Ningguang Build Guide For Genshin Impact

Ningguang is a 4* Geo Catalyst character capable of fitting the sub-DPS, main DPS, and even Support roles.

We’ll focus on her sub-DPS playstyle the most, but we won’t forget to mention how to make her excel in other roles.

Despite being a 4* character—and a Geo one at that—Ningguang is still one of the most powerful single-target DPS units in the game.

However, to realize this peak potential DMG, you’ll need to:

• Optimize her talents
• Get some constellations
• Use the right weapons
• Use the best artifact set bonuses
• Team her up with the most synergistic characters

In this Ningguang build guide, we’ll show you how to do all of these things, so without any further ado, let’s begin.

Ningguang’s Talent Priority

Talent	Description	Priority
Normal Attack (Sparkling Scatter)	Normal Attack Shoots gems that deal Geo DMG. Upon hit, this grants Ningguang 1 Star Jade. Charged Attack Consumes a certain amount of stamina to fire off a giant gem that deals Geo DMG. If Ningguang has any Star Jades, unleashing a Charged Attack will cause the Star Jades to be fired at the enemy as well, dealing additional DMG.   Plunging Attack Gathering the might of Geo, Ningguang plunges towards the ground from mid-air, damaging all opponents in her path. Deals AoE Geo DMG upon impact with the ground.	For sub-DPS Ningguang, this is easily the least important talent. However, if you’re running Ningguang as a main DPS or you have her C6, then you should consider this her second priority skill.
Elemental Skill (Jade Screen)	Ningguang creates a Jade Screen out of gold, obsidian and her great opulence, dealing AoE Geo DMG.   Jade Screen • Blocks opponents’ projectiles. • Endurance scales based on Ningguang’s Max HP. Jade Screen is considered a Geo Construct and can be used to block certain attacks, but cannot be climbed. Only one Jade Screen may exist at any one time.	Despite functioning mostly as a protective wall, Ningguang’s Jade Screen has some offensive utility. For starters, its DMG is decent. One passive talent gives it extra supporting capabilities by buffing the Geo DMG of characters who pass through it. It generates plenty of Elemental particles. Finally, it can double the DMG of Ningguang’s Burst if it’s on-field when she casts the Burst. But since only the DMG scales with talent levels, this is the least important talent for main DPS Ningguang and the second priority talent for sub-DPS Ningg.
Elemental Burst (Starshatter)	Gathering a great number of gems, Ningguang scatters them all at once, sending homing projectiles at her opponents that deal massive Geo DMG. If Starshatter is cast when a Jade Screen is nearby, the Jade Screen will fire additional gem projectiles at the same time.	This is Ningguang’s most important talent, regardless of her team role. At talent level 10 and with a Jade Screen present on the field at the moment of casting, its ATK multiplier reaches past 1800%. For reference, abilities that have 800% multipliers are considered powerful. This is balanced out by the single-target nature of the Burst, but it’s not uncommon for more difficult fights to be against single beefy targets where this ability has no downside.

Ningguang’s Passive Talents

Talent Name	Description	Evaluation
Trove of Marvelous Treasures	Displays the location of nearby ore veins used in forging on the mini-map.	Overall, this talent is underwhelming. Experienced players are likely already familiar with all ore vein locations in the game. However, beginners will quite literally find plenty of hidden gems thanks to this, so it’s not entirely useless.
Backup Plan	When Ningguang is in possession of Star Jades, her Charged Attack does not consume Stamina.	Ningguang wants to sprinkle Charged Attacks into her attack sequence, but Catalyst users have the most expensive Charged Attacks in the game. This talent greatly streamlines her playstyle by completely waiving away the cost.
Strategic Reserve	A character that passes through the Jade Screen will gain a 12% Geo DMG Bonus for 10s.	This is easily Ningguang’s best passive talent, increasing her offensive capabilities while at the same time providing her with a means of buffing Geo teammates.

Ningguang’s playstyle is incredibly straightforward.

As a sub-DPS, she just takes the field, casts her Jade Shield, passes through it, and casts her Burst.

