Nilou is an amazing 5-star Hydro character in Genshin Impact. She is a Sword user who you can play either as a Main DPS or Sub-DPS. Nilou’s main utility lies in her ability to replace the traditional Bloom reaction with a distinct variant that produces higher damage-dealing Bountiful Cores instead of Dendro Cores. To help you understand how to effectively use her, we have prepared a comprehensive Genshin Impact Nilou build guide, which explains how to play her and provides information about her best weapons, artifacts, and team comps.
Table of Contents
Genshin Impact Nilou Build Guide
Nilou Character Stats – Breakdown
| Type | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rarity | 5-star |
| Element | Hydro |
| Weapon Type | Sword |
| Role | Main DPS / Sub-DPS |
| Base ATK (Level 90) | 230 |
| Base DEF (Level 90) | 729 |
| Base HP (Level 90) | 15185 |
| Ascension Stat (Level 90) | 28.8% HP |
| Voice Actors | EN: Dani Chambers JP: Kanemoto Hisako CN: Zisu Jiuyue KR: Chae Rim |
| Strengths | • Turns Dendro Cores into Bountiful Cores. • Strong Hydro application. |
| Weaknesses | • Only functions with Dendro and Hydro characters. • Needs a healer to mitigate Bloom self-damage. |
Nilou is an amazing Hydro character in Genshin Impact. Her passive effect transforms all Dendro Cores created by the Bloom reaction into special Bountiful Cores. These cores explode much quicker and deal significantly more damage. However, this effect is only triggered when there are only Hydro and Dendro characters on your team.
Additionally, another passive talent of Nilou’s can buff the damage dealt by the Bountiful Cores depending on her max HP. As such, she can directly influence the Bloom damage based on her HP. As such, it is recommended to stack this stat on her for the best results.
How to Play Nilou
Let’s take a look at how to play Nilou efficiently:
- Use the abilities of all other characters and then switch to Nilou.
- Press Nilou’s Elemental Skill once. Then you can either tap it thrice if you wish to use her off-field or click on her Normal Attack button thrice to infuse them with Hydro for an on-field playstyle.
- Create several Bountiful Cores and deal damage with them.
Should you pull Nilou?
Yes, Nilou can be an amazing character to have if you enjoy team compositions focusing on the Bloom reaction. She can enhance the reaction considerably, making it way stronger than it is in normal conditions.
Best Weapons for Nilou Build in Genshin Impact
The Key of Khaj-Nisut will be the best Sword for your Nilou build. It is her signature weapon, which offers a lot of HP to her. Other than that, you can also equip some other Swords to her for good results:
| Weapon | Rarity and How to Get | Advantages |
|---|---|---|
 Key of Khaj-Nisut | 5-star; Gacha | • Provides HP. • Buffs EM and HP. |
 Freedom-Sworn | 5-star; Gacha | • Provides EM. • Buffs ATK and DMG output. |
 The Dockhand’s Assistant | 4-star; Gacha | • Provides HP. • Gives EM. |
 Xiphos’ Moonlight | 4-star; Gacha | • Provides EM. • Increases ER based on EM. |
 Iron Sting | 4-star; Craftable | • Provides EM. • Buffs dealt damage after dealing Elemental DMG. |
Best Artifacts for Nilou Build in Genshin Impact
While Vourukasha’s Glow is a good artifact set for a Nilou build, it isn’t her best option. To maximize her damage output, it is suggested you only use two pieces of Vourukasha’s Glow with two pieces of Tenacity of the Millelith.
| Artifact Set | How to Get | Effect |
|---|---|---|
 Vourukasha’s Glow + Tenacity of the Millelith | Molten Iron Fortress Domain, Sumeru + Ridge Watch Domain, Liyue | • 2-Piece: HP +20%. • 2-Piece: HP +20%. |
 Vourukasha’s Glow | Molten Iron Fortress Domain, Sumeru | • 2-Piece: HP +20%. • 4-Piece: Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst DMG will be increased by 10%. After the equipping character takes DMG, the aforementioned DMG Bonus is increased by 80% for 5s. This effect increase can have 5 stacks. The duration of each stack is counted independently. These effects can be triggered even when the equipping character is not on the field. |
Main Stats Priority
- Sands: HP%
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet: HP%
Sub-Stats Priority
- HP%
- EM
- ER
Best Team Comps for Nilou Build in Genshin Impact
As mentioned above, Nilou’s most important passive talent only takes effect when there are only Hydro and Dendro characters in your party. As such, no characters from any other element can pair with Nilou. Here are her best teams in Genshin’s current meta:
| Main DPS | Sub-DPS | Sub-DPS / Support | Sub-DPS / Support |
|---|---|---|---|
 Nilou |  Nahida |  Furina |  Baizhu |
| Main DPS | Sub-DPS | Sub-DPS / Support | Sub-DPS / Support |
|---|---|---|---|
Nilou | Nahida |  Yaoyao |  Sangonomiya Kokomi |
| Main DPS | Sub-DPS | Sub-DPS / Support | Sub-DPS / Support |
|---|---|---|---|
Nilou | Nahida |  Yelan | Sangonomiya Kokomi |
Apart from these, you can form several other kinds of teams based on the Hydro and Dendro characters available in your account.
