Genshin Impact Diluc guide: weapons, artifacts, and more

Few characters in Genshin Impact can carry quite as hard as Diluc can. The Darksteel Knight certainly lives up to his reputation, as this Pyro Claymore wielder consistently tops community tier lists as a DPS and secondary carry.

If you’ve managed to pick up the Knights of Favonius’ greatest rival, then here’s how to make him turn up the heat.

Genshin Impact Diluc guide

Weapons

“Does it help me do more damage?” If the answer is yes, it’s probably a good choice for Diluc. Even so, there are definitely a few Claymores that hit harder in the wine tycoon’s hands:

Wolf’s Gravestone

(Picture: miHoYo)

Raw Attack stats are great on Diluc - he uses normal and charged attacks a lot, and his abilities all scale off it - but the real prize is Wolfish Tracker. Another 20% ATK is, again, amazing, but the party-wide 40% amp after hitting enemies with lower than 30% HP can be backbreaking. 

Excellent both if you want Diluc to deal with everyone by himself, or if you switch in characters to take advantage of the massive attack boost. 

Skyward Pride

(Picture: miHoYo)

Skyward Pride pushes Diluc to be more Burst focused. Energy Recharge means his Elemental Burst, Dawn, is available significantly more often and Sky-ripping Dragon Spine allows his follow up attacks to hit harder and with AoE with the created vacuum blades.

A great choice both if you want to prioritise Pyro uptime (his Burst converts his normal attacks to Pyro DMG due to the Blessing of Phoenix skill), or are interested in running him as a burst carry rather than a straight DPS.

Prototype Animus

(Picture: miHoYo)

A forgeable item, and one that is very effective with Diluc. Attack stats, as already stated, are great for Diluc and Crush periodically destroys a single opponent. It’s very easily refinable and works if you want Diluc as your primary DPS or a secondary burst carry.

Artifacts

(Picture: miHoYo)

There are only two sets you should be aiming for on Diluc in the end-game right now. The first is 4-piece Crimson Witch of Flames. A base 15% Pyro DMG amp is great as everything from Dilucs normal attacks (when under the effects of Blessing of Phoenix) to his Elemental Burst deals Pyro DMG, and the buff to Pyro-based Elemental Reactions is also very strong.

The thing that seals the deal though, is the additional 50% buff to Pyro Damage whenever Diluc uses his Elemental Skill - a buff that stacks three times to cap out at a 150% bonus. Searing Onslaught can be used three times before it goes on cooldown making this trivial to get to max stacks.

The other major artifact set you can look to run is 4-piece Gladiator’s Finale. The +18% ATK bonus is always a high-tier option for DPS characters, the 4-piece bonus adding on and the additional 35% DMG to normal attacks is easily played to by Diluc. It’s also the better option if you want to prioritise Physical damage over Pyro - for which Crimson Witch is favoured, for obvious reasons.

• Read more: Genshin Impact Amber guide: weapons, artifacts, and more 

If you’re earlier on into the game or are struggling to put together a passable 4-piece set of either of those two options, then a pair of any 2-piece +18% ATK sets is also relatively strong for Diluc.

(Picture: miHoYo)

Artifact Stats

Whether you’re running Diluc as your primary DPS or a secondary carry come burst threat, the stats you want to prioritise are largely the same:

Stat Priorities

• Pyro DMG Goblet (Key)
• Crit Rate (50~%+)
• Crit DMG
• ATK
• Energy Recharge

A Physical DMG Goblet can also work if you’re running Gladiator’s Finale, but remember that Diluc’s attacks get converted to Pyro after using his Elemental Burst!

Play Patterns

Diluc is all about weaving attacks in between casts of his Elemental Skill, Searing Onslaught.

Use his Elemental Burst, Dawn, to open up, converting his attacks to Pyro DMG with Blessing of Phoenix, then use his Elemental Skill once before normal attacking twice, then casting his elemental skill again and continuing the cycle.

In action that looks like Elemental Burst → Elemental Skill → Normal Attack, Normal Attack → Elemental Skill → Normal Attack, Normal Attack... and so on until Searing Onslaught goes on cooldown and the Pyro DMG conversion for Diluc’s attacks wears off.

You can animation cancel Diluc’s Elemental Skill with your attacks to speed up the combo, but if you’re struggling to get all the attacks in before Searing Onslaught goes on cooldown just stick with a single attack. Dashes can also replace an attack action if you need to close the distance to enemies!

The higher you can get Diluc’s Constellation Level, the easier and more damaging this combo becomes as well. C2, in particular, offers a nasty skill, Searing Ember, which ups Diluc’s Attack and ATK Speed whenever he takes damage.

If you’re playing Diluc as a burst or secondary carry, once this combo is over you can happily switch him out to another one of your characters until his cooldowns are up, otherwise, his straight DPS is also very high.

(Picture: miHoYo)

Diluc tends to fit in well with most comps, but you generally want to run him with another Pyro user for the Attack increase from Pyro Elemental Resonance. Typically, that wants to be someone who doesn’t need to be on the field to affect it like Xiangling and Bennet.

• Read more: Genshin Impact Mona guide: weapons, artifacts, and more 

Other great team members tend to be those who can group up enemies to make Dawn even easier to land on to massed opponents, like Venti, Mona and Jean, or characters who can offer easy access to Elemental Reactions like Qiqi, Fischl and Lisa.

With that, Diluc is ready to protect the streets of Mondstadt from all comers. Why not take a load off and head over to Angel’s Share for a glass of the Dawn Winery’s finest?