Main DPS Ningguang does the same thing but sprinkles in some Normal and Charged attacks while waiting for cooldowns to reset.

Pro tips:

• Hold the forward button while spamming her attacks to speed up her attacks by animation canceling. It’s the simplest animation cancel in the game.
• Perform a Charged Attack after every single Normal Attack for the best DPS. If the enemy is far away, use two Normal Attacks followed by a Charged Attack to make sure you don’t lose Stamina. Performing a Charged Attack after three Normal Attacks results in the lowest DPS.

For further utility and extra DMG, you’ll need to shoot for some constellations.

Ningguang’s Constellations

Constellation Name	Description	Evaluation
Piercing Fragments	When a Normal Attack hits, it deals AoE DMG.	This constellation sounds better than it actually is. If you’ve got Venti, maybe you can get great value out of it, but otherwise, the AoE is too small to make a big difference, especially since it only affects Normal Attacks.
Shock Effect	When Jade Screen is shattered, its CD will reset. Can occur once every 6s.	This constellation offers great utility, allowing Ningguang to cast Jade Screen twice in quick succession—first time for the Energy generation, second time for the Geo DMG buff and extra Burst DMG.
Majesty be the Array of Stars	Increases the Level of Starshatter by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.	At talent level 13, which is obtainable with this constellation, Ningguang’s Burst multiplier skyrockets to over 2200%. This is to say, C3 significantly boosts Ningguang’s DMG output.
Exquisite be the Jade, Outshining All Beneath	Jade Screen increases nearby characters’ Elemental RES by 10%.	In a good team, this constellation isn’t useful. We don’t want to say it’s useless since it does have a positive effect—reducing all incoming DMG is always positive. But it’s just not impactful.
Invincible be the Jade Screen	Increases the Level of Jade Screen by 3. Maximum upgrade level is	Getting some additional Jade Screen DMG is nice, but the buff isn’t all that great. Overall, we’d rate this constellation D for disappointing.
Grandeur be the Seven Stars	When Starshatter is used, Ningguang gains 7 Star Jades.	The tl;dr for this constellation is this: Ningguang’s C6 is incredible. If you want to understand why, here’s the long version: At talent level 10, each Jade Star has a multiplier of approximately 90%. That’s a 630% multiplier on top of the base 310% Charged Attack multiplier. This means that performing a Charged Attack after casting Ningguang’s Burst will effectively add an additional 940% DMG multiplier. Together, the level 13 Burst and subsequent level 10 Charged Attack deal well over 3000% DMG. As a point of reference, Zhongli’s Burst deals 900% DMG at talent level 10, and that’s a lot.

As a package, Ningguang’s constellations aren’t all that impressive.

C1, C4, and C5 are disappointing at best.

C2 adds some nice utility, but it’s not a game-changer by any means.

That being said, C3 and C6 are both huge constellations that massively boost Ningguang’s DMG, especially the latter.

If you’re sold on Ningguang and you want to use her, we suggest going all the way with the constellations.

But for most players, we don’t recommend trying to purposefully nab any constellations as the key ones come quite late.

