We independently assess all our recommendations. Purchases through our links may earn us a commission.
In this article:
- Diona works at the Cat’s Tail bar where she’s known for being the best bartender in the country which is pretty odd considering she’s canonically a child.
- Diona has one of the best kits in the game because of her shield, healing, and high energy generation as well as her plentiful Cryo application.
- Diona has very little personal damage and her kit is better invested into for a support/healer role rather than a DPS.
Diona may not be the most interesting character in Genshin Impact, but some of the biggest meta teams rely on her to complete their synergies. Her flexible kit provides a shield and healing, two very valuable kit features that are compressed into one team member slot if you choose to use her.
Right now, Diona works best with cheap 4-star weapons and 4-piece set artifacts in the game that provide buffs based on her shield.
Diona 101: An Overview of the Cat Tail’s Premier Bartender
Diona is a young girl living in Springvale, a village just outside of Monstadt. She works at the Cat’s Tail bar where she’s known for being the best bartender in the country which is pretty odd considering she’s canonically a child.
We later learn in her hangout quest that she’s been cursed to make delicious drinks by a fairy residing in Springvale’s pond. This fairy makes it impossible for Diona to mix a bad drink –a gift that pisses her off to no end because she’s trying to make a drink so bad her father, Draff, stops drinking altogether.
Yeah, it’s not the most lighthearted origin story.
When Diona is in your team, she can brew up all sorts of defensive and restorative abilities that help your characters through Abyss and the overworld alike. Diona excels at role compression which means she is able to fit multiple support roles while only taking up a single slot in your team.
- Shielder: Holding Diona’s E skill creates a shield that protects your team members. This scales off of her HP stat.
- Healer: Diona’s burst AoE heals her teammates and active party members quickly. The speed is comparable to Bennet so try not to get damaged while you wait for healing to finish.
- Cryo Battery: Stack your Diona high enough with Energy Recharge and she can help power your Cryo DPS.
- Buffer and Debuffer: Diona’s burst buffs teammates and debuffs enemies when they stand within her burst’s AoE.
What Are Diona’s Talents, Priority Talents, and Stat Priorities?
Diona has six talents, half of which can be upgraded while the other half can be unlocked simply by leveling her up. Just as with other characters in the game, Diona gets additional talent levels for her skill and burst if you can get her constellations. This is possible and cheap to do since she’s a 4-star and her kit’s overall value and flexibility make this level of investment worth it.
Diona Genshin Impact Active Talents
Diona’s active talents are Katzlein Style (Normal, Charged, and Plunged Attacks), Icy Paws (Elemental Skill), and Signature Mix (Elemental Burst) are all capable of applying Cryo. However, only the skill and burst improve your team’s survivability.
- Katzlein Style (Normal, Charged, and Plunged Attacks): Diona shoots five arrows while her charged attack infuses her arrow with Cryo.
- Icy Paws (Elemental Skill): Pressing your E lets Diona fire two Icy Paws that apply Cryo to enemies and deal Cryo damage while holding shoots five of these and creates a shield that scales with her HP.
- Signature Mix (Elemental Burst): Diona throws a cocktail mixer that bursts on the battlefield, dealing Cryo damage to enemies within an AoE. If teammates stand in it, they can be healed gradually proportionate to Diona’s own HP.
Diona has one of the best kits in the game because of her shield, healing, and high energy generation as well as her plentiful Cryo application. However, her burst costs 80 energy particles to cast.
Diona Genshin Impact Passive Talents
Diona’s passive talents can’t be upgraded, but you can unlock them by leveling her up to open them one by one.
- Cat’s Tail Secret Menu: Increases movement speed by 10% and decreases Stamina consumption of your active character by 10% as long as they have Diona’s shield active.
- Drunkard’s Farce: Enemies inside the AoE of Diona’s burst get a 10% attack debuff for 15 seconds.
- Complimentary Bar Food: When Diona cooks healing food, she has a 12% chance of getting a second one, no additional resources needed.
