Zhongli is great, but... I never use him. Genshin Character Review! 

Zhongli was one of my first five stars when I started playing, the fourth to be exact (kazuha, keqing, xiao, and then him) kazuha and zhongli seldomly leave my team even after two years of playing. In my defence I play mobile and just suck at dodging and I framing so zhongli was a god send. I am slowly getting better at using teams without him in it but I like the comfort he gives me as I don’t like managing my health. When I don’t use him then Kokomi replaces him to make up for the damage taken.

Finally someone who actually acknowledges that Layla's shield is actually very strong and comes very close to Zhongli's shield. Nice vid!

100% same experience for me - literally the only team I've found which I really like him in is that Yoimiya team with Yunjin and Xingqiu ...and even there the version with Thoma feels just as good.

3:35 "His burst calls down a meteor which looks weirdly like a golden meatball" 😭😭😭😭

I love zhongli as a charachter and was sure In the beginning of my genshin experience that I was going to get him, but unfortunately geo is just hard for me and I have so many great charachters already that I just won't be wishing for him. Would have been propably completely dieffrent experience if his banner would have come when I started🙁 again good video!!❤

Zhongli practically made my first 2 years of Genshin. He practically never left my over world team and was regularly part of my Abyss runs. But the more characters I got, the less useful he felt. Have barely used him now since last December.

I gotta say, this channel really needs more subs, you make really good points!

I got Zhongli by accident on his very first banner. I desperately wanted a C6 Chongyun and decided eh I’ll probably lose my 50/50 anyway. He sat in my account gathering dust for three years until this last patch when I pulled for Lyney and found that playing him without Zhongli felt really, really awful. Glad for that happy accident now lmao

My first lov... Uh i mean 5star. For me he is the most valuable character in the game. There are so many damage dealers, but there's no shielder like him. PERIOOOD

As someone who has used and loved Noelle from day one I think I'm gonna feel right at home with Zhongli's shield :)

I got Zhongli fairly early on, and he didn’t leave my teams for av very long time. These days i’ve learned to play without his strong shield too, but he is still an essential part of some of my teams, most notably hu tao (with XQ and yelan), who i don’t think i’d enjoy playing as much if i didn’t have him. I also like that his meatball gives me a breathing room when i panic and then at least most enemies are petrified for a moment 😂 recently he’s been very useful for my lyney as i’m not that quick at aiming. I’m glad i’ve moved away from “needing” to have him in every team though

Geo has been my favorite Element from the start. But in truth, I found claymores to be my main roster. Even though I got diluc pretty early, unluckily didn't get wgs for ANY of my claymore characters. Istg, I main Noelle and Itto, Diluc, and Eula. ALL CLAYMORES. (I got rainslasher so much it became an inside joke among my friends, who, most have wgs) Back on topic, i've always wanted zhongli ever since his first or second banner when I started playing since he looked really damn cool. And he's avoided me about banners despite my efforts. I only recently got him on this banner(after taking a long break from genshin) and I am extremely happy to have him now. I am well-versed in all playing with different amounts of shields. Noelle's being sturdy as hell, and despite the lack of uptime, her team healing makes sure I never die. Diona's arguably weaker shield creates situations where I still need to dodge the heavy attacks often since I pair her with Eula Raiden. And having no shield at all with diluc's team is... Fine. Their interruption and i-frames make it really easy to survive. I don't main any charged attack bow or catalyst characters, my 13 catalyst billets show you just how unused they are. I love zhongli for his style and burst, but my mains and how I developed means I don't really need him. I know how to dodge (well-enough) to survive most confrontations in abyss. Despite my poor choice of characters making it impossible to really 9* floor 12 xD My final thoughts on past experiences carrying on to the present, i think it really does matter on the person. Some people do switch playstyles more easily, some find it incredibly hard to fix a habit. past experiences OUTSIDE of the game can manifest into the game, and often carry a lot of weight. I'm fairly flexible within and outside the game, but my mains in genshin do have majorly similar playstyles i.e an in-your-face type of aggressive playstyle with protection. It has a major impact on how well i use characters of different styles. But it isn't impossible for me to switch playstyles to something new. Having zhongli is a two year endeavor that i finally succeeded on. It is a trophy of my past i love to look at. My playstyle does not change with or without him, that's all i can say.

