Among the major regions in Genshin Impact, Sumeru is certainly full of surprises. You have lush green mountains on one side and massive ruin machines on another. Every place in the land of wisdom has a story to tell, and mysteries are waiting to be unraveled.
As the Traveler, you venture into the tropical forests full of ferocious animals to look for answers to these mysteries. Whether it’s an Aranara singing out in the wilderness or an abandoned fatui camp in the middle of nowhere, everything will pique your interest.
The Traveler isn’t the only one who’s looking for answers. The scholars of the Sumeru Akademiya are constantly brainstorming new theories and spend days researching their subjects. Biology, Technology, Semiotics, and the list goes on. Sumeru is a hub of research and knowledge, and students here push their limits to derive proof for their hypotheses.
Studying in the Akademiya is a Rtawahist student who spends numerous sleepless nights studying the stars. Circling the domain of astrology and astronomy, Layla overwhelms herself with her thesis and spends nights drawing star charts.
Reading about her makes me reminisce about my university days when I used to spend nights writing assignments and was buried under exam schedules. In a way, a lot of us can relate to her as we rush our assignments. This brings a perfect opportunity to know more about this Genshin Impact character.
Without further ado, in this Genshin Impact Layla guide you’ll learn more about Layla, an astronomy student who loves sleep as much as I do, and discuss her best builds, weapons, and unique team compositions. Take your telescope out, and zoom into the stars!
Layla: Radiant Star Trail
If there’s one character I can relate to, that’s Layla. With innumerable assignments, a tight schedule, bad health, and a lack of sleep, I’m sure most of us have gone through this phase.
Layla’s teachers have high expectations from her, and she’s often found working day and night to finish academic papers. There is no end to her work, and she often falls asleep only to find finished papers.
Layla theorizes her papers to be blessed by the stars and thinks that a cosmic power is helping her.
Who knows? Maybe it’s a heavenly entity assisting her or her alter ego completing the work while she’s sleepwalking. Thoughts like this surround her all the time, and students often find her talking to herself.
It may seem like she’s on the edge of leaving her studies, but somehow, she always manages to outclass her peers. All thanks to the papers that she has been able to submit on time, which indeed are written by her and not by some heavenly stars.
Despite the academic pressure, Layla takes out some time to wander off the Port Ormos for recreation and loves to visit vendors’ stalls. She loves to compete in challenges and utilize her observational skills to win prizes. Though some people from the Akademiya deem arts and music inferior, Layla’s heart is full of gratitude for the ones who give her happiness and sweet memories to cherish.
Another thing that I can relate to Layla is her habit of clicking photos and displaying them in a room. I love to click pictures and save them in a photo book. Whether it’s friends, family, mentors, or her home, every image has significance to Layla. She details her experiences in a photobook and treats them as a journal so that she can cherish those memories after graduation.
Ascension & Talent level up
Layla’s ascension stat HP % perfectly synergizes with her abilities. You can summon a shield around your characters and deal damage with your elemental burst, all of which scales of her maximum health. I advise leveling her to the maximum to benefit from more health and make her tanky enough to absorb incoming critical hits.
You need the following ascension materials to ascend Layla to a higher level:
- Mora x 420,000
- Shivada jade sliver x 1
- Shivada jade fragment x 9
- Shivada jade chunk x 9
- Shivada jade gemstone x 6
- Divining scroll x 18
- Sealed Scroll x 30
- Forbidden curse scroll x 36
- Perpetual caliber x 46
You also need the following materials to level up a single talent to the maximum level:
- Mora x 1,652,500
- Divining scroll x 6
- Sealed Scroll x 22
- Forbidden curse scroll x 31
- Mirror of mushin x 6
- Crown of insight x 1
- Teachings of ingenuity x 3
- Guide to ingenuity x 21
- Philosophies of ingenuity x 38
You can ignore investing in her regular attacks unless you want to use her as a Physical damage dealer. I don’t recommend using her as the main DPS.
