Genshin Impact: Heizou vs. Sucrose (Who’s Better?)

Heizou and Sucrose are both 4-star Anemo catalyst users. Despite having the exact same element and weapon type, their playstyles and power levels are very different.

But simply put, Sucrose is better than Heizou – she simply does a lot more things and is often better.

Heizou is more like a sidegrade to Sucrose, not an upgrade. He covers her weaknesses in some teams while not really outperforming her.

For instance, Sucrose is worse in teams that don’t need Elemental Mastery (EM), like Freeze and Mono-element. She’s often just there to provide buffing through the 4pc. Viridescent Venerer (4VV) set – so much of her buffing potential is wasted.

Heizou is a great replacement for her in these teams. He can effectively buff teammates using the 4VV set while dealing good personal damage. Sucrose’s buffing abilities are exchanged for Heizou’s raw DPS.

Still, Heizou isn’t necessarily better than Sucrose.

Sucrose is still much better for teams that can actually use her EM buffs, like Vaporize and Melt. Heizou is just a viable unit that can substitute Sucrose in most of her teams. He does provide less utility and buffing, but it’s often compensated by his personal damage.

To further explain, let’s take a look at their character value and how they perform in the two modes of Genshin Impact: Overworld (Exploration & Co-op) and Spiral Abyss (Meta).

Note: All comparisons are made between a C6 Heizou and Sucrose.

In The Overworld

Exploration (Single-Player)

Heizou is slightly better than Sucrose in exploration thanks to his passive.

It decreases the sprinting stamina consumption of your party members by 20%. This is especially great when exploring across a large area with no waypoints.

Aside from that, Heizou and Sucrose aren’t very different.

Co-op (Multiplayer)

Sucrose and Heizou are equally great units in Co-op.

Both of them can effectively use the 4pc. Viridescent Venerer (4VV) set and their innate buffing abilities to support their teammates.

Sucrose is especially good for buffing teams that trigger multiple elemental reactions. And she has the extra benefit of grouping.

Whereas Heizou focuses more on dealing personal damage while occasionally buffing his teammates.

He’s a good option for teams with multiple reactions and those that don’t. He’s basically a bit more versatile than Sucrose. This is especially true for a DPS Heizou build.

Co-op teams are very often not synergized, so a unit that can independently deal damage while having buffing potential is a very strong option.

Still, Sucrose’s buffing potential for more synergized teams shouldn’t be underestimated.

Spiral Abyss (Meta)

Best Team Compositions

Both Heizou and Sucrose can fit into any team that needs an Anemo unit.

This is thanks to their nature as catalyst users – their swirl reactions are very accessible.

It lets them easily proc the 4VV set to support their teammates. Plus, they also have innate buffing abilities in their kit.

Because of this, they very often share the same team compositions. Heizou works in all of Sucrose’s teams and vice versa.

Here’s a summary of who performs better in their best teams and why.

Taser Teams (Electro-charged)

Taser teams are composed of:

• 2 Electro units
• 1 Hydro unit
• 1 Anemo unit

Aside from providing buffs, the Anemo unit also often serves as the on-field character in this team.

This lets them maintain 100% 4VV uptime while dealing multiple instances of swirl damage. Their swirl reactions bounce between opponents and spread elemental auras across a decent AOE – all while dealing damage.

Because of this, Taser is especially good against multiple enemies.

Sucrose is the best Anemo unit for this scenario. Her range and large AOE can easily trigger multiple swirl reactions across a large area.

Plus her grouping is always convenient.

However, single-target significantly reduces the number of swirls that can be triggered, so Taser does weaken against single-target content. Losing swirl damage is simply a DPS loss.

In this case, a DPS build Heizou will pull ahead of Sucrose. His raw damage doesn’t rely on swirl. So he can still use 4VV and buff opponents while still dealing good personal damage.

Freeze Teams

Freeze Teams are composed of:

• 2 Cryo units
• 1 Hydro unit
• 1 Anemo unit

These teams don’t benefit from Elemental Mastery at all – so Sucrose’s EM buffs are pretty useless here.

Because of this, Heizou will slightly pull ahead of Sucrose.

He can effectively provide the same amount of buffing as Sucrose while dealing stronger personal damage. He does spend a bit more field time to get Declension stacks, but it’s not a major issue.

Heizou can occasionally deal big bursts of damage with his burst and skill.

Still, Sucrose is not bad in Freeze teams. She’s still a good buffer that can also provide grouping.

Vaporize Teams

Vaporize teams are basically any teams that rely on vaporize reactions to deal damage. These teams often use at least 1 Pyro unit, 1 Hydro unit, and 1 Anemo unit.

The Anemo unit’s main role is to buff the Main DPS’ damage.

Sucrose is a significantly better unit for this role than Heizou. This is thanks to her abundance of Elemental Mastery buffs – vaporize reactions greatly benefit from EM.

Heizou is still a viable support here, but he’s far behind Sucrose.

Mono Pyro

Mono Pyro is composed of:

• 2-3 Pyro units
• 1 Anemo unit

The situation here is very similar to Freeze teams. This team doesn’t benefit from EM, so most of Sucrose’s buffing potential is wasted.

Whereas, Heizou can offer the same amount of buffing while dealing respectable personal damage. So he does pull ahead.

Still, thanks to Sucrose’s additional grouping ability, she’s definitely still a good option.

Melt Teams

Melt teams are generally composed of at least 1 Pyro unit, 1 Cryo unit, and 1 Anemo unit.

This team is very similar to Vaporize teams – the Anemo unit is also here just to provide buffs. And since melt reactions benefit from EM, Sucrose is the better unit here.

Who Should You Build?

As a dedicated support, Sucrose sees a lot more use than Heizou. It’s much easier to draft teams around her and to perform her rotations. This is thanks to her multiple utilities and relative ease of use.

In contrast, Heizou is less convenient outside of Taser. As a DPS, he would need field time to deal damage. But since he falls behind most meta DPS units he’s less recommended.

Similarly, he needs field time as a support or when using a full EM build – which isn’t optimal for any team except Taser.

Heizou does work in many teams, but he’s rarely the best option.

As such, it’s simply more resource-efficient to build a versatile unit like Sucrose. She’s just a better fit for most teams.