Lifeng Guide and Best Build

Kit Intro

Lifeng is a 6-star, Physical, Polearm support damage dealer with a blend of personal damage and supportive elements within his kit, but notably doesn’t have a way to consume [Vulnerability]. Meaning, he’ll most often want to be played with another character capable of acting as the team's consumer (A [Crush] or [Breach] character). He can also satisfy the requirement of his own Combo Skill without assistance, allowing him to slot easily into most Physical teams.

The supportive portion of Lifeng’s kit revolves around his ability to apply [Vulnerability] or [Physical Susceptibility] with his Battle Skill, a stack of [Link] with his Combo Skill, and further 2 stacks of [Vulnerability] with his Ultimate. All while dishing out a strong amount of Stagger thanks to [Knock Down].

When it comes to DPS, Lifeng may not be able to consume Vulnerability himself, but he still has a lot of damage tools at his disposal. Both of Lifeng’s talents are damage-related, with one boosting his ATK% significantly and the other granting each of his knockdowns an extra damage multiplier. Using Lifeng’s Ultimate to consume Link also causes it to deal almost twice the damage, enabling him to make use of his own [Link] selfishly.

Battle Skill

Lifeng’s Battle Skill is one of his major selling points and a big reason you may consider bringing him to your Physical teams. It deals 2 strikes of Physical DMG on use, while also inflicting [Knock Down]. Also, if the enemy isn’t yet Vulnerable, it applies Physical Susceptibility to them for the next 10 seconds. Using this as your opening attack will net you a strong buff for all your Physical attacks as well as a [Vulnerability] stack, giving you 2 effects for the price of one skill.

This ability is primarily used as the opening attack when building Vulnerability stacks to take, but is still useful after that as well, thanks to one of Lifeng’s talents. This can make using it multiple times back-to-back worth considering.

Talents

Both of Lifeng’s talents are boosts to his personal damage; the first is what makes using his Battle Skill against already Vulnerable enemies viable. The talent Subduer of Evil causes successful Knock Down triggers to also deal an additional hit of 100% ATK Physical damage. It’s important to note that this talent will only trigger when [Knock Down] fully works, and you see the text and damage number. In other words, using [Knock Down] abilities against enemies who don’t have [Vulnerability] stacks won't activate it. Because of this, the only time you’ll be getting this talent is through non-opener Battle Skills and Lifeng’s Ultimate.

Lifeng’s other talent, Illumination, allows him to gain attribute attack from both of his off stats, Intellect and Will, at a rate of 1:0.15%, essentially granting Lifeng another 2 secondary stats, which are only slightly weaker. This talent allows Lifeng to be a little more flexible with gear at best, and at worst, will still grant him some extra attribute attack thanks to his base attributes, boosting his overall damage.

Combo

Lifeng’s Combo Skill becomes available when performing a Final Strike on enemies that have either Physical Susceptibility or [Breach] on them. Something Lifeng himself can accomplish with his Battle Skill. Using his Combo Skill will launch a single Physical hit and grant the team [Link], boosting the next Battle Skill or Ultimates damage significantly. You should time this combo so that the Ultimate or Battle Skill directly following it is one of your team’s most potent. Furthermore, when Lifeng’s Ultimate is ready, or about to be ready, you should aim to ensure [Link] lands on it instead, in order to activate its additional effect.

Ultimate

Lifeng’s Ultimate is a two-part Physical attack that inflicts [Knock Down] on the second hit, and, if [Link] is consumed, when activated, it will also perform an even larger third hit, which applies [Knock Down] again. When taking advantage of [Link], this one ability applies two stacks of [Vulnerability], triggers [Knock Down], and Stagger twice. Assuming it’s used against an enemy that is already Vulnerable, it will also activate Subduer of Evil twice as well.

When taking everything into account, even though this Ultimate seems simple, it offers a lot of value between its damage potential and the stacks it generates for a quick [Crush] or [Breach] from teammates.

Gameplay

Playing Lifeng is simple:

• Use Lifeng’s Battle Skill when starting your combos to establish the first stack of Vulnerability on enemies in order to apply his Physical Susceptibility. Then, either cycle through the rest of your team’s Battle Skills/combos or follow up with more Lifeng skills to accumulate more Vulnerability stacks while triggering Subduer of Evil.

• Time using Lifeng’s combo before your operator’s Ultimates to grant them [Link], but be careful, you don’t wait too long and let his Physical Susceptibility expire. If Lifeng’s own Ultimate is going to be available, prioritize it over others. If no Ultimates are on the horizon, consume it with your team’s strongest Battle Skill instead.

• Lastly, use Lifeng’s [Link] empowered Ultimate to deliver a burst of damage, while accumulating a large amount of [Vulnerable] stacks at once. You can choose to either use Lifeng’s Ultimate during Stagger, in order to boost its damage. Or use it outside of Stagger, in order to take advantage of its higher total Stagger, thanks to it inflicting [Knock Down] twice on top of its own base Stagger.

Depending on the team you’re playing, there will be even more optimizations. To learn more, check out our teams and synergies section.