Smart, intelligent, and handsome, a complete package. That’s what every Alhaitham player has to say about this new playable character within Genshin Impact. If it weren’t for Alhaitham, the Dendro archon, Nahida wouldn’t be free from her confinement.
Like most nations, Sumeru held a myriad of secrets, and the Traveler eventually got caught up in the act. The Traveler became a part of a significant mission to free the Dendro archon, Nahida, and assisted fellow members of the rescue team, including Alhaitham.
A solid, cohesive unit formed of brilliant individuals set out to save their beloved archon from confinement. Every member had their own strengths, and though they did have moments of ups and downs, they stuck together towards a common goal. With Alhaitham arguably being their ace in the hole.
Unlike others, Alhaitham has a secretive aura and always appears in places he’s never expected to be. Being a scribe in the Sumeru Akademiya, Alhaitham handles research documentation and has unrestrained access to confidential research papers. Alhaitham’s role in the Sumeru chapter of Genshin Impact is vital in the story.
Using his critical analysis and prodigal deduction skills, Alhaitham gained a strategic advantage against the sages. Had it not been for Alhaitham, Scaramouche might have become the new god and wreaked havoc on the entirety of the land of wisdom.
In this Genshin Impact Alhaitham guide, I will showcase his unique abilities that can turn the tide of battle and discuss the best artifacts that can enhance his talents.
I will briefly go over Dendro reaction teams like Bloom, Hyperbloom, and Quicken, pouring in tips that you can use for optimal gameplay. Come on, Traveler, pick up some research papers, and join me on this research project.
A Prodigal Scribe, Alhaitham
I remember meeting Alhaitham in Port Ormos, where he shared the results of his investigation of knowledge capsules with the Traveler and trusted them to keep that a secret. Either he was gullible to trust a foreigner, or he was a good judge of a person’s character. Logic defies emotions for Alhaitham.
Alhaitham prioritizes logic to solve problems and avoids emotions clouding his decisions. I knew there and then that the Traveler would team up with Alhaitham, but I was a little wary of why he was so willing to pair up. What were his intentions? Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Alhaitham was a shady character at this moment.
The role of Scribe may seem like quite a prestigious position when compared to other scholars in the Sumeru Akademiya, but Alhaitham merely considers it a meaningless title. Titles, ranks, honorifics, all this materialism doesn’t matter to him, except for having some extra furniture at his house.
Sometimes, materialism and spending Mora are justified. Alhaitham avoids attracting attention to him and loves to work in shadows. Though he’s driven by logic, Alhaitham doesn’t go against the principles of the Akademiya.
Research projects or experiments that can compromise the essence of humanity are forbidden. Alhaitham holds the same opinion. That was quite evident in his story quest, where he stopped a researcher in a dangerous experiment.
Alhaitham might be driven by logic, but he empathizes with people who work hard in their endeavors. While he may be brutally honest, he respects hardworking people. After the reinstation of the Dendro archon, Alhaitham became the acting grandmaster. However, he still didn’t let the title inflate his ego.
I love the way he believes in his values and doesn’t belittle someone only to please his ego. Ego, for Alhaitham, has no meaning. Unlike others who relied on the Akasha terminal, Alhaitham chose the old-school way to read books and was recognized for his talents.
To me, Alhaitham has a sound personality, a fantastic judgment of character, and empathy for people who struggled in their life. Well, that’s not the case when he’s with Kaveh. I love their jolly interactions and how despite having a turbulent past, both of them get along with each other.
Fun fact, once you complete Alhaitham’s story quest, you can visit a room where a short cutscene featuring Alhaitham and Kaveh will play. I’ll leave the details, but trust me; it’s quite a wholesome interaction. If Kaveh gets featured as a promoted character in the future, I would definitely wish on him.
Ascension and Talent Level Up
Alhaitham’s ascension stat, Dendro damage bonus, is highly valuable in combat because most of his skills focus on dishing out Dendro damage. Once you trigger Spread reactions, the Dendro damage will amplify, taking into account attributes like damage bonus, CRIT rate, or CRIT damage.