It’s better to invest in her shield and off-field damage that depend on her elemental skill and burst.
Combat Talents
Normal Attack: Sword of the Radiant Path
- Normal attack: Layla can do up to 3 strikes with her sword
- Charged attack: Layla does 2 sword strikes after consuming a certain amount of stamina
- Plunging attack: Layla dives from mid-air to deal area-of-effect damage on the ground
Pretty generic combat talent. The best use case for this talent would be to attack trees to get wood.Â
Elemental Skill: Nights of Formal Focus
Layla deploys a shield around her that deals AoE Cryo damage that can absorb Cryo damage with 250 % effectiveness. The shield’s damage absorption is based on Layla’s maximum health; after deployment, it applies Cryo to her.
Night Stars and Shooting Stars
A night star will be attached to the Curtain of Slumber (Layla’s shield ) every 1.5 seconds. When a character in the shield uses an elemental skill, 2 Night stars will be generated; the cooldown for Night stars with this method is 0.3 seconds. The maximum amount of Night stars is four at any one time.
Once there are 4 Night stars, they will home to nearby enemies to deal Cryo damage in a sequence. The Night Stars disappear if the shield is destroyed or the duration expires.
If they are being fired, the Shooting stars will remain until the wave ends. The previous wave has to end before new Night stars can be created.
When you cast the skill, there won’t be any energy particles; however, the Shooting stars will generate energy particles. The Shooting stars’ damage will be increased by Layla’s passive, so it’s better to invest in her health.
The shield also remains when you switch to other characters, so you can use Layla to pop up a shield and switch to the main DPS.
Remember that Night stars will be destroyed if the shield is destroyed. Although Layla doesn’t heal your characters, she can allow you to avoid a healer like Diona in the team and go with an offensive lineup.
The idea here is to have a solid shield to replace the need for healing. If that’s your approach, you want Layla on your team.
Elemental Burst: Dream of the Star-Stream Shaker
Layla deploys a Celestial Dreamsphere that fires off Cryo slugs within an area to deal Cryo damage. With a cooldown of 0.5 seconds, a slug generates 1 Night star for nearby shields, Curtains of Slumber.
The elemental burst doesn’t deal any damage once you deploy it; however, the rate of Night stars’ regeneration is increased and allows you to capitalize on better off-field damage. On top of that, the slug’s damage scales with Layla’s maximum health and can contribute to the team’s damage. I love that the burst covers a lot of area and doesn’t restrict your movement. You can move freely in the area and let the slugs attack enemies.Â
Passive: Like Nascent Light
When Layla’s shield is active, the Deep Sleep effect activates every time the shield gains a Night Star:
- The shield strength of a character increases by 6 %
- The effect can stack up to 4 times and remains until the shield disappears.
The passive helps to increase the efficacy of the shield and allows you to face enemies directly. I still won’t recommend you to challenge 3 Maguu Kenkis at the same time because not even Zhongli’s shield can survive their attacks. Paying attention to the battlefield is better than recklessly diving into a situation.
It happened to me when I dived into a co-op event and got absolutely wrecked by enemies. Even Zhongli’s crowned shield couldn’t save me. Remember that shielding is for you to counter consistent incoming damage, not an insane burst. There aren’t effective shield characters who can pull off that feat without extra constellations.
Passive: Sweet Slumber Undisturbed
Shooting stars’ damage in the elemental skill increases by 1.5 % of Layla’s maximum health.
The passive completely weaves in her health attribute with the elemental burst. I love characters like Layla, whose abilities sync with their ascension stat and passives. You can easily focus on one attribute and avoid worrying about blending attributes like ATK%, EM, or CRITs. You may need some CRIT rate for weapons like the Favonius sword, but that’s easily attainable through artifacts’ substats.
Passive: Shadowy Dream-Signs
Layla has a 10 % chance to receive double the product while crafting character talent materials.
A decent passive to grant you a chance to obtain better rewards on the crafting table. It’s always better to have passives that can refund a portion of materials or increase the chance of receiving rewards.
