Hello and welcome back, folks! It’s finally time for Al-Haitham’s build guide! The character is version 3.4’s newest release and has been teased since Sumeru first came out in version 3.0. If you’ve been saving your primogems since then and are finally ready to pull for (and hopefully obtain) the character, let us be the ones to help you build Al-Haitham! In this article, you can find his:
- Ascension/Talent upgrade costs/stat buffs/materials.
- Constellations
- Best Weapons
- Best Artifacts
- Best Teams
Disclaimer
The following content has been written based off of leaks, and is not indicative of the character’s abilities when they officially release.
Overview
Al-Haitham, titled “Admonishing Instruction”, is a Dendro 5-star Sword user hailing from Sumeru. The character’s kit (which you will be made privy to very soon) points to his role as your teams main DMG-dealing character.
Al-Haitham’s Ascension
In this section, we will talk about different aspects of Al-Haitham’s ascension, the stat buffs that you can expect, the Mora and Materials cost you can expect to incur, along with a brief paragraph explaining how you can obtain the mentioned materials.
Al-Haitham Ascension Stat Buffs
A quick explanation, a character “ascends” when you have to use extra materials to be able to upgrade them. This also gives your character a bonus effect. In Al-Haitham’s case, this is Dendro DMG bonus %.
| Ascension Phase | Stat Bonus (Dendro %) |
|---|---|
| (Lv.20) 0 -> 1 (Lv.21) | 0% |
| (Lv.40) 1 -> 2 (Lv.41) | 7.2% |
| (Lv.50) 2 -> 3 (Lv.51) | 14.4% |
| (Lv.60) 3 -> 4 (Lv.61) | 14.4% |
| (Lv.70) 4 -> 5 (Lv.71) | 21.6% |
| (Lv.80) 5 -> 6 (Lv.81) | 28.8% |
Al-Haitham’s Ascension Mora And Materials
Nagadus Emeralds can be obtained by defeating the Dendro Hypostasis and Jadeplume Terrorshroom bosses found in Sumeru. Sand Grease Pupa a local specialty in Sumeru, and can be found in the region’s deserts, more specifically in Wenut Tunnels (the newest region in Sumeru). Faded Red Satin, Trimmed Red Silk, and Rich Red Brocade are easily farmed by besting some Eremites in combat.
Ascension Level | Materials Required | Mora Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Level 20 | x1 Nagadus Emerald Sliver x3 Sand Grease Pupa x3 Faded Red Satin | 20,000 |
| Level 40 | x3 Nagadus Emerald Fragment x2 Pseudo-Stamens x10 Sand Grease Pupa x15 Faded Red Satin | 40,000 |
| Level 50 | x6 Nagadus Emerald Fragment x4 Pseudo-Stamens x20 Sand Grease Pupa x12 Trimmed Red Silk | 60,000 |
| Level 60 | x3 Nagadus Emerald Chunk x8 Pseudo-Stamens x30 Sand Grease Pupa x18 Trimmed Red Silk | 80,000 |
| Level 70 | x6 Nagadus Emerald Chunk x12 Pseudo-Stamens x45 Sand Grease Pupa x12 Rich Red Brocade | 100,000 |
| Level 80 | x6 Nagadus Emerald Gemstone x20 Pseudo-Stamens x60 Sand Grease Pupa x24 Rich Red Brocade | 120,000 |
| Totals | x1 Nagadus Emerald Sliver x9 Nagadus Emerald Fragment x9Nagadus Emerald Chunk x6 Nagadus Emerald Gemstone x18 Faded Red Satin x30 Trimmed Red Silk x36 Rich Red Brocade x46 Pseudo-Stamens x168 Sand Grease Pupa | 420,000 |
Al-Haitham’s Talents
A quick disclaimer, this table shows the materials needed to upgrade just one of Al-Haitham’s three combat talents. Yes, the list is pretty beefy and it may feel like a chore having to collect these items (x 3) to fully upgrade your favourite characters. That’s where talent upgrade priorities come in, deciding which talent to upgrade and when.
