The best Genshin Impact Nahida build

Want to learn how to create the best build for Nahida in Genshin Impact? Since you're here I'm going to assume that you're in on the most poorly kept secret in Teyvat: Nahida is Genshin Impact's latest Archon character. She may look and indeed act like a sweet little child, but this tiny cutie is also the living vessel of Lesser Lord Kusanali, the god presiding over the nation of Sumeru.

Archons have historically been some of the best characters in Genshin Impact, and I'm happy to confirm that Nahida doesn't buck the trend. Furthermore, she's surprisingly versatile, and can suitably fill almost any role on a team depending on your needs. So read on for details of the best build ideas we've seen for Nahida, including her best weapons, artifacts, party members, and more.

How to build Nahida as an Elemental DPS in Genshin Impact

Best weapon: A Thousand Floating Dreams

4-star alternative: Solar Pearl

The new 5-star Catalyst A Thousand Floating Dreams was quite literally designed to be Nahida's perfect weapon. With this weapon equipped, Nahida gains a minimum 10% DMG Bonus buff to every Elemental Type belonging to her teammates. (Alternatively, if you pair her up with another Dendro character, she'll instead get a minimum 32 increase to her Elemental Mastery instead.) Nearby party members will also see an increase to their Elemental Mastery (minimum 40). If another character in the party has a similar weapon equipped, the effects can even stack.

If a brand-new premium weapon is (understandably) out of your reach, considering equipping Nahida with the Solar Pearl catalyst for now instead. Using this weapon creates a pleasing feedback loop, in which hits with Nahida's normal attacks boost her elemental talent damage by a minimum 20% for the next 6 seconds; and, vice versa, her elemental talents provide an identical buff to her normal attacks. It's not quite as powerful as the 5-star version, but it does allow Nahida to buff her own damage practically indefinitely.

Best artifacts: Deepwood Memories

• 2-piece set bonus: Dendro DMG Bonus +15%
• 4-piece set bonus: After Elemental Skills or Bursts hit opponents, the targets' Dendro RES will be decreased by 30% for 8 seconds. This effect can be triggered even if the equipping character is not on the field.

Alternative: Gilded Dreams

Unsurprisingly, Nahida's best artifacts are from Deepwood Memories, the set specifically designed to boost the damage dealt by Dendro characters. Equipping at least two pieces from the set is a must-have for Nahida, but the four-piece bonus is well worthwhile: it decreases enemies' resistance to Nahida's attacks the more she hits them, which is undeniably useful.

If you're still collecting Deepwood Memories pieces, Gilded Dreams or Wanderer's Troupe make for good alternatives. Both grant a two-piece set bonus of +80% to Elemental Mastery, Nahida's special stat. The four-piece bonus for Gilded Dreams works well for Nahida, too: whenever the party triggers an elemental reaction, for the next 8 seconds Nahida's EM will increase by 50 for every teammate with a different elemental type to hers. (Alternatively, she'll get +14% ATK for every Dendro teammate.)

To really make the most of this build, aim for the following stats and substats on the artifacts:

• Circlet of Logos: Elemental Mastery
• Sands of Eon: Elemental Mastery
• Goblet of Eonothem: Dendro DMG Bonus
• Substats: CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG, Elemental Mastery

Talent priority: All Schemes to Know (Elemental Skill)

Secondary: Illusory Heart (Elemental Burst)

If you're building Nahida as more of a supporting DPS, then her elemental talents should take slight priority over her normal attack. However, Nahida is a character who benefits from having all of her talents fully levelled, and you will want to keep on top of them all if you want to make the most of her over time.