Constellations
C1: Fortress of Fantasy
The elemental skill’s shield absorption increases by 20 %, and Layla generates a shield for nearby party members if they aren’t protected by her shield. The extra shields will have 35 % damage absorption of the original one and will absorb Cryo damage with 250 % effectiveness. These shields will last for 12 seconds.
A must-have constellation on Layla that enables her as a potential shielder in co-op domains. You can shield yourself and other teammates simultaneously with this constellation.
If you face enemies with heavy Cryo auras, you can switch to Layla and pop up her shield. The only con is the shield’s duration because 12 seconds might require you to recast the skill.
C2: Light’s Remit
Each Shooting star will regenerate 1 Energy to Layla after hitting an opponent.
Another amazing constellation that lowers Layla’s energy requirements a bit. Not a massive upgrade, but a welcoming addition that improves her energy regeneration.
C3: Secrets of the Night
The level of Layla’s elemental skill, Nights of Formal Focus, increases by 3 with a maximum upgrade level of 15.
Layla’s elemental skill focuses on shield generation, and this constellation further strengthens her shield.
C4:Starry Illumination
Layla’s elemental skill’s Shooting stars will grant normal and charged attack damage bonuses to nearby party members that will scale off 5 % of Layla’s maximum health. The effect can last up to 3 seconds and be removed after 0.05 seconds of dealing with a normal or charged attack.
The constellation is amazing if you use characters like Ganyu, Yoimiya, Ningguang, etc. Any character whose main source of damage is normal or charged attacks can benefit from this constellation. You can stack health on Layla to buff the effect for a 3-second window. Though, I believe you have to be proactive while playing team rotations, as the effect lasts for a short duration.
C5: Stream of Consciousness
The level of Dream of the Star-Stream Shaker increases by 3 with a maximum upgrade limit of 15.
The elemental burst’s damage will improve, but not astronomically. Just a standard enhancement to burst damage.
C6: Radiant Soulfire
Shooting stars from the elemental skill and slugs from the elemental burst get a 40 % damage increase. Additionally, the cooldown of Night stars’ creation in the elemental skill decreases by 20 %
Another decent constellation boosts your Night stars’ creation rate and increases the damage from your skill and burst. At C6, Layla will be quite an effective off-field damage dealer and feature a solid shield for your characters. After unlocking her last constellation, you can build her for some off-field damage as well.
Artifacts
Tenacity of the Millelith
The artifact set provides a 20 % HP bonus that helps to strengthen Layla’s shield, and the complete set bonus grants a 20 % attack bonus with 30 % shield strength to all nearby teammates. This is the best-in-slot artifact set for Layla.
The Shooting stars’ will count as her elemental skill and maintain a good uptime on the attack bonus. At the same time, you can stack more HP on her artifact attributes to gain a solid shield.
Blizzard Strayer
This artifact set is oriented toward freeze teams where you can benefit from the complete set’s effect to buff the CRIT rate by 40 %. Even if the enemy is affected by the Cryo element, you gain a 20 % CRIT rate increase.
The 2-piece set grants a 15 % Cryo damage bonus, which is good for Cryo characters in general.
You can equip this set on Layla to benefit from extra off-field damage from her elemental skill. It would be awesome to have more HP substat rolls to compensate for the shield’s lowered potency.
Emblem of the Severed Fate
The artifact set’s 2-piece combination grants a 20 % energy recharge bonus. In comparison, the complete set increases the elemental burst damage by 25 % of the total energy recharge.
With a 75 % damage bonus cap, the set allows you to build more energy recharge on a character. Suppose you are running a team where there are not many sources of energy particles. In that case, you can use this artifact set on Layla to enhance her energy regeneration.
Noblesse Oblige
The artifact set’s 2-piece bonus grants a 20 % burst damage bonus, and the complete set increase team members’ attack by 20 % for 12 seconds. Noblesse oblige is a standard artifact set for supporting characters. If you don’t have good pieces for the Tenacity of the Millelith artifact set, you can use this artifact set on Layla.
