The best Genshin Impact Layla build, weapons, artifacts, and Layla F2P options
Just five more minuteszzz
Who needs sleep when you can piece together your best Genshin Impact Layla build and give your party one of the anime RPG’s best defenders and supporters. The perpetually exhausted Akademiya student in the 3.2 update occupies a unique role in the Genshin Impact roster, with her sturdy shields and icy stars.
Whereas most recent characters since the Sumeru region released tended to fill DPS or healer roles, Layla is a defender whose shield ranks among the strongest out there. She’s also a reliable source of Cryo and a catalyst for powerful freeze and vaporize reactions, and while her HP-scaling abilities have few ideally suited weapons, Layla benefits from an Artifact set you can acquire fairly early in the game.
Just make sure to stock up on Nilotpala Lotus while you’re traveling around Sumeru. Layla needs it for her level-up ascension.
Genshin Impact Layla
Layla’s function as a main DPS is a bit murky for reasons similar to Candace and Kuki Shinobu. Layla’s setup makes her shine as a Cryo sub-DPS and support character. Her skill creates a shield with an impressive damage absorption capacity rivaled only by Zhongli and Thoma, and one that gets even stronger based on her max HP. Layla’s second passive talent, Like Nascent Light, increases the active character’s shield by 6 percent every time her shield gains a Night Star, for a total of 24 percent.
While the shield is active, it accumulates these Night Stars and fires them off in rounds of four, dealing Cryo damage that also scales with Layla’s HP. Her final passive talent, Sweet Slumber Undisturbed, boosts the damage from the stars her shield creates by a further 1.5 percent of her max HP,
Layla’s burst is similar to Ganyu’s. It creates an orb that fires Cryo projectiles continously for 12 seconds. These, too, scale based on Layla’s max HP. so if you haven’t picked up on it already, HP is Layla’s most important stat.
The ease and consistency with which she applies Cryo makes Layla a flexible fit for nearly any party. Pair her with Nilou’s Tranquility Aura or Xingqiu’s Rain Swords for an easy freeze setup or Raiden Shogun, Yae Miko, or Cyno for Superconduct. Layla also makes Melt easy for the likes of Hu Tao, Diluc, Yanfei, and Yoimiya.
The only potential drawback is that Cryo has no interactions with Dendro, so if you’ve been planning a Dendro team with Nahida or Collei, these composition would resign Layla to the role of shield creator and nothing else.
Either way, Layla’s skill setup makes her perfect for off-field support, Cryo application, and damage, but you may want to experiment with using her in a main DPS capacity or at least keeping her on field every now and again. Layla’s base attack is 18, and her normal attack scaling is higher than you usually get with 4-star characters. If you pair her with a strong sword, she could hold her own with physical attacks and stay safe thanks to her shield.
If you don’t have a reliable way to spread Cryo, need a sturdy shield character, or both, then the answer is absolutely yes, you should pull for Layla. Genshin Impact still has comparatively few characters who generate strong shields, with Noelle, Xinyan, and Diona’s shield strength ranking at approximately half of Layla’s.
Outside of a Diona and Ganyu rerun, Cryo characters have also been short supply lately, so Layla is a good opportunity for newer players to add a strong elemental support character to their roster.
What is the best Genshin Impact Layla build?
Layla needs HP, but with few weapon choices available that offer health buffs, you can let Artifacts carry that burden and get a bit creative in the sword department.
Best Layla weapon – Key of Khaj-Nisut
Layla’s best weapon is technically the Key of Khaj-Nisut sword, since it raises HP twice, but unless you got very lucky during Nilou’s banner, you probably either missed it or need it for Nilou.
Primordial Jade Cutter is a strong second choice. It also raises the user’s HP and grants an attack bonus based on their max HP. This one makes using Layla as an on-field DPS even more viable.
On the 4-star side, the Sacrificial Sword is a handy option thanks to its unique skill that has a high chance of resetting the user’s skill cooldown timer. Layla’s skill has a fairly lengthy cooldown timer of 12 seconds. Having that reset is particularly useful in settings where her shield might shatter quickly, such as the Spiral Abyss.
Best Layla Artifacts – Tenacity of the Millelith
Tenacity of the Millelith is almost tailor made for Layla, with HP, shield, and attack buffs – everything Layla does well – all rolled into one set.
- 2-piece effect: Raises HP by 20 percent
- 4-piece effect: When an elemental skill hits an opponent, nearby party members’ attack increases by 20 percent and their shield strength increases by 30 percent for three seconds. This effect can still be triggered even when the character who is using this artifact set is not on the field
HP should be your primary stat focus, followed by elemental damage and attack.
You could also opt for Noblesse Oblige, which is often easier to obtain since you earn 5-star sets from raising your Adventure Rank.
- 2-piece effect: Raises elemental burst damage by 20 percent
- 4-piece effect: After using an elemental burst, your party’s attack increases by 20 percent
Finally is the Blizzard Strayer set, which helps boost your Cryo damage and is particularly useful in a Freeze team.
- 2-piece effect: Raises Cryo damage by 15 percent
- 4-piece effect: Critical hit rate increases by 20 percent against foes afflicted with Cryo and by 40 percent if they’re frozen
What is the best Layla F2P build?
Layla’s F2P build struggles a little with weapon variety, but thanks to her high normal attack scaling, one craftable weapon stands out as particularly useful.
Best Layla F2P weapon – Prototype Rancour
Prototype Rancour increases the user’s physical attack damage and then buffs their attack and defense even further when their hits land. It does nothing for Layla’s elemental skill and burst, but since neither infuses her normal attacks, you can still deal a respectable amount of damage while both abilities are on cooldown or in conjunction with them.
Best Layla F2P Artifacts – Tenacity of the Millelith
Regardless of her weapon, HP and shield strength are still Layla’s most important features, so her Artifacts need to reflect that in her F2P build as well.
Since there’s a slightly heavier emphasis on physical attacks with Prototype Rancour, you could supplement it with Pale Flame, since its 2-piece effect
Keep a thought for the upcoming Genshin Impact characters as well to see how they might fit with Layla, and make sure to redeem any active Genshin Impact codes because everyone loves freebies.