Is Raiden Shogun Bad at C0? No, She‘s Still a Top Meta Character

The debate around the Raiden Shogun‘s C0 strength has been hotly contested in the Genshin Impact community. As an Archon, many expected Raiden to dominate at C0. But after her launch, some felt she was lackluster without her C2 constellation.

The short answer is no – Raiden is not bad at C0. She remains one of the top meta characters in Genshin Impact thanks to her strong personal damage, battery capabilities, and team versatility.

In this detailed guide, we‘ll analyze Raiden‘s C0 performance and help you decide if she‘s worth wishing for even without her Constellation 2 power spike.

Evaluating Raiden‘s Base Kit

Before assessing Raiden C0‘s strength, let‘s quickly review her innate abilities:

Normal Attack – Shogun‘s Descent: Performs 5 quick spear slashes that deal Electro DMG. Has fast attack speed but low damage multipliers of 76.4% at talent level 10. You won‘t be using her basic attacks much.

Elemental Skill – Transcendence: Baleful Omen: Lets Raiden deal Electro DMG on hitting opponents. Also grants her Resolve stacks based on Energy spent by your party members‘ Elemental Bursts. This passive battery ability makes her a universal support.

Elemental Burst – Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu: Lets Raiden wield her Musou no Hitotachi to perform 5 slash attacks over 7s. Damage scales off her Resolve stacks. Costs 90 Energy but can be refunded through her recharge capabilities.

Passives:

• Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 0.4% for every 1% Energy Recharge over 100%. Rewards stacking ER.
• Extends her Burst duration by prolonging the Eye of Stormy Judgment state by 3s.
• Refunds 1 Energy to all party members when Raiden E hits, 2 energy when her Burst hits. Enables battery potential.

Based on her kit alone, Raiden is designed to be a sub DPS who amplifies team damage through her burst rather than her normal attacks. Her C2 makes her a carry by enhancing normals. But is she still viable at C0? Let‘s dive deeper.

Raiden‘s Strengths Remain Fully Intact at C0

Here are some of Raiden‘s biggest strengths that are present even at C0:

Strong Personal Burst Damage

Raiden‘s Elemental Burst has exceptionally high damage multipliers, ranging from 400% to 780% at talent level 10.

Talent Level	DMG Multipliers
1	249% – 481%
2	266% – 513%
3	283% – 545%
4	300% – 578%
5	317% – 610%
6	334% – 642%
7	351% – 674%
8	368% – 706%
9	385% – 738%
10	400% – 780%

This allows Raiden to deal massive AOE electro damage during her 7s window, especially when stacked with Bennett‘s ATK buff and Sara‘s crit buff.

According to KeqingMains theorycrafters, Raiden‘s C0 burst damage is competitive with other top tier DPS characters when properly invested:

Character	Burst DMG
C0 Raiden Hyper	300k – 500k
C0 Ayaka Freeze	200k – 400k
C0 Hu Tao Vape	220k – 450k
C0 Eula Nuke	500k – 800k

Raiden‘s damage potential remains very high even at C0 due to her high multipliers and Ascension 1 passive that boosts burst DMG by 0.4% for every 1% ER over 100. Overall, her damage capabilities are on par with meta carries.

Universal Battery Capabilities

A key part of Raiden‘s appeal is her ability to battery her team‘s bursts. This remains completely unchanged at C0.

Raiden‘s skill grants her Resolve stacks based on the energy cost of her ally‘s bursts:

• 0-40 Energy Cost Burst: 0.2 Resolve
• 40-60 Energy Cost Burst: 0.35 Resolve
• 60-70 Energy Cost Burst: 0.45 Resolve
• 70-80 Energy Cost Burst: 0.55 Resolve
• 80+ Energy Cost Burst: 0.6 Resolve

Higher cost bursts generate more Resolve, empowering Raiden‘s damage. When she bursts, all allies gain flat energy refund based on Resolve spent:

• 0-25 Resolve: 1 Energy
• 25-50 Resolve: 2 Energy
• 50-75 Resolve: 3 Energy
• 75+ Resolve: 4 Energy

This allows Raiden to battery expensive team rotations like Xiangling‘s 80 cost Pyronado in Raiden National teams. Her battery potential remains fully viable at C0.

