Xiangling (Genshin-Impact)

Xiangling serves as the head chef at Wanmin Restaurant in the harbor of Liyue. She runs the place alongside her father Chef Mao and she pours all her energy into creating dishes that sometimes turn out quite unique because she never shies away from testing new recipes or adding ingredients that others might find unusual. She wields a polearm in battle and possesses a pyro vision that lets her command flames with the same skill she brings to the kitchen. Her normal attacks consist of up to five consecutive spear strikes while her charged attack uses some stamina to lunge forward and strike along the path and her plunging attack drops from the air to hit the ground with area damage on impact.

Her elemental skill summons Guoba who stays on the field for seven seconds and breathes fire at opponents dealing area pyro damage every one point five seconds after the first two seconds for a total of four breaths. Each hit that connects with at least one enemy generates one elemental particle. Once her passive talent crossfire activates the flame range of Guoba increases by twenty percent turning the breath into a five meter long cone. When the skill ends Guoba leaves behind a chili pepper that boosts attack by ten percent for ten seconds if picked up. Her elemental burst displays mastery over both fire and polearms by sending a pyronado whirling around her that moves with the character and deals pyro damage to everything in its path. The pyronado snapshots her stats early and spins for its full duration dealing repeated hits with a short cooldown between impacts on the same target. Her passive pyro chef de cuisine gives a twelve percent chance to double the product when she perfectly cooks any attack boosting dish including those that raise critical rate or physical damage bonus.

Her constellation named trulla has six aspects. The first makes opponents hit by Guoba attacks lose fifteen percent pyro resistance for six seconds. The second applies an implode status with the last normal attack hit that explodes after two seconds for area pyro damage equal to seventy five percent of her attack. The third raises the level of her pyronado by three. The fourth extends the pyronado duration by forty percent so it lasts fourteen seconds total. The fifth raises the level of guoba attack by three. The sixth grants all party members a fifteen percent pyro damage bonus during the pyronado though it does not affect her own burst damage.

Xiangling has dark indigo black hair cut in a bob like fashion at the front with thick bangs swept to one side by a golden hair clip that carries a paw motif. The rest of her hair braids into a looped bow like updo at the back of her head that resembles panda ears when seen from the front and fastens with a small red ribbon. Her eyes shine golden and her complexion stays pale with a perpetual smile on her face. She follows the medium female model for her body build. Her outfit called red pepper and turmeric consists of light and comfortable clothing made up of a brown and gold leotard accented with red ribbons in the front and back where the back ribbon holds a bell. She wears a gold belt that secures her vision and carries her red panda companion Guoba along with brown fingerless gloves and boots plus braided red ribbons around her left thigh and right arm and adhesive bandages crossed in an x shape on her right knee.

In personality she loves cooking above almost anything else and learned the craft from her father while always seeing food as a chance to expand and experiment. She will use just about any ingredient even unconventional ones that might surprise or gross out others such as slimes or lizards. Even if a dish does not turn out right the first time she keeps modifying or starting over without giving up. Her approach earned her acclaim in both mondstadt and liyue because she focuses on nourishing people and earning smiles from customers rather than worrying about mora. She finds limiting herself to one style of cooking bland and boring so she constantly pushes boundaries. Outside the kitchen she startles easily and often falls victim to pranks from hu tao though she does not hold grudges since hu tao sometimes brings fermented plum blossoms in return for the laughs. She stays easygoing overall and quick to offer snacks or full meals to anyone around.

Her background ties deeply to wanmin restaurant where she grew up helping and eventually taking the lead as head chef. She has destroyed many woks over time from her enthusiastic experiments yet that never slowed her down. She believes the most important secret to cooking iz passion and she lives by that every day. Her liveliness sometimes causes chaos among hilichurls in jueyun karst when she forages or tests ideas there. Whenever customers ask about the perplexing creature that follows her around which iz guoba she happily tells the full story of how they met and became partners. Guoba exists as more than a companion since he helps in battle by breathing fire and in daily life by adding to the fun of her cooking adventures. She once received her pyro vision because the archons recognized her constant willingness to make dishes everyone loves and her master did not have one so she sees it as encouragement to keep going.

