Ethers
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11 Min read 
In this article, I’ll be going over everything you need to know about Alhaitham, including his playstyle, best artifacts, weapons, teams, and more.
Alhaitham is the new limited 5 star Dendro sword user and quite the fan favorite amongst the fandom. In combat, he functions as an on-field damage dealer that revolves around his Elemental Skill mechanics, [mirror generation] which allow him to output respectable damage, while also capable of being a solid alternative in established Dendro compositions.
5-hit Normal Attack sequence with pretty cool animations. Nothing much to be said about this talent outside of the Dendro infusion he gains from his Mirror mechanic, which serves as mostly more Dendro application and triggering Mirror attacks from his Elemental Skill, rather than a significant portion of his damage.
Upon cast, -if no current mirrors are present- 2 Mirrors are generated, and only 1 mirror generated if there are others present. Alhaitham can have up to 3 Mirrors at a time and can be faintly indicated visually floating next to him in combat.
He will gain Dendro infusion to his Normal Attacks when in possession of at least one Mirror. While in possession of 3 mirrors and only 3 mirrors, generating a new mirror will refresh the duration of your current Mirror.
These mirrors will disappear once Alhaitham leaves the field. When Alhaitham hits opponents with Dendro infused attacks OR his Elemental Skill, he will trigger a coordinated attack called a Projection Attack, dealing AoE Dendro DMG.
Projection Attack:
This Talent is Alhaitham’s bread and butter and relatively optimal Mirror uptime should be prioritized, which can add some depth to learning his rotations and uptime. That being said, Alhaitham has ways to generate mirrors outside of this talent, such as his A1 or Burst, allowing for creativity in mirror uptime.
Essentially a damaging ability with multiple instances of AoE Dendro DMG upon cast. Mirrors present before cast will determine the number of damage instances dealt. 2 seconds after cast, Mirrors will also be generated depending on how many Mirrors were consumed. So, if 0/1/2/3 Mirrors were consumed, 3/2/1/0 Mirrors will be generated respectively.
Regarding how to incorporate his Burst, generally it is more optimal to use it at the start of Alhaitham’s DPS window with 0 Mirrors as prioritizing a 3 mirror Burst griefs Mirror uptime sub-C6. Alternatively, while it is situational, you could theoretically perform Skill > N1 > CA to quickly fully stack his Burst but sub-C6 it will be suboptimal more often than not.
Here’s a quick talent priority for Alhaitham.
Elemental Skill > Elemental Burst = Normal Attack
As you ascend Alhaitham, he will gain Dendro DMG Bonus.
A straightforward passive giving Alhaitham another way to generate a Mirror, which can be incorporated during his rotations to maximize 3-Mirror uptime. Alternatively, preemptively/accidentally triggering this can grief that uptime severely so awareness is key.
When Alhaitham’s Charged or Plunging Attacks hit opponents, they will generate 1 Chisel-Light Mirror. This effect can be triggered once every 12s
Another simple passive, this time providing more EM scaling to Projection Attacks and Burst damage. It makes EM slightly better than it already was, but it is still not a reason to fully stack EM as Crit/DMG% is still just as important.
When Alhaitham crafts Weapon Ascension Materials, he has a 10% chance to receive double the product.
As always for constellations, every 5 star unit is completely functional at c0. Constellations in general and what they offer are far from needed. Alhaitham’s constellations – along with other 5 star units – usually translate to unnecessary increases in damage, clear time and/or quality of life aspects.
Do keep in mind, constellation value takes into account the value you lose going for another copy of the character rather than a completely different character that could impact your account far more than a constellation would.
When a Projection Attack hits an opponent, Universality: An Elaboration on Form’s CD is decreased by 1.2s. This effect can be triggered once every 1s.
Mostly a quality of life constellation as it adds virtually nothing for his optimal rotations due to Projection Attack intervals being inconsistent making this constellation’s intervals also inconsistent, along with additional Skill casts from this constellation misaligning the cooldown for the next rotation. Not a constellation worth aiming for.
When Alhaitham generates a Chisel-Light Mirror, his Elemental Mastery will be increased by 50 for 8 seconds, max 4 stacks. Each stack’s duration is counted independently. This effect can be triggered even when the maximum number of Chisel-Light Mirrors has been reached.
A straightforward but solid constellation [relative to his other ones] providing 200 EM at max stacks, with 50 EM per stack whenever Alhaitham generates a mirror. Hovers around a 14% increase from C0/C1.
