In thisGenshin Impact GuideI’ll be explaining how to play the five star, Geo support,Albedo.This is not a specific team build guide, but rather an in-depth analysis of the character, and his various roles. There are several amazing support characters in-game, and they really do deserve the spotlight. So I intend on continuing to release a series of support characters guides, going in detail on how to use them. Check out previous entries in the series,Shenhe In-Depth Cryo Support GuideandSangonomiya Kokomi In-Depth Hydro Support Guide.
Albedo In-Depth Geo Support Guide | Genshin Impact
Albedois another five-star character that can only be obtained through a limited banner. So the decision to use your wishes on this character requires some consideration. Hopefully through this guide, you will work out whether it’s worth it for you when he gets a rerun banner. Contrary to most recent characters from Inazuma, who are very specialized units; Albedo is more general in approach, having not very much tied to his Geo element. So you could use him in and out of Geo teams, and he will do a consistent job. If you are building a team, and you fill main roles with characters you have, and you don’t have a proper character in the fourth slot; chances are high, thatAlbedois a good fit for that missing slot.
As a Sword user,Albedoactually has his best two-weapon picks available as free weapons, meaning you won’t have to spend precious Primogems on a weapon banner. When it comes to Artifact Sets, he can easily adapt one full set, or run on a hybrid one. For stats, Albedo’s leans on the easier side of builds; as he uses the Def stat, which is not contested by other DPS builds and support characters. Though he still requires some farming to get the optimum Crit sub stats. But overall, he’s easy to build and he’s faster to kick start early on in the game, making this character a good choice. Let’s get into what roles he can fulfil!
Albedo Support Roles
In Genshin Impact, there are five main roles, for support characters to fulfil:Damage Mitigation, either by shielding, healing, or damage reduction buffs.Damage Buffer, through various stats boosts to team members.Energy Battery, where support characters are able to generate a lot of energy, to fulfil Burst requirements for high energy cost damage dealers.Enabler, which either applies certain elements to start a reaction or performs certain actions required for the main DPS to function (this includes on-field Drivers, who use normal attacks to proc attacks from off-field DPS). Finally, the most basic form of support is theSub-DPS,where support characters just provide some extra damage.
Typically, a good support can fulfil two or more roles, while a great support can fulfil either most of them, or one of them to a great extent. So let’s go through all roles, and explore howAlbedoperforms in each.
Damage Buffer (6/10)
Albedo’s kit has one buff to his team, and it’s anElemental Masteryincrease by 120, after casting his Burst. The buff has a 10 seconds duration, and his burst has low ER requirement, fast cast animation, and mere 12 seconds cooldown. So it’s a buff that has a very high uptime during most rotations, whether characters snapshot the buff, or use it dynamically.
Unfortunately, EM buff is not as universal as Attack or Crit buffs. So its usefulness is a bit limited to teams who have main DPS relying on reactions to deal damage. In teams with Amplifying Reactions such as Melt or Vaporize,Albedocan replace the Anemo unit.Albedo’s EM buff is similar toSucrose, but unlike her and all Anemo characters, he can’t shred enemy elemental resistance. So using him will result in a smaller damage buff to the main damage dealer, but will be compensated byAlbedo’s personal damage added to the team.
With a rather low investment,Albedois a solid replacement, if not better. However, at the very endgame, with high investment, the damage increase on the main damage dealer becomes more relevant thanAlbedo’s personal damage. That’s especially true for teams with very high DPS characters such asAyakaorGanyuMelt teams. The exact breaking point whereAlbedobecomes a worse damage buffer is up for debate.
Another benefit of usingAlbedocomes with Geo resonance, which gives the team a straight-up 15% damage increase while protected by a shield. So for most teams that useZhonglias a support,Albedocan have a place as a second Geo character.
Energy Battery (7/10)
Albedoregenerates decent Geo particles while off field, which is fine for Geo teams. Some Geo main DPS characters such asArataki Itto, orNoellerequire a lot of energy to keep their burst up.Albedohelps ease this burden on them, by merely casting his skill and switching out. His skill has a very short cooldown, and very long uptime so you surely have it up 100% of the time. It’s also easy to reposition it if enemies spawn or move to a different spot.
