'll see great benefits. Since you can get additional damage with a Pyro pairing, defense from Geo, and useful interactions from Dendro, Hydro is a versatile addition to almost any team. You'll often want to use your Hydro character to apply Wet to enemies first, then let your other characters mop up with powerful Elemental Reactions.