RE: Zhongli Buffs?!
By: Last Light
Tags: Zhongli, Game Design, Genshinimpact

In case you haven’t seen MiHoYo’s announcement, they’re adjusting Zhongli and the Geo element! I’ll be copy-pasting their descriptions and doing an analysis on the impact of the changes. If you’d prefer to read the official announcement, you can find it here.

We start off strong with them apologizing.

Taken from MiHoYo’s announcement

I was worried they would not announce changes until after the banner elapsed, which would upset me as I have decided to pull for Zhongli with these changes. If you haven’t seen why I’ve been holding all my gems, I wrote an article here. This is a good look for MiHoYo. The more communication the better.

Taken from MiHoYo’s announcement

The announcement then describes all the adjustments that will be tested. I’ll be listing them, then talking about their impact. Remember that it is all subject to change, although since they released specific numbers, I expect these to be the minimum numbers that will come. There will be even more significant backlash if they release smaller numbers.

● Regarding Zhongli as a Character

1. Adjustments to Passive Talent “Dominance of Earth” Original Effect:

Increases Planet Befall’s DMG by an amount equal to 33% of Zhongli’s Max HP. Post-Adjustment Effect:

The DMG dealt by the following of Zhongli’s attacks will be increased based on his Max HP: The DMG dealt by the following of Zhongli’s attacks will be increased based on his Max HP:

• Normal, Charged and Plunging Attack DMG will be increased by 1.39% of Max HP.

• The Stone Stele, Resonance and Holding Mode DMG of Dominus Lapidis will be increased by 1.9% of Max HP.

• Planet Befall’s DMG will be increased by 33% of Zhongli’s Max HP.

So how good is this? Assuming you have 20,000HP, all the normal attacks will be increased by 278 DMG. The Elemental Skill will be increased by 380 DMG. This pushes him past Xiangling as a Physical DPS and is some nice damage if he is a support. I still expect Razor and other S tier DPS characters to outdamage him unless MiHoYo gives him even bigger numbers, but this is totally usable. Crescent Pike Xiangling is generally considered A Tier so I’d call Zhongli an A+ Tier DPS.

2. Adjustment to Dominus Lapidis’ Holding Mode Original Effect:

Causes nearby Geo energy to explode, causing the following effects:

• Creates a shield of jade. The shield’s DMG Absorption scales based on Zhongli’s Max HP and has 250% Geo DMG Absorption.

• Deals AoE Geo DMG.

• If there are nearby targets with the Geo element, it will drain a large amount of the Geo element from a maximum of 2 such targets. This effect does not cause DMG. Post-Adjustment Effect:

Causes nearby Geo energy to explode, causing the following effects:

• If the maximum number of Stone Steles has not yet been reached, it will create a Stone Stele.

• Creates a shield of jade. The shield’s DMG Absorption scales based on Zhongli’s Max HP, and has 150% Physical DMG and Elemental DMG Absorption.

• Deals AoE Geo DMG.

• If there are nearby targets with the Geo element, it will drain a large amount of the Geo element from a maximum of 2 such targets. This effect does not cause DMG.

*This adjustment will also greatly increase the interruption resistance of Dominus Lapidis’ Holding Mode.

Taken from MiHoYo’s announcement

Alright, the first bullet is a great QoL change. I see his primary role as a survivability tank, so not wasting time on the Press variant and being able to use just the Hold variant on his Elemental Skill is great. In addition, people ran into issues with being interrupted (see the above gif). It’s rather hard to be a survivability tank if you can’t actually get your shield off. These are mostly “feels good” changes but I am certain they will be felt. It’ll help Zhongli feel much smoother.

● Regarding Geo Elemental Mechanics 1. Adjustment to Geo Resonance “Enduring Rock” Original Effect:

Increases resistance to interruption. When protected by a shield, increases Attack DMG by 15%. Post-Adjustment Effect:

Increases shield strength by 15%. Additionally, characters protected by a shield will have the following special characteristics: DMG dealt increased by 15%, dealing DMG to enemies will decrease their Geo RES by 20% for 15s.

