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Nilou Quick Guide

Updated for Version 3.5

Nilou is a 5-star Hydro Sword character who specializes in maximizing Bloom damage in teams of strictly Hydro and Dendro characters.

More extensive testing is in progress. Note that the information given is subject to change if and when new discoveries are made.

Join our Discord to check on and participate in the theorycrafting process.

New Content


Yaoyao
A new Dendro character released in Version 3.4 who performs much-needed healing in Nilou teams.

Vourukasha’s Glow
A new artifact set released in Version 3.6 whose 2pc effect grants a valuable 20% HP. Its 4pc set grants Skill and Burst DMG, but requires Nilou to take damage to stack its effect.

Infographic


Design: kolvii
Content: mocha_biscuit

Character Overview

Talent Priority

Level 90 is highly recommended to maximize Nilou’s HP and Bloom damage. 

Talent levels do not affect Nilou’s buff to Bloom damage, so heavy investment in Talents is not necessary to get good mileage out of her teams.

Burst = Skill

Leveling Nilou’s Normal Attacks is not recommended.

Talents

Normal Attack

Normal Attack | Dance of Samser

Normal Attack
Performs up to 3 consecutive sword strikes.

Charged Attack
Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to perform a twirling slash.

Plunging Attack
Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.

Nilou’s Normal Attacks are fairly unimpressive and can be neglected.

Elemental Skill

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 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 it touches 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.

After casting Nilou’s Elemental Skill, players can press either the Normal Attack or Elemental Skill button to cast Sword Dance or Whirling Steps, both of which deal damage that scales based on Nilou’s max HP. 

If the third cast of either Sword Dance or Whirling Steps is Sword Dance, then Nilou will be able to continue casting Sword Dance for another 8 seconds. If the third cast is Whirling Steps, then Nilou will summon a ring around the active character that will apply Hydro over time.

Elemental Burst

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.

Deals HP-scaling damage twice within a short period of time. Is mainly used for additional Hydro application for Bloom generation.

Ascension 1 Passive

Ascension 1 Passive | Court of Dancing Petals

When all characters in the party are all Dendro or Hydro, and there are 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.
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.

In a team containing exclusively Hydro and Dendro characters, casting either Sword Dance or Whirling Steps a third time after casting Nilou’s Elemental Skill will cause all Blooms to summon Bountiful Cores instead of Dendro Cores, as well as provide all teammates an EM buff.

These Bountiful Cores explode much faster than Dendro Cores and in larger AOEs.

Ascension 4 Passive

Ascension 4 Passive | 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%.

This Passive provides Reaction Damage Bonus for any Bountiful Cores based on Nilou’s Max HP.

Constellations

Constellation 1

Constellation 1 | 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.

C1 increases Hydro application and can result in more Blooms. Potentially strong for Whirling Stance for those with Nilou’s C6.

Constellation 2

Constellation 2 | 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.

C2 is a significant boost to team damage. It increases Dendro damage by around 16% and Hydro damage by around 25%. The buff to Hydro damage is not as significant as it appears, since the Hydro units in Nilou teams tend to be built with full EM rather than CRIT.

Constellation 3

Constellation 3 | Beguiling Shadowstep

Increases the Level of Dance of Abzendegi: Distant Dreams, Listening Spring by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.

C3 is a negligible increase for Nilou’s personal damage.

Constellation 4

Constellation 4 | 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.

C4 lowers the ER requirements to Burst every rotation to ~140%.

Constellation 5

Constellation 5 | Twirling Light

Increases the Level of Dance of Haftkarsvar by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.

C5 is a negligible increase for Nilou’s personal damage.

Constellation 6

Constellation 6 | 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.

C6 is a decent damage increase for Sword Dance, and relatively mediocre for Whirling Steps.

Combos

N# = Corresponding number of consecutive Normal Attacks
E = Elemental Skill
Q = Elemental Burst

On-Field Focus

(Q) E 6N3 (Sword Dance)Default combo.

Off-Field Focus
(Recommended)

(Q) E E E E (Whirling Steps)Default combo.
(Q) E N3 (Sword Dance)Use this to apply Nilou’s buff while minimizing her own Bloom ownership.

Artifacts

ER Requirements

NOTE: It is generally recommended to Burst every other rotation, especially with Barbara.

Double HydroTriple Hydro
With KokomiEvery other rotation: 100%
Every rotation (on-field Nilou): ~180–210%
Every rotation (off-field Nilou): ~170–190%
Every other rotation: 100%
Every rotation (on-field Nilou): ~160–180%
Every rotation (off-field Nilou): ~150–170%
With BarbaraEvery other rotation: ~130%Every rotation: ~210%
Every other rotation: ~110%

ER requirements can be lower in energy-rich, multitarget contexts where Nilou teams shine. For a more accurate estimate of ER requirements for your specific situation, use Zakharov’s Energy Recharge Calculator.

