For most Genshin Impact players, Collei will be the among the first Dendro characters added to their archive, so if nothing else, you’ll want a well-rounded build for her as you get to grips with how Dendro works in combat. Read on for details on our best build advice for Collei, including her ideal weapons, artifacts, party members, and more.
How to build Collei as a sub-DPS/Dendro support character in Genshin Impact
Best weapon: Polar Star
4-star alternative: Favonius Warbow If you’re lucky enough to have the Polar Star bow in your archive, it really is a great weapon for making the most of Collei. Just by having it equipped her elemental talent attacks will get a significant DMG boost (minimum 12%). What’s more, every attack she performs will grant a stack of Ashen Nightstar, which will significantly boost her ATK for the next 12 seconds. Even better, her different attack types (normal, charged, skill, and burst) each generate separate stacks, allowing you to theoretically gain up to 12 instances of Ashen Nightstar on the field at a time. There are any number of reasons why you might not want to equip a 4-star sub-DPS with one of the most impressive and rarest weapons in the game, however, so a slightly more modest choice for Collei is the Favonius Warbow. One definite weakness in Collei’s kit is the slow recharge time on her elemental burst, and with this bow equipped, her CRITs have a high chance to generate an elemental particle which will add six points back into her energy pool.
Best artifacts: Deepwood Memories
2-piece set bonus: Dendro DMG +15% 4-piece set bonus: After Elemental Skills or Bursts hit opponents, the targets’ Dendro RES will be decreased by 30% for 8 seconds. This effect can be triggered even if the equipping character is not on the field.
If you’re exploring Sumeru, odds are good that you’ll soon pick up some pieces from the Deepwood Memories artifact set; and, with a limited number of Dendro characters currently in the game to equip them to, you hopefully won’t struggle to find enough for Collei. Deepwood Memories follow a familiar pattern for element-oriented artifact sets, so it’s a no-brainer to make the most of Collei and her Dendro attacks with these pieces. If you have a few different pieces to choose from, try and focus on the following stats and substats to enhance Collei’s build:
Circlet of Logos: CRITs Sands of Eon: Energy Recharge Goblet of Eonothem: Dendro DMG Bonus Substats: ATK, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge
Talent priority: Trump-Card Kitty (Elemental Burst)
Secondary: Floral Brush (Elemental Skill) All of Collei’s active talents are pretty useful, but a good rule of thumb is to prioritise anything that boosts the area and duration of her Dendro DMG. Therefore, focus on her Elemental Burst first and her Elemental Skill second, but try not to neglect her Charged Attack on Normal as well.
Supplicant’s Bowmanship (Normal Attack): Normal Attack: Collei performs up to four consecutive shots with her bow. Charged Attack: Collei performs a more precise aimed shot with increased DMG. While aiming, Dendro Energy will accumulate on the arrowhead; a fully charged arrow will deal Dendro damage. Plunging Attack: Collei fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE DMG upon impact. Floral Brush (Elemental Skill): Collei throws out a Floral Ring that deals one instance of Dendro DMG to opponents along the path. The Floral Ring will return after a set time, dealing Dendro DMG once again. Trump-Card Kitty (Elemental Burst): Collei throws a doll (named Cuilein-Anbar), causing an explosion that deals AoE Dendro DMG and creating a “Cuilein-Anbar Zone”. Cuilein-Anbar will bounce around within this zone, dealing AoE Dendro DMG. Gliding Champion of Sumeru (Utility Passive): Decreases gliding stamina consumption for Collei and her party members by 20%. Not stackable with passive talents that provide the exact same effect. Floral Sidewinder (1st Ascension Passive): If one of Collei’s party members has triggered an elemental reaction with Dendro before the Floral Ring returns, it will grant the character the Sprout effect upon return. This will continuously deal Dendro DMG equivalent to 40% of Collei’s ATK to nearby opponents for three seconds. If another Sprout effect is triggered during its initial duration, the initial effect will be removed. The Languid Wood (4th Ascension Passive): When a character within the Cuilein-Anbar Zone triggers an elemental reaction with Dendro, the Zone’s duration will be increased by one second, and a single Trump-Card Kitty can be extended by up to three seconds.