Diona’s Genshin Impact Talent Priority and Stat Priority
Diona’s most important stat is her HP as her important skills, healing and shielding, are dependent on it. Aside from HP, she also needs Energy Recharge to help power her 80 cost burst which is her only source of healing.
Diona’s priority talents are her Skill, Burst, and Normal attacks in that order. Since she has negligible personal damage like Gorou, it’s best to focus on her shield, which minimizes the damage her team takes, and her burst, which restores health lost during damage.
What Weapons Should Diona Have?
Many shielders in the game either scale off of Defense or HP which is why Zhongli thrives on Staff of Homa. There’s no bow equivalent for it that can work for Diona. Because of this, your options are going to be bows with Energy Recharge as a substat. Elegy for the End is a great 5-star bow with an ER substat but since it’s a 5-star, it’s better off in the hands of Venti or Yelan.
- Favonius Warbow: Cheap and readily available, Favonius Warbow is one of the most common weapons on the weapon banner and character banners. At R5, it was 100% chance to return elemental particles that regenerate energy for Diona with every crit hit ina 6-second time frame. You’ll need to build some crit onto your Diona to use it, though.
- Sacrificial Bow: Diona’s best in slot weapon. Like Xingqiu, Diona suffers from having a high skill cool down and high energy needs. The Sacrificial set gives a chance to end her skill CD and has Energy Recharge for a substat.
- Fading Twilight: Another Energy recharge weapon, Fading Twilight is a limited time event weapon that buffs damage as it moves through different buff states. These activate even when Diona isn’t on the field, making it a viable support weapon.
If you have Raiden and team members who have high burst costs, Mourn’s Moon could work because of its passive, but this is a very niche option.
What Artifacts Should I Use for Diona?
Before you ask, no, forget about the Blizzard Strayer set. Again, Diona has very little personal damage and her kit is better invested into for a support/healer role rather than a DPS, unlike Qiqi whose best build for both roles is the same one. With so many good Cryo DPS characters, there are others who can better make use of a BS set.
- Tenacity of the Millelith: Hands down Diona’s best artifact set for the same reasons that make it Zhongli’s best set. It buffs HP with the 2-piece set bonus while the 4-piece set bonus increases shield strength and buffs the party’s overall attack stat whenever an elemental skill hits opponents.
- Emblem of Severed Fate: EoSF is also viable as both a 4-piece set or as a 2-piece set partnered with TotM. the 2-piece set grants additional energy recharge while the 4-piece set increases burst damage based on Diona’s total Energy Recharge.
- Retracing Bolide: Not as great as TotM but not the worst either. Retracing Bolide’s 2-piece set increases shield strength by 35% while the 4-piece set gives characters an additional 40% Normal and Charged attack damage while they’re protected by a shield.
- Noblesse Oblige: Noblesses Oblige’s 4-piece set has been a staple of support artifact options since the beginning of the game. It’s 2-piece set increases burst damage by 20% while the 4-piece set increases the party’s attack by 20% after you use an elemental burst.
- Maiden Beloved/Ocean Hued Clam: Since Diona can’t cough up the levels of excess healing needed to make OHC worth the resin and Maiden Beloved has been outvalued by OHC, these two are really only worth it for matching with other 2-piece set bonuses. Their 2-piece sets grant additional healing to your team.
Team Compositions for Diona: Elements, Roles, and More
Diona fits easily into many teams because of her flexible and useful kit, but she’s best known for being one of the core members of the original Morgana team comp. Morgana originally consisted of Diona, Ganyu, Mona, and Venti. These days, you can mix and match team members with Kokomi, Yelan, Shenhe, and Kazuha who fill different roles yet offer different playstyles from the original team.
Diona’s C6 is also one of the most valuable in the game. Even though Dendro doesn’t have reactions with Cryo, Melt, and Freeze are still amazing reactions that can make use of her C6’s ability to give 200 additional elemental mastery to your entire party.
C2 is her other most valuable constellation. After unlocking C2, Dionaincreases the damage of her Icy Paws and the damage absorption of her shield. It also creates a shield for other party members in co-op even if you just tap her E provided that the Icy Paws hit enemies.
