Genshin Impact Collei Best Build Guide

Collei is a long-anticipated character who has finally joined Genshin Impact in Version 3.0. She is a 4-star Dendro Bow character who can work very well in teams who want to use Dendro to its fullest potential. Here is how to best build Collei including her best weapons, artifacts and her best team compositions.

Genshin Impact Collei Best Build GuideCollei is one of the first Dendro characters to make it to Genshin Impact during the Sumeru update. As a 4-star Bow character, she can play a very important part in a lot of teams who want to efficiently utilise Dendro as an element.

This Forest Watcher shares a few similarities with another character – Amber – of whom she is very fond. She is easy to build and use as a source of Dendro for your team, making her a good pick for any who wants to test the waters of this new element.

Here’s how to best build Collei in Genshin Impact. This includes her best weapons, her best artifact sets, what order you should prioritise her talents and in what teams she works best.

Want more Genshin Impact content? You find more here on KeenGamer:

  1. Genshin Impact: How to Unlock Every New Sumeru Crafted Weapon
  2. Genshin Impact: How to Unlock Under the Umbrella’s Shade Domain in Sumeru
  3. Genshin Impact Tignnari Best Build Guide

Who is Genshin Impact’s Collei?

Collei is a pretty storied character in Genshin Impact, appearing back in the digital Webtoon that was published before the game was released. Her story continues in the game where she is a peppy trainee Forest Watcher under the tutorage of Tighnari. 

Unfortunately, Collei is afflicted by a deadly disease known as Elezar, a debilitating illness which will eventually overtake her if not properly cared for. However, Collei still goes on and wants to be able to help out Tighnari and her friends, as well as protect the rainforests of her home nation, Sumeru.  

How do you get Collei?

Collei is a 4-star unit in Genshin Impact. This means that she will appear alongside other 4-stars on select 5-star banners on rate-up or she will be available on the standard Wish banner. Theoretically, this means that Collei is always able to be pulled and that she can be pulled on any banner, but the chances of that are low considering that she is competing with every other 4-star.

So far, Collei has appeared on the following banners:

  • Tighnari’s First Banner – August 24th 2022 to September 9th 2022
  • Zhongli’s Second Rerun Banner – August 24th to September 9th

Version 3.0 Free Collei

During the duration of Version 3.0, there is an ongoing event known as Graven Innocence. To unlock this quest, it is recommended that you need to have gotten to Port Ormos in the main Archon Quest of Sumeru. However, if need be, you can skip this part and start it early. 

By simply completing the first part of this questline in Genshin Impact, you will earn Collei for free to use on your team. This is after meeting with a pair of toymakers who ask you to help them out, where you meet Collei along the way to find one of their allies. 

This event only lasts until the end of Version 3.0, however, so act fast to get yourself a free copy of Collei. This also adds a Constellation to Collei if you happen to already have her.

Graven Innocence Event

Graven Innocence Event

Collei Level-Up Resources

To reach level 90, Collei needs the following Ascension Materials:

  • Rukkashava Mushrooms
  • Nagadus Emerald Gemstones (Dendro)
  • Majestic Hooked Beak
  • Firm Arrowhead

Rukkashava Mushrooms are one of the local specialities native to the lands of Sumeru. These blueish-purple mushrooms grow in a wide variety of places and locations. Collei requires 168 Rukkashava Mushrooms to ascend from level 1 to level 90. Genshin Interactive Map has a full list of where to find these mushrooms around the wild of Sumeru. If you are lucky enough to have Tighnari, you can use his passive ability to ping the mushrooms on your mini-map when nearby. 

Firm Arrowheads are an item dropped by the archer class of Hilichurls. These are found throughout the lands of Teyvat and can be sourced quite easily. Hilichurl encampments and groups usually come with one or two archers so finding and hunting down these arrowheads should be pretty simple. Collei needs a total of 18 Firm Arrowheads, 30 Sharp Arrowheads and 32 Weathered Arrowheads to ascend to level 90.

Majestic Hooked Beaks are the world boss drop from the new Jadeploom Terrorshroom enemy found to the North-West of Sumeru. This massive bird-like mushroom uses Dendro attacks and fast swipes to try and take you and your team off balance. Pyro characters make this fight much easier. You’ll need a total of 46 Hooked Majestic Beaks to raise Collei to max Ascension.

Finally, the Nagadus Emerald Gemstones are the Dendro variant of elemental gemstones that every character needs. You will likely acquire a large amount of these during fighting the Jadeploom. If you require more, simply transmute some at the Alchemy Table either using low-tier quality gems or altering the gemstone type using Dust of Azoth. In total, you will need You’ll need 1 Sliver, 9 Fragments, 9 Chunks and 6 Gemstones.

