The newest 1.5 update for Genshin Impact was recently released and with it, a rerun of the exclusive character banner featuring Zhongli. A five-star Geo polearm user, Zhongli's original release was filled with controversy over his underwhelming kit and as a result, miHoYo decided to give him a number of buffs in the 1.3 update.
With the recent rerun of the Zhongli banner in Genshin Impact, players might be wondering whether he's a good investment to roll on. Given the buffs that he has received, he is now one of the strongest defensive characters in the game offering a variety of utility to keep his teammates alive. While Zhongli might not be suited for every team composition, his versatility and support capabilities make him incredibly strong.
What Zhongli Offers
With the 1.3 buffs to Zhongli, he's one of the premium defensive supports in Genshin Impact, but he's also a little difficult to understand at first. Unlike other Genshin Impact characters, his elemental skill offers a lot of different utility given the extra buffs he received and it includes intricacies that might not be immediately visible upon demoing him.
Zhongli's elemental skill is called Dominus Lapidis and it creates a tower-like structure called a Stone Stele. The Stone Stele will deal AOE Geo damage when placed and it will also resonate with nearby Geo constructs to deal damage to nearby enemies. Currently, there are four other different Geo constructs in Genshin Impact: Albedo's Solar Isotoma, Ningguang's Jade Screen, and Geo Traveler's Starfell Sword and Wake of Earth. Zhongli's Stone Stele can also be climbed and used to block attacks from enemies.
Another important feature of Dominus Lapidis is its shield functionality. When players hold the button for Zhongli's elemental skill, it creates a Jade Shield which absorbs damage based on Zhongli's maximum HP pool. This shield provides 150% damage absorption against all elemental and physical damage while also decreasing the elemental and physical resistance of nearby enemies. As the shield offers both defensive and offensive capabilities on a short cooldown, it's extremely effective in almost any Genshin Impact composition.
Zhongli's elemental burst is simpler than his elemental skill as it summons a meteor that deals massive AOE Geo damage and petrifies nearby enemies so they cannot move. One important thing to note is that is that it has a huge damage multiplier on a short cooldown so Zhongli's role is often centered around being a burst support in order to use it as often as possible.
When to Roll For Zhongli
With Zhongli's ability to create big shields and deal damage with petrification on a short cooldown, he's often built as a burst support with HP artifacts to scale his defensive capabilities. Furthermore, since every Genshin Impact player has access to the Geo element through the Traveler, they already have a solid foundation for Geo resonance in their team compositions.
However, Zhongli is quite flexible and doesn't necessarily need to function as a burst support. His base auto attack multipliers are decent and when paired with a Crescent Pike, he can deal a lot of physical damage when supported with Superconduct reactions from Cryo and Electro supports. Zhongli's flexibility allows him to function in a variety of roles so long as players have the ability to invest in him.
In particular, Zhongli shines in the Abyss and endgame content as his shields naturally provide offensive and defensive capabilities while his Stone Stele can block attacks during target defense challenges. The only real drawback is that he requires a decent bit of investment to shine as he doesn't have any healing capabilities until his sixth constellation meaning players will need to stack his HP until the shields can't be broken before the cooldown resets. Players looking for a well-rounded defensive Genshin Impact character should try to roll for Zhongli this banner as he offers unparalleled utility and is quite flexible in compositions.
Genshin Impact is available now.