Hello Folks! Today, the topic of discussion is Candace. One of the newest character releases in the 3.1 update. In this guide, we will be discussing the best ways to build Candace, including her Talent and Ascension materials/costs, talents, constellations, artifacts, and teams. First, we will begin with a brief introduction to the character.
Candace, Title: Golden Vow, is Genshin Impacts’ newest 4-star Hydro Polearm character. Her kit nods towards her team role as a Sub-DPS character, who does Elemental DMG based off her Max HP. She is expected to be released alongside Cyno in the second half of 3.1.
Overview
Candace‘s main source of DMG will be her Skill and Burst. Her skill is a parry move, holding up her shield to charge up and deal increased DMG, a lot like Beidou. Her Burst increases the active Character’s Normal Attacks’ Elemental DMG. Like Thoma, who releases bouts of Pyro, Candace does waves of Hydro DMG that scale of her HP.
Her passives aid in climbing, provide an upgrade to her parry skill, and also buff your character’s Normal Attack Elemental DMG by a certain amount off of her HP.
Candace Ascension and Talent Costs/ Mats
At certain Level milestones, Candace receives a bonus in HP. Leveling up Candace is an essential part of building her, since it unlocks the potential of increased Talent Levels, making her more powerful.
Candace Ascension Costs/Materials
When 3.1 rolls out, Travelers will have to fight the Semi-Perpetual Control Matrices to be able to ascend Candace. They will also have to explore the deserts in order to come across blooms of Red Crests. The Satin, Silk, and Brocades can be collected from Eremites.
Ascension Level | Materials Required | Mora Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Level 20 | x1 Varunada Lazurite Sliver x3 Redcrest x3 Faded Red Satin | 20,000 |
| Level 40 | x3 Varunada Lazurite Fragment x2 Light Guiding Tetrahedron x10 Redcrest x15 Faded Red Satin | 40,000 |
| Level 50 | x6 Varunada Lazurite Fragment x4 Light Guiding Tetrahedron x20 Redcrest x12 Trimmed Red Silk | 60,000 |
| Level 60 | x3 Varunada Lazurite Chunk x8 Light Guiding Tetrahedron x30 Redcrest x18 Trimmed Red Silk | 80,000 |
| Level 70 | x6 Varunada Lazurite Chunk x12 Light Guiding Tetrahedron x45 Redcrest x12 Rich Red Brocade | 100,000 |
| Level 80 | x6 Varunada Lazurite Gemstone x20 Light Guiding Tetrahedron x60 Redcrest x24 Rich Red Brocade | 120,000 |
| Totals | x1 Varunada Lazurite Sliver x9 Varunada Lazurite Chunk x9 Varunada Lazurite Chunk x6 Varunada Lazurite Gemstone x18 Faded Red Satin x30 Trimmed Red Silk x36 Rich Red Brocade x46 Light Guiding Tetrahedron x168 Redcrest | 420,000 |
Candace Talent Upgrade Costs
The following list of materials accounts for just one of Candace‘s combat talent upgrades. However, note that characters should have passed a certain Ascension Level to access these upgrades.
You will have to fight the Raiden Shogun for her boss drops, and you may complete The Steeple of Ignorance domain in Sumeru on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays to access her books.
| Talent Level | Materials Required | Mora Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 | x3 Teachings of Admonition x6 Faded Red Satin | 12,500 |
| Level 3 | x2 Guide to Admonition x3 Trimmed Red Silk | 17,500 |
| Level 4 | x4 Guide to Admonition x4 Trimmed Red Silk | 25,000 |
| Level 5 | x6 Guide to Admonition x6 Trimmed Red Silk | 30,000 |
| Level 6 | x9 Guide to Admonition x9 Trimmed Red Silk | 37,500 |
| Level 7 | x4 Philosophies of Admonition x4 Rich Red Brocade x1 Tears of the Calamitous God | 120,000 |
| Level 8 | x6 Philosophies Admonition x6 Rich Red Brocade x1 Tears of the Calamitous God | 260,000 |
| Level 9 | x12 Philosophies of Admonition x9 Rich Red Brocade x2 Tears of the Calamitous God | 450,000 |
| Level 10 | x16 Philosophies of Admonition x12 Rich Red Brocade x2 Tears of the Calamitous God x1 Crown of Insight | 700,000 |
| Totals | x3 Teachings of Admonition x21 Guides of Admonition x38 Philosophies of Admonition x6 Faded Red Satin x22 Trimmed Red Silk x31 Rich Red Brocade x6 Tears of the Calamitous God x1 Crown of Insight | 1,652,500 |
Candace’s Talents
Candace‘s skill is a shield parry that deals Hydro DMG. Her Burst deals AoE Hydro DMG, buffing your active character’s normal ATK DMG, and dealing bouts of Hydro DMG. She also gives your active character a Hydro infusion if they carry a Sword, Claymore, or Polearm.