Your videos seem so accurate, I'm so glad I ran into this channel. The artifact video with Raiden, and this, are so true for me at least. I started this game in patch 1.2, pulled a fast Albedo, and got SO USED to having a Geo shield that now I always play as if I cannot be touched. Zhongli is my favorite defensive character, and I use him with Hu Tao with no healing of course. My 2nd healer is ALWAYS Baizhu, so even though I AM touchable I am invincible since he heals SO MUCH.

you know Zhongli it's part of muh big boi team... I can't hate on him one bit. I need him to hold everyone still while Neuvillette does his, well you know ☺️😆, "thing".... then I got freakin Nahida coming out left field taking pictures of it all...😂

Coming to Genshin from some other action RPG games where I always preferred either stealthy combat gameplay (too bad we don't really have this in Genshin) or "agile fighter" combat gameplay (fast attacks + dodging a lot), I wasn't a huge fan of shields in Genshin, especially the barrier type of shields where you don't really have to parry to absorb damage. With that in mind, I skipped Zhongli twice and haven't really used any shielder until I got my 1st ever character to C6 - Noelle, though I built her as an on-field dps, so didn't really think of her as a "support" shielder, rather another dmg dealer who just happens to have a shield. Then, I decided to pull for Zhongli on his 2nd re-run (around the time it seemed shields might fall off due to them adding enemies like rifthounds) and my experience with him for a while was "I keep forgetting I have the strongest shield in the game and don't really need to dodge now... at least that much". I did get used to it, but my pre-pulling Zhongli mindset was indeed correct for me and he did make the game kinda boring, so I stopped playing him... at least, as a shield-bot - I later built him physical with Crescent Pike and now still sometimes play him as an on-field driver - his animations are 🔥

I'll be pulling for Zhongli tomorrow because I'm a Xiao main and he's definitely the best shielder for his playstyle. I definitely get it though I think the main thing that has changed from Version 1.0 is the field of actual supportive units have actually widened considerably, so I think the time of Zhongli being viewed as a "must pull" has definitely passed.

I didn't use a shielder at all until I got to Inazuma where I got Diona while pulling for Ayaka. She changed everything and I now wnat the ultimate shielder. Especially for my Yoimiya but also overworld where reactions don't matter as much. Not having to dodge especially againt bosses when you could be attacking is the coolest thing to me. Also, Zhongli's story quests are too good!

I too have Zhongli, he is eye candy. Got him in his debut banner. But I am not much for mono element teams. I use him exclusively on my exploration team. Specifically for ore farming and ignoring enemies. So my Zhongli is purely a shield bot. I hate artifact farming. The last time I used him in abyss was when I barely had built characters. Back when my dps was Fischl.

