Updated:
06 Nov 2024
Who is Diluc?
Diluc Ragnvindr is the quintessential image of a gentleman within Mondstadt, where he is by day a wine industry tycoon, and by night a vigilante (think fantasy batman). A fan favorite since the beginning of the game, as well as playing a key role within the opening chapters of Genshin’s storyline, Diluc has remained relevant, even as fan tier lists place him anywhere between A and C tiers. As such, let’s examine this long time fan favorite.
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This, is Diluc *ding*
Key strengths of Diluc
- Low energy recharge requirements: His elemental bursts don’t require as much energy recharge. This means that Diluc will be able to recover the energy requirements for his elemental burst that much faster.
- Low cooldown time: Furthermore, with a short cooldown time for said elemental bursts, means that a Diluc player can pop his elemental skills more frequently.
- Pyro elemental reactions: As he is a pyro character, he has the ability to trigger a large variety of elemental reactions ranging from vaporize to overload, and from burning to melt. It should be noted though that Diluc is best geared towards vaporizing and melting builds.
- Repeated Pyro infusion: due to the ability to repeatedly infuse his normal attacks with pyro whether it be through triggering his elemental skill or elemental burst, this can mean he can reliably trigger elemental reactions.
- Crit rate ascension: His crit rate ascends with him. This means that it is quite easy to make a main DPS compared to other characters where more investment might be needed.
- Claymore: As a claymore wielder, he is able to access some of the many aspects of claymore wielders. These include dealing high damage at the cost of speed, increased damage to geo and certain shield types, and being able to trigger shatter on frozen enemies, even without using elemental skills.
- High plunge potential: due to his access to a claymore, he has a high potential to deal plunge damage and follow up on it. This plunge attack could be dealt either by attacking from a higher point or by using Xianyun (more on that later)
- Weapon synergy flexibility: While he lacks a weapon that he can perfectly synergize with which is often viewed as a negative, I’d argue that because of that, he also has access to multiple weapon options that could work well with him, which can be helpful for those who doesn’t have every single weapon out there, especially helpful for free-to-play players (like myself).
- Well equipped for many foe types: Because of his kit, as well as with his team builds, as you will soon see, he can be used quite well, quite frequently, whether it be exploration, boss fights, or domain and/or Abyss runs.
1. Vaporize-focused Team
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An example of a Vaporize team build with characters I have
What this team does:
This team is focused around Diluc being a main DPS, with the others helping to facilitate the conditions for Diluc to have his damage amplified by triggering vaporize.
- Pairs Diluc with a hydro character and an anemo character
- Hydro: Xingqui
- Anemo: Kazuha or Venti
- They in turn use hydro to inflict wet status, and anemo to either spread that status or to clump enemies together.
- Diluc then uses his elemental skills and bursts to inflict the status of vaporize, dealing massive damage.
- Pair with either:
- Zhongli to provide shielding
- Bennett to give buff to damage and healing via his elemental burst
Advantages of this build:
This team is best suited for dealing with large groups of enemies, such as Abyss or domain runs.
- Excellent crowd control: Through the use of an anemo character, enemies will be clustered together, as well as having the elemental statuses spread amongst them.
- Massive damage dealing potential: Through the amplification occurring by Diluc triggering vaporize, massive amounts of damage can be dealt
- Flexible for either further damage buffs and healings or reduced to nonexistent damage being taken: Because it can work with either Bennett or Zhongli, players can decide whether to boost damage and healing, or apply shields.
- Flexible for choice: Because there are two essentials, Diluc and Xingqui, this means that there is a fair amount of leeway if you don’t have the exact characters listed here. For example, if you don’t have Kazuha or Venti, Sucrose will fill that role quite well.
- Very few counters: Very few enemies can stand up to this powerful build, with any combination of buffs, shielding, healing, elemental reaction, and good ol’ fashion damage, the odds are very much in your favor.
