The Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, Varka, has finally been released in Genshin Impact. Players have been waiting for his arrival since the game’s early days, and he brings a unique playstyle to the table. Varka is an on-field anemo DPS that can change his elemental damage type based on the team and also benefits from the Hexerei buffs.

If you are curious about how to build him well, you can keep reading our guide as we dive deeper into his full kit, best teams, weapon options, artifact sets, and future potential.

Table of Contents

• Genshin Impact: Varka Full Kit Explained
  • Normal Attacks
  • Elemental Skill
  • Elemental Burst
  • Passives
  • Constellations
• Varka Best Team Options & Synergy
  • Premium Team
  • Alternative Options
• Varka Best Weapons
• Varka Best Artifact Sets & Substats
  • Artifact Sets
  • Artifact Stats & Substats
• Varka Talent Priority
• How Good Will Varka Be In Future?
• Additional Tips When Playing Varka

Genshin Impact: Varka Full Kit Explained

Normal Attacks

Varka’s Normal Attacks deal physical-type damage and can shatter frozen enemies since he uses a claymore. The multipliers on these are low, making it a less important part of his kit. Nevertheless, his animations are faster for a Claymore character, making it feel much smoother.

Elemental Skill

Upon casting the Elemental Skill, Varka enters the Sturm and Drang mode, which infuses his Normal Attack with elemental damage. One of his claymores is infused with Anemo, while the other is infused with either Pyro, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo, based on your party member’s elemental type and in the mentioned priority. 

After using your Elemental Skill, you can use two charges of special skill after a certain cooldown. You can either tap E again to perform a short plunge attack or do a charge attack to consume one charge of the special skill. Doing Normal Attacks in this mode will also reduce the cooldown of the special skill.

Elemental Burst

Similar to Normal Attacks, Varka’s Elemental Burst is another underwhelming part of his kit. It deals a quick instance of infused elemental damage and anemo-type damage. The multipliers on both are really low.

Passives

Varka’s first Passive gives him up to 25% infused elemental and Anemo-type damage based on his total ATK. Moreover, if your party has either two anemo or two characters of the same element, Varka’s infused attacks and special skills will deal 140% more damage. If you have both, it will be a 220% increase instead.

For his second Passive, by causing Swirl, Varka gains up to 30% increase in most of his damage. His third Passive is the Hexerei buff, which doubles the amount of cooldown reduction his infused Normal Attacks do in the skill mode.

Constellations

When it comes to Varka, it is better to first invest in his weapon and then go for constellations, as the damage increase from that is much higher. Regardless, here is how his constellations work.

Constellation 1 – Varka gets an additional special skill charge at the beginning of his stance. The power of this special skill is also doubled.

Constellation 2 – Varka gets a big Anemo nuge damage, equal to 800% of his ATK%. This is triggered when he uses a special skill or a special charge.

Constellation 4 – This constellation gives Varka and his team a 20% Anemo and another Elemental Damage bonus depending on Varka’s Swirl reaction.

Constellation 6 – Grants another special skill charge. More importantly, Varka gains up to 80% CRIT Dmg bonus.

Varka Best Team Options & Synergy

Varka has a set of rules that you should aim to fulfil to fully utilize his kit. These include having two Anemo, two characters of the same element, and two Hexerei characters in the team. This sounds weird since you can only have four members in your party. As such, characters like Venti and Durin shine the most.

Premium Team

Varka’s premium team options include having Durin and Venti. The second Pyro slot can be taken by Bennet, who also provides an amazing buff. With this, you will meet all the requirements for full potential. If you don’t have Venti, you can use Sucrose for the Hexerei and Anemo synergy.

Additionally, if you don’t have Durin, you might struggle with getting greater numbers, so it is advised to pull for him in the rerun banner. If you don’t mind the rumors, it is believed that Nicole will be a great addition and could potentially replace Bennet.

Alternative Options

Varka loses quite a bit of damage when it comes to his alternative options. If you have MH on Varka, then you should use Furina with Jean for full uptime on buffs and comparable damage to his better teams. 

Other options include Ifa with Cinder City, Lan Yan for the shield, and Kazuha for his grouping abilities. If you wish to go with a Cryo team, you can opt for Escoffier and Shenhe to increase Cryo DMG, though it won’t be as good as his other teams. His Electro teams are not nearly as good as others.

