Genshin Impact: How to Get the Flute and Who It's Good For

Image: miHoYo via HGG / Devin Dornbrock

Human Made

Devin has always been a fan of good writing and compelling visuals. She learned from an early age that video games are the best and most satisfying... Read more

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

From claymores to catalysts, polearms and bows, there are a lot of weapons in Genshin Impact. Understanding what they can all do is tricky even at the best of times. Today, we’re focusing on swords — or at least one sword in particular. This guide is all about how to get The Flute and who it’s good for in Genshin Impact!

How to Get The Flute

Like most weapons in Genshin Impact, the only way to get The Flute is to Wish for it. Luckily, The Flute can be obtained at any time through almost any Wish banner. The odds can differ a bit from banner to banner, and certain times will be better than others. With diligent Wishing, however, you’re sure to obtain The Flute sooner or later.

Epitome Invocation

The first banner we’ll talk about is the Epitome Invocation Banner. These are Limited-Time Weapon banners that run alongside Character Event Banners. They last for roughly three weeks.

Typically, these banners will feature two 5-star weapons and five 4-star weapons. Featured weapons in these banners have an increased drop rate, which makes them the easiest way to obtain specific 4-star weapons.

The drop rate of 4-star Wishes on the Epitome Invocation banner is at least one in ten. For each of those 4-star Wishes, there is a 75% chance of obtaining one of the featured 4-star weapons. This is the highest rate of obtaining a 4-star weapon out of all banners, which makes it by far the best shot of getting The Flute.

Of course, this only applies to banners where The Flute is one of the featured weapons. The Flute is still available in other Epitome Invocation banners, but the drop rate will be greatly reduced. 4-star Wishes have just 25% chance to drop a non-featured 4-star weapon and The Flute is just one of fourteen options. Not great odds.

If the current Epitome Invocation banner or the next one feature The Flute, this is absolutely the best way to get it. Otherwise, you might be better off Wishing on another banner.

Wanderlust Invocation

The Wanderlust Invocation or Standard Banner is always available. It doesn’t have a time limit or reset ever. It also has one of the largest pools of possible weapon drops, second only to Epitome Invocation banners.

Just like any other banner, the Wanderlust Invocation banner has a guaranteed 4-star Wish at least every ten Wishes. Every 4-star Wish has a 50% chance of being a 4-star character, and a 50% chance of being a 4-star weapon.

Unlike limited-time banners, there are no featured weapons to skew drop rates in the Wanderlust Invocation banner. So each 4-star Wish has a 50% chance of resulting in one of the eighteen possible 4-star weapons.

While these odds aren’t the best, they’re still better than trying to fight with the increased odds on a banner with featured 4-star weapons. Which is why the Standard Banner is the second best option to get The Flute in Genshin Impact.

Character Event Banners

The final option to get The Flute is through limited-time character banners. They run alongside Epitome Invocation banners and usually last about three weeks.

The main benefit of Wishing on these banners is that you may receive a 5-star character while trying to get your desired 4-star weapon. The main reason to Wish on these banners is to get characters, though, and this is reflected in the drop rates.

Character event banners feature one 5-star character and four 4-star characters, which each have increased chances of dropping. Every one in ten Wishes is guaranteed to result in a 4-star Wish.

4-star Wishes on character event banners have a 50% chance of being one of the featured 4-star characters. The other 50% of the time will result in either a non-featured 4-star character or one of eighteen possible 4-star weapons, including The Flute.

Overall, not great odds. It can be worth it if you’re trying to also obtain a 5-star character, though. Since 5-star characters have low odds of dropping anyway, you’ll be spending a lot of Wishes and can be working toward The Flute at the same time.

Everything You Need to Know About The Flute

Now that we’ve gone over how to get The Flute, let’s go over why you should get it.

The Flute is part of the Wanderer’s Troupe Series of weapons, which have a surprisingly deep lore to them. The other weapons in this series include The Widsith catalyst, The Bell claymore, and The Stringless bow.

Each weapon in the series was led by a member of the Wanderer’s Troupe, an early group of rebels who tried to overthrow Monstadt’s corrupt aristocracy a thousand years prior to the events of the game. In their prime, each of the weapons were capable of playing wondrous music. After their masters’ failed rebellion, though, the deadly instruments lost their ability to create music.

Lore aside, The Flute is a decently strong weapon that’s worth using if you get it.

