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Is Hu Tao Still Worth It? In-Depth Review for Genshin Impact 3.4

As the wangshu funeral parlor director Hu Tao approaches her fourth rerun banner, many Travelers are wondering – is one of Genshin‘s top pyro DPS characters still worth investing in during the 3.4 update?

As a passionate Hu Tao main myself, I‘m here to provide an in-depth review analyzing her abilities, best teams, and current meta standing to help you decide if she deserves your precious Intertwined Fates.

An Overview of Hu Tao‘s Unique Kit

As a polearm-wielding pyro character, Hu Tao occupies an interesting niche in Genshin Impact. She ascended as a top-tier single target DPS upon her initial release, bringing bursty charged attack damage that still holds up over a year later.

Let‘s briefly recap Hu Tao‘s talents:

  • Paramita Papilio – Hu Tao‘s elemental skill infuses her attacks with pyro and boosts her ATK based on her max HP. This enables her to hit hard during its duration. It also gives her a ghostly sprint, one of my personal favorite cosmetic effects in the game!

  • Blood Blossom – Charged attacks and elemental skill apply this special damage-over-time effect. It looks stunning with blooming red shards and passively boosts her single target DPS.

  • Guide to Afterlife – Tao‘s elemental burst drains her HP to buff her pyro DMG. It deals AoE pyro damage and heals based on the damage dealt. Landing the damage and heal timing properly takes practice but pays dividends.

  • Flutter By – Increases Hu Tao‘s charged attack DMG. Her C1 adds an extra charge to her skill, allowing a devastating double nuke rotation. Higher cons further improve her charged attacks and DMG scaling.

With the right artifacts, weapon, and team composition Hu Tao can unleash terrifying bursts of pyro pain onto enemies. Her playstyle also uniquely revolves around keeping her HP low to maximize damage, adding risk vs reward tension that keeps combat exciting compared to braindead options cough Ganyu cough.

So how effectively can Hu Tao still melt faces in Genshin‘s current Spiral Abyss meta? Let‘s analyze her damage potential in-depth.

Quantifying Hu Tao‘s Impressive Damage Potential

Though many new DPS characters have released since launch, Hu Tao remains competitive as one of Genshin‘s top single target killers. She boasts impressive strengths that allow her to keep vaporizing enemies with ease:

1) Extremely Strong Charged Attack Scaling

Hu Tao‘s bread and butter are her meteor-striking charged attacks. Between talent modifiers, C1‘s bonus charge, and Homa‘s DMG bonus they hit brutally hard.

  • At talent level 9, her CAs deal a whopping 307% ATK + 22% HP scaling.

  • With Level 90 Homa‘s passive plus its 674 base ATK and 66% CDMG, you can expect to easily hit for 60-70k+ CA vapes.

  • My personal best CA vape was a meaty 127k crit in Floor 7 PMA thanks to Bennett buffs and sucrose EM sharing pushing her damage ceiling higher.

Each CA‘s fiery crimson explosion coupled with the Blood Blossom DOT effect enable her to churn out Volkswagen-sized damage numbers in seconds. It never gets old watching health bars instantaneously evaporate under the assault.

2) Frontloaded Burst Potential

By sacrificing a chunk of HP, Hu Tao‘s elemental burst Guide to Afterlife buffs her already gigantic pyro damage even further for a short duration.

  • The burst provides a 1-2 punch of moderate AoE pyro damage on casting followed by her entering a Pyro Infusion state for 8s, granting a whopping 33% pyro DMG bonus at Talent level 8.

  • This allows her to unload her full combos with reckless abandon during those 8 seconds to unleash her peak potential in risky one-rotation bursts perfect for speedrunning content.

  • With Bennett buff active, I‘ve unleashed 170k CA melts thanks to the temporary power spike window. Plan your rotation precisely to capitalize on her burst mode uptime.

3) Reliable Vaporize Reactions

Applying pyro fast enough to amplify both her charged attacks and burst via Vaporize isn‘t easy. But paired with Xingqiu or Yelan‘s rain swords/bow shots, Hu Tao can reliably react for potent 1.5x DMG on most attacks.

  • Both Xingqiu‘s C2+ and Yelan‘s Passives enable their burst rain effects to match the frequency of Hu Tao‘s top-tier multipliers.

  • This enables Tao to trigger near-constant Vaporize explosions to actualize her terrifying damage ceiling.

So what teams best accentuate these Hu Tao strengths? Let‘s analyze the top meta compositions.