Nilou Kit Details and Talent Level-up Priority
Here’s what Nilou’s talents do in the game and their level-up priorities:
| Talent | Effect | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Attacks | Normal Attack: Performs up to 3 consecutive sword strikes. Charged Attack: Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to perform a twirling slash. | Low |
| Elemental Skill (Dance of Haftkarsvar) | Enters the Pirouette state, dealing Hydro DMG to nearby opponents based on Nilou’s Max HP. While she is in the Pirouette state, Nilou’s Normal Attacks and Elemental Skill will cause her to enter the Sword Dance and Whirling Steps stances, respectively, causing the DMG she deals to be converted to Hydro DMG that cannot be overridden and that is considered Elemental Skill DMG. In these stances, Nilou’s third dance step will end Pirouette, and has the following effects based on the type of said dance step: • Sword Dance: unleashes a Luminous Illusion that deals Hydro DMG to opponents and grants Nilou the Lunar Prayer effect. This effect converts Nilou’s Normal Attacks into Sword Dance techniques, and her final hit will unleash a Luminous Illusion. • Whirling Steps: Nilou unleashes a Whirling Water Wheel that deals AoE Hydro DMG and creates a Tranquility Aura that follows your active character around and applies Wet to opponents within its AoE. Nilou is unable to perform Charged Attacks when under the effect of Pirouette or Lunar Prayer. These effects will be removed once she leaves the field. | Highest |
| Elemental Burst (Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring) | Begins the dance of faraway dreams and springs that hear, causing a Lotus of Distant Waters to bloom, dealing AoE Hydro DMG based on Nilou’s Max HP and applying the Lingering Aeon effect to all opponents hit. After an interval, opponents affected by Lingering Aeon will take Hydro DMG. | High |
| Passive Talent 1 (Court of Dancing Petals) | When all characters in the party are all Dendro or Hydro, and there is at least one Dendro character and one Hydro character: The completion of the third dance step of Nilou’s Dance of Haftkarsvar will grant all nearby characters the Golden Chalice’s Bounty for 30s upon its completion. Characters under the effect of Golden Chalice’s Bounty will increase the Elemental Mastery of all nearby characters by 100 for 10s whenever they are hit by Dendro attacks. Also, triggering the Bloom reaction will create Bountiful Cores instead of Dendro Cores. Such Cores will burst very quickly after being created, and they have larger AoEs. Bountiful Cores cannot trigger Hyperbloom or Burgeon, and they share an upper numerical limit with Dendro Cores. Bountiful Core DMG is considered DMG dealt by Dendro Cores produced by Bloom. Should the party not meet the conditions for this Passive Talent, any existing Golden Chalice’s Bounty effects will be canceled. | NA |
| Passive Talent 2 (Dreamy Dance of Aeons) | Every 1,000 points of Nilou’s Max HP above 30,000 will cause the DMG dealt by Bountiful Cores created by characters affected by Golden Chalice’s Bounty to increase by 9%. The maximum increase in Bountiful Core DMG that can be achieved this way is 400%. | NA |
| Passive Talent 3 (White Jade Lotus) | When Perfect Cooking is achieved on Food with Adventure-related effects, there is a 12% chance to obtain double the product. | NA |
Best Nilou Constellations in Genshin Impact
Here are all of Nilou’s constellations in the game and their pull value:
| Constellation | Effect | Value |
|---|---|---|
| C1 (Dance of the Waning Moon) | Dance of Haftkarsvar will be enhanced as follows: • Luminous Illusion DMG is increased by 65%. • The Tranquility Aura’s duration is extended by 6s. | High |
| C2 (The Starry Skies Their Flowers Rain) | After characters affected by the Golden Chalice’s Bounty deal Hydro DMG to an opponent, that opponent’s Hydro RES will be decreased by 35% for 10s. After a triggered Bloom reaction deals DMG to opponents, their Dendro RES will be decreased by 35% for 10s. You need to have unlocked the “Court of Dancing Petals” Talent.” | Highest |
| C3 (Beguiling Shadowstep) | Increases the Level of Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. | Medium |
| C4 (Fricative Pulse) | After the third dance step of Dance of Haftkarsvar’s Pirouette hits opponents, Nilou will gain 15 Elemental Energy, and DMG from her Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring will be increased by 50% for 8s. | Medium |
| C5 (Funerary Rite: The Passing of Starlight) | Increases the Level of Dance of Haftkarsvar by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. | Medium |
| C1 (Frostbreaker’s Melody) | For every 1,000 points of Max HP, Nilou’s CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG will increase by 0.6% and 1.2% respectively. The maximum increase in CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG via this method is 30% and 60% respectively. | Highest |
How and When Can You Get Nilou in Genshin Impact?
You will have the chance to summon Nilou again soon on the upcoming Sumeru-themed Chronicled Wish banner in version 6.0, on September 10, 2025. Moreover, you can also get her signature weapon during this period.
Banner History
| Banner Version | Dates |
|---|---|
| 4.8 | Jul 17, 2024, to Aug 6, 2024 |
| 3.6 | Apr 12, 2023, to May 2, 2023 |
| 3.1 | Oct 14, 2022, to Nov 1, 2022 |
More details about Nilou’s upcoming banners will be updated here once HoYoverse announces them.
