Major things have changed since the very first release of Zhongli. Numerous adjustments have turned the Geo Archon from underwhelming to one of the most must-have supports in Genshin Impact. With his ability to provide durable shields and exhibit crowd control against foes, Zhongli offers strong protection to his party members. Zhongli returns in Genshin Impact 1.5 on a re-run banner, ready to start a contract with new players. Our Zhongli guide will teach you the ins and outs of the Geo Archon and unlock his full potential. If you successfully pull him during these last days of his banner, then now's the perfect time for you to master Zhongli, as you'll most likely not need our Best Weapon and Artifact Build Guide for Eula.
The God of Contracts – a calm and collected person – works as a consultant for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. He is a 5-Star Geo character wielding a polearm. He specializes in crowd control, defensive shields, passive energy generation, and shredding enemy resistance. A very versatile character, Zhongli can fit into almost any team, providing a massive benefit without a lot of drawbacks.
ABILITY OVERVIEW
Zhongli’s Elemental Skill, Dominus Lapidis, has different effects based on whether the player presses or holds the key. When pressed, Zhongli creates a stone pillar that periodically deals AoE Geo damage. This also puts the ability on a short cooldown. When held, this ability goes into a longer cooldown, but along with creating a stone pillar, it also creates a durable shield while reducing enemy RES by 20%.
Dominus Lapidis provides consistent energy particles, which is the main purpose of the stone pillars during combat. Meanwhile, the shield created by this ability is so durable that it’s easy to simply faceroll enemies and not care about dodging damage at all, all while reducing enemy RES which increases your damage by a significant amount.
Zhongli’s Elemental Burst, Planet Befall, brings a meteor down to earth, petrifying enemies in a large area and deals massive Geo damage. This ability is what defines Zhongli, and with its spammable nature and the powerful effect of immobilizing enemies, it has seen great use in all sorts of content.
With these two abilities, Zhongli serves as a great support for a lot of teams and is not restrained by reaction-based teams due to being a Geo character. His RES shred is also easier to apply than Viridescent Venerer supports, as you don’t need to set up a swirl reaction of a specific element beforehand to apply the shred.
BEST WEAPON BUILD FOR ZHONGLI IN GENSHIN IMPACT
Staff of Homa – One of the two best polearms for Zhongli, this weapon increases his HP by 20%, and provides an ATK Bonus of 0.8% of Max HP, with an additional 1% if HP is lower than 50%. Along with Zhongli’s second talent, which deals 1.39% of Max HP as bonus damage, the Staff of Homa provides a significant boost to Zhongli’s normal attack damage, which is best suited for a carry playstyle. But even if your Zhongli is a support, the increased HP and the boost to his attack damage can easily put him into the Sub-DPS slot with all the support aspects still present.
Vortex Vanquisher – The other best polearm for Zhongli, this weapon increases Shield Strength by 20%, while increasing ATK by up to 20% for 8s, 40% if the player is protected by a shield. If you want to easily faceroll everything with a massive shield protecting you, this weapon will not disappoint. Along with a lot of ATK from its substat and passive, this weapon also increases the damage of Zhongli’s ability by a good amount, and can easily turn him into a Sub-DPS while still retaining all his support aspects.
Skyward Spine – Another good alternative to the other two polearms, this weapon has an Energy Recharge substat, which increases how often Zhongli can use his Elemental Burst. Its increased attack speed also allows him to deal a bit more damage, and its high Base ATK is also greatly appreciated for increasing the damage of all his abilities.
BEST ARTIFACT BUILD FOR ZHONGLI IN GENSHIN IMPACT
Archaic Petra – This 4-piece artifact set is great for a general-use Zhongli, thanks to the 15% Geo damage bonus, and the ability to provide an Elemental DMG boost when picking up a crystallize shard. Take note, however, that it has to be Zhongli who picks up the shard in order to obtain the elemental damage boost.
Noblesse Oblige – This 4-piece artifact set is mostly used for burst rotation teams, or if you want Zhongli to also buff your team with a bit of ATK. This also increases the damage of your Burst by a good amount. If you want to focus on dealing maximum damage with your Burst, it’s best to use 2 pieces of Noblesse Oblige and 2 pieces of Archaic Petra.
Tenacity of the Millelith – Appearing in Version 1.5, this new Artifact set seems tailor-made for a support Zhongli, and it seems to be the best one yet. This set increases your HP by 20% (2-piece), and increases the ATK of all party members by 20% and Shield Strength by 30% for 3s (4-piece). Despite the low duration of 3s for the buff it provides, Zhongli’s stone pillar consistently procs damage and poses no problem in keeping the buff up at all times.
BUILDING AROUND THE GEO ARCHON
Thanks to the changes that Zhongli received on Version 1.3, he now stands as one of the best supports this game has to offer. His extreme versatility allows for various compositions, all viable up to the hardest content.
Millelith Support – Thanks to the new artifact set, Zhongli stands as one of the two best supports who can make the most out of the set. Albedo makes the best out of the Tenacity of the Milletith, too. Providing 20% ATK and 30% Shield Strength at all times is nothing to scoff at. This can definitely prove so powerful that even Venti can lose his slot as the best support in the game. Because of this, Zhongli can fit into any team.
Crowd Control Machine – Zhongli’s Elemental Burst has the ability to petrify enemies. The downside of this is its short duration. When combined with certain characters, this can lead to a chain of crowd control long enough for Zhongli to activate his burst again. Characters like Venti, Mona, Sucrose, and Ganyu can feed into this CC chain.
Burst Rotations – You can set up Zhongli to deal a lot of damage if built properly. With good artifacts and a lot of ATK, his Elemental Burst can actually deal a ton of damage. You can deal up to 900% of ATK at skill level 10, along with a bonus of 33% of HP as damage. His high burst damage pairs well with Venti, Mona, Hu Tao, and Diluc.
Overall, Zhongli is a character that has risen from being underwhelming to one who stands at the top of the list of supports the game has to offer. Now, Zhongli is a must-have and can serve you very well in any composition you wish to play.
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