| Talent Level | Materials Required | Mora Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 | x3 Teachings of Ingenuity x6 Faded Red Satin | 12,500 |
| Level 3 | x2 Guide to Ingenuity x3 Trimmed Red Silk | 17,500 |
| Level 4 | x4 Guide to Ingenuity x4 Trimmed Red Silk | 25,000 |
| Level 5 | x6 Guide to Ingenuity x6 Trimmed Red Silk | 30,000 |
| Level 6 | x9 Guide to Ingenuity x9 Trimmed Red Silk | 37,500 |
| Level 7 | x4 Philosophies of Ingenuity x4 Rich Red Brocade x1 Mirror of Mushin | 120,000 |
| Level 8 | x6 Philosophies Ingenuity x6 Rich Red Brocade x1 Mirror of Mushin | 260,000 |
| Level 9 | x12 Philosophies of Ingenuity x9 Rich Red Brocade x2 Mirror of Mushin | 450,000 |
| Level 10 | x16 Philosophies of Ingenuity x12 Rich Red Brocade x2 Mirror of Mushin x1 | 700,000 |
| Totals | x3 Teachings of Ingenuity x21 Guides of Ingenuity x38 Philosophies of Ingenuity x6 Faded Red Satin x22 Trimmed Red Silk x31 Rich Red Brocade x6 Mirror of Mushin x1 | 1,652,500 |
The Ingenuity series can be obtained by exploring (and murdering all in your path) the Steeple of Ignorance Domain in Sumeru. This reward is only available for collection on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
Al-Haitham’s Talents
This section of the article summarises Al-Haitham’s combat and passive talents, including his normal and charged attack, Elemental Skill and Burst, and ascension passive unlocks.
Normal/Charged Attack: Abductive Reasoning
Al-Haitham performs 5-rapid strikes, and can consume a certain amount of stamina to unleash 2 rapid sword strikes
Elemental Skill: Universality: An Elaboration on Form
Al-Haitham rushes forward, and at the end of this dash, deals Dendro DMG to all opponents in the nearby vicinity. You can also hold the elemental skill button to aim where you want Al-Haitham to rush. At the end of this skill, a Chisel-Light Mirror forms.
Al-Haitham generates 1 Chisel-Light Mirror when using his Elemental Skill. However, if there are no Chisel-Light Mirrors present before activating this skill, an additional Chisel-Light Mirror will form.
Chisel-Light Mirrors have the following properties:
- Converts Al-Haitham’s normal, charged, and plunging attack DMG to Dendro DMG.
- When attacks hit opponents, Chisel-Light Mirrors will unleash an additional Projection Attack that deals AoE Dendro DMG based on the number of Chisel-Light Mirrors on the field.
- A maximum of 3 Chisel-Light Mirrors can exist on-field at once.
- Chisel-Light Mirrors will disappear one by one over a period of time when Al-Haitham leaves the field.
- Chisel-Light Mirrors projection attacks scale of both ATK and Elemental Mastery.
Elemental Burst: Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena
Al-Haitham creates a particular binding field and deals multiple instances of AoE Dendro DMG. Using the character’s Elemental Burst consumes his Chisel-Light Mirrors and increases the number of instances of Dendro DMG.
2 seconds after this ability is unleashed, if 0/1/2/3 Mirrors were consumed, Al-Haitham generates 3/2/1/0 new Chisel-Light Mirrors.
Unlocked Automatically: Law of Reductive Overdetermination
When Alhaitham crafts Weapon Ascension Materials, he has a 10% chance to receive double the product.
1st Ascension Passive: Four-Causal Correction
When Alhaitham’s Charged or Plunging Attacks hit opponents, they will generate 1 Chisel-Light Mirror. This effect can be triggered once every 12s.
4th Ascension Passive: Mysteries Laid Bare
Each point of Alhaitham’s Elemental Mastery will increase the DMG dealt by Projection Attacks and Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena by 0.09%.
The maximum DMG increase this way for both these abilities is 90%.
All gifs were sourced from Quirky Void‘s Youtube Channel, and data has been provided by Honey Hunter Database.
