Genshin Impact – Zhongli best builds

The best builds for Zhongli in Genshin Impact are ones that focus on his outrageously impressive shield strength. While Zhongli can be used as your DPS, his all-around support builds usually give you the best of both worlds.

Zhongli is the strongest shielder in Genshin Impact and you should keep that in mind when you build him to fit your teams. If you want more Genshin Impact builds, check out our guide on Lyney’s best builds and the best build for Yelan to get learn about their best sets and artifacts.

Best weapons for Zhongli

Zhongli’s best weapons are either the Staff of Homa or the Black Tassel. The Staff of Homa gives a bonus to HP, which is the main stat you want to use for Zhongli when building him towards shielding and DPS roles. If you want Zhongli to be a pure shield bot, then the Black Tassel will be your best weapon for him. Use these weapons on Zhongli for the best results:

• Black Tassle – 3*
• Staff of Homa – 5*
• Skyward Spine – 4*
• Favonius Lance – 4*

Shield Support Zhongli

A shield support is the best build for Zhongli. Zhongli can be built completely as a shield bot, and to do this you will need as much HP as possible. To this end, the Black Tassle is Zhongli’s best weapon. The substat of the Black Tassle gives a substantial boost to HP, which translates to stronger shields and a little more damage when Zhongli is ascended to the maximum rank.

Outside of the Black Tassle, you can give him the five-star polearm Skyward Spine. This polearm grants a lot of Energy Recharge and increases your Crit Rate, which are both good things for Zhongli. Better yet, the Skyward Spine gives you a bonus to attack speed, letting you hit faster. If you want to mix and match, you can make Zhongli into an all-purpose character where he does decent damage and his shields are of medium strength. Whatever weapon you choose, you should make sure you cover any HP deficits through your Artifacts.

✓ Jack’s opinion

What about DPS Zhongli?

Zhongli can be built as a DPS, but it sacrifices shield power – which is his best feature – for a tiny bit more damage. Our tests have shown only a slight increase in DPS when focus on ATK and Geo DMG VS a full HP build, paired with a drop-off in his shield performance.

HP works incredibly well on Zhongli since his Skill and Burst will benefit from it thanks to one of his Ascension passive talents. HP all the way.

Best Artifact Sets for Zhongli

The best Artifact set for Zhongli as a Shield Bot is the Tenacity of the Millelith set. There are some alternatives depending on what you want from Zhongli, but generally speaking, using the four-piece Tenacity is just so hard for other sets to compare to. You get a bonus to HP and Shield Strength, which is exactly what Zhongli needs.

Relic Set	Set Bonus
4x Tenacity of the Millelith	Four pieces of the Millelith will give Zhongli 20% HP boost and help buff the party with more ATK and a stronger shield. The Tenacity of the Millelith is Zhongli’s best artifact set.
2x Archaic Petra, 2x Noblesse Oblige	Two pieces of Archaic Petra will give you Geo DMG Bonus while two pieces from Noblesse will give you Elemental Burst DMG +20%.

If you really want, you could give Zhongli a mixed set, using two pieces from the Noblesse Oblige and the Archaic Petra to increase his Geo DMG and his Burst damage. Equally, you could use two pieces from Millelith and two from Nobless to mix and match HP and Burst damage.

As mentioned, you want as much HP as possible on Zhongli. To this end, your main artifact stats should be HP% across the board. Check out this table to see what we mean.

Artifact Piece	Main Stat	Sub Stats
Sands	HP%	HP > ATK > Crit Rate > Crit DMG
Goblet	HP%	HP > ATK > Crit Rate > Crit DMG
Circlet	HP%	HP > ATK > Crit Rate > Crit DMG

You always want to have HP on your Artifact sets with Zhongli. HP helps make everything about Zhongli’s kit better, and your shields will be so strong you won’t have to worry about dodging ever again. You want to aim for 45 – 50k HP and above for the most optimal shields.

Zhongli Talent Priority

When it comes to levelling Zhongli’s Talents, you absolutely want to focus on his Elemental Skill first and foremost. This is what increases Zhongli’s shield capabilities, which is the best thing about him. His Burst should be levelled next since it is a source of huge damage and it can petrify foes after landing. Only when you’ve levelled these two should you focus on his Normal Attack.

This is the priority: Elemental Skill > Burst > Normal Attack. Zhongli can deal decent damage, but your main DPS characters will always outclass him.

Zhongli Constellations

As a five-star character, Zhongli’s Constellations are extremely useful. They aren’t necessary to make him an excellent shielder, with the exception of C6 which lets Zhongli become a healer. Before we get into it, we want to caution that going for five-star character’s Constellations is extremely expensive and never worth the real-life money you will have to spend to get them.

Constellation	Effect
Rock, The Backbone of Earth	Increases the maximum number of Stone Steles created by Dominus Lapidis that may exist simultaneously to 2.
Stone, The Cradle of Jade	Planet Befall grants nearby characters on the field a Jade Shield when it descends.
Jade, Shimmering Through Darkness	Increases the Level of Dominus Lapidis by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Topaz, Unbreakable and Fearless	Increases Planet Befall’s AoE by 20% and increases the duration of Planet Befall’s Petrification effect by 2s.
Lazuli, Herald of the Order	Increase the Level of Planet Befall by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
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.

That’s everything you need to know about Zhongli’s best builds. If you pull for him, you should consider using him in almost every team you have since he is that useful. He offers the strongest shields in the game and you will notice a huge difference in combat when using him. Check out our other build guides for Genshin Impact, including the best builds for Lynette, and where to find Lyney’s Ascension materials to level him up.