Stats and Abilities

The first thing to know about this sword is that it is an ATK-oriented weapon. Its Base ATK tops out at 510, which is fairly average for a 4-star weapon. Its secondary stat increases ATK by another 41.3%, which is only beaten out by the Amenoma Kageuchi and some 5-star blades.

The Flute’s main effect is Chord, which creates Harmonics when Normal or Charged Attacks hit enemies. After gaining five Harmonics, the power of music is triggered and deals 100% ATK DMG to nearby opponents. Harmonics can be gained once every 0.5 seconds and last up to 30 seconds.

Higher levels of Refinement can increase the ATK DMG to up to 200%, which can be pretty good with the right build.

Ascension Materials

The materials needed to fully level and ascend The Flute are fairly standard. Players shouldn’t have any trouble getting them together, especially since they are all available in Monstadt.

To fully ascend The Flute, players will need:

150k Mora
3 Boreal Wolf’s Milk Tooth (2-star weapon ascension material)
9 Boreal Wolf’s Cracked Tooth (3-star weapon ascension material)
9 Boreal Wolf’s Broken Fang (4-star weapon ascension material)
4 Boreal Wolf’s Nostalgia (5-star weapon ascension material)
15 Dead Ley Line Branch (2-star enemy drop)
18 Dead Ley Line Leaves (3-star enemy drop)
27 Ley Line Sprout (4-star enemy drop)
10 Slime Condensate (1-star enemy drop)
15 Slime Secretions (2-star enemy drop)
18 Slime Concentrate (3-star enemy drop)

The biggest obstacle to ascending The Flute will be collecting enough Boreal Wolf’s weapon materials, but that isn’t too tough. Just dedicate a few play sessions to grinding the Cecilia Garden Domain of Forgery. Make sure you’re farming materials on the right day, since the needed materials can only be obtained Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

Who The Flute Is Good for

Depending on a character’s Talents, how good The Flute is for that character will vary. For some characters like Kuki Shinobu, The Flute is probably not the way to go. It just doesn’t work particularly well with her Talents or her playstyle.

Overall, there is no hard and fast rule about the kind of character that The Flute will be good for. To determine how well it will mesh with a specific character, you’ll need to take a couple of things into account. Namely their Talents and the amount of time they spend on the field.

DPS Builds

While we did say there is no rule about what kinds of characters will work the best with The Flute, generally speaking, DPS characters will get the most out of it.

DPS characters are going to do best with The Flute since they’ll be the ones usually gaining the most Harmonics (and thus getting that extra DMG). Sub-DPS and Support characters, by comparison, don’t have much to gain. Most of them don’t use their Normal or Charged Attacks, and even if they do, they aren’t on the field long enough to get five Harmonics.

Even without taking into account the Chord effect of The Flute, the ATK increases from its Base and Secondary stats aren’t very useful for non-combat roles. There are, of course, some exceptions to this, but the non-DPS characters who fit well with The Flute are more exceptions than the rule.

5 Best Characters The Flute Is Good for

The idea with The Flute is to use it with characters who are using their Normal/Charged Attacks a lot, which is why it fits well with mostly DPS characters. While The Flute can work well with just about any character that uses their Normal Attacks a lot, here are the five best characters for The Flute overall.

1. Qiqi

While Qiqi isn’t typically a DPS character, her Elemental Skill makes her uniquely suited for The Flute. Adeptus Art: Herald of Frost creates a Herald of Frost sprite that periodically encircles the active character and deals Cryo DMG to whatever it hits.

What makes this so compatible with The Flute is that while the Herald of Frost is active, Qiqi’s Normal and Charged Attacks regenerate HP for the whole party. This healing scales with Qiqi’s ATK, which not only encourages players to use her Normal and Charged Attacks, it also encourages them to increase ATK. Both of these things are essential to dealing high DMG with The Flute.

Thanks to The Flute’s secondary ATK stat, Qiqi’s healing abilities are increased along with her damage dealing, too. The Flute is a genuinely good weapon for Qiqi and certainly one of the best 4-star options for her.

2. Kamisato Ayato

After Qiqi, Ayato has the second highest compatibility with The Flute. His Elemental Skill, Kamisato Art: Kyouka, causes Ayato to enter the Takimeguri Kanka state. While in this state, Ayato’s Normal Attack SPD is increased and their damage is converted into AOE Hydro DMG.

