How to complete the Verdict of Blades event in Genshin Impact

Verdict of Blades is the new combat event in Genshin Impact Version 4.0. You can get all of the meaningful rewards by completing the Desperate difficulty in Surge mode, but there’s an additional Steadfast mode for those who want an extra challenge. Here are the best teams and strategies to help beat these stages and get all rewards!

Beating a stage at the Desperate difficulty unlocks rewards for the difficulty levels beneath it. You don’t have to do each of the lower difficulties one by one, just Desperate. Beating a stage at Desperate difficulty unlocks Steadfast, which can be quite difficult if you don’t have optimized end-game teams. Both modes have similar types of enemies, but Steadfast has a shorter time limit, higher level enemies, and more enemies in general.

Overall Best Teams for Verdict of Blades

In general, most stages can be cleared with Nilou Bloom teams or Freeze teams with strong crowd-control. 

Since the enemies spawn in waves, off-field Nahida can be difficult to use. Her Skill only persists as long as the marked enemy is alive, so you’ll need to refresh her Skill anytime there’s a new wave. On-field Nahida can do this more easily.

All enemies are affected by crowd-control to varying degrees, and keeping them Frozen can help group them effectively. There are no single-target bossing stages, so single-target DPS units like Yoimiya and Hu Tao can struggle a bit.

Specific tips for each stage are below.

Stage 1: Resolute Mettle

When a character loses HP, they deal increased damage for six seconds. This benefits characters that consistently lose HP, like Xiao, Hu Tao, and Lyney. It also benefits Nilou Bloom and Burgeon teams that constantly take self-damage. Don’t be baited by the damage buff though; most of the enemies spawn somewhat spaced out, and your biggest damage increase will be through crowd-control and AoE than through specifically building toward the buff. Suggested teams include:

• Xiao – Faruzan/Sucrose – Bennett/Jean – Zhongli
• Nilou – Nahida – Xingqiu/Yelan – Baizhu/Yaoyao
• Ganyu – Venti/Kazuha – Shenhe/Rosaria – Kokomi

Stage 2: Inexorable Spread

When characters trigger Dendro reactions, enemies’ DEF will decrease substantially for eight seconds. This is actually pretty impactful, so Dendro teams are strongly encouraged. Even if your focus isn’t Dendro damage (i.e., Aggravate teams), the DEF reduction still benefits you. Suggested teams include:

• Nahida – Xingqiu – Yelan/Kokomi – Kuki/Raiden(EM)
• Alhaitham – Dendro Traveler – Xingqiu/Yelan – Fischl
• Raiden(CRIT) – Dendro Traveler – Kazuha/Kujou Sara – Baizhu/Yaoyao
• Nilou – Nahida – Xingqiu/Yelan – Baizhu/Yaoyao

Stage 3: Engulfing Torrents

Triggering Electro-Charged, Vaporize, and Freeze grants buffs to your team. Fortunately, all enemies come imbued with a permanent Hydro aura, meaning you just have to supply the Electro, Pyro, or Cryo. The enemies are all immune to Hydro, but can be pulled by Venti/Kazuha. Be wary of the Water Phantasms; they can hit fairly hard, and if you bring Bennett, they can trigger Vaporize on you. Some suggested teams include:

• Bennett – Kazuha – Xiangling – Layla
• Raiden(CRIT) – Bennett – Xiangling – Layla
• Ganyu – Shenhe/Rosaria – Venti – Layla/Diona

Stage 4: Horns Blaring, Drums Rolling

Increases your team’s Energy Recharge and Burst damage. This is a buff for all teams, but especially those dependent on Burst damage (e.g., Raiden, Xingqiu, Xiangling teams). The enemies are all extremely vulnerable to crowd-control effects, making Venti very good here. You may be inclined to use Raiden National (Raiden – Xingqiu – Bennett – Xiangling), but be aware that Overload may knock the enemies away from you. Try some of these teams instead:

• Tartaglia/Ayato – Bennett – Kazuha – Xiangling
• Raiden – Xingqiu – Yelan – Kazuha/Venti
• Xiao/Wanderer – Faruzan – Venti – Bennett/Zhongli
• Ganyu – Shenhe/Rosaria – Venti – Kokomi
• Nilou – Nahida – Xingqiu/Yelan – Baizhu/Yaoyao

Stage 5: Chains of Wrath

Increases your characters’ attack speed. In addition, Charged or Plunging attacks will deal AoE True damage at intervals. This benefits any team that has a dedicated on-field DPS, though you should also try to include crowd-control and AoE effects. Try any of the following:

• Tartaglia – Bennett – Kazuha – Xiangling
• Xiao/Wanderer – Faruzan – Venti – Bennett/Zhongli
• Noelle/Itto – Gorou – Albedo – Zhongli/Kuki
• Ganyu – Shenhe/Rosaria – Venti – Kokomi
• Nilou – Nahida – Xingqiu/Yelan – Baizhu/Yaoyao

Stage 6: Charge and Breach

Increases the healing you receive and buffs your character’s ATK when they are healed. This is good for ATK-scaling DPS units who constantly heal. As always, crowd-control is helpful. Team suggestions include:

• Xiao/Wanderer – Faruzan – Venti – Bennett/Zhongli
• Lyney – Xiangling/Zhongli – Kazuha/Albedo – Bennett
• Ganyu – Shenhe/Rosaria – Venti – Kokomi
• Nilou – Nahida – Xingqiu/Yelan – Baizhu/Yaoyao

And that’s Verdict of Blades! Hopefully these tips helped or gave you ideas for new teams to try. If you’ve made your way through the Steadfast stages here, why not try your hand at the Spiral Abyss?