Genshin Impact: Complete Kinich Guide | Pre-Release Analysis

Kinich is one of the upcoming Natlan characters in Genshin Impact 5.0, and we’re taking a look at all the information available on him to give you a detailed pre-release analysis of his abilities.

Kinich also brings his pixelated dragon pal, Ajaw, with him. Ajaw doesn’t help out much, though, but Kinich doesn’t really need all that much help. After all, he’s able to use a grappling hook to tether foes, making it easy for him to dodge around while shooting his enemies. When not firing away, he can swing around a big claymore like it’s no one’s business!

In this guide, we’ll give you a detailed guide and analysis of Kinich’s Dendro DPS kit and what to expect from him.

Complete Kinich Guide | Pre-Release Analysis

Talents

Skills

• Normal Attack: Nightstun Style
  • Grounded – Kinich does 3 consecutive slashes with his claymore.
  • Charged – Uses up a small amount of Stamina to throw his claymore forward, spinning and dealing damage to any enemies in its way.
  • Plunging – Kinich drives his claymore into the ground, dealing damage to enemies on the way and creating a small AoE explosion upon landing.
• Elemental Skill: Canopy Hunter: Riding High – Kinich fires a grappling hook in front of him. If there are no grapple-able objects or enemies nearby, he will leap into the air and be able to follow up with a Normal Attack swing. The cooldown will be decreased by 60% in such cases. You can hold the skill to aim the grappling hook as well.
  • If you hit a grapple-able object or enemy instead, Kinich will enter his Nightsoul’s Blessing mode which lasts 10 seconds and generates 2 Nightsoul Points per second. Kinich will remain tethered to his target for the duration of Nightsoul’s Blessing.
  • If the grapple snaps due to getting far from your target, press Normal Attack to attempt to quickly grapple again.
  • While tethered, his normal attack is replaced by Loop Shoots which deal Dendro DMG and generate 3 Nightsoul Points per hit. Inputting a direction while attacking will make Kinich move while firing.
• Once Kinich gathers 20 Nightsoul Points, he can consume them to use the Elemental Skill: Scalespiker Cannon. You can hold the button to aim before firing, and the Scalespiker Cannon does much higher damage than Loop Shots and generates a Blind Spot near the enemy. Hitting the Bling Spot will give Kinich 4 Nightsoul Points. Kinich will grapple his target again after firing.
• Elemental Burst: Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord – Unleash Ajaw’s dragon breath to deal high AoE Dendro Damage. Extends Nightsoul’s Blessing by 1.7 seconds.

Passives

• The Price of Desolation – Hitting enemies with Kinich’s Elemental Skill will apply Desolation to them. Attacking an enemy inflicted by Desolation with Burning or Burgeon Elemental Reactions will restore 7 Nightsoul Points to Kinich. You can trigger this effect every 0.8 seconds and Desolation stays until Kinich leaves Nightsoul’s Blessing mode.
• Night Realm’s Gift: Repaid in Full – Allows Kinich to consume 10 Phlogiston after doing Canopy Hunter: Riding High’s mid-air swing. Consuming Phlogiston will let him do another mid-air swing.
  • You can also use Nightsoul Transmission: Kinich while in Phlogiston-enabled areas in Natlan. To trigger it, switch from an active character when using movement mechanics such as sprinting or swimming to Kinich. Kinich will then automatically try to grapple onto any nearby Coilgrass Sigils or enemies when swapping in. This effect can be triggered every 10 seconds.
  • This effect also behaves differently when interacting with Yumkasaurs, creating unique interactions and eliminating the cooldown for Canopy Hunter: Riding High.
• Swift Envoy – Buffs your party’s Movement SPD by 15% for 10 seconds when interacting with harvestable items when exploring Phlogiston-enabled areas of Natlan. Kinich will also mark all unique Natlan resources on your minimap.
• Flame Spirit Pact – Kinich gains 1 stack of Hunter’s Experience whenever another party member triggers a Nightsoul Burst. He can have 2 stacks at max and each stack lasts 15 seconds. Using Canopy Hunter: Riding High’s Scalespiker Cannon will consume all stacks of Hunter’s Experience, with each stack increasing the skill’s damage by 320% of Kinich’s ATK.