Her passives can decrease climbing stamina consumption, provide your active character with a DMG buff based on her HP, and also make her skill easier to use.
Candace’s Passive Talents
To Dawn’s First Light
Decreases climbing Stamina consumption for your own party members by 20%.
Not stackable with Passive Talents that provide the same effects.
From what we’ve seen in the leaks, various ravines are speckled throughout Sumeru’s Desert landscape. This passive should help in scaling these cliffs with relative ease.
Featherflow Guard
If Candace is hit by an attack in the Hold duration of Sacred Rite: Heron’s Sanctum, that skill will finish charging instantly.
Previously, the traveler had to wait for this ability to charge. This passive negates that need so you can focus more on dealing DMG and team rotations.
Sand Arch
Characters affected by the Prayer of the Crimson Crown caused by Sacred Rite: Wagtail’s Tide will deal 0.5% increased DMG to opponents for every 1,000 points of Candace’s Max HP when they deal Elemental DMG with their Normal Attacks.
If you’re running Candace on a support build, stacking HP on her will make excellent use of this passive.
Candace’s Normal Attack
Gleaming Spear – Guardian Stance
Performs a 4 attack sequence, dealing moderate DMG to enemies.
Candace’s Elemental Skill
Sacred Rite: Heron’s Sanctum
This ability has two uses, Tap or Hold.
When tapped, Candace rushes forward with her shield, dealing Hydro DMG to opponents in her path. When held, Candace charges up and performs a leaping attack that scales off your HP. This ability takes around a second to charge up.
Of course, whether you’re going to be tapping or holding depends entirely on the scenario and/or your preference. For example, much like Kazuha, her tap and hold skills have different cooldowns (6 and 9 respectively) and like Kazuha, her held skill does more DMG in a larger AoE.
Candace’s Elemental Burst
Sacred Tide: Wagtail’s Tide
Candace‘s burst infuses her weapons (and any other sword, claymore or polearm taking the field) with Hydro. Dealing AoE Hydro DMG and also buffing your active unit’s Normal Attack DMG by 20% for 9s. You can make this effect stronger by leveling Candace up and unlocking her passive.
Her burst infusion could be very powerful when paired with a fast normal attacker, such as Xiangling with her Pyronado, constanty proccing aggressive reactions such as Vaporise. We will discuss more viable options in the teams section.
All attack gifs were sourced from Giyu‘s Youtube Channel.
Candace’s Constellations
A brief note is necessary here.. C0 Candace is an amazing unit. Please do not feel forced to roll for a character’s constellations. They are nice to have and can boost the effectiveness of a character but aren’t worth spending real-world currency on unless you have a large reserve of expendable income.
Candace‘s constellations are pretty good, providing a bit of extra DMG and increasing the duration of her Burst, also, negating the cooldown difference in her skill.
However, if you do end up getting more constellations, congratulations! Let us get you familiar with Candace‘s Stella Fortuna.
Constellation Lv.1
Returning Heir of the Scarlet Sands
Allows for more normal attacks to be buffed. Characters like Ayato or Childe can greatly benefit from this effect.
Constellation Lv.2
Moon-Piercing Brilliance
This is a powerful upgrade, using this ability before your burst will greatly increase its effectiveness.
Constellation Lv.3 + Lv.5
Hunter’s Supplication + Golden Eye
These two constellations buff the skill and burst talent level of every character in the Genshin world, upto a maximum of 15.
