Layla Guide and Best Builds

Layla Guide and Best Builds for Genshin Impact

Layla is a 4-star Cryo Sword character who primarily functions as a support with good shielding and decent Cryo application. This Elemental application also allows players to use her as an off-field DPS.

Last updated on Jun 05, 2024 at 11:00 by Shikhu
B Rating
Cryo Element
Sword Weapon
Rarity
Ashely Biski EN Voice Actor
Miyu Tomita JP Voice Actor
1.

Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
  • +Stone Shielding with great uptime
  • +Low Energy requirements for her Elemental Burst
  • +Easy to build due to scaling on HP
X Weaknesses
  • -Elemental Skill can accidentally Freeze yourself on use
  • -Needs later Constellations to unlock further supportive and damage capabilities
  • -Losing the shield ends her Elemental Skill early and stops Energy generation
2.

Pure Shielder Layla

The main way to play Layla is by focusing on her shielding and ensuring you can able to consistently shield your team. This means focusing on HP to increase shield strength so that it lasts until your Elemental Skill cooldown is back.

BiS Weapon Key of Khaj-Nisut
Alternative Weapons
  1. The Dockhand's Assistant
  2. Primordial Jade Cutter
  3. Favonius Sword
Best Artifacts
  1. Tenacity of the Millelith
Main Stats
  • Sand Stats: HP % / Energy Recharge
  • Goblet Stats: HP %
  • Circlet Stats: HP % / CRIT Rate/DMG
Substat Priority
    1. Energy Recharge Until Breakpoint
    2. HP %
    3. CRIT Rate / DMG
    4. HP
Talent Priority
  1. Elemental Skill
  2. Elemental Burst
  3. Normal Attack

HP scaling weapons such as Key of Khaj-Nisut and The Dockhand's Assistant are best for Layla or weapons that provide additional Energy Recharge such as Favonius Sword which supports the entire party. Tenacity of the Millelith is Layla's best artifact set due to further increasing both her HP and shielding.

3.

Sub DPS Layla

Playing Layla as a Sub DPS sacrifices some of her Shielding capabilities to improve her damage. This can be beneficial in situations where you simply do not need such a powerful shield and would rather improve your party's DPS. This is common in team compositions that have multiple supports/healers for example Bennett.

BiS Weapon Primordial Jade Cutter
Alternative Weapons
  1. Mistsplitter Reforged
  2. Light of Foliar Incision
  3. Favonius Sword
Best Artifacts
  1. Blizzard Strayer
  2. Emblem of Severed Fate
Main Stats
  • Sand Stats: HP % / Energy Recharge
  • Goblet Stats: Cryo DMG
  • Circlet Stats: CRIT Rate/DMG > HP %
Substat Priority
    1. Energy Recharge Until Breakpoint
    2. CRIT Rate / DMG
    3. HP %
    4. HP
Talent Priority
  1. Elemental Skill
  2. Elemental Burst
  3. Normal Attack

With regards to weapons, your best options can change depending on your needs. Primordial Jade Cutter is great for damage and shielding but will require a CRIT DMG Circlet when used with Blizzard Strayer.

You can maintain 2 stacks on Mistsplitter Reforged using your Elemental Burst making it a strong option. However, Light of Foliar Incision is there simply for stats with its passive effects not being worth it. Favonius Sword is a great general option lowering your entire teams energy requirements.

Blizzard Strayer is Laylas best set as a Sub DPS especially in Freeze teams and even synergises well with Favonius Sword. Emblem of Severed Fate however is a great artifact set helping buff your teams damage.

3.1.

Energy Recharge Breakpoints

Listed below are several suggestions for Layla's Energy Recharge depending on if you have Light's Remit as well as how many Cryo characters are in your party.

Team Composition C0 C2
Solo Cryo 200% 140 - 170%
Double Cryo 130 - 160% 100 - 130%
Triple Cryo 100 - 120% 100%
4.

Combos and How to Play Layla

Layla's gameplay focuses on her ability to generate Night Stars and Shooting Stars using Nights of Formal Focus. When you use this Elemental Skill, it creates a Night Star every 1.5 seconds and 2 Night Stars when a character protected by Layla's shield uses their Elemental Skill.

After creating 4 Night Stars, they transform into Shooting Stars that attack opponents, dealing damage and applying Cryo. When a Shooting Star hits an enemy it generates Energy.

4.1.

Be Careful with Your Shield

Most mechanics surrounding Layla's gameplay require her shield to be available. If your shield breaks you lose any related effects such as the Shooting Star damage and Energy generation. This therefore lowers your damage and limits your Elemental Application.

Layla's shield will also only last for 12 seconds but does have a cooldown of 12 seconds making it possible to have 100% uptime on said shield. The problem however is that most team compositions will not have 12 second rotations. This does mean you will need to use Nights of Formal Focus a second time.

5.

Layla's Best Team Comps

While having slightly weaker shields than Zhongli, Layla still provides some incredibly powerful shields making her flexible in a wide range of teams. Because she is able to provide Cryo to the party, Elemental Reactions are something you do need to consider when slotting her in.

5.1.

