He might not look like much, but he commands a rebel army that may rival an empire’s battalion, as his leadership strikes awe in his comrades, and fear in his foes. Gorou is the general of the Watatsumi Army, and will finally appear as a wishable and playable character in the second half of Genshin Impact version 2.3. Players have witnessed his valiant command of the Watatsumi troops in the Archon quest of version 2.0, and we all have been very eager to see how he performs as a playable character. Now that Gorou’s banner is confirmed, here is the definitive guide on how to play and build him, including his best weapons, artifact sets, and team compositions.
Abilities Overview
Inuzaka All-Round Defense is Gorou’s Elemental Skill. He sets up a war banner, dealing AoE Geo damage on activation, and displays a large designated area where the ability’s buff will be effective. Being within the banner’s area of effect grants bonuses to the active character, depending on the number of Geo characters in your party. Having one Geo party member provides a sizable DEF buff, having two provides resistance to interruption, and having three grants 15% Geo DMG Bonus.
This ability is the reason why Gorou will be a mainstay in most, if not all, Geo teams. Albedo and Itto greatly benefit from the aforementioned buffs that the war banner provides, while the other Geo characters still benefit from the Geo DMG Bonus. However, this also means that Gorou is sort of a dud when it comes to non-Geo teams, and he might not be useful at all if you don’t have a decent Geo team in your roster.
Juuga: Forward Unto Victory is Gorou’s Elemental Burst. He deploys a similar banner like his Elemental Skill, but instead follows the active party member, and additionally causes Crystal Collapses on hit (every 1.5s), dealing Geo DMG based on Gorou’s DEF. This ability also pulls elemental shards created by Crystallize reactions, which are useful shields against minor chip damage.
Because the Crystal Collapses scale off of Gorou’s DEF, he can be a very useful Sub-DPS for Geo teams, which is a very welcome addition. The ability has a high energy cost of 80, but it can be easily fixed with an Energy Recharge weapon, like the Favonius Warbow.
Best Weapon Build for Gorou
Favonius Warbow – Really, this seems to be his best bow overall. Because Gorou’s Elemental Burst scales with DEF, all the 5-star bows don’t benefit him at all. Even Elegy of the End, with its Energy Recharge substat, has a passive that’s extremely difficult for Gorou to activate, and ends up as a dud weapon that’s better used by other characters.
Favonius Warbow has a phenomenal Energy Recharge substat, peaking at 61.3% at lv90, and additionally provides additional energy particles on Crit. Because Gorou also wants to build a bit of Crit Rate to scale his Elemental Burst damage, this weapon is actually quite amazing for him despite being only a 4-star Gacha bow.
Best Artifact Set for Gorou
Husk of Opulent Dreams (4-piece) – It’s funny how this new artifact set, with a very specific mechanic in its 4-piece passive, works very well on four different characters (namely, Noelle, Albedo, Itto, and Gorou). Gorou scales off of DEF, so this artifact set is an obvious choice, since it provides a whopping 54% DEF and 24% Geo DMG Bonus at peak performance. When Gorou’s Elemental Burst is not active, he only gets the 2-piece passive, which is still great at 30% DEF.
For main stats, aim for DEF% Sands, Geo DMG Bonus Goblet, and Crit Rate/DMG circlet, while maintaining a 1:2 Crit Rate/DMG ratio. Prioritize substats in this order: Crit Rate = Crit DMG > DEF% > Energy Recharge. These stat priorities also apply in the following artifact set recommendations below.
Noblesse Oblige (4-piece) – This artifact set is geared for a Gorou who’s supporting Ningguang. On a Ningguang mono-Geo team, Albedo prefers to equip the Husk, while Zhongli prefers the Millelith set, which only leaves one party member to bring the Noblesse Oblige. Its 4-piece passive provides a 20% ATK bonus to all party members upon Burst activation, which is a buff that Ningguang would definitely love to have.
Archaic Petra (4-piece) – Remember when I said that Gorou is kinda useless on non-Geo teams? Well, this artifact set might create some exceptions to that. Its 4-piece passive provides a 35% DMG Bonus of the element of the Crystallize shard that Gorou has first picked up. It’s honestly a pain for a Petra support to go and pick up the shards just to provide the juicy damage bonus, but Gorou’s Elemental Burst allows the shards to magnet towards Gorou, no effort required. This gives potential for Gorou to be a decent Sub-DPS, while providing a massive 35% Elemental DMG Bonus to a non-Geo composition.
Best Team Compositions for Gorou
Mono Geo – It’s insane how flexible Geo teams are, that you can just pick any four Geo characters and be done with it. Of course, Gorou has to be in every one of those, since he’s now the best Geo support character in the game. Gorou fits well as a Sub-DPS support for Noelle, Itto, and Ningguang, the three top Geo Main DPS. Geo Traveler, Albedo, and Zhongli can fill in however you want in the remaining slots.
Elemental Support – If you don’t have a Kazuha, Gorou can fill in as Elemental Damage support who can also do a decent amount of damage with moderate investment. 4-piece Archaic Petra provides a huge 35% damage bonus for mono Element teams, like Yoimiya, Yanfei, and Klee. Cryo teams might have a hard time with Gorou, since they prefer Melt reactions or Perma-Freeze, which the Geo element interferes in.
Overall, Gorou is a very useful character in a lot of compositions, but especially for Geo teams. Geo has always been an under-utilized element due to its lack of strong Elemental Reactions and lack of useful utility, but Gorou definitely shakes things up, and enables Geo-only teams to shine and stand beside other stronger teams in the meta.
Gorou debuts on the Oni's Royale banner alongside Arataki Itto, which will start on December 14, 2021. This banner will run until January 4, 2022, giving everyone a lot of time to save up Primogems for him and to get him to C6 real quickly.
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