Layla Genshin Impact Guide for Artifacts, Weapons, and Skills

We independently assess all our recommendations. Purchases through our links may earn us a commission.

Even in the fantasy world of Genshin Impact, the challenges and tolls of school-works continue to manifest into many students of the Akademiya in Sumeru. While lack of sleep is not uncommon among researchers, Layla—a student hailing from the Rtawahist Darshan, takes it to a whole other level. Even with her fatigue evident in the bags under her eyes, she is regarded as one of its most outstanding students, outlasting her peers and always giving the most excellent thesis papers.

What people may not know is that this astrologer is a chronic sleepwalker that awakens a whole other persona whenever she falls asleep. It’s this persona that finishes Layla’s papers everytime for her but it comes at a cost of her never feeling rested. Layla braves the dangers outside of the confines of her desk and travels into the desert nights to chart the stars with the help of her soothing Cryo vision.

With this Layla Genshin Impact guide, you can essentially sleep through the challenges of the game and still come out on top.

Best Artifact Set for Layla

Layla is a 4-Star Cryo support character, mainly known for her beefy shield. Most players would build her for her high defensive capabilities and playstyles for the comfort of gameplay, yet some would still prefer to build her offensively because of her persistent off-field damaging capabilities. For those two builds, here are her best artifact sets.

Tenacity of the Millelith

The Tenacity of the Millelith artifact set grants the following effects:

• 2-Piece Set: HP +20%
• 4-Piece Set: When an Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the ATK of all nearby party members is increased by 20% and their Shield Strength is increased by 30% for 3s. This effect can be triggered once every 0.5s. This effect can still be triggered even when the character who is using this artifact set is not on the field.

Layla’s Elemental Skill can deal damage even when off-field and her shield has great uptime too. With Tenacity of the Millelith, its 4-Piece Set makes it the best support option for Layla, consistently buffing her Shield, and her allies with ATK increase.

Blizzard Strayer

The Blizzard Strayer artifact set grants the following effects:

• 2-Piece Set: Cryo DMG Bonus +15%
• 4-Piece Set: When a character attacks an opponent affected by Cryo, their CRIT Rate is increased by 20%. If the opponent is Frozen, CRIT Rate is increased by an additional 20%.

Blizzard Strayer allows Layla to have more edge on her offensive department even when her scaling stats are funneled into HP. With Layla’s ability to apply Cryo even off-field, her abilities can easily crit and deal more damage, making it a perfect artifact set for players that use her kit offensively.

Artifact Stats to Prioritize

As an Akademiya student, similar to many college students, Layla needs to keep her health in check as she tends to do an all-nighter with her “other self” finishing up papers. Prioritize her stats as follows:

1. HP% (Sands and substats)
2. Energy Recharge/Elemental Mastery (Optional/Sands or substats)
3. CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG (Optional/Circlet or substats)
4. Cryo DMG Bonus (Optional/Goblet or substats)

All Layla’s abilities damage scale with HP which makes her easier to build. HP% sands is usually the first choice in any kind of build and most Layla players would build Layla around her beefy shield, opting into HP% in all mainstats. Energy Recharge sands can be viable if Layla lacks the Energy Recharge to keep her Elemental Burst uptime which is usually solved by equipping her with a  Weapon that has Energy Recharge secondary stats. 

By the way!

Did you know we’re launching a Kickstarter campaign? In the next few months, our campaign for ‘Gentle Jack: The Party Game for Bad Friends‘ goes live! Visit the official website or follow the Kickstarter page to stay in the loop.

Learn more

For offensive Layla builds, Elemental Mastery sands is also viable if you are building Layla for reverse-Melt reaction teams but having it in substats should suffice. A CRIT Rate circlet can be used to utilize the Favonius Sword’s effect to provide energy for her team and keep her Burst consistently up. CRIT DMG should always be twice or more the amount of CRIT Rate Layla has and equipping her with Cryo DMG Bonus would be a great option for increasing her damage.

Best Weapons for Layla

While working on her research paper, Layla occasionally ventures outdoors especially in the desert at night to study the stars, exposing her to many risks and dangers of the dark. Good thing Layla knows how to use a sword and so we present the best swords she can use to fend for herself.

• Key of Khaj-Nisut (HP%) – HP increased by 20%. When an Elemental Skill hits opponents, you gain the Grand Hymn effect for 20s. This effect increases the equipping character’s Elemental Mastery by 0.12% of their Max HP. This effect can trigger once every 0.3s. Max 3 stacks. When this effect gains 3 stacks, or when the third stack’s duration is refreshed, the Elemental Mastery of all nearby party members will be increased by 0.2% of the equipping character’s max HP for 20s.

The Key of Khaj-Nisut emerges as the top 5-Star weapon choice, providing Layla with a substantial HP% boost and an Elemental Mastery increase proportional to her maximum HP. This empowers her defensive capabilities and enhances her damage output via elemental reactions. 

• Skyward Blade (Energy Recharge) – CRIT Rate increased by 4%. Gains Skypiercing Might upon using an Elemental Burst: Increases Movement SPD by 10%, increases ATK SPD by 10%, and Normal and Charged hits deal additional DMG equal to 20% of ATK. Skypiercing Might lasts for 12s.

Skyward Blade gives Layla a great boost in her damage and utility department, granting her a significant increase in Energy recharge and a Move Speed and Attack Speed buff every time she uses her Elemental Burst. Since Layla can keep a 100% Elemental Burst uptime, Skyward blade’s buff also gets a 100% uptime, making this a great utility weapon.

