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13 Min read 
In this article, I’ll be going over everything you need to know about Nahida, including her playstyle, best artifacts, weapons, teams, and more.
Nahida is a limited 5 star Dendro Catalyst, and the premier Dendro unit for all Dendro related teams. With her Elemental Skill alone, she boasts exceptional AoE/mobbing potential, and sustained Dendro application, along with innate buffing capabilities through her passives/burst. Being a Dendro unit, she can be played in virtually any Dendro related composition with versatile playstyles while adding unique value through supporting capabilities compared to her alternatives.
4 hit attack sequence that can be of use in an on-field role for just more Dendro application. Outside of that, it’s quite negligible when compared to your Elemental Skill’s value/DMG in an off-field role. As always, Normal/ Charge Attacks have separate ICDs which you can incorporate in an on-field playstyle for more application. When prioritizing Talents, this can be leveled last for the most part.
Nahida’s defining talent within her kit and her main source of sustained Dendro application and damage. With a long duration and a 1.5 elemental gauge on Tri-Karma procs, this skill is very valuable in guaranteeing a Dendro Aura for a sustained duration as long enemies are marked. Note that her initial skill cast does NOT generate particles however, her Tri-Karma Procs do at intervals.
This skill can be pressed or held with the latter being much more valuable. When held, she enters an aiming mode that can mark enemies within a decent range and increases her interruption resistance. This mark lasts up to 25s. After releasing, enemies marked take Dendro DMG and will be linked to each other. Upon triggering elemental reactions on marked opponents or when they take damage from Dendro Cores, all linked enemies will take Dendro DMG. Instances of Dendro DMG dealt this way are called Tri-Karma Purification and can be triggered every 2.5 seconds at base.
A nice supporting talent that buffs your Elemental Skill at base and provides additional buffing through your A1 passive. However, its value largely depends on the teams she is run in, which buffs you are able to benefit from, and how beneficial the A1 buff is to your on-field character. As of now, her buffing with double Electro seems to be the most valuable especially in Quicken teams where the Tri-Karma interval decrease is quite relevant. This value will continue to shift in addition to new characters and archetypes Nahida is played with which is something to keep in mind when assessing this talent’s value within your teams.
Upon cast, creates a sizable AoE field with effects based on the Elemental Types present in the party, which increases further if there are 2 party members of the following elements:
Here’s a quick talent priority for Nahida.
Elemental Skill > Elemental Burst > Normal Attack
Nahida’s off-field playstyle requires no combos and typically casts her skill at the start of rotations. Regarding her burst, it’s usually followed after her skill, but sometimes it can be beneficial to cast it before you go into an on-field aggravate carry like Cyno. In teams with a Hydro, you want to cast it in the beginning due to the duration extension. Her on-field combos and motion values require more testing, however a mix of Normal/ Charge attacks or even a simple N4C can suffice, provided you manage stamina.
As you ascend Nahida, she will gain Elemental Mastery.
When her Burst is cast, the active character within the field has their Elemental Mastery increased by 25% of a character in your party with the highest Elemental Mastery.
A relevant passive depending on how appreciable Elemental Mastery is to your on-field character and how valuable that amount of EM is for your reactions. There are cases where Nahida will be your highest EM character in your party and cases where another character will most likely have higher, like a Sucrose or Kazuha for example. Something to keep in mind when trying to maximize the value of this passive.
Each point of Nahida’s Elemental Mastery beyond 200 will grant 0.1% Bonus DMG and 0.03% Crit Rate to Tri-Karma procs from your Elemental Skill. A maximum of 80% Bonus DMG and 24% Crit Rate can be achieved through this passive.
1000 Elemental Mastery is the point where it caps but capping it all the way is not a deal breaker by any means. With an EM ascension stat, EM mainstats/substats, external sources of EM, and weapons, you can come pretty close and sometimes even overcap on this buff so keep that in mind when building her in the context of her teams.