Increases the level of Universality: An Elaboration on Form by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
A straightforward talent increase to Alhaitham’s Elemental Skill. In teams where his personal damage is more relevant, the majority of his damage will come from Spreads anyways, which depend on character levels and scale independently of talent levels, making this constellation a minimal increase in damage.
When Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena is unleashed, the following effects will become active based on the number of Chisel-Light Mirrors consumed and created this time around:
A more relevant constellation at C6 due to him always generating 3 mirrors regardless, allowing you to benefit from both buffs. Sub-C6 however, he will almost always prefer 0 mirror Bursts in common rotations, taking advantage of only the 30% Dendro DMG Bonus at max. On top of being a high constellation, it is not recommended and should only be a stepping stone when committed to a C6.
Increase the Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
A straightforward talent increase to Alhiatham’s Elemental Burst. Similar to C3 in terms of damage contribution reasoning as well as mostly being more relevant at C6/Nuke setups.
Alhaitham gains the following effects:
A strong constellation that ensures 3 Mirror generation post-Burst, and provides Alhaitham Crit value if Mirrors are generated while being maxed out already. Simply performing Burst into Skill will maximize this buff and duration extension. A significant increase from previous constellations.
Notation:
Alhaitham’s playstyle revolves around his field time as an on-field carry with a layer of depth when it comes to Mirror management. As mentioned previously, generally you wanna start your DPS window with Burst in order to maximize Mirrors/Projection attack damage.
The following combo is more or less what you could expect in common scenarios for 3 Mirror uptime on-field. While it uses N3’s before a Mirror refresh, you could easily just Normal Attack spam until you see the Mirror disappear then refresh. Just keep in mind it can be hard at times to indicate them in combat depending on what you are using/facing.
[Q > N3D/swap for 2s/wait > N3D > N3E > N3C > NA/N3 spam till no more mirrors]
This next combo is quite simple and is mainly used in a more quickswap playstyle where Alhaitham quickly stacks his Burst to maximize damage, then swaps out.
[EN1C > Q > swap]
Regarding Normal Attack sequences, you will be using N3 dash cancels especially when driving off-field units such as Xingqiu/Yelan.
Variations that incorporate Charge Attacks like N3C are viable as a high motion value combos on top of additional application while N1C is mostly used when having no mirrors in order to quickly generate one from his A1.
Variations can be alternated and even improvised within a combo depending on the situation/goal, whether it be more damage, rate of application, or mirror generation.
Generally Alhaitham’s best-in-slot set IF a teammate is able to hold 4pc Deepwood Memories. The set bonus is relatively easy to trigger as well as providing Alhiatham with appreciable stats that contribute to his damage output.
Best-in-slot in Solo Dendro or simply in teams where no one is able to proc the set bonus. However due to Alhaitham’s respectable damage contribution, he will benefit much more from the raw stats that 4GD offers AND the set bonus from 4DM rather than only the set bonus as a 4DM holder. Nonetheless, still viable and a necessity in his teams no matter who is holding it.
If substats on a 2pc 2pc combo are far better than it could possibly beat out 4GD. Assuming equal substats it’s slightly weaker than 4GD. Regarding 2 Emblem, the ER can prove beneficial in teams with high ER reqs/Burst every rotation, however it can lose value in teams that have relatively low ER reqs making it situational.
Here’s the order of sub stats to prioritize: ER till req > EM >= Crit > ATK%
Double Dendro [with Nahida]:
Double Dendro [no Nahida/Yaoyao]:
Solo Dendro:
Alhaitham’s signature weapon and to no surprise, his best-in-slot weapon. Provides a massive Crit DMG stat with a synergistic passive the offers Bonus DMG to his Normal Attacks and Projection attacks, which is basically the majority of how Alhaitham outputs damage. The passive also further increases the value of EM due to how the buff is based off of it.
Alhaitham’s second best 5 star option, and not too far behind from his signature [around 9-10%]. This weapon offers a handful of Crit Rate on top of a free ATK bonus. Straightforward but very strong nonetheless.
Both of these weapons perform very similarly to each other as well as their passives also being surprisingly synergistic with Alhaitham’s playstyle. Mistsplitter stacks can easily be maintained due to the order of Alhaitham’s talent usage during his DPS window and Haran slightly favoring Normal Attack heavy rotations due to its buff. On top of that, they both provide Crit Rate/DMG which is definitely a plus. Although they are both weaker than Jade Cutter, they are solid alternatives regardless.
