Hoyoverse is notorious for having some of the greatest character designs in the gacha gaming sphere. Even in Genshin Impact, it can be hard for those characters to stand out in a roster of a whopping 75 stellar designs. Yet it’s something Neuvillette has no problems managing. Since launch, Neuvillette has maintained his position as a new king of DPS characters, showing us the powerful kits Hoyoverse is capable of making.

Neuvillette’s Strengths

• Neuvillette is a one-man army, a hyper-carry that can consistently and flawlessly solo floor 12 of the Spiral Abyss with enough investment. 
• He has insane wave-clear when coupled with support units like Venti, Kazuha, or Sucrose. 
• At C1, he has no requirement for a shielder and has interruption resistance (hyper armor) during his charged attack. 
• His kit has both built in hp drain and healing (insane, I know), which means you can get away without slotting a healer, as you’ll be using Neuvillette the most for damage rotations. 
• He makes you feel like you’re playing a Dragon Ball character in Genshin. No, I’m not joking. Of all the DPS characters I own, Neuvillette is the most satisfying to watch in action–and hey, if the satisfaction of actually playing the character is a determiner in whether or not you pull, I understand. It is for me!
• Neuvillette, with his BiS(Best in Slot or signature weapon) is an absolute crit damage monster. Provided you run him with the new marechaussee artifact set and get the 4 piece set bonus, you can expect a level 90 Neuvillette with Tome of the Eternal Flow maxed to easily breach 80%crit rate/200% crit dmg.
• Hypercarries that ascend with crit tend to be easier to build as well. 
• He’s easy to pilot. Seriously, all you need to do is hold down your mouse and hover the beam over an enemy. 
• His teams are both versatile and effective. 
• For a DPS character, he’s surprisingly flexible. By this I mean you can run him in both wave clear and single target oriented comps, meaning you secure yourself a character that is the best of both worlds.

Pictured above, Neuvillette uses his regained power as the Hydro Sovereign in the 4.0 Archon Quest.

Now that we’ve gotten his pros out of the way, let’s take a quick peek at some cons, or reasons you might not want to pull for him.

Neuvillette’s Weaknesses

• He suffers from a similar flaw as Ganyu–at some point, holding down the mouse button might become a little boring (even if it is incredibly flashy and visually pleasing).
• Last but not least, piloting him without C1/a shielder will unlock a new type of frustration inside you. If you’ve not played characters like Xiao or Scaramouche, who can get interrupted mid-plunge or skill, then getting knocked out of Neuvillette’s charged attack might be enough to make you build a shielder. That being said, once you have that shield, nothing in the game will be strong enough to stop you.

As you can see, Neuvillette is a character with countless pros–and a few cons (but let’s be honest, not nearly as many).

Alrighty, now that we’ve gotten Neuvillette’s pros and cons as a character out of the way, let’s go ahead and jump into his best builds. This first build is his best in slot–meaning if you want those juicy numbers to pop up on your screen, you should aim for this one.

You’ll want to have Fontaine explored at least to the first Statue of the Seven. The domain you’ll be farming is Denouement of Sin, which currently offers two of the best sets in the game: Marechaussee Hunter and Golden Troupe. Buckle in, ‘cause you’ll be here for a while.

1. Hypercarry Double Hydro: Marechaussee Hunter

4 Piece Marechaussee Hunter, pictured above. If you’re looking for a 4 piece artifact set that’s going to enable your Neuvillette to do an incredible amount of damage while also needing less crit rate, this is the set you’ll want to go for. Neuvillette’s charged attack, Equitable Judgement, drains his own HP. This means after three ticks of HP drain you’re gaining a free 36% crit rate on top of a flat 15% bonus to your charged attack. 36% is no meager number, either. This is undoubtedly his strongest set, and farming Denouement of Sin also provides Golden Troupe, a set you’ll be wanting for as well.

Why Marechaussee Hunter?

Few 2pc sets actually increase charged attack damage. This is one of them and, not only is it one of the best sets in the entire game, it’s so strong on Neuvillette that it’s practically game-breaking.

36% free crit rate can be gained in seconds.

Since you want to go for a rate of 1:2 crit rate/crit damage, getting 50/100 crit splits has never been easier. 

If you have Neuvillette’s weapon, getting him to 70-80% crit rate and upwards of 200% crit damage with this artifact set active isn’t just possible–it’s honestly kind of easy, especially compared to other units. 

You’ll be getting Golden Troupe as well. If you have a unit like Fischl, grinding this domain will be incredibly beneficial. 

