Diluc: Genshin’s not-really-discounted version of Bruce Wayne, is probably one of the more interesting claymore-wielding characters in general, if mostly because of his Elemental Skill and how this ability weaves into his regular attacks, besides actually being a genuinely fun move-set. Diluc definitely has some specific combo ability, but this relies mostly off of using that Elemental Skill to send an enemy just into the air – which in all actuality, is the best place for nearly any character in Genshin which uses melee to start to string an interesting combo along from.
Basic Attack String
Diluc’s basic attack string is a five-hit combo like Eula and Beidou. While those two hit above their heads for their opening swings, Diluc’s first swing actually has a very distorted hitbox, as demonstrated below.
Before I’d gotten significant hands-on lab time with Diluc, I’d assumed that only Eula and Beidou had hit boxes that allowed them to hit above their heads, but now I’m operating under the assumption that there’s two categories of claymore users from the design perspective of the developers: adults and youths. Adults have the “unique” hit box that allows them to hit above their heads, while youths have hit boxes similar to most every other melee hitbox.
Charged Attack
Similar to sharing the trait of having a five-hit combo, Diluc also shares a similar heavy attack with Eula and Beidou, offering a constant barrage of blows until release, re-emphasizing the categorization mentioned above. As with all of Genshin’s Claymore using characters, this move isn’t really unique in the slightest.
Elemental Skill Press:
Diluc’s Elemental Skill is the real bread and butter: three attacks, each of them dealing Pyro damage, and even more interestingly: once initially activated, the player can use a regular attack, swap characters, or do a number of other things, and then still come back to Diluc and if they’re quick enough, continue his Elemental Skill combo.
Of these attacks, it’s important to note that the second attack in this chain knocks lighter enemies just into the air as mentioned previously in the intro. This is incredibly convenient for most combos and acts as a very excellent set-up for when you’re going to begin manipulating enemies into a juggle, no matter which character you’re going to use for the follow-up attack.
Elemental Burst:
For an Elemental Burst, Diluc effectively has a blade-wave that travels a good distance in the form of a fiery phoenix. After initially activating the burst, Diluc’s weapon is then imbued with the element Pyro for a duration thereafter.
Unfortunately, as with most Elemental Bursts in Genshin, there’s not really tremendous combo potential here, just decent enough damage.
Conclusion:
Using both a claymore and being a Pyro wielding character, Diluc overall is remarkably well-rounded. Wooden shields aren’t an issue, and neither are Geo-based shields because of the nature of using a claymore or anything that’s Cryo shielded. The only real problem with any Pyro-melee character is the tendency to set the ground underneath them aflame, but this can work both for and against the player, such as by pairing Diluc with Beidou, we can exploit Beidou’s ability to immediately counter over fire for max damage with a perfect counter. This in turn clears the flames, which then makes it safer to continue the fight rather than constantly draining HP.
Real synergy for Diluc is hard to muster: he’s definitely a generalist in the sense that there’s little need to pair him with characters apart from say the above, but we can obviously begin to see some redundancy with two claymore using characters in a party. Jean’s healing field works excellently alongside Diluc especially if the player character is caught on fire for one reason or another, but otherwise? The red-headed, ultimate husbando waifu of Genshin doesn’t really need any particular pairings. More like, they cover gaps in an existing load-out excellently, and absolutely takes the lead as a decent DPS – although at this stage there’s already been several characters which can out-do Diluc in different ways.
It’s fairly obvious that either Diluc was made for the Crimson Witch of Flames set, or that the set was made for him. Either way, it’s the artifact set you should be farming for if you’re wanting maximize damage. As for weapons, well, Wolf’s Gravestone is pretty much a default, but most every Claymore
But, Diluc’s fun, his Elemental Skill breathes some extra life into his combat, and for that alone, he feels quite worthwhile to pull, so if you don’t get the character you’re after, but you do get him – at least he’s pretty fun!