At R5 it is one of Alhaitham’s best 4 star options and comparable to a single target R5 Umbrella assumption. Provides Crit Rate, Normal/Charged Attack DMG%, and an HP regen mechanic. An solid unconditional weapon overall, however it is batte pass locked, making it’s worth relative to other 4 star alternatives with easier access that perform similarly.
An event exclusive F2P option that performs best and becomes one of the best 4 star options in single-target scenarios. Outside of that, it falls off significantly becoming one of the worst options, making this weapon situational. Nonetheless, it is a strong option in optimistic scenarios.
Despite being on the low end in terms of Personal DMG, Xiphos is still a fine option that proves valuable in teams with higher ER reqs/Bursting every rotation. Provides Elemental Mastery through the substat as well, contributing to Alhaitham’s damage. Loses value in teams where ER is mitigated through units/less Burst incorporation.
Assuming R5, this weapon is comparable/marginally worse than an R5 Umbrella in single target, but beats it out in AoE/multi-target by far. The baseline F2P option with ease of access in refines.
Comparable to even the 5 star alternatives on this list [Mistsplitter/Haran]. However, that is only when assuming the passive is active which is a major caveat. If the passive conditions are not met, this weapon becomes one of the worst options. Nonetheless, its performance in optimistic scenarios simply cannot be ignored. Consider this weapon if you are able to reliably slot in a defensive option that guarantees the passive uptime.
One of the standard compositions to slot Alhaitham in due to Spread greatly improving his damage output. There are a couple ways to draft this team. You could go double Dendro double Electro or 2 Electro and a flex unit; both are viable. Before we go into the units, do make sure Alhaitham is holding 4GD while a teammate holds 4DM, in order to maximize buffs. There are plenty of functional 4DM holders available.
Ideally your second Dendro will almost always be Nahida for her buffing, damage, and particle generation but you could use Dendro traveler or Yaoyao as alternatives. Do keep in mind, Alhaitham wants to be holding 4GD while a teammate holds 4DM.
As for your Electro units, Fischl, Kuki, Yae, or Beidou could all suffice. Fishcl being the most ideal due to her damage/uptime with Yae being similar but less comfy while Kuki functions as a role consolidator with her sustain and off-field Electro application. When considering Beidou, ideally you want her paired with Fishcl due to her ER reqs.
As for flex options, Zhongli can be valuable for his immense interruption resist/sustain. Anemo units can be fine as well, even though they would only be shredding Electro. Sucrose is a good example as she provides EM buffs on top of VV/grouping.
Being a Dendro on-fielder, Alhaitham is able to function as a driver for off-field Hydro units in a Hyperbloom team. Hyperbloom/Quickbloom teams are one of the strongest teams in the game and Alhaitham is able to perform just fine as a driver. Drafting this team follows the same framework as any other Hyperbloom composition [Dendro/Electro/Hydro/Flex].
Your ideal Electro units here would be Kuki/Raiden due to their ability to hit the seeds while having high uptime off-field.
Your most synergistic Hydro options here being standard off-fielders such as Xingqiu/Yelan for damage/rate of application. Kokomi can also be an alternative if you must, for sustain and off-field uptime.
Lastly, your flex slot again can be Zhongli or Anemo units such as Sucrose/Kazuha for grouping. Additionally, your flex slot can also be a second Dendro unit, ideally being Nahida, due to her synergy with Alhaitham.
Alhaitham and his reception has been received quite well thus far. From a meta perspective, I would say he is one of the better units to come out of Sumeru, behind Nahida. Dendro as an Element is very strong and the introduction to Dendro characters will continue to lean towards providing value to an account.
Being a Dendro carry, Alhaitham’s DPS output along with synergies towards strong characters like Nahida are nothing to scoff at, furthermore he can also prove to be a solid unit alone due to his strength/ flexible playstyle.
Additionally, his unique Mirror mechanics and playstyle can be an appeal to some [myself included] as it may feel it adds depth to his gameplay and allows for creativity in rotations.
Regarding pull value, his value to you may or may not shift if you happen to have Nahida already, as you could simply play Nahida teams without Alhaitham [which are very good already] and use your primos on a more impactful character that can open up new teams [double hydro, kazuha, etc].
Keep in mind, pull value is contextual to an individual and their account, and this guide is strictly geared towards meta viewpoints and recommendations. If you enjoy the character or find them appealing in any aspect, what I say shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the game and playing who you like.
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