Genshin Impact Zhongli Build and Guide

by Skyfrid

Zhongli’s main niche is his elemental skill and its ability to work together with other Geo character. These skills set him up as a great support character with his ability to throw up a shield and destroy Geo shields. He can also serve as a good Burst DPS due to his powerful element burst that can deal massive Geo DMG to a group of enemies if you prefer to use him as a DPS unit. The skills you should prioritize are his elemental skill and burst, depending on your build. Zhongli’s normal attack lacks the power needed to be on par with other DPS units.

Zhongli’s normal attack, Rain of Stone, performs up to 6 consecutive attacks with a spear, with each hit dealing more damage. This is one more additional attack in his animation than Xiangling, the only other pole-arm user in the game right now. However, it does overall less damage and is slower than Xiangling’s attack speed. Zhongli uses a variety of techniques with his spear to attack, like using his legs to spin it or plunging it into the enemy. His attacks are swift and can rapidly hit any enemy with flair. For his charged attack, Zhongli summons stone spears to strike down enemies in his path.

Zhongli’s elemental skill, Dominus Lapidis, has two effects that you can use. By tapping it once, Zhongli summons a Stone Stele to deal AoE Geo DMG to nearby enemies. His Stone Stele resonates with nearby Geo construct and deals AoE Geo DMG. The radius of damage by the Stone Stele is decent, but the radius will expand with more Geo constructs around it. Enemies will need to stay near the Stele for them to take damage. Zhongli can only summon 1 Stone Stele at once unless you have him at C1, which raises the limit to 2. The cooldown for this skill is only 4 seconds, which allows Zhongli to quickly resummon the Stele. This skill is decent on its own, but it relies on other Geo Constructs to be used effectively. Zhongli’s elemental skill is also hard to position correctly without practice. Unlike the Traveler’s Geo construct, you do not get to aim where his Stele is summoned. The Stone Stele is automatically summoned in front of Zhongli.

When holding down, Zhongli’s elemental skill allows him to cause nearby Geo energy to explode dealing AoE Geo DMG in the process. The radius for the explosion is pretty wide and can cover the surrounding areas around him. This skill is useful in mining for ores and can one-shot the ores for you to easily collect. This skill will also drain Geo energy from the shields of enemies, making it an effective way to deal with those pesky stone shields of the hilichurls. The drain will also work on the pillars of the Geo Hypostasis to destroy them more easily. However, the drain effect does not deal damage and can only absorb the Geo element from 2 targets at a time. Aside from the Geo DMG, Zhongli will also create a shield of jade that scales with his HP and absorb damage. This shield will transfer when you switch characters. The cooldown for this skill is 12 seconds long, while the shield duration will last 20 seconds unless it is broken. This short cooldown allows Zhongli to consistently protect himself and his party members.

Zhongli’s elemental burst, Planet Befall, will summon a meteor from above to strike the enemy with Geo DMG. His burst will also petrify all enemies hit by his burst, causing them to be unable to move. Zhongli’s burst works well with his skill to keep his enemies in close range with his Stone Steele. The cooldown for his burst is 12 seconds with an energy cost of 40. This combination of a short cooldown and low energy cost allows Zhongli to reliably activate his elemental burst.

In co-op play, Zhongli works well with other Geo characters that can construct Geo constructs. However, your options are limited right now to either Ningguang and Geo Traveler. It is also important to note that there are also limits to how many Geo constructs each character can have on the field. Zhongli can be used on other teams as well to trigger the crystalize effect and use his burst to deal Geo DMG on the enemy. Lastly, he is capable of dealing with shields made out of Geo element to save other players the hassle of breaking them down.

Passive Talents

Zhongli’s first passive talent, Arcanum of Crystal, is mediocre at best. It gives you a small amount of ore back when you craft a Pole-arm type weapon. Ores are not hard to obtain, especially if you farm the materials every day through expeditions. This skill also doesn’t help Zhongli in combat.

His Ascension 1 talent, Resonant Waves, will boost shield strength of the Jade Shield when it gets hit. This talent will allow characters to take more hits before the shield breaks.

Dominance of Earth, Zhongli’s Ascension 4 talent, increases the damage of his elemental burst. This talent scales with Zhongli’s Max HP.

Both of his talents at Ascension 1 and 4, boosts Zhongli’s elemental burst and skill. Both skills scale along with Zhongli’s Max HP, which is important to note when building him.

Zhongli is a great character to use to explore within the map, because of his elemental skill that can easily break down ores. As a tall character, he is also able to climb mountains easier and run faster.

Note: Zhongli will get a Geo DMG Bonus% based on his ascension rank.

Constellations

Zhongli’s constellations allow him to fully utilize his elemental skill and burst to increase their effectiveness. However, due to the rarity of a 5 star, getting him to a high constellation level will be tough. Zhongli can still be decent in his role as a Geo support without the aid of a constellation level, but can be easily outclassed by other characters like Noelle. The effectiveness of his skills are locked behind high constellation levels.

C1:Rock, the Backbone of Earth allows Zhongli to create another Stone Stele that will act independently of each other. This will allow him to extend his resonance effect to reach a wider area.

