Citlali
CryoCatalystSupportTL;DR
Citlali's Skill puts up a large shield and summons a floating skull creature that tags along behind whoever is on the field. Her Burst refills her nightsoul meter and drops explosive skulls on the enemies. Once that meter is past halfway the creature whips up a snowstorm that keeps Cryo on everything while she sits on the bench. Skill, Burst, swap off, and your Pyro and Hydro characters start hitting a softer target.
Rotation
- Skill (E) for the shield and the creature.
- Burst (Q) straight after, to push her nightsoul meter past the halfway mark.
- Swap to your damage dealer. The snowstorm follows them and keeps applying Cryo.
- Come back when the skill is up, about every 16 seconds.
Abilities
| Skill (E) | A shield, sized off her Elemental Mastery and especially good against Cryo, plus the creature, both for about 20 seconds. The shield stays up after you swap off her, so it's covering whoever is on the field, and a full Elemental Mastery build makes it one of the bigger ones in the game. 16 second cooldown. Fills 24 points of her nightsoul meter. |
|---|---|
| Burst (Q) | Costs 60 Energy, back in 15 seconds. An ice storm, then up to three skulls stuck on nearby enemies that explode a moment later. The cast puts 24 points back in her nightsoul meter and each skull a few more. |
| Her nightsoul meter | At 50 or more, the creature starts a snowstorm that follows your active character and deals Cryo. The storm drains the meter as it runs and stops when it's empty. |
The one mechanic to understand
The skill on its own doesn't get her going.
The skill fills 24 points and the burst another 24, and the snowstorm needs 50, so her burst isn't optional the way it is for most supports. Press E then Q every time and the exploding skulls tip her over the line. After that it partly feeds itself: every time your team freezes or melts an enemy she gets 16 points back, once every 8 seconds. That same trigger is what cuts the enemy's Pyro and Hydro resistance by 20%, so the reaction you needed anyway is also what keeps her running.
What actually matters
The two or three real decisions. Everything else is noise.
- Elemental Mastery is the whole build. The shield's size, the snowstorm's damage and the burst's damage all read off it. She wants nothing else.
- Freeze or Melt has to actually happen. The resistance cut only fires when your team triggers one of those two, so she wants a Pyro or Hydro character doing the hitting. In a team that never freezes or melts, half of her switches off.
- Energy Recharge. Her burst is required every rotation rather than a bonus, so it has to come back every time. 170% or a bit more if she's your only Cryo.
Gear
A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.
| Weapon | Elemental Mastery, then Energy Recharge. Wandering Evenstar is craftable, has Elemental Mastery as its stat and hands the team an attack buff on top. Favonius Codex instead if the burst keeps missing a rotation, though its passive wants some Crit Rate before it will fire. |
|---|---|
| Artifacts | 4-piece Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City. Her snowstorm sets off the Melt or the Freeze itself from the bench, which is exactly what the set asks for, and the party gets a large elemental damage bonus out of it. 4-piece Noblesse Oblige instead if a teammate is already wearing the Scroll set, since two of them don't stack. |
| Main stats | Elemental Mastery sands, Elemental Mastery goblet, Elemental Mastery circlet. Energy Recharge in the substats until her burst comes back every time. |
Works well with
Pyro
HydroPyro and Hydro specifically, because those are the two resistances she cuts and the two reactions that keep her nightsoul meter topped up.
Don't bother
- Her normal attacks. Nothing about her build makes them worth the field time.
- Crit stats, unless you gave her Favonius Codex and want its passive to fire.
- Her Natlan traversal tricks in a fight. Lovely for getting up cliffs, irrelevant in a domain.
Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Citlali on KeqingMains.