First of all, I'm sorry that this article is delayed. I won't go into details, but basically: I got some extra work!
Intro
Gorou is a bow-wielding Geo character in Genshin Impact. Unlike most of us thought, he doesn't at all throw rocks or use a slingshot (actual, slingshot) for his attacks. In fact, everything he does is actually quite normal.
As Gorou is released along with Arataki Itto, it's no surprise that the puppy General is made to support the Oni. But other than supportive abilities, can Gorou offer more to the team?
Conclusion
When it comes to Gorou, I'd consider his damage meh. Because of that, I won't recommend building him on damage build. Therefore, you can go for a full support build instead. For that, you'd want:
• Artifact: 4-The Exile
• Weapon: Favonius Warbow
• Main Stat: DEF/DEF or Geo/Critical Rate (Definitely go for DEF if you have C4)
Because Gorou is a poor battery, you should aim for 180-200% Energy Recharge (ER). Higher than that is not recommended (if you're playing him with Itto, you're surely bound to have more battery, which will also be beneficial for Gorou.) Since the best supportive weapon is Favonius Warbow, then the Timepiece should be DEF. This is to avoid too much ER.
But if you insist on building Gorou to deal damage, then here are the best offensive equipment he can have:
Artifact Main Stat
• Timepiece: DEF or Energy Recharge
• Goblet: Geo or DEF (Geo for more damage, DEF for healing if you have C4)
• Circlet: Crit Rate or Damage
Artifact Set
1. 4-Husk of Opulent Dreams
2. 2-Husk of Opulent Dreams + 2-Emblem of Severed Fate
3. 2-Archaic Petra + 2-Emblem of Severed Fate
4. 2-Archaic Petra + 2-Husk of Opulent Dreams
5. 4-Emblem of Severed Fate
Best Weapon For Offensive Gorou
1. Skyward Harp
2. Favonius Warbow
3. Elegy for the End
4. The Viridescent Hunt
5. Alley Hunter
Skyward Harp is a great option for offensive Gorou. Meanwhile, Favonius Warbow and Elegy for the End will provide Energy Recharge, something Gorou will need to Burst consistently.
Gorou's Mechanic
Gorou's Elemental Skill creates an AOE field that grants buffs. This bonus scales with the Geo characters in the party.
• 1 Geo character: Increase DEF
• 2 Geo characters: Increase resistance to interruption (Basically useless lol)
• 3 Geo characters: Increase Geo Damage by 15%
The extra DEF is a flat bonus, so you don't have to worry about raising Gorou's DEF to improve his buff. The bonus is granted to the active character. So units that don't snapshot will not benefit from it (Albedo snapshot, luckily).
Gorou's Elemental Burst will grant the same buff as the Elemental Skill, but instead of an AOE, it'll follow the active character. It also will deal AOE damage every 1.5 seconds. If you have Gorou's C4, it'll additionally heal, and with C6, it'll grant Geo Crit Damage bonus.
Talent Level-Up Priority
1. Elemental Skill
2. Elemental Burst
3. Ignore Normal Attack
Because the buff granted via Gorou's Elemental Burst scales with his Skill, the first talent that should be leveled up is the Elemental Skill.
Gorou's Constellations
C1: Decreases Gorou's Elemental Skill CD from 10s to 8s.
• This effect is unnecessary as Gorou already have a 100% uptime for his Elemental Skill
C2: Increase Elemental Burst duration by 1s when picking up Elemental Shard. Max 3s. (From 9s to 12s)
• This effect is great for Itto. With it, you can now have Gorou's buff for the entirety of Itto's Burst.
C4: When there's more than 1 Geo in the party, Elemental Burst will heal the character in the AOE by 50% of Gorou's DEF every 1.5s.
• Unfortunately, Gorou's base DEF is too low for this effect to be good. The duration and time per-tick delay also make this effect neglectable. Even if you build Gorou as a dedicated healer, you'll still find his healing insufficient. You can see the numbers later in the analysis.
C6: For 12s after using Elemental Skill or Burst, increase Geo Crit Damage of all nearby party members. This effect cannot stack.
• This bonus scales the same way as his Elemental Skill. If there's one Geo character in the party, it will grant a +10% bonus. If two, then +20%, and +30% with three. Gorou's sixth Constellation is the most important part of his supportive kit. The rest of them are negligible.
Choosing the Artifact
Tested Sets:
1. 4-Husk of Opulent Dreams (Tested at full stack)
2. 2-Husk of Opulent Dreams + 2-Emblem of Severed Fate
3. 2-Archaic Petra + 2-Emblem of Severed Fate
4. 2-Archaic Petra + 2-Husk of Opulent Dreams
I also tested 4-Emblem of Severed Fate, but because it has a low damage output, I won't be including it here.
Tested Main Stat:
• Def/Geo/Crit
• ER/Geo/Crit
Simulation and Assumptions
1. Gorou level 90.
2. Enemy is one Hilichurl level 80.
3. Talent lv8, C0 (But C4 effect is included for comparison).
4. Passive 1 is not considered. Passive 2 is considered.
5. Normal Attacks are not considered.
Stat Overview
Damage Overview
Simulation Overview
Result Overview
Is Gorou viable as a healer?
As you can see, even with a dedicated healer build, Gorou's healing is really low. So it's best to not focus on healing.
Teammate Recommendations
Slot 1 - Arataki Itto or DPS Noelle
• The first slot should be a Geo DPS that Gorou can support.
Slot 2 - Third Geo
• Gorou is best used with three Geo characters, so the second slot should be another Geo. Preferably those that can be a battery
Slot 3 - Aura Element enabler (e.g. Raiden Shogun, Sangonomiya Kokomi)
• Last slot should be a character that allows the team to create Elemental Shards. So it should be a Pyro, Electro, Hydro, or Cryo enabler.
Personal Opinion
It seems that Genshin Impact is going to continue making niche support. (Like Sara is best for Electro DPS.) Not that it's a bad thing, though. It's actually great to have a character-specific support compared to spam-it-everywhere-Benny.
Since I don't have Itto, my Gorou is currently sitting on a bench. With Yae coming, it seems that the Canine Warrior will have to wait for Itto re-run before I bring him out of the storage. When that happens, I'll likely use Husk + Emblem on him instead of The Exile. The reason is simple: I dislike using 4-star artifacts.
Penny for your thoughts
Do you think that Gorou should be built on Exile? Or is he better with damage build?
Do you think miHoYo should stop making niche supports?
As usual, if you have any questions, corrections, or feedback, feel free to throw them in the comment!
Recent Analysis:
Cinnabar Spindle VS Harbinger of Dawn for Albedo
Infographic Compilations
Interested in more? Click ☟