Best Weapons For Ningguang

Weapon Rarity	Explanation
Memory of Dust 5*	Memory of Dust is considered one of the worst 5* weapons in the game, but don’t let that fool you—this is Ningguang’s BiS weapon and she makes it look amazing. High base ATK and inordinate amounts of extra ATK% from the substat and passive will make Ningguang’s Burst hit like a truck. Just keep in mind that Ningguang has to be the on-field attacker to get all the benefits of this weapon.
Skyward Atlas 5*	Skywars Atlas is another great 5* weapon for Ningguang, equally favoring her main DPS and sub-DPS playstyles. The ATK% substat is lower, but the base ATK is quite a bit higher. For main DPS Ningguang, this weapon is way worse due to the different passive, but if you don’t perform any Normal attacks, the two weapons perform similarly.
Solar Pearl 4*	A high base ATK, lots of CRIT Rate, and a passive that increases both Elemental Skill, Elemental Burst, and Normal Attack DMG—Solar Pearl has it all. The only thing missing is extra Charged Attack DMG, but this isn’t a huge deal for non-C6 Ningguangs.
The Widsith 4*	The Widsith features a high base ATK and plenty of CRIT DMG. This alone makes it worthwhile for Ningguang. Unfortunately, one out of the three passives that it provides at random is useless on Ningguang, but even then the weapon is worth it. And if you get one of the other two passives, don’t be surprised to see this weapon outperform the 5* options.
Blackcliff Agate 4*	Blackcliff Agate takes the spot of the best F2P weapon for Ningguang—not that there was any competition. Nevertheless, this weapon also provides high base ATK and loads of CRIT Rate. It’s just that its passive is effectively useless against boss enemies.
Prototype Amber 4*	We know, we know—Prototype Amber features an HP substat that does nothing for Ningguang’s DMG. We get it, but hear us out! Even at r1, this weapon heals the entire party for 12% of their max HP whenever Ningguang casts her Burst, spread over 6 seconds. And, in case you didn’t know, Ningguang has the lowest Burst cooldown out of all Catalyst users at only 12 seconds. This means that she can act as the party healer and be fairly competent at that against enemies that have corrosion. The weapon even replenishes a large chunk of her maximum Energy whenever she casts her Burst, meaning that Ningguang can have 50% uptime on her healing. Sure, her DMG output will suffer, but this versatility is quite something, and we say this from experience! The higher the refinement, the better the healing.

Best Artifacts For Ningguang – 2-Archaic Petra + 2-Noblesse Oblige

Despite being in the game from day one, Ningguang has yet to receive a 4-piece artifact set bonus that complements her kit.

This is because she and Geo Traveler are the only Geo characters who primarily scale off of ATK. All other Geo characters scale with DEF, except for Zhongli who scales with HP. Needless to say, the developers aren’t in a rush to create a set bonus that caters to only two 4* characters.

This means that you have to mix and match 2-piece set bonuses to get the most out of Ningguang.

For her sub-DPS role, the best option is the combination of 2-piece Archaic Petra and 2-piece Noblesse Oblige.

Main DPS Ningguang should instead use the 2-piece Archaic Petra with the 2-piece Gladiator’s Finale or any other +18% ATK set bonus.

In either case, your choice of main stats remains the same:

• ATK% Sands
• Geo DMG Goblet
• CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG Logos

As for substats, Ningguang needs:

• CRIT Rate
• CRIT DMG
• ATK%
• Energy Recharge

With these main stats and, ideally, optimal substats, you can ensure that your Ningguang will deal maximum DMG.

That being said, there are several 4-piece set bonuses you can use to transition Ningguang into a more supporting role.

The 4-piece Noblesse Oblige turns her into a team-wide ATK buffer. Best of all, due to how short her Burst cooldown is, she can maintain 100% uptime on this ATK buff.

The 4-piece Archaic Petra turns her into an Elemental DMG buffer for Pyro, Cryo, Electro, or Hydro DPS characters. It’s a bit clunky to use since Ningguang has to be the one to pick up the crystal created by Geo Reactions, but it can work.

Best Team Composition For Ningguang

F2P Main DPS Ningguang

• Ningguang
• Yun Jin
• Bennett
• Xiangling

Ningguang is the main DPS in this team. Switch to other characters only to cast their abilities. Otherwise, just keep cycling through Ningguang’s attack pattern, making sure to pass through her Jade Screen for extra Geo DMG.

Yun Jinis a deceptively powerful support for Ningguang. Her Burst buffs Normal Attacks in a way that hugely favors lower attack modifiers. Ningguang’s Normal Attack modifiers are quite small, a quality she makes up for by launching two projectiles with each attack. In practice, this means that each of Ningguang’s Normal Attacks gets twice the benefits from Yun Jin’s buff. Moreover, as the second Geo character in the team, she unlocks the Geo Resonance which all Geo DPS characters should have access to. If you don’t have Yun Jin, you should still use a Geo character like Geo Traveler or Noelle, just for the Resonance.

