Background
Noelle isn’t a part of the Knight of Favonius, but works as a professional maid for the Knights’ headquarters. As a child, she grew up wanting to join their ranks one day and has worked hard toward that goal since then. Noelle takes her job as a maid very seriously and will take on any task without question. She enjoys helping other people and is polite toward everyone she meets.
Fun Fact: Noelle’s favorite flower is the rose.
Noelle has failed the knight’s selection test many times, but has never given up hope of making it to their ranks. She has continued to train on both knightly combat and conduct to this day and looks up to other knights like Jean and Amber. Although she is polite most of the time, Noelle can be very stubborn.
Noelle is a 4-star Geo character from the region of Mondstadt and wields a claymore. She first appears within a Hangout Event in 1.4.
Fun Fact: Noelle hates her Geo vision because it is the exact opposite of Anemo, the element of freedom.
Noelle Skill Talents
Noelle’s talents offer a mix of defensive and offensive skills that allow her to shield her team while dealing Geo DMG to the enemy. The skills you should max out will depend on your use for her. As a main DPS, it is good to level up Noelle’s burst and normal attack. While as a support, you should mainly level up her elemental skill and normal attack. Noelle’s elemental skill is useful to absorb damage and heal the entire party. Although the shield will work for other characters when she switches out, Noelle’s healing and burst require her to stay on the field and use her normal attack to activate.
Noelle’s normal attack, Favonius Bladework – Maid, can perform up to 4 consecutive strikes on the enemy. This is standard for other 4-star claymore and offers nothing special. Her hits are standard for any claymore user, with her fourth strike hitting the hardest.
Her elemental skill, Breastplate, will deal Geo DMG to surrounding enemies and summon a shield to protect her from damage. This shield will scale off Noelle’s DEF and can be transferred to other characters when she is switched out. In addition, this skill will apply the Geo element to the character and can absorb Geo DMG. When the shield is in effect, Noelle’s normal attack has a 50% chance to heal all characters on and off the field. The amount of HP regained is based on Noelle’s DEF. Without her first constellation level, Noelle’s role as a healer is hindered, lowering her supportive role in a team. The shield is nice to reduce the damage taken, but falls short in the late game when enemies will deal a lot more damage. This skill also has a long cooldown of 24 seconds, but will only last for 12 seconds. The long cooldown is minimized with her ascension 4 talent.
In the 1.3 update, Noelle’s shield gets a buff. She will absorb 150% Physical and Elemental DMG, instead of 250% Geo DMG.
Noelle’s elemental burst, Sweeping Time, strikes the enemies in a large AoE to deal Geo DMG. Noelle will also gain the following effects for 15 seconds:
- Larger attack AoE.
- Converts attack DMG to Geo DMG.
- Increased ATK that scales based on her DEF.
Noelle’s burst is more fitted for a DPS build and has the potential to deal massive Geo DMG to the enemy. It can convert a portion of her DEF into ATK and turn all of her normal attacks into Geo DMG. This skill does require Noelle to stay on the field and doesn’t benefit her as a support unit. The cooldown of her burst is 15 seconds with an energy requirement of 60. Her burst will get an extra boost with her C6 effect, which will further increase the DEF converted into ATK.
Noelle should be C1 before you use her in co-op play as a support character. At C0, her healing doesn’t always occur, which can lead to the downfall of your team. Her shield will also only activate for 1 player, but her healing can work on all characters, even if they are not on the field. At C6, she can be a powerful DPS if you can maintain her burst effect throughout the battle.
Noelle Passive Talents
Noelle’s passive talents give her a supportive edge with shield generation for the party and the ability to decrease the long cooldown of her elemental skill.
Her first talent, Maid’s Knighthood, allows Noelle to obtain double the dish when she is used to cook a DEF-boosting dish. This skill only has 12% to activate, but can save you resources when it does trigger. She shares this talent with Xinyan, which undermines its uniqueness because you can only use one character to cook within the game.
Noelle’s ascension 1 talent, Devotion, will trigger a shield for the active character in your party when she is not on the field. This skill will activate when the character’s HP falls below 30% and can only occur every 60 seconds. The shield will last for 20 seconds if not destroyed beforehand and will absorb DMG equal to 400% of Noelle DEF stat. For example, it will absorb 8000 damage if her DEF is 2000. While the shield is nice to absorb damage, its requirement to activate limits its effectiveness. A character won’t usually go below 30% health if your healer is doing their job correctly. Even if your character’s health is low, players can switch to another character or back to Noelle to heal back the damage. This shield can save you from dying in a pitch, but shouldn’t be heavily relied on.