But unlike top battery characters,Albedodoesn’t use any of the energy-generating weapons, such as the Favonius or Sacrificial series. So his energy generation is limited to his own skill, but no extra particles from weapon passives. That prevents him from being a true battery for none Geo characters, even though he still helps them a little.
By comparison,Albedois slightly better thanZhongliat energy generation, assuming both hit with every tick of their skill. However,Zhongli’s skill is even harder to keep hitting enemies, whileAlbedois much more consistent. So overall,Albedowins overall when compared toZhongli. On the other hand,Ningguangat C2, with team switching to her every 6 seconds to cast her skill could generate more energy for a team. However, it’s a very clunky playstyle, and only justified if you useNingguangas a main DPS, and not as a support. So again,Albedois a more stable and easy to use battery.
One last thing to consider aboutAlbedo, is that his energy generation is RNG based. So in some rotations, you end up getting a team burst up earlier, while some might miss a tick or two to randomness. So you are advised to build ER slightly higher than recommended levels.
Sub-Dps (10/10)
The main role ofAlbedois a sub-DPS, and that’s why we prioritize building him with all of the offensive stats, artifact set, and weapon. BuildingAlbedoas a sub DPS is the most efficient tactic, and should always be a priority. That’s especially true with the way he scales DPS with Def stat, rather than Attack. Def has more efficient scaling, and yields a better outcome.
What truly makes Albedo shine as a sub DPS is the Geo resonance, which buffs Albedo twice: First by giving a generic damage multiplier, and second by shredding Geo resistances of enemies. With this, Albedo doesn’t need any external buff to do his job. So you may throw him in any team that already has one Geo character, and he will fit nicely.
The other component ofAlbedodamage is the uptime of his damage-dealing ability.AlbedoElemental skill leaves a Geo construct that lasts for 30 seconds and has a 4 seconds cooldown. So no matter how long your team rotation is, you have 100% uptime with Albedo damage. So even though he doesn’t deal big, flashy numbers the fact that he persists with a longer time period dealing damage, results in higher average damage. His damage is also an AOE, and if you can really gather enemies very close to each other, he shotguns all enemies several times per hit.
Finally, the best weapons forAlbedoare entirely free weapons, so he’s a very cheap unit to kick off. If you intend to maximize his damage, you may farm his best artifact set faster than other DPS characters. The reason is, that the Def stat is easier to roll than the attack stat.
Damage Calculations
I’ve done some calculations forAlbedo’s damage in a high DPS team such asNingguang,Albedo,Yae Miko, andBennett.Albedodeals over 30% ofthe team’s total DPS, even though teams have three DPS characters, andAlbedodoesn’t benefit from the buffs of the fourth character. This shows how reliable he’s in a sub-DPS role.
Enabler (5/10)
Albedodoesn’t enable any team by himself, since he’s mostly a DPS, and doesn’t offer much to other team mates. However, if you have any team with one geo character already (such asZhongli), thenAlbedois the best Geo character to pair with that team. Having two characters of Geo element gives generic damage buff to the entire team, and higher shield strength. SoAlbedotechnically enables Geo resonance, but he’s not the only character that can accomplish that.
In some cases, if you useZhonglias a shielded source, you don’t need a second Geo, to begin with. 15% damage for the entire team is really a strong buff, but there are other sources for similar buffs. In several scenarios, you will need certain elements in team to setup reactions, so Geo will not be your best pick. So in reality, it could go either way.
One team that can putAlbedoto good use isHu Tao,Xingqiu,Zhongli, andAlbedo. The only reaction in play is Vaporize, which needs a sole Hydro enabler such asXingqiu. So the reaction part is fulfilled, andHu Taocan’t use strong buffers likeBennett. That’s why havingAlbedoenabling Geo resonance is much more effective.
Another team setup such asZhongli,FischlandBeidoucan’t really afford to useAlbedo. This team usesZhonglias an on-field carry, and uses the Electro couple to deal damage. However, it lacks a buffer, and lack reactions. So we have to prioritize using either a Pyro or Hydro character to get reactions or use a strong buffer to capitalize on the damage of the three characters we already have. So we choose a shield bot such asXinyanwho can provide both: consistent Pyro application, and team buff withTenacity of the Millelith.
