Background
Diluc is a 5-star Pyro claymore user from the region of Mondstadt. He is the current owner of the Dawn Winery and is seen in high regard by those around him. He holds a strong desire to protect Mondstadt and its people. The Traveler meets him during the prologue of the game when he fights the Abyss Order in the Temple of the Wolf.
Fun Fact: Despite owning the largest wine producer in Mondstadt, Diluc actually hates the taste of alcohol. He would prefer grape juice or apple cider any day.
Diluc and the Knight of Favonious have a rocky past. He used to be a dedicated knight and had a promising career with them. However, after an accident regarding his father’s death, Diluc left the knights. The Inspector, at the time, wanted to cover up his father’s death, leading to Diluc holding resentment towards the knights to this day. However, he still holds an appreciation toward some members like Jean and Lisa. Although he is no longer a Knight of Favonious, Diluc still protects the people in the shadows. He might also appear grumpy and stoic at times, but is gentle and tender in nature. His adopted brother Kaeya is also a Knight of Favonious, but the two have a strained relationship, stemming from their father’s death.
Diluc Skill Talents
Diluc’s skills allow him to play the role of a Pyro DPS with his ability to infuse his normal attack with PYro DMG after casting his elemental burst. His elemental skill also comes with 3 strikes before entering its cooldown.
Diluc’s normal attack, Tempered Sword, has 4 attacks in its combo, with each strike dealing more damage than the last. His charged attack will deal continuous slashes on the enemy in exchange for stamina. As a Main DPS, Diluc will be using his normal attack along with his burst to infuse his physical attack into Pyro DMG. For a physical build, you will not use his burst to avoid the infusion.
Diluc’s elemental skill, Searing Onslaught, deals a forward Pyro slash on the enemy, This skill can be used up to 3 times before it will enter its cooldown. Each consecutive slash will deal more damage than the last one. If another slash is not used within 5 seconds, the elemental skill will automatically go into its 10-second cooldown. This skill also doesn’t have a cooldown on the reactions it can produce, allowing all 3 slashes to deal reaction damage on the enemy. Each consecutive slash will have its own attack icon displayed on your screen.
Diluc’s elemental burst, Dawn, releases a Phoenix that will deal Pyro DMG to enemies as it flies forward. At the end of its destination, the phoenix will explode to deal Pyro AoE damage to the enemy. After the casting, Diluc’s normal attack will be infused with Pyro DMG for 8 seconds. Diluc’s burst has a short energy cost of 40 and a cooldown of 12 seconds, allowing it to be easily charged up. The Pyro infusion is great to boost his elemental damage, allowing his physical attacks to convert into Pyro DMG for 12 seconds with his ascension 4 talent.
Diluc is best used as a damage dealer in co-op, with access to Pyro infusion with his normal attack and a small energy burst.
Diluc Passive Talents
Diluc’s passive talent refunds a portion of the ores used to craft claymore weapons. His ascension talent reduces the stamina cost of his charged attack and increases the Pyro damage and duration of his elemental burst.
Diluc’s passive talent, Tradition of the Dawn Knight, restores 15% of the used ores when Diluc is used to craft claymore weapons.
His first ascension talent, Relentless, decreases the stamina cost of his charged attack and increases its duration by 3 seconds. This will increase it from 5 seconds to 8 seconds. The stamina cost will be reduced to 20 stamina per second. This talent is overall only useful if you plan to use Diluc’s charged attack often, as it doesn’t affect anything else in his skill kit.
For his fourth ascension talent, Blessing of Phoenix, the pyro infusion from his burst will increase from 8 seconds to 12 seconds. It will also increase the Pyro DMG he dishes out during the duration of his burst. The talent allows Diluc to deal more Pyro DMG with his normal attack.
Diluc gets a Crit Rate bonus based on his ascension rank.
| Tradition of the Dawn Knight Unlocked Automatically Refunds 15% of the ores used when crafting Claymore-type weapons. |
| Relentless Unlocked at Ascension 1 Diluc’s Charged Attack Stamina Cost is decreased by 50%, and its duration is increased by 3s. |
| Blessing of Phoenix Unlocked at Ascension 4 The Pyro Enchantment provided by Dawn lasts for 4s longer. Additionally, Diluc gains 20% Pyro DMG Bonus during the duration of this effect. |
Diluc Constellations
Diluc’s constellation increases the overall damage he deals to enemies and provides improvements to his elemental skill and normal attack. His constellations do have many rules and restrictions that you will have to watch out for to fully maximize its effects.
At C1: Conviction, Diluc deals increased damage to enemies with more than 50% of their health. This is handy at the start of a battle to reduce the enemy’s HP, but becomes useless once their HP reaches below half.
C2: Searing Ember increases Diluc’s damage and attack speed for 10 seconds after he takes damage. This effect can stack up to 3 times and can occur every 1.5 seconds, so he will have to take damage 3 times to maximize the damage increase. Any amount of damage taken will trigger the effects.
C4: Flowing Flame boosts the consecutive damage of his elemental skill when it is used repeatedly. Using Diluc’s elemental skill 3 times in a row will increase the damage of each hit after the first one. This constellation will increase the overall damage dealt by his elemental skill.