You don’t necessarily need to cap this but it does incentivise her to build EM to where you want to get as much as you can without sacrificing other important stats contextual to her role. In cases like Nilou Bloom teams where she is able to own Blooms, overcapping also isn’t too big of a deal since it still contributes to Bloom DMG ownership.
Nahida can use her hold Elemental Skill to interact with harvestable items and collect them within an AoE.
As always for constellations, every 5 star unit is completely functional at c0. Constellations in general and what they offer are far from needed. Nahida’s constellations – along with other 5 stars – usually translate to unnecessary increases in damage/ clear time or quality of life aspects.
Do keep in mind constellation value takes into account the value you lose going for another copy of the character rather than a completely different character that could impact your account far more than a constellation would.
When the Shrine of Maya is unleashed and the Elemental Types of the party members are being tabulated, the count will add 1 to the number of Pyro, Electro, and Hydro characters respectively.
Basically adds 1 to the Elements counted to the buffs during your burst, resulting in more DMG from Pyro, more application from Electro, and longer burst duration with Hydro. Burst value is still team dependent nonetheless, making the value of this constellation quite nuanced.
Opponents that are marked by Seeds of Skandha applied by Nahida herself will be affected by the following effects:
A solid constellation and a good stopping point in terms of value. Quite a sizable damage increase in general for Nahida and the teams she’s played in. However it is not needed whatsoever for the content in this game currently.
Increases the level of her Elemental Skill by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Only an increase to her talent multipliers. Not that valuable especially when your teams are mostly Quicken/Bloom reactions which don’t primarily utilize her talent multipliers.
When 1/2/3/4 (or more) nearby opponents are affected by All Schemes to Know‘s Seeds of Skandha, Nahida’s Elemental Mastery will be increased by 100/120/140/160.
More so a quality of life more than anything, making it easier to gain EM on her in order to max out her A4 passive.
Increases the level of her Elemental Burst by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
For such a high constellation and minimal damage increase, it is quite negligible due to her burst not attaining the same value in every situation.
When Nahida hits an opponent affected by All Schemes to Know‘s Seeds of Skandha with Normal or Charged Attacks after unleashing Illusory Heart, she will use Tri-Karma Purification: Karmic Oblivion on this opponent and all connected opponents, dealing Dendro DMG based on 200% of Nahida’s ATK and 400% of her Elemental Mastery.
DMG dealt by Tri-Karma Purification: Karmic Oblivion is considered Elemental Skill DMG and can be triggered once every 0.2s.
This effect can last up to 10s and will be removed after Nahida has unleashed 6 instances of Tri-Karma Purification: Karmic Oblivion.
A high increase in Nahida’s personal damage that is arguably excessive. Nonetheless, quite an insane constellation that frontloads her damage in AoE with the given multipliers and trigger intervals to put it over the top.
Nahida benefits from both an on-field and off-field playstyle with both having their benefits.
As an on-field Catalyst user, her Normal/ Charge Attacks deal Dendro DMG which can help with more Dendro Application as a ranged driver playstyle.
Her off-field playstyle is nothing to scoff at either, requiring minimal field time while providing sustained Dendro application/DMG, and buffing capabilities with her passives and burst. A unit that can simply be described with a low floor + high return.
Nahida’s go-to artifact set and optimal for almost all scenarios. She is easily able to trigger the set bonus on/off field which she benefits from greatly along with her team in Bloom related reactions. Only reason to swap off of this is when you have another teammate that can proc the Deepwood set bonus reliably and you want the raw stats from 4pc Gilded Dreams for Nahida when she is triggering the majority of reactions.
This set should only be used when another character is able to hold 4pc Deepwood Memories effectively and in teams where Nahida is triggering reactions to proc the set bonus. In a Quicken comp it can be viable when she triggers Spreads but in Bloom related teams, she is often not triggering but is the Aura due to her Elemental Skill mechanics.
Her skill applies Dendro AFTER a reaction is triggered which in practice, often leads to a Dendro aura and NOT a trigger, making it inconsistent at times. Nonetheless, it is still a viable artifact set under its conditions.
