Collei

I'm starting to feel like... I'm finally a better person than I used to be."

Abstract

Click here for the Extremely Short Version: Collei Mastersheet

Levelling

Level to 90 for reaction. Level Skill and Burst to 9+. Burst > Skill > Normals

Constellations

C1 +3.38%| C2 +6.69% | C3 +2.42% | C4 +0.00% | C5 +7.65% | C6 +7.20%

Recommended Combos at C0

Skill, Burst, Swap (.... Swap Back, Skill, Swap)

Artifact Set

1. Default Build

4pc Deepwood; 4pc Noblesse Oblige; 4pc Tenacity of the Millelith; 4pc Instructor; 4pc Exile (ER/ATK/EM; DMG; CRIT)

2. Bloom Trigger Build

4pc Deepwood; 4pc Noblesse Oblige, 4pc Gilded Dreams (ER/EM;EM;EM)

Weapons

1. Elegy for the End- Limited 5-star weapon - Overall BiS
2. Polar Star / Aqua Simulacra- Limited 5-star weapons - For Spread Builds Only
3. R5 Sacrificial Bow - Unlimited 4-star gacha weapon
4. R5 Stringless > R5 Mouun's Moon - For Spread Builds Only
5. Favonius Warbow

Teammates

1. Dendro: Tighnari, Dendro Traveler
2. Pyro: Thoma, Bennett, Xiangling
3. Hydro: Yelan, Xingqiu, Tartaglia, Ayato, Kokomi, Mona
4. Anemo: Kazuha, Venti, Sucrose, Jean, Sayu
5. Electro: Most of them, but notably Shinobu, Fischl, Keqing, Yae Miko, and Raiden Shogun
6. Cryo: Ayaka, Ganyu, Rosaria, Kaeya
7. Other: Zhongli

Character Overview

Collei is a 4-star Dendro bow-user who offers support in off-field Dendro applicator and off-field damage. She is able to be either the 'Aura' in any team focused on Dendro reactions or the 'Trigger' in Quicken, Bloom/Rupture, and Burning teams. Collei, however, depends on these reactions in order to bring respectable damage to the team. Luckily, she can do this while also equipping strong support weapons like Elegy for the End or Favonius Warbow. Alternatively, she can focus on personal damage with Polar star, R5 Sacrificial Bow, R5 Stringless, or R5 Mouun's Moon.

Her niche, at time of release, is off-field application for Pyro-focused Dendro reactions, namely Burgeon and Burning. Tighnari is an on-field unit and Dendro Traveler's off-field Burst prematurely ends when affected by Pyro. Collei is bound by voracious Energy Recharge requirements: 200% without adequate batterying, 170% with Favonius Warbow, and 160% with Sacrificial Bow.

Collei's Application and Reactions

Elemental Application Rate

Equipping an Energy Recharge weapon like Favonius Warbow allows us to test full EM sets for damage. If you are to use an EM build for Collei, it is strongly recommended you stick to either Elegy of the End, Favonius Warbow, or another powerful Energy Recharge or Elemental Mastery Bow. The other bows will not be as useful.

Keep in mind that full EM builds don't require talent leveling! While ADC Collei can perform a satisfactory role for all Dendro reactions, specializing in EM for more specific use-cases will result in more damage.

Each instance of burning is four ticks per second. Two full seconds of Burning is the exact same damage as a single Overload/Bloom-Rupture. 12 seconds of Burning is achievable, but 10 seconds is safest to assume, putting Burning (typically) only barely behind Bloom. Please remember that Collei can only reach the numbers below on EM builds if there is a reliable way to ensure Collei owns each elemental reaction.

However, unless a character is released in which Blooms explode automatically, the lengthy time delay between generating a Bloom and the damage it deals may be a turn-off. The most consistent option outside of this hypothetical character is Burning teams, and if 12s Burning can be reached, it matches Bloom's damage exactly.

Elemental Reaction Trigger Comparison

Favonius Warbow; 4pc Deepwood; 20s Rotation; E, Q, Swap; 30% Crit Rate for Fav passive; C0

Energy Recharge Requirements

Collei Mastersheet

When establishing Energy Recharge needs for a character, it almost entirely depends on the team composition the character is in, along with how many Skill uses are in a rotation per character, and whether or not they are equipped with a Favonius or Sacrificial weapon. It's advised to use an Energy Recharge Calculator.