Artifact Stats

Main Stats


Sands

Goblet

Circlet
HP%HP%HP%

Substats

ER if bursting every rotation > HP% > EM > CRIT = Flat HP

Full HP builds will generally outperform CRIT builds.

EM is unnecessary if Nilou isn’t triggering Blooms, such as in Triple Hydro teams.

Artifact Sets


2pc HP% + 2pc HP%
2pc Tenacity of the Millelith (2TotM) + 2pc Vourukasha’s Glow (2VG)

The best option for most players. This combination allows Nilou to more easily reach the HP cap on her A4.

4pc Vourukasha’s Glow (4VG)
Much harder to build for since it requires high quality HP% substats on flower/feather in addition to her signature weapon to hit the cap. However, for high investment C6 players, this set offers the most team DPS by increasing her Skill/Burst damage.
2pc HP% + 2pc EM or 2pc Noblesse ObligePick the second set based on whichever has the best substats.

Note that EM bonuses provide no benefit if Nilou isn’t triggering Blooms (e.g. in Triple Hydro teams).

Weapons

  • There is a significant gap between Key of Khaj-Nisut and her other options since HP% swords are rare.
  • The differences between her non-Key options are rather minor for team DPS.
  • ER weapons can allow Nilou to burst every rotation with the help of substats.

Key of Khaj-Nisut
Nilou’s Best-in-Slot. Converts HP to EM for both herself and the team. A noticeable upgrade over any other option.

Xiphos’ Moonlight
Decent stat stick and benefits her team. Great at high refines. Increases the value of EM but HP% is still the priority stat to build.

Freedom-Sworn / Primordial Jade Cutter
Decent stat sticks.

Favonius Sword
Helpful in lowering team ER requirements.

Sacrificial Sword
Allows Nilou to trigger both versions of her Skill. Can also reduce her ER requirements significantly.

Iron Sting
Potent F2P option.

Sapwood Blade
Viable F2P option with a small EM buff to an ally.

Festering Desire
Can be used when playing Sword Dance Nilou.

Teams

Team-Building

  • Bring a strong healer like Kokomi, Yaoyao, or Barbara to offset Bloom self-damage.
  • Team choices will affect her teammates’ builds more so than her own builds.
  • Future Dendro units may significantly change things.

2 Hydro 2 Dendro

The standard format for a Nilou team. Allows for Hydro ownership and rapid Bloom generation.

3 Hydro 1 Dendro

With Nahida or Alhaitham, Bloom ownership will be distributed between the team members. With other Dendro units, the Dendro character will trigger most of the Blooms, but you will generate fewer Blooms overall.

Notable Teammates


Kokomi / Barbara
Provides much-needed healing and Hydro application. Kokomi in particular has fantastic AoE Hydro application and can function well on-field.

Xingqiu / Yelan
Provides off-field Hydro application, Hydro particles, and non-reaction damage. Strong choices for single target situations. Xingqiu’s damage reduction does not work on self Bloom damage.

Nahida
Nahida can be used on or off field depending on how important her ally’s field time is. For characters like Kokomi or Yaoyao, they can require Nahida to stay off field to continue healing the team. If Xingqiu or Yelan are used for Hydro application then Nahida can be used on field for extra Dendro application. If Nahida is the only Dendro team member, she must be used on-field because her Skill only procs when a reaction is triggered.

Collei / DMC
Dendro units with off-field Dendro application. Collei’s application is more up-front, but depends on having at least C2 for great application. DMC offers Dendro application over a longer duration and is more forgiving to play.

Yaoyao
Provides Dendro application while offering enough healing to offset Bloom self-damage. In teams without off-field Hydro application, using her Burst can result in less damage, but it is still useful for full team healing.

Alhaitham
Functions as an on field Dendro unit. Ownership of Blooms will depend on how many Mirrors he has and the team composition. Favors Hydro units with good off-field application such as Xingqiu, Yelan, or Kokomi.

Candace
Allows characters such as Yaoyao to apply Hydro for Bloom creation. As a reminder, each character has their own ICD for infusion Attacks, so switching between characters often can result in more Hydro application.

Credits

Emiliabyss#1641, XenoVX#6150, xf3#3123, Leifa#1359, ShampooBrain#9583, kol#1593, Not Logic#6705, mina#4448, Rare Possum#0511, KB#1111, alix#0001

Team images made with the KQM portrait generator.

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