They’re frequently compared because of their nature as limited 5-star anemo characters. And while they do have similar capabilities – their strongest roles are different. Put simply: Kazuha works everywhere. But where Venti works, he is unparalleled. Venti is the best character against any content with multiple small to medium-sized enemies. He’s still good in other content – just not remarkable. In contrast, Kazuha works well against any type of content. However, he isn’t irreplaceable. To further explain why that is, we’ll compare their pull values and how they perform in the two game modes of Genshin Impact: Overworld (Exploration & Co-op) and Spiral Abyss (Meta) But first, let’s take a look at their kits.
Character Kit Breakdowns
Normal Attacks
Both of their normal attacks are rarely used. However, unlike Venti, it’s beneficial to level Kazuha’s normal attack talents. This is because his plunge attacks contribute to his elemental skill damage.
Elemental Skills
Kazuha pulls enemies and objects towards himself while dealing anemo damage. This also lifts Kazuha and lighter enemies into the air. Pressing his skill can be done mid-air. Holding his skill deals greater anemo damage and covers a larger AOE. Within 10s of casting his skill, Kazuha can unleash a buffed plunging attack called Midare Ranzan. This also deals anemo damage and scales off his normal attack talents. Midare Ranzan leaves a small wind tunnel that pulls nearby enemies and objects. This elemental skill is Kazuha’s main source of crowd control. Venti summons an upcurrent. This launches enemies into the air and deals anemo damage. Pressing his skill summons the current at the opponent’s location. Holding it summons the current in Venti’s location and lifts him into the air. This deals greater anemo damage and covers a larger AOE.
Elemental Burst
Kazuha deals a single slash that creates an AOE field called Autumn Whirlwind. This field can absorb any single element for its entire duration. It deals periodic damage of anemo and the absorbed element. The elemental absorption priority is: Pyro > Hydro > Electro > Cryo This burst costs 60 energy and lasts for 8s. Venti fires off an arrow that creates a massive AOE field called Stormeye. This pulls opponents and objects into its center. It can also absorb any single element for its entire duration. It deals periodic damage of anemo and the absorbed element. Stormeye is essentially a black hole with exceptional crowd control. This burst also costs 60 energy and lasts for 8s.
Passive Talents (Kazuha)
Kazuha decreases sprinting stamina consumption by 20%. This only works for your own party members. When Kazuha’s skill comes into contact with an element, it will absorb that element. The plunging attack of Midare Ranzan will also deal an additional 200% ATK of the absorbed element as damage. Upon triggering a swirl reaction, Kazuha will grant all party members a 0.04% elemental damage bonus for every point of Elemental Mastery he has. Multiple buffs for different elements can co-exist. The bonus lasts for 8s.
Passive Talents (Venti)
Venti decreases gliding stamina consumption by 20%. This only works for your own party members. Holding his elemental skill creates an upcurrent that lasts for 20s. Any character can ride this current. Venti regenerates 15 energy after his burst ends. If his burst absorbed an element, he will also restore 15 energy to all characters with that corresponding element.
Notable Constellations
Kazuha and Venti are perfectly fine at C0. None of their constellations are ever needed, but some do give decent or strong character buffs. Kazuha’s notable constellations are his C1 and C2.
C1 decreases his elemental skill cooldown by 10% and resets it after casting his burst. This is essentially a quality-of-life buff that lets you run Kazuha with lower Energy Recharge. C2 is Kazuha’s best constellation. When casting his burst, Kazuha and all characters in its field gain 200 Elemental Mastery. This makes him the best and most comfortable elemental reaction buffer in-game.
For an on-field DPS Kazuha, his C6 is most notable. Its effects are:
Kazuha gains an anemo infusion for 5s after casting his skill or burst. His normal, charged, and plunging attacks will gain a 0.2% damage increase for every point of Elemental Mastery he has.
Venti has relatively bad constellations. As a support, his only notable constellation is his C6. It has the following effects:
Decreases 20% anemo resistance of opponents taking damage from his burst. If Venti’s burst absorbs an element, he also decreases 20% elemental resistance of opponents to that element.
His other constellations are good damage boosts, but they’re not remarkable.
In The Overworld
Exploration
Kazuha and Venti function equally in the overworld. Both of their elemental skills allow them to reach high places when exploring. Their passives also reduce stamina consumption in different areas. Kazuha decreases sprinting stamina consumption by 20%. Venti decreases gliding stamina consumption by 20%. Additionally, Kazuha’s skill can be used mid-air. This provides more mobility when gliding.
