Who needs sleep when you can piece together your best Genshin Impact Layla build and give your party one of the anime RPG's best defenders and supporters. The perpetually exhausted Akademiya student in the 3.2 update occupies a unique role in the Genshin Impact roster, with her sturdy shields and icy stars.

Whereas most recent characters since the Sumeru region released tended to fill DPS or healer roles, Layla is a defender whose shield ranks among the strongest out there. She's also a reliable source of Cryo and a catalyst for powerful freeze and vaporize reactions, and while her HP-scaling abilities have few ideally suited weapons, Layla benefits from an Artifact set you can acquire fairly early in the game. Meanwhile, just make sure to stock up on Nilotpala Lotus while you're traveling around Sumeru. Layla needs it for her level-up ascension.

Should I Pull for Layla?
If you don't have a reliable way to spread Cryo, need a sturdy shield character, or both, then the answer is absolutely yes, you should pull for Layla. Genshin Impact still has comparatively few characters who generate strong shields, with Noelle, Xinyan, and Diona's shield strength ranking at approximately half of Layla's.

Outside of a Diona and Ganyu rerun, Cryo characters have also been short supply lately, so Layla is a good opportunity for newer players to add a strong elemental support character to their Genshin Impact Accounts.

Is Layla a DPS Character?
Layla's function as a main DPS is a bit murky for reasons similar to Candace and Kuki Shinobu. Layla's setup makes her shine as a Cryo sub-DPS and support character. Her skill creates a shield with an impressive damage absorption capacity rivaled only by Zhongli and Thoma, and one that gets even stronger based on her max HP. Layla's second passive talent, Like Nascent Light, increases the active character's shield by 6 percent every time her shield gains a Night Star, for a total of 24 percent. While the shield is active, it accumulates these Night Stars and fires them off in rounds of four, dealing Cryo damage that also scales with Layla's HP. Her final passive talent, Sweet Slumber Undisturbed, boosts the damage from the stars her shield creates by a further 1.5 percent of her max HP.

Layla's burst is similar to Ganyu's. It creates an orb that fires Cryo projectiles continously for 12 seconds. These, too, scale based on Layla's max HP. so if you haven't picked up on it already, HP is Layla's most important stat.

The ease and consistency with which she applies Cryo makes Layla a flexible fit for nearly any party. Pair her with Nilou's Tranquility Aura or Xingqiu's Rain Swords for an easy freeze setup or Raiden Shogun, Yae Miko, or Cyno for Superconduct. Layla also makes Melt easy for the likes of Hu Tao, Diluc, Yanfei, and Yoimiya. The only potential drawback is that Cryo has no interactions with Dendro, so if you've been planning a Dendro team with Nahida or Collei, these composition would resign Layla to the role of shield creator and nothing else.

Either way, Layla's skill setup makes her perfect for off-field support, Cryo application, and damage, but you may want to experiment with using her in a main DPS capacity or at least keeping her on field every now and again. Layla's base attack is 18, and her normal attack scaling is higher than you usually get with 4-star characters. If you pair her with a strong sword, she could hold her own with physical attacks and stay safe thanks to her shield.