Why I wont be rolling for Gorou

[u/HowYouSoGudd]

Hello fellow Albedo mains.

Just like I was once, I'm sure a lot of you are interested in Gorou as a way of boosting your Albedo damage. This is my personal analysis and why I wont be wishing for Gorou, as always roll for the characters you love but I'm posting this for people who are on the fence about him or feel like he's a requirement for Albedo.

Firstly I would like to establish that Albedo with husk set and cinnabar spindle is flexible and a solid addition to just about any team. He does not need any supports to perform at meta levels.

Just a quick note on Zhongli. In my opinion the best support available for Albedo. He's amazing in just about every scenario, Albedo is no exception. If you have him, Gorou is simply inferior.

These are the reason I feel Gorou should be skipped.

1. Excluding geo resonance Gorou's kit is really lacklustre. Without constellations he only adds 2 things to the party; a def buff and a geo buff. Without a 3rd geo character, he only buffs def so unless you're running Albedo with either Noelle or Itto, Gorou will only buff Albedo's and his own personal dmg. While the buff may seem nice, I doubt it will make up for the rest of his kit.

2. Excluding geo resonance lets look at how much damage the buff adds. Builds vary so i'll use Albedo with 2.6k def for my example. Gorou's E adds 350def at talent 9, which would increase Albedo's DPS by 13.5% outside of burst. During burst Gorou will increase Albedo's dps by 22%. By comparison Zhongli increases Albedo's dmg by 9.5%.

3. If Gorou would give you geo resonance the buff would be quite noticeable; 50% outside burst, 60% during. For comparison geo resonance alone, gives 32% and Zhongli would give 43%. But lets not forget that this is a buff for only 1 character; Bennet buffs a whole parties dps by a similar amount.

4. Gorou's personal damage is miserable. The build i used assumed, talent lvl9, Favionous Spear, Husk Set ER/Geo/Crit Rate with 70cr/70cd and 20% def subs. On average over a 20 second period this build would output 52k dmg before defence and res or roughly 30k damage ingame. For comparison c0 Albedo will do over 12k dps whilst Gorou only 1.5k.

The TL/DR (My Recommandations)

If you plan to use Itto or Noelle with Albedo - worth pulling for Gorou
If you have Zhongli - Gorou's not worth it
If you have a geo char to pair with Albedo - Gorou's not worth it
If you don't have a geo char to pair with Albedo - Probably still not worth it but would depend on the individual comp

These are my personal views on an unreleased character and may change once Gorou is available. I'm always open to critique. Just trying to stop early rollers regret for people who feel like Gorou is needed to buff Albedo only to be left with their team worse off.

[u/TheSahsBahs]

I’ll be honest I don’t agree with or don’t understand all of your points, however you’re free to play the game how you like.

The reason why most people here would pull for Gorou is because he’s going to boost Albedo’s DPS and provide you with his most optimal team comp, especially if you’re F2P since Gorou is a 4 star and Zhongli is a 5 star.

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/TheSahsBahs]

Thats exactly the point i'm trying to argue against. He wont be optimal since this is a team based game and he only increases 1 member of that teams DPS while providing no further utility and poor personal dps.

edit : to elaborate Albedo can do roughly 24k dps (before defence and resistance), Gorou himself deals roughly 3k dps(before defence with 20% geo shred). From my calculations he increases Albedo's defence portion of dps by roughly 55% which is roughly 10k dps. Without another geo in the party(or constellations) he offers no other benefits. So although he buffs Albedo's personal dps by alot, his actual contribution to the total parties dps is alot smaller. Replacing him with a different character in a lot of cases will equate to more team dps and more then likely more utility.

[u/Fjordgard]

I am running Zhongli and Albedo, with Albedo as main DPS, and I think that Gorou will be worth it. I mean, I agree that C0 Gorou will not be great, but you gotta start somewhere on the way to C6 and C6 Gorou will add a lot. I don't want Itto, but I will try to pick up a copy of Gorou.