As always, you will also need 416 Hero’s Wit EXP Books and 420k Mora overall to go from levels 1 to 90. 

Collei Ability Overview

Collei is best as a sub-DPS unit or as a Dendro support character in Genshin Impact, as both playstyles suit her more than being raw DPS. Her playstyle is reminiscent of other Bow characters like Amber but with her own little twist on the formula.

Her Normal Attack is called Supplicant’s Bowmanship. This is a regular 4-shot combo with her Normal Attack action and the regular Charged Attack and Aimed Attack functionality of a Bow character. There isn’t much special about this Normal Attack, which is okay as this is not what makes Collei special.

Normal Aimed Shot

Normal Aimed Shot

Collei’s Elemental Skill is Floral Brush. Here, Collei flings out a Boomerang known as a Floral Ring which will fly out from her starting position. This will deal Dendro damage on hit once per enemy, before returning to Collei after a set time – upon returning, it can hit the same enemy again, dealing more Dendro damage. You can extend the time that it takes for the Ring to return to Collei by simply running away from it, which while useful in some niche scenarios is mainly just humorous. 

Floral Brush

Floral Brush

Her Elemental Burst is called Trump-Card Kitty. Collei throws her small puppet cat, Cuilien-Anbar, out onto the field creating a Dendro AoE wherever it lands. The initial hit will cause an AoE Dendro explosion and several more similar explosions will be set off in the surrounding AoE for the Burst’s duration.

Trump-Card Kitty

Trump-Card Kitty

Quite cutely, Collei’s Passive ability is Gliding Champion of Sumeru, which is a reference to the person she aspires to be the most in Amber. It is also the same effect of 20% less Stamina consumption while Gliding. Her Ascension passives, Floral Sidewinder and The Languid Wood, both rely on Dendro Elemental Reactions to either provide a 40% damage buff after using Floral Brush or an extension of Trump-Card Kitty. Both of these passives play very heavily into Collei’s position as an off-field or sub-DPS character.

Talent Priority

The order that you should probably prioritise levelling up Collei’s talents in Genshin Impact is: 

  1. Trump-Card Kitty: Collei’s Elemental Burst is her best damage option as well as the best option for sustained Dendro damage. This will continue even if she is off the field and is easy enough to activate that it should be your priority. It also works in tandem with her The Languid Wood passive, making her Burst an even better thing to level.
  2. Floral Brush: while her Burst is the best damaging option, Collei’s skill is probably the best option for instant and successive Dendro application. The attack has good range and instantly applies Dendro when hitting a target. While it may only be able to damage a target twice, it is still a valuable part of Collei’s kit and something that you should be levelling.
  3. Normal Attack Supplicant’s Bowmanship: this Talent is simply just not as useful. Collei likely will not be out doing damage as a single unit with her Normal Attack. Instead, her Burst and Skill are her main damage options and so as a result, her Normal Attack is just very lacking. Prioritise either of her other abilities first.

Best Weapon

Collei has several good options that compliment her off-field DPS or supportive nature in terms of Bows.

The Ideal Choice

In terms of 5-star options for Collei in Genshin Impact, none are better in her sub-DPS role as The Polar Star.

The Polar Star

The Polar Star

This 5-star bow has a CRIT Rate substat which goes up to a maximum of 33% extra CRIT Rate, alongside 608 base ATK. The actual skill on The Polar Star is a buff which increases the equipped character ATK. Firstly, it natively increases the user’s Elemental Skill and Burst damage by 12%. Secondly, as the user hits enemies using Normal Attacks, Elemental Skills and Elemental Bursts, they will accrue up to 4 stacks of a buff known as Ashen Nightstar: the more stacks you have, the bigger the ATK bonus (10/20/30/48%). You will need to cycle through each of Collei’s abilities to build up this ATK buff.

For Collei, this means that she will be dealing with very good damage with basically every part of her kit. The CRIT Rate bonus is especially good considering how all of her abilities hit multiple times. The ATK bonus of The Polar Star plays well into her role as a sub-DPS and will influence every part of her damage output, including her Dendro triggered Reactions. This makes her a great pick for any team where Collei is generating a lot of Reactions such as Bloom, Burning or Catalyze.

The Replacement Options

If you don’t happen to have The Polar Star, do not fret. There are plenty of replacement options for Collei.

