I've run additional test and gather more information to provide you what i can now call an 'advanced' level guide for you Fellow Travelers and Qiqi lovers.
I did some extra testing and now can compare QiQi as DPS against others
Note : All E.Burst are being compared at lvl 8 Albedo's Rite of Progeniture 588 115% (x5 max) = Minimum 703% Maximum 1393% Geo Dmg
(yup his E.Burst is almost too good)
Zongli's Planet Befall - 770% Geo dmg
Diluc's Dawn 326% 326% 92% =748% Pyro Dmg + Infusion (requires filed uptime and thus not included)
Xiangling's Pyronado 115% 141% 175% 179% = 610% Pyro
Diona's Mix 128% + 84.2x 5 = 550% Cryo dmg over 12second -Proc every 2sec after the 2nd second.
QiQi's Preserve of Fortune = 455.8%
Some questions which have finally been solved:
Qiqi - The E.Burst dmg , Energy cost and CD implies we shouldn't focus on her E.Burst dmg due to how little the dmg is compared to even Diona.
QiQi - As mentioned in my previous guide Qiqi will give 26% healing bonus and 20% healing with Ascended talent or a total of 46% healing bonus
Healing Bonus or ATK% on circlet - the healing of her E.Burst is 144% of her ATK at lvl 8
Herald of Frost : 153% cryo dmg , continuous 57% cryo dmg, regenerate 111% of ATK% -every 2second and almost 17% on hit (around 3 hit per 2second) . The best weapon due to uptime on Herald of Frost is the Sacrificial Sword. This ensures a 90-100% uptime on her E.Skill otherwise you'd be waiting around 15s I truely believe this weapon is even better than even 5* weapon for her unless Mihoyo gives her some love as her E.Skill duration is 15s for 30s cd. Since the healing bonus for QiQi is already high , above 40% going with more healing bonus will be wrong, ATK % or CRIT Dmg may be the right way to go with her.
Please note that i'll try to max out the best of QiQi as a healer and dps in my statements hereunder:
What are the best set you can go for her If you'd go with 2 maiden set- she will have over 60% healing bonus which means that you'd need crit dmg on your substat to make it worth it and less atk% Let me just tell you already that crit dmg is a hard sub-stat to level up. Is gladiator truely better than a full winter-strayer 2nd bonus? let's look at the benefit, every time we have froze or frozen we'll gain 20% crit rate . Gladiator will give 18% ATK if we compare stat, 32% crit rate is equivalent to 46% atk or 1.4 ratio so that 20% crit rate is worth 28% ATK , else gladiator only offers 18% ATK
Noblesse, Gladiator, maiden or full Winter-strayer?
I'd say Full Winter-strayer
Should we use a Cryo Dmg % or an ATK% goblet?
- It depends, if we have enough Crit dmg , then we'll have enough dmg then a Cryo dmg won't make much but here is where it's important to look at the circlet can have 62% crit dmg, which when you're critable is comparable to any dmg Qiqi delivers, the Goblet will offer only 46.6% Cryo dmg so you'd lose dps if you'd use a Cryo Dmg goblet.
My advice would be to use a Crit dmg Circlet and a ATK% Goblet
The main stat for QiQi best at healing and dps are
Crit Dmg circlet - No ATK%, Healing% circlet - but atk% on substat
Full winter-strayer + 25% crit rate substat
No Cryo% circlet but ATK% goblet - remember if we already have enough crit dmg it's useless to bother for cryo dmg and rather focus on getting more healing from ATK%
R5 sacrificial sword
Do not gear her with E.Mastery unless you'll use her for a melt setup
but others like Chongyu is better for a Melt setup, however if you have Venti maybe it could be worth it.
If your QiQi has e.mastery on her gear, she'll perform better in a melt melee combo
What team to use her on
Priority - Physical Melee main dps, Electro for superconduct with Razor
- Melt Melee combo - with a Venti or Sucrose and Diluc
what to expect:
Qiqi dps will never be as high as you might wish it to be , this is due to poor scaling of her
E.burst, the CD and energy cost but as well as her ascension bonus goes with Healing Bonus and not with any form of dps increase.
Thank you again for reading.