Diona is a 4* Cryo Bow Support with one of the most versatile kits in the entire game—she can heal, shield, support Elemental Reactions, increase movement speed, reduce stamina consumption, and—with enough constellations—even buff Elemental Mastery.
Believe it or not, there was a point in Genshin Impact’s history where the whole community was outraged by how Zhongli—a fan-favorite 5* character who currently stands atop our Character Tier List—was a worse Support than the 4* Diona.
While we can’t quite place her into the S-Tier, however, Diona has confidently been holding her place in the A-Tier due to her versatility. If there’s a hole in your team, chances are Diona can be used to fix it, regardless of how big it is.
However, her DMG output is negligible, so the teams she’s on need to be able to pull their own weight without any extra DMG
So, to make sure she can support the rest of the team optimally, you should build your Diona with the following things in mind.
Let’s get started with the guide!
Table of ContentsShow
Diona’s Talent Priority
| Talent | Description | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Attack (Kätzlein Style) | Normal Attack Perform up to 5 consecutive shots with a bow. Charged Attack Perform a more precise Aimed Shot with increased DMG. While aiming, biting frost will accumulate on the arrowhead. A fully charged frost arrow will deal Cryo DMG. Plunging Attack Fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE DMG upon impact. | Most characters in Genshin Impact can be run as the main DPS to some success. Diona is an exception. Her Normal Attacks will be god-awful no matter how much you invest into them. This is easily Diona’s least important talent. You shouldn’t feel compelled to level it up at all. |
| Elemental Skill (Icy Paws) | Fires an Icy Paw that deals Cryo DMG to opponents and forms a shield on hit. The shield’s DMG Absorption scales based on Diona’s Max HP, and its duration scales off the number of Icy Paws that hit their target. Press Rapidly fires off 2 Icy Paws. Hold Dashes back quickly before firing five Icy Paws. The shield created by a Hold attack will gain a 75% DMG Absorption Bonus. The shield has a 250% Cryo DMG Absorption Bonus, and will cause your active character to become affected by Cryo at the point of formation for a short duration. | Diona’s Elemental Skill provides a substantially strong shield while generating plenty of Cryo Energy that can be fed into the main Cryo DPS. This is her most important talent. Be aware that the DMG on this skill is negligible, especially since you should build HP to make the shield stronger. |
| Elemental Burst (Signature Mix) | Tosses out a special cold brew that deals AoE Cryo DMG and creates a Drunken Mist in an AoE. Drunken Mist Deals continuous Cryo DMG to opponents within the AoE. Continuously regenerates the HP of characters within the AoE. | Just like her Skill, Diona’s Burst deals some DMG, but you can basically write that off. More importantly, it provides plenty of healing for the on-field character who stands in its area of effect. This is Diona’s second priority talent, and it’s a close second. |
Diona’s Passive Talents
| Talent Name | Description | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| Complimentary Bar Food | When a Perfect Cooking is achieved on a dish with restorative effects, Diona has a 12% chance to obtain double the product. | All cooking passives are inconsequential, and this one is no exception. |
| Cat’s Tail Secret Menu | Characters shielded by Icy Paws have their Movement SPD increased by 10% and their Stamina Consumption decreased by 10%. | Movement speed increases generally don’t amount to much, although they can be used on some Claymore characters to spam Plunging Attacks, which can be devastating. More importantly, however, this passive is great because it reduces stamina consumption, something all characters benefit from. |
| Drunkard’s Farce | Opponents who enter the AoE of Signature Mix have 10% decreased ATK for 15s. | The moment when you require healing the most is typically the moment when you don’t want to expose yourself to a lot of DMG, so this passive works well to add another layer of protection when you need it most. |
Diona’s kit is relatively simple, despite offering a lot of utility.
In one sentence, we’d summarize it like this: Diona’s Skill shields and her Burst heals.
The extra perks, like increased movement speed, decreased stamina consumption, and Elemental Mastery buffing (more on this when we discuss constellations), are great to have on top of this, but they aren’t the reason you’ll place Diona in your team.
Just be aware that, although capable of generating lots of Energy, Diona also needs a lot of Energy herself to cast her 80 Energy Burst. So it’s best not to cast her Burst whenever you’ve got the Energy for it, and instead wait for the moments when you actually need it.