Her ascension 4 talent, Nice and Clean, reduces the cooldown of her elemental skill by 1 second every fourth hit on the enemy from Noelle’s normal attack or charged attack. This skill helps reduce the long cooldown of her elemental skill, but does require Noelle to stay on the field to activate. It is important to note that hitting multiple enemies will only be counted as 1 hit.
| Maid’s Knighthood Unlocked Automatically When a Perfect Cooking is achieved on a DEF-boosting dish, Noelle has a 12% chance to obtain double the product. |
| Devotion Unlocked at Ascension 1 When Noelle is in the party but not on the field, this ability triggers automatically when the active character’s HP falls below 30%: Creates a shield that lasts for 20s and absorbs DMG equal to 400% of Noelle’s DEF. This effect can only occur once every 60s. |
| Nice and Clean Unlocked at Ascension 4 Noelle will decrease the CD of Breastplate by 1s for every 4 Normal or Charged Attack hits she scores on opponents.\nOne hit may be counted every 0.1s. |
Noelle Constellations
Noelle’s usability will depend heavily on her constellation level. She is more suited to be a tank and healer at lower constellation levels, but can effectively be used as a powerful DPS at C6.
C1: I Got Your Back allows the healing effect of her elemental skill to trigger 100% of the time instead of 50% while both her elemental skill and burst are in effect. This constellation is required to boost the effectiveness of Noelle as a healer. Without this constellation, Noelle’s healing won’t be as effective as other characters like Barbara or Qiqi.
C2: Combat Maid decrease the stamina consumed by her charged attack and increases the damage dealt by it. Charged attacks aren’t viable right now in the game, and often won’t be used by most players. However, if charged attacks are your forte, then this skill will amplify your spinning power!
C4: To Be Cleaned will deal 400% of Noelle’s ATK as Geo DMG to surrounding enemies when the shield from her elemental skill expires or is destroyed. This constellation level doesn’t scale with her DEF like most of her skills and requires her C6 effect to maximize the damage dealt.
C6: Must Be Spotless converts an additional 50% of Noelle’s DEF into ATK along with the DEF already gained when her burst is in effect. In addition, every enemy defeated during the duration of her elemental burst will increase its duration by 1 second, for up to 10 seconds. This constellation level will allow Noelle to perform as a DPS character with the additional attack added to her stats. C6 is the recommended level to have Noelle if you plan to use her as a main DPS.
| Constellation Levels | Effects |
|---|---|
| C1: I Got Your Back | While Sweeping Time and Breastplate are both in effect, the chance of Breastplate’s healing effects activating is increased to 100%. |
| C2: Combat Maid | Decreases the Stamina Consumption of Noelle’s Charged Attacks by 20% and increases her Charged Attack DMG by 15%. |
| C3: Invulnerable Maid | Increases the Level of Breastplate by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C4: To Be Cleaned | When Breastplate’s duration expires or it is destroyed by DMG, it will deal 400% ATK of Geo DMG to surrounding enemies. |
| C5: Favonius Sweeper Master | Increase the Level of Sweeping Time by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C6: Must Be Spotless | Sweeping Time increases Noelle’s ATK by an additional 50% of her DEF. Additionally, every enemy defeated during the skill’s duration adds 1s to the duration, up to 10s. |
Recommended Builds
Healer Build
This build centers around Noelle’s elemental skill and builds up her DEF and Healing Bonus. Noelle should be at C1 before you delegate her as the sole healer of your team. It is doable at C0, but her healing won’t always activate. Both her shield strength and healing will depend on her DEF, so you will want to build that stat as high as possible. As a healer, she won’t need any other stats besides DEF and Healing Bonus. Noelle’s healing only occurs when she attacks the enemy, but works on all characters on and off the field. However, this will lower the field time of your DPS unit to deal damage. Your team should consist of characters that can deal passive damage like Fischl’s Oz or Albedo’s elemental skill. Having two Geo characters will also increase the damage dealt to enemies when protected by a shield. Xingqiu is another great support unit that can provide extra HP regeneration. His burst can also work with Noelle or your main DPS unit to deal extra Hydro DMG to the enemies. Razor will be the main DPS for this build, but can be replaced with a unit of your choice. You will want to build up Noelle’s elemental skill to fully utilize this build. Her normal attack should also be maxed as Noelle will need to hit opponents to heal the team. Noelle’s burst is optional as she won’t be the main damage output for this build.
