Citlali Guide and Best Builds

Citlali Guide and Best Builds

Citlali is a 5-Star Cryo character who is a shielder as well as providing RES shred for both Frozen and Melt reactions. Read on to learn more about Citlali's kit, Citlali's Build and also her Ascension and Talent Materials.

Last updated on Sep 27, 2025 at 08:33 by GachaHub 1 comment
Cryo Element
Catalyst Weapon
Rarity
Skyler Davenport EN Voice Actor
Tano Asami JP Voice Actor

Citlali Guide & Best Builds

Welcome to our Citlali build guide for Genshin Impact. Citlali is a 5-Star Cryo dedicated support character who focuses on Melt and Freeze reactions. In this guide, we'll cover everything you need to know to get the most out of Citlali, from the best artifacts and weapons to important stat priorities and rotations.

Best Weapons for Citlali

Listed below are Citlali's best weapon options. As a support character, Citlali focuses primarily on providing shielding, Cryo application, and team buffs rather than personal damage. Because of this, weapons that provide Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, or team-wide buffs tend to perform the best for her overall utility.

Starcaller's Watch

Offering Unto Wind and Sun

Base ATK: 542

Elemental Mastery: 265

Increases Elemental Mastery by 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200. Gain the "Mirror of Night" effect within 15s after the equipping character creates a shield: The current active party member deals 28% / 35% / 42% / 49% / 56% increased DMG to nearby opponents. You can gain the "Mirror of Night" effect once every 14s.

Starcaller's Watch is Citlali's signature weapon and her best-in-slot option. It provides a massive amount of Elemental Mastery, which strengthens her shield, while also granting the active character up to 28% additional damage when they are protected by Citlali's shield. This makes it an extremely strong option for buffing your main DPS while also allowing Citlali to focus on Energy Recharge through her artifacts.
Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers

Heritage

Base ATK: 401

HP: 35.2%

When switching characters, the new character taking the field has their ATK increased by 24% / 30% / 36% / 42% / 48% for 10s. This effect can only occur once every 20s.

Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers is the best F2P option for Citlali. It grants a massive 48% ATK buff to the next character you swap into after Citlali, making it an excellent choice when paired with ATK-scaling DPS characters such as Mavuika or Arlecchino. While the buff does not have full uptime every rotation, it remains one of the strongest support catalysts available.
Etherlight Spindlelute

Last Singer

Base ATK: 510

Energy Recharge: 45.9%

For 20s after using an Elemental Skill, the equipping character's Elemental Mastery is increased by 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200.

Etherlight Spindlelute is another great option for Citlali, providing Energy Recharge through its main stat and Elemental Mastery through its passive. This combination allows Citlali to easily burst every rotation while also strengthening her shield, making it a very comfortable and consistent option.
Wandering Evenstar

Wildling Nightstar

Base ATK: 510

Elemental Mastery: 165

The following effect will trigger every 10s: The equipping character will gain 24% / 30% / 36% / 42% / 48% of their Elemental Mastery as bonus ATK for 12s, with nearby party members gaining 30% of this buff for the same duration. Multiple instances of this weapon can allow this buff to stack. This effect will still trigger even if the character is not on the field.

Wandering Evenstar is a strong supportive option, especially at higher refinements. It provides Elemental Mastery for Citlali, which increases her shield strength, while also granting an ATK buff to nearby teammates based on her Elemental Mastery. This makes it a great hybrid option when you want both shield strength and additional team buffs.
A Thousand Floating Dreams

A Thousand Nights' Dawnsong

Base ATK: 542

Elemental Mastery: 265

Party members other than the equipping character will provide the equipping character with buffs based on whether their Elemental Type is the same as the latter or not. If their Elemental Types are the same, increase Elemental Mastery by 32 / 40 / 48 / 56 / 64. If not, increase the equipping character's DMG Bonus from their Elemental Type by 10% / 14% / 18% / 22% / 26%. Each of the aforementioned effects can have up to 3 stacks. Additionally, all nearby party members other than the equipping character will have their Elemental Mastery increased by 40 / 42 / 44 / 46 / 48. Multiple such effects from multiple such weapons can stack.

A Thousand Floating Dreams is also a solid option mainly due to the large amount of Elemental Mastery it provides. The passive does not benefit Citlali as much as it benefits reaction-based characters, but the raw Elemental Mastery still helps increase the strength of her shield.
Favonius Codex

Windfall

Base ATK: 510

Energy Recharge: 45.9%

CRIT Hits have a 60% / 70% / 80% / 90% / 100% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s / 10.5s / 9s / 7.5s / 6s.

Favonius Codex can become one of Citlali's best options when Energy Recharge is needed. It provides Energy particles for both Citlali and the rest of the team, which can be extremely valuable in endgame content where consistent Burst uptime is required.
Sacrificial Fragments

Composed

Base ATK: 454

Elemental Mastery: 221

After damaging an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 40% / 50% / 60% / 70% / 80% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30s / 26s / 22s / 19s / 16s.

Sacrificial Fragments is another good option that provides Elemental Mastery while also giving a chance to reset Citlali's Elemental Skill cooldown. This can allow her to use her shield twice in quick succession, helping maintain better uptime while also generating additional energy for her Burst.