I gotta be honest, my first team was kinda odd. I was a casual player with no understanding of artifacts so my traveler had the lucky something set for additional mora and my noelle had the doctor set. All blue or green by the way. My original team was anemo traveler, noelle, amber, and Lisa, and as a player who is driven by a strong sense of nostalgia (and a terrible lack of luck /got Bennett a week ago has been playing since 1.0 bad luck/) my team rarely changed. I didn’t change it for convenience, I didn’t mess with artifacts, I just slapped a weapon on and called it a day. Story driven is what you could say my main focus was. Because my main team was never built properly, and I was mainly playing for story, my character archive was rather empty, only containing 4-stars I never used and 5-stars that I didnt have. I maybe had Jean. I never touched the spiral abyss, so I didn’t have xiangling or Barbara or Bennett or any “meta” characters. I had my noelle, my Diona, Chongyun, and my starters. As a major nostalgia player, the traveler never left my team, in my head the main character should always be apart of the adventure. And on top of that, no matter how good any new characters i got were, i didn’t want to have to learn their move set. So most of my gameplay up until maybe inazuma, was completely starter. Anemo traveler, Noelle, Amber, and Lisa. I recognize now that it was absolutely terrible. But the idea of switching them out was unnecessary since i wasn’t looking at numbers or times, and I honestly felt sad at the idea of removing them from my team. So swirl became my best friend. I was not a skilled computer user, this was one of the first combat type games I’d ever played (I played mostly puzzle games previously) so my preferred strategy was as much distance from the enemy as possible. Too many enemies near me? Anemo Traveler Burst. Enemy surrounding me? Traveler E. My entire gameplay was keep enemies a decent amount away from me. I had always liked elemental reactions, I didn’t know or care that they were considered the weaker reaction, so I used anemo traveler to swirl pyro & electro creating distance and usually killing the enemy. If I missed a few, I would use ambers never-recharged burst and then use electro to overcharge them away. Or at least stun them. My last resort was Noelle, my completely unbuilt healer, who’s shield was nothing more then a button I sometimes pressed because it activated her healing. So I never learned to dodge, but I didn’t learn to rely on shields either. My entire method of play was deal damage, then heal. Funnily enough the main reason I picked Lisa and amber, was less because of overcharge, I learned that later, and more to do with the fact that most element puzzles involved either anemo pyro or electro. Cryo was less frequent, so I didn’t use kaeya often. I only learned that this might not be 100% effective once I died to childe during his last phase (all my characters were dead other than Noelle and my revive was on cooldown) because my computer died and I had to fight it all over again. Only to lose to the timed section afterwards because I was so panicked because my whole team was dead and I didn’t know I was going to be receiving buffs during the section. So then I had to fight childe again. (With a completely unbuilt team of starter characters that I don’t think I’d leveled past 50). I was terrified of going back to the childe boss fight, and didnt return to fight him again until much much later (like Sumeru had finally been released later). After that my play style started incorporating more strategy, I looked up some build guides so I understood at least a little what should go on who, and soon my team were decked out in purple artifacts and weapons that were not the dull sword, debate club and whatever else. Soon began my descent into madness. Once in inazuma and being introduced to enkanomia, I quickly met the direwolves that drain your health, and noelles healing while hitting occasionally was not cutting it. I finally got xiangling and Barbara, and soon Barbara made her way into my team comp, and Noelle was now only part-timing as my second slot usually for geo-cube or stuff that didn’t need too much healing. So my team now was Anemo traveler (geo traveler was not my thing, and I thought electro traveler was useless when all the inazuma enemies I encountered seemed to be electro) Barbara /sometimes Noelle, amber, and Lisa. Now shields just didn’t exist to me, I’d always found noelles healing to be more useful than her shields. I preferred healing because it regenerated health, while with shields if you lost the health it was gone. As a accident prone player, I preferred being able to heal rather than use a shield that, if broken or incorrectly timed, could result in my death. Eventually I got yanfei, who was my second pyro character, and quickly yanked amber out of third slot. It took a lot of debate, but amber just didn’t apply enough pyro, and her baron bunny was generally useless when half the time the enemy was gone when it exploded. I didn’t (and still don’t) have cons for the starters, so yanfei was a major improvement. Especially because her attack pattern was easy button mashing was my life, and rotations were not something I was going to learn as a casual back then. And of course, she aided in my quest to put as much distance between me and the opponent as possible, because her attacks worked well with pushing back enemies just like Lisa, and together they overloaded every enemy to smithereens. I didn’t need a shield because overload was mine. And any collateral damage was easily swept up by Barbara. This only improved when I rolled for Raider shogun, who could continuously apply off-field electro which to me essentially meant infinite overloaded and infinite pushing back opponents with yanfei. doing three normals and watching them fly back was super satisfying, especially when finishing it off with a charged attack from yanfei or Raidens burst. By that point, I’d started building my characters properly, and with the release of Sumeru the only thing that changed was my traveler going from anemo to dendro, which made my ultimate burgeon-hyperbloom-overload team actually pretty strong. My exploration team to this day still is Dendro Traveller, Barbara, Yanfei, & Raiden. I don’t use it for spiral abyss of course, but for everything else, whether its daily quests or going through the main story, its been my default ever since. So as a player, I became somewhat decent at dodging (definitely not with I-frames i didn’t even know what that was) and had a deep awareness of my health bar, but never learned any deeply ingrained habits. Heal characters, and push away enemies. No shields, no dodging. Just plain old distance. And a lot of swirl and brute force. My story was probably a bit boring and honestly pretty odd, but I look back at it with fondness. Because despite the fact that I had no idea what I was doing, I had fun following the story.

I like this channels voice over. its not over bearing to listen to. Somehow relaxing.

As a mobile player who sucks at dodging and is an itto main, I need zhongli on my account. Luckily, I have a guaranteed 5* and 64 pulls saved up for him. Let us Zhongli wanters become Zhongli havers!

I had the same experience. Barbara was my only hydro for the first 8 months of this game and she carried me. Hurt? Just use barbara. As long as you have a healer you can slowly chip away hp from a boss. I have 0 shield characters build because all I do is play with healers. I play ayaka freeze with kokomi and dendro teams with yaoyao and kuki.

