Hu Tao (Chinese: 胡桃; pinyin: Hú Táo; lit. 'Walnut') is a character from Genshin Impact, a 2020 action role-playing gacha game developed by miHoYo. She is voiced by Tao Dian in Chinese, Brianna Knickerbocker in English, Rie Takahashi in Japanese, and Kim Ha-ru in Korean. In the game, she serves as the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor within the China-like nation of Liyue. She made her debut as a playable character within the second phase of version 1.3 of the game on March 2, 2021. Her release had a significant impact on the game's sales. Hu Tao was generally received positively, and was praised for her strong gameplay, distinct goth-cute aesthetic, and eccentric personality.
Voice acting
She is voiced in Chinese by Tao Dian, in English by Brianna Knickerbocker, in Japanese by Rie Takahashi, and in Korean by Kim Ha-ru. Dian described Hu Tao as a "creepy and cute" girl. After getting to know the character in depth, she found that Hu Tao, while being mature and strong internally, maintains the innocent and cheerful nature of a child. On the surface, she often makes light of subjects regarding life and death, but secretly has a more genuine and thorough understanding of them, treating the matters with sincerity and respect. Takahashi expressed surprise at the complexity of the character when she received background information regarding her. At the recording site, she was further surprised when directed to "make Hu Tao weird", as she had interpreted the character as having more of a tricky personality.
Appearances Hu Tao serves as the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, although she often goes on breaks during the weekends. Most of the time, she is shown to have a livelier and active side to her, often pulling pranks on other characters, but she takes her job seriously. She has the ability to see ghosts and employs Zhongli as a consultant for the funeral parlor. In the early days of Hu Tao's management of the Parlor, she was questioned by the other undertakers because she was only thirteen at the time. Her leadership would be up to the highest caliber and increasing prestige, satisfying the other undertakers within. She spends her free time writing poetry and is considered a local celebrity for it. She often travels to accumulate materials and inspiration for her poetry. After the update of version 1.3 of Genshin Impact, players can obtain Hu Tao through the game's gacha system. She is a five-star Pyro character. She was designed to be a primarily offensive character with good damage output. Hu Tao differs from most other offense-based characters in that she consumes her own health points to convert attack damage into Pyro elemental attacks and increase damage. Her Elemental Burst consists of a ranged attack which partially restores her own health if it hits a target. When her health is less than or equal to around half, the damage and healing amount caused by her Elemental Burst is increased. In gameplay, Hu Tao possesses the Pyro element and wields a polearm as her primary weapon. Her skills require sacrificing health to increase damage output, requiring the player to manage her health and utilize abilities from other characters.
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