So, I will point out first that we lose the resistance to interruption. That said, Geo teams have lots of ways to interrupt enemies already, whether it’s lightly knocking them back with Ningguang’s Jade Screen or Petrifying them with Zhongli’s Elemental Burst.

I think it’s a small loss for the great buffs MiHoYo is giving to Geo. The first buff changed the “increases Attack DMG” to “DMG dealt increased”. Technically speaking, it’s probably a buff most of the time. Realistically, there’s a lot of math and you probably will not optimize around it, so don’t worry about it. I may do a math post some other time about how DMG multipliers work in Genshin.

The really exciting part is “dealing DMG to enemies will decrease their Geo RES by 20% for 15s.” This is massive as other elements benefit from the artifact set “Viridescent Venerer” that allows them to reduce Elemental Res by 40%. You may say “but that’s only half as much.” Yes, but Geo is balanced around the lack of damaging Elemental Reactions. So their raw damage numbers are higher than other characters. This is an amazing damage boost to Geo DPS. Geo players rejoice!!

2. Geo Shield Balance Adjustments Geo Shields are adjusted from “having 250% Geo DMG Absorption” to “having 150% Physical DMG and Elemental DMG Absorption”.

Affected effects include:

• The Geo Shield created by Zhongli’s Elemental Skill

• The Geo Shield created by Noelle’s Elemental Skill

• The Geo Shield created when picking up Geo Crystals dropped by Geovishap Hatchlings

This last part is a buff to Zhongli and Noelle in the majority of situations. They lose out on the very high Geo DMG Absorption, but Geo DMG isn’t very common. Remember that the 150% still applies to Geo DMG, so it’s not a very big loss. This means if you run Geo Resonance with your Zhongli, his 5550HP (I used this value in the last article) shield will be 8325HP. This is a very convenient breakpoint as floor 12 Spiral Abyss ice cages deal about 7000 DMG. We may actually see some no/low heal runs involving Zhongli.

So how does all of this compare to what I asked for. Originally I asked for, at a minimum, consistent Energy Generation. This was not addressed. However, there have been rumors of AB Testing on live servers. If you’re unfamiliar with what AB Testing is, it stems from web page testing where visiting users may see web page A or web page B at random. Statistical Analysis is then used to see which version performs better for their goals. I hope this is eventually addressed, but I am okay with only the changes they’ve presented so far, because there are enough changes to make up for it. They have decided on two ways to encourage his usage and all the buffs contribute to both. He can be used as a Burst Support to support a Geo Composition or he can be used as a primary DPS.

Main Physical DPS:

I addressed this earlier, so I will only briefly talk about it. Run Crescent Pike, prioritize normal DPS stats (ATK/CR/CD) and you hurt less when your Gladiator set rolls a 3rd HP%. He is not the strongest DPS, but he will still feel good.

Burst Support:

Sadly, you still want an energy generator for him, whether it’s Ningguang, Geo Traveller, or perhaps Albedo (no guarantees there, we don’t know enough yet). However, an extra 400~ DMG on pillar resonance DMG when you generally were only getting 500~ DMG out of them, feels really good. In addition, his Elemental Burst will hit even harder because of the new Geo Resonance changes, reducing enemy Geo RES. I personally will be using him to support my Ningguang.

Should I pull?

I am. He is tankier in 90% of situations, has more damage, and I will use him to support Ningguang, meaning both of them get a Geo DMG boost. Honestly? They addressed literally everything except the energy generation. I hope they address it being random, because that is very frustrating to have. I don’t mind him being poor at energy generation, just want it to be consistent. The only randomness I want in the game is Crit Rate, as we can impact that. All that said, I’m glad MiHoYo has responded before the next banner, as I will be adding Zhongli to my team.