For her recommended weapon, the best weapon to give her is the Whiteblind as it will boost her DEF. Its secondary effect will also boost Noelle’s DEF and ATK on every hit, up to 4 times. The boost to her DEF will help Noelle gain more shield strength and healing from her skill, making this the perfect weapon to use for a healer build. I wouldn’t recommend any 5-star weapon for Noelle as she won’t be your main damage dealer if she is only focused on healing your team.
Noelle can also use the Sacrificial Greatsword since it has the chance to end the cooldown of her elemental skill, allowing Noelle to bypass her long cooldown and use her skill more often. It also has energy recharge as its sub-stat, allowing her to charge up her burst faster. The Favonius Greatsword will also work to generate more energy for the entire party when Noelle lands a critical hit.
For the early game, go for the White Iron Greatsword as it will boost Noelle’s DEF and restore her HP when she defeats an opponent. You can also use the Debate Club as it will be easier to deal damage with Noelle in the early game.
For Noelle’s artifact build, the Maiden Beloved will increase her healing effectiveness and the overall health regeneration of the entire party when she uses her skill or burst. The main use of this artifact is to maximize the healing from her elemental skill. A 2-piece Maiden Beloved and Retracing Bolide can also work to improve her healing effectiveness and shield strength.
In the early game, you can go for a 4-piece Defender’s Will. This set will increase Noelle’s base DEF and increase the Elemental RES for each element present in your party. This will allow Noelle to tank hits better and heal back the health lost.
The main stats you will want to focus on are DEF% on the Sands and the Goblet. For the Circlet, you can go for a DEF% or Healing Bonus main stats. For the sub-stats, look for HP and Energy Recharge. Elemental Mastery will also be nice to improve her shield strength when the crystalize reaction offers. This build’s success doesn’t heavily depend on the sub-stats, as you will only need to focus mainly on DEF for this build.
DEF DPS Build
This build is structured around a C6 Noelle that can convert an additional 50% of her DEF into ATK. At C6, Noelle can manage the uptime of her burst more efficiently, adding 1 second to its duration for every enemy defeated. This build is based on building up her DEF and offers both offensive and defensive capabilities with the use of Noelle’s burst. With a defensive build, Noelle’s shield strength and healing will also be increased, allowing her to heal herself and her teammates with more health regeneration. You can also go for a full ATK build to get more raw damage, but it will sacrifice her shield strength and healing. Her teams should be capable of dealing passive damage or buffing Noelle. Fischl’s Oz can reliably deal Electro DMG and will still be active even if she switches out. Bennett’s burst is helpful to buff Noelle’s attack and provide healing. Having another Geo character, like Ningguang, is helpful to provide extra energy regeneration for Noelle’s burst. She is also helpful to boost Noelle’s Geo DMG when she passes through Ningguang’s Jade Screen. For this build, max out her burst and normal attack first since that will be your main damage dealer. Noelle’s elemental skill will also be nice to level up to increase her shield strength and healing. Her shield strength is especially important because of the conditions of her recommended artifact set.
Note: Go for an ATK build if you want to main Noelle, but don’t have her at C6 yet to maximize the damage she can deal out. Even at C6, a build focusing on ATK over DEF will net you more damage as a DPS unit.
For Noelle’s recommended weapon, the 5-star Skyward Pride will increase her energy recharge and power-up all of Noelle’s damage. This weapon allows Noelle to use her burst faster and can also create a vacuum blade to deal additional Physical DMG. The 5-star Wolf’s Gravestone can also work and will increase Noelle’s overall ATK. This weapon will provide Noelle with more raw attack power overall, but lacks the coverage the Skyward Pride provides with energy recharge and an increase to all damage dealt by her. Both weapons are great for a DPS claymore user, but the Skyward Pride is better suited for Noelle’s skill set. The 5-star The Unforged is also a great option to boost Noelle’s shield strength and increases her ATK when she lands a hit on enemies. It also pairs nicely with the 4-piece Retracing Bolide artifact bonus. The newest 5-star claymore Redhorn Stonethresher is another great fit for a DPS Noelle with a passive stat in Crit DMG. Its skill boosts Noelle’s DEF and increases the power of her normal/charged attack based on a portion of her DEF stat.
The Whiteblind is another viable option for this build. This weapon is a craftable 4-star weapon that will increase Noelle’s DEF. On every hit, Noelle’s normal or charged attack will increase her Base ATK and DEF. This can be stacked up to 4 times and starts at an increase of 6% at Refinement level 1. The boost will only occur every 0.5 seconds and will last 12 seconds. If timed correctly, Noelle can have a 48% increase in her attack and defense! This weapon is perfect for Noelle because it scales with her skills. The Prototype Archaic (previously known as the Prototype Aminus) will also work if you already used all your prototypes on it. The Prototype Archaic will increase the user’s attack and can deal additional damage to the enemy. This weapon is the generally preferred weapon for any DPS claymore users.
