20 Things You Didn’t Know about Genshin Impact’s Keqing
Keqing is a playable character from Genshin Impact. Mechanics-wise, she has been overshadowed to a considerable extent by other playable characters who perform her intended function better than her. However, Keqing remains somewhat prominent, not least because she has an important role in Liyue’s rulership.
1. Her Name Can Be Interpreted to Mean “Bringing Clear Skies”
Liyue is the region based on Chinese culture. As a result, the names from characters from Liyue follow Chinese naming rules for the most part. Both of the two characters that make up Keqing’s name have multiple meanings. The first can mean “to cut,” “to carve,” and “to engrave.” Similarly, the second can mean “clear” and “sunny.” As such, there are those who interpret Keqing’s name to mean “bringing clear skies.” This is in line with how the names of Liyue’s rulership evoke celestial phenomena of various sorts.
2. Her Name Can Indicate a Blunt, Brusque Personality
Keqing has what one might call a very businesslike attitude towards her responsibilities. Amusingly, the first character of her name can suggest a blunt and brusque sort of personality, which seems to be intentional in nature.
3. She Is an Electro Sword User
Genshin Impact characters are classified based on a number of things. One would their element while another would be the kind of weapon that they use. Keqing is an Electro character who uses single-handed swords, which is important because the game distinguishes between characters who use single-handed swords and characters who use double-handed swords.
4. Her Choice of Weapon Could Be a Statement of Her Status
A character’s choice of weapon can say a fair amount about them in media. There is a reason why there are so many JRPG protagonists running around with double-handed swords of one kind or another. In Keqing’s case, it is interesting to note that her choice of weapon could be a statement of her status. Chinese swords are divided up into jian and dao. The first term refers to double-edged straight swords while the second term refers to single-edged curved swords. Genshin Impact characters who use single-handed swords can use both kinds of swords. However, Keqing is consistently depicted with a double-edged straight sword. This is notable because jian are seen as being more elegant than dao, which have more martial connotations. The character’s status as the daughter of a very powerful family with a very long history suggests that this was intentional.
5. Her Constellation Is Trulla Cementarii
Every playable character in Genshin Impact has a constellation. In Keqing’s case, it is Trulla Cementarii. The most straightforward translation would be a mason’s trowel. However, the image of the constellation makes it clear that this instance of Trulla Cementarii indicates a plumb-bob. As for why Keqing has this constellation, well, there are a couple of things that come to mind. One, she oversees construction in Liyue. Two, she is exactly the kind of person that one would compare to a tool used to check whether something is perfectly vertical or not.
6. Might Be Related to Qiqi
There is speculation that Keqing is related to Qiqi. This is because Keqing uses Yunlai Swordsmanship while Qiqi uses Ancient Yunlai Swordsmanship. Theoretically speaking, it is possible that the two belong to the same martial arts school. However, it is likelier that Yunlai Swordsmanship is passed down through a family rather than a martial arts school. One, there is no indication that either Keqing or Qiqi ever belonged to a martial arts school. Two, Qiqi was still a young child working as a herb gatherer when she died, which doesn’t exactly seem like the profile of someone who would have been sent off to a martial arts school.
7. Can Be Useful For Exploration
Keqing is a DPS-focused character. Still, she can be useful for exploration. This is because Keqing’s skill lets her toss out a Lightning Stiletto that will be suspended in the air. After which, she can teleport to it. The distance isn’t great. As a result, interested individuals shouldn’t expect it to enable them to cross some kind of huge gap unless they are already in a position from which they can almost make it. Instead, the Lightning Stiletto is more useful for getting through a situation in which a bit of tricky maneuvering is necessary.
8. Good For Expeditions
Speaking of which, Keqing is good for Liyue expeditions because she can cut down on the necessary time by 25 percent. This fits very well with her lore. In fact, the talent is outright called Land’s Overseer, which is a clear reference to her position as someone who oversees a lot of people who work in a lot of places. As such, Keqing would have both the expertise and the experience needed to get expeditions within Liyue carried out faster than otherwise possible. In any case, the rewards of completed expeditions might not seem like much. Still, they can add up with surprising speed when they are done day-in and day-out.
9. Can Do a Fair Amount of Elemental Damage
By default, Keqing’s sword does physical damage. However, she can do a fair amount of elemental damage as well. For example, her teleport does Electro damage both at the start and at the end. Similarly, her swords becomes infused with Electro when she teleports, thus enabling her to do elemental damage with her normal attacks for a short period of time. Keqing’s elemental burst is just her doing Electro over a much wider area-of-effect than with her other capabilities. These things can be very useful when Keqing is in the same team as another playable character who can set her up for elemental reactions such as, say, Xingqiu.
10. Always Available in the Gacha Pool
Keqing is one of the five-star characters who are always in the gacha pool. Essentially, whenever the player rolls a five-star character on the limited time character banner, they have a 50 percent chance of getting the limited time five-star character or one of the five-star characters who are always available. As such, someone who plays long enough has a decent chance of getting Keqing at some point because there are just five five-star characters who are always available. Still, it is perfectly possible for someone to play for a long time without ever getting her because the very nature of a gacha game means that there is a lot of randomness involved. Similarly, Keqing is in the permanent character banner as well, though interested individuals shouldn’t be rolling on that banner unless they know exactly what they are doing.