A combination of unconditional stats that are comparable to 4pc Gilded Dreams. A placeholder until you acquire 4pc Deepwood Memories. Overall a similar scenario to Gilded Dreams stat-wise but not requiring her to trigger reactions. If you do not have the aforementioned 4pc sets, this combination works just fine.
Main stats are highly team/playstyle dependent. EM/Dendro/Crit is usually preferred on an on-field where external sources of EM, on top of her A1 passive give you a substantial amount of EM to where you get value from her A4 without sacrificing stats such as DMG% and Crit.
As an off-fielder, her Elemental Skill becomes her only source of damage, to where getting close to maxing out her A4 is about as good as the aforementioned offensive stats. Generally with her artifacts, take into account external sources of EM/ buffs when optimizing her stat benchmarks like her A4, with her playstyles and teammates in mind.
Here’s the order of sub stats to prioritize:
On-field – 120% give or take, can get away with less in some scenarios but would also want more in say, a solo Dendro on-field Nilou Bloom comp
Off-field – 130% – 140% solo Dendro, double Dendro can mitigate this
ER requirements heavily depend on team composition and overall value of her burst within that team along with sources of particles/energy such as Favonius weapons. As always try and get as much as you can from artifacts without sacrificing other beneficial stats.
Her signature weapon and surprise surprise, her best-in-slot weapon for any role. While it is very good on her, it is not too far ahead from comparable options along with Nahida having a variety of weapon options regarding her playstyle.
A weapon that is comparable to her signature weapon with a passive that is quite easy to stack. At max stacks it is competitive and even better for personal DMG than her signature at times under certain assumptions [external EM buffs]. If you happen to have this weapon, you generally do not need to go for her signature.
Her weakest 5 star weapon that loses value when she is played off-field. As an on-field weapon it is fine but less versatile and comparable to much more accessible low rarity options when played as an off-fielder.
Both similar Crit weapons from a performance standpoint being better for an on-field playstyle rather than off-field. The Crit stat can help balance your ratio but requires more EM from substats to compensate. Very comparable to Lost Prayers overall.
An EM weapon with an ATK buff on the passive. Overall a competitive option to other 4 stars in which the passive provides value. However, its competitors are far easier to access to where this weapon might not be as accessible to most players. An unconditional passive nonetheless with constant uptime.
A true F2P option that is competitive with a low refined Solar Pearl/ Widsith and low uptime Magic Guide. It’s more or less an EM stat stick with an ease of access factor but can also be worse than Magic Guide at times.
Another EM stat stick for Nahida which is always appreciated. Outside of extra damage from the cast, the passive isn’t too relevant with your skill cooldown being relatively low with a long duration on skill uptime.
A niche option that gives Nahida and Electro teammates DMG%. One of her weakest options, personal DMG wise, but a valuable buff nonetheless in the right scenario. However, it might be better off having another teammate hold this weapon.
Nahida’s baseline F2P option with ease of access along with refinements. This weapon’s value largely depends on its passive uptime in maintaining a Hydro/Electro Aura. Assuming High uptime it’s able to compete with low refined 4 stars such as Widsith and Solar Pearl.
Usually a solid weapon in general but not so much for Nahida and her DMG. More so a low investment support option but also does have her lowest personal DMG output. The stat is also not beneficial towards her whatsoever.
One of Nahida’s best teams due to the mechanics behind the elements involved and its performance in AoE content. Hyperbloom before Nahida was already quite a strong team however, Nahida improves it even further and excels as a Dendro Applicator compared to alternatives with her versatile playstyles.
Composed of Nahida, Electro, Hydro, and flex; Nahida can be played on-field here, driving units such as Xingqiu/Yelan/Raiden with additional Dendro application through Normal Attacks. She can also be utilized off-field with enough sustained Dendro application/DMG through her Elemental Skill alone. Your Electro slot can be Kuki or Raiden who can interact with the Dendro Cores themselves while Yae’s/ Fischl’s Electro can be swirled by Anemo for an Electro Swirl trigger. Hydro options are also versatile here with the likes of Xingqiu, Kokomi, Yelan, Ayato, etc. Some Hydro options can also be the driver in this team for more versatility.