As Ayato’s attacks hit enemies in this state, he gains the Namisen effect, which increases his Normal Attack DMG based on his Max HP. Ayato’s resistance to interruption is also increased in the Takimeguri Kanka state.

The important thing to take away from all that is that Ayato’s Elemental Skill increases the speed and DMG of his Normal Attacks which is exactly what The Flute wants. Thanks to this increased speed, getting five Harmonics is incredibly easy for Ayato, and he’ll be setting off the ATK DMG without even trying.

While there are a number of characters whose Elemental Skills or Elemental Bursts involve increasing their Normal Attack DMG, few of them are Swordsmen (or women). This is exactly the aspect The Flute wants, though.

3. Jean

Jean is one of the cases where a character who isn’t necessarily a DPS can still work well with The Flute. This is mostly due to her healing scaling with ATK, which The Flute has plenty of.

Jean’s Elemental Burst, Dandelion Breeze, creates a Dandelion Field that launches enemies within it and deals Anemo DMG. Allies in this Field will regain HP and imbue them with Anemo energy. At Talent Level 10, this Elemental Burst heals 452% of Jean’s ATK plus an added 3,388 HP initially. The continued HP regeneration is equal to 45% of Jean’s ATK plus 338. All of that makes ATK a very important stat for Jean.

While The Flute doesn’t do a whole lot to complement Jean’s other Talents, it does help bridge the gap in her DMG if players choose to make her into a hybrid DPS/healer role. Especially since one of Jean’s Passive Talents creates a chance to heal her when she hits enemies with her Normal Attack.

Jean isn’t especially adept with her Normal Attacks, but using The Flute does encourage them, which increases both her DMG output and her healing. In turn, this makes The Flute a pretty decent weapon choice for Jean.

4. Kamisato Ayaka

Usually most of Ayaka’s DMG comes from her Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst. Both unleash powerful Cryo attacks in a decent AOE. The issue is that her Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst both have significant cooldowns that take a while to end.

The most effective way to work with these cooldowns is to find the right rotation of Elemental Skill, Elemental Burst, Sprinting, and Normal Attacks. Finding this flow will maximize her damage. Even so, unless you really know what you’re doing, Ayaka’s Normal Attacks can leave something to be desired.

Luckily, that’s where The Flute comes in. The unique effect of this weapon can help players get used to Ayaka’s combat rotation and increase her DMG output in between her Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst. Getting used to stacking Harmonics can help new players get used to Ayaka’s most efficient attack flows, since it will encourage using Normal Attacks.

Ayaka’s fast ATK SPD is also incredibly helpful in gaining Harmonics stacks quickly, which allows her to pop off the ATK DMG fairly frequently. Which fits in very well with her attack rotation in a way it just doesn’t with other sword wielding characters.

5. Kaeya

For beginners just starting Genshin Impact, The Flute can be a great weapon for Kaeya. It will work well with his simple Talents and help increase his DMG output while you wait for his Elemental Burst cooldown.

Unlike some characters, Kaeya’s Elemental Skill doesn’t have a very long cooldown, but it also doesn’t do the highest amount of DMG. Equipping him with a sword like The Flute will help supplement his DMG and even somewhat increase his Elemental Skill DMG by upping his ATK stat.

Unfortunately, Kaeya’s best move doesn’t gain very much from The Flute. His Elemental Burst, Glacial Waltz, creates icicles that encircle the active character and deal DMG to enemies that get too close. The Cryo DMG they deal does not count toward gaining Harmonics, though, which means Kaeya needs to be on the field directly to make use of the ATK DMG The Flute deals.

Needing to be on field isn’t that much of a cost in the early game, especially since the availability of DPS characters is pretty limited. As players progress through the game though and Wish on banners to get better characters, Kaeya being on the field constantly is more and more of a waste.

Basically, if you’re early in the game with limited character options, The Flute can be a pretty good choice with Kaeya. As you get later into the game, though, there are better options out there, unless you’re a Kaeya main.

Join the High Ground

And that’s how you can get The Flute in Genshin Impact and who it’s good for! Are there any other weapons you’d like to learn more about? Let us know in the comments below! We’re always adding more content, so be on the lookout for new guides, tips, and tricks. In the meantime you can read up on our last weapon guide here. (We went over the basics of The Black Sword and who it’s good for!)

Until next time, ad astra abyssosque and happy gaming!

Genshin Impact: How to Get the Flute and Who It’s Good For