Genshin Impact: Nilou Talent Guide

Nilou has the most unique Talents of all Genshin Impact characters. So far, no other character requires a specific team composition in order to take full advantage of all of their Talents. But with the addition of Dendro reactions and an ever-expanding combat system, Nilou may be a new model for future characters.

Genshin Impact: How to Ascend Nilou | Genshin Impact Version 3.2 Launches November 2 | Genshin Impact: How to Build Albedo

Overall, you need to be aware of Nilou’s 1st Ascension Passive Talent and Nilou’s Elemental Skill. Nilou’s first Passive effectively limited her team to Hydro and Dendro, with at least one of each Element represented on your team. So you can have three Dendro characters and one Hydro character. But the entire team needs to be either Hydro or Dendro.

You’ll mostly be relying on Nilou’s Elemental Skill during combat, so prioritize leveling up this Talent over the others. Next, focus on Nilou’s Burst. Because her Normal Attack doesn’t do much, you can save it for last or ignore it.

Combat Talents

Dance of Samser – Normal Attack

Nilou has a standard set of Normal Attacks. She can perform up to 3 consecutive strikes through her Normal Attack. No part of her Normal Attacks convert to Elemental damage outside of using Nilou’s Elemental Skill. Also, keep in mind that any Normal Attacks performed during Nilou’s Skill counts as Elemental Skill damage, not Normal Attack damage. Essentially, leave leveling up Nilou’s Normal Attacks for last.

Dance of Haftkarsvar – Elemental Skill

Nilou enters the Pirouette state, which turns all damage from her Normal Attacks into Hydro DMG. The initial Hydro attack from the Pirouette state scales off of Nilou’s Max HP. During this state, using her Normal Attacks and Elemental Attacks will cause Nilou to take the Sword Dance and Whirling Steps stances respectively. The stances convert all damage to Hydro DMG, and all damage done is considered Elemental Skill DMG. So if you use Nilou’s Normal Attack during her Elemental Skill’s duration, those attacks will scale off of Nilou’s Elemental Skill stats.

Now, that’s a lot. Genshin Impact likes getting more complex as time goes on. So let’s break it down.

First, Nilou’s Skill converts all Normal Attacks from Physical DMG to Hydro DMG. Second, all damage during the Skill scales off of Nilou’s Elemental Skill stats. This is why you want to prioritize leveling up the Dance of Haftkarsvar Talent – doing so will enhance Nilou’s Skill.

Finally, Nilou’s initial Hydro attack damage (triggered by activating her Skill) scales off her Max HP. So to get the most damage possible out of that attack, you need to focus on Artifacts that increase Nilou’s HP. This will also help with Elemental Burst damage.

Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring – Elemental Burst

Using Nilou’s Elemental Burst creates a Lotus of Distant Waters. When the Lotus blooms, it deals AoE Hydro DMG, with that DMG scaling off of Nilou’s Max HP. Any opponents hit by the bloom receive the Lingering Aeon effect. After an interval, opponents with Lingering Aeon will take Hydro DMG.

Nilou’s Burst is good for constantly applying Hydro, which will make it easier for you to create the Bloom reaction. If you have the Dendro Traveler on your Nilou team, use the Traveler’s Elemental Burst first, and then Nilou’s. This will allow you to create the maximum amount of Dendro Cores or, if you have a Hydro/Dendro team, Bountiful Cores.

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Passive Talents

Court of Dancing Petals – 1st Ascension

Upon Nilou’s first Ascension, this Talent may take effect. It only applies when your party is all Dendro or Hydro, with at least one of each on your team. So you could have Tighnari, Nilou, Xingqiu, and Barbara on the team and the Talent will work. However, it won’t work if you have Nilou, Xingqiu, Barbara, and Tartaglia because you’re missing a Dendro character.

So if you have the Dendro/Hydro party, you get a lot from Nilou. When Nilou completes the third dance step of her Elemental Skill, all nearby characters gain the Golden Chalice’s Bounty for 30 seconds. This will increase the Elemental Master of these characters by 100 for 10 seconds whenever they are hit by Dendro attacks. Taking the team from above, if Xingqiu has the Golden Chalice’s Bounty effect and gets hit by a Dendro attack, he’ll receive the Elemental Mastery buff.

Additionally, triggering the Bloom reaction will create Bountiful Cores instead of the usual Dendro Cores. Bountiful Cores burst faster than Dendro Cores and have a larger AoE. However, Bountiful Cores do not trigger Hyperbloom or Burgeon. Overall, you’ll have no problem generating Bountiful Cores with the Dendro/Hydro team and you’ll do more damage in a shorter amount of time.

Dreamy Dance of Aeons – 4th Ascension

Upon Nilou’s fourth Ascension, this Talent grants a buff based on Nilou’s Max HP. Every 1,000 points of Nilou’s Max HP above 30,000 will increase the damage from Bountiful Cores by 9%. You can boost damage in this way up to 400%. 

If you can get Nilou’s Max HP up to 74,000, then you should be able to receive the full buff. That would be 44,000 over 30,000, so you would receive a total of 44 buffs at 9%. However, you’d need all HP% mainstat and substat Artifacts. As the game is now, you likely cannot get 74,000 HP. But on the bright side, it means that you won’t max out this buff.

White Jade Lotus – Utility Passive

When Nilou achieves Perfect Cooking on Adventurer’s Dishes, she has a 12% chance to produce double the product. This pretty much encompasses all of the Stamina dishes, which should include Goulash for your Dragonspine-related needs.

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Combat Talent Materials

Remember, each Combat Talent can go up to Level 10. To triple crown a character, multiply all materials by three.