Al-Haitham’s Constellations
| Constellation | Description |
|---|---|
| Constellation 1: Intuition | When a Projection Attack from Al-Haitham’s Elemental Skill hits opponents, his Elemental Burst’s CD is reduced by 1 second. This effect can only trigger once every second. |
| Constellation 2: Debate | Whenever a condition for generating a Chisel-Light Mirror is met, Al-Haitham’s Elemental Mastery will be increased by 50 for 8 seconds. This effect can stack up to a maximum of 4 times. ->Each stacks duration is counted independently ->This effect can be triggered even when the maximum number of Chisel-Light Mirrors has been reached (3). |
| Constellations 3 and 5: Negation and Sagacity | Negation (C3) increases the talent levels of Al-Haitham’s Elemental Skill, Universality: An Elaboration on Form, by 3. Sagacity increases the talent levels of Al-Haitham’s Elemental Burst, Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomenon by 3. Both of these abilities have a maximum level of 15 upon unlocking these constellations. |
| Constellation 4: Elucidation | When Al-Haitham unleashes his Elemental Burst, the character will get bonus effects based on the number of Chisel-Light Mirrors consumed and created. Each consumed Chisel-Light Mirror will increase the Elemental Mastery of all nearby party members by 30 for 15s. Each generated Chisel-Light Mirror will buff Al-Haitham’s Dendro DMG by 10%. |
| Constellation 6: Structuration | 2 seconds after using his Elemental Burst, Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena, Al-Haitham will always generate 3 Chisel-Light Mirrors. Suppose Al-Haitham already possesses the maximum number of Chisel-Light Mirrors, and some number of Chisel-Light Mirrors are left to be generated. In that case, Al-Haitham will instead gain 10% bonus CRIT Rate and 70% bonus CRIT DMG for 5 seconds. If this effect is triggered again during its initial 5 second duration, 5 seconds will be added to the remaining duration. |
Al-Haitham’s Best Artifacts
In this section, we will mention Al-Haitham’s Best Artifact Sets that compliment his Dendro/Main DPS build
| Artifact Name | Description |
|---|---|
Deepwood Memories (4-piece)
| 2-Piece Bonus Dendro DMG Bonus +15% 4-Piece Bonus After Elemental Skills or Bursts hit opponents, the targets’ Dendro RES will be decreased by 30% for 8s. This effect can be triggered even if the equipping character is not on the field |
Gilded Dreams (4-piece)
| 2-Piece Bonus Elemental Mastery +80 4-Piece Bonus Within 8s of triggering an Elemental Reaction, the character equipping this will obtain buffs based on the Elemental Type of the other party members, ATK is increased by 14% for each party member whose Elemental Type is the same as the equipping character, and Elemental Mastery is increased by 50 for every party member with a different Elemental Type. Each of the aforementioned buffs will count up to 3 characters. This effect can be triggered once every 8s. The character who equips this can still trigger its effects when not on the field. |
| Shimenawa’s Reminiscence (4-piece) 
| 2-Piece Bonus Character ATK +18% 4-Piece Bonus When casting an Elemental Skill, if the character has 15 or more Energy, they lose 15 Energy and Normal/Charged/Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 50% for 10s. This effect will not trigger again during that duration. |
| Wanderer’s Troupe (2-piece) 
Deepwood Memories/ Gilded Dreams (2-piece) | Wanderer’s Troupe 2-Piece Bonus Increases Elemental Mastery by 80. 4-Piece Bonus Increases Charged Attack DMG by 35% if the character uses a Catalyst or Bow. |
Al-Haitham’s Artifact Sets Best Stats
Al-Haitham’s DMG Elemental Skill and Burst scale off his ATK and Elemental Mastery, making it important to decide which one you want to prioritise, or better, balance with the other.
The character’s Flower and Feather will be primarily HP and Flat ATK. However players are recommended to select their pieces carefully, only equipping the ones that have some amount of extra CRIT Rate/DMG built into their substats. Some extra ATK or Elemental Mastery/Energy Recharge is pretty good too.
Al-Haitham’s Sands could equip both ATK or Elemental Mastery, which ever one you’re looking for or feel like you’re lacking. Generally, 1400-1800 ATK is considered decent, so after you’ve met that threshold, you can go crazy with the Elemental Mastery.
The unit’s Goblet should ideally be Dendro DMG %. And the Circlet can be whatever else you think is needed to fill the stat gap. For example, if you’re lacking CRIT Rate/DMG, you can go for either of those pieces. On the other hand, if you don’t end up getting enough Elemental Mastery or ATK, then you can choose those stats on Al-Haitham’s circlet.
