Nilou Profile, Talents and Constellations
Nilou is a 5-Star Hydro Sword user in Genshin Impact whose combat benefits provide a unique mechanic to Bloom reactions in the form of Bountiful Cores. Read our Nilou guide to learn more about Nilou's kit, Nilou's best Builds and also her Ascension and Talent Materials
Introduction — Nilou
Nilou is a 5-Star Hydro Sword Character in Genshin Impact. Our Nilou guide and best builds cover everything you need to know about Nilou's best builds, including skills, artifacts, team compositions and more. To learn more about Nilou, use the tabs above to switch to our build information for Nilou or their team compositions.
Nilou's Strengths & Weaknesses
Nilou brings a more powerful version of Dendro Cores that explode faster in a bigger radius.
Incredibly tanky often having 60-70k HP when built.
Performs very well in AoE Content.
Works in Lunar-Bloom with Columbina or Lauma.
Constellations can be obtained for free, with C2 being a decent DMG upgrade.
Bountiful Cores can not be used in Hyperbloom or Burgeon reactions.
Limited team building primarily focusing on Hydro and Dendro characters.
Often requires a healer to recover from Bloom self damage.
Nilou's AoE strength can work against her in single target Spiral Abyss or Stygian Onslaught content.
Ascension Stat & Materials for Nilou
Nilou gains HP each time she ascends, totalling 28.8% at level 90. The total Ascension material costs are listed below:
| Source | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Mora | 420,000 Mora |
| Boss Material | 46x Perpetual Caliber |
| Ascension Material | |
| Local Specialty | 168x Padisarah |
| Enhancement Material |
|
Talent Materials for Nilou
Listed below are all the materials required to raise a single talent of Nilou's to level 10. Please check our Nilou build guide for recommendations on talent priorities.
| Source | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Mora | 1,652,500 Mora |
| Special Material | 1x Crown of Insight |
| Boss Material | 6x Tears of the Calamitous God |
| Domain Material |
|
| Enhancement Material |
|
Nilou's Talents
Normal Attack
Performs up to 3 consecutive sword strikes.
Charged Attack
Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to perform a twirling slash.
Plunging Attack
Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
Enters the Pirouette state, dealing Hydro DMG to nearby opponents based on Nilou's Max HP.
While she is in the Pirouette state, Nilou's Normal Attacks and Elemental Skill will cause her to enter the Sword Dance and Whirling Steps stances respectively, causing DMG she deals to be converted to Hydro DMG that cannot be overridden and that is considered Elemental Skill DMG.
In these stances, Nilou's third dance step will end Pirouette, and has the following effects based on the type of said dance step:
- Sword Dance: unleashes a Luminous Illusion that deals Hydro DMG to opponents it touches and grants Nilou the Lunar Prayer effect. This effect converts Nilou's Normal Attacks into Sword Dance techniques, and her final hit will unleash a Luminous Illusion.
- Whirling Steps: Nilou unleashes a Whirling Water Wheel that deals AoE Hydro DMG and creates a Tranquility Aura that follows your active character around and applies Wet to opponents within its AoE.
Nilou is unable to perform Charged Attacks when under the effect of Pirouette or Lunar Prayer. These effects will be removed once she leaves the field.
"Daintily her toes touch the water's face, and the light that ripples forth equals even the seven heavens."
Begins the dance of faraway dreams and springs that hear, causing a Lotus of Distant Waters to bloom, dealing AoE Hydro DMG based on Nilou's Max HP and applying the Lingering Aeon effect to all opponents hit.
After an interval, opponents affected by Lingering Aeon will take Hydro DMG.
"We have never witnessed that distant dream, but this dance can bring it to life."
Nilou's Ascension Passive Talents
When all characters in the party are all Dendro or Hydro, and there are at least one Dendro character and one Hydro character:
The completion of the third dance step of Nilou's Dance of Haftkarsvar will grant all nearby characters the Golden Chalice's Bounty for 30s.
Characters under the effect of Golden Chalice's Bounty will increase the Elemental Mastery of all nearby characters by 100 for 10s whenever they are hit by Dendro attacks. Also, triggering the Bloom or Lunar-Bloom reaction will create Bountiful Cores instead of Dendro Cores.
Such Cores will burst very quickly after being created, and they have larger AoEs.
Bountiful Cores cannot trigger Hyperbloom or Burgeon, and they share an upper numerical limit with Dendro Cores. Bountiful Core DMG is considered DMG dealt by Dendro Cores produced by Bloom.
Should the party not meet the conditions for this Ascension Talent, any existing Golden Chalice's Bounty effects will be canceled.
Every 1,000 points of Nilou's Max HP above 30,000 will cause the DMG dealt by Bountiful Cores created by characters affected by Golden Chalice's Bounty to increase by 9%.
The maximum increase in Bountiful Core DMG that can be achieved this way is 400%.
When Perfect Cooking is achieved on Food with Adventure-related effects, there is a 12% chance to obtain double the product.
Nilou's Constellations
Dance of Haftkarsvar will be enhanced as follows:
·Luminous Illusion DMG is increased by 65%.
·The Tranquility Aura's duration is extended by 6s.
After characters affected by the Golden Chalice's Bounty deal Hydro DMG to an opponent, that opponent's Hydro RES will be decreased by 35% for 10s. After dealing Bloom or Lunar-Bloom DMG to opponents, their Dendro RES will be decreased by 35% for 10s.
You must first unlock the Ascension Talent "Court of Dancing Petals."
Increases the Level of Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
After the third dance step of Dance of Haftkarsvar's Pirouette hits opponents, Nilou will gain 15 Elemental Energy, and DMG from her Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring will be increased by 50% for 8s.
Increases the Level of Dance of Haftkarsvar by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
For every 1,000 points of Max HP, Nilou's CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG will increase by 0.6% and 1.2% respectively.
The maximum increase in CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG via this method is 30% and 60% respectively.
Build Guide for Nilou
To learn all about Nilou's best weapons, artifacts and builds, check our dedicated Nilou build guide below:
Changelog
- 22 Sep. 2026: Updated for 7.1.
- 27 Sep. 2025: Updated for 6.0. Most weapon options removed now Nilou finally has a F2P HP sword.
- 23 Jul. 2025: Updated for 5.7.
- 12 Feb. 2025: Reviewed for 5.4.
- 30 Jan. 2025: Updated for 5.3.
- 05 Jun. 2024: Reviewed for 4.7. Few additional weapons added to the bottom of rankings.
- 31 Jan. 2024: Added Iron Sting as an alternative weapon.
- 29 Nov. 2023: Guide added.
Written by Mistsplitter Reforged, a day one player of Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero, and a Guide Maker on Youtube, striving to provide helpful content and useful tips. Spends time collecting characters and enjoying what the games have to offer. Make sure to check out their YouTube guides!