Damage Mitigation (5/10)
The Geo Element naturally generates small Crystalized shields, that are weak, but can mitigate one hit or two.Albedoapplies Geo every 2 seconds in AOE, and generates one or more Crystalized shield. If your active character picks them frequently, they would have acceptable damage mitigation. That’s more noticeable with Geo resonance which grants shield strength, and after usingAlbedoburst, which grants 120 EM, that also increases shield strength for crystalized shields.
However, if you are usingAlbedowithZhongli, who have the strongest shields in game, then you don’t really care about Crystalize shields. If you don’t useZhongli, then you have to worry about interruption resistance more than damage. The reason being is that enemies have grown to be very aggressive in Genshin, and they perform attacks with strong impact, that tends to knock down, knock back, and chain stun players. So you really need a decent resistance to interruption in most teams to get through.
Albedolacks resistance to interruption, and weak Crystalized shields doesn’t help a lot. So you run a risk there, especially if you have no healer on the team. The redeeming qualities forAlbedothough are the high invulnerability frames while casting his skill and burst. By invulnerability frames, I mean the special animation of his burst and skill, where no enemy attack affects him at all. Paired with the short cooldown, and small energy cost ofAlbedo’s burst, you can get decent invulnerability frames in every rotation, to get through the most aggressive moves of enemies.
It’s an effective way to play, especially in quick swap teams, but hard to master a playstyle. So it’s your choice if you want to play without any damage mitigation in such a team.
Best Team Archetypes for Albedo
Every support character you get from limited banners should fit in more than one team comp. That way, you get more value out of your resin and build a flexible roster.Albedois a semi-flexible support, since he can slot into virtually any team. However to be really efficient at it, he needs Geo resonance. In this section, I’ll go through the basic concept of every team Albedo can build.
Amplifying Reaction Teams
Namely Melt and Vaporize, and their Reverse counterparts.Albedois surprisingly a good fit in some of these teams, since his EM buff contributes very good damage to the Amplifying reactions. Basically, EM is a flat number, that converts to a multiplier when used in damage formula. Main damage dealer characters always face the hard choice of using EM or Attack as the main stat on Timepiece, as they are mutually exclusive stats. And the general advice is to use EM stats, is if the team has an Attack buffer, and uses Attack stats otherwise.
Albedotake care of the EM buff, even if the team doesn’t have an Attack buffer, while adding a generic damage multiplier to the entire team. This allows him to fill several roles, since he still has his personal damage to contribute to the team.
However, this role is valid only if team the team can fill the reaction requirement with two (or a maximum of three) characters. That means, you need to have a very strong aura source (such asXingqiufor Hydro). Strong element application on main DPS is required to cause frequent Amplifying reactions (such asHu Taofor Pyro). This team consisting ofHu TaoandXingqiuis self-sufficient, in terms of not needing more characters contributing to the reaction. So it has room for two flexible characters, and allows not onlyAlbedo, but alsoZhonglifor shielding and Geo resonance.
Teams with Venti
I have mentioned the term “quadratic scaling” before, which means the damage keeps multiplying as the enemy number gets higher. So if yourAlbedodeals X damage per hit on a single target, he will deal 4X against two targets. The way this scaling work is as follows:
All of this craze scaling occurs only in the small AOE radius of the Transient Blossoms, so they really require enemies to be very close. The only effective way to get enemies that close in range, is by using a strong Anemo gathering talent such asVenti’s burst. ForVenti’s talent to work effectively, enemies have to be lightweight, so they can be pulled very tight. But assuming you meet these conditions,Albedo’s damage becomes one of the strongest in the game.
If Albedo deals 20k per hit on a single target, with a mere three enemies gathered this allows Albedo to deal 60k damage on each. That’s 180k damage in two seconds flat, or 780k damage on Venti’s 8 seconds Burst duration, from Albedo alone. Now pair them with other quadratic scaling characters such asGanyuand Ayato, and you delete entire floors in mere seconds.
Even paired with linear scaling characters, such asAyato, Yae, orLisa, it allow very strong AOE against small enemies.
