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Lisa Guide: ₪ Magnum Opus Magae ₪

₪  A mechanically in-depth Lisa Guide  ₪
₪  by ArchedNosi  ₪
[Original Document]
Updated For Version 3.8


Artwork by HTKJheadache

Credits/References

Thanks to the members of the Lisa Mains Discord for the help in the creation of this document!
Some clips/gifs were sourced there!

Feel free to join the Lisa Mains Discord and Lisa Mains Subreddit here!

Artwork Credit List in Chronological Order: 

  1. @HTKJheadache
  2. @GenshinImpact & さいね
  3. @GenshinImpact
  4. @もじゅ
  5. @richarano
  6. @FallingMist
  7. @yuko666_666 | Twitter | Pixiv
  8. @Reiji-RJ
  9. @ArtofFRanzilla

Spreadsheets used and/or maintained:

  1. Motion Value and Combo Sheet by ComputingMagus
  2. Lisa C4 Infodump, Lisa Burst Targeting Infodump, Lisa Equipment Calculations, and Personal Calculator by ArchedNosi

External Sites referenced:

  1. KQM EGT by KeqingMains
  2. Lisa Theorycrafting Evidence Vault by KeqingMains
  3. Genshin Optimizer by frzyc et al.

Extra Info:

  1. Guide Legacy, containing items that were either patched or removed.
  2. Genshin Optimizer Multi-Hit Targeting Configurations for Lisa.

Terminology

Here is some terminology used strictly within this guide to help explain Lisa:

Stacks of ConductiveRefers to the name of Lisa’s Elemental Skill’s stacks.
Cast Time and
Active Time
Refers to the individual stages of Lisa’s Hold Elemental Skill.
Discharge or BoltRefers to the individual damaging entities emitted from Lisa’s Elemental Burst.
ArcRefers to any of the groups of instances of when Lisa’s Elemental Burst releases Discharges or Bolts.
Bounce Tech
and
Bounce
Refers to the mechanic integrated in Lisa’s Tap Elemental Skill allowing Conductive stacks to spread.
Bounce RadiusRefers to the initial radius of Lisa’s Tap Elemental Skill upon impact that allows her Bounce Tech to take place.
Multi-StackRefers to being able to simultaneously apply multiple stacks of Conductive.
Radiation
and
Radiate
Refers to the property of how her Bounce Tech and relevant reactions, like Overloaded and Superconduct, may produce an additional stack of Conductive.

Preface

Artwork by Official Genshin Impact Twitter & さいね

Welcome to the official Lisa Mains guide to Lisa, written and prepared by ArchedNosi!
Lisa has a bewildering complex kit because of her stacking mechanic, interchangeable combos, and gameplay changes depending on various situations. Thus, understanding how she works can be daunting. Arguably, Lisa has one of the most unexplored kits in Genshin, mostly because of how much the community does not know about all Lisa can do and offer. She also gets neglected for being one of the starter characters by many who underestimate her potential, especially considering the sudden impact of the Dendro element and how it merges with her kit, giving and reforging Lisa’s identity as a character. That said, in reverse, Lisa’s complexity can be overlooked by utilizing her as a cheap and feasible supportive option given her available value.

Lisa is a heavily misunderstood character, and it doesn’t help that both her skill descriptions are written in such a confusing way in-game as well as much of her potential being discovered with the introduction of Dendro. This document was created to alleviate those issues, and we at Lisa Mains hope it serves you well as a complete guide and overview on how to play Lisa to her optimum!

Why Should I Play Lisa?

Pros

  • Synergistic with other Electro and Dendro characters
  • High scaling multipliers
  • Great Electro Application, especially when On-field
  • Competitive Damage over Time (DoT) damage from her Burst (especially with C4)
  • Effective in multi-target scenarios
  • Constellations are not mandatory for entry usage
  • Artifacts are fairly obtainable and, optionally, Strongbox-able
  • Has one of the only DEF debuffs in the game
  • Can be utilized as an effective supportive option with little investment
  • Many archetypes are open to being valid and flexible
  • Complex and mechanical (double-edged)

Cons

  • As an Off-field DPS, she is reliant on her Hold Elemental Skill’s CD
  • Has an 80 Energy Cost Elemental Burst which often will mandate for ER% and/or a sufficient Battery
  • Requires high investment for damage
  • Constellations are not easily obtainable due to Starter Characters being not featured in Character Event banners
  • Her better Constellations are found later as opposed to early
  • If to be used effectively as an On-field DPS, there is a learning curve in her rotations, attack strings, and overall cognitive awareness—and more so if 4TF is opted (for Aggravate)

Gameplay Overview

Common Misconceptions

“Lisa is only good at C6″

“Lisa takes too long to set up.”

These two are the biggest misconceptions. Once you learn how to efficiently stack 3 Conductive stacks with a single Tap Elemental Skill (tE, Tap E) via Lisa’s Bounce Tech or by other means, her relative effectiveness without C6 is much more apparent. As you get more familiar with her kit, “setting up” will take up only around the same amount of time that any other character would.

Many people also seem to overlook her C4, which is more likely to be her “best” Constellation. It makes Lisa surprisingly potent by raising the damage ceiling of her Burst and heavily bolsters her Electro Application in multi-target scenarios. It does additionally give her a source of Pseudo-Quadratic scaling if enemies are close enough to permit it. However, this variation of Quadratic scaling is limited by its randomness and ceiling at three entities. C6 still remains as a worthwhile Constellation and an effective power boost though as it does allow for flexibility.

“Lisa’s 3-Stack Hold E takes too long to execute.”

“Lisa needs a shielder to operate.”