Zhongli maybe one of the strongest shielders to bring to the game, but the reason I look forward to getting him is because his design looks awesome, and yet he is the only Geo character that can pretty much work with anybody, I like his VA as well, it's a real shame to see that both his banner along with Childe is really bad. But I will be doing my best to get him.

Zhongli was one of my first characters, but I didn't build him until later because I couldn't find cor lapis. My first DPS was Razor and my next 5 stars were Ganyu and Xiao. I didn't have a healer for months because I explored everything before doing story, so I didn't have Barbara. My Zhongli is a hybrid build though, so his shield isn't as strong as shieldbot Zhonglis and I still dodge. But healer-only feels quite uncomfortable compared to using Zhongli with no healer at all, and the weaker shields are just not enough. Zhongli hasn't left my team in abyss in 3 years. My worst experience with no-shields was when international almost made me cry because I had to do like 40 retries just to not get one-shot from full health by a Maguu Kenki on floor 12 (no-shield is fine if I use Xingqiu though).

Ah, I won't be wishing for him, then. Childe would provide more to my account, long term, if I end up taking too long to get a Freminet and get a banner 5 star on accident. Truthfully, I'd much rather fail my 50/50 to get a guaranteed Venti, but I'd use Childe more, just because he provides a fun factor that Zhongli doesn't really have for me. Also I'm a Kaeya Main and incredibly partial towards Freeze, so it would be interesting seeing if Kaeya and Childe could work together (even if I should probably do International instead lol) Thank you for your video, it provided a point of view I hadn't considered before!

Zhongli was a game changer for me. Up to the moment I got him, my battles lasted painfully long as I was trying to dodge enemy atacks and not die all the time. The comfort he brought me was awesome. Later on, I stopped using him all the time but recently I started again, just as a comfort character for my friendship farming team. I never stopped using him in Abyss, though, he's pretty much necessary when I'm sending Hu Tao or Yoimiya. The other shielder I use is Diona, also for her healing and cryo resonance with both Ganyu and Ayaka. I also play multiple teams without a shielder but I am not very used to dodging and when facing two or more enemies any attempts to dodge are lost cause so without a shield, plenty of healing is a must. For which my favorite character is Shinobu but I also did use Barbara (in Nilou team) and of course Bennett. I don't need Zhongli 100% of the time anymore but he's still very useful member of my roster.

I got Layla and Diona early on and got sooo used to having a shield. It took me a while to adjust once I had teams they weren't a good fit for since I lacked another good shielder. So I think your theory fits!

After using him since 1.3, i already built him as a physical dps or ult spammer, it's just more fun that way. I concluded we don't really always need shield in this game.

I’ve been playing genshin for a month now as a f2p and tried pulling for zhongli but he came out electro and with a sword instead (keqing im looking at you). I really really love him and it breaks my heart to skip him but I think I’ll use my guaranteed on raiden and then save for kazuha as I think they will be more useful

Ningguang was my first 4* so I've forever had a geo bias- I really really wish we'd get a geo on-fielder that hits the spot for me and am kinda crossing my fingers for Navia to be that. Debating if I want Zhongli or not this banner on the offchance that Navia brings geo back into play...

I have all the 4* shield characters but never really used them cause i found healers better than tanks, but since I'm using Yoimiya alot, I've noticed that she isn't that comfortable without a strong shield. I never pulled for Zhongli cause i always saw him more as a comfort carry that is definitely nice to have but no must have a specially for a f2p like me. But now i do kinda want him XD i think he would be awesome in my yoi team with yun jin and would make my abyss attempts easier

My experience with zhongli is that I use him in most of my teams and actively boot him off when I can just because I want to use someone other than him. I got him around 1.5 (I started at the beginning of 1.2) so semi early on in my genshin experience and since he was geo I was able to put him on basically any team without a worry he would mess up the elemental reactions and is the strongest shielder. Which I guess probably shows who I use as my main DPS, like Lyney, Wanderer, Xiao, Yanfei, and Tighnari. All people who suffer greatly from getting intrupted and who I dont have good other shielders for. (I don't have Baizhu or Kirara, and I have yet to build Thoma) I find it hard to justify taking Zhongli off my teams usually. I do it when I can (ex my Ganyu team that has layla, or literlaly any quickswap team I have)

I use JohnLee often. Every 3 days or so in fact, when I bring him to break crystals in the chasm. But sometimes he's just great to slack in a boss fight, like thurderbat in Seirai Island.

