Ah, Lisa. Laconic Librarian… and bringer of AoE destruction. Don’t be fooled into dismissing her because she comes free with the main story, Lisa is capable of bringing impressive variety and potent burst to any team in either a support or more DPS focused role.
Here’s how to get the most out of Mondstadt’s foremost magical expert. You may even have time for afternoon tea.
Genshin Impact Lisa guide
Weapons
Lisa’s weapon choices are fairly versatile and largely depend on the playstyle you’re pushing for. Either way, attack and crit are the aim of the game and most damage Catalysts will work well on Lisa, especially ones that amp up her Elemental Skill and Burst.
That said, here are a few of the more potent options:
The Widsith
(Picture: miHoYo)
A great choice if you want to run Lisa as a burst DPS. Attack and Crit DMG are an excellent pair of stats for Lisa, and she can use and abuse all three of Debut’s buffs very happily. Switch in to Lisa, use her Elemental Burst, get your three stacks of Shocked then full hold her Elemental Skill to watch sparks fly.
You can then switch out to other characters to abuse the electro status and defence reduction - if they’re still standing.
Mappa Mare
(Picture: miHoYo)
Great for a more elemental reaction heavy playstyle, especially if you have a character who can set up for said reactions - think Xiangling, Diona or any Anemo user. Switch in with enemies primed with Pyro/Cryo etc. then use Lisa’s Burst to lay down the hurt.
Also works well for a more DPS focused/sustained playstyle, but lacks the Crit stats to make it absolutely amazing.
Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds
(Picture: miHoYo)
The DPS Catalyst. If you want Lisa to be raining down thunder and lightning as your primary DPS, this is the item for you. Crit Rate and Boundless Blessing make for a potent amount of damage, especially if you can get regular crits on Lisa’s Elemental Skill, “Violet Arc.”
To make the most of this though, you really do need to be on the field for an extended period of time, so it’s much less potent if you are more interested in Lisa as a support.
Magic Guide
(Picture: miHoYo)
A great cost-effective option. It is very easy to activate Bane of Storm and Tide as an Electro Catalyst user, and very easy to Refine as well.
Artifacts
The author will admit to a full damage Lisa bias… (Picture: miHoYo)
This is where a little more thought needs to come in. Do you want to push Lisa towards a more supportive role, a more burst-heavy role, or index entirely into DPS?
If you want to push her towards a more supportive role 4-piece Noblesse Oblige is phenomenal to maximise her Burst damage. Otherwise 4-piece Instructor or Exile maximise utility and how often Lisa’s Elemental Burst is available.
Do make sure you prioritise Energy Recharge if you want to make the most out of the latter two sets - you really want her Burst up as often as possible, and it does have a heavy energy cost.
Lastly, there is always the option to turn Lisa into a manifestation of Thor. To bring down the lightning you’ll want to run either 2-piece Gladiator's Finale and 2-piece Thundering Fury or just go for a 2/2 split on two +18% ATK sets.
Lisa’s skills scale… very well on attack, and everything she does is Electro DMG, hence the itemisation options. Add in some crit chance and DMG and you have yourself a proper tempest brewing.
Artifact Stats
For a Burst or DPS build, these are the stats you’re looking for:
Main Stats
- ATK%
- Electro DMG Goblet (Key)
- Crit Rate Circlet
Sub Stats
- Electro DMG
- Crit Rate (over 50% preferred)
- Crit DMG
- ATK
- Energy Recharge
If you are really indexing into a support build and don’t want to prioritise Burst over having Lightning Rose up more often, then your priorities are different:
Support Stats
- Energy Recharge
- Elemental Mastery (great for maximising reaction damage)
- Electro DMG
- ATK
(Picture: miHoYo)
Play Patterns
For a support focused build, Lisa’s play pattern is nice and simple: activate Lightning Rose, then switch out to a character who can take advantage of enemies’ reduced defence from Static Electricity field.
Anemo characters and Mona are great to pair up with Lisa here, as they can keep opponents locked up inside Lightning Rose and maximise elemental reactions.
For maximum Burst and DPS on Lisa though, you need to think a little differently. You’ll still want to start out with Lightning Rose, but after that you want to stack up Violet Arc’s shocked status on to as many priority targets as possible.
To do that you’ll want to go charged auto → elemental skill press → charged auto for three stacks of Shocked, then full hold Violet Arc to bring down the pain. You can also start with a charged attack, then just go for two presses of her Elemental Skill if stamina is an issue - just remember to check the cooldown of the skill!
(Picture: miHoYo)
The reason you want to hit that three-stack Shocked status is because of the absurd Attack scaling Violet Arc has. At Lvl. 6 you’re looking at 682% of your attack damage to enemies with three Shock stacks… in AoE. Combine that with Lightning Rose and Static Electricity field offering a 15% debuff to enemies’ defences and you can quickly wipe the field of nearly every major opponent.
Be careful though, Lisa is frustratingly interruptible while channelling her Elemental Skill. Set yourself up well, or push for Constellation Level 2 to counteract this.
(Picture: miHoYo)
Lastly remember that if you stack Shocked on an enemy with Pyro, Cryo or Hydro on them, the resulting elemental reaction stacks Shocked multiple times and spreads it to nearby enemies.
Consider building a team that includes at least one or two of these elements, and either double Pyro for amped attack damage with Elemental Resonance, though double Electro and Cryo have their benefits as well.