In a similar vein to the previous claims, a properly maximized Hold Elemental Skill (hE, h#E, Hold E) can be quickly stacked using Lisa’s Bounce Tech. Additionally, some people are unaware that her Hold Elemental Skill can be released when the inner circle aligns with the outer radius—this takes approximately 1.9 seconds.

As for Shields, although a Shielder can be helpful to some, mandating one to even use Lisa is never necessary as the choice to use one is often conditional or by one’s discretion.

“Lisa’s Elemental Burst has bad knockback.”

Colloquially, there is the assumption that her Elemental Burst (Burst, Q) innately knockbacks enemies. This is false. In reality, connections from her Burst effectively only induce a knockback if enemies are airborne. Otherwise, if enemies are either grounded or bulky enough to withstand a brief knockback from either Crowd Control (CC) or from sheer size, her infamous “knockback” becomes non-existent.

You need to be slightly careful to avoid making enemies airborne with Overload and other upward-motion attacks when preparing to use Lisa’s Elemental Burst.

Preliminary Questions

“What should I take away from this guide, if anything?”

At the very least, it is highly recommended to read the sections about Lisa’s Constellations, the properties of her Tap and Hold Skills, and her Hidden Tech, because these elements are all horribly explained in-game.
Furthermore, reading up on how Lisa has changed throughout the game’s lifetime is advisable too, as, unlike many other characters, her stance has shifted multiple times since the release of certain aspects and changes.

“How did the introduction of Dendro affect Lisa?”

In a concise answer, Dendro has, arguably, completed Lisa as a character—how fitting for Sumeru Akademiya’s most excelling and reigning valedictorian!

Lisa, along with some other Electro Units, like Shinobu, Keqing, and Fischl, to name a few, is among the primary characters to have seen a substantial change by means of the Dendro element. For Lisa in specific, her received impact is almost unlike all the rest. As similarities, Lisa’s team-building options have opened up to a variety that are Hyperbloom teams and, especially, Quicken-based teams. Within Aggravate teams as well, Lisa has found a select and dedicated role that perfectly meshes with her kit, which was something that could not be exactly said before Dendro was released.

Furthermore, her newfound effectiveness with the Dendro element has greatly lessened Lisa’s reliance on contested characters like Bennett and Xingqiu, enabling both variance and leniency for their respective teams.

As a whole, Dendro has near-complete synergy with how she functions. As an On-fielder, Lisa has access to quick and reliable Electro Applications from her Burst and various attack strings, which pairs well with Quicken, allowing her to capitalize on triggering Aggravate and finally gain a sizable benefit from her EM Ascension stat. 
Otherwise, outside of Aggravate, yet still remaining in the realm of Dendro teams, Lisa can function as a Hyperbloom trigger on account of her Burst being able to trigger Dendro Cores, be used as an Electro Enabler/Off-field DPS for Spread teams, and, while more niche than the others, barely utilize the Burning reaction as a supply for an Overload Reaction DPS build.

Lisa’s Best Role in a Team

As previously mentioned, Lisa’s most optimal role before the release of Dendro was an enigma at best: 

  • Her kit had valuable utility but was limited by her Skills’ cooldowns. 
  • Her Electro Application was high and rampant but did not have much use. 
  • And, most mystifyingly, her EM Ascension stat had little value to none outside of select teams.

Pre-Update 3.0, with all of these in tandem, her most optimal role was, debatably, as an Off-field DPS with Supportive capabilities, and, while that archetype’s value has not depreciated since then, the scope of her kit has changed abruptly with the introduction of Dendro.

Thus, it has come to light that Lisa’s most optimal role, when properly built, is as an On-field DPS, specifically within Quicken/Aggravate-centric teams as many of her previously enigmatic properties become either resolved or transform into a great benefit, consolidating her identity as a Unit: 

  • Her high Electro Application, both from her Burst and when On-field, play seamlessly as to trigger Aggravate for a great source of additional damage.
  • Her EM Ascension stat has tangible and meaningful value within Aggravate teams.
  • Her rare 15% DEF Shred is potent by affecting both Aggravated and non-Aggravated damage.
  • And, precisely with the 4-piece Thundering Fury (4TF) set in play when with Dendro, she is able to flexibly use her Hold Skill per rotations, use more efficient and effective attack strings involving her Tap Skills for more optimized Conductive stacking, and slightly boost her Energy Generation over time.

Otherwise, outside of Quicken/Aggravate-centric teams, Lisa can still be built and played as a General On-field DPS or as a Reaction DPS, however, there is much less of an incentive to do so with the omission of Dendro but both remain completely valid archetypes.

Furthering that thought, due to her “Bounce” and “Radiation” mechanics or with C6, her next viable role is as an Off-field DPS, swapping in to deal bursts of damage in a relatively short time and large radius. Alternatively, as a derivative of an Off-field playstyle, at cheaper investment levels, or for accessibility as a supportive option, she can also suit as a tertiary Support/Buffer/Enabler. While it does not make the most use out of Lisa’s kit, she can be a popular choice as she offers Electro aura uptime, an innate 15% DEF Shred, and as well as being able to wield the Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayer (TTDS) Catalyst. Compositions that utilize Support Lisa often are limited and are niche, but, nevertheless, she is one of the best Electro Enablers along with Fischl. This is because her Elemental Burst allows for frequent uptime on Electro auras, and, as a result, she is great for 4-piece Thundersoother teams or teams that require high Electro uptime.

Talents


Artwork by Official Genshin Impact Twitter

Normal Attack

Normal Attack: Lightning Touch

Normal Attack
Performs up to 4 lightning attacks that deal Electro DMG.

Charged Attack
Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to deal Electro DMG after a short casting time.

Plunging Attack
Gathering the might of Electro, Lisa plunges towards the ground from mid-air, damaging all opponents in her path. Deals AoE Electro DMG upon impact with the ground.