I have played genshin for almost its run time, and never actually needed Zhongli, i had Kirara and Noelle fully builded for shielding, but yesterday with Zhongli banner and with the guarantee 5 star and a 80+ ish pity builded i said, "you know what? sometimes you just want to not think about dodging or how strong your shield is or how long it will last, i just want to put him on my team and not worrying about damage at all, no matter the damage loss" and i got him, also, he fits perfectly in teams i used Noelle as a shielder, them being Hu Tao Double Hydro and Eula Hypercarry, both being my favorite teams.

I just make teams with characters that look nice aesthetically Klee(w/skin) Mona, Layla, and Lynette/Lisa is my new favourite group and It cleared floors 9-11 np

I don't regret pulling for him this banner since he's just so good with Xiao, but yeah I don't see myself using him in a lot of teams outside that. Also, out of the characters I missed I think he wasn't exactly my #1 priority of who I wanted in my account.

Actually he was my 1st 5* in game back in 1.5. Now I have most limited 5* characters but use him everywhere :D Its not that I cant dodge (dodging anyway even with a shield), but im so used to his presence that he cant leave my team xd He is on sub dps build with homa 2atk 2 geo, cracked crit values, 2200 k atk and c2 (wishing for more today). 27 k hp shield is enough for me, but with c2 shield on burst u dont have to hold his e and its really comfy in abyss ;) Running him most with my aggrevate yae nahida fishl/tighnari, mono geo Itto or with Xiao or just with any team except bloom/national for sure reason. Im 60 AR and play this game everyday so yeah :D Good luck for everyone who pulls for him, he is amazing character ^^

Just got him today after 150 wishes out of my 250 i saved for furina 😭🌧 but i am glad i got him with 55k health without double hydro👍

Great video! I’m pulling for him because Ganyu really wants him on her team and she’s my first 5 star. Your points about him are extremely valid 👌

By the time I got Zhongli I knew how to dodge a lot of things. The only time I really use him is for characters who really don’t want or can’t afford to dodge, like Yoimiya.

It seems your video is a consensus amongst most Genshin users who are not geo mains. He is absolutely essential as a shield bot -- but once you have him and have gotten used to his comfy playstyle, it's not worth getting his weapon or even his constellations if you're f2p/low spender, and it seems not many late game players use him outside of Abyss. Or to put it another way: he is a MUST have if you don't have him and have issues with dodging, but once you have him, he is somewhat underwhelming.

started playing in 1.2 and my first five star was qiqi on the ganyu banner. she absolutely carried me early AR and I had my sights on xiao debut banner she helped him so much early on I cannot stress enough I used her more than bennett and to meta players that was probably a sin but I loved her healing during xiao's burst. keep in mind low level xiao loses a lot of hp during burst and my only shielders were neglected so yeah I definitely had a more healing and pray it's enough approach to gameplay. and then I got zhongli during his first rerun and with Jean in the account my xiao team was set to carry me in everything. As for our decisions early game defining our genshin experience I agree because I'm currently a wanderer main 😂 old habits die hard.

Geo Daddy!! Love my Zhongli, but now I’ll always think of his burst as a golden meatball 😂😭 Great video as always, you are a Genshin STAR 🌟

I've just put so much into my Layla and Diona, and I love the Cryo res. I main Ganyu and Rosaria most of the time, so.....I want him. But even still, I've had zero reason to fight the Geo Hypostasis and now I'm at World Level 7 and it's just a giant pain in the ass.

I don't have him nor planning to get him. Just like you dodging is just engraved in my brain. As being AR60 I never used a shield though I am in the process of building layla simply because I love her. Great video!

I'm gonna roll for his c2 I love coop, but it feels bad to bring someone who only helps himself(outside of crystallize and his shred). With his ultimate shielding everybody I can happily take him to coop.

As a C6 Zhongli hybrid support enjoyer (thanks to multiple reruns and luck over the years), I am absolutely begging you and anyone else to invest in him for the long term (even if one can afford him at lower cons) 1. Good omni shred 2. Not intefering with reactions (this is a plus for me personally and I'd rather it stay that way) 3. General all round buffing via ToM 4 piece set. 4. His personality is majestic ad honourable. Outside of that, I've had a blast with Kirara, she's a great shielder and a nice change of pace from the usual Zhongli routine, dendro is an amazing element to work with alongside it's respective reactions. I often use her in co-op for fun and run into people giving them shields and getting that bread.

