Zhongli Guide and Best Builds for Genshin Impact

Strengths

• The strongest shield in the game
• Shield gives a 20% resistance shred increasing DPS
• Incredibly flexible, can be used in a large range of team comps
• Elemental Burst petrifies enemies

Weaknesses

• Shields have no impact on corrosion attacks
• Burst can result in a DPS loss due to its long animation
• Low energy generation

The aim of this build is entirely just to focus on increasing shield strength to its highest potential regardless of the actual damage output. This offers lower damage but can have an incredibly low investment allowing you to have an effective Zhongli for little resin.

Black Tassel is currently the strongest weapon simply due to its high HP scaling even though it is a 3-star. Dialogues of the Desert Sages still has less HP and Zhongli can only utilise the Energy saving passive if they have Chrysos, Bounty of Dominator (C6) while Rightful Reward provides less HP but instead offers additional Energy Recharge.

Due to the focus on an easy-to-build character the only substat you need to worry about is HP %. If you did want to increase your damage and you feel your shield strength is excessive you could transition to a Geo Goblet / CRIT Circlet.

If you are using him just for shields you only really need to worry about leveling the Elemental Skill, Dominus Lapidis with the burst being a much lower priority if you have other characters still to invest in.

Focusing on damage instead of simply pure shields does require more investment but provides a lot more damage. This build is even more useful with Zhongli's C2, Stone, the Cradle of Jade with shields being applied from Planet Befall. The effects of Stone, the Cradle of Jade also apply to your entire party making Zhongli effective on co-op.

Staff of Homa is by far the best weapon for this build, but players will often use it on different characters. As a result, the alternate weapons become better options, especially if another Polearm character is in your party.

For sands it partially depends on your own experiences on how effective the shield is for you and if you need the HP %. Both stats are useful but ATK % will be the more optimal choice for damage.

Zhongli's main focus is on his shield, simply hold your elemental skill, Dominus Lapidis, to create a shield. Zhongli's placement of the Stone Steles can be very important however, if placed at a bad angle or against larger enemies it may automatically break losing you any benefits outside of the shield.

Planet Befall summons a meteor in front of your character meaning that positioning of your character and grouping of enemies is important to ensure enemies are petrified. When petrified you have the ability to easily set up additional reactions and support your team without interruption.

Zhongli is an incredibly versatile support character and is often used with a wide range of teams. As a general rule, Zhongli is best when with Geo characters or characters who really need the stagger resistance such as Bow characters. However, you can fit him into any team that does not require a healer or shielder of a specific element for reactions.

Mono Geo teams are common for Geo characters allowing you to take advantage of Geo Resonance and resistance shred. Zhongli's pillars created with Dominus Lapidis, react with other constructs such as those created by Geo Traveler allowing the pulse to transfer to other constructs increasing damage.

Many of Ganyu's best compositions aim to create a Melt reaction to achieve high damage, to successfully do this Ganyu needs to be able to charge attack without interruption which is where Zhongli comes into play. Great shields and interruption resistance from Zhongli with Geo meaning it will not interfere with Melt.

Much like the previous comp, Lyney's damage primarily comes from charged attacks. Zhongli provides interruption resistance meaning Lyney can easily deal high damage. Kazuha is a great alternate to Xiangling.

Neuvillette is an incredibly powerful character who heavily benefits from Zhongli's resistance interruption, resistance shred as well as an increased damage bonus from Neuvillette's 1st Ascension passive, Heir to the Ancient Sea's Authority. Childe in this situation is here for Hydro as well as his ability to increase talent levels by 1.