Zhongli Quick TL;DR Support and DPS Build Guide

UPDATED FOR 2.4 😁!

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
  1. It will pulse 15 times, doing geo DMG to nearby enemies (lasts 30 seconds, 1 pulse = 2 sec)
  2. Nearby geo structures will also pulse geo DMG (will list what can/cannot below)
  3. Can only have ONE out at a time (two if you have C1)
  4. ABSOLUTELY POOPS CRYSTALLIZE SHARDS
  5. CAN CLIMB THE PILLAR AND IT BLOCKS STUFF

What resonates with pillar:

• Hold E to summon a shield
  1. Will do massive AoE geo DMG on activation + spawns a pillar if not already on field
  2. Chunks geo elements nearby (up to two targets – clarification below)
  3. Shield lasts 20 sec
  4. Scales off HP

What Hold E can absolutely delete:

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 DPS): Staff of Homa

How do I get it D: ? – It’s time to roll boys (gacha)

Staff of Homa will typically outperform even without the weapon skill active 90% of the time. Especially with the new Zhongli buffs, this is especially evident in damage output. PJWS does perform better if you have the proper CRIT values to consistently CRIT. Otherwise, you’re better off running Homa to scale everything.

However, for Phys DPS, Crescent Pike will push out more DPS due to the nature of how the weapon skill works. Even with a 2x Pale + 2x Bloodstained does a Crescent Pike perform better!

Weapon #2 (Recommended for sub/burst DPS): Deathmatch

How do I get it D: ? – Battlepass (Tier 30)

Deathmatch is an extremely consistent weapon considering that it provides not only CRIT%, but also a steady amount of ATK% for Zhongli’s Q. Keep in mind that it scales with both HP and ATK (with ATK being the main multiplier).

Important note: Staff of Homa will outperform Deathmatch until you have it at R4+. The likewise goes for The Catch (R5). Homa’s natural HP scaling + the buffs from 1.4 to Zhongli + Geo make it undeniably the BiS in most cases for Zhongli.

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 DPS): Pale Flame

How do I get it D: ? – Ridge Watch Domain (AR 30 locked, 20 Resin per run)

The E’s ATK bonus will continue to stack off of all 3 variants of your E (tap, hold, and the pulse). Just make sure to keep the pillar alive by kiting your enemies towards (inwards) the pillar, as opposed to having your back faced towards it. The only issue with the E is that it’s harder to keep it up against largers, AoE thrashing enemies (but still works fine and will get you your max stacks)

Think of it as basically a 36% ATK buff that’s consistently up due to Zhongli’s E pulses (and his low CD)

Alternatively, you can also run 2-set Pale Flame + 2-set Bloodstained as well since it also grants +25% Phys DMG x2, and it’ll be a good placeholder until you can farm for the 4-set Pale Flame pieces!

ARTIFACT #2 (Recommended for Support): Tenacity of the Millelith

How do I get it D: ? – Ridge Watch Domain (AR 30 locked, 20 Resin per run)

Important note about 4-set Millelith: It still proc’s the ATK bonus when you’re off-field. So as long as Zhongli’s E is still on the field and not destroyed, it’s pulses will continue to proc the 4-set bonus!

Alternatively, if you want to prioritize mainly on burst DPS, then 4x Emblem of Severed Fate will do the most damage + provide a decent amount of ER% to help Zhongli get his Q back faster!

PSA #4: So two final things: 1) For support, Deathmatch + Millelith 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:

Substats: CRIT% > CRIT DMG > ATK > EM

Take Geo DMG% on Goblet if you’re going burst DPS/Support OR just run HP% on all 3 if you want a mega shield tank

If you want other characters let me know. Hope this helped. Bye.