Qingxiao teams: do you need Denia, and what the free option really is

By DayOneFix Editorial · August 20, 2026

The short answer: Qingxiao is not welded to Denia. That question dominated CN discussion before launch — thread after thread of “can I pull Qingxiao without Denia?” — and the day-one consensus landed on no hard dependency, for three reasons that each have a source.

Why the “welded to Denia” fear died down

1. The final beta tuning pass reduced her Denia dependence. CN version-watchers reported Qingxiao’s V3 adjustment explicitly loosened how much of her damage routes through Denia — the “no Denia, no Qingxiao” reading was based on earlier beta numbers.
2. One of her core partners is free. The teammate CN guides put next to her is the Electro Rover — the protagonist you already own. A 120k-view CN guide made this its whole thesis: “her teammates were already given to you.”
3. The paid version of the team finishes inside 3.6. If you do want the full premium lineup: Qingxiao and Denia share the first half, and the remaining piece arrives in the second half — no cross-version waiting, which CN commentary flagged as unusually player-friendly scheduling.

The teams, as day-one consensus has them

Names are the official English ones from Kuro’s own notices (Heart Sword — Qingxiao, Bubbles of Nihility — Denia). Her attack-coordination system’s English term we have not yet confirmed in the global client, so we are not inventing one — this page uses descriptions until we can quote it.

The build, day-one consensus (added launch evening)

Numbers below are the first-day CN consensus — three independent guides agree on every row; where the primary text guide notes its figures derive from the preview stream, that label is kept.

• Weapon: her signature broadblade-class sword 雲琅 (EN name pending client confirmation) is the unanimous first pick — high crit, Aero damage, defence-ignore on stacks; the standard 5★ 千古伏流 is the agreed stopgap.
• Echo set: the new 3.6 set 清邪蕩煞之心 5-piece, unanimously hers (its sibling set is Jingran’s). Second choice 不絕餘音; one guide explicitly rates 嘯谷長風 not recommended.
• Main stats: 4-cost crit rate (or crit DMG if your substats already cap rate), 3-cost ATK%/Aero, 1-cost ATK%.
• The hard target, with its math shown: crit rate ≥100% (signature 36% + 4-cost main 22% + substats ~37% + base 5%), energy regen 130%+ for a smooth loop. Reference finished panels: 100% CR / 241% CD / 2,400 ATK, or the harder 100% / 285% / 2,200.
• Substat order: crit rate ≥ crit DMG > ATK% ≥ energy regen > Liberation DMG > basic > heavy > skill.
• Skill points: Forte circuit > Liberation > basic attack > skill > intro.
• Dupes: the community breakpoints are 0-dupe+signature, S3+signature, or S6+R5 — with an explicit “pull carefully” note: her intended teammates (Denia or 琳奈 in their coordination modes, plus 莫寧) matter more than her own dupes, and the second half of 3.6 brings Jingran, so budget your Astrite in two pockets.

Full rotation math and per-team damage tables stay off this page until independently tested numbers agree — the same standard as our other build pages.

Weapon and strength, honestly

• Her signature weapon is the consensus top priority — CN guides rank it above everything else in her kit investment.
• Her overall strength is genuinely disputed: one prominent CN reviewer rates her “three and a half stars, middle of the pack”; others call her a top-tier aerial DPS. We show the split rather than picking a side before the numbers land.

Related

• Denia’s rerun: her role in this team, and whether to pull her
• Qingxiao’s kit and the pull calculus
• 3.6 banners and rerun schedule
• 3.6 codes tracker

Sources

Official character names from Kuro’s own notices (Profile Reveal | Heart Sword — Qingxiao, 17 August; Resonator Review | Bubbles of Nihility — Denia, 18 August, both on the official site’s news feed). The reduced-Denia-dependence tuning, the Electro Rover pairing, the one-version team assembly and the signature-weapon priority are from CN pre-launch guides (WeChat games press and Bilibili guides, 18–19 August), cross-checked across independent authors; the free-teammates thesis is the stated argument of a 120k-view Bilibili guide. Strength dispute shown as reported. Checked 20 August, launch day — numbers marked pending will be added, and dated, as they verify.