The five-star Pyro Polearm character Hu Tao is one of Genshin Impact’s oldest recruits. She was first released on March 2, 2021, yet she still remains one of the strongest damage dealers you can add to your team.
Hu Tao excels at Pyro application and will help you navigate through even the toughest of battles as long as you learn to master her complex health-draining abilities. To help your version of Hu Tao become as powerful and reliable as possible, it’s important to equip her with the best artifacts possible.
What are the best artifacts for Hu Tao in Genshin Impact?
The overall best artifacts you can equip Hu Tao with are the full four-piece Crimson Witch of Flames set. No other set compares if you are hoping to enhance Hu Tao’s overall DPS capabilities.
This set amplifies the most important areas of her skillset, which is her powerful Pyro damage and the damage output of Pyro centric elemental reactions.
The areas that are most important to focus on when selecting the best artifacts for Hu Tao are:
- Pyro damage
- Critical rate
- Critical damage
- Health points
- Attack
Crimson Witch of Flames
- Two-piece effect: Raises Pyro damage by 15 percent.
- Four-piece effect: Increases the damage dealt by the Overloaded, Burgeon, and Burning elemental reactions by 40 percent and raises the damage dealt by the Melt and Vaporize elemental reactions by 15 percent. After an elemental skill is used, the effects of the two-piece set are then raised by 50 percent of the starting value for the next 10 seconds. This effect can stack up to three times.
- Location: This set can be obtained from the Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula Domain in Bishui Plain, Liyue.
While Crimson Witch of Flames is the overall best choice for Hu Tao, there are a couple of other options you can also consider if you need to amplify other specific aspects of Hu Tao’s skillset.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
- Two-piece effect: Raises attack by 18 percent.
- Four-piece effect: After an elemental skill is cast and when the equipping recruit has 15 or more energy, 15 energy is then consumed to increase normal, charged, and plunging attack damage by 50 percent for the next 10 seconds. This effect will not be triggered again while it is already active.
- Location: You can obtain this set by taking on the Momiji-Dyed Court Domain in Yashiori Island, Inazuma.
The Shimenawa’s Reminiscence set can be a strong choice for Hu Tao if you are trying to build her general attack and plan to use her basic attack, charged attack, and plunging attack frequently. This set does only complement a very specific playstyle for Hu Tao, though, so it’s best to avoid if this does not sound like it fits the way you play her.
Tenacity of the Millelith
- Two-piece effect: Increases health points by 20 percent.
- Four-piece effect: After an elemental skill has struck an opponent, all party members have their attack increased by 20 percent, and shield strength is raised by 30 percent for three seconds. This effect can be activated once every 0.5 seconds regardless of whether the equipping character is on the battlefield.
- Location: You’ll find this set at the Ridge Watch Domain in Bishui Plain, Liyue.
Health points are a crucial part of building Hu Tao since she both scales off of them and needs a lot of them to survive with her health-draining abilities, so the two-piece Tenacity of the Millelith set can be paired with a two-piece Crimson Witch of Flames set or another set for powerful effects.
Vourukasha’s Glow
- Two-piece effect: Increases health points by 20 percent.
- Four-piece effect: Elemental skill and elemental burst damage are raised by 10 percent with this set equipped. When the equipping recruit takes damage, this boost is increased by 80 percent for five seconds. This ability can stack up to five times and each stack will always be determined separately from the other stacks. The effects that this artifact set provides can be activated regardless of whether the equipping character is on the battlefield.
- Location: You can obtain this set from the Molten Iron Fortress Domain in Girdle of the Sands, Sumeru.
The Vourukasha’s Glow set is another two-piece option for Hu Tao if you are trying to build her health points. It can be paired with any set you like, but Crimson Witch of Flames is generally the best choice so you can amplify Hu Tao’s Pyro damage, which builds her DPS skillset.
If you don’t grant Hu Tao a set that has dedicated health points, you’ll probably want to ensure she has one of the best healers in Genshin at her side or it will be tough to keep her alive. A strong shielder like Zhongli can work too, but a healer is generally more reliable overall.
Gilded Dreams
- Two-piece effect: Raises elemental mastery by 80.
- Four-piece effect: Before eight seconds have passed following an elemental reaction being triggered, the equipping character will receive certain buffs depending on what kind of characters are in the party with them. Attack will be raised by 14 percent for each party member who has the same element as the wearer, which would be Pyro for Hu Tao, and elemental mastery is increased by 50 for every character who is a different element, which is any element other than Pyro for Hu Tao. These buffs can be counted on up to three characters which includes the entire party beyond Hu Tao herself. This effect can be activated regardless of whether the equipping character is on the battlefield and can be triggered once every eight seconds.
- Location: This set can be found at the Spire of Solitary Enlightenment Domain in Dharma Forest, Sumeru.
If you are building your Hu Tao team to be extremely focused on elemental sections, you might want to consider the Gilded Dreams set for her. The effects of this set do require you to think carefully about what your Hu Tao team looks like, though, so this set is only a viable choice if you are prepared to craft a team carefully around her.
