Kirara FAQ

Credits:

• NatC#9175 - Lead, Author | Overview, Talents, Constellations, Energy Recharge Requirements, Weapons, Artifact Calcs
• snowy#4028 - Author | Artifacts, Teambuilding
• TiniMeow#8695 - Weapon Calcs
• Leifa#1359 - Lead, Consulting
• sigurd#3854 - Content Verification
• KB#1111 - Content Verification
• acie#1290 - Grammar Verification
• Athena#2444 - Calc Verification
• jrm.spirit#2671 - Framecounting

Pre-TC is volatile and, as always, perpetually subject to change until release (and sometimes later!). Please note that these are theoretical suggestions. Everything described in this FAQ is a good faith analysis based on the little information about the character’s kit that we know. Team calcs, additionally, are not established yet, and as with everything in TC, the content in this FAQ should be taken with a grain of salt.

Character Overview

Authored by NatC

Kirara is a 4-star Dendro Sword shielder, providing shields via her Skill and a tiny bit of extra damage from her Burst. That being said, it is not recommended to build Kirara for damage in spite of her decently high multipliers on her Burst due to her lack of access to amplifying reactions that take advantage of said multipliers, as well as the loss in shield strength.

What’s worth noting is that Kirara’s shield has extra absorption against Dendro DMG. This means that she could be an interesting slot-in in Bloom / Burgeon teams if one wishes to take advantage of the increased absorption. If not, she can very easily be slotted into quickswap teams due to her low cooldown on her Tap Skill.

Talents

Authored by NatC

Leveling Priority: Elemental Skill > Elemental Burst

Since Kirara’s shields and a portion of her damage scale off of HP, having high levels on her is nice for primarily more shield absorption, with the added damage being the icing on the cake. Leveling her to 90 is preferred, but is by no means necessary to take full advantage of her kit.

Normal Attack: Boxcutter

Kirara has attack multipliers that are similar to Shinobu’s throughout her Normal Attack sequence. Unfortunately, with abysmally low base attack and no other added gimmicks to it, there is little to no reason to make use of her attack string unless you specifically wish to build her to do so.

Elemental Skill: Meow-teor Kick

There are two variations to Kirara’s Skill — a pressed and a held version. Her Tap Skill initiates a Tail-Flicking Flying Kick, dealing AoE Dendro DMG while briefly applying Dendro to herself. It will also create a Shield of Safe Transport that lasts for 12s, the duration of which will be refreshed if a new shield is applied on top of it.

Her Hold Skill deploys a shield similar to the one that is created from her pressed Skill. On top of this, Kirara will curl up into a box, dealing damage to enemies she crashes into in a fashion similar to Sayu’s Skill. At the end of her Skill, she will unleash a Flipclaw Strike, dealing AoE Dendro DMG. The longer her Skill is held, the longer its cooldown will be at the end.

It’s worth noting that in her Hold Skill state, Kirara’s movement and climbing speed will be increased, making it possible for her to traverse climbable terrain more quickly in her box state at the cost of increased stamina consumption.

Kirara’s shields also have increased Dendro absorption, meaning that she could be an option for certain Bloom-based teams.

Elemental Burst: Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch

Kirara smashes enemies with a Special Delivery Package, dealing a large chunk of AoE Dendro DMG to enemies. After the explosion, the package will split up into a total of 6 Cat Grass Cardamoms, little bomblets similar to Klee’s. When enemies come into contact with said bomblets OR if left alone for 12 seconds, they will explode, dealing AoE Dendro DMG to enemies surrounding them. A nice bit of extra damage along with Dendro application, though her primary utility as a shieldbot means that the damage might not be as impactful as the numbers imply.

Ascension 1 Passive: Bewitching, Betwitching Tails

During Kirara’s held Skill state, crashing into enemies grants her a stack of Reinforced Packaging obtainable every 0.5s, up to a maximum of 3 stacks. When her held Skill ends, each stack of Reinforced Packaging will grant Kirara a Shield of Safe Transport, refreshing the duration of her shield and stacking on top of her existing shield up to the maximum that her Skill will allow. A very nice passive that helps with both Kirara’s shield strength and uptime.

Ascension 4 Passive: Pupillary Variance

Increases the damage from Kirara’s Skill and Burst, scaling with her maximum HP. Helps ever so slightly with Kirara’s damage when building her as a shieldbot, but nothing to write home about.

