by Archaic Petra is probably one of the most neglected and underrated sets in all of Genshin Impact , especially since the Husk of Opulent Dreams set came out and replaced it in several builds.
It’s true that until recently there weren’t any characters that took good advantage of it, as Geo’s characters from earlier in the game had a strong Ultimate and weren’t buffers. Therefore, it was not worth equipping the four pieces of this set and the most normal thing was to equip 2 pieces of Archaic Petra and 2 of Ancient Ritual of Nobility .
But now we have four-star Geo Element characters that can really take advantage of this set with its four pieces, since they don’t deal high damage and we can afford to sacrifice that damage to give our Primary DPS a not insignificant Elemental Bonus. That said, let’s proceed to see how to obtain it.
HOW TO GET THE ARCHAIC PETRA SET
It can be obtained through the Guyun Domain, located in the southeast of the Guyun Stone Forest (we have many Crystaloptera next to the domain gate, it is good for us to farm some on the way). Another set that we can get while trying to get pieces out of Archaic Petra would be the Meteorite Recoil , a set that is completely based on reinforcing shields and providing bonuses through them.
These would be all the pieces of the set:
- Flower : Cracked Cliff Flower.
- Feather : Feather of the Craggy Mountain Range.
- Clock : Sempiternal Jade Sundial.
- Chalice : Chalice of the Sculptor of Mountains.
- Crown : Inert Basalt Mask.
WHAT DOES THIS SET OF ARTIFACTS PROVIDE US?
Let’s see what effects this set brings us:
- 2 Pieces : +15% Geo Damage Bonus.
- 4 Pieces : When we obtain a crystal that we create through the Crystallization reaction, the entire team will receive a bonus of 35% Bonus Elemental Damage. The bonus will be from the element that activates the reaction (so it can never be Geo or Anemo) and will last 10 seconds.
To activate the Elemental Bonus of the four pieces, all we have to do is inflict Pyro/Cryo/Electro/Hydro damage to an enemy and then apply Geo to him to obtain the crystal that will give us a shield and the 35% bonus of the element that we have applied I think it’s a very good boost and it reaches the height of the one provided by a Kazuha with a fairly high Elemental Mastery .
Unfortunately, Archaic Petra was only used in combinations with Ancient Ritual of Nobility and Gladiator’s End ; and after Inazuma’s departure, it has been combined with two Pieces of Shell of Opulent Dreams or two pieces of Emblem of Destiny .
Even so, I think that the Elemental Bonus that it gives us can become a great ally and it is worth trying your luck if we have a decent set to equip a character.
WHAT CHARACTER DO I PUT IT ON?
From the outset, it must be a character that has a vision of the Geo Element so that they can at least take advantage of the 15% Elemental Damage Bonus provided by the two pieces of the set, but mainly we will look for someone whose main function is to provide support to their companions in instead of focusing so much on damage.
Yun Jin is a character that we can equip many different builds to, but being mostly a Normal Attack buffer and having a set more based on supporting teammates, the four pieces of Archaic Petra will also increase the Elemental Damage of our DPS by 35% for 10 seconds causing his buffer level to increase a lot.
The downside is that Yun Jin doesn’t improve either Charged Attacks or Downward Attacks and because of this we lose someone who could have been a great support for characters like Hu Tao , Xiao or Yanfei (but hey, we’ll have to take her with Yoimiya or Razors ).
The four pieces of Archaic Petra could become an optional to the Geoarmor’s Tenacity set for Zhongli despite it being one of the best sets for him.
Zhongli already provides us with enormous support with his shield that protects us from all evil (except from the Stalking Hounds) and on top of that, the shield itself will also lower all the Elemental and Physical Resistances of nearby enemies by 20%; Well, with the four pieces we would add the Elemental Bonus of 35% from a member of our team, making him one of the best Supports in the game.
Other characters:
- Ninguang : Since she doesn’t benefit from increasing her Defense, it still pays Ninguang more to carry two pieces of Archaic Petra and two Ancient Ritual of Nobility if you want her to be a Sub DPS dedicated to spamming ults or two pieces of Archaic Petra and two Gladiator’s End if he’s in the Primary DPS role (or two Reminiscence of the Purification , which ultimately have the same effect).
- Gorou : One of his builds consists of carrying 2 pieces of Opulent Dreams Shell and 2 pieces of Archaic Petra, but it could be viable to equip all four pieces in a half Geo half Pyro team to provide a boost to this last element.