Here's a full list of Nahida's talents and what they do:

• Akara (Normal Attack):
• Normal Attack: Nahida performs up to 4 attacks that deal Dendro DMG to opponents in front of her.
• Charged Attack: Nahida consumes a certain amount of Stamina to deal AoE Dendro DMG to opponents in front of her after a short casting time.
• Plunging Attack: Calling upon the might of Dendro, Nahida plunges towards the ground from mid-air, damaging all opponents in her path. She then deals AoE Dendro DMG upon impact with the ground.
• All Schemes to Know (Elemental Skill): Nahida sends forth karmic bonds of wood and tree from her side, dealing AoE Dendro DMG and marking up to 8 opponents hit with the Seed of Skandha: opponents who have been marked by the Seed of Skandha will be linked to one another up till a certain distance. After you trigger Elemental Reactions on opponents who are affected by the Seeds of Skandha or when they take DMG from Dendro Cores (including Burgeon and Hyperbloom DMG), Nahida will unleash Tri-Karma Purification on the opponents and all connected opponents, dealing Dendro DMG based on her ATK and Elemental Mastery. You can trigger at most 1 Tri-Karma Purification within a short period of time. When held, this skill triggers differently, entering Aiming Mode, which allows you to select a limited number of opponents within a limited area. During this time, Nahida's resistance to interruption will be increased. When released, this skill deals Dendro DMG to these opponents and marks them with the Seed of Skandha. (Aiming Mode will last up to 5 seconds and can select a maximum of 8 opponents.)
• Illusory Heart (Elemental Burst): Nahida manifests the Court of Dreams and expands the Shrine of Maya. When the Shrine of Maya field is unleashed, effects will be separately unleashed based on the Elemental Types present within the party (see below). If there are at least 2 party members of the aforementioned Elemental Types present when the field is deployed, the aforementioned effects will be increased further. Even if Nahida is not on the field, these bonuses will still take effect so long as party members are within the Shrine of Maya:
• Pyro: While Nahida remains within the Shrine of Maya, the DMG dealt by Tri-Karma Purification from her Elemental Skill is increased.
• Electro: While Nahida remains within the Shrine of Maya, the interval between each Tri-Karma Purification from her Elemental Skill is decreased.
• Hydro: The Shrine of Maya's duration is increased.
• On All Things Meditated (Utility Passive): Nahida can use her Elemental Skill to interact with some harvestable items within a fixed AoE. (As a special bonus effect, using said skill can also mark NPCs in Sumeru to trigger special dialogue. Most NPCs have a unique line, while some will simply repeat their idle line.)
• Compassion Illuminated (1st Ascension Passive): When unleashing Nahida's Elemental Burst, the Shrine of Maya will increase the Elemental Mastery of the active character within the field by 25% of the highest Elemental Mastery stat in the party. You can gain a maximum of 250 Elemental Mastery in this manner.
• Awakening Elucidated (4th Ascension Passive): Each point of Nahida's Elemental Mastery beyond 200 will grant 0.1% Bonus DMG and 0.03% CRIT Rate to Tri-Karma Purification from her Elemental Skill. A maximum of 80% Bonus DMG and 24% CRIT Rate can be granted to Tri-Karma Purification in this manner.

Party composition

• Dendro DPS: Nahida
• Electro DPS: Fischl
• Hydro DPS: Xingqiu
• Pyro DPS/Healer: Bennett

5-star alternative: Cyno or Nilou replacing Fischl or Xingqiu, respectively

Nahida's kit seems to have been designed with an eye for collaboration with fellow recently-released 5-stars Cyno (Electro) and Nilou (Hydro). This is great news if you've been collecting all the new characters on release; but less good if you've just treated yourself to the new Archon, but otherwise don't bother pulling for 5-stars very often.

However, Nahida's kit is ridiculously adaptable, so she'll fit neatly into any team you place her on as long as it supports her focus on Dendro elemental reactions with Electro/Hydro/Pyro. Fischl and Xingqiu can provide a decent alternative Electro and Hydro co-DPS, respectively. And of course, if you have another 5-star elemental DPS candidate with these elements — like Yae Miko or Yelan, for example — they can happily be subbed in as well.

Nahida's one real weakness is her low HP, so round out her team with a strong healer. I particularly recommend Bennett. His Pyro vision completes the set of elements that react powerfully with Nahida's Dendro, and he's one of the few healers in the game who's also a solid DPS, allowing you full range to switch between all members of Nahida's team mid-battle.