 NACAPlunge Landing
Gauge Value1U1U1U

* The ICDs of all of these actions are independent of one another.

Normal Attack
Charged Attack
Plunging Attack

Normal Attack

In comparison to other Catalyst users, Lisa’s Normal Attack multipliers are lower, however, they are also relatively faster, which becomes slightly beneficial as to have more Electro Applications. 

All of Lisa’s Normal Attacks ‘lock’ onto enemies and are not projectile-based, but, instead, are hitscan. In addition, Lisa’s Normal Attacks have a small AoE radius upon impact, so if entities, including Dendro Cores, are close enough to each other, each Normal Attack can hit every entity. They can also attack through the terrain.

In succession, Lisa’s first three attacks are in a quick string, with the fourth following after a brief teleport that positions Lisa away or forwards from her target or targeted area. In a similar case to other known teleportative abilities in the game, her teleport may also be used to dodge or escape certain attacks if need be.

Charged Attack

The most notable attributes of Lisa’s Charged Attack are its damage output and Elemental Application with no ICD, like other Catalysts’ Charged Attacks. Using it appropriately will often require the user to both be aware of Lisa’s surroundings, as the animation is sluggish, as well as properly manage her Stamina, since using dashes in tandem can easily deplete it.

This attack also ignores terrain and is visually false, it is more of a ‘sector’ of a circle. The attack is also visually placed relative to Lisa’s angle of elevation. However, her Charged Attack cannot hit enemies above Lisa’s altitude.

In the screenshot below, Lisa’s Charged Attack is perceivably placed above the hilichurl, however, it still connects. This is because the actual hitbox of her Charged Attack is placed on the terrain that the targeted mob is on.

Even though it is placed on nearby terrain, the hitbox cannot be rotated to perfectly match the terrain, it can only be rotated by where it is relative to Lisa. 

(Only Left-Right, can’t be rotated Up-Down, or Clockwise-C. Clockwise)

Plunging Attack

Outside of its flashiness, Lisa’s Plunging Attack is not used often if at all in common scenarios. Regardless, it still does guarantee an Electro Application if somehow necessary.

Elemental Skill

Elemental Skill: Violet Arc

Channels the power of lightning to sweep bothersome matters away.

Press
Releases a homing Lightning Orb.
On hit, it deals Electro DMG, and applies a stack of the Conductive status (max 3 stacks) to opponents in a small AoE.

Hold
After an extended casting time, calls down lightning from the heavens, dealing massive Electro DMG to all nearby opponents.
Deals great amounts of extra damage to opponents based on the number of Conductive stacks applied to them, and clears their Conductive status.

 PressHold
Gauge Value1U2U
Cooldown1s16s
Particle Generation5
Duration3s Lifespan4s Max Hold Time
Snapshot?YesNo; Dynamic upon release
Tap Variant
Hold Variant

Tap Variant 

Note that there are no particles created naturally from her Tap Skill. 
The projectile tags mobs around the impact in a given visual radius, adding a Conductive stack to affected enemies. Fully understanding this mechanic is fairly esoteric, but it is the key to mastering Lisa, as you need to also understand how to properly abuse the Hidden Bounce Mechanic, Radiating with Elements, and possible Tap Skill combos as well. Once understood, players can manipulate situations to multi-stack Conductive stacks efficiently and in succession.

If Lisa swaps out of the party before the projectile connects, the tagged mob will not gain a Conductive Stack.
Each Conductive Stack individually decays after 15 seconds.

The ICD of Lisa’s Tap Skill on applying Electro auras is also shared between her regular Normal Attacks.

Hold Variant 

If an enemy has 1, 2, or 3 Conductive stacks by the time her Hold Skill is released, it will deal 115%, 133%, and 152% of its original damage from 0 Conductive stacks.

This ability can be held for a maximum of ~4 seconds but ideally should be held for a minimum of 1.9 seconds (or 2.2 seconds if Lisa is affected by a Cryo aura). Releasing Violet Arc later has no additional benefits, and its cooldown also only begins once released. Thus, it is advised to be as optimal with your timing as to increase DPS and Energy Generation over time.

There are 1.9 seconds of Cast Time and ~2.1 seconds of Active Time.

Releasing a Hold Skill during Cast Time acts as if a Tap Skill was executed while releasing at any point during Active Time yields the same effect as if the Hold Skill was maintained for the entire 4 seconds.

Once the visual radius connects with the outer radius, the ability has switched from Cast Time to Active Time (at 1.9s). The outer ring will also glow slightly brighter to indicate Active Time has begun. Releasing during Active Time strikes all mobs within the outer radius. During channeling this ability, Lisa will remain still and become susceptible to damage.

When under a Cryo aura, release when it’s ~2.2s, a bit after the rings are aligned.

From left to right:
Optimal Timing | Optimal Timing under Cryo | Full Duration (DON’T)

This Skill is not a Spherical Hitbox, but rather an entire Cylindrical Hitbox with a radius of 10m and has no apparent height limit—or at least a very high limit. 

Only Lisa’s Hold Skill is affected by Lisa’s C1, allowing 2-10 Self-Energy to be generated in addition to the usual 5 Electro particles dependent on enemy count.

Elemental Burst

Elemental Burst: Lightning Rose

Summons a Lightning Rose that unleashes powerful lightning bolts, launching surrounding opponents and dealing Electro DMG.
The Lightning Rose will continuously emit lightning to knock back opponents and deal Electro DMG throughout the ability’s duration.

 Lightning RoseInitial SummonField Arcs
Gauge Value[See right]0U1U
Cooldown20s
Energy Cost80
Radius7m7mSlight Impact Radius
Snapshot?Yes; when Lantern is formed

Upon its initial cast, there is a singular instance of damage dealing a constant 10% Talent Damage Multiplier of Lisa’s ATK. Although it is considered and calculated as Burst Damage, it is not affected in any way by the actual level of Lisa’s Lightning Rose Talent. Interestingly as well, this singular Summon Damage will not apply any Electro aura.