Attributes
Before I mention the artifact stat you need, remember that Layla’s shield is important for her gameplay. Once her shield breaks, the Shooting stars won’t regenerate energy for you, and you will potentially lose out some off-field damage. You need to stack HP on her to maximize her skills’ efficiency.
You can use a complete HP combination on her artifacts for a support build. However, for off-field damage, you can replace an HP sands for an energy recharge one and equip a Cryo damage bonus Goblet with CRIT rate or CRIT damage circlet. As for substats, you should go with HP % and energy recharge to quickly regenerate her elemental burst.
Weapons
There are plenty of swords that you can use on Layla. Swords that feature CRIT rate, CRIT damage, or ATK % with elemental damage bonus can help to increase her off-field damage and damage contribution to the team.
However, Layla’s kit revolves around her maximum health and shield, and it’s better to focus on weapons that can enhance her energy regeneration or maximum health.
Here are a few notable mentions that you can use on Layla.
Key of Khaj-Nisut ( 5-star )
The weapon features an HP % substat that perfectly syncs with Layla’s abilities and has a passive that gives an additional health bonus to the character. This weapon gives a 66 % HP buff at level 90, which can improve Layla’s shield and off-field damage.
The passive increases a character’s elemental mastery based on their overall health and shares that with team members. This makes Layla a good choice for teams where you can benefit from elemental reactions.Â
Primordial Jade cutter ( 5-star )
The weapon features a CRIT rate substat and increases a character’s health with its passive. The weapon’s passive also grants an attack damage bonus depending on the wielder’s maximum health.
Layla can benefit from extra health, and a damage bonus from the passive will enhance her Shooting stars’ damage. A decent weapon if you want to have a combination of shield and off-field damage.
Favonius Sword ( 4-star )
The Favonius sword features an energy recharge substat with a passive that generates energy particles for your character. You can generate particles with a critical hit to enemies, reduce the cooldown and increase the % chance by refining the weapon.
he weapon is a perfect fit for Layla as you can fulfill your energy recharge requirements and even funnel her energy particles to other characters.Â
Sacrificial sword ( 4-star )
The Sacrificial sword is a good weapon to fulfill energy recharge requirements on Layla. The passive helps to reset the skill cooldown, and the weapon has an energy-recharge substat. You can use Layla’s skill two times, and if the shield gets destroyed, you can recast the skill to build it.
Unless you are not using this sword on Xingqiu, it will be a good option for Layla. However, the Favonius sword is better than the Sacrificial sword if you want to use Layla’s burst. Depending on the trade-off, you can go with either weapon.
Harbinger of Dawn ( 3-star )
The weapon is an amazing 3-star weapon that features CRIT damage as a substat and has a passive that increases the CRIT rate. A rather unique weapon amongst other sword weapons that features a combination of CRIT damage and CRIT rate.
You can equip this on Layla to stack up some CRIT on her off-field damage and maintain the passive effect for a long time. The passive grants an extra CRIT rate only if the character’s health is above 90%.
Team Compositions
Mono Cryo: Layla, Anemo, Flex, Flex
- Chongyun, Layla, Shenhe, Kazuha
- Ayaka Layla Shenhe Ganyu
The Mono Cryo team focuses on dealing as much Cryo damage as possible. You can have an Anemo character like Sucrose, Kazuha, Jean, or Faruzan to shred the Cryo resistance from enemies.
On top of that, if you have Chongyun on your team, you can gain a Cryo infusion on your normal attacks and create a field where that buff will be applicable.
Other Cryo characters like Ayaka, Ganyu, or Rosaria can help you with damage sources, and Shenhe can buff your characters’ Cryo damage with her abilities. Shenhe is an amazing option for dedicated Cryo damage teams.
General: Layla, 3 x Flex
- Shield, Hu tao Sucrose XIngqiu Layla
- Eula Layla Raiden Shogun Fischl
Layla can fit in any team where you require a general shield character. You can use her shield to counter enemies’ attacks and deal off-field damage while also maintaining some Cryo application to enable reactions.
