Zhongli Quick TL;DR DPS Build Guide

PSA #1: A DPS is a literal GOD and their team is their worshipers. Worship your god and they’ll make your enemies disappear; otherwise, you better start praying
PSA #2: Both Zhongli’s abilities scale off ATK, but both also benefit A LOT from HP. As Lord of Geo, he WILL have his order… just make sure you brought some money…

PSA #3: E has two ways you can use it (BUCKLE THE FK UP LOL)
- Tap E to summon a stone stele that does damage where it’s spawned
- It will pulse 15 times, doing geo DMG to nearby enemies (lasts 30 seconds, 1 pulse = 2 sec)
- Nearby geo structures will also pulse geo DMG (will list what can/cannot below)
- Can only have ONE out at a time (two if you have C1)
- ABSOLUTELY POOPS CRYSTALLIZE SHARDS
- CAN CLIMB THE PILLAR AND IT BLOCKS STUFF
What resonates with pillar:
Geo MC E | Geo MC Q (all 4 walls pulse) | Ninguang E (pulses from center of gate, not sides) |
---|---|---|
Geo Hypostasis pillars | Geo Samachurl pillars | Albedo E |
- Hold E to summon a shield
- Will do massive AoE geo DMG on activation + spawns a pillar if not already on field
- Chunks geo elements nearby (up to two targets – clarification below)
- Shield lasts 20 sec
- Scales off HP
What Hold E can absolutely delete:
ANY ORE (#1 MINER) | GEO SHIELDS/ARMOR | ROCK SHIELDS |
---|---|---|
Geo Samachurl pillars | Geo Hypostatis pillars | Geovishaps/Hatchlings |
Tap E at the start of the fight, then Hold E when it comes off CD. Always position to attack enemies TOWARDS the pillar to maximize damage


Every enemy type, except world bosses and domain bosses, can get petrified. This also prevents enemies from being affected from your own CC
Example: Venti Q will no longer juggle enemies up and down in the vortex when petrified. They will still take the damage from the ability though!

A reasonable HP you want Zhongli to be around is roughly between 18,000 – 22,000, as that essentially means you’ll gain an additional 5,940 – 7,260 damage on your Q
Talent leveling order: E > Normal > Q (You can honestly go Normal first)
Weapon #1 (Recommended for ORDER): Crescent Pike
How do I get it D: ? – Forge (Prototype x1, Crystal Chunk x50, White Iron Chunk x50)

Currently Crescent Pike (as per usual) is #1 for both Geo DMG and Phys DMG hybrid builds, Jade Winged-Spear #2, Skyward #3 (CRIT centralized)
However, at R3, Jade Winged-Spear will outscale Crescent Pike’s damage, ultimately becoming the best in slot at R5
Weapon #2 (Recommended for sub/burst DPS): Deathmatch
How do I get it D: ? – Battlepass (Tier 30)

Favonius Lance can also work if you’re really that lacking for energy regeneration. Royal Spear is also felt somewhat good, but once you hit around 45-50% CRIT%, it feels extremely lackluster due to the redundancy of CRIT% stacking post 50%
ARTIFACT #1 (Recommended for planetary devastation): Bloodstained Chivalry + Gladiator’s Finale
How do I get it D: ? – Bloodstained at Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern Domain (AR 35 locked, 20 Resin per run). Gladiators at any World Boss (40 Resin per run)


Compared to 2-set Bloodstained + 2-set Noblesse, Gladiators provides a much higher damage output when tested, as the 18% ATK+ provides overall scaling
Here are the total DPS numbers between 2-set Bloodstained + 2-set Gladiator’s vs. 4-set Gladiator’s:


The reasoning for why Bloodstained and it’s Phys DMG% has a much higher damage markup (roughly 1.4K average) is due to the fact that
- Phys DMG% bonuses are factored at the end of damage calculation, being multiplicative
- Phys resistance stats are much lower (varies by enemies) than straight ATK resistance (DEF) stats, ontop of the fact Razor at C4 innately reduces Phys resistance
ARTIFACT #2 (Recommended for early slappage): Gladiator’s Finale
How do I get it D: ? – Any World Boss (40 Resin per run)

PSA #4: So two final things: 1) For support, Deathmatch + Noblesse Oblige will do great. 2) Ignore the people that are abhorrently against DPS Zhongli — they’re the same people who swear by Phys DMG% Fischl but can’t reserve the same logic (either that or just blatantly salty they don’t have enough gems cause they double downed for Childe)
Main stats:
Sands | Goblet | Circlet |
---|---|---|
ATK% | Phys DMG% | CRIT% or CRIT DMG |
Substats: CRIT% > CRIT DMG > ATK > EM
Take Geo DMG% on Goblet if you’re going burst DPS/Support
If you want other characters let me know. Hope this helped. Bye.