Want to level up Alhaitham to the maximum level? Here’s a list of his ascension materials:
- Mora x 420,000
- Pseudo-stamens x 46
- Sand grease pupa x 168
- Faded red satin x 18
- Trimmed red silk x 30
- Rich red brocade x 36
- Nagadus emerald sliver x 1
- Nagadus emerald fragment x 9
- Nagadus emerald chunk x 9
- Nagadus emerald gemstone x 6
Here’s a list of materials that you need to raise Alhaitham’s talent:
- Mora x 1,652,500
- Mirror of mushin x 6
- Crown of insight x 1
- Faded red satin x 6
- Trimmed red silk x 22
- Rich red brocade x 31
- Teachings of ingenuity x 3
- Guide to ingenuity x 21
- Philosophies of ingenuity x 38
Alhaitham gets a Dendro infusion on his regular attacks, enhancing his Dendro application. I recommend equally investing in all his talents to benefit from his maximum damage potential.
Most of his gameplay is focused around Chisel-Light mirrors, and you must keep track of their count. You should definitely level him up to benefit from better Dendro-reaction damage.
You need to fight Setekh Wenut in Sumeru to get pseudo-stamens, and I must say that mini-boss is unique and has a design you cannot ignore. You wouldn’t expect a wind worm in the middle of a desert.
Combat Talents
Normal Attack: Abductive Reasoning
- Normal attack: Alhaithm strikes up to 5 times with his sword.
- Charged attack: Alhaitham performs two attacks with his sword after consuming some stamina.
- Plunging attack: Alhaitham plunges from mid-air to deal AoE damage to enemies on the ground.
Alhaitham’s kit revolves around dealing Dendro damage and utilizing Dendro reactions. You should invest in his normal attacks, as they will comprise quite a portion of his damage.
Elemental Skill, Universality: An Elaboration on Form
A Chisel-Light mirror forms when Alhaitham immediately charges forward to deal Dendro damage to enemies. Holding the skill will allow you to cast it in a certain direction.
- Hold: You will enter an aiming mode to cast the skill.
Chisel-Light Mirror
Alhaitham generates one mirror when the skill is cast. An additional mirror will be generated if there are no existing mirrors at the casting time. Chisel-Light mirrors will have the following properties:
- Alhaitham’s normal talents’ attacks, normal, charged, and plunge attacks, will get a Dendro infusion. He will deal Dendro damage, and the effect cannot be overridden.
- Based on the number of mirrors, projections will damage enemies after you hit enemies with infused attacks.
- With a total of 3 mirrors existing at a time, mirrors will vanish after a certain duration and completely go away if Alhaitham leaves the battlefield.
Alhaitham’s elemental skill is an integral part of his abilities. If you want to capitalize on his damage potential, you have to manage his mirrors’ count.
Pressing the skill will make him rush forward some distance, and you can hold the skill to cast it in a certain direction. Once the skill is cast, you get a mirror; if you don’t have any, you get two mirrors.
The more mirrors you have, the better his projection attacks will be. You can also generate Chisel-Light mirrors from his ascension passive and elemental burst. You need at least one mirror on him to benefit from Dendro infusion on his normal attacks. The elemental skill and normal talent weave in perfectly with each other.
Remember that mirrors will vanish once he leaves the field, so you have to have him in an on-field DPS role to benefit from the skill’s effects. Fun fact, the projection attack animation will differ depending on the number of mirrors you will have.
Elemental Burst, Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena
Alhaitham deals massive instances of area-of-effect Dendro damage to enemies in a field. All Chisel-Light mirrors will consume once the ability is cast and increase the number of instances of damage. After 2 seconds of the elemental burst, Alhaitham will obtain 3/2/1/0 new mirrors for 0/1/2/3 mirrors consumed.
The elemental burst is quite a technical one. You can use his burst at the start of the combat to generate mirrors or let it consume mirrors to amplify the damage. The burst’s damage will increase depending on the number of mirrors consumed and generates new mirrors ( 3 – consumed mirrors ) after 2 seconds.
If you ever get confused about the technical details of a skill, get a pen and paper and roughly calculate them. I spend more time doing maths in Genshin than on my exams.
Passive: Four-Causal Correction
Alhaitham’s charged or plunging attacks generate 1 Chisel-Light mirror when they hit an enemy. The effect has a cooldown of 12 seconds.