Diona’s Constellations
| Constellation Name | Description | Evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| A Lingering Flavor | Regenerates 15 Energy for Diona after the effects of Signature Mix end. | Diona’s C1 is a huge quality of life improvement, effectively reducing the cost of her Burst from 80 Energy to 65 Energy. |
| Shaken, Not Purred | Increases Icy Paws’ DMG by 15%, and increases its shield’s DMG Absorption by 15%. Additionally, when paws hit their targets, creates a shield for other nearby characters on the field with 50% of the Icy Paws shield’s DMG Absorption for 5s. | You can ignore the DMG buff provided by this constellation, but know that the shield strength buff is amazing. If you play a lot of co-op and want to use Diona as the party shielder, her C2 is indispensable. |
| A-Another Round? | Increases the Level of Signature Mix by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. | Diona’s healing works over time, so having the healing effectiveness of each tick increased is invaluable in situation when you need healing the most. |
| Wine Industry Slayer | Within the radius of Signature Mix, Diona’s charge time for aimed shots is reduced by 60% | In order to shield and heal effectively, Diona needs to be built with HP, not ATK. This means that her aimed shots will do no DMG, regardless of how quickly you can charge them. This constellation is patently bad. |
| Double Shot, On The Rocks | Increases the Level of Icy Paws by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. | Increasing the effectiveness of Diona’s shield is amazing, making C5 another great constellation. |
| Cat’s Tail Closing Time | Characters within Signature Mix’s radius will gain the following effects based on their HP amounts: • Increases Incoming Healing Bonus by 30% when HP falls below or is equal to 50%. • Elemental Mastery increased by 200 when HP is above 50%. | Diona’s C6 unlocks a brand new utility by providing characters within the field of her Burst 200 extra Elemental Mastery, which is a lot! |
Diona has some of the best constellations among the entire 4* roster of characters.
Aside from C4, which is horrible, all other constellations offer great value.
Normally, we have a lot to say when discussing character constellation, but Diona is one 4* character you shouldn’t ever mind getting duplicates of.
Best Weapons For Diona
| Weapon Rarity | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Sacrificial Bow 4* | Because she’ll do next to no DMG regardless of the equipment you use, it’s generally a bad idea to give Diona a 5* weapon—she just can’t make good use of the high base ATK. Instead, her BiS weapon is the Sacrificial Bow. Not only does it increase her Energy Recharge, which helps her heal more consistently, but it can also reset the cooldown on her Skill, allowing her to recast her shield more often. |
| Favonius Warbow 4* | While technically the second-best option for Diona, Favonius Warbow is much worse on her than Sacrificial Bow. Sure, it gives Energy Recharge, but to activate its passive, you need to CRIT. And since Diona deals next to no DMG, building CRIT on her is a waste. Regardless of that, Favonius Warbow is still a good weapon on her even if she never procs the passive. Plus, all players get one copy of it by playing through the story, so it’s a more F2P-friendly option. |
| Recurve Bow 3* | You don’t often see a 3* weapon on one of these lists, but the Recurve Bow is genuinely better on Diona than any 5* weapon. As previously mentioned, all of Diona’s utility is tied to her HP stat. Therefore, a weapon that provides a ton of HP can only be valuable. Sure, the base ATK is low, but this doesn’t matter when you aren’t expected to do DMG. |
Best Artifacts For Diona – 2-Tenacity of the Millelith + 2-Emblem of Severed Fate
Diona’s kit is so unique that there’s no 4-piece artifact set bonus designed to perfectly complement it.
Therefore, you should try to get the best value using a combination of 2-piece set bonuses. For Diona, the 2-piece set bonuses that provide the most value are Tenacity of the Millelith for +20% HP and Emblem of Severed Fate for +20% Energy Recharge.
Looking at main stats, you should give Diona an Energy Recharge Sands, an HP Goblet, and an HP Logos.
You could even give her an HP Sands if you find that you don’t have any Energy issues while playing her. You might also be tempted to run a Healing Bonus Logos, but this isn’t advisable as it will diminish the strength of her shield.
As far as substats are concerned, your main priorities are HP%, Energy Recharge, and flat HP. In case you’re using Favonius Warbow, CRIT Rate also becomes valuable.
Technically, you could give her a 4-piece Noblesse Oblige instead, to make her buff the ATK of the whole team whenever she casts her Burst. This is a solid alternative, but we prefer making her shield and heals more potent and consistent with the extra HP and ER.