The specifics of this build:
- Diluc (5 star claymore)
- Role: Main DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Normal Attack>Elemental Burst
- Weapons: Wolves gravestone>Serpent Spine>Prototype archaic
- Artifacts: Crimson Witch of Flame (4)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Pyro DMG
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%, Elemental mastery
- Ideal Constellation: C1, C2 is also good, but must be paired with a shielder to take full advantage of it
- Xingqui (4 star sword)
- Main Role: Sub DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst> Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Sacrificial sword>Primordial Jade cutter>Fleuve Cendre Ferryman
- Artifacts: Noblesse oblige (4)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Hydro DMG
- Circlet: CRIT DMG
- Substats: Elemental Mastery, CRIT DMG, CRIT RATE, ATK%
- Ideal Constellation: C6
- Kazuha (5 star sword)
- Role: Support
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst> Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Freedom sworn>Xiphos Moonlight>Iron sting
- Artifacts: Viridescent Venerer (4)
- Sand: Mastery
- Goblet: Mastery
- Circlet: Mastery
- Substats: Elemental Mastery, CRIT DMG, CRIT RATE, ATK%
- Ideal Constellation: C2
- Venti (5 star bow)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Elegy for the End>Aqua Simulacra>Favonius Warbow
- Artifacts: Viridescent Venerer (4)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: ATK%
- Circlet: CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG, CRIT RATE, ATK%
- Ideal Constellation: C6, but if you need elemental absorption and crowd control, then C0 is fine
- Zhongli (5 star polearm)
- Role: Support Shielder
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Elemental Burst>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Black Tassel>Dialogues of the Desert Sages>Staff of Homa
- Artifacts: Tenacity of the Millelith (4)
- Sand:HP%
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet: HP%
- Substats: HP%, HP, Energy Recharge
- Ideal Constellation: C2
- Bennett (4 star sword)
- Role: Support/healer
- Talent priority:Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapon: Skyward blade>Favonius sword>Sapwood Blade
- Artifacts: Noblesse Oblige (4)
- Sand: HP%
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet:HP%
- Substats: HP%,HP, Energy Recharge
- Ideal constellation: C10
2. Melt-focused Team
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An example of a Melt team build (again, with characters I have)
What this team does:
This team shares many similarities with a vaporize team. The difference is that instead of dealing more damage with using Vaporize, the elemental reaction sought for here is Melt.
- Diluc returns, and in some versions of this team so does Kazuha and/or Bennett return
- Their builds will be similar to the Vaporize team
- A Cyro character is used instead, applying freeze to enemies
- Ayaka
- Ganyu
- Rosaria
- We will focus on Ayaka and Ganyu for this team build, as Rosaria is well suited for another build further in the piece
- For the last slot, depending on previous choices, there are several options
- Diona for shielding and healing
- Sucrose for an anemo Sub DPS
- Xingqui as a hydro Sub DPS, helping to facilitate freeze
- Cyro is applied to enemies, and swirl to help spread the freeze status, and to clump enemies together
- Diluc then uses his burst and skills to trigger melt
Advantages of this build:
This team is also well suited for dealing with large groups of enemies, such as Abyss or domain runs.
- Massive damage potential: Like its Vaporize counterpart, a melt team has the possibility to deal massive damage.
- Very flexible for choice: As it shares many of the same characters and builds as a Vaporize team, it enables players to switch between the two very easily, while not taking as much time and resources to create.
- Potentially more elemental reactions can be dealt: Depending on the choices a player can make, it can be possible to not only create Melt, but if a player chooses to bring along a hydro character, then Frozen and Shatter become options as well.
- (Potentially) good crowd control: Again, like the vaporize build, if you decide to employ the usage of anemo characters like Kazuha or Sucrose, then even large amounts of enemies will not be an issue.
- Fairly safe to run: If you decide that instead of an anemo character, you’ll run both Diona and Bennett, you’ll find that you’ll have both healing and shielding, increasing the likelihood that you won’t have to use a fried egg.