Constellation Lv.4
Sentinel Oath
This constellation incentivizes players to hold down her skill button more often, as with Beidou, using her skill button at the precise moment Candace is attacked, she can instantly deal immense DMG with lowered cooldowns. In conclusion, This is a very welcome upgrade.
Constellation Lv.6
The Overflow
Remember those bouts of Hydro DMG from her burst before? This constellation can allow for 5 more instances of Hydro DMG, adding to the already available 3 instances.
All constellation images were sourced from Mister P‘s Youtube Channel
Candace’s Best Artifact Sets
To make use of her support capabilities, you’ll want as much HP on Candace as possible. To achieve this, the Tenacity of the Millelith set is a good build option for Candace. Other options include the Emblem of Severed Fate set, this is your go-to set for increasing any unit’s burst DMG. The Heart of Depth set could also work. Of course, universally, you can go for the Gladiator’s Finale or Shimenawa’s Reminiscence for a temporary ATK boost if you do not have the desired sets.
Tenacity of the Millelith
The two-piece HP boost from this set is what we’re focusing on, paired with one of the other two recommendations.
Emblem of Severed Fate
Both the two-piece and four-piece bonuses of this set will be good for Candace, however, when deciding what pieces to build Candace with, it is important to decide what is available to you with ease. This means you should consider any other artifact rewards you may be getting from this domain. Which in this case is the Shimenawa’s Reminiscence set.
Generally, around 200& ER is recommended when using this set.
Heart of Depth
The two-piece effect, paired with any of the two-piece effects of the aforementioned sets will produce a deadly build combination for Candace. We highly recommend going or a two-piece Tenacity and Heart of Depth build for Candace.
Ofcourse, since we are merely building upon information based on leaks, these sentences are marked for potential updates.
Candace Best Stats on Artifact Sets
For an entirely supportive build, we recommend stacking as much HP on Candace as possible. That means, HP on circlet, sands, and goblet.
For a more general build for Candace, a CRIT Rate/ DMG circlet.
ER or ATK sands and a Hydro Goblet will be your go-to options.
The recommended stats however, would keep in mind Candace‘s full kit: Making use of both HP stacking and CRIT. So, we recommend a CRIT Rate/DMG circlet, a Hydro DMG goblet, along with a HP sands for Candace.
Candace’ Best Weapons
“The Catch”
This f2p option is one of the best polearms in the game. Ideally, it will be equipped with characters like the Raiden Shogun, but, if you own this weapon but not the character, then it should suit any build for Candace. The Emblem set will compliment this set’s sub-stat splendidly.
Staff of Homa
Probably the best possible weapon for Candace, The ATK boost based on HP, high base ATK and CRIT DMG boost make it a deadly weapon in the hands of any polearm user.
Candace’s Best Teams
Candace looks to be an overall good character that can work in many teams. Her Hydro infusion can aid Cryo characters like Kaeya, Rosaria or Shenhe to consistently Freeze their enemies. Note that these characters are capable of dealing Cryo DMG off-field, using Candace‘s normal, Hydro infused attacks to inflict death upon your enemies.
Another viable variant could be that of the popular Taser Teams with Beidou and Fischl, who will be applying Electro off-field, doing massive DMG, and interrupting enemies.
Candace‘s Normal attack buff will greatly benefit a team that utilizes normal attack DMG, such as a physical build Rosaria, Childe, Ayato, or any other character that you choose. It is also notable that if you decide to run another Hydro character with Candace, she will be getting an HP boost due to the Hydro Resonance.
As mentioned before, Xiangling under the infusive effects of Candace‘s burst can Vaporise her own Pyronado, eliminating the need for Childe (who of course is nonetheless a welcome party member. However, even after a billion reruns not everyone may own the character).
Of course, the player is encouraged to innovate and make the best of what they have. These build options are just recommendations, so, we further recommend trying out different weapons, artifacts, or even teams and finding what works the best for them.
(look forward to team images soon!)
Conclusion
And that is al folks! Are you looking forward to 3.1? What are your thoughts on Nilou and Cyno? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments! And as always, thank you for reading!
