Genshin Impact 3.1: Nilou has taken the stage, now, how should you build her?
Nilou is finally making her debut in the second half of Genshin Impact version 3.1!
This graceful dancer was first introduced in version 3.0 as a devoted follower of Lesser Lord Kusanali and the performing arts. But now Nilou joins Genshin Impact's playable character roster as a beautiful yet lethal fighter that dances gracefully through fights — like a flower with many sharp thorns.
Running on her first banner alongside the Kreideprinz Albedo, Nilou is a 5-star Hydro Sword user who is a worthwhile addition to your team. Here's everything you need to know about her.
The Queen of Blooms
Nilou’s kit is all about the Bloom reaction, one of the elemental reactions created by Dendro, the game's newest element introduced in version 3.0. Bloom is triggered when Hydro interacts with Dendro, creating a Dendro core that explodes after five seconds and deals Dendro DMG in an area around it.
While Nilou's effectiveness is limited only to Bloom compositions, she supercharges this reaction by turning Dendro Cores into Bountiful Blooms thanks to her Court of Dancing Petals passive.
Bountiful Blooms explode immediately and deal additional damage based on Nilou's Max HP, which makes her the second character in the game whose damage fully scales off her HP after Yelan.
And, like Kamisato Ayato, Nilou’s damage dealing capabilities are more prominent in her skill compared to her burst, so focus on ascending her skill rather than her burst and auto-attacks.
When Nilou uses her Elemental Skill, Dance of Haftkasvar, she enters the 'Pirouette' state and does a three-hit combo in any combination of Normal Attack and Skill button presses that deals Hydro DMG based on her Max HP.
The third dance step will end the Pirouette state and make Nilou enter one of two stances depending on whether she used her Normal Attack or Skill for that last step.
If you used your Normal Attack, Nilou enters the 'Swords Dance' stance and unleashes a Luminous Illusion that deals Hydro DMG to opponents it touches. This stance also grants Nilou the Lunar Prayer effect, which converts her Normal Attacks into Sword Dance techniques and lets her unleash more Luminous Illusions with the final hit of her combo.
If you used your Skill, Nilou enters the 'Whirling Wheel' stance that unleashes a Whirling Water Wheel that deals Hydro DMG around her. It also creates a Tranquility Aura that follows your active character around and applies the Wet status to opponents it touches.
Rotation with Nilou
Nilou's Skill is her bread-and-butter, as it will be how she creates Bountiful Blooms. Before using her skill, make sure your Dendro characters have unleashed their skills and bursts. What stance you will take after using Dance of Haftkasvar will depend on how you want to play Nilou.
Use the Swords Dance stance if you want to play Nilou as more of an on-field DPS. If you want Nilou to be off-field and have another character trigger the Bountiful Blooms instead, use the Whirling Wheel stance.
Nilou’s Elemental Burst, Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring, lets her deal Hydro DMG based on her Max HP in an area. While Nilou's burst isn't as important as her skill, it's still a good way for her to deal damage and apply Hydro to trigger more Bountiful Blooms.
While Court of Dancing Petals is Nilou's most important passive, her other passive, Dreamy Dance of Aeons, further homes in on her HP scaling by increasing the damage dealt by Bountiful Blooms by 9% for every 1,000 points of HP she has over 30,000.
If it wasn't obvious already, stack as much HP on Nilou as possible. You don't even need to worry about getting any Crit Rate or Crit DMG!
Bloom Bloom Bakudan!
Because of the limitations set by her Court of Dancing Petals passive, you should only run your Nilou alongside Hydro and Dendro characters.
You should always have at least a second Hydro character alongside Nilou to trigger the Hydro Resonance effect, which increases your characters' Max HP by 25% and in turn boosts Nilou's damage.
While only one Dendro character in Nilou's party is enough to activate Court of Dancing Petals, it's still a good idea to run two in order to trigger the Dendro Resonance. The additional Elemental Mastery it gives provides another way to boost the damage of your Bountil Blooms.
One important thing to keep in mind is that Bountiful Blooms, like regular Dendro Cores, also deal damage to your characters. Since there are no Dendro healers in the game yet, you should run Hydro healers like Sangonomiya Kokomi or Barbara alongside Nilou to keep everyone's health topped up.
A 5-star team for Nilou can include her, Kokomi, Yelan, and the Dendro MC. For a 4-star team, you can run Nilou alongside Barbara, Xingqiu, and Collei.
For weapons, Nilou’s top option is the new 5-star sword Key of Khaj-Nisut.
This weapon increases the HP and Elemental Mastery of its wielder, which works perfectly with Nilou's kit by further boosting the damage dealt by her Bountiful Blooms.
But if you have a spare Primordial Jade Cutter or Freedom Sworn lying around, these are also good alternative 5-star swords for her to use.
If you’re not too keen on pulling for her weapon, here are some 4-star options:
Xiphos Moonlight (Gacha)
Iron Sting (Craftable)
Sacrificial Sword (Gacha)
Festering Desire (Event only)
Sapwood Blade (Craftable)
As for her artifacts, Nilou's best options are a combination of the 2-piece Tenacity of the Millelith and the 2-piece of either Heart of Depth, Wanderer's Troupe, or Gilded Dreams.
The 2-piece Tenacity of the Millelith is the most important part of this setup, as it gives Nilou a 20% boost to her Max HP.
The 2-piece Heart of Depth, Wanderer's Troupe, and Gilded Dreams set bonuses provides another way to boost Nilou's damage. Your choice of which of these three to go for will depend on which has the better substats.
Alternatively, you can also go for the 4-piece Gilded Dreams set if you want to play Nilou as purely an on-field DPS.
The main stats you should be looking for in your Sands, Goblet, and Circlet are all HP%. As for your substats, look for Elemental Mastery, Flat HP, and Energy Recharge.
Nilou is featured in a double banner alongside Albedo in the second half of Genshin Impact version 3.1. The current version will run until 2 November.
Genshin Impact versions 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 will have shortened run times of five weeks instead of the usual six weeks, likely to catch up to the game's original release schedule after the release of version 2.7 was delayed back in April.
Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.
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