• Freedom Sworn Sword (Elemental Mastery) – Increases DMG by 10%. When the character wielding this weapon triggers Elemental Reactions, they gain a Sigil of Rebellion. This effect can be triggered once every 0.5s and can be triggered even if said character is not on the field. When you possess 2 Sigils of Rebellion, all of them will be consumed and all nearby party members will obtain “Millennial Movement: Song of Resistance” for 12s. “Millennial Movement: Song of Resistance” increases Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack DMG by 16% and increases ATK by 20%. Once this effect is triggered, you will not gain Sigils of Rebellion for 20s. Of the many effects of the “Millennial Movement,” buffs of the same type will not stack.

All of Layla’s off-field abilities apply Cryo and are utilized by many players for elemental reactions. For 5-Star weapons, Freedom Sworn Sword is the best weapon fit for such playstyles, granting her a high Elemental Mastery from its secondary stat and a party-wide ATK buffs, also making it great for DPS characters Layla supports on her team.

Budget Alternatives

5-Star weapons’ rarity would make you wish for the stars thus making it unavailable for many players. Good thing 4-Star weapon pool has many options that Layla can utilize to sustain her off-field support playstyle.

• Favonius Sword (Elemental Mastery) – CRIT hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s.

For most support characters, Favonius weapons are a top choice for its effects that can grant characters not only a massive Energy Recharge secondary stat, but also Energy particles for its team. With Layla relying on her Elemental Burst to keep her running at her best, Favonius Sword is easily the top choice for utility weapon.

• Sacrificial Sword (Energy Recharge%) – After dealing damage to an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 40% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30s.

Layla may have the strongest 4-Star shield but it could sometimes break when it takes a really big hit. Sacrificial Sword allows her to reset her Elemental Skill cooldown allowing for a recast of shield. Its Energy Recharge secondary stat also allows Layla to maximize her Elemental Burst uptime, making this another perfect 4-Star weapon.

• Xiphos’ Moonlight (Elemental Mastery) – The following effect will trigger every 10s: The equipping character will gain 0.036% Energy Recharge for each point of Elemental Mastery they possess for 12s, with nearby party members gaining 30% of this buff for the same duration. Multiple instances of this weapon can allow this buff to stack. This effect will still trigger even if the character is not on the field.

Players that build their Layla for elemental reactions, Xiphos’ Moonlight will be their best 4-Star option. This weapon provides Layla more Energy Recharge for every Elemental Mastery points she has and would also provide a party-wide Energy Recharge bonus for simply equipping this weapon.

Layla’s Talent Priorities

Layla’s abilities make up for the perfect condition for a good night sleep. Her abilities grant her protection from disturbance from her surroundings and keep it all nice and cool. To maximize the comfort of your gameplay, prioritize her talents as follows:

1. Nights of Formal Focus (Elemental Skill) – Layla will gain a Cryo shield that scales with her max HP for 12s. While the shield is active, a Night Star will appear every 1.5s. Whenever the character protected with the shield uses Elemental Burst, Elemental Skills, or Charged Attacks, 2 Night Stars will appear. Once it reaches 4 Night Stars, it will all fire off into homing shooting stars, dealing Cryo damage. Night Stars can’t appear until all recent Night Stars are fired-off during the shield’s duration. Maximize this first for a tanky shield.

2. Dream of the Star-Stream Shaker (Elemental Burst) – Layla will unleash a Celestial Dreamsphere that constantly fires Starlight Slugs that deal Cryo DMG within its AoE for 12s. It’s basically a baby mobile that fires off shooting stars.

3. Sword of the Radiant Path (Normal Attack) – Layla performs up to 3 rapid strikes, dealing Physical damage. When held for a Charged Attack, Laya consumes a certain amount of stamina to perform  2 rapid sword strikes, dealing an even higher Physical damage.

Her passive talent makes her shield’s Shield-Strength increase by 6%, maxing out at 24% every time her Elemental Burst would hit an Enemy. Additionally, it also adds 1 Night Star on her shield per hit. Layla’s Night Stars would only charge up when her shield is active. If her shield breaks, her Night Stars are also lost. Layla’s first constellation would grant all nearby allies the same Shield and same effects of the shield during Co-Op.

Layla Team Comp

Layla was regarded as one of the best 4-Star shielders in the game because of her 100% shield uptime. Her protection makes her the best support for Hyper-Carries, synergizing with the characters below.

• Diluc (Pyro DPS that can easily proc Layla’s Cryo apply from shield and Melt via Elemental Skills)
• Yoimiya (Pyro DPS that can continuously do Melt reactions with Normal Attacks)
• Kokomi (Off-field Hydro support and healing, perfect partner for Freeze teams)
• Childe (Hydro DPS that can continuously apply Hydro and proc Layla’s Cryo apply)
• Wanderer (Anemo DPS that can easily proc Layla’s Night Stars and grants him CRIT Rate for absorbing Cryo element)
• Razor (Electro Physical DPS character that can continuously apply Superconduct)
• Venti (Best CC and Anemo swirl for more persistent elemental application and reaction.)
• Ganyu (Cryo DPS that needs shielding from interruption for Charged Attacks)

Along with Layla’s shield uptime is also her 100% Elemental Burst uptime. Because of her persistent off-field Cryo application capabilities she is usually picked in Melt and Freeze teams or even Physical DPS teams. With proper investment and resource management, Layla will set your team off to a comfortable victory with the kit she provides.