There are 29 total Arcs, or instances for Discharges, from her Burst, with each Discharge targeting a random enemy within the field. With C4, each Arc gains the ability to send multiple Discharges and thus can hit multiple enemies, gaining a potential Pseudo-Quadratic Scaling and turning Lisa into a highly effective Off-field Electro Enabler or DPS with her constant Electro Application—which is especially notable for Aggravate.

Lisa’s Elemental Burst has a duration of 15 seconds, with a minimum of 5 seconds of downtime in-between consecutive Bursts. Fortunately, her DEF Shred from her A4 lasts for 10 seconds, and because it refreshes every time an enemy is tagged by an individual Discharge, the debuff persists and even has 5 seconds of flexibility. It is therefore not necessary to chain Bursts back-to-back to maintain DEF Shred uptime, however, it is still beneficial to do so as the total damage from her Burst is often a majority.

When Dendro Cores are within Lightning Rose’s radius, Arcs will always prioritize targeting actual enemies over Dendro Cores.

Just as with Lisa’s Normal Attacks, Discharges from Lightning Rose have a slight AoE impact radius, allowing for multiple for multiple entities, like enemies or Dendro Cores, to be damaged with a single Discharge indirectly. And, just as with Lisa’s Hold Skill hitbox, Lightning Rose’s hitbox is also a cylinder with no apparent height limit—or at least another very high limit.
Lightning Rose’s connections will briefly stun ‘weak’ mobs and not on ‘sturdier’ mobs. ‘Weak’ mobs will only get knocked back if the mob itself is airborne, otherwise, it functions as a stagger. This is widely misunderstood among the community.

Ascension 1 Passive

Ascension 1 Passive: Induced Aftershock

Hits by Charged Attacks apply Violet Arc’s Conductive status to opponents.

The Conductive stack gained from Lisa’s A1 functions identically to how other Conductive stacks are applied. The only exception is that the Conductive stack gained from this is always one singular additional stack.
Unlike her Tap Skills, the stacks from her A1 will not radiate/bounce.

Ascension 4 Passive

Ascension 4 Passive: Electricity Field

Opponents hit by Lightning Rose have their DEF decreased by 15% for 10s.

The 10s duration gets refreshed every time the enemy is tagged again by any of Lightning Rose’s Discharges. However, the Initial Summon DMG does not apply this debuff.

(This equates to around 7-8% DPS increase when fighting enemies of an equal level as your character)

Utility Passive

Passive: General Pharmaceutics (Innate)

20% chance to refund the material costs of making potions.

“Here’s a frog you used to make a potion! It’s perfectly intact!”

Talent Priorities


Artwork by @じゅ

Electro On-field DPS

Lightning Rose = Violet Arc ≥ Normals
~40%, ~35%, ~25%

Mathematically speaking, all of Lisa’s talents contribute to her overall damage fairly equally in this archetype. Her Elemental Burst and variants of her Elemental Skill are where the majority of her damage lies, but, as she would prefer to be On-field for the sake of Aggravate teams or in other teams where Lisa is a Driver, her Normal Attack talent does see some mileage. In such teams, Lisa will be utilizing her Normal Attacks and Charged Attacks all while alternating Tap Elemental Skills with eventual Elemental Bursts and Hold Elemental Skills, and, since all attacks can apply Electro for Aggravate, all talents will be used to varying degrees.

If she is being ideally put into an Aggravate team as well, leveling Lisa to 90 is also a recommendation as the increase given to her Aggravate triggers become widely apparent. For instance, the difference in leveling Lisa from 80 to 90 will be ~34% more additive (Aggravate) and transformative (Hyperbloom, Overloaded, Superconduct, Electro-Charged, etc.) reaction damage, which is substantial but may be resource-heavy.

With that said, as an On-field DPS, Lisa is ideally played in a more mobile style with active animation canceling or with combos, and doing so may draw enemies out of her Elemental Burst. Thus, it can be argued that her Burst has a marginally lower priority as an On-field DPS—that said, her Elemental Burst can greatly become a majority of her damage with good cognition.

Electro Off-field DPS + Support/Buffer/Enabler

Lightning Rose ≥ Violet Arc > Normals
~45-65%, ~35%, ~20-0%

Straight-forward; both her Elemental Burst and Elemental Skill should be leveled in tandem to one another as both are integral as an Off-field DPS, while Normal Attacks have less of a priority.
Supportive builds are more or less just less invested Off-field DPS builds, so the same priorities apply, although there are cases where not using her Elemental Skill is preferred, in which case only her Elemental Burst should be leveled.

Reaction DPS

Talent Levels are irrelevant for this archetype. In order to maximize Lisa’s damage, focus on leveling herself instead.

Lisa’s Reaction builds focus on maximizing her damage from transformative reactions, and, of which, most often the choice is between Hyperbloom or Overloaded (Overload) where the prioritized stats are EM and ER%.

Correspondingly, due to her Electro-related reactions being the prominent damage source from a Reaction build, the damage output from Lisa’s abilities themselves will be relatively low. As such, leveling talents will have little to no benefit for Reaction builds aside from a few extra digits of damage.

As mentioned prior, leveling Lisa to 90 is another notable method in increasing this build’s damage as it, aside from getting more EM and ER%, is one of the only few ways to scale with investment, unlike her other builds.

Constellations

Many of Lisa’s Constellations are good to very good. Notably C4, C6, and arguably C2.
Approximate Constellation% Increases assume Lisa as an On-field Aggravate DPS.

