Genshin Impact’s Nilou is a powerhouse – not because she deals significant damage, but because she enables her own unique playstyle. Nilou Bloom teams are very strong, but are they strong enough to be worth spending your Primogems? Here’s an analysis of Nilou’s pull value in Genshin Impact.
A word of caution: I would label Nilou as “whale bait.” She’s decently strong at Constellation 0 with free weapons, but splurging on Constellations and her signature Sword results in noticeable damage increases. Keep this in mind when pulling for her since the added incentive to keep pulling might affect you more than you realize.
Is Nilou worth pulling?
Nilou is worth pulling if you want to play pure Bloom teams. These teams are powerful, but there are other teams that can deal significant damage in Genshin Impact. Nilou will serve you well if you decide to pull her but don’t feel pressured to do so to keep up with the meta.
Nilou herself isn’t a hard-hitting DPS like Neuvillette, nor a flexible off-fielder like Furina. She creates a very specific niche where, if your team consists only of Dendro and Hydro characters, you receive a massive buff to your Bloom reactions. If you want to play Nilou, you should be willing to play within these team restrictions.
If you’re willing to play to Nilou’s strengths, though, she enables a team archetype and playstyle that just wouldn’t be viable without her. Nilou’s value comes from this novelty, not just how much damage she can do.
In terms of damage, Nilou teams can be very strong. With C0 Nilou and decent Dendro characters, Nilou Bloom teams are on par with Hyperbloom teams. If you have Constellations for Nilou and Nahida, Blooms can hit for upwards of 100,000 damage per blast. This is a massive increase in damage if you’re willing to whale, but the baseline performance of free-to-play Nilou teams is nothing to scoff at, either.
Are Nilou Constellations worth it?
Nilou’s first two Constellations improve her Bloom teams significantly. Constellation 1 improves the uptime of her Skill effects, letting her trigger more Blooms overall. Constellation 2 reduces enemy Dendro and Hydro RES, improving both Bloom damage and damage from your Hydro teammates. These two Constellations take Nilou from “strong” to “almost broken.”
Constellations 3 through 6 are not worth it for Nilou unless you intend to play her as an on-field Vaporize DPS. They improve Nilou’s damage from her Skill and Burst, encouraging you to build her with CRIT stats. Constellation 6, in particular, confers buffs to Nilou’s CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG.
Is Nilou’s weapon worth it?
Nilou’s signature 5-star Sword, Key of Khaj-Nisut, is her best weapon by a sizable margin. Her next-best weapon, Dockhand’s Assistant, is only available on certain weapon banners, making it difficult to obtain. While you can use any Elemental Mastery Sword on Nilou, Key of Khaj-Nisut is the only weapon that fully synergizes with Nilou’s kit.
Nilou is fully functional without her signature Sword, but there’s no denying how much it improves her performance. Don’t spend money you’re not prepared to, though. Genshin Impact’s gacha system has always been predatory, and Nilou’s balancing is the most egregious example of pressuring players to gamble.