Co-op (Multiplayer)
Domain runs are the most common type of co-op content. And similar to exploration, Kazuha and Venti perform equally here. Kazuha works in every domain. He can buff fellow party members and provide decent crowd control. Venti best excels in domains that have multiple small or medium-sized enemies. He can easily cut domain run times by more than half. And with Venti’s passive, he can effectively refund 15 energy to himself and other party members. Despite being supports, Kazuha and Venti also deal a sizable amount of damage themselves.
Spiral Abyss (Meta)
Generally, Kazuha and Venti are both top meta characters. Multiple factors can be considered when comparing them in relation to meta, namely:
Recent Abyss Enemies Kazuha vs Sucrose Team Compositions
All of the comparisons below are done between C0 5-star and C6 4-star characters.
Recent Abyss Enemies
Kazuha and Venti have never left the top meta since their release. Although recent Abyss rotations seem more favorable to Kazuha than Venti, that’s not entirely true. Venti’s burst is the core and highlight of his kit. It provides unparalleled crowd control and energy refund. However, it only works on small to medium-sized enemies. Venti’s main weaknesses are heavy enemies and single target– while Kazuha works against all enemies. Since Kazuha’s main role is to provide elemental damage buffs, almost nothing can directly counter him. He does provide crowd control, but it’s not essential for him to work. So, Kazuha can continue to dominate the Abyss regardless of the enemies present. Venti is also still great in the Abyss. Floors 9 to 11 are a cakewalk with him in your team. He’s not as good as he was in the older Abyss – but there’s always a chamber where he excels. The 2.0 Abyss was informally dubbed as the start of the Anti-Venti Abyss. But even then, Venti worked excellently against some of its hardest chambers. But perhaps it’s good balancing that the recent Abyss doesn’t specifically cater to Venti. Because the moment Venti floors return, no other character can compete with him.
Kazuha vs. Sucrose
One important factor when assessing Kazuha is Sucrose. Sucrose directly competes with Kazuha in providing elemental buffs and crowd control. She provides teamwide Elemental Mastery that buffs equal or more damage than Kazuha in reaction teams. These are teams that use elemental reactions– namely vaporize, melt, electro-charged, and overload. Additionally, Sucrose provides crowd control in both her elemental skill and burst. Kazuha is only strictly better than Sucrose for mono-element teams. This is because Sucrose’s Elemental Mastery buffs are useless in non-reaction teams. While Kazuha is really strong, his strength is comparable to Sucrose – a 4-star anemo unit that you can get from every banner. Sucrose’s only downside is that she’s more difficult to play than Kazuha. This is an important consideration when comparing Kazuha’s and Venti’s value. Kazuha is a slight upgrade from an existing character, while Venti has a niche kit that’s irreplaceable only in niche content.
Team Compositions
Kazuha directly buffs your existing teams. He slots into any team that can use his elemental buffs. This excludes anemo and geo teams since he can’t buff anemo and geo. While Venti makes your existing teams viable and/or stronger against his niche content. Because of this, Venti can slot into any team as long as he works against the enemies. Some of their most notable teams are:
International Team Freeze Teams Kazuha & Venti Teams
International is Kazuha’s strongest team– and the strongest team in-game. This team consists of:
Kazuha Tartaglia Bennett Xiangling
But while Kazuha is appreciated in this team, his slot is replaceable. In some cases Sucrose will even outperform Kazuha. And when facing multiple enemies that can be pulled by Venti, he will also outperform Kazuha. Freeze teams follow the basic format of:
2 cryo characters 1 hydro character 1 anemo character
Kazuha and Venti are interchangeable in these teams. Kazuha is best against heavier enemies that can’t be pulled by Venti. And against multiple lighter enemies, Venti will perform better than Kazuha. Kazuha and Venti can also be used together in a team – namely for Electro-charged and Mono Pyro. These are quickswap teams that only work against content where Venti works. They don’t follow any strict rotations, so they’re very easy to play – just use all their skills and bursts off cooldown. Their Electro-charged teams follow the format of:
Kazuha & Venti 1 electro character 1 hydro character
Their Mono Pyro teams follow the format of:
Kazuha & Venti 2 pyro characters
Who Should You Pull?
Kazuha is an overall comfortable character to play. He’s strong with a fun kit to match. While Venti is a character you use to clear a niche type of content. He won’t always work, but he’s godly when he does. If you want a more versatile unit, Kazuha will be a better pick. But if you can practice and get used to playing Sucrose, then Kazuha will lose some of his value. In contrast, Venti’s kit can’t be imitated by skill or any other character. He will always be a good pull – but it still depends on how much you value his prowess against niche content.