The natural fit forAlbedois in Geo teams, with one Geo main DPS, and one or more Geo supports. Albedo can fulfil all his roles in a Geo team, as he generates Geo particles to recharge Geo characters burst, he deals more damage with Geo resonance, and much more damage if paired with a Def buffer such asGorou.
Albedofits with all Geo main DPS, be itNingguang,Arataki Itto, orNoelle. His ER generation is not enough to batteryNoelleas sole Geo support, but if you extend Noelle’s rotation, it’s easy to solve this problem. WithNingguang,Albedooffers the least buffs, but his consistent AOE DPS makes up forNingguangfocusing on a single target. As forArataki Itto, he benefits a lot from using Gorou as a support, because he buffs bothIttoandAlbedoat the same time.
Some Geo teams have space to run other reactions, such asNoelle,Albedo,Fischl, andXingqiu. This allows the team to be flexible against Abyss shields since Geo is bad at breaking enemy shields. On the other hand, some teams prefer going mostly mono Geo, such asItto,Albedo, Gorou,Zhonglior healer.Albedofits all of these options and works perfectly fine.
Another good support role forAlbedois paired withXiao. It again has something to do with Geo resonance and being paired withZhongli.Xiaois the only Anemo main DPS in the game as of version 2.6, and he’s unique in that regard.Zhongliis actually the only accessible support that can shred Anemo resistance, and usingZhongliin this case, automatically grants the use ofAlbedo.
The main methodXiaodeals damage is a plunging attack, so he can’t use other sub-dps supports such asXingqiu, orBeidou,since they trigger their damage only on normal attacks. So that leaves very little choice for aXiaoteam, in terms of sub-dps slot. That proves howAlbedois a solid choice, fitting in most teams, even the ones where all normal supports don’t fit.
So an idealXiaoteam consists of himself, paired withAlbedo,Zhongli, andJean. There are other versions, that have a lower DPS ceiling, but the version withAlbedois stronger.
Transformative Reaction Teams
This archetype of the team is less popular forAlbedo, especially with the fact that Geo offers little to nothing to transformative reactions. Though there are some versions that could use the gathering ofSucrose, alongside the quadratic scaling ofAlbedo. Doubling down on an EM buff from bothAlbedoandSucrose, to maximize the Transformative Reaction damage numbers.
An example team ofAlbedo,Sucrose,Fischl, andXingqiucould easily run with Sucrose on field carry. Sucrose can gather enemies with her burst, shred enemies' Electro and Hydro resistance, and deals very good Swirl damage. Meanwhile, Albedo deals more AOE dps, and buff EM forSucroseand the team. The EM buff from Albedo double dips on this team. Since it increasesSucrosebase EM, it allows her to give an even stronger EM buff to the team. Which is additive with the extra EM team gets directly from Albedo.
So if a full DPSFischlhas a marginal base of 80 EM, and she gets 180 EM from a fully buffedSucrose, it sums up to 260 EM. Now withAlbedo,Fischlgets an extra 120 from Albedo’s buff, andSucrosegives 200 EM instead of 180. The extra 20 EM is converted from Albedo buff. So it sums up to 400 EM without investing in EM onFischlherself. It’s a marginal increase but adds up withAlbedo’spersonal damage, and an increase inSucrose’s DPS as well. It’s a good solution if you don’t have other buffers available for this half of the abyss.
Albedo Talent Skills
Favonius Bladework - Weiss
Perform up to 5 rapid strikes with the sword. It’s mostly useless talent, as it deals physical damage, andAlbedois way better scaling Geo damage with his skill.
Abiogenesis: Solar Insotoma
Elemental Skill is a major part of Albedo’s kit and is used to deal damage, generate energy, and everything else. It leaves geo construct that doubles as an elevator, and has a very long duration of 30 seconds, and mere 4 seconds cooldown. The skill snapshot stats at the time of casting, so it can benefit from the bonus of 4 piecesHusk of Opulent Dreams. It also deals more damage to opponents under 50% HP.
The skill scales purely with Def stat, and Geo damage, so it allows an easy build for Albedo. It’s so straightforward to use. Just cast it, and switch out. You only have to recast if you want to reposition the skill or to snapshot the buffs again.
