
Diluc Quick TL;DR DPS Build Guide
UPDATED FOR 1.5 😁!
Table of Contents
- 1 PSA #1: DPS is your god. You will worship them. You will love them, and they will love you back
- 2 PSA #2: Both Diluc’s abilities scale with ATK. Mother truckers hits harder than a butt cheek on a stick. He’s also the Batman of the Genshin universe except he’s a pyromaniac
- 3 PSA #3: Did I mention your ultimate sets your claymore on fire? It’s important because it transitions your normal attacks from PHYSICAL to PYRO. This can be hindering if you’re trying to kill enemies that are immune to pyro damage, so just be aware!
- 4 WEAPON #1 (Recommended for BIG BOY #’s): Wolf’s Gravestone
- 5 WEAPON #2 (Recommended for early DPS): Prototype Archaic
- 6 ARTIFACT #1 (Recommended for pyro enthusiasts): Crimson Witch of Flames
- 7 ARTIFACT #2 (Recommended for early DPS): Gladiator’s Finale
- 8 PSA #4: Yes, you technically can run Gladiator’s Finale > Crimson if you want, but you would be missing out on A TON of damage. Since Diluc’s ultimate turns his damage to pyro, you’ll be actively receiving a pretty good damage buff for everything from Crimson (add the reaction damage and Gladiator’s can’t even compete); whereas Gladiator’s is a 35% for just normal attacks.
PSA #1: DPS is your god. You will worship them. You will love them, and they will love you back
PSA #2: Both Diluc’s abilities scale with ATK. Mother truckers hits harder than a butt cheek on a stick. He’s also the Batman of the Genshin universe except he’s a pyromaniac

IMPORTANT ADVICE: WEAVE YOUR AUTOS IN-BETWEEN EVERY E. It cancels the animation quicker + you get additional DPS in!
What to do: normal attack > E > normal attack > E > normal attack > E > normal attack
What NOT to do: E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E > E

There are 3 phases of damage in Q:
1) Slashing DMG: The initial swing Diluc does in the animation ISN’T just an animation. It actually does damage, so make sure you cast infront of enemies
2) DoT DMG: When the enemies get carried away/pushed back. It does multiple ticks of it, depending on where they are compared to Diluc (closer = more DoT ticks)
3) Explosion DMG: This is near the end, when the bird swipes upwards. Typically only smaller enemies get hit by this, as larger enemies don’t get knockbacked enough to get hit from the final part
The big bird (or rather Diluc) has some issues with targeting, so make sure you position yourself so that it hits a big crowd rather than some random slimey boy in the corner of your screen
Enemies stuck in Anemo abilities WILL NOT get carried around by big bird (can I make this joke even [shoutout if anyone got the dark humor]), so if you see a Venti ultimate or Anemo tornado, swing batter batter batter

PSA #3: Did I mention your ultimate sets your claymore on fire? It’s important because it transitions your normal attacks from PHYSICAL to PYRO. This can be hindering if you’re trying to kill enemies that are immune to pyro damage, so just be aware!

Talent Leveling Order: E > Normal > Q
WEAPON #1 (Recommended for BIG BOY #’s): Wolf’s Gravestone
How do I get it D: ? – It’s time to roll boys (gacha)

Skyward Pride is also a great weapon, and if you don’t have Wolf’s Gravestone you can run it!
WEAPON #2 (Recommended for early DPS): Prototype Archaic
How do I get it D: ? – Forge (Prototype x1, Crystal Chunk x50, White Iron Chunk x50)

Serpent Spine (BP Claymore) is also an extremely consistent weapon, and arguably the better of the two with a high CRIT DMG build. Prototype Archaic is a great placeholder until you’re able to farm for proper artifact stats, then you can swap to SS if you have it
ARTIFACT #1 (Recommended for pyro enthusiasts): Crimson Witch of Flames
How do I get it D: ? – Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula Domain (AR 30 locked, 20 Resin per run)

