How to play Layla in Genshin Impact: Builds, team roles, and abilities

Genshin Impact's Layla is the newest Cryo character released in the second phase of version 3.2. She is a Sword user, specializing in being a supporting character with her unique Elemental Skill and Burst.

Since she's a new unit, Travelers may have a hard time building her properly and may still be confused as to what she's capable of. This article will explain how Layla can be useful in Genshin Impact and will provide information about her best builds.

Layla's abilities and team roles in Genshin Impact

Layla is a Cryo character in Genshin Impact who can provide shields for the party and deal damage even when she's off-field. While her shield abilities may seem similar to that of Diona's, Layla offers more offensive options while having the same durability as Diona's shield.

Elemental Skill - Nights of Formal Focus

Layla's shield and Night Stars (Image via HoYoverse)

Using her Elemental Skill, she creates a Curtain of Slumber that deals AoE Cryo damage to nearby enemies. This shield absorbs damage based on Layla's Max HP, especially against Cryo attacks.

While creating the Curtain of Slumber, Layla will be vulnerable for a short period of time, which can be quite dangerous if she is afflicted with Hydro as she might accidentally Freeze herself.

Night Star changed to Shooting Star and attacking the enemy (Image via HoYoverse)

At regular intervals, while the Curtain of Slumber is active, a Night Star will be created. Additionally, two more Night Stars are generated when the character within the shield casts their Elemental Skill. Currently, a maximum of four Night Stars can be present at a time. Once players have four Night Stars, each of them will transform into Shooting Stars and home in on nearby enemies, dealing Cryo damage.

Essentially, even when she's off-field, Genshin Impact's Layla can deal damage to enemies using these Night Stars, indirectly triggering any bonuses from artifacts that require the wielder to hit an enemy, such as Tenacity of the Millelith.

Elemental Burst - Dream of the Star-Stream Shaker

Layla's Elemental Burst in the shape of a dreamsphere (Image via HoYoverse)

Layla's Burst unleashes a Celestial Dreamsphere that continuously fires Starlight Slugs at enemies within its AoE, dealing Cryo damage. When a Starlight Slug hits an enemy, a Night Star will also be generated when the active character has a Curtain of Slumber shield.

Since Layla only requires 40 Energy to cast her Elemental Burst, she can easily gather Cryo energy during the ability's uptime and cast it again. This is especially effective with the Noblesse Oblige, providing attack bonuses to all party members for 12 seconds.

Best weapon and artifacts for Layla

Looking at Layla's Elemental Skill and Burst above, she's an ideal choice for an off-field support character. Given below are the best weapons for Layla in Genshin Impact, suitable for her supporting role:

Key of Khaj-Nisut
Primordial Jade Cutter
Favonius Sword
Sacrificial Sword
Harbinger of Dawn

Layla with Noblesse Oblige artifact (Image via HoYoverse)

With one of these weapons selected, Travelers can now focus on choosing the right artifacts for her. Being a supporting character, Layla can take advantage of many options, but the best artifacts for her are:

4-piece Tenacity of the Millelith
2-piece Tenacity of the Millelith and Noblesse Oblige
4-piece Noblesse Oblige

As for the main stats, you can focus completely on HP% as her shield durability and the damage from Night Star are scaled based on her Max HP. The sub-stats can vary for every character, depending on what weapon she uses. Ultimately, you can go for Crit Rate/Damage > HP% > Energy Recharge.

While Layla is not a game-changing character in Genshin Impact, she is definitely a force to be reckoned with, especially in the Freeze team as her skills can constantly deal Cryo damage to multiple enemies.