Best Artifacts for Citlali

Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City

Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City

2-Piece Set: When a nearby party member triggers a Nightsoul Burst, the equipping character regenerates 6 Elemental Energy.

4-Piece Set: After the equipping character triggers a reaction related to their Elemental Type, all nearby party members gain a 12% Elemental DMG Bonus for the Elemental Types involved in the elemental reaction for 15s. If the equipping character is in the Nightsoul's Blessing state when triggering this effect, all nearby party members gain an additional 28% Elemental DMG Bonus for the Elemental Types involved in the elemental reaction for 20s. The equipping character can trigger this effect while off-field, and the DMG bonus from Artifact Sets with the same name do not stack.

Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City is Citlali's best-in-slot artifact set. It generates additional Energy and provides up to a 40% damage bonus to the team based on the reactions triggered by Citlali. This makes it the go-to option when playing her alongside DPS characters that benefit heavily from damage bonus buffs.
Tenacity of the Millelith

Tenacity of the Millelith

2-Piece Set: HP +20%

4-Piece Set: 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.

Tenacity of the Millelith is another strong option for Citlali, especially if another character in the team is already using Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City. It provides a 20% ATK buff to the team whenever Citlali's Elemental Skill hits an enemy. To maintain consistent uptime on this buff, you generally want to burst every rotation so her Skill continues applying damage reliably.
Noblesse Oblige

Noblesse Oblige

2-Piece Set: Elemental Burst DMG +20%

4-Piece Set: Using an Elemental Burst increases all party members' ATK by 20% for 12s. This effect cannot stack.

Noblesse Oblige is another solid support option. It provides a 20% ATK buff to the entire team after Citlali uses her Elemental Burst. If other teammates are already using Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City or Tenacity of the Millelith, this set can be a strong alternative. To fully benefit from this set, Citlali should aim to use her Burst every rotation.
Instructor

Instructor

2-Piece Set: Increases Elemental Mastery by 80.

4-Piece Set: Upon triggering an Elemental Reaction, increases all party members' Elemental Mastery by 120 for 8s.

Instructor can also be used when you cannot run any of the above sets, especially in Melt teams. This set provides Elemental Mastery to the team, which can significantly increase reaction damage. Because Instructor is a 4-star set with lower base stats, it is recommended to run an Energy Recharge Sands to ensure Citlali can still burst consistently each rotation.

Citlali's Stat Priority

Sands of Eon: ER / EM
Goblet of Eonothem: EM
Circlet of Logos: EM
Substats: Energy Recharge > Elemental Mastery

Citlali’s most important stats are Energy Recharge and Elemental Mastery. She is a dedicated support who wants to use her Burst every rotation to activate all of her utility. Elemental Mastery also increases the strength of her shield, making it a very valuable stat to stack.

If Citlali is using Favonius Codex, a CRIT Rate Circlet can be a better choice for reliably triggering the weapon passive and generating additional Energy particles for the team.

Recommended Stats for Citlali

Build recommendations assume decent artifact rolls alongside Citlali's best free-to-play weapon, Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers. Using other weapons may increase or decrease certain stats relative to these recommendations.

HP: 16,000 – 20,000
ATK: 900 – 1100
CRIT Rate: 45 – 55%
CRIT DMG: 120 – 140%
ER: 190 – 210%
EM: 600 – 700

Citlali's Talent Priority

Talent Priority: Dawnfrost Darkstar > Edict of Entwined Splendor >>> Shadow-Stealing Spirit Vessel

Citlali's most important talent to level is her Elemental Skill, followed by her Elemental Burst. Her Normal Attacks can largely be ignored since they are rarely used in her support playstyle.

How to Play Citlali

Citlali is a dedicated support mainly used with Pyro and Hydro DPS characters. She provides Pyro RES Shred when Melt reactions are triggered and Hydro RES Shred when Freeze reactions are triggered, making her especially strong in Melt and Freeze team compositions.

Her rotation is extremely simple. Start by using her Elemental Skill to generate her shield and summon Itzpapa, then use her Elemental Burst and immediately swap into your main DPS. Ideally Citlali should be used right before your DPS so that all of her buffs remain active for the full duration of the damage window.

When using Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers, make sure you swap directly into your main DPS after Citlali to ensure the ATK buff applies to the correct character. Citlali provides reliable off-field Cryo application for Melt teams and can also act as a defensive shielder while holding several support artifact sets to provide additional team buffs.

Citlali's Best Constellations

Constellation % of C0 % From Previous Constellation
C0 100% 100%
C1 103% 103%
C2 150.7% 146.3%
C3 153.7% 102%
C4 159.9% 104%
C5 164.7% 103%
C6 177.9% 108%

Note: These calculations are based on total team damage in a typical Mavuika / Citlali / Xilonen / Bennett composition.

Investment Priority: Weapon > Constellation 1 > Constellation 2

Citlali's Best Team Compositions

To learn all about Citlali's synergies and best team compositions, check our dedicated Citlali team page below:

Changelog

  • 14 Mar. 2025: Updated for 6.4.
  • 27 Sep. 2025: Updated for 6.0.
  • 13 Jul. 2025: Updated for 5.7.
  • 28 Dec. 2024: Full build added.
  • 10 Dec. 2024: Beta Update.
  • 02 Dec. 2024: Beta Update.
  • 26 Nov. 2024: Beta Update.
  • 20 Nov. 2024: Page added.
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