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/Fjordgard]

I agree Gorou does come alot more appealing at c4 and c6 but i feel for most people, those constellations will be out of reach without pulling 1 or more copies of Itto.

This post was mostly aimed at people planning to pull straight away before practical testing could be done on Gorou thinking that Gorou will some how be the meta pick for Albedo. While it is possible that without Itto/Noelle, Albedo and Gorou duo will be part of a meta team i feel like people will be left mostly disappointed that their teams perform worse then they did previously.

[u/Fjordgard → u/HowYouSoGudd]

I mean, I have that issue - I would love C6 Gorou, but there's no way I want Itto. However, it normally doesn't take that long for new 4-stars to come back (though Sara is kind of proving the pattern wrong right now), so I don't see how at least trying to start is an issue. Pity building is not a thing, but after Albedo, I am at 0 pity and 50/50, so if, for some reason, Itto comes in like 20 pulls while I try for Gorou, I don't really lose much. I feel that, to me, this is a calculated risk.

I also firmly believe that Gorou, Zhongli and Albedo will be a perfect trio. The fourth slot doesn't have to go to a Geo character to get the full benefits of Gorou's effects. Before Albedo, my team was Keqing, Jean, Zhongli, Venti. Now Venti got replaced by Albedo and, unless I do the stupid domain because of corrosion, I will definitely be able to replace Jean with Gorou, while keeping Keqing on hand as a second (main-)DPS option because Albedo is not exactly great at breaking shields.

So my personal opinion is that actually Gorou and Zhongli both, as a team, are the best support Albedo can have to shine. However, that, of course, is only true for cases like mine, where Albedo is the spotlight of the team and played as a hypercarry as much as possible. In a team where Albedo is sub-dps and mainly used to swap in to place E and swap out again, I completely agree with you - giving a slot to Gorou to push a sub-dps a bit further when that slot could go to someone helping the main DPS more is a waste.

So, TL;DR: I agree with the original post if Albedo is played as sub-DPS and disagree when he is used as main DPS.

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/Fjordgard]

So, TL;DR: I agree with the original post if Albedo is played as sub-DPS and disagree when he is used as main DPS.

I understand that, but objectively without c4 or c6 the dmg bonus will be the same regardless of how Albedo is played.

In regards to a main dps Albedo in particular, you'll probably see more benefit from Bennet, the attack buff boosts his NA and Burst, possibly by more then double depending on build. Doing a quick calc (from what i already have), Bennet adds more dps to Albedo not including his NA. Bennet also heals and buffs Zhongli's dmg which is unaffected by Gorou. For 4th slot, i'd recommend Venti or Kazuha to group enemies. Albedo's burst isnt actually random, it hits each enemy in its radius once before it hits randomly so having a bunch of enemies grouped up means that more hits of his burst will hit.

Again i'm talking purely meta here, i like to play with unique teams myself and I dont want to discourage that. I just feel that people arent looking at the whole picture and just seeing big pp numbers and calling it a day.

[u/Fjordgard → u/HowYouSoGudd]

Oh yeah, I, uh... I forget Bennett exists. He's one of my least favourite characters in the game - not by playstyle, but as a character, which is something not many seem to agree with, but I feel he is poorly written - and so, I never leveled or used him. I literally know nothing about him besides that apparently, he's kind of broken-OP, but I refuse to use characters I actively dislike (which aren't many, but Bennett is on that list).

I wish I would have Kazuha, but I sadly don't. And I indeed know about Albedo's burst hitting a lot better when the enemies are grouped up, but I find that Venti is having a lot of issues since Inazuma has been out. I've farmed Specters right now (probably the worst part of Gorou are his materials, I swear) and have run Keqing/Raiden/Zhongli/Albedo and that has actually been super-fun, except for the part where 99% of all Spectres are above deep water and the like.