11. She Is One of the Liyue Qixing
As mentioned earlier, Keqing has an important role in Liyue’s rulership. To be exact, she is a member of the Liyue Qixing, which translates to mean the Seven Stars of Liyue. Chances are good that interested individuals can guess that these would be the seven individuals who rule over Liyue. Since the region is so focused on commerce, it should come as no surprise to learn that the Liyue Qixing seem to be drawn from such circles, presumably because they make up the region’s elite.
12. She Is a Member of a Group Named For the Big Dipper
It should be mentioned that the name of the Liyue Qixing isn’t just referring to any seven stars. Instead, it is specifically referring to the Big Dipper, which is an asterism consisting of seven stars that can be found in the constellation Ursa Major. This set of stars is recognized by a wide range of cultures in a wide range of times and places. For example, the ancient Greeks called it the Bear. Meanwhile, the ancient Chinese called it the Northern Dipper. Big Dipper is the U.S. and Canadian term for it. Unfortunately, it isn’t 100 percent clear why it is called thus.
13. She Bears the Title of Yuheng
We know that the Liyue Qixing are named for the Big Dipper because every single one of them bears a title based on the stars that make up said asterism. In Keqing’s case, she is the Yuheng, which is Chinese for “Jade Sighting-Tube.” This would be the star Alioth, which might be better-known to interested individuals under the name of Epsilon Ursae Majoris. Some people might find it strange that Alioth is Epsilon even though it is the brightest of the seven stars. However, this can be explained by the fact that the seven stars were given their letters based on their position from west to east rather than their order in brightness. Position-wise, Alioth is the star in the Big Dipper’s handle that is situated closest to the bowl.
14. She Seems to Be Focused On Economic Matters
Each of the Liyue Qixing seems to have their own particular set of responsibilities, which are consistent from occupant to occupant. Keqing and those who held the position of Yuheng before her seem to have been focused on economic matters. In particular, she oversees land, construction, and livelihoods.
15. Can Be a Very Hands-On Kind of Person
Keqing can be a very hands-on kind of person. To be exact, she has been known to work the kind of jobs that she oversees in order to develop a better understanding of what is going on. Theoretically speaking, the leaders of major organizations should be systems that pass them information about what is going on at the ground level so that they can make good decisions. For instance, a CEO shouldn’t be supervising a sales team. However, a CEO should have reports about the state of sales, the state of sales personnel, and other relevant topics on the strategic scale. Unfortunately, those systems aren’t necessarily capable of capturing everything of relevance, which is why a ground-level view can sometimes be useful. For that matter, those systems aren’t guaranteed to be capable. Even if they started out as such, those systems don’t just magically remain that way without continuous effort to keep them running as they should.
16. Skeptical of Divine Influence
The seven regions of Genshin Impact are presided over by seven Archons. Some of them are very involved in the lives of their people. In contrast, others are much more hands-off. At the start of the game, the Geo Archon was very involved in the running of Liyue, as shown by how he would announce new policies on a regular basis. Most people from Liyue were accepting of this. Keqing was very unusual in that she was skeptical of divine influence in mortal affairs.
17. Skeptical Because She Was Concerned About What Would Happen Without Divine Influence
Having said that, Keqing’s skepticism wasn’t rooted in hostility towards the divine. Instead, she was concerned about what would happen to Liyue if the Geo Archon ever withdrew from mortal affairs, which is something that humans have no control over whatsoever. One can’t help but wonder whether Keqing developed said point of view because she spent so much time overseeing the development of real estate. After all, it is very much possible for a building that work well when everything is fine but turn into a horrible death-trap when something goes on. Given Keqing’s position, she presumably has a very good idea why planning for bad things that can happen is a sensible thing to do.
18. Big Fan of the Geo Archon
Amusingly, Keqing is a big fan of the Geo Archon, so much so that it has been outright stated that she collects Geo Archon memorabilia. In part, this is because she gained a new respect for said individual after getting a better understanding of exactly everything his responsibilities entailed.
19. Has Acknowledged that High Staff Turnover Is a Bad Thing
Unsurprisingly, Keqing works ridiculously hard, so much so that her secretaries wouldn’t stay for longer than three months because they couldn’t keep up. Having said that, she isn’t 100 percent impervious to reason, though like most people, she needed to be convinced using the right approach. In this case, that apparently involved someone pointing out that high staff turnover is a very bad thing for organizations because of the lost productivity as well as the costs involved in securing replacements.
20. Can Use Her Hairpin For Many Things
Keqing is apparently quite good at surviving outdoors with just her sword and her hairpin. In significant part, this is because she has gotten quite good at using her hairpin for all sorts of things. For example, she can use it as a knife when it has been infused with Electro. Similarly, she can use it for a kind of spear-fishing because she electrifies the hairpin. Keqing has even been known to rappel her way down from great heights by driving it into the earth before tying rattans to it.