Constellation 1

C1: Infinite Circuit

Lisa recovers 2 Energy for every opponent hit while holding Violet Arc (Skill).
A maximum of 10 Energy can be regenerated in this manner at any one time.

Increase from C0: ~0–2%

As stated, 10 Energy maximum can be generated in this manner as the Constellation implies. Effectively, it helps to keep uptime on Lisa’s Elemental Burst as it is an additional source of Energy. However, one should not purely rely on C1 as a constant source because, in the common play, the value of this Constellation is around 4-10 Flat Energy given to Lisa in regular situations, which may be equivalent to an extra ER% substat at times. Be aware that Lisa has to catch the particle that gets summoned as it does not give her the Energy upright, but, rather, it spawns an additional particle that holds the Flat Energy.

The particle produced also is strictly for Lisa. If you attempt to swap to another character trying to let them collect it, that particle gets completely wasted as then no one would receive the Energy, not even Lisa.

Constellation 2

C2: Electromagnetic Field

Holding Violet Arc increases Lisa’s DEF by 25% and her resistance to interruption.

Increase from C1: ~0%
Cumulative Increase from C0: ~2%
(Her C2 can potentially save situations that would otherwise have canceled her Hold Elemental Skill though, thus relating to more DPS)

Although this Constellation does not provide any offensive power, it still can be, and is, useful at times. Overall, it is nice to have, yet not at all a necessity as, with high cognition, one can time her Hold Elemental Skills well or in-between enemy attacks.

However, where this Constellation truly shines is if you know what attacks Lisa can and cannot resist with this newfound poise. If that criterion is met, you can be certain about confirming her Hold Elemental Skills on specific attacks, which also allows for smoother gameplay.

Constellation 3

C3: Resonant Thunder

Increases the Level of Lightning Rose by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.

Increase from C2: ~3–5%
Cumulative Increase from C0: ~5–7%

More damage to her Elemental Burst is always appreciated, especially considering what her next Constellation entails…
Note that its Initial Summon damage is not affected by Talent Levels.

Constellation 4

C4: Plasma Eruption

Lightning Rose now unleashes 1-3 lightning bolts when it attacks.

Increase from C3: ~0–40%
Cumulative Increase from C0: ~7–47%

Arguably one of, if not, her best Constellations; makes her Elemental Burst deal, at maximum, ~2.5x more damage and greatly increases her Electro Application throughout her Burst’s duration, which is immensely appreciated for Aggravate teams and a pleasant addition in consistency for Reaction teams. 

At the same time, this Constellation can have no effect at all if against single-target situations. Its description is a simplified version of its effect, however. While it is true that every Arc, or attack, Lightning Rose releases can unleash 1, 2, or 3 bolts/discharges, there are many other variables as to how it selects from its options.

  • If there is only one enemy in the field, they are only hit by 1 bolt, not 2 nor 3.
  • If two enemies: 1 or 2 bolts may be sent out, whereby:
    • The first Arc holds randomization of releasing either 1 Discharge or 2 Discharges, with a 60% and 40% chance to occur, respectively.
    • Afterward, all following Arcs will release either 1 Discharge or 2 Discharges, with, approximately, a 16% and 84% chance to occur, respectively.
    • So, on average, 17.5% of Arcs are 1 Discharge and 82.5% of Arcs are 2 Discharges.
  • If three or more: 1, 2, or 3, bolts may be sent out, whereby:
    • The first Arc will never occur in 3 Discharges.
    • 3 Discharge Arcs are never consecutive, after a single 3 Discharge Arc occurs, the following Arc will be either a 1 Discharge or a 2 Discharge; of these two, each has a 50% chance of occurrence.
    • Aside from those situations, for randomized Arcs, 1 Discharge has a 25% chance to occur, 2 Discharges has a 50% chance to occur, and 3 Discharges has a 25% chance to occur. Taking all of the above into account, on average, 30% of Arcs are 1 Discharges, 50% of Arcs are 2 Discharges, and 20% of Arcs are 3 Discharges.

This is also one of the only other sources of Pseudo-Quadratic Scaling in Genshin. In Lisa’s case with her C4, if enemies are close enough together when multiple Discharges connect and hit, each enemy gets damaged in proportion to how many enemies are tagged within that clump. 
Lisa’s case of Pseudo-Quadratic Scaling isn’t as ubiquitous in the community because it carries many caveats for it to work. Mainly, it is capped at 3 Discharges maximum, is dependent on randomness, and also is dependent on enemies being close enough anyways.

Specifically for Reaction Lisa builds like Overload and especially Hyperbloom, Lisa’s C4 is a highly effective Constellation in those regards. 
Within Overload teams, this constellation allows for more consistent and constant triggers. Similarly, within Hyperbloom teams, it solves the issue of how Lisa’s Burst prioritizes targeting enemies over Dendro Cores, thus increasing Lisa’s trigger consistency immensely.

Constellation 5

C5: Electrocute

Increases the Level of Violet Arc by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.

Increase from C4: ~3–4%
Cumulative Increase from C0: ~11–51%

Like the former +3 Constellation, this remains a fair Constellation. It does not have the same potential as C3 but is still consistent and can radically make strings that contain Tap Elemental Skills to be more effective.
Having C5 allows Lisa’s Hold E to achieve over 1000% scaling if leveled, which is neat.

Constellation 6

C6: Pulsating Witch

When Lisa takes the field, she applies 3 stacks of Violet Arc’s Conductive status onto nearby opponents.
This effect can only occur once every 5s.

The damage increase C6 brings varies greatly. It can range from being a minimal increase to a sizeable one depending on how Lisa is being played.