Energy Recharge Expectations

The main benefit of finding creative ways to lower Energy Recharge requirements is to be able to focus more on offensive stats while still being able to Burst off cooldown.

Active Talents

Priority: Burst > Skill > Normal Attacks

Normal Attack - Supplicant's Bowmanship

Talent Priority: #3 or N/A

Normal and Charged Attacks

Collei's Normal Attacks perform up to four consecutive strikes, dealing Physical damage based on her ATK. Her Charged Attack, like all 4-star bow users, charges up with an application of the character's element.

There is little worth mentioning about Collei's Normal Attack talent; it's about as typical or middle-of the road as it gets, an has little competitive use other than adding stacks to Polar Star if she's equipped with it.

For those insistent on using Normal Attacks, N2C (two Normal Attacks followed by a cancel, either by aim, jump, or dash) is the go-to. In a pinch, since Collei depends on her Dendro application to generate respectable damage, Collei can use her Charged Attacks for extra applications.

Collei Frame Data

Recorded in 60 FPS

Elemental Skill - Floral Brush

Talent Priority : #2

Using Collei's Skill makes her throw her Dendro boomerang, dealing Dendro damage twice: once closer to the time of throwing, and once on the way back to Collei.

While the Skill can do adequate damage, you are mainly using her Skill for Dendro application. The fact the Dendro application delays as the Boomerang continues its path is advantageous, especially when coupled with her Burst. You generally want her application to be spaced out for consistency, as most of the time, Collei is a Dendro Aura and not a Trigger (unless you are deliberately building a team around being a reaction Trigger, or using Spread).

Keeping a consistent Dendro aura on an enemy will ensure more reactions from herself or other party members, as many applications at once might interfere with other kinds of ICD on other characters or in reactions.

In-Depth Attributes

Frames are recorded in 60 FPS

Elemental Burst - Trump-Card Kitty

Talent Priority: #1

Collei's Burst throws her mascot (reminiscent of Amber's Baron Bunny) to repeatedly deal Dendro damage within a circular area highlighted in green. While the Burst can hit upwards of 19 times, it's heavily hampered by its ICD of three seconds (with no reset on hit count), meaning that even when fully extended with the help of her passives, the Burst will apply Dendro between three and four times. Four is often a safe assumption.

Despite this downside, in typical ATK/DMG/CRIT builds, Collei's Burst is the vast majority of her damage, making it a priority for her investment.

In-Depth Attributes

Frames are recorded in 60 FPS; single-target only

Passive Talents

First Ascension Passive: Floral Sidewinder

Triggering a Dendro reaction grants a Sprout effect on Collei's Skill when her boomerang returns, dealing a small amount of Dendro damage equal to 40% of her ATK as Skill damage to closely surrounding enemies for 3 seconds. (2 hits, 1 application) |

Essentially staples an extra Dendro application to Collei's Skill. The damage is negligible. Sprout instances do not stack: only override.

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Fourth Ascension Passive: Languid Wood

Each Dendro reaction triggered during Collei's Burst uptime increases the duration by 1 second, up to 3 seconds. This passive is practically mandatory for Collei's functionality, and forces Collei to focus on reactions to maximize her damage. It's a 50% extension to her Burst duration and easy to trigger. It also grants an extra application. Without this, her Burst only applies Dendro 2-3 times.

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Utility Passive: Sumeru Gliding Champion

Decreases gliding Stamina consumption for your own party members by 20%. Not stackable with Passive Talents that provide the exact same effects.
Collei learned to glide from her "good friend", Amber. ;)

Combos

The notation we'll be using to describe pieces of the combo will go as such:

The Default Off-Field Combo:

There isn't much variety to this character's playstyle. The optimal, but most complex combo is:

E > Q > Swap

Or, with Polar Star-

N1 > tA > E > Q > Swap

As an off-field DPS, Collei's combos is an easy default; simply use her Skill and Burst and swap. When focusing on personal damage with Polar Star, in order to get max stacks on the weapon, it's recommended to get your Normal and Aimed/Charged shot out of the way as fast as possible, as they don't add anything to DPS on their own. Thus, a quickly tapped A is enough.

Constellations

Constellations for 4-star units are inevitable. However, getting high constellations on a character's release is often more expensive than rolling for 5-stars. 4-stars, also, require most of the constellations to compete with C0 5-star units.