The specifics of this build:
- Diluc (5 star claymore)
- Role: Main DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Normal Attack>Elemental Burst
- Weapons: Wolves gravestone>Serpent Spine>Prototype archaic
- Artifacts: Crimson Witch of Flame (4)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Pyro DMG
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%, Elemental mastery
- Ideal Constellation: C1, C2 is also good, but must be paired with a shielder to take full advantage of it
- Ganyu (5 star bow)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Normal Attack>Elemental Skill
- Weapons: Aqua Simulacra>Elegy of the End>Favonius Warbow
- Artifacts: Blizzard Strayer (2), Noblesse Oblige (2)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Cryo DMG
- Circlet: CRIT RATE or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG/CRIT RATE, ATK%, Energy Recharge%
- Ideal Constellation: C1, at least for a melt build
- Ayaka (5 star sword)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent Priority: Elemental Burst>Normal Attack>Elemental Skill
- Weapon: Mistsplitter reforged>Haran Geppaku Futsu>The Black Sword
- Artifacts:Blizzard Strayer (2) Noblesse Oblige (2)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Cryo DMG
- Circlet: CRIT RATE or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG/CRIT RATE, ATK%, Energy Recharge%
- Ideal Constellation: C0 is good enough, but C4 doesn’t hurt either
- Sucrose (4 star catalyst)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent Priority: Elemental Skill>Elemental Burst>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Sacrificial Fragments>A Thousand Floating Dreams>Wandering Evenstar
- Artifacts: Viridescent Venerer (4)
- Sand: Mastery
- Goblet: Mastery
- Circlet: Mastery
- Substats: Elemental Mastery, CRIT DMG, CRIT RATE, ATK%
- Ideal Constellation: C1
- Diona (4 star bow)
- Role: Healer/Support
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Elegy of the End>Sacrificial Bow>Favonius Warbow
- Artifacts: Maiden Beloved (4)
- Sand: Energy recharge%
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet: HP%
- Substats: HP%, HP, Energy Recharge
- Ideal Constellation: C1 is enough, C2 is decent, C6 will be the most bang for your buck
3. Plunge-based Vaporize team
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The triggering of Bennett's elemental burst
What this team does:
This composition is where we begin to look at the plunge compositions, which while looking similar to the regular team compositions, has a unique twist that involves plunging damage.
- Diluc returns as Main DPS
- Bennett also returns as a healer/support
- Buffs and heals with his elemental burst
- Furina is added as a Sub DPS
- With her elemental skill, she deals DMG, boosts damage, and apply the wet status
- Xianyun is added as support
- With her plunge buff via her elemental burst
- Furina and Bennett apply buffs, healing, and Furina applies the wet status on enemies
- Xianyun induces swirl, helping to spread the wet status, before finally applying the plunge bonus via her burst
- Diluc then leaps, plunge attacks with his skill and burst, rinse, repeat
Advantages of this build:
Plunge teams like this one and the next one, while can be used for many situations, are particularly well suited to dealing with bosses. Bosses like Tartaglia or Maguu Kenki are good examples of bosses that this build could work for.
- Damage amplified via two methods: Because it applies both the elemental reactions of vaporize, as well as dealing plunge damage, this results in multiple levels of damage being dealt, making it well and truly terrifying.
- The perfect synergies: Bennett’s elemental burst and buffs + Furina’s buffs + Xianyun’s plunging buffs via her elemental burst = A Diluc who is a threat to most, if not all enemies you will encounter.
- Covers a lot of ground: A lot of corners and concerns are covered with this build, such as healing, buffing, and plain old damage dealing. It’s easier to count what this team comp doesn’t provide; shielding.
- Massive damage dealt: All of this combined, results in Diluc being able to deal massive amounts of damage after the proper set up.