Overall, the direct value of this Constellation is dependent on how much Lisa necessitates having max Conductive stacks at any given moment. If she is Charge Attacking frequently or being used primarily for her Burst, C6 does lose value as either her Conductive stacks are already being passively accumulated or not used at all.
Nevertheless, C6 still remains to be an effective Constellation, albeit subjective as people do tend to overrate this Constellation as the radius is still limiting, but it does ultimately smoothen how she plays and makes her less mechanically intense. Therefore it remains to be an effective Constellation in the majority of her archetypes.
However, it should also be mentioned that merely having C6 does not mean that it has to accumulate 3 free Conductive stacks to be of value, gaining two or even a singular Conductive stack when an enemy would otherwise not still remains to be relevant. It is more applicable to think of her C6 as another tertiary source of Conductive stacks rather than to forgo and replace former ways completely—Lisa’s C6 opens another option and is not a reliance but a privilege. Therefore, rotations will often not change when having her C6; it does, however, require more cognition.

As for the effect itself, the radius at which Pulsating Witch is applied is 5 meters and does not deal damage nor does it apply an Electro aura, which is nice as it won’t interfere with some interactions (i.e. Popping Mona’s Ult, Properly timing rotations, etc.).

Interestingly, the effect can also trigger outside of combat, however, this fact is pure trivia and not something necessarily of note.

Constellations Afterword

Now, having taken all of the information given about Lisa’s Constellations into account, there does arise a valid string of questions to be asked:

Are any of Constellations “necessary” to use/play Lisa?

By itself, the question is flawed as anyone can play any character if there is an appeal towards the character themselves, regardless of Constellations. That said, as denoted prior, the Constellation with the most notable changes is mainly in Lisa’s C4, with her C6 and C2 being arguable as well. However, none of these are inherently necessary. 

If the aim of reading this guide is to discern if C[X] Lisa can be a starting point to use Lisa, then, objectively, these scenarios can be when she is C0, C2, C4, or C6.

C4 and C6 are suggested as these are when differences in gameplay can start to exist, both in usage and effectiveness. C2, on the other hand, is more variable and player-dependent but can be a starting point for some if using her Hold Elemental Skill becomes troublesome or if knowing its poise limits is achievable.

Should I search for Lisa’s constellations in wishing?

No, it is not suggested to do so.
As Lisa’s Constellations are only obtainable naturally from wishes from the Standard Banner and the progressive addition of newer 4-stars to the Standard Banner Loot Pool, it becomes very difficult to recommend that line of thinking due to the obscene rates for obtaining a specific 4-star. A much more recommendable approach is to buy her Constellations from the Starglitter Shop when her time returns in the cycle. With everything said, however, the choice is ultimately in your hands.

Lisa’s MV/s and Optimal Strings

Credits to Computing Magus for the frame data and MV/s.
(% Values are taken from Talent Lv. 9)

This section is separate due to Lisa having what are essentially four string-able actions:

  • Her NAs, CAs (C), Press Es, and Hold Es.
  • Along with cancels: J/DC, or Jump/Dash Cancels; Dash Cancelling is more time-efficient but costs stamina. 
    For ease, the strings here will assume both are equivalent time-wise to Dash Cancels and will be simply referred to as ‘cancels.’

Like nearly anyone else in games, executing combos and properly canceling attacks is necessary for optimal play, but with Lisa having so many variables, it can be difficult to know exactly what the ideal ones are. Fortunately, Lisa does not suffer from hitlag.

If Lisa will be on-field for a prolonged time and you want to get as much DPS out as you can, her most notable strings are:

(With NAs/CAs/Tap Es)
N2 → Tap E → Cancel
(188%/sec)
Most DPS for sustained play; for reference, Tap E has 20 active frames (⅓ of a second) and, because of this, you should almost always concatenate a Jump/Dash to the end of every Tap E you do for movement, which most Catalyst users lack.

In particular, however, usually you would Tap E → N2 for the initial start-up instead in order to trigger and radiate additional Conductive stacks if applicable.

Strings similar to this one are also fairly effective in their Electro Application for the sake of Aggravate teams, but can additionally be optimized further.
N1 → C → Cancel
(190%/sec)
This is very Stamina draining, but it is better than N2 → Tap E → Cancel if there are multiple enemies.

For “canceling” CAs, the best and only thing you can do is to time your cancellation just when the CA’s damage numbers appear, which does take some time to get used to as doing too early will waste Stamina and time.

Replacing the N1 with a Tap E can be a potentially better option as well due to her Tap E having more AoE, inherently scaling Conductive stacks, having more DPS than an N1, as well as possibly activating certain weapon passives.
N1 is merely the listed option as it often is more feasible to perform.
N2 → C → Cancel
(184%/sec)
A less damaging string than the above, but does not have an abysmal Stamina drain.

This also is the best loopable string to use to drive Beidou’s Burst, garnering 10 triggers.
Note: If there are multiple enemies, any combo that includes CA scales dramatically higher. Do also be warned that it is possible to cancel her CA early, resulting in a waste of Stamina as well as time.
N3 → Cancel
(177%/sec)
This string offers the most DPS if all Lisa can do is Normal Attack.

Situations include when her Elemental Skill is on Cooldown, when she has no remaining Stamina, or if for generalized mobility, as it is also the quickest execution-wise.

A major benefit to executing N3Ds, or even N3tEs, in succession is that it securely triggers Bursts like Xingqiu’s and Yelan’s, but not Beidou’s.

N3s also have relatively safe and reliable Electro Application for the purposes of triggering Aggravates, although they do lack in having dedicated AoE, however.


(Including Hold Es; Hold Es will be calibrated at [3] Stacks unless specified
Tap E → N2 → Hold E
(291%/sec)
The main combo for initiating a Hold E; canceling a Hold E is redundant since you can immediately do attacks after casting.