Evaluating Hu Tao‘s Best Team Compositions

To enable Hu Tao to unleash her explosive potential, she needs teammates that can:

  1. Provide ample hydro application for vaporize reactions
  2. Boost her sizable multipliers even higher
  3. Support sustain/shielding due to her low HP mechanic.

Two primary team archetypes currently dominate the meta for housing our menacing little arsonist:

Double Hydro Hu Tao

  • Hu Tao, Xingqiu, Yelan, Flex (Zhongli)

By pairing her with both Xingqiu AND Yelan, this squad enables Tao to dish out a relentless deluge of Vaporize CA and Q explosions. The dual hydro applicators feed her pyro attacks consistently to react while tacking on substantial personal damage.

Yelan‘s mobility and 18s lasting burst duration allows near 100% Vaporize uptime for Hu Tao. Meanwhile Xingqiu chips in defensive utility via minor healing, DMG reduction, and stagger resistance.

Though squishier without Zhongli‘s shield, this hyper offense team disintegrates even tanky single targets with absurd speed. Some calcs from KeqingMains demonstrate the sheer damage potential:

  • In an example 10s rotation, this team comp deals ~590k damage. Nearly 200k coming just from Hu Tao herself.
  • That dwarfs sustain options, only trailing the offensive juggernaut Raiden Hypercarry team in overall DPS.
  • Very comfortable to play, essentially enabling you to unga bunga spam CA into Q off cooldown while watching enemies disappear.

Vaporize Melt Hu Tao

  • Hu tao, Xingqiu, Cryo Sub DPS (Kaeya, Rosaria), Zhongli

A more defensive take, this team still enables consistent Vaporize for Hu Tao‘s CA and burst through Xingqiu. But it adds a cryo sub DPS to enable Melt spikes as well by weaving their bursts together.

Zhongli‘s beefy shield and resistance shred coupled with a healer like Diona provides ample sustain. This makes it a very comfy variation to pilot – the team has leeway to make a mistake or face tank some hits without Hu Tao risking deaths from her low HP mechanic.

Let‘s compare how some common cryo subs fare:

  • Kaeya provides great burst uptime and energy refund for Hu Tao while enabling occasional melts on her normal attacks. But being constrained to melee range limits his personal damage a bit.
  • Rosaria brings longer duration on her icy lance and can still contribute solid damage with her own reverse melts. Great budget option that many may have well-built already.
  • My personal favorite is Diona for the balance of particle generation, healing and stamina reduction to further buff Tao‘s CA spam. Her Icy Paws infusion even enables Tao to start melting away.

While slightly less overload DPS than Double Hydro teams on paper, the comfort and sustain of mixing cryo really eases the execution and reduces the risk of Hu Tao dying prematurely if you mismanage her HP bar. I wholeheartedly recommend VaporMelt teams for most casual players over trying to min-max finicky speedrun variations you see on Youtube showcases.

How Does Hu Tao Compare to Other Pyro DPS Characters?

As one of four 5-star pyro damage dealers, how does Hu Tao‘s performance compare against Diluc, Yoimiya, Klee and potential alternatives? Let‘s evaluate her standings by the numbers:

Yoimiya

While great against mobile enemies, in stationary single target situations Yoimiya struggles to match Hu Tao‘s vaporized CA spam:

  • Lacks AoE potential outside of her burst compared to Tao‘s AoE charged attacks and Q explosions
  • Overall DPS is slightly lower even in single-target – 105k from Yoi in 7s vs 127k from Hu Tao‘s CA combo
  • Requires Zhongli shielder to avoid interruption compared to Tao who can trade some HP for poise during her skill infusion
  • Less flexible team building since she relies heavily on Yun Jin, Bennett, and Zhongli for max damage

So while a more comfort pick for mobile combat, Yoimiya lags behind Hu Tao‘s CA vaporizes with longer DPS windows on tankier enemies.

Diluc

A very beginner friendly unit with consistent pyro application enabling vaporizes. But his dated multipliers and slow claymore attacks significantly hamper his damage:

  • Slower attack speed compared to Hu Tao – 3 CAs in ~5s compared to 8 CAs from jump cancels
  • Lower talent scaling on burst and skill
  • Struggles with energy refund compared to Tao‘s high particle generation
  • Team reliant on Xingqiu with no flex spot – Hu Tao enjoys double hydro + shielder/healer combos

Overall Hu Tao‘s overwhelming multipliers allow her to decisively outpace Diluc, hitting over 2x harder on their trademark Q -> CA combos. Powercrept, sadly.