The specifics of this build:
- Diluc (5 star claymore)
- Role: Main DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Normal Attack>Elemental Burst
- Weapons: Wolves gravestone>Serpent Spine>Prototype archaic
- Artifacts: Crimson Witch of Flame (4)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Pyro DMG
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%, Elemental mastery
- Ideal Constellation: C1, C2 is also good, but must be paired with a shielder to take full advantage of it
- Bennett (4 star sword)
- Role: Support/healer
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Skyward blade>Favonius sword>Sapwood Blade
- Artifacts: Noblesse Oblige (4)
- Sand: HP%
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet:HP%
- Substats: HP%,HP, Energy Recharge
- Ideal constellation: C1
- Furina (5 star sword)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Elemental Burst>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Splendor of Tranquil Waters>Key of Khaj-Nisut>Key of Khaj-Nisut
- Artifacts: Golden Troupe (4)
- Sand: HP%
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet: CRIT RATE or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG, CRIT RATE, HP%, Energy Recharge%
- Ideal Constellation: C6
- Xianyun (5 star catalyst)
- Role: Support
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Cranes Echoing Call>Skyward Atlas>Oathsworn Eye
- Artifacts: Song of Days Past (4) OR Viridescent Venerer (4)
- Sand: Energy Recharge%
- Goblet: ATK%
- Circlet: Healing Bonus%
- Substats: HP%, HP, Energy Recharge
- C2 is a must, but C6 is recommended, but not mandatory
4. Plunge-based Melt team
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An example of a Plunge team build, specifically a Plunge-Melt build (I don't have Furina, so no example of a Plunge-Vaporize build))
What this team does:
This composition, like the previous one, is where the melt team build meets the plunge build. Almost all of it is the same except for one noticeable exception.
- Diluc returns as Main DPS
- Bennett also returns as a healer/support
- Buffs and heals with his elemental burst
- Xianyun is added as support
- With her plunge buff via her elemental burst
- Rosaria is added as a Sub DPS
- With her skill and burst, the frozen status is applied to enemies
- Bennett apply buffs, healing, and Rosaria applies the frozen status
- Xianyun induces swirl, helping to spread the frozen status, before finally applying the plunge bonus via her burst
- Diluc then leaps, plunge attacks with his skill and burst, rinse, repeat
Advantages of this build:
This team is also well suited for many situations, but in particular, bosses would be the best foes to use this build for.
- Damage amplified via two methods: Because it applies both the elemental reactions of melt, as well as dealing plunge damage, this results in multiple levels of damage being dealt, making it well and truly terrifying.
- Good synergy: While missing out on the bonus of Furina’s buffs, Bennett’s buffs and healing alongside Xianyun’s plunge buff still ensures good damage is dealt. In addition, Rosaria’s elemental burst can help supply a steady stream of cryo damage, dealing damage and helping set up for Diluc to melt.
- Economically nicer: As you may have noticed, a lot of these team builds can be very time consuming or expensive due to the amount of 5 stars needed. However with this build consisting of only 2 five stars, and 2 four stars, this means that this can be created comparatively easy, which would be nice for those who are Free-to-play (again, like myself, that’s why I run this)
- Massive damage dealt: All of this combined, results in Diluc being able to deal massive amounts of damage after the proper set up.
- Bargain deal: The last two points combine, mean that this team is great for those who are free-to-play, but still use the gacha system. Furthermore, it also still retains a strong amount of efficiency, making it a cheap(er) but viable option.
The specifics of this build:
- Diluc (5 star claymore)
- Role: Main DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Normal Attack>Elemental Burst
- Weapons: Wolves gravestone>Serpent Spine>Prototype archaic
- Artifacts: Crimson Witch of Flame (4)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Pyro DMG
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%, Elemental mastery
- Ideal Constellation: C1, C2 is also good, but must be paired with a shielder to take full advantage of it
- Bennett (4 star sword)
- Role: Support/healer
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Skyward blade>Favonius sword>Sapwood Blade
- Artifacts: Noblesse Oblige (4)
- Sand: HP%
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet:HP%
- Substats: HP%,HP, Energy Recharge
- Ideal constellation: C1
- Xianyun (5 star catalyst)
- Role: Support
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Cranes Echoing Call>Skyward Atlas>Oathsworn Eye
- Artifacts: Song of Days Past (4) OR Viridescent Venerer (4)
- Sand: Energy Recharge%
- Goblet: ATK%
- Circlet: Healing Bonus%
- Substats: HP%, HP, Energy Recharge
- Ideal Constellation: C2 is a must, but C6 is recommended, but not mandatory
- Rosaria (4 star polearm)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Staff of Homa>Primordial Jade Winged-Spear>Wavebreaker's Fin
- Artifacts: Blizzard Strayer (4) OR Emblem of Severed Fate (4)
- Sands: ATK% or Energy Recharge
- Goblet: Cryo DMG Bonus
- Circlet: Crit Rate or Crit DMG
- Substats: Energy Recharge, CRIT RATE, CRIT DMG, ATK%
- Ideal Constellation: C2 is what is recommended for most builds
(P.S. I’ve somehow gotten away with my Rosaria being built like a support, which is to say Skyward spine and Noblesse Oblige (4), so if you don’t have the items for a Sub DPS, you can get away with building her with a support build)
5. Free-to-play-focused team
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An example of a Free-to-play team build (please disregard the username)
What this team does:
While this team build is not the most powerful stats wise, this team build is very well suited for those who are free-to-play or are brand new to Genshin impact (if you are in the latter half, I hope that everything written so far made sense).
