Nilou Guide and Best Builds

Nilou Guide & Best Builds

Welcome to our Nilou build guide for Genshin Impact. Nilou is a powerful 5-Star Hydro who enables the Bloom reaction to deal more DMG and particularly shines in AoE content. In our guide, we'll cover everything you need to know to get the most out of your Nilou, from building the best Artifacts and Weapons to important stat priorities and rotations.

Best Weapons for Nilou

Listed below are Nilou's best weapons. While weapons are listed in a priority order, what's best to build on your Nilou can vary depending on the team composition and level of investment you want to put into Nilou.

Key of Khaj-Nisut (R1) 112%

Sunken Song of the Sands

Base ATK: 542

HP: 66.2%

HP increased by 20% / 25% / 30% / 35% / 40%. When an Elemental Skill hits opponents, you gain the Grand Hymn effect for 20s. This effect increases the equipping character's Elemental Mastery by 0.12% / 0.15% / 0.18% / 0.21% / 0.24% of their Max HP. This effect can trigger once every 0.3s. Max 3 stacks. When this effect gains 3 stacks, or when the third stack's duration is refreshed, the Elemental Mastery of all nearby party members will be increased by 0.2% / 0.25% / 0.3% / 0.35% / 0.4% of the equipping character's max HP for 20s.

Serenity's Call (R5) 102%

Solemn Silence

Base ATK: 454

Energy Recharge: 61.3%

Upon causing an Elemental Reaction, increases Max HP by 16% / 20% / 24% / 28% / 32% for 12s. Moonsign: Ascendant Gleam: Max HP from this effect is further increased by 16% / 20% / 24% / 28% / 32%. This effect can be triggered even if the equipping character is off-field.

The Dockhand's Assistant (R5) 102%

Sea Shanty

Base ATK: 510

HP: 41.3%

When the wielder is healed or heals others, they will gain a Stoic's Symbol that lasts 30s, up to a maximum of 3 Symbols. When using their Elemental Skill or Burst, all Symbols will be consumed and the Roused effect will be granted for 10s. For each Symbol consumed, gain 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 Elemental Mastery, and 2s after the effect occurs, 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 Energy per Symbol consumed will be restored for said character. The Roused effect can be triggered once every 15s, and Symbols can be gained even when the character is not on the field.

Xiphos' Moonlight (R1-5) 100%

Jinni's Whisper

Base ATK: 510

Elemental Mastery: 165

The following effect will trigger every 10s: The equipping character will gain 0.036% / 0.045% / 0.054% / 0.063% / 0.072% Energy Recharge for each point of Elemental Mastery they possess for 12s, with nearby party members gaining 30% of this buff for the same duration. Multiple instances of this weapon can allow this buff to stack. This effect will still trigger even if the character is not on the field.

Best Artifacts for Nilou

Vourukasha's Glow Tenacity of the Millelith

Vourukasha's Glow

2-Piece Set: HP +20%

4-Piece Set: Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst DMG will be increased by 10%. After the equipping character takes DMG, the aforementioned DMG Bonus is increased by 80% for 5s. This effect increase can have 5 stacks. The duration of each stack is counted independently. These effects can be triggered even when the equipping character is not on the field.

Tenacity of the Millelith

2-Piece Set: HP +20%

4-Piece Set: When an Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the ATK of all nearby party members is increased by 20% and their Shield Strength is increased by 30% for 3s. This effect can be triggered once every 0.5s. This effect can still be triggered even when the character who is using this artifact set is not on the field.

Silken Moon's Serenade

Silken Moon's Serenade

2-Piece Set: Energy Recharge +20%.

4-Piece Set: When dealing Elemental DMG, gain the Gleaming Moon: Devotion effect for 8s: Increases all party members' Elemental Mastery by 60/120 when the party's Moonsign is Nascent Gleam/Ascendant Gleam. The equipping character can trigger this effect while off-field. All party members' Lunar Reaction DMG is increased by 10% for each different Gleaming Moon effect that party members have. Effects from Gleaming Moon cannot stack.

In a team with Columbina and Lauma, it is slightly better to use Silken Moon's Serenade on Nilou, and a 2-Piece EM mix on Lauma.

Nilou's Stat Priority

: HP %

: HP %

: HP %

Substats: HP % (Until 74,444 HP) >> Elemental Mastery > Energy Recharge

Nilou's most important stat is HP as it increases her Bountiful Core's Bloom DMG through her passive Dreamy Dance of Aeons, which increases DMG by 9% for every 1,000 HP above 30,000 HP. Up to a maximum of 400% DMG can be gained, which requires 74,444 Max HP.

Elemental Mastery can be a useful stat to have on Nilou. Most Bountiful Cores created deal DMG based on the on-field Hydro or possibly Dendro character in the party. However, Nilou can sometimes trigger Bountiful Cores on her own, and having some bonus EM can increase their DMG, but EM should not be prioritized over HP.

Nilou's burst Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring can be used in combat to apply additional Hydro onto enemies. However, investing in Energy Recharge to burst every rotation is not necessary and especially when ER investment decreases max HP.

Recommended Stats for Nilou

Build recommendations assume a "decently built" level of artifact rolls alongside Nilou's best weapon. Using other weapons may increase or decrease certain stats relative to these recommendations.