The only thing you have to keep in mind is the cooldown. You can use the skill to generate an extra mirror. You can either refresh the duration of the third mirror or generate it if you have 2 mirrors.
Passive: Mysteries Laid Bare
Alhaitham’s elemental mastery’s each point increases the damage of project attacks and elemental bursts by 0.1 %
The passive makes elemental mastery an important attribute of his artifact pieces. You can have around 200-300 elemental mastery on him to benefit from an extra 20-30 % damage bonus. I wouldn’t suggest going all in the elemental mastery because you will lose out on the Dendro damage bonus and CRIT stats.
Passive: Law of Reductive Overdetermination
Alhaitham has a 10 % chance to receive double the materials while crafting Weapon Ascension materials.
Constellations
C1: Intuition
With an overall cooldown of 1 second, the cooldown of Alhaitham’s elemental skill, Universality: An Elaboration on Form’s cooldown, decreases by 1.2 seconds once a projection attack hits an enemy.
The projection attacks trigger every 1.6 seconds, and with a long cooldown on the elemental skill, the constellation doesn’t help much with the cooldown reduction. However, the constellation is a decent addition to his cooldown management.
Most of the time, you will play Alhaitham on the field, and once you have buffed him with the help of other characters, you will use the skill once only. If you switch out to another character, mirrors will vanish.
So, even if you manage to reset his skill in one rotation, it’s better to save it up for another one to regenerate your mirrors once again.
C2: Debate
With a maximum of 4 stacks, Alhaitham’s elemental mastery increases by 50 for 8 seconds when he generates a Chisel-Light mirror. The effect can be triggered even when the maximum limit of Chisel-Light mirrors has been reached.
Thanks to his ascension passive, Mysteries Laid Bare, you get a damage bonus on his projection attacks and elemental burst. With 4 stacks, you can get around 200 elemental mastery which grants you a 20 % damage bonus for each 0.1 % damage bonus scaling on the Elemental mastery.
You can get more elemental mastery from artifacts, eventually granting you an extra damage bonus. However, you shouldn’t overkill on the Elemental mastery just for the sake of a damage bonus.
C3: Negation
Alhaitham’s elemental skill level, Universatility: An Elaboration on Form, increases by 3 with a maximum limit of 15.
You should refer to our Dendro reaction guide to know how Spread reactions work. The crux is to invest in character level than the talent level, as Spread reactions scale off character levels. However, the constellation still is a good addition to his elemental skill.
C4: Elucidation
The following effects come into effect based on the number of Chisel-Light mirrors consumed when Alhaitham’s elemental burst is used:
- The Elemental mastery of other nearby team members increases by 30 units for 15 seconds with each mirror consumed.
- Alhaitham gets a 10 % Dendro damage bonus for 15 seconds when a mirror is generated.
The duration of these effects is cleared if you use Alhaitham’s elemental burst again while they are active.
An amazing constellation in teams that value elemental mastery in their reactions. Surrounding his mirror mechanic, the constellation grants elemental mastery to party members, and Alhaithams gets an extra Dendro damage bonus. It depends on your playstyle and how you want to start your team’s rotation.
If you use his elemental burst, you will get a Dendro damage bonus and mirrors. Otherwise, if you use his elemental burst with mirrors, the elemental mastery buff will come into effect.
C5: Sagacity
The level of Alhaitham’s elemental burst, Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena, increases by 3. The maximum limit is 15.
A standard constellation that increases his elemental burst damage.
C6: Structuration
Alhaitham receives the following effects:
- Regardless of mirrors consumed, Alhaitham generates 3 Chisel-Light mirrors after 2 seconds of using his elemental burst, Particular Feld: Fetters of Phenomena.
- Alhaitham’s CRIT rate and CRIT damage increased by 10 % and 70 %, respectively, for 6 seconds. This effect occurs if Alhaitham generates Chisel-Light mirrors when their numbers are maxed out.
The duration of this effect increases by 6 seconds if it’s already in effect.
You can easily maintain this constellation’s buffs if you pay attention to the number of mirrors you have. With numerous sources in his to generate mirrors, you can have a decent uptime on the CRIT rate and CRIT damage buff. Once you use your elemental burst, you will get the maximum number of mirrors, and extra buffs will apply.
