Gorou

Gorou

4★GeoBowSupport

TL;DR

Gorou buffs Geo characters and nobody else. His Skill drops a banner and his Burst turns it into a field that follows your active character. What those give depends on how many Geo characters you brought: one for Defence, two adds interrupt resistance, three adds a Geo damage bonus. Skill, Burst, swap to your Geo damage dealer.

Rotation

  1. Skill (E) to put the banner down where the fighting is. Hold it to choose the spot.
  2. Burst (Q). The banner is replaced by a field that follows whoever is on the field. Everyone picks up 25% Defence for 12 seconds.
  3. Swap to your Geo damage dealer for the 9 seconds it runs.
  4. Skill (E) again between Bursts, since the banner does the same job standing still.

Abilities

Skill (E) 10 second cooldown, 10 second duration. Geo damage and a banner on the ground. Characters standing in its area get the buffs, which linger for 2 seconds after they walk out.
The buffs Counted from the Geo characters in your party when you cast. One gives a Defence bonus. Two adds resistance to interruption. Three adds a Geo damage bonus, which is the one worth building a team around.
Burst (Q) 80 Energy, back in 20 seconds. Runs for 9 seconds. Same buffs as the banner, except the field moves with your active character. It also throws a Geo hit at an enemy every 1.5 seconds and drags crystallize shards over to whoever is fighting.

The one mechanic to understand

Count the Geo characters in your party.

His whole value is decided before the fight starts. With one Geo character the field gives Defence, which does very little for most teams. With three it gives a Geo damage bonus, which is the reason anyone brings him. That's checked when you cast, so it's about your team list rather than who happens to be standing there. The Burst also chases down crystallize shards for you, which in a full Geo team is a steady trickle of shields nobody has to walk for.

What actually matters

The two or three real decisions. Everything else is noise.

  • He belongs in a Geo team or no team. Two other Geo characters is the setup his kit is written for.
  • Energy Recharge. 80 Energy on a support whose Burst is the good half of him. Around 180% if he's the only one generating Geo particles, less in a full Geo team.
  • His stats don't scale the buff. The numbers the field hands out come from the talent level, so levelling his talents helps and stacking his Defence only feeds his own small damage.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Energy Recharge. Sacrificial Bow is a standard banner 4-star that carries it and now and then refunds his Skill outright.
Artifacts 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate. Energy Recharge on the two-piece, which is the stat standing between him and a Burst every rotation.
Main stats Energy Recharge sands, Defence goblet, Defence circlet. Attack and Crit have nothing to do here.

Works well with

Geo

Geo. It has to be Geo. Everything he hands out is either counted from your Geo characters or attached to Geo damage.

Don't bother

  • Bringing him as a general support. One Geo character gets you a Defence buff nobody asked for.
  • His bow. Aimed shots are for knocking things off ledges.
  • Crit or Attack stats.
  • Holding the banner for the perfect spot. The Burst's field moves anyway.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Gorou on KeqingMains.