Your flex slot can be an Anemo Unit such as Sucrose, who can also be played as an on-field driver and share EM, Kazuha, or even a second Dendro for additional particles if your off-field Nahida is struggling with burst uptime.
A standard Quicken team that takes advantage of Spread and Aggravate through an on-field Nahida along with her off-field teammates. Composed of Nahida, Fischl, Kuki, and flex, this team focuses on Nahida’s on-field auto attacks/spread damage while Fischl/Kuki provide Aggravates/utility.
Kuki here can even run 4 Instructors + Sapwood for additional EM buffs or hold 4 Deepwood Memories if you have 4 Gilded Dreams on Nahida. Your flex slot will most likely be Anemo units such as Kazuha/ Sucrose for more utility/ buffing.
Capping out her A4 passive at max as an on-fielder here might not be necessary if you have Sucrose or Kazuha on the team, due to them usually having high EM anyways + external sources of EM to where Nahida can get close to maxing it out through her A1 passive. Assuming 800 EM on Kazuha/ Sucrose, you gain 200 EM alone from them.
A similar team to the previous one, although the difference mainly being an Electro on-field carry instead of Nahida. Keqing or Cyno are ideal here, being the main on-field aggravate carries. Nahida’s main purpose here is applying sustained Dendro through her skill and innate buffing to her application/team through her Elemental Burst, which your on-field carry benefits from greatly.
Before Nahida, your Dendro application was much more limited, locking your application to a circular AoE with less uptime. With Nahida, you rarely find yourself lacking in the Dendro application department, along with her damage contribution being more relevant than previous Dendro alternatives.
The rest of your team follows the same framework, with Fischl/Kuki/Beidou providing Aggravates/utility and a flex slot with Anemo or Zhongli to round off your team. Here you want to try and max out her A4 since you do not gain the EM buff from her A1 on her specifically since she is off-field along with maximizing her off-field Tri-Karma DMG.
Nahida is a fine addition to Nilou teams, provided she is paired with another Dendro Unit when played off-field. Keep in mind, Nahida’s Dendro application requires previous reactions on marked enemies in order to proc Tri-Karma, which requires another Dendro unit.
Bloom ownership can be quite inconsistent, however since Nahida will be able to own Blooms, you want to max out her A4 passive here without the risk of overcapping due to how EM affects Bloom DMG. In addition, your on-fielder will also gain EM from Nahida’s A1 since she will most likely be the highest EM character provided she is built triple EM.
She can also be played on-field as solo Dendro but can be susceptible to survivability issues due to Bloom self damage and lack of healing potency from teammates.
Burgeon is certainly an option however, it suffers from the high risk of triggering burning which can stop you from triggering Burgeons or even generating Dendro Cores altogether. When compared to Hyperbloom, triggering Electrocharged won’t grief your reactions as you can still react with the coexisting aura. The same cannot be said with Burgeon unfortunately.
That being said, your options for Pyro characters are basically Xiangling or Thoma. Xiangling generally prefers a standard build with much more ER requirements and Thoma benefiting from ER/EM only. Hydro units are as flexible as always, sometimes even requiring a second one when played with on-field Nahida in order to keep up with her Dendro application that is even more susceptible to burning with her Normal/ Charge Attacks wiping Hydro Aura, making you more vulnerable to burning.
For an off-field Nahida, your flex options are the same as always with Anemo units or even Bennett to battery Xiangling.
Nahida is a great addition to the Dendro roster and is highly potent with her performance and kit. Sustained Dendro application, buffing sources, flexible/comfy playstyle, she seems to have it all! While not a must pull, she is certainly an optimal choice in all Dendro related teams, so keep that in mind when valuing her for your account. Generally there are units where you either have to find a reason to pull for OR find a reason not to pull for. Nahida is certainly the latter in this scenario which speaks volumes about her impact to Dendro going forward.
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