A common question is “can I just run 2-set Crimson + 2-set Gladiator’s? The short answer is yes, but ideally you want to run 4-set Crimson. The bonus reaction damange + the fact Diluc can easily get the 3 stacks means you get 22.5% more Pyro DMG (total 37.5% Pyro DMG Bonus)
ARTIFACT #2 (Recommended for early DPS): Gladiator’s Finale
How do I get it D: ? – Any World Boss (40 Resin per run)

Alternatively, you can also just stack two +18% ATK sets early on
PSA #4: Yes, you technically can run Gladiator’s Finale > Crimson if you want, but you would be missing out on A TON of damage. Since Diluc’s ultimate turns his damage to pyro, you’ll be actively receiving a pretty good damage buff for everything from Crimson (add the reaction damage and Gladiator’s can’t even compete); whereas Gladiator’s is a 35% for just normal attacks.
Main stats:
Sands | Goblet | Circlet |
---|---|---|
ATK% | Pyro DMG% | CRIT% or CRIT DMG |
Substats: CRIT% > CRIT DMG > ATK (ATK% if not main stat) > EM
If you want other characters let me know. Hope this helped. Bye.
Will there be update for Diluc guide? Or is this Peak Diluc lol
I was planning on updating his guide once Sea-Lord comes out in the near future (probably once Kokomi comes out next week!)
That is great news! Recently got Mona for my team. Kinda want to revisit Diluc + Mona + Xingqiu + Xiangling
It’s still as strong as ever, but I highly recommend running Bennett instead of Xiangling here.
Yep! Unfortunately i dont have Bennett. Gonna wait for his banner to comeback.
Is the Blackcliff Slasher good on Diluc?
I would argue it’s the 2nd best option among 4-stars (behind Serpent Spine)
Fair enough. Thank you!
I LOVE your guides, they are so comprehensive and so well-written, and the humor is always fun to read! Plus the fact that you accommodate multiple build/role options into most of the character guides is so helpful! It always kind of annoys me when the standard “OMG IS SO BROKEN” guides act like every character is a selfish DPS rather than focusing on team synergy and multiple viable ways to build a character. Your explanations/justifications are always so clear and I think it’s helped me to understand more of how the stats in the game work!
I do have a kind of fiddly question though: I’m a mostly F2P player building Diluc and Itto according to your guides, and I just bought my first battle pass. I picked serpent spine off it, but I’m not sure who to put it on, as I don’t plan on getting battle passes very frequently, so getting R5 on SS is out of the question for now. Your Itto article mentions R5 specifically, while your Diluc article doesn’t mention refinements either way, so I wasn’t sure if that meant it’s better to put an R1 SS on Diluc, or if I’m reading too much into it.
I’m currently running a fully-leveled R4 Prototype Archaic on Diluc, and a fully-leveled R1 Whiteblind on Itto. I’d like to pull for Wolf’s Gravestone if it ever comes up on the weapon banner, but probably won’t pull for Redhorn Stonethresher anytime soon, if that factors into your recommendation at all.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Getting R5 Prototype Archaic is perfectly fine too. Typically you want to get an R5 SS, but that’s basically $25 and waiting around 2 and a half months to get it. Diluc also benefits a lot from his burst, so you can also slot the event weapon Luxurious Sea-Lord on him (it’s like Prototype except the extra damage proc’s from hitting burst).
If you do ever get a Wolf’s Gravestone, then put it on Diluc and then have options for Itto too.
Thanks! This helps a lot– unfortunately I wasn’t playing when Luxurious Sea-Lord came out, or I’d have put it on him just for the funny of it. Hope they rerun some of those limited event weapons at some point lol
how would you rank the mailed flower claymore for Diluc?
Due to Diluc’s application of Pyro BEFORE reaction, he actually doesn’t benefit all too much from reaction.
For example if you pair him with Yelan/Xingqiu for their Q, the Hydro is applied after his Pyro-Infused NA, which means the EM reaction DMG is based off Yelan/Xingqiu — not Diluc.
For a free event weapon that can go R5. providing well over 100+ EM + a 24% ATK buff, it’s not bad. I would maybe put it shy above R5 Prototype, but still not above something like Serpent’s Spine etc…