Varka Best Weapons

Varka’s best weapon options are a bit limited if you want the most damage. His best-in-slot is, of course, his signature weapon, Gest of the Mighty Wolf. Aside from that, here are a few ways you can go about it.

• Any 5-star stat stick – You can give him any 5-star weapon as a stat stick, and he will deal decent damage. The best among these is Beacon of the Reed Sea, which is still around 10%-15% worse than his signature weapon.
• Serpent Spine – This will be his best 4-star weapon, even at R1. At max refinements, it will be better than most 5-star weapons, except for signature.
• Talking Stick – It is slightly worse than Serpent Spine at R1, and the gap increases a lot at max refinements. As such, you are better off with Serpent Spine since both are battlepass-exclusive weapons.
• Tidal Shadow & Blackcliff Slasher – While these are both similar in terms of damage, Blackcliff Slasher at max refinements with stack uptime will be around 15% better. It would even be comparable to a full-uptime R5 Serpent Spine.

Varka Best Artifact Sets & Substats

Artifact Sets

Varka has a few artifact set options depending on the team you will be running and how much you plan to invest in him.

• 4pc A Day Carved From Rising Winds – His best-in-slot artifact set by far. It provides a ton of ATK and 20% Crit Rate if you complete his Hexerei Homework.
• 4pc Shimenawa’s Reminiscence – His second-best-in-slot set. Since you won’t be using his Elemental Burst much, you can enjoy a big increase to his Normal and Charged Attacks.
• 4pc Marechaussee Hunter – Comparable to Rising Winds if you don’t mind team restrictions. It only works well if you run Furina alongside him, which severely restricts his team options. The buffs, however, are better than Shimenawa due to Crit Rate.
• 4pc Desert Pavilion Chronicle / 4pc Gladiator’s Finale – Good transitional sets. Only use them if you don’t have your desired set pieces ready. Do not farm these artifact sets for Varka, as there are much better options.
• 2pc Set Bonuses – Worse than other options, but still viable as you can stack whatever 2pc set bonuses you wish to have. These include ATK%, MH, and Elemental DMG.

Artifact Stats & Substats

His Sands and Circlet pieces should always be ATK% and CRIT Dmg/Rate, respectively. As for his Goblet, you can run ATK% as you do with Chasca, or Pyro Dmg, since his best teams are with Pyro characters.

As for substats, prioritize CRIT first, then ATK%. Everything else, especially Energy Recharge, is not optimal for Varka.

Varka Talent Priority

Prioritize leveling up his Elemental Skill and Character Level, as that’s where almost all of his damage comes from. If you plan on using his Elemental Burst, you can level it, though it won’t increase his damage output much.

How Good Will Varka Be In Future?

Varka has been released as a character that may never touch the meta ceiling. He can only reach higher DPS with premium supports like Columbina and Ineffa, but at that point, you are better off getting Flins for one of the best meta teams in the game.

Regardless, he is bound to get more team options as more Hexerei characters get released. Nicole is rumored to be one of these. As for Alice, we have little to no information. So, while he isn’t the best in the meta, he is a very fun character for casual players, and his fast claymore attacks are enough to justify getting him.

Additional Tips When Playing Varka

While Varka is a straightforward character, there are some things you should know to get the most out of him.

• Swapping with his skill active will lose the stance. Make sure you complete his rotation before repeating the team stuff.
• His Burst is not benefited by the passives, which is another reason why you should never get more energy recharge on him. 
• His Burst increases the duration of his special skill, but the difference is not worth the effort of learning a whole new rotation.
• Serpent Spine is not a great option, even at higher refinements, in the Stygian Onslaught. You will not get the full stacks.
• If you run him in the Spiral Abyss with Serpent Spine, keep him in the first slot so he can get his stacks before starting the challenge.
• Blackcliff Slasher could be his strongest 4-star option when fighting multiple enemies.
• Xianyun is not good with Varka, as you cannot plunge during your special skill stance.
• Varka can be very flexible if the boss requires a specific type of elemental damage. For example, breaking the shield of certain enemies or against elemental-type lifeforms.

That’s everything you need to know in order to master the Grand Master. The guide gives all the basic and some extensive information on his builds, but if you want detailed multipliers, it is best to check theorycrafters like Zajeff, IWinToLose Gaming, Jello Impact, just to name a few.