You can start with his elemental burst to get three mirrors and rely on his ascension passive and elemental skill to compensate for the ones that will disappear after 4 seconds.
Artifacts
You can go with a combination of a 2-piece 2-piece artifact set on Alhaitham. However, I suggest farming for complete sets as they will bring more value to the table in the long run. Let’s go through artifact sets that are potent on Alhaitham.
Gilded Dreams
The Gilded dreams is an amazing artifact set on Alhaitham. The set provides attack percentage and elemental mastery buffs, which are a must for Alhaitham. You can get 80 units of elemental mastery from the 2-piece set bonus; depending on the characters’ element type, the 4-piece set grants EM and ATK % buff.
Suppose Dendro characters are in the team, and you have equipped Gilded dreams on Alhaitham. In that case, his attack percentage will increase as the characters have the same element type. Otherwise, his elemental mastery will increase according to the number of characters from different elements.
These buffs can count up to 3 characters and even trigger when the equipping character is off the field. I would suggest going for this artifact set as it provides quite a lot of value from its effects.
Deepwood memories
I would suggest having another Dendro character or a character that can use their burst or skill to trigger the 4-piece effect of the Deepwood memories artifact set. You can deal more Dendro damage with the set. The 2-piece set grants a 15 % Dendro damage bonus, and the 4-piece synergizes in teams where Alhaitham depends on Dendro damage.
You can also equip this artifact set on Alhaitham in case you don’t have a good option and use his elemental skill to decrease enemies’ Dendro resistance by 30 %.
The best thing is that the effect can be triggered even if the character is off the field. However, Alhaitham is an on-field character, so the value of off-field support characters increases marginally.
Artifact attributes:
You can equip an EM or attack sands on him. The best thing is that you can stack up elemental mastery on Alhaitham from external EM buffs like Sucrose’s passive. You can equip a Dendro damage bonus goblet on him and a CRIT rate or CRIT damage circlet for more damage.
I wouldn’t suggest going all into elemental mastery, as that may yield diminishing results. Alhaitham is suitable in a main DPS role or a burst one, and it’s better to use him that way.
Weapons
You can equip a sword with offensive attributes like ATK %, CRIT rate, or CRIT damage on Alhaitham. If you feel he lacks elemental mastery, then the Freedom sworn is a great option.
His signature weapon, Light of Foliar Incision, would be the best choice for him; however, if you cannot afford the weapon, you can go with other 5-star weapons that feature the substats, as mentioned earlier.
It may not be the case that you’d need an energy recharge substat sword on Alhaitham, but if you feel the lack of energy recharge, feel free to equip the Favonius sword or the Sacrificial sword on him.
Other amazing options include the Iron Sting craftable sword and the Harbinger of dawn, both of which can be refined to the maximum level.
If you have reliable healers in your team that can provide off-field healing, the Harbinger of dawn can be a game-changer sword. Ultimately, Alhaitham is flexible with weapons, and he’ll likely be able to equip most of the swords from your inventory.
Team Compositions
You can add Anemo characters like Jean, Sayu, Venti, Sucrose, or Kazuha to benefit from the Viridescent venerer artifact set. Besides the Dendro element, you can use the Anemo element to swirl other elements and reduce enemies’ elemental resonance to deal more damage.
You can also add other characters like Zhongli, Diona, Layla, Thoma, or Candace to benefit from solid shields. However, remember that their elements might interfere with certain team compositions. Still, for most of the part, they will do just fine.
Mono Dendro: Alhaitham, Dendro Traveler, Yaoyao, Flex
Mono Dendro team will focus on dealing as much Dendro damage as possible. Quite a niche team; however, if there are enemies with elemental auras, you can switch to a mono-element team.
You can equip one character with a Deepwood memories artifact set to benefit from the Dendro resistance shred. Nahida can be invaluable in a Mono Dendro team because of her ability to trigger Tri-Karma purification on enemies by marking enemies.
Bloom: Alhaitham, Hydro, Flex, Flex
Your main focus will be to summon Bloom seeds on the ground with a combination of Dendro and Hydro elements. Hydro characters like Xingqiu, Yelan, Kokomi, and Nilou are awesome on bloom teams. You can use Kokomi as a healer or Xingqiu to benefit from damage reduction and off-field damage.
