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Dragon Strike is the unofficial name for a combo move that has existed in Genshin Impact since the game’s early days. While not an actual mechanic, you can use this exploit to increase your DPS while taking down foes in style.
What is Dragon Strike in Genshin Impact?
In Genshin Impact, Dragon Strike is when you weave a plunge attack into your combo without needing to climb anything or use a character’s innate skill to get into the air. Some characters, such as Kazuha and Keqing, can naturally perform a plunge attack in the middle of combat using their Skill. However, with Dragon Strike, you can perform a plunge attack with anyone and anywhere.
In saying that, though, Claymore characters like Diluc and Eula are the best for pulling off Dragon Strike, thanks to their slower hit. Dragon Strike takes advantage of hit lag, and a claymore user’s slower animation gives you more time than the faster ones of a Sword or Polearm character.
How to use Dragon Strike in Genshin Impact
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use Dragon Strike:
- Prepare a party with two Anemo characters and a Claymore character. You can use Diona for your extra slot since her shield provides an SPD boost to your character.
- When hitting enemies, watch for when the damage numbers appear above an enemy after an attack.
- Input sprint, and then a jump. From my experience, the direction does not really matter, but sprinting towards the enemy had a slightly higher success rate.
- Use a plunge attack and then keep on attacking.
Large enemies with plenty of HP, such as Ruins Guards, are a great way to practice Dragon Strike since you can whale on it for quite some time before it dies. You can also give your character a less powerful weapon if you find yourself killing the enemy before it dies. It takes a lot of practice because the window you have to use Dragon Strike is so severe.
Unfortunately, watching videos don’t help too much. This is a technique that is easier to pick up in-game with practice since you can start to get a feel for when you should input the sprint. I have found that using a Skill to lead into Dragon Strike is a lot easier.
As a note, pulling off Dragon Strike without Diona or Anemo Resonance is possible. For example, I could pull it off with Navia in a Crystallize-oriented party without Anemo characters. Anemo Resonance helps, though, due to the speed boost that helps to increase your movement speed. Diona, too, helps because of the 10% speed boost her shield offers if you have her Cat’s Tail Secret Menu Talent.
However, I personally do not recommend using Diona due to how short her shield’s length of time is. I also find that her 10% speed boost does not significantly increase your chances of successfully pulling off the attack. In fact, it was easier to use Dragon Strike without her, as I could focus on my DPS without worrying about the shield.
Which characters are best for Dragon Strike?
As mentioned earlier, Claymore characters are ideal due to the hit lag. Diluc, as the best Claymore DPS at launch, is the face of this technique. However, other Claymore characters can work as well. I do not recommend characters like Sayu and Dori due to their smaller size, which can impede how much air they can get. They can still use it, though.
As of Version 4.3, here are all the Claymore characters in Genshin Impact you can practice Dragon Strike with:
- Beidou
- Chongyun
- Dehya
- Diluc
- Dori
- Eula
- Freminet
- Itto
- Kaveh
- Navia
- Noelle
- Razor
- Sayu
- Xinyan
Genshin Impact is available on PS4, PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices.
