Genshin Impact Zhongli Build
Genshin Impact Guide
Genshin Impact is a live-service, massive, open-world RPG, released on the mobile, PC, and PS4/PS5 platforms. It incorporates a gacha-based system where you can obtain various characters that you can add to your roster and help you clear the game’s multitude of quests and content. Building characters will require a considerable amount of resources and mora so you’ll really need to decide which characters to focus on. In our Genshin Impact Zhongli character guide, we will focus on the Geo Archon, Zhongli, who is one of the most popular and desired characters in the game so far.
Zhongli is the polearm-wielding Geo Archon who was introduced late last year. There was a bit of drama surrounding his initial release because some fans have felt that his kit is a bit lackluster compared to what was shown in his trailer. Zhongli and the Geo element in general have received updates in version 1.3, instantly turning him into one of the best, high-tier characters in the game right now. Basically, if you have Zhongli, much of the game’s content will become a lot easier thanks to what he can bring to the table.
In our Genshin Impact Zhongli guide, we will cover the best build(s) for Zhongli, the recommended artifact sets/combinations, priority skills, substats, weapons, and more. We will cover both the free-to-play options and “premium”/paid options as well, to those who spend in the game.
If you’re a new player or returning player, please don’t forget to check out our existing guides about the various game mechanics, including the basics of the new housing system called Serenitea Pot which was just recently implemented in May 2021.
Genshin Impact Zhongli Banner
Zhongli’s banner is called Gentry of Hermitage which first appeared on Dec 2, 2020 and ended on Dec 23, 2020. His banner’s rerun, which also introduced the new 4-star character Yanfei, was implemented on April 28 until May 18, 2021.Unfortunately, if you missed your chance in pulling him from the last two banners, your only hope is for another rerun of Zhongli’s banner in the future. Since there’s a lot of content already lined up for the upcoming months, you’ll need to keep following Mihoyo’s official social media accounts to get the latest news regarding new banners and features. That’s the only way to know when Zhongli’s banner is going to have another rerun.
Zhongli Attack Talents
All characters in Genshin Impact have three attack talents: Normal Attack, Elemental Skill, and Elemental Burst. These talents can be leveled up to LV10. The maximum level of Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst talents can only reach LV13 once players have unlocked the corresponding Constellation levels for the character. Moreover, to reach the regular LV10 talent level, you’ll need a Crown of Insight, an extremely rare talent enhancement material that is only awarded at certain events.
Normal Attack: Rain of Stone
Normal Attack
* Performs up to 6 consecutive spear strikes.
Charged Attack
* Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to lunge forward, causing stone spears to fall along his path.
Plunging Attack
* Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
Elemental Skill: Dominus Lapidis
Press
* Commands the power of earth to create a Stone Stele.
Hold
* Causes nearby Geo energy to explode, causing the following effects: If their maximum number hasn't been reached, creates a Stone Stele.
* Creates a shield of jade. The shield's DMG Absorption scales based on Zhongli's Max HP.
* Deals AoE Geo DMG.
* If there are nearby targets with the Geo element, it will drain a large amount of Geo element from a maximum of 2 such targets. This effect does not cause DMG.
Stone Stele
* When created, deals AoE Geo DMG.
* Additionally, it will intermittently resonate with other nearby Geo constructs, dealing Geo DMG to nearby opponents.
* The Stone Stele is considered a Geo construct that can both be climbed and used to block attacks.
* Only one Stele created by Zhongli himself may initially exist at any one time.
Jade Shield
* Possesses 150% DMG Absorption against all Elemental and Physical DMG.
* Characters protected by the Jade Shield will decrease the Elemental RES and Physical RES of opponents in a small AoE by 20%. This effect cannot be stacked.
Elemental Burst: Planet Befall
* Brings a falling meteor down to earth, dealing massive Geo DMG to opponents caught in its AoE and applying the Petrification status to them
* Petrification: Opponents affected by the Petrification status cannot move.
Zhongli Passive Talents
Unlike attack talents, passive talents cannot be leveled up using talent books, and are only unlocked as you ascend characters.Resonant Waves
* When the Jade Shield takes DMG, it will Fortify: Fortified characters have 5% increased Shield Strength. Can stack up to 5 times, and lasts until the Jade Shield disappears.
Dominance of Earth
* Zhongli deals bonus DMG based on his Max HP:
** Normal Attack, Charged Attack, and Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 1.39% of Max HP.
** Dominus Lapidis' Stone Stele, resonance, and hold DMG is increased by 1.9% of Max HP.
** Planet Befall's DMG is increased by 33% of Max HP.
Arcanum of Crystal
* Refunds 15% of the ore used when crafting Polearm-type weapons.
Zhongli Constellations
Each character has 6 constellation levels that further unlock their potential through additional passive talents and increasing the levels of their Elemental Skill and Burst by 3 levels. You can only unlock constellations by using the character’s Stella Fortuna. These character-exclusive constellation activation materials can only be acquired by getting another copy of the character from wishing. Since 5-star characters have a very low probability of appearing, you’ll need to be very lucky to get another copy of a 5-star character, activate the Pity System for that character’s banner, or just simply brute force your way through wishes by using the power of your credit card.