However, it can also be common to immediately Dash right after connecting a Hold E if you can time the Dash to also dodge attacks.
N2 may be replaced with CA if a situation proves to be more beneficial.
Swap in → Hold E
(355%/sec)
This isn’t surprising. If you have C6 or enemies are pre-stacked to 3 Conductive stacks, Lisa’s scaling is widely apparent.
Swap in FROM Pyro/Cryo → Tap E → N2 → Hold E
(263%/sec [2] or 291%/sec [3])
This string takes advantage of Lisa’s bouncing and radiative properties and is the most efficient for rotations timewise should Lisa be able to trigger such reactions.
The N2 may be substituted for a CA if it becomes better to do so.

Alright, but since her Elemental Skills are completely different from one another, how or when should I cast either a Tap or a Hold variant?

For Tap Es, they will often be her opening attack when she is swapped into. This is to ensure that she radiates Conductive stacks if applicable. Beginning with a Tap E also smoothly transitions into the other combos represented above.

Otherwise, for Hold Es, it is tangentially better to confirm a Hold E after her Burst has been cast. This is to take advantage of the 15% DEF Shred from her Burst as well as be efficient with Energy Generation and coordinating both of the cooldowns together (for future rotations).
Do keep in mind that it is never necessary to connect a Hold E at maximum Conductive stacks, it is only more optimal to do so. If, by chance, there is high mob density, which allows for her Hold E to damage more opponents, purely connecting it with 1 or 2 Conductive stacks can result in more overall DPS if stacking to 3 stacks isn’t easily doable. Of course, her C6 makes doing so more tolerable but only slightly.

Choosing when to use her Hold E in a given rotation can be slightly complex, however, it can be easily explained when sectioning her rotations around her Hold E itself.
For example, the Pre-Hold E combo(s), the actual Hold E, and the Post-Hold E combo(s).
Combos before the Hold E consist of those that weave in Tap Es in order to generate some Conductive stacks—N2tE or N3tE.
Combos following the Hold E often consist of the alteration of her NAs and her CAs to both maximize Electro Application and passive Conductive stacks—N1CA, N2CA, or sometimes N3.

There also exists the scenario in which doing no Hold Es at all is optimal, like as a sole support Unit or if it just is impossible to do so at a given moment. In those cases, she necessitates having more ER% as compensation.

Then when should I cast my Burst? Specifically, is there an optimal way to do so?

If you ever want to cast her Burst, it is most optimal to immediately cast Lightning Rose after a Tap E. This is because doing so won’t interfere with potential Conductive stack radiation since the Initial Summon DMG of Lightning Rose does not inflict an Electro aura, is simply more optimal as you do additionally cancel the Tap E and, if within Aggravate teams, can edge out another Aggravate trigger.

Tap E > Q can be further evolved to Tap E > Q > N1CA for more additional Aggravate triggers.
Furthermore, Hold E > Q is an attack string that allows Lisa to catch and funnel all of her generated Electro particles for her next Elemental Burst afterward, which can be useful for off-field uses due to the time it saves.

4TF Specific Combos

As the following combos within this section are dedicated to when Lisa has the 4-piece Thundering Fury artifact set equipped, the info collected here is only directly usable within her preferred use case—her On-field Aggravate teams.

Generally, these combos are primarily only functional if Lisa is positioned close enough to enemies to allow for quick execution, but if that parameter is met, then these combos become both efficient and add even more variability to her kit’s options as expecting the CDR to trigger is easily confirmable due to how triggering Catalyze reactions, like Aggravate, work.

Tap E → Tap E
(263%/sec)
Specifically when in a vacuum, two Tap Es chained together in succession offer relatively high value in terms of Talent%.

This generic chained string will be the basis for the next combos, contingent on the fact that chaining Elemental Skills allows for slightly faster Conductive stacking effectiveness, indirect synergy with her most optimal weapon, as well as attaining more AoE from her basic combos.
Weaving Tap Es in-between N1s and N2s
(173 – 263%/sec)
Outside of the short window of a vacuum that is the Chaining of Tap Es, it becomes notable that these combos are marginally weaker than the recommended ones to use referenced without 4TF.

However, while the raw MV/s is lower comparatively, doing these specialized combos becomes more efficient due to reasons mentioned prior: Conductive stack efficiency and slight AoE. It also remains to be a fairly loopable attack string.
Tap E → Hold E
(308%/sec)
If achieving this combo is doable in given situations, Lisa can be easily expected to unleash a maximized Hold E even when an enemy has only 2 Conductive stacks, which is a very effective and efficient method to input Hold Es within rotations.

Its raw MV/s is also only slightly less than doing a generic Hold E, although how this string truly becomes effective is in realizing that an extra Aggravate trigger is guaranteed upon its execution; one from both variants of her Elemental Skill.

Hidden Tech./Mechanics

Artwork by @richarano

Violet Arc’s Bounce Mechanic

In the example shown above, Violet Arc was tapped once, yet applied 3 Conductive stacks to most of the 6 Hilichurls. This was because of the ‘Bounce’ Mechanic of Violet Arc.
In essence, the initial impact of Violet Arc’s projectile has a small radius, and enemies within the radius, including the tagged enemy itself, will all gain one stack—as the ability’s description would imply. The very initial radius will be referred to as the “bounce” radius.

Do note that the radius of how the first Conductive Stack spreads is actually a slightly larger radius than what is virtually shown in-game.

However, the description does not mention at all that mobs within the initial impact, or “bounce,” radius will also themselves output additional radii, and those enemies inside of those radii will be additionally stacked once more. Within a group, multiple radii and therefore multiple stacks can occur. Only the initial ‘bounce’ radius applies an Electro aura; none of the other resulting radii apply any aura.