Please only roll for constellations only based on your financial situation and level of disposable income. Collei benefits most from C2, C5, an C6, but the damage difference between C0 and C6 is only 30%. There is some "invisible power" involved, as these constellations also grant extra Dendro application for other teams to exploit, so the usefulness in practice is likely greater than a 30% damage increase.

Constellation 1: Deepwood Patrol

When in the party and not on the field, Collei's Energy Recharge is increased by 20%.

DPS increase from C0: ~3%

This constellation is deceptive. You would think that you' require 20% less Energy Recharge, right? Wrong. Characters need to be on-field in order to collect the most energy from their own skills, and C1 only operates while off-field. This means Collei's own Dendro particles will not be enhanced by C1's Energy Recharge buff.

In reality, this is more like a 15% Energy Recharge buff. Still not bad – but it's important to understand this, as while off-field, characters generate less energy when receiving the same particles.

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Constellation 2: Through Hill and Copse

Collei's Sprout effect on her First Ascension Passive is updated: if a Dendro reaction is triggered during Collei's Sprout duration, it is extended by 3 seconds
(max one instance per Sprout).

DPS increase from C1: ~7% || from C0: ~10%

One extra Dendro application is gained through this constellation. The damage from Sprout is, as usual, insignificant, though the application itself proves useful nonetheless.

With highly technical Sacrificial Bow play, you can possibly even draw out another application from her Sprout, but this would be challenging to pull off. You would need to use her Skill, Swap back as the boomerang returns and creates a Sprout, then use the Skill again with Sacrificial Bow's passive to trigger the second Sprout as soon as the first one ends.

Keep in mind, an extended Sprout lasts for 6 total seconds, and Collei can only proc Sacrificial Bow's passive while on-field, meaning your timing has to be impeccable to not ruin the rotation's momentum.

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Constellation 3: Scent of Summer

Increases the Level of Collei's Skill by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.

DPS increase from C2: ~2% || from C0: ~13%

Boomerang, now with extra wood for harder hits.

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Constellation 4: Gift of the Woods

Using Trump-Card Kitty will increase all nearby characters' Elemental Mastery by 60 for 12s (not including Collei herself).

DPS increase from C3: ~0% || from C0: ~13%

C4 does nothing for her personal damage, but her team will be happy with the free EM to further exploit reactions that Collei enables.

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Constellation 5: All Embers

Increases the level of Collei's Burst by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15

DPS increase from C4: ~8% || from C0: 22%

Since so much of Collei's damage comes from her Burst, C5 ends up being one of the most useful constellations for increasing damage.

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Constellation 6: Forest of Falling Arrows

When the Floral Ring hits, it will create a miniature Cuilein-Anbar that will deal 200% of Collei's ATK as Dendro DMG.

DPS increase from C5: ~7% || from C0: ~30%

The biggest highlight from this constellation is the extra instance of Dendro application. Sadly, her constellations aren't very interesting, even if they're useful.

Equipment & Gear

The full list of assumptions can be found here : Collei Mastersheet

Official Art by Hoyoverse

As always, it is recommended to use the Genshin Optimizer for artifact-gearing choices.

Mainstats and Substats

The Different Build Types

Collei has two different approaches to build her.

• Aura/Spread - Focuses on either Spread damage or being able to facilitate all reactions as a Dendro Aura equally. Under a generalist build, all three reactions Collei can Trigger do nearly identical damage: within 250 DPS of each other. This build is best when you just want an easy-functioning Dendro character.

  • ER/EM/ATK - Dendro DMG - CRIT
  • Useful for any generic team composition supporting another character.

• Trigger/Bloom-Burn - Focuses on Elemental Mastery more than anything else, and focuses on Collei's personal damage with the reactions she can enable. This build is best for squeezing every ounce of personal damage out of Collei for a price.

  • ER/EM - EM - EM
  • Useful only in niche circumstances, but powerful in those circumstances, at the cost of being borderline irrelevant in cases where someone else wants ownership of reactions.

Sands: ER%, EM, or ATK%

If Collei's energy needs are not met, you must do one of the following:

• Equip an Energy Recharge% weapon and acquire enough substats.
• Equip an Energy Recharge% sands and acquire enough substats.
• Equip both an Energy Recharge% sands and weapon,without needing to worry about substats.

At lower energy requirements in an energy-rich team full of functional batteries, or teams with longer rotations, such as 160%-170%, you can safely equip an ATK% or EM sands, depending on your preferred angle for Collei.

On Aura/Spread builds, EM and ATK% are roughly equal in terms of damage (within 2%). Just pick what has better substats.