| C1 | Rock, the Backbone of Earth | Increases the maximum number of Stone Steles created by Dominus Lapidis that may exist simultaneously to 2. |
| C2 | Stone, the Cradle of Jade | Planet Befall grants nearby characters on the field a Jade Shield when it descends. |
| C3 | Jade, Shimmering through Darkness | Increases the Level of Dominus Lapidis by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C4 | Topaz, Unbreakable and Fearless | Increases Planet Befall's AoE by 20% and increases the duration of Planet Befall's Petrification effect by 2s. |
| C5 | Lazuli, Herald of the Order | Increase the Level of Planet Befall by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C6 | Chrysos, Bounty of Dominator | When the Jade Shield takes DMG, 40% of that incoming DMG is converted to HP for the current character. A single instance of regeneration cannot exceed 8% of that character's Max HP. |
Genshin Impact Zhongli Builds
Zhongli is primarily intended to be a support character, thanks to his Jade Shield that protects your party against all elemental and physical damage and his burst that deals massive geo damage and also petrifies enemies, making them unable to move for a set duration. However, depending on the weapons, artifacts sets, and artifact stats that you give him, he can also become a hybrid support or a Geo DPS build.Reminder: You can build your characters and experiment with the artifact and weapon combinations as you see fit. This is just a guide that will help you to point in the right direction and help you to efficiently use this character comfortably.Geo Support Build (Shield Bot)
This build allows you to capitalize on Zhongli’s Elemental Skill (Jade Shield) that increases in DMG absorption by scaling off his HP. After unlocking the Dominance of the Earth passive, Zhongli’s normal attack, skill (Stone Stele), and burst (Planet Befall) will also gain a bit of bonus damage based on his max HP. However, since you’re stacking up artifacts with HP%, Zhongli’s damage output won’t be that great.On the upside, your characters will be able to tank huge amounts of damage and even ignore interruptions, allowing your squishy DPS to survive a lot longer, not to mention shredding the Elemental RES and Physical RES of nearby enemies while the shield is up.
Weapons
Weapon effect values will be at their default values. (Refinement 1)
| Weapon | Main Stat | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Staff of Homa (5*) | CRIT DMG | HP increased by 20%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 0.8% of the wielder's Max HP. When the wielder's HP is less than 50%, this ATK bonus is increased by an additional 1% of Max HP. |
| Black Tassel (3*) | HP | Increases DMG against slimes by 40%. |
Artifact Sets
We will display the priority stats that you should aim for artifacts. The Flower and Feather pieces will always have fixed stats (HP and ATK respectively), while the Sands, Goblet, and Circlet pieces will have randomized stats.
Artifact sets have bonus effects if you have 2 or 4 pieces belonging to the same set. Since there are 5 artifact slots, there’s always one piece offset. This means you can use a piece from a different set that will complement your build by having the ideal main stat and substats.
| Tenacity of the Millelith | HP% Sands, HP% Goblet, HP% Circlet |
| (2) HP +20% | (4) When an Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the ATK of all nearby party members is increased by 20% and their Shield Strength is increased by 30% for 3s. This effect can be triggered once every 0.5s. This effect can still be triggered even when the character who is using this artifact set is not on the field. |
| Archaic Petra | HP% Sands, HP% Goblet, HP% Circlet |
| (2) Gain a 15% Geo DMG Bonus. | (4) Upon obtaining an Elemental Shard created through a Crystallize Reaction, all party members gain a 35% DMG Bonus for that particular element for 10s. Only one form of Elemental DMG Bonus can be gained in this manner at any one time. |
Geo Hybrid Burst Support
This build maintains Zhongli’s reliable shield strength through considerable HP scaling while also giving his Planet Befall a considerable damage boost to help soften up enemies and petrify them at the same time.
Weapons
Weapon effect values will be at their default values. (Refinement 1)
| Weapon | Main Stat | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Staff of Homa (5*) | CRIT DMG | HP increased by 20%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 0.8% of the wielder's Max HP. When the wielder's HP is less than 50%, this ATK bonus is increased by an additional 1% of Max HP. |
| Deathmatch (4*) | Crit Rate | If there are at least 2 enemies nearby, ATK is increased by 16%. If there are less than 2 enemies nearby, ATK is increased by 24%. |
| Archaic Petra (HP% Sands, Geo DMG% Goblet, Crit Rate/Crit DMG% Circlet) | (2) Gain a 15% Geo DMG Bonus. |
| Noblesse Oblige (HP% Sands, Geo DMG% Goblet, Crit Rate/Crit DMG% Circlet) | (2) Elemental Burst DMG +20% |
Zhongli Ascension Costs
Zhongli gets permanent Geo DMG boost as he ascends.| Level | Mora Cost | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 20,000 | 1 Prithiva Topaz Sliver, 3 Cor Lapis, 3 Slime Condensate |
| 40 | 40,000 | 3 Prithiva Topaz Fragment, 2 Basalt Pillar, 10 Cor Lapis, 15 Slime Condensate |
| 50 | 60,000 | 3 Prithiva Topaz Fragment, 4 Basalt Pillar, 20 Cor Lapis, 12 Slime Secretions |
| 60 | 80,000 | 3 Prithiva Topaz Chunk, 8 Basalt Pillar, 30 Cor Lapis, 18 Slime Secretions |
| 70 | 100,000 | 6 Prithiva Topaz Chunk, 12 Basalt Pillar, 45 Cor Lapis, 18 Slime Concentrate |
| 80 | 120,000 | 6 Prithiva Topaz Gemstone, 20 Basalt Pillar, 60 Cor Lapis, 24 Slime Concentrate |
Recommended Party Members
Zhongli can fit in almost any team composition if you’re going to use him for support and burst DPS. If you’re using him as a sub DPS or main carry, it’s better to have another geo character to activate the Geo Resonance effect. Ningguang is a great battery and DPS partner for Zhongli, while other Geo characters can be good substitutes to run with Zhongli.Bennett (also a universally outstanding support character), can complement Zhongli’s team by providing ATK buff and heal at the same time. If you’re running a sub-DPS build on Zhongli, using his Planet Befall burst while on Bennett’s field can significantly increase the damage output of your petrifying meteor.
This concludes our Genshin Impact Zhongli Build guide. Please check out our other pages within the guide for more helpful tips and information about the game.
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