Zhongli Guide and Best Builds for Genshin Impact

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.

BiS Weapon	Black Tassel
Alternative Weapons	Dialogues of the Desert Sages Rightful Reward Favonius Lance
Best Artifacts	Tenacity of the Millelith 2-piece HP % + 2-piece HP %
Main Stats	Sand Stats: HP % Goblet Stats: HP % Circlet Stats: HP %
Substat Priority	HP % HP Energy Recharge
Talent Priority	Elemental Skill Elemental Burst Normal Attack

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.

BiS Weapon	Staff of Homa
Alternative Weapons	Primordial Jade Winged-Spear Skyward Spine Calamity Queller "The Catch" Deathmatch Wavebreaker's Fin
Best Artifacts	Emblem of Severed Fate Noblesse Oblige
Main Stats	Sand Stats: ATK % / HP % Goblet Stats: Geo DMG Circlet Stats: CRIT Rate / DMG
Substat Priority	CRIT Rate / DMG ATK % HP % Energy Recharge
Talent Priority	Elemental Skill Elemental Burst Normal Attack

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.

Main DPS	Sub DPS	Support	Support
Arataki Itto	Albedo	Zhongli	Gorou

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.

Main DPS	Sub DPS	Support	Support
Ganyu	Xiangling	Bennett	Zhongli

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.

Main DPS	Sub DPS	Support	Support
Lyney	Xiangling	Bennett	Zhongli

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.

Main DPS	Support	Support	Support
Neuvillette	Tartaglia	Kaedehara Kazuha	Zhongli

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.