Goblet: Dendro DMG% or EM

This is fairly straightforward. For regular and Spread damage, use DMG%. For triggering reactions, use EM.

Circlet: Crit Rate%/ Crit DMG% or EM

In Aura/Spread builds, Crit is king. For CRIT circlet, choose whatever Crit main stat that helps you balance a 1:2 crit ratio, and take substat into consideration as well. Normally the choice depends on the weapon and substats.

• If you have a Crit Rate% weapon, then usually Crit DMG% is the correct choice
• If you have a Crit DMG% weapon, then usually Crit Rate% is the correct choice.
• If the character's weapon gives Energy Recharge, then go with whatever will get you to a 1:2 ratio of Crit Rate%:Crit DMG%. Start by aiming for 70CR% : 140CD%. Crit rate is technically stronger, in these cases, but only barely.

Substats priority is as follows:

1. ER% (160% Sac Bow; 170% Fav Bow; 160-170% if long rotations or energy-rich teams, 200% otherwise)
2. Crit DMG%/Crit Rate%
3. ATK% or EM% depending on chosen build.

In-Depth Weapon Analysis

PLEASE READ: These weapon standings assume you are playing the Aura/Spread build for now. Attention will be brought to weapons best for Reaction Trigger builds, but it's easy to remember to just pick the EM and ER weapons in about the same order from this list.

Assume 6 Spread instances. E > Q > Swap. 4pc Deepwood. 20s rotation

Team Composition

Official art from Hoyoverse

The Anatomy of a Collei Team

Collei can fit into any team that utilizes Dendro reactions. Start a team with an intended reaction, and then fill the team with characters who exploit that reaction.

For Quicken teams, the best candidates for DPS units are characters that have extremely high Electro application, like Fischl or Keqing. This is because Aggravate is an additive buff, much like Shenhe and Yunjin's buffs they give to characters. Additive buffs are best when there are multiple hits, rather than high multipliers. From there, you focus on sustaining the reaction or shredding elemental resistance, often with an Anemo character or Zhongli.

A helpful tip : Zhongli is the only other character at this point who can shred enemy Dendro resistance without the use of 4pc Deepwood. He also shreds Electro resistance at the same time.

Quicken/Aggravate/Spread Teams

If Collei is meant to support another Dendro DPS for Spread while holding 4pc Deepwood Memories, then Tighnari is the default (and only) On-Field Dendro DPS available. The Traveler can also be paired to add more bountiful Dendro application for an Electro DPS to abuse.

Most Electro units who care about damage and crit stats benefit from Aggravate. Fischl is a top-tier option, due to her ability to loop Quicken and Aggravate reactions. Keqing probably benefits the most from Dendro reactions, and this becomes her default team. If you need a healer and didn't bring Jean or Sayu, then Kuki Shinobu will be your default option for a healer. Yae Miko is able to reap double benefits from Elemental Mastery bonuses with her ascension passive, giving her damage a healthy boost. Sara helps boost Electro damage even higher after Anemo shreds resistances and Quicken gives its additive bonus.

You mainly want to bring a Viridescent Support to enhance the damage of your Electro party members. Kazuha is the clear best option in many cases, and can be substituted for Venti when the team needs lots of crowd control for something like Yae Miko's Burst. Sayu and Jean are prime options, due to being able to heal and shred resistances at the same time. Sucrose is also a powerful support option due to her ability to share Elemental Mastery with the team and pass on the 48% ATK buff from 3-star Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayer. Team members for Quicken teams.

From here, we can move onto Bloom, Burgeon, and Hyperbloom teams. These teams prefer to maximize the Trigger's Elemental Mastery in order to deal loads of damage through transformative reactions.

To remind readers, applying Dendro and Hydro creates a seed.

• If no element interacts with that seed for a few seconds, the seed Ruptures, hitting everyone caught in the blast. To enemies, this damage is _ exactly equal _ to Overloaded.

• If Electro is applied, the seed becomes a single-target projectile in Hyperbloom, dealing 1.5x the damage of Overloaded.

• If Pyro is applied, it Burgeons, dealing 1.5x the damage of Overloaded in a large explosion that hurts everyone caught in the blast.

We'll start first with Hyperbloom and Burgeon first, as Bloom is an odd case. The goal, then, is to have plenty of Hydro application to make sure Burning and Quicken do not occur, enough Dendro application to consistently create Bloom seeds, then an Electro or Pyro character with slow elemental application on their attacks to guarantee ownership of the reaction.

