Diona Build Guide

Sandrone Stellar-Conduct:

Sandrone - Yae Miko - Diona - Flex slot

• Yae Miko is a near necessity for any Stellar-Conduct team, and not having her (particularly with her free C1) makes SC teams much weaker. Diona forces longer rotations because of 20.7 second cooldown, making Yae Miko always get 7 Sesshou Sakura waves.
  
• Flex slot: The best options are generally Qiqi and Escoffier, but Sucrose, Xilonen, Nicole and Beidou are also good. If used with someone like Qiqi or Escoffier, Diona should opt to hold Noblesse Oblige so they can use Tenacity.

Diona ER Requirement: 180 - 250%

Example Rotation:

1. Escoffier Skill Low-Temperature Cooking
   →
2. Yae Miko Skill Yakan Evocation: Sesshou Sakura x3
   →
3. Diona Hold Skill + Burst
   →
4. Sandrone on-field combo

Other Stellar-Conduct carries:

Cyno - Yae Miko - Diona - ( Sandrone )

It can be difficult for Cyno to stay within Diona’s Signature Mix field consistently, as he naturally moves around a lot. Cyno’s already long rotations mean Diona’s cooldowns aren’t inherently an issue. Overall a decent option, although not buffing Yae Miko alongside Diona's inherent clunk makes her worse than Qiqi usually. Sandrone has to be used in this team to activate Stellar-Conduct, although she won't be switching in. This is likely to change in 7.0.

Diona ER Requirement: 200 - 240%

Example Rotation:

Yae Miko Skill x3 → Diona Hold Skill + Burst → Cyno on-field combo

Wriothesley: Diona will heal the active character if they stand in her Burst, which is what gives them buffs. Wriothesley does not want to be healed, making them quite anti-synergistic.

Teams other than Stellar-Conduct:

Melt:

Mavuika / Arlecchino - Citlali - Diona - Bennett / Flex

Diona is an alright option if you can consistently stand in her Burst’s circle, but her long cooldown makes her subpar compared to other flex options.

Diona ER Requirement: 200 - 220%

Example Rotation: Mavuika Skill → Bennett Skill → Diona hold Skill + Burst → Bennett Burst → Citlali Skill + Burst → Mavuika Burst + combo

Freeze:

Skirk - Escoffier - Furina - Diona:

Decent if you really need the shield. The rest of her kit doesn’t do much of anything here.

BiS: Elegy for the End

Diona forces longer than 20s rotations, making her able to proc this weapon every rotation. The buffing is quite good for Stellar-Conduct teams in particular, as they can make excellent use of both parts of it. Diona triggers it very easily thanks to her multi-hit Hold Skill. Access to this weapon can make her stronger than other options in Sandrone teams despite her other issues.

BiS Energy option: Favonius Warbow

Her main option in most teams. The clear Elemental Particles are particularly appreciated by Sandrone, but not necessarily excellent elsewhere. Also decent for Cyno or other Burst reliant supports in the team such as Beidou.

Energy alternative: Sacrificial Bow

Can be another Energy focused option, as it lets Diona feed more Elemental particles to the on-fielder. Not recommended over Favonius Warbow unless the latter is occupied.

BiS options:

Tenacity of the Millelith

Able to use this in Stellar-Conduct teams thanks to her Witch’s Revelation passive, albeit with imperfect uptime. A solid option, and might be better than Noblesse if no one else is using it.

Noblesse Oblige

Diona will want to use her Burst every rotation, and because of her relatively short buff duration will want to go right before the on-fielder, giving Noblesse solid uptime.

Alternative: Energy Recharge

If requiring Energy this badly, look for either Energy 2pc sets like Emblem of Severed Fate or Celestial Gift or various Energy Recharge substats. Not recommended. Strongbox Tenacity or Noblesse instead.

1. Elemental Skill
2. Elemental Burst
   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
3. Normal Attack

None of Diona's Talents do much for the team's damage, but her Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst can provide extra sustain. Her Normal Attack is entirely useless.

Overview

Diona can access her Shield through her Skill, which can be Tapped or Held. Her Burst before C6 will only heal and apply Cryo to enemies within its range, and additionally buff the active party member within its range at C6. Her C6 is vital to making her a viable option over other units, especially in Stellar-Conduct.

Stellar-Conduct & The Polestar Field

Stellar-Conduct is the modified, Stellar version of Superconduct, the Elemental Reaction that occurs when applying Cryo on an Electro aura or vice versa. Normally, Superconduct deals a small amount of EM-scaling damage and reduces the Physical RES of opponents struck by it. Stellar-Conduct will instead not deal any damage and spawn a zone around the enemy on which the Reaction was triggered. This zone is called a Polestar Field.

• Note that Sandrone being in the team is currently the only way through which to activate Stellar-Conduct; this is almost certain to change with future Snezhnayan character releases.
  
• The Polestar Field has a baseline duration of 6 seconds. If Stellar-Conduct is triggered again during those 4 seconds, the Field will refresh its duration. Additionally, enemies within the Field will have their Physical RES reduced by 40%, which is irrelevant for current Stellar-Conduct teams. Stellar-Conduct focused characters, including Diona, will enter the Radiance: Stellar-Conduct state while in a Polestar Field.
  
• The Polestar Field will record all instances of Cryo and Electro application within it and grant a stacking buff accordingly, scaling with the recorded number of applications. This will happen in intervals of 4 seconds, with the buff refreshing each time a recording phase ends.

For more details, see the Sandrone guide.

Elemental Skill

Diona’s Elemental Skill will deal either 2 or 5 instances of Cryo Damage called Icy Paws, depending on whether it was Tapped or Held. She will also provide a Shield, the strength and duration of which depends on whether it was Tapped or Held. Hold Skill shield gains an additional 75% DMG Absorption Bonus, making it significantly sturdier. Diona will generally always want to Hold her Skill to access the stronger Shield. Tap Skill has a cooldown of 6 seconds, whereas Hold Skill has a cooldown of 15 seconds.

Each Icy Paw hit has an 80% chance to generate an Elemental Particle. On average, a Held Skill will generate 4 Cryo Particles.

Elemental Burst

Diona’s Elemental Burst is on a 20 second cooldown with a cost of 80 Energy. Note that Diona’s cooldown will actually begin 0.7s after cast, giving her an effective cooldown of 20.7 seconds. This will launch a projectile that explodes upon hitting an enemy, creating a Signature Mix field. This field will deal negligible damage to enemies inside it and apply Cryo roughly once every 2 seconds, but its range is quite small and applying Cryo consistently is unreliable. If her C6 is unlocked, characters standing within Signature Mix gain decent buffs.

Signature Mix has a duration of 12 seconds, but it also has an effect colloquially referred to as ‘linger’: Diona’s buff will apply and refresh on intervals of 2 seconds, meaning that the buff can last up to 14 seconds total.

Witch's Revelation Passive

Diona’s Witch’s Revelation Passive talent triggers when allies trigger Superconduct, Stellar-Conduct or Cryo Swirl, and will have her launch Icy Paws at enemies hit by them, even while off-field. These Icy Paws do not have a chance to generate Particles or create or refresh her Shield; they only deal damage and apply Cryo. This effect has a cooldown of 3.5 seconds and a duration of 20 seconds. Thanks to this, Diona is able to use the Tenacity of the Milelith Artifact set, albeit without perfect uptime.

Diona was officially released as a playable 4-star Cryo character in Genshin Impact on November 11, 2020, during the Version 1.1 update.