Genshin Impact - Kamisato Ayato's Abilities, Artifacts, and Team Comp Guide

Kamisato Ayato, the Yashiro Commissioner and Ayaka's brother, is out now in Genshin Impact. Hydro and a sword-wielder, Ayato's damage is nothing to sneeze at. Where he stacks in the meta of damage (compared to Hu Tao and Ayaka) is currently unknown, but he could easily become the centerpiece of your freeze team. Here's all you need to know about Kamisato Ayato's abilities, artifacts, and more.

Abilities

Normal Attack (Kamisato Art: Marobashi)

• Perform up to 5 rapid strikes.

Elemental Skill (Kamisato Art: Kyouka)

• The tl;dr version since the official description is quite long:
  • Ayato leaves a watery illusion that explodes if enemies are nearby, dealing AoE Hydro dmg.
  • This Kyouka skill also converts his normal attacks into AoE Hydro damage. He also gets a buff, called the Namisen effect (max four stacks), which increases his damage based on his current max HP.

• The full description from Mihoyo:
  • Kamisato Ayato shifts positions and enters the Takimeguri Kanka state.
    After this shift, he will leave a watery illusion at his original location. After it is formed, the watery illusion will explode if opponents are nearby or after its duration ends, dealing AoE Hydro dmg.
  • Takimeguri Kanka: In this state, Kamisato Ayato uses his Shunsuiken to engage in blindingly fast attacks, causing damage from his normal attacks to be converted into AoE Hydro dmg. This cannot be overridden. It also has the following properties:
  • After a Shunsuiken attack hits an opponent, it will grant Ayato the Namisen effect, increasing the dmg dealt by Shunsuiken based on Ayato's current Max HP. The initial maximum number of Namisen stacks is four, and one stack can be gained through Shunsuiken every 0.1s. This effect will be dispelled when Takimeguri Kanka ends.
  • Kamisato Ayato's resistance to interruption is increased.
  • Unable to use Charged or Plunging Attacks.
  • Takimeguri Kanka will be cleared when Ayato leaves the field. Using Kyouka again while in the state will reset and replace the pre-existing state.

Elemental Burst (Kamisato Art: Suiyuu)

• While this space exists, Bloomwater Blades will constantly rain down and attack opponents within its AoE, dealing Hydro damage and increasing the normal attack damage of characters within.

1st Ascension Passive (Kamisato Art: Mine Wo Matoishi Kiyotaki):

• Once Kyouka is triggered, Ayato automatically gains two Namisen stacks.
• When the water illusion explodes, Ayato gains the max number of Namisen stacks possible.

4th Ascension Passive (Kamisato Art: Michiyuku Hagetsu):

• If Ayato's not on the field and his Energy is less than 40, he will regenerate two Energy for himself every second.

Artifact Main Stats And Substats

Here we give advice for building Ayato as a DPS.

Building ATK, Crit, and Crit Dmg% is important for any DPS. The basic rule is to get 70% ATK, 50% Crit min, and 100% Crit Dmg% minimum. The ideal ratio between Crit% and Crit Dmg% is 1:2. Weapon and the individual character's base Crit% and Crit Dmg% stats should also be taken into consideration when maintaining the ratio. (Full credit to Genshin Resources and NGA for compiling and doing the testing on optimized damage output.)

In addition to ATK, Crit, and Crit Dmg% in substats, getting HP substats isn't bad either. Ayato's damage from Namisen stacks scale on his max HP. With all this info in mind, here's the recommended artifact setup.

Artifacts	Suggested Main Stats	Suggested Substats
Flower	HP (no choice here--all Flower artifacts are HP main stat)	Crit/Crit Dmg%, ATK% , HP% / EM
Feather	Flat ATK (no choice here--all Feather artifacts are Flat ATK main stat)	Crit/Crit Dmg%, ATK% , HP% / EM
Sands	ATK%	Crit/Crit Dmg%, HP% / EM
Goblet	ATK% / Hydro Bonus Dmg%	Crit/Crit Dmg%, HP% / EM
Circlet	Crit/Crit Dmg%	ATK%, HP% / EM

So here's the boring section describing the exact numbers: Getting 100% crit is quite difficult, so aiming for 70% crit is reasonable. That means with the 1:2 ratio, you should stack around 140% Crit Dmg%.

Ayato's ascensions increase his Crit Dmg% stat, which is nice. At level 90, Ayato comes with +88.4% Crit Dmg% already. The math then equals getting ~50% Crit Dmg from other sources. What weapon you equip and whether it provides Crit% or Crit Dmg% boost will determine which main stat your Circlet should lean towards.

Artifact Sets

Echoes of An Offering

• 2-piece bonus: ATK +18%

• 4-piece bonus: When normal attack hits opponents, there is a 36% chance that it will trigger Valley Rite, which will increase normal attack dmg by 70% of the attack. This effect will be dispelled 0.05s after a normal attack deals dmg. If a normal attack fails to trigger Valley Rite, the odds of it triggering the next time will increase by 20%. This trigger can occur once every 0.2s.

Heart of Depth

• 2-piece bonus: Hydro DMG Bonus +15%

• 4-piece bonus: After using Elemental Skill, increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack dmg by 30% for 15s.

Weapon

Yes, Mihoyo wants you to get the 5-star Haran Geppaku Futsu (increases Crit%) specifically made for Ayato. But it's pricey and getting what you want from the weapon banner is difficult even on a good day. If you happen to have another five-star weapon, the Jade Cutter (increases Crit%), that's great for Ayato too.

A decent four-star substitute, then, is the The Black Sword (increases Crit%). It increases normal and charged attack damage by 20 to 40%. You can obtain The Black Sword from the battle pass, so it's not strictly a F2P option.

Team Comp

I think Freeze team comps are the way to go, since Freeze is such a powerful elemental reaction. That being said--please experiment! Vape looks promising, and Yun Jin's ATK boosting abilities also seem to possibly have some synergy with Ayato. I haven't run these teams with Ayato yet, so cannot 100% vouch for their effectiveness.

But here is a sample freeze comp teams that I think will do very well:

• 5-star version: Ayato, Kokomi, Kazuha, and Ayaka
• Budget version: Ayato, Barbara, Sucrose, and Rosaria

As we always say, you can use any character to do the content in Genshin. So if you want him, pull for him! However, if you're unsure--it doesn't hurt to wait. Five-star characters always get rerun banners eventually.