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In this article:
- Collei is a new Dendro character that is being offered for free as part of the 3.0 Sumeru patch, giving all Travelers a second Dendro character to enjoy Dendro reactions and resonance with.
- She benefits from Elemental Mastery, Attack, and Energy Recharge stats as her damage scales off of Attack, is dependent on Elemental Reactions, and mostly comes from her Elemental Burst.
- Gameplay-wise, Collei feels similar to Amber which isn’t all that surprising because of their friendship in the official Genshin Impact webcomic.
- Collei has a number of viable weapons and artifact sets, though The Stringless and Deepwood Memories have come out on top as some of the best ones for her as of 3.0.
Now that the long-awaited 3.0 patch has arrived, Genshin Impact players are starting to get a taste of what Dendro has to offer in terms of gameplay. Its powerful reactions with Electro and Hydro have pushed even the most unfavored characters up the game’s power rankings with Keqing now being one of the strongest DPS characters in the game.
All of this wouldn’t be possible with the game’s new Dendro characters. While Tighnari needs to be pulled for, we do get two Dendro characters for free: Dendro Traveler and Collei.
Collei’s relatively low Burst energy cost and 12-second cooldown make her easy to slot into teams and create a consistent, or at least, natural, rotation. Unlike Tighnari, Collei isn’t going to be the powerhouse of your team, but you can count on her supportive capabilities for triggering Aggravate and Bloom.
Collei 101: An Overview of the Gliding Champion of Sumeru
If you haven’t read or heard of the official Genshin Impact webtoon before, you may be wondering why so many other players seem to be so hyped about Collei’s release.
Collei was first introduced in the webtoon as a young girl who became the subject of a Fatui experiment on Archon Residue, the energy remains of gods from before the Archons of Teyvat. Dottore, one of the Fatui Harbingers, obtained Collei after her parents gave her up to a seer, who was actually a Fatui, who promised that she could be cured of her illness.
You can see signs of it in Collei’s attack animations. Though she looks fine, a lot better than her webtoon counterpart, she still shows signs of neurological impairments caused by the disease. In her Elemental Skill, Collei can barely keep her balance and stumbles forward towards the end of the animation.
Before we end up giving spoilers, here are some of the fun ways you can use Collei:
- Dendro applier: Collei primarily serves as a Dendro applier who comes onto the field only to use her Elemental Burst and Elemental Skill. There’s not a lot of damage in her Charged Attacks and Normal Attacks which makes it difficult to benefit from her being on the field. Her 60 Energy cost burst is pretty easy to fill up even without since Collei generates her own energy.
- Support artifacts/weapons holder: It’s no secret that Genshin players have used characters like Ningguang and Bennet in support roles to carry artifacts and weapons that provide a buff to the team as a whole even when the equipping character isn’t on the field. Since you’ll likely only use Collei for her skill and burst, it’s possible to make her hold the 4-piece Noblesse Oblige set or Tenacity of the Millelith set. However, Deepwood Memories remains the best option for most situations.
- Dendro Resonance: Collei is useful but even more so since we only have 3 Dendro characters, one of which is a limited banner 5-star. Even if you’re already happy with Dendro Traveler as your Dendro provider, having Collei on the team lets you make use of the Dendro Resonance effect that buffs all Dendro reactions.
- Exploration Team: It’s not exactly what we think of first when we pull for characters, but Collei does have some usefulness as part of an exploration team since she lowers your gliding stamina consumption. It’s no Kazuha or Venti, but it helps.
With a kit that has relatively low personal damage, Normal and Charged Attack damage, and a lot of options for dealing off-field damage, Collei is designed to be a support though and through.
All of Collei’s constellations provide tangible benefits. C1: Deepwood Patrol increases her Energy Recharge by 20% when she isn’t on the field. C2: Through Hill and Copse changes your Floral Sidewinder passive talent to let you deal 40% of Collei’s Attack as Dendro Damage.
This gets even stronger with C6: Forest of Falling Arrows which, to keep things short, deals 200% of Collei’s Attack as Dendro Damage.
What Are Collei’s Talents, Priority Talents, and Stat Priorities?
Just like the earlier Liyue characters, Collei has six talents. Half of these are active talents that can be leveled up to 10 or 13 if you have all her constellations. These are Supplicant’s Bowmanship, Floral Brush, and Trump-Card Kitty.
Meanwhile, her passive talents Floral Sidewinder, The Languid Wood, and Gliding Champion of Sumeru can be unlocked by leveling her up to at least level 80.
Collei Genshin Impact Active Talents
Collei’s active talents give you a lot of options for applying Dendro on enemies.
- Supplicant’s Bownmanship (Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack: Collei shoots 4 arrows in a row that deal Physical damage while her Charged attack infuses a single arrow with Dendro.
- Floral Brush (Elemental Skill): Collei throws a Dendro-infused boomerang that deals 1 instance of Dendro damage to any enemy it touches twice, the second time being dealt after the boomerang returns.
- Trump-Card Kitty (Elemental Burst): Similar to Amber’s burst, Collei throws out a Cuilein Anbar doll that explodes, dealing AoE Dendro damage.
