Best Zhongli Build: Weapons, Artifacts & Teams (v7.0)

SHIELD SUPPORTBURST SUPPORT

SHIELD SUPPORT Build

Weapons

1

Black Tassel

HP%

2

Favonius Lance

Energy Recharge

Artifacts

1

Archaic Petra

4

2

Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City

4

3

Deepwood Memories

4

4

Instructor

4

5

Tenacity of the Millelith

4

6

Vourukasha's Glow

2

Tenacity of the Millelith

2

Substats Priority

1HP%

2HP

3Energy Recharge

Talents Priority

1ESkill

2QBurst

3NANormal Attack

Recommended Primary Stats

Sands

HP%

Goblet

HP%

Circlet

HP%CRIT Rate

SHIELD SUPPORT
Stack HP aggressively. Prioritize Black Tassel and Tenacity of the Millelith (4) to maximize Zhongli's shield. Casting Elemental Burst is usually a DPS loss due to cast time; use it only for crowd control, not damage.
When paired with Xingqiu and/or Beidou, their damage reduction from Skill and Burst orbitals makes Zhongli's shield nearly unbreakable.
Artifact Main Stats & Substats: Only build CRIT Rate when equipping Favonius Lance to reliably trigger its passive.
Weapon Choices: Favonius Lance > Black Tassel if the team values energy; requires enough CRIT Rate to proc.
Artifact Sets:
- Archaic Petra (4): Better than Tenacity in teams that don't scale well with ATK or already have another holder. Awkward usage — the holder must pick up the shard, which may extend rotation.
- Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City (4): Preferred over Archaic Petra when multiple Geo or Cryo/Hydro/etc. characters benefit from DMG% bonus.
- Tenacity of the Millelith (4): Best shield HP, but inconsistent against bosses; needs good construct placement. Use other buffing sets if the team prefers them.
- Deepwood Memories (4): Ideal in Dendro reaction teams (Bloom/Burgeon/Hyperbloom/Spread) to free up DPS sets like Gilded Dreams. Requires keeping enemies near pillars for uptime.
- Instructor (4): Niche use in heavy reaction teams (Melt Ganyu or Vaporize Hu Tao); weaker shield but still usually sufficient.

BURST SUPPORT
Zhongli can serve as a Geo burst damage dealer thanks to 12s cooldown and 40 energy cost. His hold Skill (shield) scales with HP, and Ascension 4 talent adds 33% of max HP to Burst damage. In low-investment or tight rotations, using Burst may be a DPS loss.
Weapon Choices: Favonius Lance surpasses other options for team energy; requires CRIT Rate to trigger.
Artifact Main Stats: ATK% sands yields more damage than HP% but less shield HP. Use HP% if a stronger shield is needed.
Artifact Sets:
- Noblesse Oblige (2) + Archaic Petra (2): Ahead of Emblem of Severed Fate (4) when Energy Recharge needs are low.
- Noblesse Oblige (4): Provides team utility on Burst; use if no other teammate holds it.
- Tenacity of the Millelith (4): Boosts shield strength and grants ATK% when Skill hits an enemy; similar utility to Noblesse.