Utility Passive: Cat's Creeping Carriage

Prevents wild animals that produce meat when killed from getting startled when characters in the same active party as Kirara approach them. Helps when gathering ingredients for food, although do note that this will only work for the first enemy in the vicinity.

Constellations

Authored by NatC

Constellation 1 - Material Circulation

• Every 8,000 Max HP Kirara possesses will cause her to create 1 extra Cat Grass Cardamom when she uses Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch. A maximum of 4 extra can be created this way.

Gives Kirara the ability to create up to 4 extra bomblets depending on her Max HP, which is very likely if you were to build her as a shieldbot. A nice bit of extra Dendro application which could situationally be useful, although her damage is still nothing special.

Rating: 1/5

Constellation 2 - Perfectly Packaged

• When Kirara is in the Urgent Neko Parcel state of Meow-teor Kick, she will grant other party members she crashes into Critical Transport Shields.

• The DMG absorption of Critical Transport Shield is 40% of the maximum absorption Meow-teor Kick's normal Shields of Safe Transport are capable of, and will absorb Dendro DMG with 250% effectiveness.

• Critical Transport Shields last 12s and can be triggered once on each character every 10s.

A Constellation that is nice in co-op, granting mini-shields to allies who Kirara collides with. That being said, these shields can only be created in co-op, rendering this Constellation worthless in normal play.

Rating: 3/5

Constellation 3 - Universal Recognition

• Increases the Level of Meow-teor Kick by 3.

Three extra levels to Kirara’s Skill means that she has stronger shields and slightly more damage from her Skill. A solid Constellation for Kirara.

Rating: 2/5

Constellation 4 - Steed of Skanda

• After active character(s) protected by Shields of Safe Transport or Critical Transport Shields hit opponents with Normal, Charged, or Plunging Attacks, Kirara will perform a coordinated attack with them using Small Cat Grass Cardamoms, dealing 200% of her ATK as Dendro DMG.

• DMG dealt this way is considered Elemental Burst DMG. This effect can be triggered once every 3.8s. This CD is shared between all party members.

This Constellation is an interesting one. If your active character is protected by any of Kirara’s shields, their Normal / Charged / Plunging Attacks will trigger a coordinated attack, dealing Dendro DMG that scales off of Kirara’s Attack. This effect can be triggered a maximum of once every 3.8 seconds, and its CD is shared between all party members, meaning that it can only be triggered every 3.8 seconds as well in co-op.

Sadly, due to Kirara preferring to be built as a shieldbot, the damage from this is very meagre, and will not contribute a lot. That being said, this gives her off-field Dendro application similar to Collei’s, and theoretically opens up the possibility of running her off-field in Hyperbloom teams.

Rating: 2/5

Constellation 5 - A Thousand Miles in a Day

• Increases the Level of Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch by 3.

Increases Kirara’s Burst Talent level by 3, giving her more damage on her Burst and the subsequent bomblets. Again, not a particularly good Constellation by merit of Kirara preferring to build HP instead of damage.

Rating: 1/5

Constellation 6 - Countless Sights to See

• All nearby party members will gain 12% All Elemental DMG Bonus within 15s after Kirara uses her Elemental Skill or Burst.

Provides a nice bit of Elemental DMG Bonus for 15 seconds after Kirara uses her Skill and/or Burst, enabling the party to do more damage all-around.

A solid Constellation, with its main downside being locked behind Constellation 6.

Rating: 2/5

Energy Recharge Requirement

Authored by NatC

Kirara has two sources of particle generation — the first being the 3 particles generated upon hitting an enemy either with a Tap Skill or at the end of a Hold Skill, and the second when she crashes into enemies in her Hold Skill state, generating at most 1 particle every 4 seconds. Kirara has a 60 Burst Cost, meaning her ER requirements are comfortably met in quickswap teams where she can get 2 short Hold Skills in. Additionly, Kirara is often run with a second Dendro, making her ER requirements even easier to meet.

All values below assume two short Hold Skills. Second Dendro is assumed to be Nahida unless with Tighnari / Alhaitham. Fav particles are caught off-field by Kirara.

Kirara’s Energy requirements will vary based on your team and rotation. For a more accurate estimate, please use the Energy Recharge calculator linked here.

