He’s a meta off-field Geo DPS and a very versatile unit that can fit into most teams while dealing good off-field damage. Still, there are instances when Albedo is a great pull for your account – namely:
If you play Itto/Noelle/Geo teams If you have Zhongli and want to play Double Geo teams (e.g., with Hu Tao and Xiao)
These are teams where Albedo’s considered the best-in-slot teammate. Outside of these teams, he’s still a perfectly good unit. He’s often viable but rarely the best option. Note: This is based on meta only. If you like Albedo regardless of his power level, don’t let this stop you from pulling him.
Pros & Cons
Albedo Strengths
Albedo’s playstyle revolves mainly around his elemental skill. It’s a deployable ability called Solar Isotama. Once cast, it stays on the field for 30s and deals strong off-field damage. So Albedo simply casts his skill once every 30s and his burst when it’s available – that’s his entire gameplay. Plus his skill also has a very short cooldown of 4s. This lets you frequently reposition his Solar Isotama if needed – or recast it if destroyed. Both Albedo’s artifacts and weapons are easier to obtain. Most of his damage comes from his elemental skill which scales off DEF. This is an uncontested stat that very few units use. So it’s very likely for you to have excess DEF artifacts that aren’t wanted by most units. 4-piece Husk of Opulent Dreams is his best artifact set for personal damage, but he works fine with other artifacts. At very low investment, you can simply equip any piece that has good DEF and CRIT stats. Plus, Albedo’s weapons are very easy to obtain. His best-in-slot – R5 Cinnabar Spindle – is a free 4-star weapon obtained from the 2.3 event. And if you missed this event, his next best weapon is an R5 Harbinger of Dawn. This is a 3-star gacha weapon – every player gets this from pulling in any of the gacha banners. Albedo can fit into almost any team – with the exception of freeze teams. And regardless of the team, he will deal good off-field damage and generate decent energy. For teams that use elemental reactions, Albedo also has the extra utility of buffing teammates’ Elemental Mastery. Plus his continuous Geo attacks can consistently trigger crystallize reactions. This elemental reaction creates shields that help increase your team’s survivability.
Albedo Weaknesses
Although Albedo fits into a lot of teams, he’s rarely the best option. The only time he’s considered the best-in-slot unit is for Mono Geo and Double Geo teams. Otherwise, he’s often outperformed by other 4-star units. So unless you play Itto/Noelle/Geo teams, it’s simply not recommended to pull for Albedo – he won’t make a big difference to your account.
Are Albedo’s Constellations Worth Pulling?
Albedo’s constellations are generally not worth pulling. He’s a perfectly functional unit at C0. His constellations are quality-of-life and damage buffs, but they’re not significant enough to justify their cost. Plus it’s hard to recommend constellations for a unit that doesn’t see much use. But if you still intend to pull for his constellations, here’s a more detailed discussion of each one.
C1: Flower of Eden
C1 helps regenerate energy for Albedo. This is situationally decent but very often irrelevant. He already has a cheap 40-energy cost burst that’s easy to charge. Plus, Albedo’s burst only deals a small portion of his damage, so it isn’t a priority. This is because of his kit’s split-scaling. Albedo’s skill scales off his DEF, while his burst scales off his ATK. It’s always more beneficial to build DEF over ATK since his skill deals more damage. Because of this, casting his burst can even be a DPS loss instead. If you already have a C1 Albedo that you often use, C2 is a constellation worth considering.
C2: Opening of the Phanerozoic
C2 buffs Albedo’s burst by a percentage of his DEF. This fixes his split scaling issues and gives a good damage buff – enough so that it encourages you to cast Albedo’s burst more often. C1 retroactively becomes a good constellation that makes this possible.
C3: Grace of Helios
C3 increases his elemental skill talent by 3. This directly buffs his skill’s damage multipliers – aka effectively buffing his main source of damage. It’s a decent damage buff. C3 is also a good place to stop pulling for constellations.
C4: Descent of Divinity
C4 increases the plunging damage of characters within Albedo’s skill. This is a very niche and almost useless constellation. Its only practical use is for Xiao teams.
C5: Tide of Hadean
C5 increases his elemental burst talent by 3. Although C2 buffs Albedo’s burst damage, this constellation still isn’t significant. It barely makes a difference to his overall DPS.
C6: Dust of Purification
With C6, characters protected by crystallize shields have their damage increased by 17%. This adds to Albedo’s supporting abilities. It’s a decent damage buff to the on-field character, but it’s very underwhelming for C6 – it’s not worth pulling.
R5 Cinnabar Spindle vs. R5 Harbinger of Dawn for Albedo
R5 Cinnabar Spindle is Albedo’s best-in-slot weapon. It significantly buffs his elemental skill – aka his main source of damage. Plus, the damage buff from its passive is very easy to stack. R5 Harbinger of Dawn (HoD) follows closely after Cinnabar Spindle. Its high CRIT value makes it much easier to balance Albedo’s CRIT stats. But the passive can be situationally harder to maintain. Albedo often stays off-field, so it’s easy to stay above 90% HP – unless you get hit by corrosion. Still, it’s a very strong option for Albedo. HoD is highly recommended if you don’t have Cinnabar Spindle.