Hi there! First of all, I am so happy to have found a girl player on RU-vid, also being a girl. Then, about the fingerprint, I am not sure because, on my main account, which I have since almost day one of Genshin but that I have been unable to use for almost half a year due to lack of space on my mobile, I am now using Zhongli in my overworld team (I suck in the abyss for now), and I am loving it, whereas I was very fond of another team during all my early game, which was Kaeya, Bennett, Lisa and Tartaglia. It makes no sense now, but I really felt confortable using this team back then. Now I am a fan of the dendro reactions, with Nahida, and I really like Raiden too. My go-to team currently is Nahida, Raiden, Xingqiu and Zhongli.

I think the early game thing is true, I’m forever a healing girlie since early game qiqi made me immortal 💅

Before shielders, I used taunt characters a lot like Mona, Ganyu and Amber. Even now, with all my built characters, Mona's taunt is my preferred style with elemental application healer.

I had a very mixed luck regarding 5* at the start of my account : I got Mona > Jean> Diluc in less than a month (i used to throw my primos to the standard banner) AND the skyward blade. An high ER shiny weapon + Jean having a really useful passive giving her energy back + an atk based healing gave me a great and very early access to the fact of spamming burst for Iframe and having quasi unlimited healing, therefore jean was my n°1 character for the longest period (as well as one of the chars i love the most) Then i pulled for Kazuha in 2.7 (better than jean in anemo thing) and realized how hard justifying two anemo characters was in a single team but still needed the healing. A few weeks later i pulled for Zhongli and he stole the last nice that Jean had in my team : sustain cause he just was easier to use. The good thing about John is how you can easily going into lazy mode when you don’t have the mood for tryhard

My early game was defined by being a ganyu main with only diona as a shielder, and barbara bloom for abyss...now I find myself always relying on nahida htperbloom and keqing aggravate. Pulled zhongli for my ganyu and hu tao team and although it's fun, I think I'm too used to more quick swap like keqing

I cannot do without Zhongli. And this is way! Because my ping (latency) is horrible more than 340 and changing characters is not fast same for evading/dodging, if I do not have a very good shield I would die all the times! Plus my Zhongli is also not really bad at fighting mobs, it just takes longer but I am not in any hurry!

My main reason to pull Zhongle, to have easier time mining. Because I collect mineral everyday 😂, each region everyday. Chasm once in everyday 3 days refresh

I just got him and he is at C2. While I understand why people don’t want to use him for better characters to make numbers higher, I love having him already and when I get Raiden + Furina I will have a Hyperbloom Archon team with him as shielder

I relate a lot to this video. I use Thoma and Baizhu way more than I use Zhongli. I think the last time I used Zhongli was because the wolflord was in the abyss and his pillars are some of the quickest ways to get rid of the shield phase

Zhongli can be always used. You just need to find a way ~ x) I use my ZHongli as DPS and as Shielder, buffer as Healer if needed etc. He is multiusage character. Of course it comes down to personal preference as well. He is also easy to build. Not to mention his wonderful assistance during exploration when you don't want to be interrupted by anyone (sorry but Layla;s shield is absolutely weaker compared to Zhongli's and can't endure much so it's a pain to go with her anywhere except to specific bosses and domains). x)

For me it used to be the same until I got Yelan and started using Hu Tao's Funerational team with XQ. In this case, Zhongli is fantastic. He amplifies both hydro and pyro dmg (with his shield vie res shred) so XQ, Yelan and HT deal tons of dmg. He also protects HT without healing her so she can stay comfortably under 50% HP (a must, especially with Homa), he also carries Fav Spear so he can help both XQ and Yelan with their expensive bursts and he carries Instructor since the team is just about reaction dmg. Finally, it's Funerational! Hu Tao and Zhongli need to run the business together 😁

Had somewhat of a similar experience, but I did get Zhongli during his first banner. I did initially use him on Hu Tao double geo, but ditched him for Thoma so I could VV. I benched him untill getting Itto where gramps found his place. I also use Diona but her being a shielder is only incidental as I mainly want her C6 EM Buff. Layla is on my Heizou team after getting C6 Faruzan since my comp there is healer-less and she gives cryo for me to swirl. Baizhu is on my Alhaitham spread team.