It deals AOE damage every 2 seconds, and has quadratic scaling, based on a number of enemies. It applies Geo in every hit, so it can constantly generate Crystalized shields. Crystalized shields offer small temporary protection, nut also very useful to trigger theArchaic Petrabuff bonus, if you use that set in your team.
Rite of Progeniture: Tectonic
AOE Elemental Burst of Albedo is another straightforward aspect of his kit. It can hit up to 7 enemies, and against a small number of enemies, it has a chance to hit some enemies more than once. The damage of Burst scales with “Attack” stat though, so it’s not a major aspect of your rotation.
Burst triggers the passiveHomuncular Nature, which gives 120 EM buff for 10 seconds to the entire team. If you need this buff for your team, you need to build some ER into Albedo to burst on cooldown. And if you don’t need EM buff, you can skip casting Albedo burst entirely. It has some long animation, and deals little damage if you don’t build an attack (which you shouldn’t).
The long animation of burst is good for invulnerability frames though, so use it as a defensive mechanic if needed. It has only 12 seconds cooldown and 40 energy cost.
Albedo Stats
The best way is to build Albedo as a typical damage dealer, but usingDefstat instead ofAttack. When used with another Geo character,Albedowill rarely need any ER stat. So we focus on usingDefstat on Timepiece,Geo damageon Goblet, andCritstat on Headpiece.
For sub stats, always go for more% Def, andCrit. As always, maintain a ratio of 1:2Crit Rate: Crit Damageratio for maximum damage, or something very close to it.
Albedo Weapon
There are exactly two weapons for Def scalingAlbedo, and both are free swords.
The three-star weaponHarbinger of Dawn, is the perfect choice for Albedo. It provides a massiveCritical RateandCritical Damagebonus while HP is over 90%. The thing is,Albedowill not be losing HP if he’s off the field, and for the time he’s in play, he has some good invulnerability frames. The only exception is when you deal with enemies who cause the Corrosion, such as wolves. Since they make the entire party suffer damage even those who are off-field.
The sheer amount of Crit Rate and Crit Damage eclipses any other bonus from any four or even five-star weapon. This includes both free or limited weapons from gacha. There’s only one exception though:
If you;ve been played Genshin during the 2.3 version event, you must have Albedo’s signature weapon,Cinnabar Spindle. This weapon is a four-star sword, with a massiveDefsub stat, and a passive that adds additional scaling to elemental skill, based onDef. Being an event reward, the weapon also comes with materials enough for max refinement, so it’s a huge upgrade inAlbedodamage.
Cinnabar Spindlealone givesAlbedoan over 80% damage modifier, which is higher than the damage you get fromHarbinger of Dawn. The only downside being that it’s not accessible anymore.
Albedo Artifacts
The way we buildAlbedodepends on the role he fulfills. Though in reality, we useAlbedoas a sub-DPS, so we will stick to the highest damage options.
2xHusk of Opulent Dreams2xArchaic Petra
The hybrid set offers decent damage for little farming, with 2xArchaic Petragiving 15% Geo damage, and 2xHusk of Opulent Dreams30% Def. It’s not ideal for maximum damage, but a cheap option for early game. You could also use it if your main DPS is Geo, to reduce the contest over pieces ofHusk of Opulent Dreams. Or you use it if it has far superior sub-stats.
4xHusk of Opulent Dreams
This is the absolute highest DPS set for Def scaling Geo characters, Husk of Opulent Dreams. It has a buff that accumulates over time, whether on-field dealing Geo damage or off-field. At maximum values, theHusk of Opulent Dreamsgrants Albedo 24% Geo damage, and 54% Def. These buffs are the strongest bonuses you may get from any artifact set, so consider farming for it for a few weeks to get good pieces.
You have reached the end of this Albedo Support Guide. We hope you found this build useful, and it gives you a good idea of how to run Albedo can run as a Geo Support Build with varying options.
Genshin Impactis now available to play on PC, iOS, Android, PS4 and PS5. If you enjoyed thisGenshin Impact Guidebe sure to check out more even more info on ourGenshin Impact Wiki. You can also keep an eye out for more guides and be sure to not miss ourHu Tao and Yoimiya dual DPS guideas well as, our strategy guide onHow to Build A New Account in 2022.
