Zhongli's talents emphasize his elemental skill. Find out which talents will best build Zhongli for your Genshin Impact team.
As Geo Archon, Zhongli has jurisdiction over the Nation of Contracts, Liyue. And just in time for Sumeru, he'll be available to reroll alongside new character, Tighnari. Since Zhongli has been around for over a year now, its talent materials are readily available to any player with access to Liyue.
Should you shoot for Zhongli in Genshin Impact? | Genshin Impact: Zhongli Constellation Guide | Genshin Impact: Zhongli Ascension Guide
Upgrading his combat skills requires the weekly Childe - Tusk boss drop from Monoceros Caeli. Zhongli also needs the Golden Teachings series, which is available on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at the Taishan Mansion.
Combat Skills
Stone Rain - Normal Attack
This allows Zhongli to perform up to 6 consecutive strikes in his normal attack. He ends consecutive normal attacks with a fun spear swipe that sends his polearm spinning at enemies.
His charged attack allows Zhongli to teleport a short distance as his spear strikes from above. You can dodge some attacks at the cost of stamina by doing this.
Its dive attack inflicts AoE DMG on impact. All three receive a boost from her second passive talent which scales to Zhongli's max HP.
Stone Lord - Elemental Skill
Zhongli's elemental skill creates a stone stele - yes, her funky pillar has a name. If you have his skill, Zhongli will create a stone stele if the maximum number has not yet been reached. This results in one or two Steles, and the second only appears if you activate Zhongli's C1. Additionally, Zhongli generates a Jade Shield, inflicts AoE Geo DMG, and if able, drains Geo from up to 2 enemies. The last effect mainly affects enemies with some sort of Geo shield, like large Geo Slimes. But it can also be used for very fast mining.
When in the field, Stone Stele continuously deals AoE Geo DMG, which can resonate with other Geo constructs. That's why Geo Traveler and Zhongli work so well together, because Stone Stele resonates with Traveler's meteors, so you can just cover the ground in Geo. Steles can be climbed and used to block attacks, like the Electro waves that the Electro Hypostasis likes to use.
Finally, the Jade Shield is also affected by this Talent. It provides 150% DMG absorption against all elemental and physical DMG – so if you hate damage, you'll be covered for a while. Anyone protected by the Jade Shield will also decrease enemy Elemental RES and Physical RES by 20% in a small AoE.
Planet Befall – Elemental Blast
Zhongli summons a giant meteor out of nowhere, inflicting Geo DMG on opponents in its AoE and inflicting Petrification status on them. While petrified, opponents cannot move for a short time. Unfortunately, most bosses aren't affected by petrification, but Planet Befall can do some serious damage. If you like big numbers, you can get big numbers.
Passive Skills
Resonating waves – 1st Ascension
This Talent directly affects the Jade Shield. When the Jade Shield takes damage, it grows stronger. Fortifying the Jade Shield provides a 5% bonus to shield strength. This bonus can stack up to 5 times and lasts until the Jade Shield wears off. It is both very useful and very useless. Usually the battle ends or the jade shield disappears before you really notice a difference.
Earth Dominance – 4th Ascension
When activating 4th Ascension, Zhongli deals bonus damage based on his max HP. This is the talent that most players build around and also why, if you try hard enough, you can successfully build Zhongli as your primary DPS. The talent affects all of Zhongli's attacks.
Normal, Charged, and Diving Attack DMG increases by 1,39% of Zhongli's HP. Dominus Lapidis' Stone Stele, Resonance, and DMG Sustain - when you T-pose Zhongli and generate the Jade Shield - increase Zhongli's max HP by 1,9%. Finally, Planet Befall's DMG increases Zhongli's Max HP by 33%.
Crystal Arcane – Utility Passive
Utility passives activate immediately, meaning they're readily available as soon as you get the character. When Zhongli forges Polearm weapons, he will refund 15% of the ores used. When paired with the Raiden Shogun, you can save both Ore and Mora when forging polearms. This is useful if you find yourself running out of ores for weapon upgrades.
Combat Talent Materials
Remember that each combat talent can go up to level 10. To triple a character's crown, multiply all materials by three.
6 Viscous condensate
3 Golden Lessons
12 moras
3 slimy secretions
2 Guide to gold
17 Moras
4 slimy secretions
4 guides to gold
25 Moras
6 slimy secretions
6 gold guides
30 Moras
9 slimy secretions
9 gold guides
37 Moras
4 Slime Concentrate
4 Philosophies of Gold
1 Defense of Sky Monoceros
120 Moras
6 Slime Concentrate
6 philosophies of gold
1 Defense of Sky Monoceros
260 Moras
9 Slime Concentrate
12 philosophies of gold
2 Tusk of Monoceros Sky
450 Moras
12 Slime Concentrate
16 philosophies of gold
2 Tusk of Monoceros Sky
1 Crown of Insight
700 moras
6 Viscous condensate
22 slimy secretions
31 Slime Concentrate
3 Golden Lessons
21 Guide to gold
38 Philosophies of Gold
6 Tusk of Monoceros Sky
1 Crown of Insight
1 Moras