First things first, however. If you already have another 5-star Bow like the Aqua Simulacra or the Elegy for the End, consider using them and testing them first. 5-star weapons often have better stats and skills than 4-star weapons, so be sure to try them out first.

The best replacement options for Collei are The Favonius Warbow, The Stringless and The King’s Squire.

The Stringless

The Stringless

The Favonius Warbow is just a very solid Bow for any who wishes to use a lot of Elemental Bursts. Like other weapons in the Favonius series, it can be acquired through Wishing and has a chance to generate Elemental Particles on a CRIT hit (with the chance increasing per refinement level). The Warbow specifically also has an Energy Recharge substat. Both of these elements of the weapon allow for Collei to be back into the fray much sooner and start popping off her Burst at high speeds, creating a lot of Reactions and damage in the process.

The Stringless is a pure damage boost for Collei’s kit. This bow increases Elemental Mastery as its substat and can be earned through Wishing on Banners. The Bow itself simply increases Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst dmg by 24%. An easy buff to understand but one that drastically improves Collei’s performance as a sub-DPS as it is through both of these options where her damage shines. The Stringless is the easy option if you don’t want to juggle buffs and just want to focus on damage.

Finally, the newest weapon is the King’s Squire. This is one of the new Sumeru-crafted weapons and is very useful in the hands of a Dendro character (if you want to learn more about how to unlock this Bow, you can see our guide for more information). The King’s Squire natively increases ATK by up to 55% and has a rather interesting skill. When the user performs an Elemental Burst or Skill, they will get the Teachings of the Forest buff which increases Elemental Mastery by 60 for 12s. When the buff runs out, 100% of the user’s ATK will detonate to 1 nearby enemy. This Bow is very specially made for characters who use a lot of Reactions, and Dendro especially requires high Elemental Mastery to boost the performance of their very Reaction heavy Element. As such, the King’s Squire is a very nice, and quite easily accessible, pick. 

The King's Squire

The King’s Squire

Best Artifact Set for Collei

There are a few options for artifact sets depending on which part of Collei you want to focus on.

  1. 4-Piece Deepwood Memories

Deepwood Memories is one of the newest sets added to Genshin Impact with Sumeru and it’s perfect for our Collei build. The 2-piece bonus boosts Dendro damage by 15% which is great considering everything that Collei does is Dendro (that is substantial anyway). Meanwhile, 4-piece decreases an opponent’s Dendro RES by 30% for 8s when they are hit by an Elemental Burst or Skill, further bolstering Collei’s damage potential. Overall, this is just a very good bonus, especially if you pair Collei with other Dendro characters like Tighnari or Traveller.

2. 4-Piece Emblem of Severed Fate

While this initially may seem odd, it works well to allow you consistent access to Collei’s Burst. Severed Fate’s 2-piece bonus increases Energy Recharge by 20%, something you will want if you are going to pop Bursts a lot. The 4-piece bonus increases Burst damage by 25% of your Energy Recharge, which can go quite high if you stack into it. If you are going to go down this path, try using things like the Favonius Warbow and slotting in a few extra Energy Recharge pieces to get that damage bonus as high as possible.

  1. 2-Piece Deepwood Memories and 2-Piece Noblesse Oblige

This mixed set is the best of both worlds. 2-piece Deepwood improves Dendro damage bonus by 15% and 2-piece Noblesse boosts Elemental Burst damage by 20%. Both of these things work very well for Collei and so as a result, both will make her far better. If you just want raw damage without worrying about balancing other stats or resistances, this is the way to go on Collei.

Collei Artifact set-up

Collei Artifact set-up

Main Stats you Want

The main stats that you’ll want to be putting on Collei are:

  1. ATK%
  2. Energy Recharge / Elemental Mastery
  3. CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG

For Collei, her ATK is probably her most important stat. After all, if her main ATK isn’t that high, nothing she does is really worth it. Her ATK stat governs how hard her Burst, Skill, normals and even her Reactions will hit. As a result, make sure you’re not slacking on having a relatively high ATK for Collei. 

Energy Recharge vs Elemental Mastery is very dependent on what path you are going with Collei. If you aim for her Reactions to be the main source of damage in the team then Elemental Mastery will be better suited for her and will get more damage out of your Reactions. Instead, if you aim to just do a lot of damage with her Bursts, then Collei will likely be better off using Energy Recharge to keep that uptime high. 

CRIT is always good, especially for a DPS unit. So keep both your CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG pretty high, although potentially prioritise CRIT DMG on Collei considering how often she gets attacks off between her Skill and her Burst.

