Contrary to popular belief, Ningguang is not a support but rather a damage dealer. Her normal and charged attack mechanics combined with her short cooldowns and low energy cost enable her to consistently deal with a high amount of DPS. The crystallize procs from the Geo element and Jade Screen give her a semi-support role.
Basic Gameplay
Unlike most characters, Ningguang has mechanics on her normal and charged attacks. Normal attacks produce star jades and it caps at 3 stacks. When using a charged attack, Ningguang unleashes all her star jade stacks which deal with additional damage. To simplify, your attack pattern should always be Normal-Normal-Normal-Charged-Repeat.
Jade Screen
Ningguang’s skill is Jade Screen which deals with significant Geo AOE damage on the cast and spawns a big barrier that blocks projectiles with the exception of piercing attacks such as Fire Abyss Mage attacks.
The AOE is big and used as an initiator in most cases. The damage and energy recharge is pretty high so make sure it actually lands on your enemies. You can control where it spawns by holding a specific direction on the directional pad before unleashing it.
Skill and Burst Combo
When Ningguang uses her burst (Starshatter) while her skill is active, the Jade Screen will be destroyed but in return, it will launch additional star jades and heat seek nearby enemies. There’s no need to stack star jades first before using Ningguang’s burst. The only thing you need to make sure is that her Jade Screen should be active before you cast Starshatter.
If your Ningguang has a level 6 constellation, make sure that you burn your remaining star jades first via charged attack before casting Starshatter since it will instantly refill to 7 stacks. You then immediately do another charged attack after using burst.
Advanced Gameplay
By holding a direction on the directional pad while spamming Ningguang’s normal attack, she will be able to cancel the post-animation of her normal attack and perform attacks faster, This leads to a huge improvement in her overall DPS.
Using Burst Before Skill Repeatedly
Now, this might sound weird but it’s actually more efficient. The issue with using burst is that it removes your Jade Screen. Jade screen helps block a lot of incoming projectiles and it also provides you a Geo buff whenever you pass it at Level 4 ascension. So if you use burst first followed by skill, you’ll regenerate energy from the skill cast. The duration of the screen is long enough that your burst should be ready before it expires.
To simplify, use your burst first followed by your skill. The Jade Screen will last long enough until your burst is ready to be used again. Use burst to destroy the old Jade Screen and spawn a new one immediately, rinse, and repeat.
Healer Ningguang
By equipping the craftable weapon Prototype Malice on Ningguang, she can act as a hybrid DPS+Healer. The reason why it has such a strong synergy with Ningguang is because of the energy recharge it provides when using a character’s burst. At Level 5 refine, Prototype Malice regenerates a total of 10 energy whenever using burst. Ningguang’s burst only cost 40 energy with 12 seconds cooldown.
This makes Ningguang’s burst very spammable which technically improves her overall DPS while healing the whole team consistently. In Spiral Abyss, I use a Malice Ningguang and she acts as both my DPS and healer in her team.
Currently, my Lv 70 Ningguang (Lv 1 Constellation) with R3 Malice and 4-star artifacts has solo carried my other team in Spiral Abyss Floor 9 along with a decently geared Anemo Traveller.
Team Synergy
Bennett is a godsend to Ningguang due to the fact that Geo element struggles to boost their damage with the help of other elements. Bennett only needs to pop his burst and it will significantly increase the ATK of Ningguang.
Best Gear Setups
On top of Ningguang’s role as a hybrid healer + DPS, we can take it another step further by enabling her to buff the team using full noblesse oblige. Ningguang’s burst is very spammable with prototype malice equipped, potentially allowing the 4 piece effect has 100% uptime since the duration is equal to her burst cooldown.
- Weapon: Prototype Malice
- Artifact Set: Noblesse Oblige
- Hourglass: ATK
- Goblet: Geo
- Circlet: Crit
This build emphasizes Ningguang’s Role as a DPS. To maximize burst usage, you will need to use the energy recharge stat on the Hourglass artifact. Solar Pearl makes use of both skill and burst to buff your normal attacks so cycling them properly is important. Solar Pearl provides crit hence having C.Dmg on circlet is optimal.
- Weapon: Solar Pearl
- Artifact Set: Archaic Petra
- Hourglass: Energy
- Goblet: Geo
- Circlet: C.Dmg
Unlike Solar Pearl, Lost Prayer doesn’t require you to cast your burst frequently. Therefore, Hourglass can use ATK main stat for a more hardcore DPS build. Since you will have no good source of energy, it’s important that you consistently hit multiple enemies with your skill for the best efficiency.
- Weapon: Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds
- Artifact Set: Martial Artist
- Hourglass: Atk
- Goblet: Geo
- Circlet: C.Dmg
Final Words
I personally think that Ningguang is one of the strongest characters if not the strongest individually. To clarify, I meant if compared to other characters in a vacuum, character vs character, no synergy, and stuff.
She has high consistent DPS, high survivability, high armor break, able to synergize extremely well with Prototype Malice which then enables her to perform a healer role while spamming her burst for a high amount of DPS. That’s a whole package!
Her element does hold her back but it’s not as bad as the majority of people make it to be. As I mentioned, she still carried me at Floor 9 which is an impressive feat. In fact, she has always been the main DPS of my other team in Spiral Abyss since floor 1.
And that’s it for now. If this guide helped, please leave a comment below!
Having Ninguang is like having mobile Anti-Tank Turret. She is so good for wiping the whole field full of enemies.
From Klee to Ninguang.. Shes my new favorite dps