Flexible Team Roles

A key advantage of Raiden is her versatility in team building. She enables several powerful team archetypes at C0:

• National Variants: Raiden + XQ + XL enables Raiden National, the most popular team. She also works in Childe National.

• Hypercarry: Raiden + Sara/TTDS + Kazuha + Bennett focuses all buffs into her own damage.

• Dual Carry: Raiden + Eula + Cryo Battery + Flex allows her to enable Eula‘s expensive burst.

• Taser: Raiden + XQ + Anemo + Healer enables powerful taser procs and AOE damage.

This team building flexibility provides a lot of value for account investment. Raiden opens up many strong, proven team archetypes.

High AOE Damage Potential

Raiden‘s Elemental Burst hits a very large area, allowing her to damage many enemies simultaneously.

When combined with supports like Xiangling, Xingqiu, and Kazuha that also have excellent AOE capabilities, Raiden unlocks teams that can devastate multi-target floors in the Spiral Abyss.

According to SpiralAbyss.org, Raiden National has maintained over 50% usage rate on Floor 12 Chamber 3 since Raiden‘s release. This proves her AOE potential remains extremely high.

Low Field Time Requirement

A common misconception is that Raiden wants to remain on field akin to a hypercarry after bursting. In reality, C0 Raiden only needs ~7s of field time per rotation to unleash her Elemental Burst and skill.

This is because her burst damage is frontloaded in the initial slash sequence. After that, she can swap out to continue battery restoration off-field through her skill while your main DPS takes over on field again.

Enabling low field time carry roles for characters like Ayaka and Hu Tao is a key advantage of Raiden‘s kit design and supported at C0. You don‘t need C2 for this.

Raiden‘s C0 Limitations Compared to C2 Powerspike

Despite her C0 strengths, Raiden isn‘t perfect. Here are some of her limitations compared to her C2 spike:

Lacks C2‘s Major Damage Increase

Raiden‘s C2 ascension passive grants a flat 30% Burst DMG bonus based on her Energy Recharge stat. For a typical 300% ER Raiden, this translates to ~90% more Burst DMG.

Example C2 Raiden STATS:

• 300% ER
• C2 Passive: 30% Burst DMG Bonus per 100% ER
• 300% ER x (30% per 100 ER) = 90% Burst DMG Bonus

This massive 90% damage spike elevates Raiden to be one of the top DPS characters in Genshin Impact. But C0 lacks this spike entirely, making Raiden more sub DPS focused.

Lower Sustained On-Field Presence

As covered earlier, C0 Raiden wants to swap out after bursting since her sustained normal attack damage can‘t compare to dedicated carries.

But with C2‘s damage bonus, Raiden gains viability as an on-field hypercarry who can chain her bursts together with minimal downtime. This translated to higher team damage potential compared to C0.

Struggles Against Energy Draining Enemies

Enemies that drain Energy like the Nobushi and Kairagi can limit Raiden‘s Resolve stacking capabilities by reducing how much Burst energy her teammates can generate.

This impacts her C0 performance more compared to C2, since C2 Raiden can still deal high damage even without Resolve stacks. C0 relies more heavily on Resolve to maximize damage.

Lower Damage Ceiling

While C0 Raiden‘s damage is competitive, C2 Raiden‘s damage potential is almost unlimited due to the multiplier from her ER conversion. C2 Raiden teams can reach higher damage ceilings that are unattainable at C0.

But for clearing regular content like the Spiral Abyss, C0 Raiden‘s damage is sufficient as we‘ll explore next.

