Making Do With Genshin Impact’s Noelle

Congratulations, Genshin Impact players! If you’ve been with the game for a while and pulling on banners, odds are you have a Noelle. After all, the permanent Beginner’s Wish banner appears for 20 pulls and guarantees you get at least one of her. If you’re like me and have been pulling for certain characters, you might have ended up with a lot of them due to Ganyu’s Adrift in the Harbor or Klee’s Sparkling Steps banners.

Maybe you even somehow ended up with seven of them, unlocking all six of Noelle’s Constellations.

So… what do you do with Genshin Impact’s Noelle? Especially since, well, Geo might not be as immediately valuable in-game at the moment and there are both better attackers and healers? After spending about a week trying to figure out what to do with her, perhaps I can help.

I’m going to be frank. Noelle is my least favorite Genshin Impact character. Which is notable in a game that also includes someone like Amber. Her character design is fine, but I find it rather bland compared to other cast members. Geo isn’t exactly an exciting element, unless you have someone like Ningguang or Zhongli. She doesn’t have a Story Quest or a role in the campaign, so it’s difficult to connect with her personally. Even only a handful of other characters mention her in their profiles! Also, I have Beidou, Chongyun, Razor, and Xinyan, so I’m good on claymore-users.

But once she hit C6, I felt like I had to try and find some excuse to use her beyond occasionally cooking or heading out on expeditions. And, well, at least when you do hit the sixth constellation, she does start to seem a bit more practical. You just have to accept that she’s likely there to back you up and take care of you, rather than really taking the lead.

Noelle is built to be a tank and a healer. She can do damage, primarily when you get enough energy to trigger her Elemental Burst. But she’s really there to protect. Her Elemental Skill, Breastplate, isn’t good for triggering the Geo switches you might find around the world, since it puts up a healing shield and isn’t designed to be an offensive ability. It might heal the party when Noelle attacks and it’s active, but there are better healers in the game with guaranteed benefits. Especially since Breastplate only offers a 100% chance of healing when you have the first I Got Your Back Constellation level and Noelle is using both her Elemental Burst and Skill. 

Which means that, at a certain point, it can feel like Noelle is at her best when she’s cleaning up with Sweeping Time. Many of her Constellation levels focus on making it better. Some help in minor ways. The fifth one, Favonius Sweeper Master, increases its level by three to make it more generally effective. The first constellation we talked about earlier, I Got Your Back, ensures Breastplate’s group healing effect will take place when Noelle is cleaning up.

Her sixth Constellation is the most helpful one of all. When she uses her Elemental Burst, her claymore is essentially infused with Geo to add Geo damage to her attacks, hit more enemies at once, and increase her attack based on her defense stat for about 15 seconds. Must Be Spotless could make it last for 25 seconds and boosts her attack based on her defense even higher. Which means when I started actively trying to use her, I’d have her in the background, would activate her when she had enough energy to use Sweeping Time, would make sure Breastplate was active when I did, and would take advantage of the brief opportunity to refresh the party and momentarily deal decent damage.

And I mean, there’s always the potential for Noelle to get better, as a Genshin Impact Geo update is on the way. When the Zhongli buff comes in update 1.3, it will also include an update for her Geo Shield that increases how much physical and elemental damage it’ll protect people from.

I mean, I guess Noelle can be handy? She’s not flashy, but she’s sturdy. Just having her in the party could help keep your more fragile characters, like say Klee, safe. She’s a handy cook too and is good at running errands. I guess she’s just a maid in the truest sense of the word. She’s good at being a behind-the-scenes character supporting you and occasionally being swapped in for shields and sweeping. And I mean, I guess Amber needs some company so she’s not lonely when wandering around Mondstadt and Liyue. 

Genshin Impact is available for the PlayStation 4, PC, and mobile devices, with a Nintendo Switch version on the way. You have a better or guaranteed chance of getting Noelle via the Beginners’ Wish banner or the Ganyu banner.