Notice how the uppermost and right uppermost Hilichurls only gained 2 Conductive Stacks because they were only inside 2 radii, unlike others who were in 3 or more.
Using this Mechanic, Lisa can easily stack 3 Conductive Stacks given a group of enemies. Thus, grouping can act as a “conductor” of sorts.

Radiating Violet Arc with Elements

Just as with the Bounce Mechanic explained above, there is another way to gain more than one Conductive stack at once. When Overload or Superconduct is triggered on an enemy by Violet Arc’s projectile, the enemy hit directly receives 2 Conductive stacks and surrounding enemies who were hit by the resulting Overload/Superconduct receive 1 Conductive stack (because they were within the reaction’s radius and were ‘radiated’ a stack).

This elemental effect can be further improved if Overload/Superconduct is triggered in close proximity to a Pyro/Cryo environment, such as Burning Grass/Frozen Water. In those cases, the directly-affected enemy receives 3 Conductive stacks, and surrounding enemies receive 2 Conductive stacks.
These additional effects happen because these environments act as “entities” just as enemies would, so they too create their own radius that would allow for Conductive stack radiation to occur.

Do note that, while this specific mechanic still remains especially useful for Lisa, it may not be as readily applicable as other mechanics may be due to many of her synergistic teams focusing on the Dendro element and/or the Quicken root reaction, which often do not carry Pyro or Cryo teammates. Regardless, this does not mean it should be ignored in such cases, as sources of external Pyro or Cryo, like elemental enemies, may still allow this mechanic to occur.

Pyro/Overload

Cryo/Superconduct

Optimizing Violet Arc

Via utilizing the two mechanics mentioned above, here is a quick overview of situations players can create and abuse in order to make the most of Lisa’s Violet Arc and its Conductive stacks.
This section strictly covers her Violet Arc in situations when elements like Pyro or Cryo are present. This does not take into account her CAs also producing a Conductive stack. 
All of the following graphics will assume enemies will have no initial Conductive stacks.

Legend (from Left to Right):
| The visual radius for Overload/Superconduct |
| The visual radius for Lisa’s Tap Skills and its bounces |
| An arbitrary indicator pointing at where the initial impact of Lisa’s Tap Skill was |
| The location of an enemy/entity |
| The number of Conductive Stacks in each scenario |

The Basics

Link to an In-Game Example
Against a single enemy, with no additional occurrences, a single Tap Skill will produce 1 Conductive stack to that enemy.
Notice how a radius is outputted even when against a single target. This is also the only way to produce a single stack on a single enemy. However…

Example
Because the initial spreading radius of the first Conductive stack is ever so slightly larger than the ‘bounce’ radius that is visualized if enemies are at enough distance, they will all generate a single stack and not bounce, which is suboptimal at worst.

Example
Now against two enemies that are near enough to each other, both enemies gain 2 Conductive stacks. This is because of the Bouncing Mechanic taking place; the initial ‘bounce’ radius gives both 1 stack, and the resulting radius gives another stack since both enemies were in both radii.

Example
Likewise, the same would apply among 3 or more enemies as each enemy is within at least 3 radii, thus accumulating the maximum amount of Conductive stacks. As with the above situation, at whom the impact initially was directed does not change the results.

Example
But what is ‘bouncing’ again? Well, as previously mentioned, only the initial impact (and reactions, which will be covered later) are able to ‘bounce’ and allow resulting enemies to output their own radius. This new radius can not create more radii. As such, in this situation, notice how only the enemy within the initial impact had further produced a radius, and how the farthest one did not, hence only gaining 1 Conductive stack instead of 2 like the others.

Example
Let’s now re-introduce Overload/Superconduct (OL/SC) as a mechanic. As mentioned before, if Violet Arc, upon initial impact, had also triggered either OL/SC, enemies within the radius of the OL/SC will be radiated with an additional Conductive stack. Therefore, with a single enemy and an accompanying reaction, that enemy gains 2 Conductive stacks.

Example
With the same logic, any surrounding enemies within the OL/SC radius, but not in the initial ‘bounce’ radius, will be generated with 1 Conductive stack as the reaction had radiated a stack outward. You should be aware of this and abuse this knowledge to one’s advantage. Also note how both outer enemies still output their own radii from the reaction’s radiation, not from the initial bounce—although, think of the radiation as an extension of a ‘bounce’ allowing other radii to form.
The enemy that gained 2 stacks received them from the initial impact (1 stack) and the reaction (1 stack), while the 2 outer enemies only gained 1 stack from the reaction’s radiation.

Example
In the scenario where those outer enemies were near each other, then both enemies would be within each other’s radius. Therefore, instead of both only gaining 1 stack, both will gain 2 stacks: 1 stack from the OL/SC and 1 stack from them being in each other’s radius, not from the initial impact radius.

Example
Combining these two mechanics, it is feasible to produce 3 Conductive stacks given there are at least 2 enemies/entities as well as an accompanying reaction to radiate off of. The 3 stacks originate from the initial impact (1 stack), the resulting ‘bounced’ radius (1 stack), and the radiated reaction radius (1 stack).

However, it is possible to generate 3 Conductive Stacks at once as seen in the previous section, right? So where is it here?

Well, that scenario fits the scenario directly above this text, which is where 2 enemies/entities both garnered 3 Conductive stacks from them being close as well as having an accompanying reaction. Recalling that, in order to generate 3 stacks on a single enemy requires an elemental environment, so to speak, like Burning Grass, Frozen Water, or even Flaming Flowers and Mist Corollas, all of those “environments” act as “entities” to which can radiate as if they were mobs.

Therefore, it is, at least currently, not possible to realistically generate 3 Conductive stacks on a single enemy with a single Tap Skill in a neutral non-elemental environment, say the Spiral Abyss for example.

Playstyles

Artifacts

Weapons

Synergies

Team Compositions

Epilogue

Changelog

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