Artifact Stats:

Goblet: Hydro Damage/HP% main stat. 

Flower: Flat HP main stat. 

Feather: Flat Attack main stat.

Sands: HP% main stat. 

Circlet: Crit Rate/Damage main stat.

For sub stats, look for: HP (flat and %), crit rate, and crit damage.

Weapons:

• Five Star: Tome of the Eternal Flow provides every stat Neuvillette wants; hp, crit damage, a little energy recharge, and a bonus to charged attacks.
• Four Star: Prototype Amber offers bonus hp as a main stat. Its effect allows for team-wide healing and powerful energy recharge as well.

Neuvillette’s Talent Priority:

• 1. Normal attack: As Water Seeks Equilibrium. With light flourishes, Neuvillette commands the tides to unleash a maximum of 3 attacks, dealing Hydro DMG.
• 2. Elemental Skill: O Tears, I shall Repay. Summons a Raging Waterfall that will deal AoE Hydro DMG to opponents in front of Neuvillette based on his Max HP. After hitting an opponent, this skill will generate 3 Sourcewater Droplets near that opponent.
• 3. Burst: O Tides, I Have Returned. Unleashes waves that will deal AoE Hydro DMG based on Neuvillette's Max HP. After a short interval, 2 waterfalls will descend and deal Hydro DMG in a somewhat smaller AoE, and will generate 6 Sourcewater Droplets within an area in front.

Best Team for this Build:

Double Hydro: Neuvillette, Furina, Kazuha, and Baizhu.

Optionally, you can swap a character like Furina for Mona (so you can still have the hydro resonance) and Baizhu can be exchanged for your strongest 4 star shielder–options like Layla/Kirara/Diona, whatever you can work with. This team is incredibly powerful because both anemo and dendro are hyper-reactive elements, meaning hitting 3 stacks with his passive is relatively easy. Also, Furina works so well with Neuvillette that she can provide as much DPS as a stack of draconic glory.

2. Hypercarry Perma Freeze: Heart of Depth

Pictured above, 4 Piece Heart of Depths is another incredibly viable option. Honestly, putting this on your Neuvillette is going to make him an absolute powerhouse. It’s definitely competitive with Marechaussee and, as you can see from the 4 piece set, increases his charged attack by a whopping 30%. If you’ve got an excess amount of Heart of Depths pieces laying around, it’s perfectly viable to equip him with this set.

Why Heart of Depths?

• It provides a flat, consistent increase to Hydro Damage. 
• You can get it from the strongbox by trading in 3 excess 5 star artifacts for one Heart of Depth piece. This makes getting the right substats much, much easier. 
• The artifact is pretty easy to grind if your account is good enough, and it’s always going to be good, if a little niche at its worst. 
• Neuvillette wants charged attack bonuses; this set provides a whopping 30% increase on top of the hydro damage, which means if you have artifacts of this set with higher substats you might be competitive with someone who has Neuvillette equipped with Marechaussee.
• Easy to make use of. Just use his skill (which has very good uptime) and you get the increase. 
• You probably have a ton more laying around if you’ve been playing the game a while (or if you have an Ayato). Even if you don’t, one thing you can do while grinding for artifacts on another character is take the off-sets (the ones you’re not trying to get) and turn them all into Heart of Depths pieces, thus enabling you to profit while not even doing the domain.

Artifact Stats

Goblet: Hydro Damage/HP% main stat. 

Flower: Flat HP main stat. 

Feather: Flat Attack main stat.

Sands: HP% main stat. 

Circlet: Crit Rate/Damage main stat.

For sub stats, look for: HP (flat and %), crit rate, and crit damage.

Weapons:

• Five Star: Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds gives crit rate and an elemental damage bonus for simply being on the field. It should be noted that some rotations aren’t long enough to entirely benefit from this catalyst. However, it’s still a powerful alternative to Tome of the Eternal Flow. 
• Four Star: Sacrificial Jade is his best 4 star option. It’s not craftable or obtainable through wishes, however, and must be bought in Genshin Impact’s Battle Pass. Like Lost Prayer, Sacrificial Jade provides a crit rate main stat. Its skill effect is to increase max hp and EM(elemental mastery).