Artifacts

Authored by snowy

Artifacts Stats

Sands of Eon: HP%

Goblet of Eonothem: HP%

Circlet of Logos: HP%

Due to Kirara having very little damage contribution, maximizing her Skill’s shielding utility by building her purely on HP% as a shieldbot is the best way to make use of her kit. On top of that, Kirara’s Ascension 4 Passive introduces additional HP% scalings to her Meow-teor Kick and Elemental Burst, allowing her to sneak some extra damage even if her build is full HP%.

Unlike Baizhu, Kirara does not require a Burst activation to deploy defensive utility, which she can provide with her Skill instead. This means unless the player is willing to play her purely for her Burst, there is no requirement to build ER% on her.

Substats: HP% > HP > ATK%/ATK/CRIT%/CRIT DMG%

Artifacts Sets

2PC HP / 2PC HP:

This option shines brightly with Kirara’s kit, allowing her to maximize HP% and ensure maximum uptime on defensive capabilities in exchange for potential 4pc benefits. This option is also very good for maximizing the value of Kirara’s A4 Passive by stacking a ton of Max HP, allowing her to deal more damage from her Meow-teor Kick and Burst.

4PC Tenacity of the Millelith:

Tenacity of the Millelith is a stellar option on Kirara if playing her on field using her Hold Skill, which can allow her to maintain the shield bonus fairly consistently and give her teammates an additional 20% ATK. This option, however, does not fare well when Kirara is played as a quickswap shielder and kept off-field most of the time, which brings the uptime of the 4pc buff to near negligible.

4PC Instructor:

A common choice for support characters. 4pc Instructor’s offers a 120 EM buff to all party members, which can be very valuable in Dendro teams that Kirara might be run in since Dendro reactions scale with EM.

4PC Deepwood Memories:

As Kirara can be played in Dendro teams as the shielder, she can offer to carry Deepwood if no other party members like Nahida are present to do so. Players must note that Kirara does not maintain good uptime on the 4pc buff if she is off-field.

2PC HP / 2PC ER:

A combination of HP% and ER% (when playing Kirara as a Burst DPS) is a good option to meet the ER requirements for her burst while still maintaining HP% sands on her.

4PC Noblesse Oblige:

Another universal support artifact, Noblesse Oblige offers a decent Burst DMG Bonus to Kirara which can be useful if she is being played for her Burst, alongside a teamwide 20% attack boost.

Weapons

Authored by NatC

Kirara’s weapon choices are all relatively straightforward with a couple of key goals in mind — shield the team as much as possible while contributing other forms of utility and buffs if possible. Sadly, at the time of writing this, there are only two swords in the game that boost HP, both of which would be better utilized on other relevant characters if you have them. You could also opt for more offensive choices if you wish for Kirara to do more damage, but as has been mentioned previously, this is not recommended as you give up a lot of shielding to do so, which is Kirara’s primary forte.

Recommended

Favonius Sword

The best all-around weapon for Kirara, decreasing her own as well as her teammates’ Energy Requirements. She can also trigger its passive fairly often, with her own cooldowns lining up very nicely with the cooldown on an R3/4 weapon, depending on whether you use the Tap or Hold version of her Skill. Do keep in mind that without building CRIT Rate, you might find some difficulty in triggering its passive consistently.

Key of Khaj-Nisut

Kirara’s premier weapon of choice, boasting a massive HP substat along with a passive that not only further increases her Max HP, but also gives herself more EM based on her max HP, with her teammates getting a small portion of said EM buff with full stacks. This makes it particularly valuable in Dendro teams which can make use of the teamwide EM buff, especially Nilou Bloom. Unless you have two Keys, however, this weapon is best used on Nilou herself, with Kirara holding something else instead. If possible, it is also recommended to stay in Kirara’s Hold Skill state long enough to gain maximum stacks on Key, triggering the latter portion of its passive once it is fully stacked.

Sacrificial Sword

Offers less general batterying than Favonius Sword in exchange for more Dendro particles created. Also theoretically gives Kirara the ability to instantly max out her shielding at the start of every rotation by using two consecutive Tap Skill instances, though this has yet to be tested in game. It is also recommended to have Sac Sword at R3 at minimum in order for it to line up properly with Kirara’s Tap Skill cooldowns, if used almost instantly off cooldown.

Alternatives

Primordial Jade Cutter

Kirara’s best weapon for damage, giving her a whopping 44% CRIT Rate and an extra bit of HP from its passive, along with extra attack based on her Max HP. This synergizes very well with Kirara’s kit, increasing Kirara’s shielding and A4 damage while giving a ton of raw offensive stats. Once again, unless you really like Kirara and/or you have nobody else to use this weapon on, it is recommended to put this on somebody else who could make better use of it, like Xingqiu or Ayato.