Point is, with so many healers that also have great off field dmg/application (Kuki, kokomi, baizhu), why would I sacrifice that for a shield? The only scenario I can think a shield would be preferable is for units that heavily need interruption resistence. That's it. At this point shield only exist so that units purposefully created with an handicap in their kit (weak/zero interruption resistence) can do their job decently.

I started playing playing when Yae Miko + Childe were the banners. So, nearly a year? Anyways, my first main DPS was Razor- all the way to Sumeru till I got Xiao. Eventually, I got Nahida & later Haitham, which made me realize that I much prefer unga bunga teams. Reminded me of when I just ran & attacked everything w Razor.

For now I plan to skip him I'm dead set on pulling for hu tao when she finally reruns. Hu toa is easily my most wanted character in genshin, but I do plan on pulling ziongli eventually

You're my new Genshin whisperer Ms dinosaur princess...😉👊

I had Layla as my shielder from the event, however I pulled for Zhongli and lost my 50 50 to Qui qui. My consolation prize on another pull was Diona. I'm building her as my Shielder~Healer and saving up for Raiden Shogun.

zhongli was my second 5 star and my first limited 5 star. my first dps was yanfei and she needed a shield, after that i got xiao and he also needed a shield so i had no reason to get rid of zhongli. i definitely didn't know how to dodge until i started to build my next team (international). i still use zhongli today (when i feel like playing my old xiao team or my main team, a wanderer team).

Curious to hear about my early game you say... Alright so I got into the game because I thought I was gonna be in for the story mainly and as such wanted the experience to be immersive so I built anemo mc as my main carry. Took 20ar's to discover that swirl exists(I still don't know why and how). Took 20 more ar's to discover what artifacts were. Explored dragonspine before those 20 ar's so I ended up fighting a lawachirl for 45 minutes straight and at the end he healed up to full cause I could not keep dodging anymore I was mashing buttons for 45 minutes I was tired XD. But that fight awakened my interest for the combat system and I was way more inclined to dodge too afterwards. Fast forward to today , I only use a shielder and by extension zhongli when I'm playing a charge attacking bow character no other case.

C1 Layla will easily protect you through all the content in the game, and she’s a four star.

I use two to three healers and face tank everything. My John Lee is married to Traveller tho... they are always on the same team.

Zhongli was the first limited character I got I used him on almost every team for months, and then one day i was just like "damn, this character makes the game so boring" and then i stopped using him almost entirely even to this day the only shielder i really use is kirara and that's only because she's cute, in most cases the interruption res from xingqiu ult is plenty especially when combined with healing from someone like bennett or kokomi

I want him for my eula team really bad as dodging during my burst rotation loses me so many lightfall stacks. Obviously this is probs a skill issue but my brain is also very very smooth and big shield and 20% shred go brrrrr

I got mine at c2 I mostly use him for over world bosses and domains it crazy how geo is more on the defense side when it can be on offense too geo is like anemo just like it can combo with cryo electo hydro and pyro geo should to it crazy all the other elements can combo with 2 3 or 4 but geo cant and we see the elements geo should be able to combo with but can't.

it's funny-my early game experience was the complete opposite to yours! i joined during zhongli's first rerun, and got him as my very first five star PLUS a C4 yanfei right off the bat... needless to say, i am absolutely /terrible/ at dodging.

I like Zhongli a lot. He's my go-to sheilder, but i realized i only actuall have him in 2 teams, Xiao & Yoimiya. Otherwise i seem to prefer healers...

Problem of Geo (No reaction in other element) if Hoyoverse remake the Shattered reaction for Geo or make character in Geo that focus in Crystalized reaction similar to Nilou mechanics. If GEO have EM scaling and I able to use that character in Crystalized or Shattered comps. Yeah I hope Zhongli able to use Shattered reaction as benefits.

Currently building a mono geo team so I’ll be pulling for him and Noelle.

It is exactly my experience,i didnt had shielder frm start besides noelle and didnt build her.i got used to using elemental reactions and when i got zhongli i just didnt get used to it as enemies didnt dmg me and i had to change my rotations to keep shield active

Good arguments. But the character is just SOOOO GOOOD. Gonna get him.