Neuvillette’s Talent Priority:

• 1. Normal attack: As Water Seeks Equilibrium. With light flourishes, Neuvillette commands the tides to unleash a maximum of 3 attacks, dealing Hydro DMG.
• 2. Elemental Skill: O Tears, I shall Repay. Summons a Raging Waterfall that will deal AoE Hydro DMG to opponents in front of Neuvillette based on his Max HP. After hitting an opponent, this skill will generate 3 Sourcewater Droplets near that opponent.
• 3. Burst: O Tides, I Have Returned. Unleashes waves that will deal AoE Hydro DMG based on Neuvillette's Max HP. After a short interval, 2 waterfalls will descend and deal Hydro DMG in a somewhat smaller AoE, and will generate 6 Sourcewater Droplets within an area in front.

Best Team for this Build:

Freeze: Neuvillette, Rosaria, Shenhe, and Kazuha.

This team might not seem that great, but with the double cryo resonance you’ll be able to earn an increased crit dmg against frozen targets. Optionally, you can swap Shenhe for Layla (though for freeze comps you don’t have to worry about shielding our hydro sovereign as much). For Kazuha, Sucrose is always an optional replacement. You can use Diona, too.

3. Hypercarry Dendro Reactions: Wanderer’s Troupe

4 Piece Wanderer’s Troupe, pictured above, definitely isn’t as strong as the others (unless you’re running him with something approximating a Hyperbloom comp, which we’ll get into later) because it gives EM, which most Neuvillette players won’t be making good use of. However, the 4 piece bonus is one of the highest charged attack damage bonuses the game provides. While not as good as the others, you can easily get this set doing your world/weekly bosses. You probably have some pieces just laying around, and if you’re new to the game–well, this set will definitely help you get to the others.

Why Wanderer’s Troupe?

• Wanderer’s Troupe is great for new players who have yet to reach Fontaine or Inazuma. 
• It’s a strong, versatile option for dendro/reaction-centric teams. 
• As mentioned above, the charged attack bonus is one of the highest in the games. However, the drawback is, naturally, its 2 piece bonus. 
• It’s so easy to get that I’d honestly be surprised if you didn’t have a few great pieces laying around. 
• It’s one of the easiest artifacts in the entire game to grind out.You more or less get pieces from everything and anything in the game.

Artifact Stats:

Goblet: Hydro Damage/HP% main stat. 

Flower: Flat HP main stat. 

Feather: Flat Attack main stat.

Sands: HP% main stat. 

Circlet: Crit Rate/Damage main stat.

For sub stats, look for: HP (flat and %), crit rate, and crit damage.

Weapons:

• Five Star: Kagura’s Verity is a  powerful 5 star option for Neuvillette. While it can be a little harder than the others to get the maximum value out of, it is, nonetheless, a powerful weapon with crit damage and a bonus to elemental damage. Neuvillette makes great use of both these stats. 
• Four Star: The Widsith is a catalyst most characters can make use of. It offers crit dmg and, while a little on the RNG side (a true nightmare in a gacha game), it makes up for it with one of three blessing options being a 48% increase to elemental damage. It isn’t consistently good, but when it’s great, it’s great.

Neuvillette’s Talent Priority:

• 1. Normal attack: As Water Seeks Equilibrium. With light flourishes, Neuvillette commands the tides to unleash a maximum of 3 attacks, dealing Hydro DMG.
• 2. Elemental Skill: O Tears, I shall Repay. Summons a Raging Waterfall that will deal AoE Hydro DMG to opponents in front of Neuvillette based on his Max HP. After hitting an opponent, this skill will generate 3 Sourcewater Droplets near that opponent.
• 3. Burst: O Tides, I Have Returned. Unleashes waves that will deal AoE Hydro DMG based on Neuvillette's Max HP. After a short interval, 2 waterfalls will descend and deal Hydro DMG in a somewhat smaller AoE, and will generate 6 Sourcewater Droplets within an area in front.

Best Team for this Build:

Hyperbloom: Neuvillette, Raiden Shogun, Nahida, and Baizhu.

Optionally, you can swap around Raiden for Fischl, Nahida for a character like c6 Dendro Traveler, and Baizhu can be opted out for a dendro shielder like Kirara for a more ftp friendly team.This comp is incredibly powerful and, if you’ll be running Wanderer’s Troupe, you’ll actually be able to make use of the EM, if even slightly.

 Now that you know how to build Neuvillette and what teams work with him, you’re ready to get him on that rerun. Just grind for his boss, talent, and ascension materials and by the time he gets here you’ll be able to solo floor 12 of the Spiral Abyss. And remember: If you can’t get his weapon, Prototype Amber is here to console us Neuvillette fans.

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