Nilou should target as much HP as possible up to 74,444 HP which is the maximum cap on her passive. Bonus Elemental Mastery is nice to have but should not be prioritized.

Nilou's Talent Priority

Nilou's main leveling priority would be to reach Level 90. Her talents only increase her personal DMG and do not affect Bloom DMG, and can therefore be ignored.

How to Play Nilou

Nilou is a very easy character to play and understand. Nilou's kit revolves around using her Elemental Skill to activate her passive which transforms Bloom Cores into Bountiful Cores allowing them to deal more DMG.

After using Nilou's Elemental Skill Dance of Haftkarsvar, she gets 3 bonus Elemental Skill casts, and you could either:

• Perform 3 Normal Attacks - After which Nilou's Normal Attacks are infused with Hydro for 10s.
• Cast 3 Elemental Skills - the 3rd Elemental Skill Cast triggers Nilou's passive and transforms Bloom Cores into Bountiful Cores, also generates a Hydro ring for 12s applying Hydro onto nearby enemies.

In short, to gain Nilou's Bountiful Cores, you cast her Elemental Skill once, then press it a further 3 times > E EEE. Alternatively, you do not explicitly need the 3 Skill casts; using her Normal Attacks then casting her Elemental Skill can also activate her passive as long as the 3rd Hit after the initial use is made by an Elemental Skill cast. It is often faster to cast her Elemental Skill once then follow by 2 Normal Attacks and a final Elemental Skill cast > E N2E.

Nilou's Elemental Burst Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring can be used in combat to apply additional Hydro - and in turn, trigger more Bloom Cores.

Going back to Nilou's Elemental Skill, performing 3 Normal Attacks to gain Hydro Infusion can indeed allow her to be played on-field. However, that is mostly reserved for her C6 Frostbreaker's Melody, but can allow for some fun to be had regardless.

Nilou's Bountiful Cores are granted through her passive Court of Dancing Petals, which explicitly requires only Hydro & Dendro characters and at least 1 of each.

If the condition is met, after using Nilou's 3rd Elemental Skill Cast, Bloom cores are transformed into Bountiful Cores for 30s. Bountiful Cores detonate instantly and have a large AoE. Additionally, when party members are hit by a Dendro Attack, 100 EM is granted to party members. This effect does not mean that you should aim to get hit by Dendro, it is rather done passively by the self DMG taken by Bloom Cores.

Bountiful Cores additionally do not trigger Burgeon or Hyperbloom.

Nilou's 2nd Passive Dreamy Dance of Aeons can increase the Bountiful Cores' DMG by up to 400%. DMG dealt increases by 9% for every 1,000 HP over 30,000. The maximum effect requires 74,444 HP.

Bountiful Cores deal lots of DMG and detonate fast. On-field characters can take some DMG from all types of Bloom Cores. This can make having a healer almost a necessity in Bloom teams.

In this Lunar-Bloom team with Columbina and Lauma, the rotation starts with Columbina's Elemental Skill and (second rotation and onwards) Burst, followed by Nahida's Elemental Skill to mark enemies and apply off-field Dendro, and Elemental Burst to grant party members an Elemental Mastery buff. Nilou follows with her elemental skill and using either 3 Elemental Skill casts or 2 Normal Attacks followed by an Elemental Skill Cast. Lauma's Elemental Skill can be held to deal more DMG, and Elemental Burst is used to grant buffs and apply off-field Hydro. Lastly, Columbina takes an on-field role, where she deals DMG and applies on-field Hydro through her Charged Attacks. Columbina's Charged Attack Animation can also be canceled by dashing.

Similar rotations can be played out with other on-field Hydro characters, or even an on-field Dendro like Alhaitham.

Nilou's Best Constellations

Nilou's Constellation 1 and especially 2 offer gains to her Bloom teams, while later constellations build towards C6 which offer an on-field playstyle. This ranking was calculated in a team with Nilou, C0 Columbina, C0 Lauma, and C0 Nahida.

Dance of the Waning Moon increases the duration of Nilou's Elemental Skill Hydro ring from 12s to 18s, granting it a 100% uptime. The additional uptime allows for more hydro application and therefore some more Bountiful Cores. This constellation is generally a Quality of Life upgrade, and on its own is not necessary unless you are going for her Constellation 2.

The Starry Skies Their Flowers Rain reduces enemies' Hydro & Dendro RES by 35%, which increases Bloom DMG by a decent margin. Overall, this is Nilou's best constellation for Bloom teams and is a good stopping point.

Constellations 3 and 5 offer talent level increases which do not matter for Bloom teams. Constellation 4 Fricative Pulse grants Nilou additional energy and increases her Elemental Burst's DMG by 50%. C6 builds on these constellations by allowing Nilou to become more of an on-field Crit DPS.

Frostbreaker's Melody increases Nilou's CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG by 0.6% and 1.2% respectively for every 1,000 HP. Up to 30% CRIT Rate and 60% CRIT DMG can be gained this way. With C6 Nilou can equip CRIT pieces and only requires 50,000 HP to gain the maximum CRIT effects from C6. With Nilou's constellation 6, her on-field Hydro Infusion can be used to allow her to become a Hydro main DPS, particularly being playable in Vaporize teams.

Nilou's Best Team Compositions

To learn all about Nilou's synergies and best team compositions, check our dedicated Nilou team page below:

Changelog