Genshin Impact: Layla Character Development Guide
Base Stats
Layla has average base stats. Her base HP of 11,792 ranks 19th among all four-star characters, slightly lower than other survival-oriented characters like Mica, Dolly, Kirara, Bennett, and Xaowei. With a base attack of 217, she sits in the middle among four-star characters, even slightly higher than the Traveler. Her base defense of 655 is also moderate, with no particularly outstanding aspects overall. However, Layla’s Ascension provides a 24% HP bonus, which helps her become the top four-star shield support!
Skill Analysis
Normal Attack: Brilliance Blade Dance
Layla performs a three-hit sword combo, with the most distinctive feature being a star that flies out on the third hit. After the combo, Layla appears very exhausted, indicating that wielding her sword is quite tiring.
It’s worth noting that when Layla’s weapon is enchanted, the color of the star on the third hit changes, a very delicate detail.
Upgrade Recommendation: Not necessary to upgrade unless for XP, Layla rarely uses this skill in actual combat.
Elemental Skill: Night’s Mantle of Dreams
Layla deploys a shield, entering a dream state and slowly generating night stars. Characters protected by the shield who unleash Elemental Skills will also gain night stars. When four night stars are gathered, they will fly out and attack enemies, dealing Cryo damage.
This skill is Layla’s core ability and can be broken down into two parts: the shield and the night stars.
Shield: Slumbering Canopy Shield
At level 9, the scaling of this skill is 18.4% of Layla’s Max HP + 2115. What does this mean?
For comparison, Kirara, also a four-star shield support, at level 9, her single-layer shield (short press) scales at 17% of her Max HP + 1957. Layla’s scaling is slightly higher than Kirara’s, but slightly lower than Kirara’s full-layer shield, making it a decent four-star shield.
The skill’s cooldown is 12 seconds, with a duration of 12 seconds, theoretically providing a seamless shield. Of course, in actual combat, there is a small window due to the skill’s animation, but it’s negligible, and with normal operation, survival shouldn’t be an issue.
Night Stars and Shooting Stars
Night stars and shooting stars are tied to Layla’s two innate talents.
“Layla’s talent, ‘Shimmering Light,’ not only strengthens the effectiveness of her shield when she obtains ‘Late Star,’ but also makes Layla’s shield more robust. Since shield strength and quantity are different scales, reducing the shield quantity before accumulating ‘Late Star’ will have a greater impact on Layla’s late-game shield absorption. We can encourage teammates to quickly release their E skills to accumulate ‘Late Star’ and enhance the shield absorption as soon as possible. (Tip: The enhanced shield effect remains after the shield is fully stacked, so there’s no need to worry.)
On the other hand, Layla’s talent, ‘Disturbance of Dreams,’ grants her flying stars a lifeforce multiplier, giving her higher damage output and allowing Layla to stack health with peace of mind.
Upgrade recommendations: Max out at level 9, but if lacking strong shield support, you can max it out regardless.
Layla’s Elemental Burst, ‘Dreams of Stardust,’ is her main damage-dealing skill, which also has auxiliary capabilities. It can freeze enemies in the background. Observing from the air, you’ll notice that the attack range of the Stardust Meteorites is quite substantial. Unlike characters like Ganyu and Kokomi, whose Q skills pseudo-randomly target enemies, Layla’s targeting tracks enemies within the range. However, the frequency of attacks and elemental attachment is not as high as Ganyu’s and Kokomi’s. In practical combat, it can serve as a small-scale AoE damage skill. Its damage is also based on health, allowing for a balance between shield strength and damage (though the damage multiplier isn’t particularly high, which is frustrating).
It costs 40 energy, which is relatively low, but Layla only generates energy orbs with her E skill, which may create a slight energy gap.
Upgrade recommendations: If focusing purely on shield support, you can skip upgrading it, but if you want some damage output, consider upgrading it to level 9. Allocate XP towards Crown of Insight (I’m short on Mora, sadly).