- Diluc fulfills the role of main DPS
- Kaeya takes on the mantle of Sub DPS, applying the freeze status to enemies
- Geo Traveler takes on the role of Sub DPS as well
- Finally, reliable Noelle becomes the reliable support
- She heals
- She shields
- And depending on how you build her, she buffs too
- Kaeya applies freeze, Diluc applies fire to make it melt, Geo traveler deals burst damage before dipping, and Noelle keeps the whole circus alive
- In essence, this is a melt build on a budget smaller than the minimum wage
Advantages of this build:
This team is a good starter team, thus is ideal for general exploration within the early game, but be warned, I would caution against doing bosses with this team format.
- Affordable: Of all the team builds discussed today, this one is the easiest to get made, as almost all these characters aside from Diluc are characters players will be getting. Furthermore, most of the ascension materials can be found relatively easily, as well as being within the first two areas.
- Accessible: Again, as almost all the characters for this build can be easily obtained, this makes this team very accessible for new players. This also helps introduce new players to some of the mechanics, as well as help prepare for future team builds for Diluc, Kaeya, and Noelle. (traveler is absent cause let’s be real here, most players don’t use the traveler)
- Still works: While this seems very plain, in essence, this is the Soviet approach to the melt build, trading in damage for survivability. This might sound pathetic, but this could be critical for newer players.
- Good intro to team building: This team build is once again very useful for new players, as it introduces some of the fundamentals of how to organize teams within Genshin Impact.
- Flexible: While this is the quintessential form of this build, because it is built around a simple premise, that of dealing damage through melt with some support, as players get new characters, new characters can easily be swapped in. For example, switching Kaeya with Chongyun, or Traveler being swapped with Barbara.
The specifics of this build:
- Diluc (5 star claymore)
- Role: Main DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Normal Attack>Elemental Burst
- Weapons: Wolves gravestone>Serpent Spine>Prototype archaic
- Artifacts: Crimson Witch of Flame (4)
- Sand: ATK%
- Goblet: Pyro DMG
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Substats: CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%, Elemental mastery
- Ideal Constellation: C1, C2 is also good, but must be paired with a shielder to take full advantage of it
- Kaeya (4 star sword)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Burst>Elemental Skill>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Mistsplitter reforged>Primordial Jade Cutter>Wolf-Fang
- Artifacts: Blizzard Strayer (4)
- Sands: ATK%
- Goblet: Cryo DMG Bonus
- Circlet: CRIT DMG
- Substats: ATK%, CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate
- Ideal Constellation: C) is enough for a Sub DPS role, but C2 is nice
- Traveler (geo) (5 star sword… wait 5 star really?)
- Role: Sub DPS
- Talent priority: Elemental Skill>Elemental Burst>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Primordial Jade Cutter>Summit Shaper>Festering Desire
- Artifacts: Emblem of Severed Fate (4)
- Sands: ATK% or Energy Recharge
- Goblet: Geo DMG Bonus
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Substats: Energy Recharge, CRIT RATE, CRIT DMG, ATK%
- Ideal Constellation: C6, you get it for free
- Noelle (4 star claymore)
- Role: Support
- Talent priority:Elemental Skill>Elemental Burst>Normal Attack
- Weapons: Redhorn Stonethresher>Serpent Spine>Whiteblind
- Artifacts: Husk of Opulent Dreams (4)
- Sand: DEF%
- Goblet: Geo DMG Bonus
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Substats: DEF%, CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%, DEF%, CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%
- Ideal Constellation: C6
