Navia explodes onto the scene in Genshin Impact version 4.3! Here's how you build her

Genshin Impact version 4.3 is finally here and with it, Navia explodes onto the scene! Don't be fooled by Navia's elegant and graceful appearance, as she packs a whole lot of firepower in the form of a gunbrella and the ability to call on an entire artillery strike!

Navia is a Geo Claymore DPS character that can take on both on-field hypercarry or quickswap Sub DPS roles! Not only that, she is the long-awaited character who finally makes the Crystallize reaction relevant, as she uses it as literal ammunition for her skill and as a way to buff her damage through a new dedicated artifact set for her.

If you were lucky enough to get Navia, then read on as we break down how to best build her as well as her best weapons, artifacts, and teams!

Even a rose has its thorns

Navia breathes life back into the often-neglected Geo element as its newest DPS character while also making the Crystallize reaction actually useful for once. Navia uses Crystallize shards as ammunition for her powerful gunbrella skill while her burst and Geo-infused normal attacks lets her create more shard to keep the barrage going.

Navia's kit is centered on her skill, Ceremonial Crystalshot, which lets her use her gunbrella to fire Rosula Shardshots that deal Geo DMG to opponents hit that also penetrates to additional targets near or behind it. Ceremonial Crystalshot has two charges and a 9-second cooldown per charge.

Whenever a party member obtains an Crystallize shard, Navia also gains 1 stack of Crystal Shrapnel, up to a maximum of 6, and she uses them as ammunition to empower Ceremonial Crystalshot. When Navia fires her gunbrella, 5/7/9/11 Rosula Shardshots will be fired if she has 0/1/2/3 or more stacks of Crystal Shrapnel.

The more Rosula Shardshots that strike a single opponent, the greater the DMG dealt to them. When all 11 Rosula Shardshots strike, 200% of the original amount of DMG is dealt. In addition, when Navia consumes more than 3 stacks of Crystal Shrapnel, every stack consumed beyond those 3 will increase the DMG dealt by this Gunbrella attack by an additional 15%.

Navia's burst, As the Sunlit Sky's Singing Salute, lets her call an artillery strike on her position that deals an initial burst of Geo DMG followed by cannon bombardments that also deal Geo DMG to nearby enemies. When the cannon bombardments from Navia's burst hit enemies, she will also gain 1 stack of Crystal Shrapnel, with this effect able to be triggered once every 2.4 seconds.

Navia's passive Talents also give her some much-needed flexibility when it comes to her on-field playstyle.

Her A2 passive, Undisclosed Distribution Channels, gives her Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks a Geo infusion for 4 seconds after she uses her skill that cannot be overriden by other elemental infusions. It also gives her a 40% DMG boost to her Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks.

Meanwhile, her A4 passive, Mutual Assistance Network, gives her a 20% ATK bonus for every Pyro/Electro/Cryo/Hydro character in the party. This effect stacks up to 2 times.

In battle, you can either play Navia as an on-field hypercarry or a quickswap Sub DPS. Either way, the bulk of her damage will come from her fully-charged gunbrella shots while her Geo-infused Normal Attacks and burst lets her continue dealing Geo DMG while her skill is on cooldown and generate more Crystallize shards.

When leveling up Navia's abilities, her skill must be your top priority, followed by her burst, then her Normal Attacks, eventually leveling them all up to max. You can forego leveling up her Normal Attacks if you're playing her as a quickswap DPS, though we don't recommend ignoring them so that your damage output can still be consistent.

Navia's best gear

Weapons

Navia's best weapon is hands-down her unique signature Claymore, Verdict. Not only is this Claymore actually a badass two-handed axe, it also has a nice base ATK of 674 and a 22% Crit Rate substat plus a passive tailor-made for Navia.

Verdict passively increases her ATK by 20%, which is nothing to scoff at. In addition, it lets her gain 1 stack of Seal whenever a party member obtains a Crystallize shard. Seal increases skill DMG by 18%, can stack up to 2 times, lasts for 15 seconds, and disappears after the wielder's skill deals DMG.

But don't fret if you don't have the Primogems needed to get Navia's signature weapon, as she has plenty of strong 5-star and 4-star alternatives.

Navia can make good use of almost every 5-star Claymore except for the Song of Broken Pines and Redhorn Stonethresher, which are geared towards Physical DMG and DEF-scaling characters, respectively.

If you want a 5-star alternative for Navia, then we recommend Wolf's Gravestone, The Unforged, and Beacon of the Reed Sea.

Wolf's Gravestone gives Navia plenty of ATK, the Unforged does the same but with the added requirement of needing a shield (easy to get with Crystallize), while the Beacon of the Reed Sea gives both a lot of ATK and Crit Rate.