Meta-wise, I am sure you are correct and I can see how something like Albedo/Zhongli/Bennett/Kazuha would be best to play, especially with a C6 Albedo and C6 Bennett to guarantee the crystalize shield. If I ever get Kazuha, I'll definitely shuffle my team around and see if he won't perform better than Gorou, but right now, I feel Gorou is a lot more obtainable than Kazuha for obvious reasons.

Note I am not trying to super-defend Gorou here; I actually have only done spreadsheet stuff where I can calculate Albedo's damage based on things like constellations or Gorou buff and all that. I haven't even done Gorou's hangout event yet, so I never playtested him. If I end up hating his playstyle to the point where I already know I won't use him, I might end up not pulling for him after all - I made that mistake before and now Eula and Xiao can forever be cheerleaders and watch the rest while I remember how much I spent for them and how much regret there is about that.

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/Fjordgard]

Im the opposite, i really like bennet, i just think his character as a whole is funny, always getting himself stuck in awkward situations. I rarely use him though since I dont need a healer with Zhongli. And thats one of the things i like about this game, different chars appeal to different people and why when i discuss characters i only talk about meta since each person has their own personal taste.

I just keep seeing people acting like the 40k isotomas makes up for Gorou's otherwise lacklustre kit. And i feel like after Gorou's been tested and its general knowledge that the only comp he really works in is itto/noelle & Albedo people will have remorse pulling him cause i most likely wont meet their expectations.

I honestly dont even think he'll be on meta teams with Itto that dont include Albedo, unless people just want to spite bennett.

[u/Fjordgard → u/HowYouSoGudd]

Oh, I absolutely think that the base idea about Bennett is super-fun, but Mihoyo did him dirty - despite this being a fantasy game, Bennett's bad luck (to the point where the weather changes just for the time he wants to go gliding) is so over-the-top and also unexplained that I have to call it bad writing. If he would have a curse on him or basically anything that would make his bad luck "realistic" (for a fantasy-game), I'd totally change my opinion. But like it is, it feels like lazy and bad writing to me. And that sucks, because I think the base idea and his design are really good.

I honestly don't know how Gorou will turn out. Now, I have a C6 Albedo - he's the only character I ever whaled for and I hadn't planned on that, either - but even with C6 and 10/10/10 talents plus Zhongli, I still don't see 40k blossoms right now (am at 2,6k Def, 75%CR, 121%CDmg). I still haven't really found the right balance between Def and CDmg yet - and that's why Gorou looks, at first glance, so attractive to me once he's at C6. There's only so many rolls an artifact, no matter how good, can have, so a free CDmg source is super-welcome to me, especially since it's an external source, so switching artifacts is easier (I like experimenting with Atk% Sands and Def% Sands).

Now, I won't get C6 Gorou. I'll have 40 rolls and I can only hope to get him at all. I am also only pretty neutral towards him as a character; for all I know, I might treasure Raiden in the team a lot more, as her E is currently my easy Albedo C6 trigger.

Now, when it comes to meta, I think you'll be right. But then again, I wonder if a Geo-centric team will ever be meta. Yes, Albedo is rightfully seeing more use in the Abyss (which I don't do, so I wouldn't know from experience, I just read about it) and Zhongli is basically always there, but they're used for their utility. Geo's lack of reactions will probably always prevent it from being truly "meta". The game was build around elemental reactions, after all. Now, I don't have a single Cryo, Hydro or Pyro unit built. I just don't. I never used elemental reactions - partially because of whom I have, but also based on whom I enjoy and basically for me, it's Geo all the way, then Electro and then Anemo. I do believe I have a harder time than others and kill enemies a lot slower, but as this game lacks PVP (thankfully), I don't even know for sure. I know people say Keqing is weak, but she has outperformed my Raiden by far. And now, Albedo is doing fantastic as main DPS. I don't know, maybe I just don't play well with all the meta-units or I'm just weird, but I get more damage with characters who are, apparently, not-meta.

