The best builds for the Raiden Shogun in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact Raiden Shogun standing in front of her castle.
(Image credit: miHoYo)
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(Image credit: miHoYo)

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Searching for the best Genshin Impact Raiden Shogun build? Inazuma's archon of eternity and Electro is already back for a rerun, despite having first appeared only a few versions ago. In Genshin 2.5, she'll be appearing alongside Kokomi, and her best bud, Yae Miko, as well as in boss form for the new weekly Trounce Domain challenge.

Just like her fellow archons, Zhongli and Venti, the Raiden Shogun is extremely powerful in her own way. Her Eye of Stormy Judgement elemental skill is great for reactions, since it activates when you land a hit, no matter the range, and buffs burst damage for the active character. Her Musou Isshin super state also gains damage from other characters' bursts, and can recharge them in turn when she hits enemies.

In this Genshin Impact Raiden Shogun build guide, I'll take a look at the best setup to take advantage of her energy recharge-scaling damage, as well as her constellations, passives, and the ascension materials you need to level her.

Builds

The best Genshin Impact Raiden Shogun build

Since the Raiden Shogun's Electro damage scales with her energy recharge, any good build for her will try to stack it as high as possible.

Electro DPS

  • Weapons: Engulfing Lightning

The new five-star polearm that arrived in version 2.1 is perfect for Raiden—unsurprising when you consider it's actually her weapon. Engulfing Lightning provides a secondary stat boost to energy recharge, and increases attack 28% of however much energy recharge you have over the base 100%. This offers a maximum bonus of 80%. You also get 30% bonus energy recharge for 12 seconds after casting an elemental burst.

As Raiden's Electro damage scales for every 1% of energy recharge she has over the base 100%, Engulfing Lightning simply adds another layer to that effect.  Some other possible four-star picks are Prototype Starglitter, the Favonius Warlance, or even the new fishing reward spear for version 2.1, The Catch. Though you'll need to farm some Golden Koi if you want it.

  • Artifact: (4) Emblem of Severed Fate

Just as with Sara, the Emblem of Severed Fate artifact set is great for the Raiden Shogun. With a two-piece, she gains 20% energy recharge, further strengthening her, and for four-pieces she gets yet another  bonus based on energy recharge, increasing burst damage by 25% of the stat. You can get a max bonus of 75% this way. Though Engulfing Lightning and Severed Fate both have caps on the damage bonus they can offer Raiden based on energy recharge, her passive ability, Enlightened One, does not. 

This means she should be able to reach some fairly great numbers. If you don't have full Severed Fate, you could also add a couple of pieces of Thundering Fury for the Electro damage bonus, or Exile and Scholar, for their 20% energy recharge boost.

How to unlock

How to get Raiden Shogun in Genshin Impact

The Raiden Shogun returns for a rerun in Genshin Impact 2.5 alongside Kokomi. Since Yae Miko is the first character banner featured in this version on February 16, it won't be until three weeks later that Raiden actually arrives, around March 9. This will probably be your last chance to grab her for quite a long time, so it's worth saving those primogems if you want her in your party.

Abilities

Raiden Shogun's abilities

Here are the Raiden Shogun's abilities, passives, and Constellations:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Normal Attack: Origin
Normal:Performs up to five consecutive spear strikes.
Charged:Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to perform an upward slash.
Plunging: Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE damage upon impact.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elemental Skill
Transcendence - Baleful Light:The Raiden Shogun unveils a shard of her Euthymia, dealing Electro damage to nearby opponents, and granting nearby party members the Eye of Stormy Judgement.
Eye of Stormy Judgement:When characters with this buff attack and hit opponents, the Eye will unleash a coordinated attack, dealing AoE Electro damage at the opponent's position. The Eye can initiate one coordinated attack every 0.9s per party.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elemental Burst
Secret Art - Musou Shinsetsu:Gathering truths unnumbered and wishes uncounted, the Raiden Shogun unleashes the Musou no Hitotachi and deals AoE Electro damage, using Musou Isshin in combat for a certain duration afterward. The damage dealt by Musou no Hitotachi and Musou Isshin's attacks are based on the number of Shogan Byakugen no Rin's Resolve stacks consumed when this skill is used.
Musou Isshin:While in this state, the Raiden Shogun will wield her Tachi in battle, while her Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will be infused with Electro damage, which cannot be overridden. When such attacks hit opponents, she will regenerate Energy for all nearby party members. Energy can be restored this way once every Is, and this effect can be triggered five times throughout this skill's duration. While in this state, the Raiden Shogun's resistance to the interruption is increased, and she is immune to Electro Charged reaction damage.
Shogan Byakugen no Rin:When nearby party members use their Elemental Bursts, the Raiden Shogun will build up Resolve based on the amount of energy they consume. The maximum amount of Resolve stacks is 60.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Passives
Wishes Unnumbered:When nearby party members gain Elemental Orbs or Particles, Shogan Byakugen no Rin gains two Resolve stacks.
Enlightened One:Each 1% above 100% Energy Recharge that the RAiden Shogun possesses grants her 0.6% greater Energy restoration from Musou Isshin and 0.4% Electro damage bonus.
All Preserver:Mora expended when ascending Swords and Polearms decreased by 50%
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Constellations
Ominous Inscription:Shogan Byakugen no Rain will gather Resolve even faster. When Electro characters use their Elemental Bursts, the Resolve gained is increased by 80%. When characters of other Elemental Types use their Elemental Bursts, the Resolve gained is increased by 20%.
Pledge of Propriety:When the Musou Isshin state applied by Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu expires, all nearby party members (excluding the Raiden Shogun) gain 30% bonus ATK for 10s.
Shinkage Bygones:Increases the Level of Secret Art: Musuo Shinsetsu by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Steelbreaker:While in the Musou Isshin state applied by Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu, the Raiden Shogun's attacks ignore 60% of opponents' DEF.
Shogun's Descent:Increases the Level of Transcendence: Baleful Light by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Wishbearer:While in the Musou Isshin state applied by Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu, the Raiden Shogun's Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will decrease all nearby party members' (but not including the Raiden Shogun herself) Elemental Burst CD by 1s when they hit opponents. This effect can trigger once every 1s and can trigger a total of 5 times during the state's duration.

Ascension materials

(Image credit: miHoYo)

Raiden Shogun Ascension materials

Character

In order to level the Raiden Shogun, you're going to need the usual Vajrada Amethyst for Electro characters, but you'll also require Storm Beads, which you can get from the Thunder Manifestation on Seirai Island after you complete the Seirai Stormchasers quest. You're also going to need some world materials:

  • Amakumo Fruit
  • Old Handguard

The Amakumo Fruit can be found all over Seirai Island—this Amakumo Fruit locations guide should help you find them. Since Old Handguards and their upgraded versions were Ayaka's ascension material, most people should be familiar with them by now. They are dropped by Nobushi—the wandering swordsmen you can find all over Inazuma.

Talent

Here's what you'll need to ascend the Raiden Shogun's talents:

  • Teachings of Light
  • Old Handguard
  • Crown of Insight
  • Molten Moment

You can get Teachings of Light-series items from the Violet Court domain on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. As mentioned, Old Handguards and their upgraded variants are dropped by Nobushi of different world levels, and you can the Crown of Insight from seasonal activities, or upgrading the Frostbearing Tree in Dragonspine, or the Sacred Sakura in Inazuma.

The final material, Molten Moment, is gained by defeating the new La Signora weekly boss on level 70 and above.

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Sarah James
Guides Writer

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she's quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.