Nilou is finally out after much suspense in the second half of Version 3.1 and it looks like the beta testers were right. She’s a very powerful unit in her own niche but beyond that, she’s pretty average- pretty unusable even. This article will discuss her best build and teambuilding options in the current Genshin meta.
How to Build Nilou in Genshin Impact 3.1
Nilou is a purely HP scaling character but she’s her kit revolves around Bloom and since Bloom DMG scales off of EM, we’ll also have to take her EM into consideration. Since Bloom cores don’t Crit, players don’t have to worry about CRIT stats and ATK since they serve no purpose in her kit. You can also go easy on ER% as you won’t need to use her burst often as it’s mainly just a nuke damage without any other utility.
Artifacts
Nilou doesn’t have a dedicated artifact set yet and thus her options are versatile depending on what stats you need on her. Below are some of the artifact sets you can use on her and these are best used with their 2-pc bonuses as mixing and matching is the way to go.
- Tenacity of Millelith (Bonus HP)
- Gilded Dreams (EM)
- Wanderer’s Troupe (EM)
- Emblem of Severed Fate (ER)
- Heart of Depth (Hydro DMG)
- Instructor’s Set (EM)
Do note that whatever 2-pc combinations you choose to go with, always choose the one that gives you the highest HP. As for the stats on these artifacts, triple HP is the safest way to go but you can also have double HP and one ER or EM artifact.
Weapons
Her best-in-slot weapon is naturally the Key of Khaj-Nisut which has an HP secondary stat. It has been released alongside Nilou’s banner as her signature weapon. If you don’t have this one or can’t afford to pull for it, here are some other options:
- Freedom Sworn (5-star EM-support)
- Jade Cutter (HP% from Passive)
- Xiphos’s Moonlight (EM)
- Favonius Sword (ER)
- Festering Desire (ER and E Skill DMG)
- Sapwood Blade (F2P ER)
- Iron Sting (F2P EM)
Teams
Nilou is intended for Bloom teams and that’s where she shines. Her kit is not utilised even in Hyperbloom or Burgeon teams so your team cannot have any other member other than Hydro and Dendro. As of now, her best Dendro teammates are the Dendro Traveler and Collei. Her Hydro teammate options have more flexibility and as of now, the following Hydro characters are the best for her kit since they also provide Nilou and the team with a bit of survivability with their healing abilities.
- Kokomi
- Barbara
- Xinqiu
Nilou is a very niche and restrictive 5-star dps but within her own niche she’s very powerful and even surprisingly F2P. Players have already cleared the current Spiral Abyss with Nilou and other F2P teammates like Collei, Barbara and Dendro Traveler- all of whom are using F2P low-investment artifacts and weapons. This could be a sign that Genshin is trying to change the type of characters they make in the future seeing as how Nilou is the only one who can transform a transformative reaction with her own kit.