Though her Cryo application isn’t that great, it’s good enough to trigger reactions like Superconduct. You can have additional Electro characters in your team to trigger Superconduct reactions and reduce enemies’ Physical resistance by 40 % for some time.
A prime example of a Superconduct team would be Raiden Shogun, Eula, Layla, and Fischl. You can benefit from a double resonance team setup here and enable Cryo and Electro resonance at the same time.
Raiden Shogun and Fischl can help to trigger the Superconduct reaction and recharge Eula’s elemental burst. Another Physical damage dealer would be Razor, whom you can get from wishing banners and use to dish out decent Physical damage to opponents.
Freeze: Layla, Anemo, Hydro, Flex
- Ganyu Kokomi Venti Layla
- Ayaka Layla Sucrose Mona
Freeze teams focus on applying Hydro and Cryo to enemies at the same time. A Hydro character like Ayato, Kokomi, Mona, or even Barbara can help you with the Hydro application. You can toss in an Anemo character to crowd-control enemies and swirl the elements to reduce their elemental resistance.
That helps to buff your elemental damage. On top of that, you can equip the Blizzard strayer artifact on your Cryo damage characters like Ganyu, Ayaka, or Chongyun to enhance their CRIT rate and stack more CRIT damage on them.
These teams are immensely potent if you face enemies like Hydro heralds, Electro lectars, or Hydro abyss mages. These enemies have high elemental shields that can be easily broken by applying Cryo.
Freeze teams can immobilize them and deplete their shields at the same time.
Melt: Layla, Pyro, Anemo, Flex
- Rosaria, Xiangling, Layla, Sucrose
Melt teams focus on a combination of Pyro and Cryo on enemies. Being an amplifying reaction, the damage multipliers of these teams are quite high, and you can trigger melt and reverse-melt in these teams.
An Anemo character like Sucrose or Kazuha becomes important because of their flexibility in equipping the Viridescent Venerer artifact set.
I suggest you go with Sucrose because of her ability to share elemental mastery with her teammates. That will help to enhance the overall reaction damage, and you will see massive damage numbers on your screen.
You can use Cryo characters like Rosaria or Kaeya to keep a consistent Cryo application, while a Pyro character like Xiangling or Hu Tao can proc reverse-melt reaction on enemies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: How Good is Layla Without Extra Constellations?
Answer: I’d say Layla is decent at C0. You can build her as a shield bot with a complete HP artifact combination.
Question: Which 4-star Weapon is Good for Layla?
Answer: My pick would be the Favonius sword for its sheer energy recharge substat and ability to generate energy particles. Layla can consume the particles herself or funnel them to the main DPS.Â
Question: Should I Use Layla or Diona?
Answer: Unless you are facing enemies like Riftwolves who can apply corrosion status to your characters, it’s better to use Layla. Diona’s kit has its perks, but for the most part, Layla will be a good option.
I Want to Sleep
If you don’t love sleep, there is something wrong with you. Honestly, I could use a nap right now. Jokes aside, you get to know more about Layla in the Fabulous Fungus Frenzy event quest, where She met the Traveler and Yae Miko in Sumeru.
You could see Layla’s hesitation in front of Yae Miko when she mumbled that Yae’s personality was terrifying, but she also praised her dedication to her craft. Layla wanted to be friends with her but couldn’t handle a light-hearted confrontation and ran away.
Layla’s introverted personality always comes up when she tries to communicate with others, and others may mistake her for being arrogant. However, Layla wants to be friends with people and cherish some time with them.
She’s an innocent character like Klee, and if you want to know about other characters, head over to our main characters’ guide. The time has come to take a leave and meet you in another guide. Until then, click some pictures, fellow Travelers.
Besides writing about his favourite games, Himanshu prefers to keep himself up-to-date with the latest happenings in the financial world, watching anime, cooking and listening to music from all around the world.
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