Party composition
Main DPS: Xiangling Sub DPS: Collei Sub DPS: Fischl Healer: Barbara
5-star alternative: Diluc replacing Xiangling as DPS To really get the feel for Collei and her Dendro attacks, place her on a team with Pyro, Electro, and Hydro characters to get her widest range of elemental reactions. Pairing Collei with a Pyro DPS allows you to apply the Burning reaction near-constantly, and Xiangling is both a strong candidate and easy-to-obtain thanks to her status as a perpetually free character. Electro bow user Fischl is strong enough to act as a DPS in her own right if you want to make the Quicken reaction the core of your strategy instead, but she’ll fill a co-sub-DPS role with Collei just as well. Finally, Hydro character Barbara can trigger Bloom and doubles as an excellent healer for the team. Collei performs admirably on an all-4-star and even on an F2P team, but if you have a 5-star Pyro or Electro DPS you especially like using, they’ll sub in well on this composition. Pyro in particular is over-represented in this area, with Diluc worth a mention as a stand-out choice if you have him.
How to level up Collei in Genshin Impact
Ascension Materials
To fully ascend Collei, you will need the following materials: As a signature character for the introduction of Sumeru, you’ll perhaps be unsurprised to learn that Collei’s ascension materials can all be gathered from around the new nation. Harvesting the local flora and defeating normal and boss enemies around Sumeru ought to give you plenty of her materials in no time.
Talents
To fully level up any one of Collei’s three active talents, you’ll need to collect the following materials: Remember that you’ll need to collect these materials three times over if you want to “triple crown” Collei! Luckily, as with her ascension materials, most of her talent levelling materials are easily gained as you explore Sumeru. Even her books can be found in the new nation’s Steeple of Ignorance domain, where they’re a possible drop on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Getting her boss materials at higher levels will require a trip back to Inazuma, though, in order to take on Raiden Shogun’s boss form at Lvl. 70+. Finally, Crowns of Insight can as always be obtained through limited-time events or by making offerings to the Frostbearing Tree and the Sacred Sakura.
Constellations
As a 4-star character who’s also available for free with a Version 3.0 event, it’s going to be easy for you to wind up with multiple copies of Collei for a while. The Constellations you unlock for her are as follows:
Deepwood Patrol (C1): When in the party but not on the field, Collei’s Energy Recharge is increased by 20%. Through Hill and Copse (C2): The passive talent Floral Sidewinder is changed. The Floral Ring will now grant the character the Sprout effect from Floral Sidewinder upon return, dealing 40% of Collei’s ATK as Dendro DMG to nearby opponents for 3 seconds. From the moment of using Floral Brush to the moment when this instance of Sprout effect ends, if any of your party members triggers an elemental reaction with Dendro, the Sprout effect will be extended by 3 seconds. The Sprout effect can only be extended this way once. If another Sprout effect is triggered during its initial duration, the initial effect will be removed. (Requires you to have unlocked the Floral Sidewinder Passive Talent.) Scent of Summer (C3): Increases the level of Floral Brush by +3 (up to the max upgrade level of 15). Gift of the Woods (C4): Using Trump-Card Kitty will increase all nearby characters’ (but not Collei’s own) Elemental Mastery by 60 for 12 seconds. All Embers (C5): Increases the level of Trump-Card Kitty by +3 (up to the max upgrade level of 15). Forest of Falling Arrows (C6): When the Floral Ring hits, it will create a miniature Cuilein-Anbar that will deal 200% of Collei’s ATK as Dendro DMG. Each Floral Brush can only create one such miniature Cuilein-Anbar.
How to get Collei in Genshin Impact
Collei is a 4-star character, meaning that she’s part of the standard wish pool and can be obtained any time you wish on the Wanderlust Invocation (permanent) banner, or any current Character and Weapon Event Wish banners. She’ll also occasionally feature on a 5-star’s Character Event Wish banner with a massively increased pull rate. In addition to joining the standard wish pool, Collei is permanently available as a free character to players who participate in the Curtain Of Leaves indefinite event and complete Floor 4, Chamber 3 of the challenge. Like Xiangling, obtaining her is part of the larger Spiral Abyss challenge. This means that obtaining her for free isn’t necessarily easy, and you may find you pull your Collei unit from the gacha before that point; but your feat will still be rewarded with one of Collei’s constellations the first time you finish the event. If you’re wondering how Collei measures up against the 50+ other playable characters in Genshin Impact, be sure to check out our Genshin Impact tier list to see our rankings! And if you’re hoping to save up your currencies for more characters, be sure to take a look at our guide to getting more Primogems in Genshin Impact.