Layla Freeze Teams

Main DPS Sub DPS Support Support
Kamisato Ayaka Mona Kaedehara Kazuha Layla
Kamisato Ayato Ganyu Venti Layla

Freeze teams benefit from Layla due to the survivability she brings alongside the Cryo Resonance that she can enable. Additionally, Layla can even function as a battery for a Cryo Main DPS such as Ayaka ensuring they can consistently use their Elemental Burst to deal damage. An Anemo character is incredibly important here to help swirl to provide grouping, swirling and resistance shred.

5.2.

Wanderer Freeze Team

Main DPS Sub DPS Support Support
Wanderer Yelan Faruzan Layla

This is currently one of Layla's most popular teams using Wanderer almost like a Hypercarry by primarily buffing them but with Hydro and Cryo in the background helping to keep enemies in place and creating additional reactions. Layla provides not only elemental application and shielding but also interruption resistance helping Wanderer stay in the sky.

5.3.

Mono Cryo Team Examples

Main DPS Sub DPS Support Shielder
Kamisato Ayaka Shenhe Venti Layla
Ganyu Shenhe Kaedehara Kazuha Layla

Layla is great in Mono-Cryo teams which entirely focus on Cryo damage, which works great for bosses or enemies that you can not freeze. Mono Cryo teams allow you to more efficiently utilise Layla by often having shorter rotations and easier Energy Regeneration making it easy for Layla to always have 100% uptime on her shields. Ganyu and Ayaka being some of the most powerful Cryo DPS and Shenhe providing damage buffs.

6.

Layla's Ascensions, Talents, and Constellations

Layla Ascensions Layla Talents Layla Constellations
6.1.

Layla Ascension Passives and Materials

Unlock Ascension Passive Explanation
With Character Shadowy Dream-Signs When Layla crafts Character Talent Materials, she has a 10% chance to receive double the product.
1st Ascension Like Nascent Light

While the Curtain of Slumber (created by Nights of Formal Focus) is active, the Deep Sleep effect will activate each time the Curtain gains 1 Night Star.

  • The Shield Strength of a character under the effect of the Curtain of Slumber increases by 6%.
  • This effect can have a maximum of 4 stacks and persists until the Curtain of Slumber disappears.
4th Ascension Sweet Slumber Undisturbed The DMG dealt by the Shooting Stars fired by Nights of Formal Focus is increased by 1.5% of Layla's Max HP.

Layla requires a range of materials to ascend to the 6th ascension. Starting from the second ascension they gain additional HP as their bonus stat giving a total of 24% increased HP at the final ascension. The total cost to upgrade all ascensions is:

Source Quantity
Mora 420,000 Mora
Boss Material 46x Perpetual Caliber
Ascension Material
Local Specialty 168x Nilotpala Lotus
Enhancement Material
  • 18x Divining Scroll
  • 30x Sealed Scroll
  • 36x Forbidden Curse Scroll
6.2.

Layla's Talents

Listed below is each talent and a simplified explanation of how they work.

Type Talent Name Brief Explanation
Normal Normal Attack: Sword of the Radiant Path 3 Normal Attack strikes. 2 Charged Attack strikes.
Elemental Skill Nights of Formal Focus Applies Shield and gains Night Stars periodically or when an Elemental Skill is used on another character. At 4 Night Stars, turn into Shooting Stars to deal Cryo Damage.
Elemental Burst Dream of the Star-Stream Shaker AoE that fires at opponents. When attacks hit, gain an additional Night Star.

To upgrade a single talent to level 10, it costs:

Source Quantity
Mora 1,625,500 Mora
Special Material 1x Crown of Insight
Boss Material 6x Mirror of Mushin
Domain Material
  • 3x Teachings of Ingenuity
  • 21x Guide to Ingenuity
  • 38x Philosophies of Ingenuity
Enhancement Material
  • 6x Divining Scroll
  • 22x Sealed Scroll
  • 31x Forbidden Curse Scroll
6.3.

Layla's Constellations

Layla's most important constellations are Light's Remit and Radiant Soulfire. Light's Remit significantly reduces Energy Recharge requirements making her much easier to build therefore allowing you to focus your stats on either Shields or Damage. On the other hand, Radiant Soulfire provides a huge DPS increase to Layla.

# Name Explanation
C1 Fortress of Fantasy Using Nights of Formal Focus will now generate stronger shields and additionally create weaker shields for online co-op players.
C2 Light's Remit
  • When Shooting Stars from Nights of Formal Focus strike opponents, they will each restore 1 Energy to Layla.
  • Each Shooting Star can restore Energy to her in this manner once.
C3 Secrets of the Night
  • Increases the Level of Nights of Formal Focus Focus by 3.
  • Maximum upgrade level is 15.
C4 Starry Illumination For each Shooting Star, buff party members Normal and Charged Attack damage for 3 seconds or until an Attack has happened.
C5 Stream of Consciousness
  • Increases the Level of Dream of the Star-Stream Shaker by 3.
  • Maximum upgrade level is 15.
C6 Radiant Soulfire
  • Shooting Stars from Nights of Formal Focus deal 40% increased DMG, and Starlight Slugs from Dream of the Star-Stream Shaker deal 40% increased DMG.
  • Additionally, the interval between the creation of Night Stars via Nights of Formal Focus is decreased by 20%.
6.4.

Changelog

  • 03 Jun. 2024: Reviewed for 4.7.
  • 31 Jan. 2024: Guide reviewed for Patch 4.4.
  • 29 Nov. 2023: Guide added.
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