Zhongli is great, but... I never use him. Genshin Character Review!

Zhongli was one of my first five stars when I started playing, the fourth to be exact (kazuha, keqing, xiao, and then him) kazuha and zhongli seldomly leave my team even after two years of playing. In my defence I play mobile and just suck at dodging and I framing so zhongli was a god send. I am slowly getting better at using teams without him in it but I like the comfort he gives me as I don’t like managing my health. When I don’t use him then Kokomi replaces him to make up for the damage taken.

100% same experience for me - literally the only team I've found which I really like him in is that Yoimiya team with Yunjin and Xingqiu ...and even there the version with Thoma feels just as good.

Finally someone who actually acknowledges that Layla's shield is actually very strong and comes very close to Zhongli's shield. Nice vid!

I love zhongli as a charachter and was sure In the beginning of my genshin experience that I was going to get him, but unfortunately geo is just hard for me and I have so many great charachters already that I just won't be wishing for him. Would have been propably completely dieffrent experience if his banner would have come when I started🙁 again good video!!❤

3:35 "His burst calls down a meteor which looks weirdly like a golden meatball" 😭😭

Your videos seem so accurate, I'm so glad I ran into this channel. The artifact video with Raiden, and this, are so true for me at least. I started this game in patch 1.2, pulled a fast Albedo, and got SO USED to having a Geo shield that now I always play as if I cannot be touched. Zhongli is my favorite defensive character, and I use him with Hu Tao with no healing of course. My 2nd healer is ALWAYS Baizhu, so even though I AM touchable I am invincible since he heals SO MUCH.

I gotta say, this channel really needs more subs, you make really good points!

I got Zhongli by accident on his very first banner. I desperately wanted a C6 Chongyun and decided eh I’ll probably lose my 50/50 anyway. He sat in my account gathering dust for three years until this last patch when I pulled for Lyney and found that playing him without Zhongli felt really, really awful. Glad for that happy accident now lmao

Zhongli practically made my first 2 years of Genshin. He practically never left my over world team and was regularly part of my Abyss runs. But the more characters I got, the less useful he felt. Have barely used him now since last December.

Geo has been my favorite Element from the start. But in truth, I found claymores to be my main roster. Even though I got diluc pretty early, unluckily didn't get wgs for ANY of my claymore characters. Istg, I main Noelle and Itto, Diluc, and Eula. ALL CLAYMORES. (I got rainslasher so much it became an inside joke among my friends, who, most have wgs) Back on topic, i've always wanted zhongli ever since his first or second banner when I started playing since he looked really damn cool. And he's avoided me about banners despite my efforts. I only recently got him on this banner(after taking a long break from genshin) and I am extremely happy to have him now. I am well-versed in all playing with different amounts of shields. Noelle's being sturdy as hell, and despite the lack of uptime, her team healing makes sure I never die. Diona's arguably weaker shield creates situations where I still need to dodge the heavy attacks often since I pair her with Eula Raiden. And having no shield at all with diluc's team is... Fine. Their interruption and i-frames make it really easy to survive. I don't main any charged attack bow or catalyst characters, my 13 catalyst billets show you just how unused they are. I love zhongli for his style and burst, but my mains and how I developed means I don't really need him. I know how to dodge (well-enough) to survive most confrontations in abyss. Despite my poor choice of characters making it impossible to really 9* floor 12 xD My final thoughts on past experiences carrying on to the present, i think it really does matter on the person. Some people do switch playstyles more easily, some find it incredibly hard to fix a habit. past experiences OUTSIDE of the game can manifest into the game, and often carry a lot of weight. I'm fairly flexible within and outside the game, but my mains in genshin do have majorly similar playstyles i.e an in-your-face type of aggressive playstyle with protection. It has a major impact on how well i use characters of different styles. But it isn't impossible for me to switch playstyles to something new. Having zhongli is a two year endeavor that i finally succeeded on. It is a trophy of my past i love to look at. My playstyle does not change with or without him, that's all i can say.

I got Zhongli fairly early on, and he didn’t leave my teams for av very long time. These days i’ve learned to play without his strong shield too, but he is still an essential part of some of my teams, most notably hu tao (with XQ and yelan), who i don’t think i’d enjoy playing as much if i didn’t have him. I also like that his meatball gives me a breathing room when i panic and then at least most enemies are petrified for a moment 😂 recently he’s been very useful for my lyney as i’m not that quick at aiming. I’m glad i’ve moved away from “needing” to have him in every team though

Coming to Genshin from some other action RPG games where I always preferred either stealthy combat gameplay (too bad we don't really have this in Genshin) or "agile fighter" combat gameplay (fast attacks + dodging a lot), I wasn't a huge fan of shields in Genshin, especially the barrier type of shields where you don't really have to parry to absorb damage. With that in mind, I skipped Zhongli twice and haven't really used any shielder until I got my 1st ever character to C6 - Noelle, though I built her as an on-field dps, so didn't really think of her as a "support" shielder, rather another dmg dealer who just happens to have a shield. Then, I decided to pull for Zhongli on his 2nd re-run (around the time it seemed shields might fall off due to them adding enemies like rifthounds) and my experience with him for a while was "I keep forgetting I have the strongest shield in the game and don't really need to dodge now... at least that much". I did get used to it, but my pre-pulling Zhongli mindset was indeed correct for me and he did make the game kinda boring, so I stopped playing him... at least, as a shield-bot - I later built him physical with Crescent Pike and now still sometimes play him as an on-field driver - his animations are 🔥

I got Layla and Diona early on and got sooo used to having a shield. It took me a while to adjust once I had teams they weren't a good fit for since I lacked another good shielder. So I think your theory fits!

Great video! I’m pulling for him because Ganyu really wants him on her team and she’s my first 5 star. Your points about him are extremely valid 👌

As someone who has used and loved Noelle from day one I think I'm gonna feel right at home with Zhongli's shield :)

I like this channels voice over. its not over bearing to listen to. Somehow relaxing. <3

My first lov... Uh i mean 5star. For me he is the most valuable character in the game. There are so many damage dealers, but there's no shielder like him. PERIOOOD

I didn't use a shielder at all until I got to Inazuma where I got Diona while pulling for Ayaka. She changed everything and I now wnat the ultimate shielder. Especially for my Yoimiya but also overworld where reactions don't matter as much. Not having to dodge especially againt bosses when you could be attacking is the coolest thing to me. Also, Zhongli's story quests are too good!

I'll be pulling for Zhongli tomorrow because I'm a Xiao main and he's definitely the best shielder for his playstyle. I definitely get it though I think the main thing that has changed from Version 1.0 is the field of actual supportive units have actually widened considerably, so I think the time of Zhongli being viewed as a "must pull" has definitely passed.

I too have Zhongli, he is eye candy. Got him in his debut banner. But I am not much for mono element teams. I use him exclusively on my exploration team. Specifically for ore farming and ignoring enemies. So my Zhongli is purely a shield bot. I hate artifact farming. The last time I used him in abyss was when I barely had built characters. Back when my dps was Fischl.