Hyperbloom/Burgeon Teams

Your flex spot will usually be dedicated to filling whatever gap your team has. The best generic flex spot choices are usually Viridescent Supports and Zhongli, due to their rare ability to shred resistances, which is almost universally useful. Other times you may need a second pyro to battery the first, and so on. Do note that Anemo cannot Swirl Dendro.

The characters most benefit from Hyperbloom and Burgeon are Kuki Shinobu and Thoma respectively. Both characters used to be considered weak picks, but these reactions finally gave them a chance to shine.

For Kuki to take advantage of Aggravate, she has to sacrifice most of her healing effectiveness. However, Kuki Shinobu only loses 15%-20% of her healing potential on a full EM set, and can carry a variety of support artifact options too.

Thoma can utilize a full EM artifact set as well, and provides a defensive option in the form of his shield, though Thoma will often want a Pyro battery like Bennett.

Hydro characters need a lot of application to fit into these teams, but it doesn't matter if it's on or off-field as long as your Pyro or Electro character secures the reactions. Tartaglia has the most Hydro application of any character in the game, and is a strong On-Field DPS who likes playing with Electro and Pyro reactions. Yelan and Xingqiu serve similar roles, and together can carry most other 2-character combinations in the game.

Team members for Burgeon/Hyperbloom teams.

Bloom teams come next. Occasionally, these are called "Fridge" teams when including a Cryo character. Using a Cryo character is useful for using Freeze reactions with Dendro. The saying goes, "you preserve your veggies when you refrigerate them," and what this means in mechanical terms is that Freeze reduces the 'amount' of elemental aura depleted. When reactions deplete less elemental auras, you can create more reactions with less application.

The Bloom/Rupture Formula is identical to the Overload formula, so consider Bloom the "tropical" flavor of it. The concept is similar; reduce Dendro resist and create as many transformative reactions as possible.

Bloom/Fridge Teams

The flex slots can be more Dendro or Hydro characters. Anemo is useful when your On-Field DPS is Hydro and not the Trigger for reactions. In these cases, you want your Dendro character to carry Elemental Mastery gear. It's not recommended to run other elements besides Zhongli for his universal resistance shred. Choose Dendro or Hydro based on balancing the amount of application for whoever you decide to be your trigger DPS.

The Trigger should be Dendro or Hydro, running a full EM set, and should have slower application than the application of the other element.

Yelan and Xingqiu provide lots of Hydro while also being generically strong units. Kokomi is a candidate for being a Hydro Trigger, as her Skill has slow, but consistent application. This will take away much of her healing potential, though depending on your skill level, that might be forgivable for her. Ayato and Tartaglia are strongest while focusing on their CRIT stats instead of EM, but both have high Hydro application, and Ayato can play on-field or off-field roles.

For Dendro, basically any current Dendro character can have a try at being the Trigger for Bloom/Rupture. As for Cryo, the character will usually want to be off-field while consistently applying Cryo. Exceptions can be made if your Bloom Aura and Trigger both do their job off-field (like Collei or Kokomi).

Team members for Bloom/Fridge teams.

Finally, there are Burning Teams, which focus on providing as much Dendro application as possible with Pyro in order to afflict enemies with damage-over-time, much like Electro-Charged strategies. Dendro application demands are generally higher because Dendro acts as the "fuel" for Burning. 1U of Dendro with Burning lasts about 2-seconds. Collei is the best at keeping this application up while off-field. Dendro Traveler, however, is ineligible for Burning teams, due to her Burst's premature explosion.

Burning Teams

Thoma returns as a strong Pyro Trigger for Burning. Most Pyro characters generally do not run full Elemental Mastery investments, so most other Pyro characters will probably just focus on raw power and just be happy that Burning is extra damage for the team. In these cases, either Collei or Tighnari should be the Trigger.

Bennett is an obvious first pick for a flex slot, especially if using a Pyro carry with high energy requirements like Thoma or Xiangling. Anemo units also tend to run full Elemental Mastery investment anyways, and swirling Pyro onto Dendro would be another way to channel high amount of EM into Burning damage

Team members for Burgeon/Hyperbloom teams.

Collei Resources

Collei Mastersheet by Emiliabyss, Raikh, Rockidayo, Noir, Jrm.spirit

100% of artwork used is official Genshin Impact promotional art.