Genshin Impact 2.7: Arataki Itto is back! Should you wish for him?

He’s scrawny but muscular, has abs but his arms are NPC thin; the one, the only, the oni Arataki Itto is up for his first ever banner rerun in Genshin Impact version 2.7!

As the banner 5-star character for version 2.7's second half, this Geo claymore wielder is one DPS character you shouldn’t sleep on.

Besides being the Inazuman local gang leader, resident troublemaker, jail connoisseur, and HoYoverse's lovable problem child, Arataki Itto can seriously pack a punch with his powerful Geo-infused attacks.

Here's why you should pull for the first and greatest head of the Arataki Gang!

Yeet a cow at your enemies

If I can’t convince you to pull for Itto because his elemental skill lets him yeet Ushi the cow at enemies, then I don’t know what will.

But kidding aside, I have to honestly admit that Itto’s playstyle is the funnest in a while. His snappy, high-energy slashes, along with his signature Masatsu Zetsugi: Akaushi Burst! skill is a treat.

You wouldn’t even think he’s a heavy weapon user with how fluid his movements are.

Not only that, his skill damage is no laughing matter.

Ushi can hit as hard as Zhongli’s meteor, if not more.

Itto’s unique supercharged stacks are also something you don’t want to gloss over. His “Superlative Superstrength” buff can be gained through normal attacks or yeeting Ushi at your enemies, and with enough stacks, will seriously buff Arataki Kesagiri — your charged attack sequence.

Itto will also not consume stamina and can gain more resistance to interruption, plus, the finisher in your charged attack sequence will deal a very powerful chunk of damage.

Itto’s elemental burst, Royal Descent: Behold, Itto the Evil!, will infuse his Normal, Charged, and Plunge Attacks with Geo and will be buffed based on his total DEF. In addition, he can gain the Superlative Superstrength stacks on the 1st and 3rd hits of his Normal Attack strings.

Itto will have decreased Physical and Elemental resistance during his burst's duration, but will gain increased attack and attack speed — so it’s a pretty fair trade off. You’ll see Itto laughing at the ashes of his enemies in no time at all.

Team compositions

Itto is not into multi-elemental team compositions.

The best route to get Itto’s maximum potential is to put him in a mono-Geo composition which consists of him, Gorou, Albedo, and Zhongli.

Gorou and Zhongli are essential to an Itto team, as Gorou can increase Itto's defense while Zhongli's shield provides protection while also shredding the Geo resistance of nearby enemies. Albedo can take care of the team's energy needs while also providing off-field damage.

But if you don’t have an Albedo, Bennett can be the perfect odd-one-out buffer and battery.

It’s important to keep Itto’s energy topped up, because you’ll want to keep spamming his burst to get his maximum damage potential.

If you don't have both Zhongli or Albedo, some 4-star Itto team compositions you can try include:

• Itto, Gorou, Noelle, Bennett

• Itto, Gorou, Noelle, Barbara

• Itto, Gorou, Noelle, Ningguang

Noelle will be your best option for a shielder if you don't have Zhongli, as her shield also gets stronger from the defense buffs provided by Gorou. While Noelle can also provide healing, it isn't as strong as the heals from Bennett or Barbara and will take up valuable field time.

If your Bennett is needed by your other team in the Spiral Abyss, then Barbara can be a good substitute as a healer and can even buff Itto's damage by equipping the Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers.

Lastly, Ningguang is a good sub-DPS option for an Itto team as her Jade Screen provides a 12% Geo DMG bonus. She can also take the field and deal damage while Itto's burst is in cooldown.

I want to decimate my enemies, so I’ll max out my defense!

Itto’s selfish DPS kit may mean he’s a little tough to integrate into a team setup, but he more than makes up for it with his damage scaling as a burst DPS.

Since Itto's damage depends on his defense, he’s easy to build and you won’t have to necessarily lose your wits grinding the Husk of Opulent Dreams domain. You won't have to scramble for a decent weapon to give him either if his signature weapon, the Redhorn Stonethresher, slips through your fingertips.

His only artifact set that works for him (well because it is made for him) is the Husk of Opulent Dreams, as it not only increases your defense, but stacks even more defense whenever you hit an opponent with Geo DMG or when you're off-field. You can gain up to 24% of Defense and Geo DMG increase this way.

But if your Adventure Rank is not high enough yet to reach Inazuma, where the Husk of Opulent Dreams domain is located in, the two-piece bonus of the 4-star artifact set Defenders Will gives you a good 30% defense increase. You can pair that with any other 2-piece set that gives you an ATK or Geo DMG bonus while you wait to get your 4-piece Husk of Opulent Dreams set.

You don’t have to focus too much on ATK though, as Itto’s damage comes from his burst, and the damage he can produce in his ultimate is buffed by his overall defense. An optimal Crit ratio is also fairly easy to get on him as he ascends with Crit Rate.

The stats you should be looking for are DEF% on your Sands, Geo DMG Bonus on your Goblet, as well as Crit Rate or Crit DMG on your Circlet. For substats, you should prioritize Crit Rate or Crit DMG as well as DEF% to increase your overall damage. Don't forget to get some Energy Recharge as well so that your burst will be ready to use off cooldown.

For weapons, Redhorn Stonethresher is obviously Itto's best-in-slot, as it ascends to Crit DMG and has a passive tailor-made for him.

But if, for example, you lost the 50/50 on the weapon banner or are a low-spender, the next best 5-star weapon for Itto is the Wolf’s Gravestone, followed by Skyward Pride.

While the stats on those weapons aren't optimal for Itto, they can still help increase his damage output. The atk increase from Wolf's Gravestone is pretty nice while the Energy Recharge increase from Skyward Pride will help with your burst uptime.

But if you don’t have those 5-star generalist claymores, the next best paid 4-star option for Itto is the Battle Pass weapon Serpent Spine. With a Crit Rate substat and a passive that increases your damage, you can’t really go wrong with it. Just get the much-needed defense from your artifacts.

For free-to-play players who don’t pull for signature weapons, the craftable Whiteblind is Itto's free-to-play best-in-slot.

It ascends with DEF% and increases your ATK and DEF with every hit of your normal or charged attacks by up to 24% (48% if you have it at refinement rank 5).

Itto’s kit is pretty easy to get a hang of and he’s super fun to have. You won’t feel bored with his characterization or his over-the-top personality, and you just know that both the devs and his voice actors had fun bringing him to life.

He’s also a great DPS, and even though his premium team can be a bit of an expensive investment, you won’t miss out much and can get almost the same results with a 4-star support team.

Overall, you won’t regret tapping into your primogem hoard to pull for this oni wonder.

With the Yin comes the Yang

Joining Arataki Itto in his banner is his deputy Kuki Shinobu, a 4-star Electro sword wielder.

You see, Itto might be the boss, but Shinobu is the glue that keeps the whole gang together. She’s the voice of reason in the team, and her many specialties can help them out in a pinch.

She’s also the one who always bails Itto and the others out of the slammer. Let’s just say, without Shinobu, Itto would be a total goner.

While Shinobu and Itto aren't exactly a great fit together gameplay-wise, she is a great addition to any other team as she can heal and deal off-field damage.

She can slot in nicely in Electro-Charged teams as a healer or as the Superconduct trigger for Physical DMG teams with Cryo characters like Eula or Rosaria.

Arataki Itto and Kuki Shinobu will be available to wish for from 21 June to 12 July.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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