The best Mualani build in Genshin Impact can help you turn this surfing Natlander into a pure powerhouse of shark bites and chilled, but incredibly damaging, attacks. As the first Natlan five-star character we’re getting, she’s going to have to do well to stand out against the powerhouses of Fontaine, but she just might manage it. 

Mualani is at her best when riding on her Sharky Surfboard and moving through enemies before biting them for big damage. She’s not about hitting often, she’s about hitting hard. If that sounds like fun to you, then let’s get stuck into the Mualani build guide. 

The best Mualani build

Mualani’s main playstyle is based around using her elemental skill to hop on her shark-like surfboard, and then her normal attacks to bite her opponents and deal hydro damage to them. She’s not an especially fast character when it comes to the speed of her attacks, which means she can be very strong when utilising the Vape reaction. 

You can also boost her damage by hitting enemies while on her surfboard, which you need to do three times to max the boost. Her elemental burst is an AoE attack that deals a big chunk of damage in a single hit, but her skill is where most of her power comes from. 

• Weapon: Surf’s Up or Sacrificial Jade

Mualani is going to want to use her signature five-star weapon, which is Surf’s Up. Surf’s Up gives her some extra crit damage, boosts her HP, and also grants an increase to normal attack damage after using her elemental skill. These are, unsurprisingly, all good things for Mualani, as the weapon is literally made for her. 

In terms of four-star options, your best bet is the Sacrificial Jade. This is a battle pass weapon that boosts crit rate, which can allow you to go over 100% crit rate—more on that below, but it mostly gives a boost to both HP and elemental mastery when off-field for more than five seconds, and lasts for ten seconds. 

• Artifacts: Obsidian Codex (four-pieces equipped)

Mualani is a Natlan character, and at least the first three of them are all about the Nightsoul mechanic, which means you’ll want the Obsidian Codex artifact set for her. That’s because this grants a damage boost when in the Nightsoul’s Blessing state, and also grants a huge crit rate boost of 40% when consuming one point of Nightsoul. 

As Mualani is a damage-dealing HP-scaler, you’re going to want a lot of HP on her and as much crit rate and crit damage as you can get. However, it’s worth noting that not only does Mualani get bonus crit rate as she levels up, but this artifact set also grants her crit rate, which means you’re highly likely to only want crit damage stats on her artifacts. Here's what I recommend for her artifact primary stats:

Mualani abilities and constellations

Now then, let’s look at Mualani’s abilities and constellations in detail, with thanks to Honey Impact for the information. 

Mualani ascension materials

If you want to get Mualani to her max level, then you’re going to need a lot of materials. What materials? Well, here you go: 

• Varunada Lazurite (one Sliver, six Gemstones, nine Fragments, nine Chunks)
• 18 Sentry’s Wooden Whistle
• 30 Warrior’s Metal Whistle
• 36 Saurian-Crowned Warrior’s Golden Whistle
• 46 Mark of the Binding Blessing
• 168 Sprayfeather Gill
• 420,000 Mora

You can get Varunada Lazurite pieces by beating up any hydro boss, with some good options being the Hydro Hypostasis, Hydro Tulpa, and Oceanid. For the Whistles, you need to make sure to take out a new enemy called Sauroform Tribal Warriors in Natlan. For Mark of the Binding Blessing, you’ll need to tackle the new Goldflame Qucusaur Tyrant boss. Lastly, the Sprayfeather Gill items can be found in the world in Toyac Springs and near the People of the Springs.