Constellations

• C1: Parrot’s Beak – Increases Kinich’s Movement SPD by 30% for 6 seconds when he lands after Canopy Hunter: Riding High’s mid-air swing. Also, increases Scalespiker Cannon’s Crit DMG by 100%.
• C2: Tiger Beetle’s Palm – Hitting an enemy with Canopy Hunter: Riding High will reduce their Dendro RES by 30% for 6 seconds. Additionally, the first Scalespiker Cannon Kinich fires after entering Nightsoul’s Blessing has increased AoE and deals 100% more damage.
• C3: Protosuchian’s Claw – Increases the Level of Canopy Hunter: Riding High by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• C4: Hummingbird’s Feather – Kinich will restore 5 Energy when using Loop Shots and the Scalespiker Cannon. You can trigger this effect every 2.8 seconds. Also increases the damage of Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord by 70%.
• C5: Howler Monkey’s Tail – Increases the Level of Hail to the Almighty Dragonlord by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• C6: Auspicious Beast’s Shape – Shooting an enemy with the Scalespiker Cannon will make the shot bounce between enemies once, dealing 700% of Kinich’s ATK as Dendro DMG. The bounced shot will also get the benefits of the “Flame Spirit Pact” Talent and “C2: Tiger Beetle’s Palm”.

Overall, keeping in mind that it is a pre-release analysis for Genshin Impact 5.0, we feel that Kinich’s strongest Constellation effect is C2. C1, C4, and C6 seem very solid as well. The only downer, then, appears to be C5. As such, we recommend either trying to just get to C2 or C4 if you don’t want to go all-out and reach C6.

Recommended Gear & Stats

The best bet for Kinich’s Artifacts in Genshin Impact 5.0, as far as we can tell with our pre-release analysis, will be the Obsidian Codex set. This set will increase his damage during Nightsoul Blessing by 15% and give him a huge 40% Crit Rate increase after using Nightsoul Points. All in all, it’s the best set to make the most of the unique Nightsoul mechanics that Kinich shares with other Natlan characters.

When it comes to the Artifacts’ Stats, you will want to focus on any ATK, ATK%, DMG% increases. Crit DMG increases are also highly recommended if you’re going for the Obsidian Codex set since Kinich will be dealing a lot of Crits to begin with.

As for his weapon, Kinich definitely excels with his signature weapon: Fang of the Mountain King. It will let Kinich build up Canopy’s Favor stacks by hitting enemies and triggering Burning or Burgeon Elemental Reactions, up to 6 stacks. Each stack will increase the damage of Kinich’s Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst by 10% for 6 seconds. Yup, that means he can do up to 60% more damage!

Playstyle Breakdown

Kinich is similar to other Natlan characters in Genshin Impact 5.0, based on our pre-release analysis. He has great mobility which he uses in combat to deftly move around the battlefield while laying down the hurt on his enemies.

His kit mostly relies on the tethering effect you get when hitting enemies with his Elemental Skill. While tethered, he can dodge attacks with ease while shooting his Loop Shoots to charge up his powerful Scalespiker Cannon. This makes him quite easy to play, as he’s relatively safe since he’s attacking while dodging.

The biggest issue, then, is the fact that he is very lacking when dealing with multiple enemies. Constellation 6 can help with this, adding a bouncing shot to the Scalespiker Cannon, but he still finds himself lacking when faced with large groups. He also is fairly lacking when it comes to utility and battery, as he’s meant to be a hyperfocus Main DPS.

When it comes to teaming up, a lot of his kit becomes strengthened when he’s paired with Pyro characters. He relies heavily on Burning and Burgeon Elemental Reactions, so we highly recommend pairing him with Pyro characters that can easily apply their elemental effects. This also means that Kinich will likely become even stronger once Natlan’s Pyro Archon becomes playable!

Overall, Kinich is a pretty fun character but he’s somewhat lacking in versatility. He’s all about being a DPS and dishes out pretty great damage, although not too impressive.

Nonetheless, that’s all we have to share with our pre-release analysis of Kinich, who will be released during Genshin Impact 5.0! If you prefer sharks and water, we have a pre-release analysis covering the upcoming Mualani, as well.