How to level up Nahida in Genshin Impact

Ascension Materials

To fully ascend Nahida, you will need:

Nahida's ascension materials are plentiful in her native Sumeru, and you shouldn't struggle to collect most of them simply by exploring the nation (with a focus on taking on the mushroom-themed enemies you find there). It's worth noting that she's the first character in Genshin Impact to get her boss levelling materials from the Dendro Hypostasis, who drops Quelled Creepers upon being defeated.

Talents

To fully level one of Nahida's talents, you will need:

In addition to mushroom-themed enemy drops found around Sumeru, you'll need to visit the nation's Steeple of Ignorance domain on Tuesdays/Fridays/Sundays to farm Nahida's talent books. Repeat the Scaramouche boss fight at the Joururi Workshop trounce domain at Lvl 70+ for her boss levelling materials. Finally, Crowns of Insight can be obtained through limited-time events or by making offerings to the Frostbearing Tree and Sacred Sakura.

Constellations

I never recommend relying on a 5-star character's constellations as a central part of any build in Genshin Impact: the need to either grind or spend your way to C6 is something I can't in good conscience suggest that you do. Luckily, like most 5-stars, Nahida's constellations are nice to have, but far from essential if you've built her well.

In case you do end up pulling some duplicate Nahidas from the gacha, here's a full list of her constellations and what they do:

• The Seed of Stored Knowledge (C1): When the Shrine of Maya is unleashed and the Elemental Types of the party members are being tabulated, the count will add 1 to the number of Pyro, Electro, and Hydro characters respectively.
• The Root of All Fullness (C2): Opponents that are marked by Seeds of Skandha applied by Nahida herself will be affected by the following effects: Burning, Bloom, Hyperbloom, and Burgeon Reaction DMG can score CRIT Hits; CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG are fixed at 20% and 100% respectively. Within 8 seconds of being affected by Quicken, Aggravate, Spread, DEF is decreased by 30%.
• The Shoot of Conscious Attainment (C3): Increases the level of Nahida's Elemental Skill by 3 (up to a maximum upgrade level of 15).
• The Stem of Manifest Inference (C4): When 1/2/3/more nearby opponents are affected by All Schemes to Know's Seeds of Skandha, Nahida's Elemental Mastery will be increased by 100/120/140/160.
• The Leaves of Enlightening Speech (C5): Increases the level of Nahida's Elemental Burst by 3 (up to a maximum upgrade level of 15).
• The Fruit of Reason's Culmination (C6): When Nahida hits an opponent affected by Seeds of Skandha with Normal or Charged Attacks after unleashing Illusory Heart, she will use Tri-Karma Purification: Karmic Oblivion on this opponent and all connected opponents, dealing Dendro DMG based on 200% of Nahida's ATK and 400% of her Elemental Mastery. DMG dealt by this effect is considered Elemental Skill DMG and can be triggered once every 0.2 seconds. The effect can last up to 10 seconds and will be removed after Nahida has unleashed 6 instances of it.

How to get Nahida in Genshin Impact

As an Archon, Nahida is theoretically one of the most desirable party members in the game. But in practice, she's no more or less likely to join your team than any other 5-star event-limited character; which is to say, you'll only have the chance to pull her when her banner is available in the gacha. Following her November 2022 debut, Nahida's first rerun is taking place now between April 12th - May 2nd, 2023 (end times TBC).

If you're hoping to pull for Nahida during this rerun, be sure to check out our Genshin Impact codes page to learn how to claim some free Primogems! You might also like our guide on how to get more characters in Genshin Impact for general advice on how to fill up your character archive.

Now that you know how to build Nahida, check out our tier list of the best characters in Genshin Impact to see how she stacks up against the opposition. And if you're looking to put together a superteam of Genshin's Archons, be sure to check out our guides to the best builds for Venti, Zhongli, and Raiden Shogun as well!