Now, given the Ganyu overview I did, you might think that Venti would be a character that wouldn’t get touched on here. Well, if it weren’t for Venti’s elemental skill and the raw combo potential, quite frankly, I really wouldn’t.
But, that aside, there’s some observations about Venti’s ult which can be made to improve gameplay for anyone, and a visual reference for how to do that is extremely helpful, so let’s get started.
Basic Attack String
Venti’s basic attack string is fairly unique among archers for his double shots on the first and fourth attacks in this six input chain. This makes his regular attacks something of a 1-1-2-3 repeat combo, but, admittedly, you’re not going to be using Venti very often for his regular attacks.
I don’t have a way to confirm this at the moment, but I believe that Venti is capable of shooting upwards at a significant angle with his regular attacks. Most archers can, the only exception I’m aware of being Fischl.
Charged Shot/Aimed Shot
Venti’s charged shot is much the same as any other archer, varying more with his C1 than in normal gameplay with C0. As it deals Anemo damage, when hitting an enemy under the effects of another element it will cause a Swirl effect, but only really in exploration as opposed to combat is this worthwhile at C0, something I think I might start calling Amber syndrome.
Elemental Skill Press: Skyward Sonnet
Venti’s elemental skill is, as I mentioned, where things start to get interesting. The reason why is, at the time of this writing, it is the only ranged launcher currently in the game. That has some pretty radical combo potential, and more importantly, this attack has a similar affect to Jean’s launcher: inflicting an Anemo aura on the target it’s applied to and making them easier to juggle by delaying their fall.
Elemental Skill Hold:
When held, Venti’s elemental skill sends him into the air, as well as dealing damage and an Anemo elemental affliction. Typically, this is a lot more useful for exploration, obviously, than combat, but you can use it to setup a plunging attack.
If you were bored, you can use it to mess with the game. As far as I can tell, to get this to work, you really just need one of those Anemo rings pushing downward to pull this off, then immediately on touching the ground, perform a held elemental skill.
Elemental Burst: Embrace of Winds
Venti’s elemental burst is the thing that makes him dead simple, although, there is an important nuance that can be used to fully take advantage of this attack, and I’ll cover that shortly, but for now let’s focus on an accurate description: similar to the Traveler’s Gust Surge, Palm Vortex, and Jean’s Gale Blade, Venti’s (elemental burst) draws enemies in.
The difference is it’s done en masse.
As it’s drawing them inwards towards its center, the attack will repeatedly hit them, and if it has absorbed an element from one of the enemies, it will begin Swirling that element, dealing massive damage
Now, as I’ve mentioned previously with the Traveler and Gust Surge, it’s important to position Venti relative to the closest enemy to get the desired result from the aim of the shot, but in addition to that, to maximize the effects of the attack on certain enemies who aren’t lifted into the air by it, it’s best to position Venti in a slight standoff position at a greater range than normal gameplay would typically have you place him.
By doing this, you can catch larger enemies in the pull even if they’re not lifted and keep them stuck there, making the attack effective against larger and heavier targets that might not be easily lifted into the air, a topic I’ll cover more with Jean.
Conclusion:
While Venti is absolutely the best crowd control in the game, and that does more or less distill him down to deploying his elemental burst in the majority of difficult fights, as I mentioned, there’s some cool stuff that can be done with his ranged launcher that makes him a little bit more than just straight orientated towards his ultimate.
Exploration utility with his elemental skill is obvious besides the fact there are some chests you can really only get to with the likes of Keqing, Zhongli, or Venti, and in general, he’s a very excellent option which like any Anemo character synergizes in nearly any team besides a Geo-orientated one. Sometimes there can be a bit of difficulty with making sure your Anemo attacks will pick up the right element, like any other Anemo character, but typically it doesn’t really matter what ends up being grabbed, it’s gonna make ’em hurt.
As with all Anemo characters currently in-game, the best set to choose is the Viridescent Venerer. This will allow him to provide a massive debuff with Swirl, which as you inevitably frequently deploy his elemental skill, you’ll likely end up doing. Largely because of that, Stringless is the best choice of weapon for him.
So even if clearing things entirely with his ultimate can be cheesy, there’s a bit more to him than that which makes him interesting to a player who’s looking for more than an easy room clearing.