Sapwood Blade

Kirara’s best craftable option, giving her a nice chunk of ER from its substat along with a bit of extra EM for whoever picks up its leaf after Kirara triggers a Dendro reaction. Less valuable if Kirara is not being used in Dendro teams though, so adjust accordingly.

Freedom-Sworn

Another limited gacha weapon. Kirara can activate Freedom-Sworn’s passive with relative ease in the right team, making her a surprisingly good holder of this weapon. The main drawback to this weapon is that you have to carefully watch your cooldowns, or you might begin your second rotation too early, resulting in Kirara not proccing its passive.

Festering Desire

This is an event-limited weapon, so you may not have access to it. If you do, however, it is worth considering if you run Kirara as an on-field Dendro driver, providing a small bit of ER from its substat as well as extra damage on her Skill.

Team Building

Authored by snowy

Kirara’s entire kit is centered towards maximizing defensive utility by stacking HP% on herself. The two variations of her E can make her centered as a quick-swap shielder when Skill is tapped and a Dendro driver when Skill is held. In the off field role, she does not offer anything besides a strong shield and gives no teamwide buffs. After C4 is unlocked however, Kirara has potential to play in Hyperbloom and Quicken teams as an off-field shielder due to her coordinated attacks, where the player can expect Dendro application similar to Collei’s. However in most scenarios, the amount of Dendro Kirara applies may not be enough even with C4 if she is the solo Dendro character in the team. It is recommended to run Kirara with another Dendro character to ensure enough Dendro application when needed.

Overall, Kirara finds tough competition from shielders like Zhongli, which can offer a universal RES Shred, and Baizhu, who has better off-field Dendro application, though he is more Burst-centric unlike Kirara.

Kirara’s personal damage, like Baizhu’s, is rather poor, and she exists in a team purely for a defensive purpose and a slot-in for enabling Dendro Resonance, hence she does not benefit from any CRIT or EM stats. However, Baizhu and Zhongli both offer a decent buff/debuff of their own to compensate for their lack of personal damage.

Quicken

Kirara | Electro | Electro/Dendro | Flex

Kirara provides adequate off-field shielding in Quicken scenarios where she is swapped out after deploying her shield. Since Kirara is off-field, her dendro application is minimal — in this case, running her with a character with sufficient Dendro application to make up for her own would be advantageous.

When C4 is unlocked, Kirara can potentially feel more comfortable in being a solo Dendro character in single target situations because of the additional coordinated attacks applying Dendro on enemies.

Teammates

Electro options: Keqing / Raiden / Fischl / Yae / Sara / Beidou

Dendro options: Nahida / Tighnari / Alhaitham / Collei / Dendro Traveler

Flex options: Anemo / Any above Electro / Any above Dendro

Nilou Bloom

Kirara | Nilou | Hydro | Dendro

Being a Dendro Unit, Kirara can easily slot into Bloom teams as a survivability slot which can play both off and on-field scenarios. However, as stated before, a stronger Dendro applicator like Nahida is recommended to make up for her lacking application.

The possibility of on-field Kirara as a Dendro applicator in her Urgent Neko Parcel state requires further testing.

Teammates

Hydro options: Kokomi / Xingqiu / Yelan / Ayato / Candace

Dendro options: Nahida / Collei / Dendro Traveler / Alhaitham

Hyperbloom / Burgeon

Kirara | Pyro/Electro | Hydro | Flex

Aside from Kirara's general utility leaning towards defense, her viability as a Dendro driver for Burgeon/Hyperbloom during the Urgent Neko Parcel state is questionable and requires further testing. Since Kirara is unable to trigger Normal Attacks during this state, any Hydro application using Xingqiu or Yelan is not possible, which limits options for a Hydro applicator in such teams.

It is important to note that unlocking Kirara’s C4 potentially allowing her to function as an off-field Dendro applicator with shield capabilities for hyperbloom teams. More testing is needed on both her C4 and Hold Skill capabilities in this scenario.

Teammates

Pyro (Burgeon) options: Thoma / Dehya

Electro (Quickbloom options): Cyno / Raiden / Kuki / Yae / Fischl

Hydro options: Xingqiu / Yelan / Kokomi / Ayato

Flex options: Anemo / Dendro / Any above Electro