Genshin Impact Ningguang DPS Build Guide

by zilios

Who is Ningguang?

Ningguang is a Geo Catalyst DPS. That means that she deals exclusively Geo DMG, making her itemization easier. She is also pretty skill intensive, with her attack rotation, her Jade Screen and her Crystallization reactions, so if you prefer a more straightforward DPS choice that can just mindlessly click enemies until they die she may not be for you! However if used properly, she has a ton of damage AND damage mitigation tools.

Weapon Choices

Obviously if you have a 5* catalyst you should use it, the raw stats will beat out any 4* catalyst. In the 4* slot, my personal favorite is the Solar Pearl, with a strong 20% damage boost in the passive and Crit Rate % on the secondary stat. Another interesting choice is the craftable Prototype Malice. While the HP % secondary stat is a bit of waste, Ningguang has a 40 energy ultimate, allowing her to act as the party’s healer if it’s refined enough. However as a healer she will still lack the “oh-shit” burst healing of Barbara, Qiqi or Bennett. When choosing a weapon, avoid Energy Recharge and Elemental Mastery in the secondary stat, since Ningguang is a DPS and the weapon slot is one of the few places you can grab a large multiplier.

Stat Choices

The priority should be Geo DMG %>CRIT>ATK %. As a Catalyst DPS she deals exclusively Geo DMG, so you should grab as much as you can find, specifically from the cup artifact slot. Afterwards, depending on weapon choice and substats you should grab a Crit Rate % or a Crit DMG % headpiece, and as always ATK % on the Sands slot. Grab as much CRIT in the substats as you can and aim for 1 Crit Rate for every 2 Crit DMG as optimal!

Set Choices

For this, I ran the math comparing 2pc Archaic Petra + 2pc Gladiator vs 4pc Retracing Bolide. I assumed a 100% shield uptime and only looked at damage, ignoring Retracing Bolide 2pc bonus. For my Ningguang, at level 70 ascended with a level 80 Solar Pearl and a mishmash of epic and legendary artifacts, I found Archaic Petra + Gladiator to barely beat out Retracing Bolide (around 4% damage difference). However as you level up and have more legendary artifacts with better substats, Retracing Bolide 4pc should win out with the bigger multiplier and a relevant 2pc bonus. The 2nd constellation would skew the numbers further in favor of Archaic Petra and I find getting a good set of Archaic + Glad easier than farming a proper 4pc Retracing Bolide, especially pre-AR 45, so since the damage difference isn’t significant, I would consider both options great.

In Combat

Make sure to always use 2 normal attacks between each charged attack (normally 1 to 1 would be best DPS wise but sometimes the Star Jade from the normal attack doesn’t register fast enough for the charged attack so I find normal attacking twice to be more consistent). Try to always hold a directional key when normal attacking to get out the attacks faster! Position yourself between the Jade Screen and projectile enemies and you have to constantly move around to apply your Ascension 4 talent and pick up Crystallization shields (I said she wasn’t that easy to play optimally!). Finally, your ultimate gives you a long invulnerability window, so you have plenty of damage mitigation tools, especially useful in the Abyss.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or recommendations please leave them below!