Layla’s Passive Talent, ‘Omen of the Stalwart Dream,’ aids in synthesizing talents, but its probability is rather mystical…
Analysis of the Constellation:
1st Constellation: Critical for shield support, providing both damage absorption enhancement and cooperative shields, allowing Layla to sleep soundly during co-op sessions!
2nd Constellation: Provides energy regeneration upon hit by flying stars, reducing Layla’s energy pressure. It guarantees a minimum energy regeneration of 4 points during combat, which is quite decent.
3rd Constellation: Increases shield strength and the number of targets hit by the E skill, critical for shield support.
4th Constellation: Increases damage from normal attacks, but the numerical value isn’t particularly high, serving more as a supplementary boost.
5th Constellation: Increases the number of targets hit by the Q skill, boosting its damage.
6th Constellation: Significantly enhances Layla’s damage output (although still not quite enough). It’s the key to Layla’s damage output, so consider focusing on building a damage-oriented build if you unlock this.
Recommendations for Constellation pulls: Constellation 0 provides a complete mechanism; for shield support, consider pulling until you reach Constellation 3; for damage output, aim for a full constellation.
Weapon Choices:
Top pick: 5-star weapon ‘Primordial Jade Cutter,’ which significantly boosts health while also providing support capabilities.
Additionally, you can choose the 5-star weapons ‘Song of Broken Pines’ (provides health and critical rate), ‘Engulfing Lightning’ (for aesthetic reasons), or ‘Skyward Blade’ (for smooth energy cycling).
For 4-star weapons, the best option is ‘Prototype Rancour,’ currently the only 4-star single-handed sword that boosts health.
Other options include ‘The Alley Flash’ (for smooth energy cycling), ‘The Flute’ (provides double E shield stacking, but requires sticking to enemies with E), or ‘Lion’s Roar’ (fits the aesthetic, and boosts E and Q damage).
I wouldn’t recommend 3-star weapons.
Artifact Set Choices:
Top pick: ‘Archaic Petra’ 4-piece set. Layla can pseudo-seamlessly trigger this set’s effects, providing an attack boost to the main DPS.
The secondary option is a 2-piece set of ‘Archaic Petra’ and ‘Blessing of the Abyss,’ focusing on stacking health to increase shield strength.
For those relying on Q skill freezing, you can choose a 2-piece set of ‘Heart of Depth’ and ‘Blessing of the Abyss’ for energy recharge.
Artifact Substat Choices: Primary substats should focus on health, health, health, while secondary substats can include energy recharge. For a damage-oriented build, consider switching one of the secondary substats to Cryo damage bonus.
Recommended Stats (with Archaic Petra 4-piece set): Health of over 47,000 with ‘Primordial Jade Cutter,’ over 41,000 with ‘Prototype Rancour,’ over 37,000 with energy-recharge-focused weapons, and health weapon recharge ratio exceeding 120%.
Recommended Team Compositions:
- “Nafuchinlei”: Layla helps in freezing, aiding in stacking Noelle’s passive. Constellation 4 provides a boost to normal attack damage.
- “Burlolen”: Rosalia and Layla form a double Cryo resonance and help Rosalia trigger melts. Layla also provides interruption resistance.
- “Sanfalei”: A versatile composition with San’s axis and Layla. Layla’s Cryo application helps increase San’s critical rate, while Layla provides the interruption resistance San needs.
- “Hulialei”: Zhongli in a sub-DPS role, with constellation 4 providing a boost to normal attack damage.
- “Tibaodalai”: Zhongli in a sub-DPS role, with constellation 4 providing a boost to normal attack damage, and Cryo resonance.
- “Lingluowenlei”: Permanent freeze with Kokomi, Layla’s axis and Kokomi are also well-matched, providing both critical rate and freezing while Layla assists in interrupt resistance.
- “Xiyaoleilai”: Zhongli in a sub-DPS role, with constellation 4 providing a boost to normal attack damage, and Xiangling can trigger melts.