Nilou is amazing in bloom teams because her skills sync with bloom reactions. I’d recommend going with two Dendro characters to benefit from the Dendro resonance and equip the Deepwood memories set on Yaoyao or Nahida.
Yaoyao can heal Alhaitham or any other active character on the field with her elemental skill and can equip the Favonius lance to generate energy particles for the team. I would suggest having a solid healer or a shield character to counter the incoming bloom damage.
Hyperbloom: Alhaitham, Hydro, Electro, Flex
Hyperbloom teams focus on a reaction between bloom seeds and Electro. You can have Electro characters like Kuki Shinobu, Raiden Shogun, Fischl, or Yae Miko. Kuki Shinobu is an amazing character who can trigger Hyperbloom reactions with a complete EM build artifact setup.
As for Hydro characters, Yelan, Xingqiu, Kokomi, or Ayato are decent options to add to your team. A good off-field Electro and Hydro application is key to this team composition.
Quicken ( Spread / Aggravate )
Most of the player base will focus on Spread reactions to deal more Dendro damage. Once Electro and Dendro come in contact, enemies get a Quicken aura. You can apply Dendro or Electro to trigger Spread or Aggravate reactions, respectively.
Alhaitham’s massive Dendro application will help you to consistently deal severe Dendro damage to enemies. You can also add another Dendro character like Nahida, Collei, or Yaoyao to benefit from the Deepwood memories artifact set.
As for Electro characters, Fischl, Raiden Shogun, Yae Miko, or Kuki Shinobu are amazing options to benefit from off-field damage and maintain the Electro application to trigger the Quicken reaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Should I Use Alhaitham or Nahida for the Dendro Application?
Answer: Both Alhaitham and Nahida are good at the Dendro application. However, Nahida will outclass Alhaitham in terms of Dendro application with her abilities.
Nahida being a catalyst user, has a lot of sources of Dendro damage, while Alhaitham needs active Chisel-Light mirrors to obtain a Dendro infusion on his regular attacks.
Question: Is Alhaitham an Excellent 5-star Character for Free-to-play Players?
Answer: If you don’t have Nahida on your account, I would suggest wishing for Alhaitham. He can provide a good amount of Dendro applications with his skills.
On top of that, you gain AoE Dendro application with his projection attacks, which can enhance your reaction potential. Alhaitham is insanely good with the Harbinger of Dawn, which is a 3-star weapon, and if you are a beginner, this can help you to ace challenging content with ease.
Question: Is Alhaitham a Main DPS or a Burst DPS in Genshin Impact?
Answer: Alhaitham can be played in both roles. I would suggest going with the main DPS role, as his mirrors vanish once he leaves the field. You can setup other characters’ abilities to buff him or provide off-field damage and switch to him and complete a team rotation.
To use Alhaitham in a burst DPS role, you need to maintain 2-3 mirrors so that you can increase the burst damage after mirrors’ consumption.
A Scribe in Search of True Knowledge
I wasn’t a fan of Alhaitham initially because his behavior was quite suspicious. I thought he might be using the Traveler for his benefit. Which, to some extent, he did. After I learned about his nature and personality, I concluded it wasn’t an act; this is how he has always been.
Born to scholar parents, Alhaitham would never truly bond with them, as he lost them at a young age and was raised by his grandmother. Because of his trauma, he’s often misunderstood by others due to his cold, direct nature, but he does have a soft spot hidden in there somewhere.Â
Though he may take “taking things objectively” to another level, it doesn’t mean he’s lost touch with humanity. Alhaitham devised a meticulous plan against the corrupt sages of Sumeru to free Nahida and eventually achieved success in the mission.
Throughout his dialogues with Paimon, you can see his witty sense of humor and how his sarcasm brings out the worst of Paimon. Poor little Paimon, people should stop mocking her all the time.
With that said, characters like Yelan, Nahida, Xingqiu, and Kokomi are amazing in Alhaitham’s team compositions. I would highly recommend checking out their guides on our site. Who knows? Maybe you will discover a team composition that can easily clear the abyss.
Besides writing about his favourite games, Himanshu prefers to keep himself up-to-date with the latest happenings in the financial world, watching anime, cooking and listening to music from all around the world.
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