I've spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to make Taoqi work, and at this point she's less a character and more a philosophical debate with a broadblade. She wants so badly to be both damage dealer and support that her kit resembles a Swiss Army knife someone dropped in a lake—every tool is technically there, but you have to dry off each blade before it will open. As a 4-star melee broadblade user, Taoqi offers moderately strong shields, extra damage reduction, and a unique parry-based Forte. In theory, she turns enemy aggression into Resolving Caliber stacks and then smacks back. In practice, she's one awkward boss AI decision away from standing there like a bouncer at a club nobody wants to enter.
Let's get the ugly part out of the way: Taoqi has issues. Her skill cooldown is longer than a Monday, her entire identity relies on enemies behaving predictably enough to actually parry, and even when she does parry she doesn't fully negate damage—just reduces it by a fixed percentage. Against endgame bosses who hit like meteors, that percentage reduction can feel like holding up a cocktail umbrella in a hurricane. Still, calling her useless is lazy. She has just enough value to carve out a niche, and honestly, learning her kit teaches you the combat system's rhythm better than most tutorial prompts.
Strengths and Weaknesses
| ✅ Strengths | ❌ Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Provides team-wide shields without extra resource cost | Long, impractical rotation compared to peers |
| Outro grants a whopping 38% Resonance Skill Deepen | Split scaling hurts main DPS potential |
| Simple and safe kit is great for learning combat | Support/sub-DPS roles waste her defining parry features |
| Genuinely unique parry flavor | Limited pool of characters she supports effectively |
The Parry Encyclopedia Nobody Asked For
As a melee character, Taoqi can parry with Basic Attacks 1, 2, and 4, her Dodge Counter, and her plunge attack. Curiously, Basic Attack 3 refuses to parry, as if it didn't read the job description. Her Intro can parry with perfect timing, but deliberately fishing for that is about as practical as opening a pickle jar with chopsticks. Her Resonance Liberation, Unmovable, can parry incoming attacks. Her Resonance Skill, Fortified Defense, cannot parry directly but can trigger Strategic Parry. And her Forte attack, Timed Counters, can parry too—but doing so is actively dangerous, so please don't.
Her parry is less a red carpet and more a screen door slamming on your knuckles: the window exists, but the margin for error is spicy. Still, landing one feels incredible, especially when you follow up with enhanced attacks powered by Resolving Caliber from her Intro or expiring Rocksteady Shields.
Rotations: The Sacred Texts
The primary rotation focuses on filling Concerto as quickly as possible while squeezing full value from her kit. You must hit every attack, because missing one forces you to add extra Basic Attacks to recover lost Concerto. That means Taoqi punishes sloppiness harder than a tax auditor.
Notes:
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If using Discord at rank 1 or Beguiling Melody at rank 5, both Heavy Attacks in the sequence can be skipped.
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Discord at rank 5 also lets you skip Basic Attack 4.
If Taoqi's Outro isn't needed, or you're playing quick-switch support, use the shorter field-time rotation. Realistically, this shorter cycle should only be used in support conditions; otherwise use the sub-DPS attack sequence. Also, this rotation fills Concerto on every other switch, so plan accordingly like you're budgeting for a surprise bill.
Weapons: A Broadblade Identity Crisis
Her best weapon depends on whether you're building team-focused Taoqi or 'I want her numbers to go brrr' Taoqi.
Support/Sub-DPS
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Discord – Best for maximizing team performance, boosts Energy Regen so Echo slots free up, but leaves her personal damage as garnish.
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Beguiling Melody – Arrived back in version 1.1; at rank 5 it remains a 3-star alternative with ATK% instead of ER%, lower ceiling.
Personal Damage
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Verdant Summit / Ages of Harvest – The 5-star signature arms race: one gives stronger crit strikes, the other more consistent crits.
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Dauntless Evernight – DEF% substat and Intro effect boost her DEF-scaling damage; secretly excellent.
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Autumntrace – Battle pass option with crit chance, but scales poorly with ranks on Taoqi.
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Originite: Type I – Surprisingly solid and cheap due to DEF% secondary stat; beats premium options in raw damage sometimes.
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Lustrous Razor – Don't sleep on it; energy regen frees Echo substats for offense, giving higher ceiling.
The core problem? Most broadblades hand out ATK, but Taoqi's base ATK is the second lowest in the game behind Baizhi. Building her damage feels like tuning a lute made of wet cardboard—you can do it, but don't expect symphonies. Her Forte, Skill, and Liberation scale with DEF, not ATK, creating anti-synergy with most weapons. Even Timed Counters are treated as Basic Attack DMG despite scaling with DEF, so weird budget broadblades like Guardian Broadblade suddenly become competitive.
Echo Sets and Stats
For sub-DPS: Moonlit Clouds: Impermanence Heron doubles down on buffing the next character.
For healing/support vibe: Rejuvenating Glow: Bell-Borne Geochelone gives a team-wide 10% All-DMG Deepen and 50% damage taken reduction for 15 seconds or three hits, though it doesn't stack with itself.
For personal damage: Sun-Sinking Eclipse: Dreamless offers a quick AoE burst that can delete small enemies near your target.
Stat priorities:
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Unlike most characters, Taoqi prefers DEF% over ATK% on 1-Cost Echoes because her attacks scale with DEF.
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Pure support Taoqi should consider DEF% on 4-Cost Echoes to increase shield size.
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Keep a 1:2 Crit Rate/Crit DMG ratio.
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For smooth support quick-switch rotations, aim for over 60% Energy Regen from extra stats.
If you're determined enough, Taoqi can absolutely function in 2026. She won't top damage charts, but she'll teach you patience, spacing, and the fine art of forgiving yourself after a failed parry. Not every character needs to be a speedrun darling. Some exist to remind you that a 4-star broadblade user with a shield and a dream can still clear content—provided the enemy AI cooperates, which it absolutely will not.