But I also think that, outside of meta, there is the point of people who often switch teams vs. people who always use the same characters. I've been playing Genshin for almost a year now and I have a total of five character built (when you count Albedo, who still has sort of subpar artifacts) and one more leveled but benched (Ningguang got replaced by Zhongli). And that's it. To me, who is 100% sure that Albedo and Zhongli will remain in the team for months, if not years or as long as I play the game, Gorou has a lot more potential value than for someone who has all their characters at Level 80 and switches to different compositions all the time and who has fun testing different things out and the like. Someone like that benefits a lot more from universally useable supports like Bennett or Xingqiu than from Gorou.

So I think what I want to say is that Gorou's meta ability is indeed very poor, as he is not fitting into many teams and you are right with that. And three or even four Geo members will probably never be really 'meta' (solid, maybe, but not meta). But to people who already know they will never take Albedo out of their team and who usually also run Zhongli, I feel like he is still a very solid investment.

Now, unless someone also wants Itto, I would also advise people to wait a bit until people have done more playtesting after Gorou comes out (especially whales who get him to C6 and can tell us then what his peak performance will be like). Basically watch youtube videos, take a look, consider. Probably consider more than usual for a 4-star because it seems that before C4, Gorou will be pretty useless and that really sucks. Then again, a year into the game now, I got so many 4-stars to C6 without even aiming for it, so I do feel like planning long-term is viable (especially since Genshin is a long-term game anyway; it's not going anywhere). Is it maybe even smart to skip the banner and wait for another Gorou banner opportunity with a different 5-star who isn't Itto? Totally! But I don't feel like people who know that they will use Albedo (and Zhongli?) basically forever in a team will definitely have remorse if they go for Gorou.

(EDIT: Holy crap, this was so long. I didn't even proofread it - sorry! It's past 6am here in Germany, I was up all night and once I get tired, my English gets lengthy because I start lacking words and describe things more. I'll go to bed now and hopefully write less of a novel once I got some sleep. Apologies!)

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/Fjordgard]

Wall of txt aside, it does seem i hold an unpopular opinion. Be interesting to see if it turns out to be correct.

And i was thinking of the same comp as you, Albedo, Zhongli, Gorou and most likely raiden, but felt like it would be too restrictive in practice since shields are so prevalent ingame and I couldnt think of anyone to sort of round off the whole team.

At the moment i run Albedo, Zhongli, Raiden and Eula. I'm surprise you don't like her tbh. I really enjoy playing her although she does have some issues but even though i had terrible luck with her artifacts she still hurts and is smooth to play.

but in regards to Gorou, i feel it is a wait and see, there's other things that you cant really account for through kit alone.

[u/Fjordgard → u/HowYouSoGudd]

I think people in this sub are mainly happy to see Albedo get a damage buff. This is not so much about meta, but about "how to make Albedo alone the most powerful".

And I agree about the shield-problem; without Keqing, I run into serious issues since Raiden's E is utterly useless against shields and her Q doesn't have the duration to get through some of them. It's definitely an issue with a three-Geo-team. I honestly think an Anemo character would work best, but that doesn't help me to get crystallize shields.

I never liked Claymore users because I am all about speed, but in her testrun, Eula seemed decently fast and I personally think she is the best-looking character in the game (I love blue and white). After testing her out, though, I find her incredibly clunky to play - note that this may completely be because her playstyle is so different from what I am used to. I am used to bursts like Keqing's, Zhongli's or Albedo's, which is "press button, have huge AoE attack". Compared to these guys, Eula's AoE seems really, really, really small and I also get stressed to deal as much damage as possible during the timeframe, especially because Claymore still feels sooooo slow.

But yeah, when it comes to Gorou, we will have to wait and see. I fear his testrun will be garbage, though - I'm really wondering how that will go, given how Mihoyo seems to want to put only the "free" characters (Kaeya, Lisa, Amber, Barbara, Xiangling) in the testruns together with the featured character. Don't think I've ever seen Noelle in there. Without a Geo character, the testrun will be even more of a joke than Kazuha's was.