Collei Genshin Impact Passive Talents
Collei’s passive talents help increase her AoE Dendro damage and the damage of her Dendro reactions.
- Floral Sidewinder: If a party member triggers a Dendro reaction before your Floral Brush boomerang returns, you get a Sprout effect when it does. This effect deals 40% of Collei’s Attack as Dendro damage for 3 seconds.
- The Languid Wood: Extends the duration of Cuilein-Anbar by 1 second every time a character inside its zone triggers a Dendro reaction. This can extend a single Trump-Card Kitty by 3 seconds max.
- Gliding Champion of Sumeru: Same as Amber’s passive. Decreases gliding stamina for the party by 20%.
Collei Genshin Impact Talent Priority and Stat Priority
Considering that Collei is designed to support your DPS and Elemental Reactions in quick swap teams, you really only need to get artifacts with stats her skills scale on. So, aside from Dendro Damage, you’ll want to raise her Elemental Mastery, Attack, and to a much lesser extent, Energy Recharge.
As for her talents, the Floral Brush and Trump-Card Kitty are where it’s at. Prioritize Trump-Card Kitty as it’s easier to start a string of reactions with.
What Weapons Should Collei Have?
Collei benefits from weapons that have a decent amount of Attack and/or have Elemental Mastery substats. Her entire gimmick is Elemental Damage, most of which comes from her Elemental Skill and Burst.
Viable 5-star options include the following:
- Polar Star: Passive increases Elemental Skill and Burst Damage and buffs Attack after a Skill or Burst hits an opponent.
- Elegy for the End: Increases Elemental; Mastery by 60 and provides buffs to Elemental Mastery and Attack based on hits landed by Elemental Skills and Bursts.
- Hunter’s Path: Gain 12% buff to all Elemental Damage. Charged Attacks get a damage increase of 160% of Elemental Mastery.
For Travelers on a budget or who have their 5-star bows equipped on DPS characters, there are tons of options for 4-star bows:
- The Stringless: The best 4-star option. The Stringless has an Elemental Mastery substat and buffs Elemental Skill and Burst Damage by 24%.
- Fading Twilight: An Energy Recharge substat bow that works for just about anyone. This bow buffs overall damage by 12%, 20%, and 28% as you move through the three buff states.
- Sacrificial Bow: Another support bow character favorite with Energy Recharge as a substat, Sacrificial Bow lets you use your Elemental Skill twice which is good for Collei since she has a 12-second cooldown for her skill. This has a 40% chance of ending your Skill CD after you damage an opponent with your skill.
- Favonius Warbow: An Energy Recharge substat bow that generates energy particles if you can get a Crit Hit.
- Mouun’s Moon: An Attack Substat bow that buffs Elemental Burst Damage based on your party’s total burst cost. A fairly good option if you’re running Collei with other characters that have high Burst energy costs.
- King’s Squire: Increases Elemental Mastery after you use your Elemental Skill or Burst. The bow has Attack as its substat so it basically hits all the right notes for Collei.
What Artifacts Should I Use for Collei?
There are a number of artifact sets that can work with Collei that focus on her Attack, Elemental Mastery, and Dendro application. Others help to make her a better support for some team compositions.
- Deepwood Memories: This is Collei’s best artifact set. 2-Piece Set grants a 15% Dendro Damage bonus. 4-Piece Set decreases Dendro resistance of enemies by 30% for 8 seconds after a skill or burst hits opponents even if the equipping character is not on the field.
- Gilded Dreams: 2-Piece Set grants 80 additional Elemental Mastery. The 4-piece set effect is that within 8s of triggering an Elemental Reaction, equipping character gets buffs based on other party members’ Elemental Type. This set rewards Dendro resonance with an increase in Attack and Elemental variation with an increase in Elemental Mastery.
- Noblesse Oblige: 2-Piece Set gives you a 20% Elemental Burst damage while the 4-Piece Set increases all party members’ Attack by 20% for 12 seconds after a burst is used.
- Emblem of Severed Fate: 2-Piece Set increases Energy Recharge by 20% while the 4-Piece Set increases Elemental Burst Damage by 25% of Energy Recharge.
- Tenacity of the Millelith: Another support staple, TotM’s 2-Piece Set increases HP by 20% but the 4-Piece Set buffs the party’s Attack and Shield Strength whenever an Elemental Skill hits an opponent.
Alternatively, if you want to save your resin, you can pair together 2-Piece sets that grant an Attack stat bonus to capitalize on Collei’s Attack scaling talents.
Team Compositions for Collei: Elements, Roles, and More
Collei’s current status as one of the only two easily obtainable Dendro characters makes her valuable for team compositions that require a lot of Dendro application. Pairing her with either Dendro Traveler or Tighnari gives your team the Dendro Resonance buff for all Dendro reactions.
She can be teamed up with the likes of Fischl for compositions that capitalize on the Aggravate reaction. Double Electro and Double Dendro are especially fun right now so you might be interested in giving them a shot.
Alternatively, you can run Collei with Hydro characters like Xingqiu and Kokomi, currently one of the best Bloom reactors in the game, for a team that’s focused on Bloom and Hyperbloom reactions.