Unit Analysis by Team BethelFrankel
Class
Sniper who has to move within a restricted area to maximize her potential
Overall
A
(S at BT3)
Advantages
+Flexible targeting on her chain due to her Thunder Array
+Diagonal Normal Attacks boost her damage significantly on 1x1 content
+Strong mobbing potential
+Access to powerful self-ATK and self-damage buffs
Disadvantages
-– Extremely clunky at BT0
– Random targeting can make it troublesome to aim at a specific enemy
– Her 1x1 damage floor and ceiling are contested and beaten by Luke
Explanation
Xuanji is more or less a stripped-down version of Reinhardt. She does have some good things going for her—particularly her mobbing, access to diagonal Normal Attacks, and Equipment that gives her both a self-ATK buff and self-damage buff.
That said, her reliance on operating inside the Square Thunder Array created by her Active Skill keeps her from being amazing. Her diagonal attacks and both buffs require her to be inside the array to access, which means that if you want to deal better-than-average sniper damage you’re confined to a small area. This is especially troublesome at BT0, when you only get a 3x3 square to work with. BT3 offers a lot more flexibility, but that still means you can only fully maximize Xuanji’s abilities in a 25-tile square.
If Xuanji was spitting out Reinhardt-tier damage, the tradeoff might be worth it. As it is, though, her damage ceiling is similar to Luke’s, but with a lot more gameplay requirements to hit a peak that’s relatively average for a 6* unit. She’s still more than good enough to tackle any content you’d want her for (mobbing or 1x1 stages), but there’s nothing game changing to see here.