Layla is the new Cryo 4-star character released in the second-half of Genshin Impact Version 3.2 and in this article we’ll she what she’s all about.
Layla is the latest 4-star character from Genshin Impact and she may just be the most relatable in terms of her character being a tired sleepless college student exhausted from her assignments and papers. She’s a Cryo sword user and her primary role in the team is that of a shielder. Her kit puts her directly in comparison with Diona but that’s a topic for another day. In this article we’ll explain the basics of her kit, how to build her and what our first impressions are on her character.
Layla’s Basic Kit Explained
Layla is primarily a Cryo shielder like Diona. Her sword attack normals only do a total of 3 hit combo and she’s the second sword character in the game to only have a 3-hit Normal Attack combo. Her NA damage is negligible.
Her E skill is the main focus of her kit as it provides her with a 12s shield with a 12s cooldown so provided you have your rotations right, you can have an almost 100% shield up-time. On cast, her shield doesn’t produce any energy. Instead she produces energy when the Night Stars on her shield hit enemies. 4 Night Stars can give a maximum of 3 energy particles.
Night Stars are periodically produced by her shield but using an E skill of any character while protected by Layla’s shield automatically gives you 2 Night Stars. On cast the shield produces 1 Night Star. When the shield has reached the maximum of 4 Night Stars, they are fired off one by one to apply Cryo to enemies. Her shield strength and damage has HP scaling but don’t expect damage out of her kit if you’re going for a full support shield build.
Her elemental burst or Q makes a Ganyu-like orb or lamp in the air and it fires off Starlight Slugs whose damage scale off of Layla’s Max HP. These Starlight Slugs also create one Night Star on Layla’s shield when they hits enemies. This Curtain of Slumber (Q) can only produce one Night Star every 0.5 seconds.
In her burst form she becomes a very reliable Cryo applier though you still can’t expect any ground-breaking damage from her kit. Since her burst also only has 40 Energy Cost, it’s also very easy to use her burst multiple times in a row and thus have consistent Cryo application and protection from enemies.
Layla’s Unique Energy Problem
Layla’s shield doesn’t give energy on cast but does so when her Night Stars hit enemies. Even though her Burst cost is only 40, she does end up with an energy issue as she isn’t catching her own particles. By the time her Night Stars are fired, you’ll be using other characters and they will instead catch these particles.
While this isn’t a problem in mono Cryo teams, in normal teams, this means that you may not have Layla’s burst up when you need it. The positive of this kit is that other characters get a bit of bonus energy at the cost of Layla. She thus needs about 140-160 ER to have a full burst up-time.
Constellations
Layla’s constellations are good but not groundbreaking either. They are good in the sense that they enhance her kit but not to the point they give her additional roles. She remains a shielder and Cryo shielder through and through.
Her C1 strengthens her shield and gives nearby party members a similar shield- only weaker. This is similar to Diona’s C2 or Zhongli’s C2 but at the end of the day- only useful in co-op. Her C2 is a good stopping point if you want a good Layla build as it solves some of her unique energy issues.
Her C4 gives a very limited buff to the normal attacks of characters protected by her shield as in only the next hit after a Night Star is fired off gains that buff and it only lasts for 0.5-1s so if you miss making a normal attack in that window, then you lose this buff.
Her C6 buffs her Night Stars in general- damage and Cryo application-wise but while it’s good, it’s definitely not worth splurging for.
How to Build Layla in Genshin Impact 3.2
Layla is primarily an HP-scaling character with some Energy Issues hiding in the background. The stats to focus on while building her is mainly HP followed by a bit of ER. Crit can be built on her if you want some damage from her kit but that’s about it as for the main stats go.
Artifacts
Her best artifact set before AR45 is the Instructor’s Set due to its EM bonus you give your party members. This will increase the overall damage of your team.
After AR45 her best artifact sets are as follows:
- Tenacity of Millelith
- Noblesse Oblige
Tenacity set is the best if you want a pure shield build as it not only gives bonus HP% but it also buffs your shield strength and party members protected by the shield. The Noblesse Oblige set also syns up perfectly with her kit but this is mainly used for a all-rounded support Layla as it buffs your party with bonus ATK% after using her burst.
As for artifact stats, triple-HP is the safest way to go unless you have Shenhe on your team- in which case you can give her a HP sands, Cryo DMG goblet and CRIT helm.
Weapons
Her best weapon options are as follows:
- Key of Khaj-Nisut
- Freedom Sworn
- Primordial Jade-Cutter
- Favonius Sword
- Festering Desire
Her best 4-star weapon and overall best option is Favonius Sword because of the Energy Recharge. It not only solves her energy issues but it also helps battery the whole team to an extent. The reason why Sacrifical Sword isn’t in consideration is because her shield does not refund energy particles on cast so its passive falls short. Those who have Festering Desire can also use it due to its ER secondary stat, high ATK and beneficial passive.
The Key is the best you can get for her but we recommend this for Layla only if you don’t have Nilou otherwise it’s wasted. Freedom Sworn’s passive is hard to reliably activate with Layla’s kit and is mainly used on a reaction-support Layla. The Primordial Jade-Cutter is only recommended provided you also have Shenhe on your team and you’re running a mono Cryo team.
Teams
Layla works great with Shenhe in mono Cryo teams as she can serve as a reliable shielder and Cryo-applier while also doing impressive Cryo damage with her burst. But this team is still an exception in the meta.
Usually she performs well in Superconduct Teams with Eula or Razor or in Freeze Teams with the likes of Yelan, Ayato, Xinqiu, Childe and Kokomi. She isn’t recommended for Melt teams as she doesn’t bring that much value in them when compared to other Cryo characters or even a C6 Diona.
First Impressions of Layla
Layla’s shield is stronger than any other 4-stars in the game except Thoma who can get tankier occasionally with stacked shields which require you to use Normal Attacks consistently. Layla provides a strong shield to that extent just from her base Skill.
Since her burst has a very low energy cost, she can also reliably perform as a consistent Cryo applier in Freeze and Superconduct teams. Overall she’s a solid rounded unit unlike Genshin’s recent string of niche 4-stars and while she doesn’t power creep Diona, she does provide a powerful and considerable alternative.
New players who haven’t built either Diona or Layla will now have two strong shielder units to choose from. Those who have a built Diona may go for Layla if they need a stronger secondary shield unit but since Diona can also heal, this toss up is balanced at 50-50. Regardless if you like her character and design, she’s well worth the investment as she isn’t a weak unit by any means.