Hes the only archon ive lost my 50/50 on.Since im also an endgame player i also wanna make a geo team so hes perfect for it

sadly I love his aesthetic, but with Neuvillet right around the corner I can't bring myself to pull for him this time around ;-;

I use him with Hu Tao, Xingqui and Yelan as well as Nahida, Yelan and Raiden. Since I not really good a dodging, he's perfect for me.

I absolutely hate my wanderer getting hit all the time, thats why I got him

I thought I was the only one who literally never uses his burst lol but I do love Zhongli, lets me use Wanderer worry free

not the player's name being Gen omg I just noticed 😭😭😭 our dear Gen...

I don't have Zhongli. I've been waiting for him since I started playing at 3.1. And now he is here, and Ive actually got 200+ wishes, and I am not pulling him. Feels like betrayal, but I just see no point.

why pull for geo archon when hydro archon is on her way?!

Same. It became really boring using him because it’s too easy, especially after I acquired Raiden, Yae and Nahida. They usually kill the enemy long before it even gets to attack, so why would I even need a shielder?

I Never use him unless I need the pillar to climb up and get something, “he’s just boring as hell”. The game is already boring as hell when the “story quests” are over, no matter what map your on, even Fontaine wears out is interest very quickly after the quests are over. The NPC’s are so lifeless, it’s just dull.

Honestly i would consider going for him if didn't want other characters more, since my wanderer team would benefit a lot with his shield since wanderer can't handle being punched 😂 Although Layla will always be my favorite 😍 Also loved the video!! As always well made and well explained!! ❤❤

as someone who has just spent 120 pulls to get zhongli and whose number of primos is now a glaring ZERO, I feel somehow offended

I want zhong but as a f2p I'm saving up for C1 _hu tao_ . I'm guessing my layla will be sufficient for now. I will be getting him on his next rerun.

If I’m being honest, the only reason I’m not getting him is because I love Childe as a character so much.

Dedicated shielders are definitely at the bottom of priority for me. If a unit is a shielder, at least they have to offer a good elemental application too before I consider them Really, I'd rather struggle and work on my already existing skill issues than pull for a shielder and make it worse That said, I still think Zhongli is great, and would love to get him one dsy. It's just that the me using him during combat is almost zero

Me who skipped him for 2years 😂. I prefer playing with intense dodging. Not totally good i still miss dodging but not that worst compare before. I never rely on a shielder though since healer is enough bcoz survival is a must. My early 5 star team was composed with kazuha and jean, she literally my best healer back then, with razor and fishl. When finally Kokomi banner has came, I got her even there's a lot of drama bcoz She can't crit. This girl is so good that literally can be a tank bcoz of her high hp plus op healing literally made me to skip zhongli like, I don't need a shielder. But.. because of lyney, the 1st bow user that I main.btw I never main bow users cuz I'm suck at aiming using mobile phone. Layla works, yanfei works but i hate it when their shield breaks and its still on cool down. I got interrupted a lot when doing charged attack, died a lot, specially when the enemies moves so fast. Making me not to enjoy using a bow character. U know, Your trying to properly do an aim shot but then range enemy will hit you while you're struggling to do an aimed shot😂. THEN there's Zhongli, even before the shield breaks, you can recast it again. Making him to be the perfeft shielder for lyney. so I finally get him just to enjoy lyney's playstyle. It's just sad that i have to remove kazuha cuz 3pyro in lyney's team is a lot better. after this lyney season, I will just go back to my comfy team which is hyberbloom team. So far that's my most favorite team.

Wow. Im completely opposite of you. I was a Noelle main, After found Inazuma, I main Physical Barbara (OHC set). At the end, I main Zhongli I play on old Potent Orokin Technical Augmentation and Tactical Offensive device (POTATO), that's why I suck at dodging.

Thanks for the zhongli review but i'm still pulling for him ! I mean he's the geo archon and at some time strongest lore wise and all

HAHAHAHAHA THE MEATBALL COMMENT TOOK ME OUT LMAOOOOO

I'm at , its just my phone is a little bit delayed, thats why i get zhongli at super early 10 pity

Haven't used shields in a while, but I guess you don't really need it if all you play is freeze and Raiden.

i dont need him to 36 star the abyss, i can get away with kuki and bennet but, i feel like he has a really good synergy with neuvillette so i dont know if i pull for him or nah

Like a GOLDEN MEATBALL??