C6: Flaming Sword, Nemesis of Dark boosts the damage and attack speed of the next 2 normal attacks in Diluc’s attack combo after he uses his elemental skill. You will have to use his normal attack in the next 6 seconds of casting his elemental skill, but the elemental skill will not interrupt his attack chain.
| Constellation Levels | Effects |
|---|---|
| C1: Conviction | Diluc deals 15% more DMG to enemies whose HP is above 50%. |
| C2: Searing Ember | When Diluc takes DMG, his Base ATK increases by 10%, and his ATK SPD increases by 5%. Lasts for 10s. This effect can stack up to 3 times and can only occur once every 1.5s. |
| C3: Fire and Steel | Increases the Level of Searing Onslaught by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C4: Flowing Flame | Casting Searing Onslaught in sequence greatly increases damage dealt. Within 2s of using Searing Onslaught, casting the next Searing Onslaught in the combo deals 40% additional DMG. This effect lasts for the next 2s. |
| C5: Phoenix, Harbinger of Dawn | Increases the level of Dawn by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C6: Flaming Sword, Nemesis of Dark | After casting Searing Onslaught, the next 2 Normal Attacks within the next 6s will have their DMG and ATK SPD increased by 30%. Additionally, Searing Onslaught will not interrupt the Normal Attack combo. |
Recommended Builds
Pyro DPS
Diluc is best used as a DPS with his ability to infuse his ATK with Pyro DMG after using his burst. The infusion will be the same, regardless of the burst’s damage. You will want to focus on leveling up his normal attack, followed by this skill, then burst.
For Diluc’s teammates, he can work well with Xingqiu to deal Vaporize damage when their bursts are active. He can be replaced with Barbara to heal the team and apply Hydro to enemies. Bennett will buff the ATK of the team and heal with his burst. He will also activate the Pyro resonance with Diluc and boost the ATK stat of the entire team. Kazuha can increase the elemental damage of the team when he swirls with another element. He can be replaced with Sucrose to increase Diluc’s reaction damage.
The best weapon to use for Diluc is the 5-star Wolf Gravestone, but any 5-star weapon will work for him. This weapon raises Diluc’s ATK and provides extra base attack for the party when Diluc lands hit on the enemy with less than 30% of their health. The Skyward Pride is another viable 5-star with a passive in Energy Recharge. It increases all of Diluc’s damage and produces a vacuum wave to deal physical damage to the enemy.
For 4-star weapons, Diluc has many options to pick from. The Serpent Spine increases Crit Rate while boosting Diluc’s damage based on the time he remains on the field. Diluc will take increased damage from this weapon, so a shield generator is useful to avoid this drawback. The Luxurious Sea-Lord can also be used to boost his ATK and burst damage. It can also deal some extra damage to enemies when it summons the tuna attack. Lastly, the Blackcliff Slasher from the shop boosts Crit DMG and provides an ATK buff to Diluc when he defeats an enemy.
The 4-star Rainslasher can also be used to increase Diluc’s reaction damage, but requires either the enemy to be affected by Hydro or Electro to obtain the damage boost.
For the early game, use the 3-star Debate club to raise Diluc’s damage and deal additional damage when he uses an attack.
Diluc’s best artifact is the 4-piece Crimson Witch of Flames to increase his Pyro DMG and his Pyro reaction damage. The 4-piece Gladiator’s Finale is another viable option, but doesn’t compare to the damage produced by the Crimson Witch of Flames. This artifact increase ATK% and normal attack damage of melee characters.
- Sands: ATK% or EM
- Goblet: Pyro DMG Bonus%
- Circlet: Crit Rate or Crit DMG
Look for Crit DMG, Crit Rate, ATK, and Elemental Mastery in his sub-stats.
Main DPS
This build is similar to the last build, but uses Ganyu to produce Melt with Diluc. Bennett will heal and buff the team, while Zhongli will provide a shield. He can be replaced with Diona for Cryo application.
The 5-star Redhorn Stonethresher increases Diluc’s Crit DMG and his DEF. Diluc will get a further boost to his normal and charged attack based on his DEF. However, since Diluc isn’t built to maximize on his DEF, it is recommended to not build his DEF stat in his artifact stats. The Unforged can also be used with a shield creator like Zhongli and increases Diluc’s damage while protected by a shield.
The 4-star Prototype Aminus is great for any DPS claymore character and is a weapon that is easy to refine and obtain.
Recommended Party Members
Kazuha will boost the elemental damage of the team and spread elements around with his burst. He can be replaced with Sucrose or Venti.
Bennet will heal and buff the team. He and Diluc will also provide the Pyro team buff to raise the party’s ATK.
Xingqiu’s burst works well with Diluc’s Pryo infusion to deal Vaporize damage.
Zhongli has the best shield in the game and can protect Diluc from a lot of damage. He can be replaced with Diona to add another Cryo character for Ganyu.
Ganyu will act as a burst support with her ability to provide a wide Cryo field. Her charged attack can also deal massive amounts of Cryo DMG.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Pyro infusion with his normal attack after using his burst | Low Attack Speed |
| Elemental skill has 3 uses before cooldown | No useful talents for exploring |
| Crit Rate Bonus in ascension rank | Only works as a Main DPS |
Conclusion
Diluc is the first Pyro 5-star introduced in the game and was one of the best DPS characters. However, as characters like Hu Tao and Klee got introduced, his role as a Main DPS dwindled. He still works great as one, with his ability to infuse his attacks with Pyro DMG, but he holds no support skills or sub-DPS potential with his kit.
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