Everything we know about the Genshin Impact Dendro Archon Nahida

Lesser Lord Kusanali used to be the name floating around Genshin Twitter about the Dendro Archon. Now, after the Sumeru Archon Quests, it feels more natural to call her by her preferred name: Nahida. Those two names are one and the same, as they both refer to a single person. However, even though she’s been a character in the story since Genshin Impact 3.0, she’s only coming to the game as a playable character now. Well, in Genshin Impact 3.2 in a couple of weeks.

Here’s what we know about Nahida, a.k.a Lesser Lord Kusanali.

When will Nahida come to Genshin Impact?

Nahida might arrive as early as November 2, 2022. If not then, it’ll be a couple of weeks later in the second half of the Genshin Impact 3.2 update. The Genshin Impact official Twitter posted Nahida and Laylas’ previews shortly before the start of Genshin Impact 3.1, which indicates those two will be available in the following update.

What are Nahida’s abilities?

Nahida is a Dendro catalyst that works best when she can trigger elemental reactions. Some in the Genshin community have already dubbed her “Dendro Klee.” Her ideal teammates are Hydro, Electro, and Pyro characters, who can buff her abilities.

Here’s more information about her Elemental Skill and Burst (via Honey Hunter Impact).

All Schemes to Know (Elemental Skill)

Sends forth karmic bonds of wood and tree from her side, dealing AoE Dendro DMG and marking opponents hit with the Seed of Skandha. When held, this skill will trigger differently.

When held: Enters Aiming Mode, which will allow you to select a limited number of opponents within a limited area. During this time, Nahida’s resistance to interruption will be increased. When released, this skill deals Dendro DMG to these opponents and marks them with the Seed of Skandha. Aiming Mode will last up to 5 seconds and can select a maximum of 8 opponents.

During this time, Nahida's resistance to interruption will be increased (via Ubatcha).

Seed of Skandha: Opponents who have been marked by the Seed of Skandha will be linked to one another up till a certain distance.

After you trigger Elemental Reactions on opponents who are affected by the Seeds of Skandha and when they take DMG from Dendro Cores (including Burgeon and Hyperbloom DMG), Nahida will unleash Tri-Karma Purification on the opponents and all connected opponents, dealing Dendro DMG based on her ATK and Elemental Mastery.

You can trigger at most 1 Tri-Karma Purification within a short period of time.

Illusory Heart (Elemental Burst)

Manifests the Court of Dreams and expands the Shrine of Maya.

When the Shrine of Maya field is unleashed, the following effects will be separately unleashed based on the Elemental Types present within the party.

• Pyro: While Nahida remains within the Shrine of Maya, the DMG dealt by Tri-Karma Purification from “All Schemes to Know” is increased.
• Electro: While Nahida remains within the Shrine of Maya, the interval between each Tri-Karma Purification from “All Schemes to Know” is decreased.
• Hydro: The Shrine of Maya’s duration is increased.

If there are at least 2 party members of the aforementioned Elemental Types present when the field is deployed, the aforementioned effects will be increased further.

Even if Nahida is off-field, as long as the team is within the Shrine of Maya, the above buff effects will still be received (via Ubatcha).

What are Nahida’s passives?

Nahida’s “On All Things Meditated” passive can harvest items from far away like fruits from trees or flowers from the ground. However, it can also read the minds of those wearing Akasha terminals.

• On All Things Meditated: Nahida can use All Schemes to Know to interact with some harvestable items within a fixed AoE. This skill may even have some other effects…

Based on her combat-related passives, it looks like Nahida will benefit from an Elemental Mastery-focused build that triggers as many reactions as possible.

• Compassion Illuminated: When unleashing Illusory Heart, the Shrine of Maya will gain the following effects: 1) The Elemental Mastery of the active character within the field will be increased by 25% of the Elemental Mastery of the party member with the highest Elemental Mastery. 2) You can gain a maximum of 250 Elemental Mastery in this manner (via Daily Nahida).
• Awakening Elucidated: Each point of Nahida’s Elemental Mastery beyond 200 will grant 0.1 percent Bonus DMG and 0.03 percent CRIT Rate to Tri-Karma Purification from All Schemes to Know. A maximum of 80 percent Bonus DMG and 24 percent CRIT Rate can be granted to Tri-Karma Purification in this manner.

What are Nahida’s constellations?

Project Amber, which consistently updates based on the latest leaks, lists these as Nahida’s current constellations. These might change based on buffs/nerfs still happening in the closed beta.

• Level 1: The Seed of Stored Knowledge — When the Shrine of Maya is unleashed and the Elemental Types of the party members are being tabulated, the count will add 1 to the number of Pyro, Electro, and Hydro characters respectively.
• Level 2: The Root of All Fullness — Opponents that are marked by Seeds of Skandha applied by Nahida herself will be affected by the following effects: 1) Burning, Bloom, Hyperbloom, Burgeon Reaction DMG can score CRIT Hits. CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG are fixed at 20 percent and 100 percent respectively. 2) Within 8 seconds of being affected by Quicken, Aggravate, Spread, DEF is decreased by 30 percent.
• Level 3: The Shoot of Conscious Attainment — Increases the Level of All Schemes to Know by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Level 4: The Stem of Manifest Inference — When 1/2/3/(4 or more) nearby opponents are affected by All Schemes to Know‘s Seeds of Skandha, Nahida’s Elemental Mastery will be increased by 100/120/140/160.
• Level 5: The Leaves of Enlightening Speech — Increases the Level of Illusory Heart by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Level 6: The Fruit of Reason’s Culmination — When Nahida hits an opponent affected by All Schemes to Know‘s Seeds of Skandha with Normal or Charged Attacks after unleashing Illusory Heart, she will use Karmic Oblivion on this opponent and all connected opponents, dealing Dendro DMG based on 200 percent of Nahida’s ATK and 400% of her Elemental Mastery. DMG dealt by Karmic Oblivion is considered Elemental Skill DMG and can be triggered once every 0.2 seconds. This effect can last up to 10 seconds and will be removed after Nahida has unleashed 6 instances of Karmic Oblivion.

What is Nahida’s backstory?

Nahida is the God of Wisdom, a deity to her people. She rose to power after the death of the previous Dendro Archon, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. However, as the latest Archon quests reveal, she doesn’t have as much power as one would expect from an Archon.

The sages (read: Sumeru politicians) encourage citizens to keep worshipping Greater Lord Rukkhadevata instead of her successor. Not many people even consider Nahida’s birthday, the Sabzeruz Festival, a holiday worth celebrating. She’s locked away in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, where she was transferred soon after her birth and continues to stay. She can still communicate with people through dreams and by possessing them using Akasha Terminals, though.

How old is Nahida?

Ganyu once said that Nahida is the youngest Archon at only 500 years old. In comparison, Rex Lapis “passed” at over 6,000 years old. She looks about the same age as other child characters like Klee, Qiqi, and Diona, despite actually being hundreds of years older. Her childish appearance makes sense, especially when comparing her to the much older Zhongli.