Best Team Composition For Diona
F2P Melt Diona
- Diona
- Yanfei
- Xiangling
- Rosaria
Diona can shield and heal in any team, but here she also provides lots of value by applying Cryo onto enemies with her Skill and Burst. This sets enemies up for devastating Melt DMG. If you happen to have C6 Diona, the Melt DMG will receive an even bigger boost.
Yanfei is the on-field attacker in this team, looking to Melt enemies affected by Cryo with her Charged Attacks. Any Pyro DPS can be used instead of Yanfei, although she is the best 4* option available. Bennett can also be used, in which case Xiangling will become the main Pyro DPS. While not exactly a F2P unit, Diluc is someone many players will obtain accidentally. If this has happened to you, you can find a great home for him in this team.
Xiangling is the off-field Pyro DMG sub-DPS in this team. She’s here to ensure that no moment passes by without your enemies being threatened by the prospect of Melt DMG.
Rosaria is the off-field Cryo sub-DPS. Since Diona’s Cryo application isn’t reliable or consistent outside her Burst, Rosaria is used to add some much needed redundancy here. She also deals a lot of DMG in her own right and gives the rest of the team extra CRIT Rate. If you don’t have Rosaria, you can use Kaeya to much the same effect.
F2P Superconduct Diona
- Diona
- Razor
- Yun Jin
- Ningguang
Diona provides the healing and shielding for the team, but without any of the extra utility. She is, however, indispensible for setting up Superconduct reactions required for the team to perform optimally.
Razor is the main DPS in the team. His Physical DMG will melt enemies and his Electro abilities will make sure they take increased Physical DMG whenever he procs Superconduct. While Razor is the best 4* Physical DMG, you can use an endless array of characters instead of him. Beidou and Fischl are the best candidates, as they can also proc Superconduct on their own. Rosaria and Kaeya are great option as well, but they will require you to run another Electro character.
Yun Jin is used for her ability to massively increase a character’s Normal DMG output. Since most of Razor’s DMG comes from his Normal Attacks, this combination works great together. If you don’t have Yun Jin, it’s best to forget about Geo characters altogether and double down on Cryo and Electro characters we’ve already mentioned. Either that, or use Geo Traveler.
Ningguang is the sub-DPS in this team. Use her whenever her Elemental Skill is on cooldown to provide Yun Jin with Energy and cast her Elemental Burst whenever possible to mow down enemies. As the second Geo character, she also unlocks the Geo Resonance, which will significantly increase both Razor’s and Ningguang’s DMG. If you’ve replaced Yun Jin with a Cryo or Electro character, it’s best to do the same for Ningguang.
Whale Diona Team
- Diona
- Venti
- Mona
- Ganyu
Diona is one of the original members of the so-called Morgana team—one of the all-time strongest meta teams in the game. In it, Diona is used to patch the team’s lack of shielding and healing, as well as to provide the Cryo Resonance and generate Energy.
Venti is used to group enemies with his Burst. In this team, his Burst will work even on larger enemies, who are otherwise unaffected by it. If they can be Frozen, they will be rendered powerless.
Mona is here to apply Hydro to enemies, setting them up for Freeze reactions. She’s also used to buff the team’s DMG. And against Frozen enemies, her debuff lasts longer.
Ganyu is the main DMG dealer in the team. Her Burst will ensure that all enemies Mona affects with Hydro get Frozen. Frozen enemies get pulled into Venti’s tornado, where they take increased DMG from Ganyu’s Burst. And then there are her Charged Shots, which get the benefit of extra CRIT Rate, thanks to Diona unlocking the Cryo Resonance.
Is Diona Worth It?
Knowing how to build a character is half the battle. The other half is deciding whether or not they’re worth the resources to build in the first place.
We will say that every character that makes it into the A-Tier of our Tier List is worth investing resources for the vast majority of players.
Regardless of which team you’re running, chances are it will stand to benefit from Diona’s versatile supporting kit.
The only exception is if you’re a very beginner. For players brand new to the game, there’s no better resource than our Genshin Impact Beginner’s Guide.
In it, you will find plenty of tips and tricks that will set you on the right path. Among them is the recommendation to only focus on building one or two DMG dealing characters in the early game. You simple won’t have enough resources to invest in more characters. In this case, Diona isn’t worth it (at the moment) because relying on her non-existent DMG will make the game frustratingly difficult.