Bennett is yet another DMG buffer for the team. And since he buffs the ATK stat, you suffer no diminishing returns from having both him and Yun Jin in your party. Geo characters can’t rely on Elemental Reactions for extra DMG, so the best thing you can do is buff them up and let them do their thing. You can replace Bennett with Sara to keep the ATK buff or with Diona or Barbara to still have a healer.

Xiangling is here to provide some much-needed AoE DMG to the team thanks to her off-field Pyro DMG. As the second Pyro character in the team, she also unlocks the Pyro Resonance, permanently giving everyone a sizeable ATK boost. If you’re not using Bennett, you can keep Xiangling or replace her with any character that provides some off-field AoE DMG, like Beidou, Rosaria, or Xingqiu.

F2P Sub-DPS Ningguang

• Ningguang
• Noelle
• Fischl
• Beidou

Ningguang is the sub-DPS whose role is to deal DMG and provide some Geo Energy for Noelle.

Noelle is the team’s main DPS. As a Geo character, she ensures that both the main DPS and sub-DPS have access to Geo Resonance, greatly boosting their DMG. Furthermore, Noelle really opens up the remaining two slots since she can shield and heal the team in addition to doing DMG. Technically, you could use any other main DPS, like Razor, but then you’d sacrifice some of Ningguang’s DMG and still need a healer.

Fischl and Beidou are our top pick for rounding out this team, as they can provide a ton of off-field DMG and work wonderfully together to maintain consistent DMG output. That being said, you can use any other synergistic character duo to round out the team. Xingqiu, Xiangling, Kaeya, Rosaria, and Lisa all work wonderfully in the team. The only reason we gravitate towards Fischl and Beidou over any of the other picks is because they have such amazing synergy with each other. 

Whale Ningguang Team

• Ningguang
• Zhongli
• Raiden Shogun
• Albedo

Ningguang functions as one of the team’s three Geo Burst Supports—characters used primarily to add DMG by taking up as little field time as possible. If you’ve got C6 Ningguang, you should fire off a Charged Attack after every Burst. Otherwise, just cycle through your Skill and Burst and remember to pass through the Jade Screen with all Geo characters for extra DMG. Alternatively, you can turn Ningguang into a dedicated Support by giving her the 4-Piece Noblesse Oblige for ATK buffing and Prototype Amber weapon for healing.

Zhongliis the team shielder, Burst Support, and ATK buffer if you run him with the 4-piece Tenacity of the Millelith. Thanks to the Geo Resonance, he and all other Geo characters will have their DMG increased.

Raiden Shogun is technically the team’s main DPS, although she, too, only stays on the field while her Burst is active. Her downtime is the perfect opportunity to cycle through the other characters’ abilities. She even brings some supporting utility by restoring Energy to everyone and increasing their Burst DMG. In such a Burst-centric team, this means a lot.

Albedo is the team’s final Geo Burst Support. Truth be told, you could use any Burst Support here, but in keeping with the whale theme, we went with the best 5* option and the only one that can take full advantage of Geo Resonance. Bennett and Sara also work great. If you find that the team is lacking a healer and you don’t want to use Ningguang in this role, we also recommend Jean, Qiqi, and Diona as solid replacements.

Is Ningguang Worth It?

Now that you know how to build and use Ningguang for maximum DMG, the only question remaining is whether or not this is worthwhile doing.

We’ve said some great things about Ningguang in this guide—all of them true.

She can function as a main DPS, sub-DPS, or even a dedicated Support with the right itemization, so versatility isn’t an issue.

Neither is DMG, as there are few characters in the game that can match her single target DMG output.

But there very much is an issue with this character and that’s the fact that she simply does not fit into many teams.

Geo does not play well with other Elements, but even inside the Geo roster, she’s something of a black sheep due to her ATK scaling.

As demonstrated in this guide, you can build a team around her, but the thing is, you have to build a team around her—for this reason, we ranked her in the B-Tier in our Genshin Impact Tier List.

She’s perfectly capable of carrying you through even the hardest content in the game, so for beginners who have few characters or players who are simply infatuated with her, she’s definitely worth using.

But if you’ve already got a plethora of characters you have and like to use, Ningguang will only limit your team building options.