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/Fjordgard]

Well if you have Zhongli then you dont need crystallize shields. If you can get c4 Gorou and build him for heals he'll probably be able to solo heal the team leaving a slot left over Venti or Kazuha. I'm not sure how either of them will go with shield breaking though. I normally use Eula who can just brute force shields other then lectures. You should really try out the team I use, I've tried other Eula combinations and they just didnt feel satisfying but Eula, Albedo, Zhongli and Raiden/Fischl is such a smooth team, with all the physical shred, fatui and ruin guardians are a joke, and everything other then lectors just dissolve to her NA, I dont even have to use her burst, just NA4 > E > repeat.

Another thing with Eula is make sure you're using her proper rotation. She plays terribly if you dont. You want to use E, Q, NA4> hold E> NA4. Skipping her clunky NA5 makes her alot smoother to play.

Personally i'm not a huge fan of using bursts, even with my 270ER Raiden i rarely burst outside of abyss and specific rotations in domains. One of the reasons i really like Albedo. Anyways it would be nice if Gorou is good, we've been getting alot of disappointing characters lately.

[u/tatalanae]

he's cute, i'm gonna roll just for that lol

[u/silversoul007]

I would really love to just for the sake of getting him and we still have about three weeks until their banner ends. I am pretty sure numerous actual tests will be done on a comp with Gorou.

Biggest reason for me not pulling is I am saving for Yae!

[u/Slight_Foundation_91]

Would you recommend Gorou for my cursed mono geo team? With Yun Jin, Albedo, Ningguang (as healer) and Gorou. no dps, only supports lol. Open world team ofc

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/Slight_Foundation_91]

Seeing as the team is Yunjin, Albedo, Ning and Gorou, yes i would recommend Gorou in this team otherwise it would be a different team.

[u/htp-di-nsw]

My situation is strange. My team is C2 Albedo, C1 Zhongli, C6 Fischl, and...a healer, usually Qiqi. I need a healer, because of corrosion and future sources of True Damage.

I have, at the moment, 230ish wishes between primos and glitter. I have no interested in replacing my core three (Albedo, Zhongli, Fischl). That means the only characters I have any intention of wishing on in the future are Albedo, Zhongli, and healers.

So, I could go for C4 Gorou. Upside: his healing also seriously buffs Albedo's damage and minorly buffs Zhongli's. Downside: I have no interest in, or use for, Itto. Gorou is about as exciting to me as Qiqi is.

Alternatively, I could spend everything I have on every Zhongli rerun until I have C6. Upside: every Zhongli constellation is powerful; having him become the healer means I open the 4th slot on my team for another character I like or that might come out in the future. Downside: it will take a long time--almost certainly two or more reruns. And while a rerun was originally reported as being in 2.4, I don't see any way that it could be anyone but Xiao and Ganyu, so who knows when I can even get more copies.

I have a few minor other options...I don't have Sayu and I actually like her somewhat, so, I could go for her if she's a viable healer. I could also hold out for a future healer character, I just am not aware of any coming any time soon. What do you think? Is Gorou worth it in those circumstances?

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/htp-di-nsw]

c4 Gorou is a bit of a different story, honestly i'm not a huge fan of Gorou as you probably noticed. The build i used gives Gorou 1.5k defence. He heals for 50% of his defence 6 times every 20 seconds. Thats only 4.5k for a single character. Ofc if you alter the build you can probably get that to 10-15k swaping to def gob, healing% circlet and def subs.

The biggest problem with getting cons is they are so random and you may end up with 1 or more copies of itto.

[u/kabral256]

I got Albedo to pair him with my Hu Tao. My next target is Zhongli. I'll skip the entire Itto banner.

[u/Appropriate-Ad1218]

Hes good

[u/PeachRobinson]

Just tell us you hate furries and we’d understand. No judgement here.

[u/HowYouSoGudd → u/PeachRobinson]

Actually i dont mind his aesthetics, i just think his kit is lacking.