Klee

While tricky to handle with animation cancels and stamina demands, Klee‘s ICD advantage and heavier AoE capabilities edge out Hu Tao in multi-target abyss situations thanks to her shorter cooldowns and quadratic scaling burst.

But in longer single target encounters Hu Tao pulls ahead slightly thanks again to her ridiculous CA and skill modifiers compared to Klee‘s normals.

In AoE they serve different purposes, with Klee focused on spreading reactions and Tao nuking down isolated priority targets. Klee enjoys the current Dendro-focused meta requiring pyro appliance more as well. Hu Tao still reigns supreme as the ST queen however.

Xiangling

As a 4-star, Xiangling can‘t match 5-star Hu Tao‘s lofty base attack and crit damage ascension. But the ultimate chef‘s versatility and AoE Overload/Vape potential rival even Tao‘s single-target prowess:

  • Her off-field sustained pyro from Guoba and Burst rivals swap-in characters for dps uptime
  • Capable of vaporizing most pyronado hits thanks to Xingqiu rainswords
  • Wins in AoE situations thanks to quadratic scaling, no ICD, and easy reactions
  • Easier to build and less reliant on specific 5-star weapons/cons to excel

So while Hu Tao‘s peak potential against lone targets remains unmatched, consider options like Xiangling if needing coverage against waves of enemies or lacking Tao‘s expensive top-tier supports.

Gauging Hu Tao‘s Value for New Players vs Veterans

With Hu Tao‘s phenomenal ST damage viability confirmed, should newer players wish on her upcoming banner? Or veterans cons? Let‘s assess her value at different account stages.

For newer Travelers under AR45, I hesitate to universally recommend pulling Hu Tao immediately. As your first main DPS, cheaper 4-star pyro options like Yanfei, Xiangling, Yoimiya may suit initial needs better on a limited budget.

Hu Tao also makes heavy demands of supports you likely lack until deeper into endgame:

  • Requires shielding or healing to balance low HP playstyle
  • Needs Xingqiu badly to react, further intensifying demand
  • Prefers Homa/C1 to extract her maximum potential
  • Demands great artifacts to scale her HP/Crit damage focus

So I suggest waiting until you have raised second teams and supports to fill needs like healing/shielding/energy coverage first before chasing a hypercarry like Hu Tao. Secure Xingqiu as your free Liyue character early on as well.

For veterans at AR55+, Hu Tao remains a very enticing pull if you lack her C1, Staff of Homa, or any 5-star pyro DPS.

Her stellar ST damage and diverse team options make her a versatile asset for abyss and new content alike. I‘ve 36 starred multiple Spiral Abyss cycles thanks to her trusty AoE charged spam decimating even the tankiest floors.

Those with C0 can consider chasing future cons as well:

  • Her C1 adds huge quality of life, enabling smoother rotations and energy management. Nearly required IMO to maintain skill uptime on tough enemies.
  • C2-C6 offer minor dmg bumps, mostly helping newer players struggling with stamina issues. Nice but not essential purchases.

Ideally you‘ll have spare copies of Homa/Dragon‘s Bane leveled for her best weapon options before wishing heavily.

Final Verdict on Hu Tao‘s Value

Taking all factors in account, Hu Tao remains a top-tier single target DPS character that both new and veteran players can heavily benefit from owning if given the proper investments.

For lighter spenders/F2P who have already raised Xingqiu and a 2nd hydro like Yelan, I believe C0 Hu Tao + 4-star weapon like Dragon‘s Bane can inflict some crazy numbers with the right artifact build.

Pull her this round if you have the supporting cast to truly enable her strengths. Her versatility granting both cozy defensive choices like VaporMelt or offensive explosions via Double Hydro means Hu Tao adepts at many situations endgame throws at you. I still use her as a trusty boss killer in overworld weekly fights even after raising tons of other DPS characters thanks to her raw damage throughput.

Otherwise wait until you raise better supports and can guarantee her weapon/cons to extract her maximum explosive potential. Don‘t doom our adorable little prankster to the bench by wishing prematurely!

Hu Tao isn‘t going anywhere in future reruns, and you want the best bang for your primos buck when finally adding this beloved harbinger of doom to your roster.

So in summary – yes, a well invested Hu Tao still absolutely demolishes enemies and provides invaluable single target DPS coverage for nearly all Genshin accounts. But carefully evaluate if you can properly empower her unique playstyle before swiping enthusiastically on her alluring banner.

I hope this extensive Hu Tao review helps you determine if this deadly director deserves a spot on your personal Genshin Impact team in the coming updates and beyond! Please share any other thoughts/questions on everyone‘s favorite funeral parlor pyromaniac in the comments below!