Another note to make: try getting a Dendro DMG bonus goblet for Collei. This will substantially increase her damage potential, making her an even more solid pick. All of her main damage sources are Dendro, so boosting her Dendro DMG bonus can only be good for her.

Best Team Compositions for Collei in Genshin Impact

Collei has a few good team compositions that revolve around her being a sub-DPS, each centring on a different part of her kit. This even includes a budget team for F2P players who want to utilise Collei in a team without needing to pull on the Gacha. 

Sub-DPS Team 1: Elemental Reactions

This team consists of Collei, Tighnari, Yae Miko, Shinobu / Kokomi.

Sb-DPS Team 1

Sb-DPS Team 1

This team specialises in Dendro Reactions are the main damaging force in the team, powered by Tighnari as the main DPS and Yae Miko and Collei as sub-DPS units. In this team, Collei will be subbed in while Tighnari’s Skill or Burst is on cooldown to pop a Burst or Skill to keep Dendro’s uptime high and to provide a good damage boost for herself and Miko. 

Tighnari is our main powerhouse here, with his Charged Attack and Burst making very short work of enemies when paired with Miko specifically. The damage she can deal is very high and on a relatively short cooldown, meaning that supplementing him with strong characters only serves to make him better. With Miko giving him access to Spread, it makes him even stronger. Tighnari and Collei together also give the team the Dendro Resonance. 

Yae Miko’s Skill can consistently generate Reactions when paired with Tighnari and Collei, with their AoE Skills and Bursts amplifying her damage significantly. She can be summoned, put down her talismans, then leave and let chaos reap the reward. In this team, she is a very easy character capable of big damage without much work: a perfect pair for Tighnari.

Shinobu is our support unit, capable of healing as well as some burst damage capabilities. Alongside that, though, she and Miko together give the team the ability to access another Elemental Resonance in the Electro Resonance, boosting the amount of energy generated by Electro reactions (including Quicken, Aggravate and Hyperbloom) meaning the team can continue going for even longer. Kokomi, on the other hand, heals while providing the team with Bloom, letting Yae get off Hyperbloom to do even more DPS.

Sub-DPS Team 2: Burst Damage

This team consists of Collei, Traveller (Dendro), Yoimiya, and Shinobu.

Sub-DPS Team 2

Sub-DPS Team 2

Unlike the previous team, this team specialises in mainly doing high damage outside of Reactions and doing it often. While they will still do Reactions, it will not be the main focus and it will instead be on Yoimiya as the main DPS and Collei as sup-DPS.

Yoimiya is just a very strong main DPS, only needing her Normal Attacks and Skill to properly sweep the floor with many opponents. Pairing her with Shogun’s Skill and Collei’s Dendro application to cause Burning, Yoimiya can become even more formidable and she can do great damage without the need for specific reactions.

Shogun can serve as a backup DPS however where she serves as a battery. She will constantly keep the team well-fed and alive with energy, granting everyone constant access to their Bursts. This is good for certain parts and builds of Yoimiya such as the Shimenawa’s Reminiscence (you can see our Yoimiya Build Guide for more information). 

Shinobu, once again, is our support healer and Electro Resonance producer. She is a great and versatile unit who can fit into many, many teams very nicely.

Budget Team (F2P Team)

This team consist of Collei, Traveller (Dendro), Barbara, and Lisa. 

Budget Team

Budget Team

In this team, the main reactions being utilised will be Bloom and Hyperbloom, powered by high damage from Collei and Traveller. By switching between the 4 characters, you can generate a lot of Reactions that will make up for the fact that the team lacks a definitive main DPS unit like some of the other teams.

Traveller can provide even more Dendro Reactions alongside Collei with their Burst and Skill, both boosting damage potential significantly alongside Lisa’s Spread and Aggravate application. The Traveller can also make it so that the team has access to the Dendro Elemental Resonance, boosting Elemental Mastery among other things.

Barbara is our team healer as well as Dendro Core creator. With Hydro, she can instantly create a bunch of seeds that will either explode to deal Dendro damage or can be used via Hyperbloom to big effect. By working alongside the AoEs provided by both of the Dendro characters, Barbara can really shine here.

Lisa is our main applicator of powerful Reactions such as Catalyze, Quicken, Aggravate and Spread. By pairing her Electro with Dendro or the Dendro Cores, she can deal very nice damage over quite a large area, making short work of enemies will allow characters like Collei to still deal good damage with her Burst and Skill. Lisa’s long ranged skill also has good potential in detonating many Dendro Cores at once, making even more damage.

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