C2: Stone, the Cradle of Jade will allow him to grant nearby characters a Jade Shield when he uses his elemental burst. This ability is helpful in his role as a support character and can be a reliable way to reduce damage due to its low cost and cooldown on his elemental burst.

C4: Topaz, Unbreakable and Fearless is great for Zhongli as a Burst DPS unit. It will increase his overall damage with his burst and increase the time the enemy is petrified by 2 seconds.

C6: Chrysos, Bounty of Dominator grants Zhongli the power to convert DMG toward the Jade Shield into health for the character. This effect applies even if you switch characters. This allows Zhongli to play the role of healer for a team. Since the cost of Jade Shield is low, this constellation skill becomes an effective way for Zhongli to become a better support character. There are several restrictions to this constellation. It will only convert 40% of the damage and the HP regained can not extend 8% of the current character’s HP. However, the Jade Shield does absorb DMG as well, so the restrictions aren’t severe.

Support DPS Build

Zhongli’s main role is to provide support with his ability to create a shield and resonate with other Geo constructs. This build is a mix of Zhongli’s offensive and defensive capabilities with a focus on his elemental skill. For this build, Zhongli will require other Geo construct users to fully utilize his elemental skill. This puts a restriction on his teammates because of the lack of characters that can create a Geo construct. The last slot on the team should be reserved for a healer like Qiqi or Barbara in case the protection of his shield is not enough. Having a unit that can heal will make sure your character will never die. Zhongli can also be paired with a powerful DPS unit like Diluc or Childe that can make use of his Shield of Jade. The skills you should mainly focus on are his elemental skill and normal attack. Zhongli’s elemental burst is optional if you plan to use it often. You can also forego attacking with Zhongli and make him a full support character.

Recommended Weapons

For his recommended weapon, the Vortex Vanquisher is the perfect weapon for Zhongli because it will increase both his shield strength and raise his ATK when he hits an enemy. This weapon provides a good balance between both his attack and defense.

The Crescent Pike can be used to increase Zhongli’s overall damage with his normal attack. This weapon’s skill pairs well with the artifact set to increase Zhongli’s ATK. This weapon can also be easily obtained through the weekly boss fights to increase its refinement level.

Other weapons you can use are the Deathmatch, Prototype Grudge, and the Royal Spear. All of these weapons will increase Zhongli’s ATK through their secondary stat or passive effect.

Recommended Artifacts

For his recommended artifact set, the Retracing Bolide pairs well with Zhongli’s shield strength. At a 4-piece set, Zhongli will gain both increased shield strength and 40% to his normal attack. The goal is to create a powerful shield that can absorb DMG while Zhongli can unleash a fury of attacks against the enemy. I recommend focusing on building up his HP% and ATK% to get a nice balance between his shield strength and attack power. You can also focus on Geo DMG to raise the damage of his burst and skill.

Burst DPS Build

This build focuses on Zhongli’s elemental burst damage output and nuking enemies around him. Zhongli’s skill set doesn’t allow him out to be the perfect main DPS for a team. However, his burst can become insanely powerful if it is built right because of its’ short cooldown and energy cost. This build relies on Zhongli’s Ascension 4 talent to boost his elemental burst and having two pyro users on the team to raise his attack. Ningguang will also be useful in raising Zhongli’s GEO DMG with her Ascension 4 talent. Zhongli’s elemental burst should be maxed out. Both his elemental skill and normal attack will be leveled up depending on your play style and what you like to use more.

Recommended Weapons

For his recommended weapon, the Vortex Vanquisher is a 5-star weapon that will increase both his shield strength and attack when Zhongli hits an enemy. He can stack this buff up to 5 times, but they will only last 8 seconds each. This weapon gives Zhongli both defensive and offensive buffs, making it the perfect weapon for a lot of his builds.

The Primordial Jade Winged-Spear is another 5-star weapon that will work well with Zhongli because it will increase his Crit Rate and ATK. His passive skill can stack up to 7 times and will boost his elemental skill DMG if it’s at maxed stacks.

Zhongli also works well with the Favonius Lance because it can increase his energy recharge so he can build up his burst faster. Its passive skill will be helpful in a CRIT Build for him.

Another 4-star weapon you can use is the Royal Spear. This weapon boosts Zhongli’s ATK and has the chance to increase his Crit Rate. Prototype Grudge will also work fine with this build and increase Zhongli’s damage output after using an elemental skill. If you want to build him to deal more physical attacks, the Crescent Pike is a good option.

Recommended Artifacts

Zhongli’s artifact set should be a mix of the Archaic Petra and Noblesse Oblige. The 2-piece bonus for the Archaic Petra will grant Zhongli more GEO DMG, while the 2-piece effect for the Noblesse Oblige will increase his elemental burst. Both of these sets will allow Zhongli to deal massive amounts of Geo DMG with his burst. The stats you should focus on are HP% and Geo DMG. Zhongli’s Ascension 4 skill will boost his elemental burst damage by 33% of his Max HP. For example, if you have 20k HP on Zhongli, he will deal an extra 6600 DMG with his burst! Geo DMG will boost his elemental burst overall, so aim for a mix of the two. ATK% can help increase his overall damage output in his skills. Energy Recharge will also allow his burst to be used more often. Lastly, you can focus on CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG if you prefer a CRIT Build on him.