Layla

Layla

4★CryoSwordShielder

TL;DR

Layla's Skill is a shield and it comes off cooldown exactly as it expires, so once you get in the habit the team's shielded all fight. While it's up it builds little stars that fire themselves at enemies as Cryo. Build Max HP for a bigger shield, press Skill, go away.

Rotation

  1. Skill (E) for the shield.
  2. Burst (Q) if it's charged.
  3. Swap out. The stars and the Burst both keep working without you.
  4. Come back and recast Skill (E) every 12 seconds.

Abilities

Skill (E) A shield off her Max HP, lasting 12 seconds on a 12 second cooldown. It stays up after you swap off her, so it's covering whoever is on the field. It's especially tough against Cryo damage. While it's up, stars gather above her and fire off in volleys of Cryo on their own.
Burst (Q) Puts a sphere overhead that lobs Cryo at the nearest enemy every second and a half for 12 seconds. Most of her personal damage is here.

What actually matters

  • Max HP is the shield. Nothing she does scales off anything else, so every slot goes to HP.
  • Her Energy comes in slowly. The Burst only costs 40, which is nothing, but the shield itself makes no energy particles. Only the stars do and only when a volley actually fires, so she can still be sat waiting on it. A second Cryo teammate or a Favonius weapon settles that.
  • Teammates using their Skills feed her stars. Each teammate Skill cast hands her two stars instead of the one she generates on her own, so an active team gets more volleys and more Energy back out of her.
  • The shield is the reason to bring her. Her job is stopping your damage dealer getting knocked out of an attack. The Cryo is a side effect and it's fine to bring her to a team with no Cryo plan at all.

Gear

Weapon Max HP for the shield, or Energy Recharge if her Burst keeps missing its turn. Favonius Sword solves the Energy side and turns up on the standard banner constantly.
Artifacts 4-piece Tenacity of the Millelith. Its HP bonus makes the shield bigger and its Attack buff has near-perfect uptime on her. You can build it out of the Strongbox rather than farming a domain.
Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
HP / ER HP HP HP / ER

Energy Recharge in the sands instead until the Burst is reliable. Crit does nothing worth having.

Works well with

CryoHydroPyro

A second Cryo character gives the team the Cryo resonance Crit bonus, so that's the natural pairing. Beyond that she'll shield anyone.

Don't bother

  • Building her for damage. It's possible and it's a waste of a shielder.
  • Her attacks. She has nothing to gain by staying on the field and the stars fire themselves.
  • Bringing her to a Freeze team as the main Cryo. Frozen enemies aren't hitting you, so the shield has nothing to do.
  • Watching the star counter. It fills on its own and firing is automatic.

Want the full deep dive? Read Layla on KeqingMains.

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