Disclaimer:
The numbers shown in this analysis are a result of simulation. It may not reflect actual damage in the game, but it should give you a lot of ideas on what's better and what's worse.
This calculation also may not be viable for C2 Albedo. I only have him at C0, so sadly, I can't test his C2.
Intro:
From the test run, it can be seen that Albedo scales with Defense on his elemental skill.
This has led to the question of:
"Is defense better, or is attack better for Albedo?"
In this analysis, I'm gonna cover a few questions:
1. Is defense better, or is attack better?
2. Is Festering Desire better than Harbinger of Dawn?
3. Is 2-Petra + 2-Noblesse the best artifact for him?
Assumptions and some explanations:
The calculations below will follow the following assumptions:
1. Albedo is lv90.
2. The enemy is a lv90 hilichurl with full HP (His passive won't be triggered)
3. The weapon considered will be R4 Lv90 Festering Desire and R5 Lv90 Harbinger of Dawn (3-stars weapon).
Festering Desire will be marked as "1" in the analysis.
Harbinger of Dawn will be marked as "2".
4. Talent lv6, C0.
5. The "total" damage calculation will be simulated in a ~1 minute field play, where he will do:
9 x skill cast
27 x Transient Blossom's trigger
3 x burst for Festering Desire (21 x Fatal Blossoms)
2 x burst for Harbinger of Dawn (14 x Fatal Blossoms)
6. It'll be assumed that all of the hits crit.
7. 5 different sets of Artifacts will be tested. These sets will be marked as Set A - Set E.
Each set's main stat will be shown in the analysis.
The set with Atk% main stat will be accompanied with 30% Atk substat.
The set with Def% main stat will be accompanied with 40% Def substat.
8. Solar Isotoma is present on every burst.
9. All Fatal Blossoms (The 7 flower on his burst) hits.
10. The artifacts with Festering Desire will have a much lower Critical Damage than Harbinger of Dawn.
This is because Harbinger of Dawn provides 28% Critical Rate and ~40% Critical Damage.
For Festering Desire to make up for the 28% Critical Rate's loss, it has to sacrifice ~56% Critical Damage.
So Festering Desire will have ~96% less Critical Damage than Harbinger of Dawn.
In the analysis below, it will still say the set with Festering Desire has 31.1% Crit Rate, but it can be ignored. All of the Crit Rate% Column can be ignored.
11. Some 4-stars artifacts will be used in this analysis.
I will simulate the 4-stars on Flower and Plume.
On one of the cases, the 4-stars will be on Flower, Plume, Timepiece, and Headpiece.
12. Only Skill Damage will be considered.
Results:
On Set A, it can be seen that A 2 is better.
That means Harbinger of Dawn is better.
On Set B, again, Harbinger of Dawn is better.
Here we can see that Def/Geo/CR has higher damage output than Atk/Geo/CR.
This Set has lower Critical Damage because it will have to use a 4-stars Critical Rate headpiece, and just like assumption #10, Less Critical Rate = Less Critical Damage.
And finally, putting them all together, from best to worst and we have:
Conclusion:
1. Harbinger of Dawn is better than Festering Desire in all the tested sets.
2. Defense is better than attack.
3. No, Petra-Noblesse seems to be one of the worst set for him.
Please note that defense build is only viable if you're using him purely as support unit.
If you're using him as Sub DPS, you'll need attack in order to deal damage on the basic attack.
Defense build is also only really good if you plan to raise him at least to lv80.
If you intend on keeping him under that, it's better to go with Petra - Noblesse.
Edit: If you have some really good main stat and substat on 5* sets (Gladiator/Noblesse), you can use those too instead of defender. They can come close to defender because they have a lead in substat.
But this is for defense build only. Attack build will still be behind.
No need to pressure yourself for the perfect set!
Personal Opinion:
Wow. The result is honestly unexpected.
So unexpected that I don't have a rant as personal opinion.
I have a set of Petra-Noblesse for him, and apparently it's one of the worst!
Guess I have to farm Defender and level up the Harbinger now...
My other posts:
[Analysis] Zhongli's Further Adjustment (Buff)
[Analysis] Zhongli's Buff (First Buff Only)
[Analysis] Best Artifact for Ningguang DPS
Click here
Finally done building him, so made a little showcase:
Here you'll see Albedo and Zhongli DUO ALL AR45 artifact domains (Featuring Xiangling on the new domain).
As usual, don't forget to turn your volume up!
P.S. Zhongli is so weak he can solo all domain without a healer:(
P.P.S. The video will show you that keeping Albedo above 90% HP is fairly easy. For those who are worried about it.
