Genshin Impact Diona build takes advantage of her powerful support magic

Teyvat wouldn't be an anime-inspired fantasy world without at least one catgirl working in the hospitality industry, and that's where Genshin Impact's Diona comes in. Forget Keqing's fake feline hairstyle, Diona is a genuine cat person who works as a bartender at the appropriately named Cat's Tail tavern in Mondstadt — and she’s one of the game’s strongest support characters.

Despite Diona's drink-making prowess, just like fellow barkeep Diluc, she actually hates alcohol. It'd make for a great talking point if she didn't also hate Diluc. Luckily, Diona has other talents such as healing, shielding, and generally being a top-tier support character. Her Icy Paws elemental skill fires Cryo missiles that grant a shield, and her Signature Mix heals and deals Cryo damage in an AoE.

Though she appeared not so long ago on Yoimiya's banner, Diona is back again alongside Thoma and Hu Tao's “Moment of Bloom.” It's likely that any of you trying to pick up the five-star Pyro character will land a few copies of Diona as well. That said, we're here to run through the best Genshin Impact Diona build, as well as some alternative options.

The best Genshin Impact Diona build

What makes Diona such a strong support is that she's one of the only characters in Genshin who can create shields and heal with abilities, the other being Noelle. As you'd expect, this allows her to fulfill multiple roles at once, especially as her shield strength scales with her HP, a stat that is very easy to build.

With that in mind, the very best Diona support build doesn't use artifact or weapon abilities to strengthen her shields or healing, but to improve the frequency with which she can use her powerful abilities, and make her AoE burst even more effective. This build should do both:

• Weapon: Sacrificial Bow
• Artifact: (4) Noblesse Oblige

The four-star Sacrificial Bow is one of Genshin Impact's most straightforward weapons. Whenever you use an elemental skill, there's a 40 percent chance for it to end the cooldown straight away, increasing the amount you can use Diona's elemental skill, and therefore her shields. It also provides energy recharge as a secondary stat, so you can activate her healing burst more, too.

In terms of artifacts, Noblesse Oblige works well due to its four-piece effect that boosts party members' attack by 20 percent for twelve seconds when you use an elemental burst. This makes Diona's ultimate akin to Bennett's Fantastic Voyage, providing healing in an AoE, as well as an attack boost so you can strike back at enemies. The two-piece effect also boosts burst damage by 20 percent, so any enemies caught in the AoE will have to deal with increased Cryo damage.

As mentioned before, it's worth making sure that your artifacts boost HP in order to increase Diona's shield strength, and a healing bonus stat wouldn't go amiss either if you have an artifact with it.

Genshin Impact Diona F2P build

Neither the Sacrificial Bow from the build above, nor the Noblesse Oblige artifact set are particularly hard to get, in fact, you get a full five-star set of Noblesse Oblige simply for upgrading your adventure rank. The four-star Sacrificial weapons also appear on the Epitome Invocation banner often.

That said, here is an alternative option for building Diona in case you don't happen to have either of the above:

• Weapon: Favonius Warbow
• Artifact: (2) Maiden Beloved (2) Tenacity of the Milileth

Since Diona's specialty isn't dealing damage, the selection of bows that help her in a support role is limited. However, the four-star Favonius Warbow is a great pick for a healer, since it means that crits have a 60 percent chance of generating six energy for a character. Its secondary stat is also energy recharge, allowing Diona to use her healing burst often.

For artifacts, two pieces of Maiden Beloved boosts Diona's healing effectiveness by 15 percent, while Tenacity of the Milileth increases HP by 20 percent, strengthening her shields. Of course, if you want more of a healing-focused Diona, go with four pieces of Maiden Beloved for a 20 percent increase in incoming healing when you use an elemental skill or burst.

If you're looking for an even more basic build, the three-star Recurve Bow boosts HP and regenerates 8 percent HP when you defeat an enemy. This could pair with The Exile set, increasing energy recharge by 20 percent for two pieces, and for four pieces, granting two energy for party members every two seconds for six seconds when you use a burst. This would give your characters a little boost in energy recharge, helping them use bursts slightly more often.