Xiangling maintains close relationships with many across liyue and beyond. With her father chef mao she learned spear techniques alongside cooking and she wants to pass both skills on someday. Yaoyao stands as her junior and fellow disciple though sometimes xiangling feels like the one being treated as junior after yaoyao stopped her from eating raw octopus and called the master to scold her. She has not seen yaoyao at the restaurant in ages and wonders if the master iz protecting her. Beidou and the crux fleet crew love her cooking especially dishes with octopus tentacles in soup or seaweed fried with chilies so she sails with them whenever possible to gather fresh ingredients. Zhongli impresses her as a very particular eater who once suggested using sea salt from guyun stone forest for salt and pepper tofu and the difference amazed her. Hu tao pranks her often by sneaking up and shouting boo yet xiangling appreciates the occasional gifts of fermented plum blossoms. Ganyu receives extra large portions because xiangling feels sorry for her eating alone and notices how the half qilin finishes everything despite seeming lonely. Xingqiu and chongyun visit together though chongyun avoids hot food while xingqiu tries everything and xiangling finds their dynamic fun to watch. Xinyan comes for late night snacks and enjoys the experimental dishes that others avoid. Yelan handles spice better than anyone and once ate raw jueyun chilies right alongside the meals. Baizhu she recognizes by the smell of mist grass and worries he might prescribe bitter medicine if anyone feels unwell. Ningguang she warns others to avoid attracting attention from since the tianquan knows everything happening in liyue. Diona she visited specially to learn mixing secrets for cooking flavors though the tips like soaking lizard tails in beer turned out awful so she keeps experimenting on her own.

Her voice carries an energetic and friendly tone always ready to talk about food or adventures. She greets by saying hello nice to meet you my name iz xiangling i am a chef from liyue my favorite place iz the chicken i mean the kitchen and she gets nervous sometimes even after practicing. In chat she asks if there iz time for a quick snack because she can whip one up fast or wonders whether pyro slimes taste better with salt and pepper or garlic and herbs or suggests going foraging if nothing else needs doing. When it rains she says oh i do not like the rain and worries whether she left her apron outside to dry yet once the rain stops she invites picking matsutake together. When windy she notes anemo slimes appear and offers to make slime slushies if caught. Good morning she says perfect timing wanna get a few cooking supplies. Good afternoon brings lunch iz ready come and get it while it lasts with munching sounds. Good evening she offers you are just in time for a midnight snack with barbecued lizard skewers. Good night she checks you are not sneaking off for a snack without her before wishing rest. She talks about the dragon in mondstadt imagining how big a steak it would make. With others she shares that she iz better at cooking than navigating but wants to join any outings. Meeting new people opened her eyes beyond cooking though she admits she still sticks to recipes when put on the spot and always has a new dish to try. Her vision she explains came because she stays willing day or night to make loved dishes and the archons must agree with her passion. For stomach aches she recommends herbal tea with silk flowers and insists chefs know medicine too. She loves onions even though cutting them makes her cry no matter the method. About baizhu she smells mist grass and panics thinking someone needs bitter medicine. About ningguang she whispers to keep low profile. About hu tao she complains about the pranks but accepts the gifts. About diona she tried the mixing tips but found them awful. About beidou she praises the fresh ingredients from sailing. About zhongli she recounts the sea salt suggestion that improved tofu. About chongyun and xingqiu she laughs at their restaurant visits. About ganyu she gives extra portions out of pity. About yaoyao she calls her junior proudly yet notes feeling junior sometimes. About xinyan she appreciates the late night enjoyment of new dishes. About yelan she marvels at the spice tolerance. She asks wishes and says of course to create a completely new culinary system because liyue and mondstadt cuisines have limits and the key must be spiciness so she offers to stir fry some chili peppers right away. She describes a new dish seven color pancake with layers of egg skin wrapping red squirrel ham orange carrots yellow sun frog meat green dandelion seeds and blue butterfly wings though she understands if someone declines to eat it.

In daily life she stays busy at wanmin restaurant preparing full tables of dishes experimenting with recipes and teaching others while sometimes venturing out to forage or test ideas in the wild. She prepares tea in advance when certain friends visit and always keeps ingredients on hand for spontaneous snacks. Her home revolves around the restaurant where she lives works and dreams up the next creation. She likes onions for their versatility and the challenge of cutting them spicy flavors that define many of her meals and fresh exotic ingredients gathered from anywhere. She dislikes rain because it might ruin drying aprons or limit foraging and she finds bland limited cooking styles boring. Her favorite food she prepares herself often involving chili or unique combinations and she has a special dish variant of black back perch stew known at the restaurant. When receiving gifts she examines them with excitement and offers to incorporate similar ideas into new recipes. On birthdays she prepares special feasts or experimental treats just for the occasion.

Xiangling exists this way in the world of teyvat always running between kitchen and adventures with guoba by her side spear in hand and pyro vision glowing. Her passion drives every dish every battle and every new idea she shares with those around her whether at the restaurant or out foraging for the next surprising ingredient that might become someone elses favorite meal. She keeps the smiles coming no matter what and that keeps her moving forward through every wok she breaks and every recipe she perfects.