As for 4-star Claymores, your best bet will be the Battle Pass Claymore Serpent Spine, which has a 27% Crit Rate substat and can compete with some of its 5-star counterparts at high refinement levels.

At base refinement, this weapon can give Navia a 30% DMG buff after spending 20 seconds on-field, though she also takes 12% more DMG (which can be offset with Crystallize shields). At R5, the full DMG boost reaches a whopping 50% while the DMG taken penalty is lowered to a mere 10%.

If you're willing to restrict Navia's teambuilding options, you can also go for the Lithic Blade, which gives a 7% ATK and 3% Crit Rate buff for every character in the party from Liyue. Since Navia isn't from Liyue, the max buff she can get from this weapon will be 21% ATK and 9% Crit Rate, which is still very nice to have.

If you're looking for free-to-play weapons, then you have three options: the Luxurious Sea-Lord, Katsuragikiri Nagamasa, and the Ultimate Overlord's Mega Magic Sword.

The Luxurious Sea-Lord, which can be acquired and refined for free by fishing in Inazuma, gives Navia plenty of ATK, increases her burst DMG, and can summon a wave of tuna to deal DMG based on her ATK. The Katsuragikiri Nagamasa is a craftable weapon with an Energy Recharge substat and increases Navia's skill DMG.

Finally, the 4.3 event-exclusive Ultimate Overlord's Mega Magic Sword has an Energy Recharge substat and plenty of ATK buffs based on the number of Melusines you've helped in Fontaine.

Artifacts

Navia's best artifact set is the newly-introduced 4-piece Nighttime Whispers in the Echoing Woods. It gives a 18% ATK buff with its 2-piece set bonus while the 4-piece bonus gives its wielder a 20% Geo DMG Bonus after using their skill that is boosted by 150% when they have a Crystallize shield.

But since it will take time to farm a full 4-piece set of the Nighttime Whispers in the Echoing Woods, you can use a mixed set of 2-piece Archaic Petra and any 2-piece ATK bonus set for the meantime. If you don't already know, the 2-piece Archaic Petra gives a 15% Geo DMG Bonus while a 2-piece ATK bonus set gives, well... ATK.

The main stats you should look for in Navia's artifacts are ATK% for the sands, Geo DMG Bonus for the goblet, and Crit Rate/DMG for the circlet. Substats to go for are Crit Rate/DMG, ATK%, and Energy Recharge.

Navia's best teammates

When it comes to building a team for Navia, always keep in mind her A4 passive. Because of the ATK buff it grants her from Pyro/Electro/Cryo/Hydro characters being in the party only having 2 stacks, the template for a Navia team will include any two of those four elements plus one flex slot.

This flex slot should go to another Geo character as much as possible in order to enable the Geo Resonance buff, which increases shield strength by 15% and gives characters protected by a shield the following buffs: DMG dealt increased by 15% and dealing DMG to enemies will decrease their Geo RES by 20% for 15s.

As for the two slots reserved for Pyro/Electro/Cryo/Hydro, we recommend going for a double Pyro setup to enable the powerful Pyro Resonance buff. The Pyro Resonance buff gives all party members 25% ATK, which brings the buffs Navia can get from her team setup alone to 65% ATK, 15% DMG bonus, and 20% Geo RES shred.

For the second Geo slot in your Navia team, we recommend going for Zhongli or Albedo. Zhongli gives the strongest shield in the game and universal RES shred while Albedo provides off-field DMG and particle generation.

If you don't have Zhongli, then you can use Noelle instead. If you don't have Albedo, you can also use Ningguang either with a support build or as another DPS in a quickswap composition.

As for the two Pyro/Electro/Cryo/Hydro slots, we'll first list off the best options for the double Pyro or Cryo setups then list off possible teammates from the other elements.

For the double Pyro setup, your go-to will be Bennett and Xiangling. Bennett gives a ton of ATK and healing while also acting as a battery for Xiangling, the best off-field Pyro DPS in the game. If you don't have a Geo shielder, you can also go for a shield build Thoma.

Since Navia uses her skill a lot, she can go well with the Cryo shielder Layla, whose off-field Cryo DMG output is complemented by teammates who use their skills a lot.

If you're using Navia as an off-field hypercarry, you can also go for Yelan for her off-field Hydro DMG output and DMG buff. If you don't have Yelan, you can also go for her 4-star version in Xingqiu. Both characters can also work with Layla or other Cryo characters to Freeze enemies for some crowd control.

Genshin Impact is currently in the first half of version 4.3, which features the debut of Navia and a rerun for Kamisato Ayaka. The second half will feature the debut of the 4-star Pyro Polearm character Chevreuse as well as reruns for the 5-star characters Raiden Shogun and Yoimiya.

Version 4.4 in late January 2024 will feature two more new characters in Xianyun, aka Cloud Retainer, and Gaming.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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