Al-Haitham’s Best Weapons
In this section, we will be mentioning what weapons you can use for building Al-Haitham, including his best-in-slot signature weapon, some alternatives, and also some 4-star alternatives.
| Weapon | Description |
Light of Foliar Incision
| Al-Haitham’s Signature Weapon. At Max Level and Refinement Rank 1: Base ATK 542 Bonus CRIT DMG 88.2% Whitemoon Bristle ->Increases CRIT Rate by 4% ->Dealing Elemental DMG from Normal Attacks gives Foliar Incision Increases DMG dealt by normal attacks and Elemental Skills by 120% of Elemental Mastery. ->This effect will cease after 28 DMG instances or 12s. ->Foliar Incision can proc once ever 12s |
Primordial Jade Cutter
| At Max Level and Refinement Rank 1 Base ATK 542 Bonus CRIT Rate 44.1% Protector’s Virtue ->Increases character HP by 20%. Character is blessed with an ATK bonus based on 1.2% of the wielders Max HP. |
Mistsplitter Reforged
| At Max Level and Refinement Rank 1 Base ATK 674 Bonus CRIT DMG 44.1% Mistsplitter’s Edge Gives characters 12% Elemental DMG bonus Mistsplitter’s Emblem. Mistsplitter’s Emblem provides 8/16/28% Elemental DMG bonus for the character’s Elemental Type for every stack 1 stack is gained by ->Dealing Elemental Normal attack DMG. ->Casting Elemental Burst ->Energy bar is not 100% full. |
Xiphos’ Moonlight
| At Max Level and Refinement Rank 1 Base ATK 510 Bonus Elemental Mastery 165 Jinni’s Whisper ->Every 10s, the equipping character gains 0.036% Energy Recharge for every point of Elemental Mastery they have. ->Lasts for 12s ->nearby party members gain 30% of this buff for 12s . Multiple weapons of the same type can allow this bonus ER to stack , and the effect can trigger with the character off-field. |
Harbinger of Dawn
| At Max Level and Refinement Rank 5 Base ATK 401 Bonus CRIT DMG 46.9% Vigorous ->When equipping character’s HP is above 90%, increases CRIT Rate by 28%. |
Sapwood Blade
| At Max Level and Refinement Rank 5 Base ATK 565 Bonus Energy Recharge 30.6% Forest Sanctuary After triggering Dendro reactions Leaf of Consciousness will be created around the character for 10s. ->Leaf will grant the character 60 Elemental Mastery for 12s. ->Only 1 Leaf can be obtained this way every 20s. ->This effect can be triggered if the character is not on-field. ->The Leaf of Consciousness effect cannot stack. |
Al-Haitham’s Best Teams
Althought we haven’t had the chance to properly test the character out yet, we can only theorize on his best team compositions. However, for a character as popular as Al-Haitham, we can be sure that HoYoverse won’t dissappoint!
Al-Haitham, making use of his on-field Dendro application ablities, could serve as a reaction driver in your teams. His use case feels a bit like Childe‘s, who applies Hydro blindingly fast and allows powerful off-field characters like Xiangling and Xingqiu to deal most of the DMG. For this case, perhaps an EM build will suit your Al-Haitham
With that said, players can select which Dendro Elemental reaction they want to proc primarily.
For Hydro based, sub-dps’s/Hydro appliers like Yelan, Xingqiu, Sangonomiya Kokomi/Barbara/Mona can work really well.
To increase Al-Haitham’s personal DMG (Dendro DPS build), perhaps an electro support like Kuki Shinobu/Fischl/Raiden Shogun would suffice.
Pyro supports for Burgeon reactions could have you inviting characters like Thoma, Xiangling, or Bennett in your teams!
Be sure to to check back for more updates in this section!
Conclusion
And there you have it folks! A guide on how you can build Al-Haitham. Please remember, this guide has been written based on leaked info/pre-release info, and is subject to change. Remember to check back for updates!
In the meantime, what do you say to a Wanderer guide? Perhaps you’ve spent all your primos pulling for Yoimiya? Or Nahida? Whatever the case, traveler, we wish you the best of luck in your adventures!
