How to play Alhaitham in Genshin Impact

Alhaitham is a powerhouse of a Dendro DPS, but he can be quite technical to play. Whether you’re figuring him out for the first time or looking to refine your gameplay, here are some tips for Alhaitham’s best combos in Genshin Impact.

Alhaitham’s mirrors explained

A large portion of Alhaitham’s damage comes from his Chisel-Light Mirrors. He can have up to three mirrors at a time, visible as green leaf-shaped objects hovering over his shoulder. If you already have three mirrors, gaining another will extend the uptime of your existing mirrors. When he has any mirrors at all, Alhaitham’s Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will deal Dendro damage, and the mirrors themselves will deal additional damage based on how many you have.

How to get Chisel-Light Mirrors with Alhaitham

Alhaitham can gain mirrors by using his Skill, Burst, and Charged/Plunging Attacks. You can have a maximum of three mirrors, and each mirror lasts four seconds before disappearing. You can craft your own custom rotation based on the mirror counts below, or you can scroll down for my suggested combos.

Using Alhaitham’s Skill immediately grants two mirrors if you didn’t have any already. If you already had a mirror, his Skill will only grant one additional mirror. 

Alhaitham’s Burst deals damage and generates mirrors based on how many you already had. If you had none, you will receive three mirrors at the end of his Burst animation. Any mirrors you had when casting his Burst will be consumed and deducted from the three you get at the end of his animation. Here’s a breakdown of how many mirrors you will end up with when using Alhaitham’s Burst.

Using a Charged or Plunging Attack generates one mirror, but this can only happen once every 12 seconds. This cooldown is shared between Charged and Plunging Attacks, so using both attack types in a row will still only give you one mirror.

Alhaitham’s best combos

Best on-field Alhaitham combo

This combo is fairly easy to learn and execute, and best for on-field Alhaitham. Start by rotating through your support teammates, setting up their abilities before Alhaitham takes the field. Then, switch to Alhaitham and cast his Burst, then Skill. Use five Normal Attacks, then a Charged Attack, then five more Normal Attacks. In shorthand notation, this looks like:

Q E N5 C N5

The Skill just after using his Burst ensures an immediate Dendro infusion on Alhaitham’s Normal Attacks. Because his Burst animation is so long, you might not get the mirrors from his Burst for a few seconds. The Charged Attack in between his Normals is to extend the duration of his mirrors.

Shorter Alhaitham combo

This combo is harder to execute, but requires less field time and results in more Burst damage. Set up your teammate abilities, then swap to Alhaitham. Hold Alhaitham’s Skill and aim it into the air above the enemy. Release to cast your Skill and launch into the air. Use a Plunging Attack to Plunge onto the enemy. Use four Normal Attacks, then finish with your Burst.

E P N4 Q

This combo is better for teams that encourage swapping more often between your characters, rather than Alhaitham spending a long time on-field. In addition, the Skill-Plunge combo gives Alhaitham three mirrors without using his Burst, making it more reliable for situations where Alhaitham does not have enough Energy to consistently use his Burst.