Raiden C0 is Still Viable and Worth Pulling For Most Players

Despite the lack of her C2 powerspike, Raiden C0 remains a top tier character thanks to:

Viable personal and team damage

• Competitive damage during her burst window, enabling quickswap rotations

• Enables strong teams like Raiden National that can 36 star clear Abyss

• Flexible team roles allow her to fit into many powerful account investments

Low field time requirements

• Only needs ~7s of field time per rotation to unleash burst

• Doesn‘t hog field time from main DPS characters

• Easy to pilot gameplay, not reliant on complex combos

Future-proof battery capabilities

• Batteries the most expensive bursts in the game like Yae Miko‘s 90 cost burst

• Will remain relevant for enabling future energy hungry characters

High AOE damage potential

• Devastates heavy mob floors, maintains 50%+ usage in Abyss

• Grouping abilities like Kazuha snapshot her damage buffs

Overall, Raiden C0 provides tremendous value to your account by enabling strong, proven teams you can invest in that can 36 star clear Spiral Abyss. Her battery strengths make her one of the best future proof units.

Raiden C0 is absolutely worth pulling for new players lacking her, or players wanting an Archon collection. Expect her to be a quickswap sub DPS rather than a hypercarry.

Raiden C2 Remains a Luxury Constellation for Heavy Spenders

Is C2 Raiden worth spending for if you already have her at C0? Here is an evaluation:

Advantages of C2

• Adds a massive ~90% damage bonus from ER conversion

• Enables Raiden as an on-field hypercarry

• Higher team damage ceilings

• Less reliant on Resolve stacks

Downsides of C2

• Requires spending $400+ to guarantee

• Doesn‘t enable new teams, just amplifies existing ones

• Only increases damage, no new playstyle change

• C0 Raiden already enables 36 star Abyss clear

Based on this, C2 is a luxury constellation that turns Raiden into a deadly hypercarry, but isn‘t required to maximize Raiden‘s potential. C0 already brings tremendous value.

C2 should only be pursued by high spending players wanting to maximize Raiden‘s damage. For low spenders, those Primogems are better spent on new characters over constellations.

Optimal Teams to Run With Raiden C0

Here are some recommended teams to run with C0 Raiden Shogun:

Raiden National

• Raiden – Main Burst DPS
• Xingqiu – Off-field hydro applicator
• Xiangling – Pyronado enables Vaporize
• Bennett – ATK buffs and healing

This is the most popular Raiden team and demolishes heavy mobs thanks to overload and vaporize AOE damage. Raiden‘s burst buffs Xiangling‘s Pyronado.

Hypercarry Raiden

• Raiden – On field carry
• Kujou Sara – ATK and crit buffs for Raiden
• Kazuha – Damage buffs and grouping
• Bennett – Healing and ATK buff

Stacks buffs onto Raiden‘s burst to maximize her on field damage. Lower damage than C2 hypercarry but still destroys mobs.

Eula + Raiden

• Eula – Main physical DPS
• Raiden – Burst support and battery
• Cryo – Cryo particles for Eula
• Flex – Shield or utility

Enables Eula‘s expensive burst through energy refunds. Raiden provides big off field burst damage during Eula‘s downtime.

Sukokomon

• Raiden – Driver and enabler
• Kokomi – Healer and Hydro applicator
• Sucrose – Swirls and CC
• Xiangling – Off-field Pyronado damage

Raiden‘s bursts enable this expensive team rotation. Kokomi heals, Sucrose swirls reactions. Demanding to play but high damage potential.

Closing Thoughts on Raiden C0‘s Viability

Raiden C0 brings tremendous value to your account through her strong personal damage, future-proof battery capabilities, AOE damage, and synergy with top meta teams.

While C2 provides a huge damage spike, C0 Raiden remains fully viable and worth pulling. She elevates your account powerlevel through enabling strong quickswap style teams.

For low spenders, I recommend wishing for Raiden C0 and investing in her powerful teams like Raiden National. Then save your Primogems for future powercrept DPS characters rather than chasing minor constellations.

Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m happy to provide additional thoughts and insights on maximizing Raiden‘s potential as a top meta character, even at C0.