If you have access to the battle pass, the Serpent Spine is another top tier weapon for this build. It is a 4-star weapon that will increase Noelle’s Crit Rate. Its passive ability will allow her to deal more damage every 4 seconds she is on the field. However, it will also increase the damage she receives in return. This effect can stack up to 5 times and will still be active even if Noelle leaves the field. For raw power, this weapon is perfect for Noelle, as her shield can protect her from damage, while she dishes out hits. The Crit Chance is also nice so you can focus more on Crit DMG on your artifacts. You will have to be careful about taking damage as the weapon’s effects will wear off if your character takes damage. You should also be careful of burning grass as it will cancel out the Serpent Spine‘s ability as well.
The Favonius Greatsword is another decent option for this build. This weapon has an energy recharge sub-stat and can generate energy particles for the entire team when Noelle lands a critical hit. The Sacrificial Greatsword can also work to recharge her burst faster and has a chance to end the cooldown of her elemental skill when she damages an enemy with it.
For the early game, go for the Debate Club or the White Iron Greatsword. The Debate Club will increase Noelle’s ATK and her normal attacks can deal additional ATK DMG on the enemy after using her elemental skill. The White Iron Greatsword will increase her DEF and heal Noelle when she defeats an enemy.
For her recommended artifact set, the 4-piece Retracing Bolide is the best option if you can keep her shield up from the crystalize effect or from Noelle’s elemental skill. This artifact will increase Noelle’s shield strength and boost her normal attack by 40% if she is protected by a shield. If you dislike the conditions of this artifact set, the 4-piece Gladiator’s Finale will grant Noelle an additional 18% to her ATK and increase her Normal DMG by 35%. It is less than the 4-piece effect of the Retracing Bolide, but it doesn’t have any requirements to activate.
For the early game, the 2-piece Defender’s Will and Brave Heart will increase Noelle’s DEF by 30% and ATK by 18%. A 4-piece Martial Artist can also work to increase the power of her normal attack. The 4-piece bonus will also give an additional boost to her normal attack when she uses her elemental skill.
The artifacts you should go with are: Crit Rate/Crit DMG Circlet, Geo DMG Bonus Goblet, and DEF% Sands. You can also go for a DEF% Goblet to convert more of Noelle’s DEF into ATK with her burst. It is important to note that going Full DEF, is not viable for a DPS unit as it will hinder their performance. A Geo DMG Bonus Goblet will be a nice damage multiplier when she uses her burst, but requires her burst to be active to be effective. The sub-stats you should look for are; Crit DMG, Crit Rate, DEF, ATK%, and Energy Recharge.
Another option you have is to build up Noelle’s ATK, with a Crit Rate/Crit DMG Circlet, Geo DMG Bonus Goblet, and ATK% Sands. This build will sacrifice her shield strength and healing, but will give you more raw damage. This stats distribution will treat her DEF conversion as an added bonus, instead of maxing it out. The sub-stats you should look for are, Crit DMG, Crit Rate, ATK%, and Energy Recharge. DEF will also be helpful, but you should prioritize more on CRIT DMG and ATK.
Recommended Party Members
Razor is a powerful physical DPS unit that can make use of Noelle’s shield and healing. He can be replaced with another DPS unit like Diluc or Keqing.
Albedo’s elemental skill has a long duration and can deal passive Geo DMG every 2 seconds. This will boost Noelle’s weak damage output. Having two Geo characters will also refill their bursts faster.
Ningguang’s Jade Screen can boost Noelle’s Geo DMG. Having two geo characters will also increase the damage dealt when characters are protected by a shield and charge their bursts faster.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Elemental skill can heal and shield against damage | Needs to be C1 to be an effective healer |
| High DEF stat | Long cooldown of elemental skill |
| Easy to obtain in the Beginning Wish Banner | Needs high constellations to boost overall DPS |
Recommended Domains: Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern – Childe Boss Fight – Peak of Vindagnyr – Stormterror – Wolf of the North Challenge
Conclusion
Noelle is a guaranteed character if you decide to wish on the Beginning Wish Banner. She has natural high defenses and can provide your team with a shield and hp regeneration with her elemental skill. However, she has many flaws that require her constellation levels to fix. She needs to be C1 to an effective healer and should be at least C6 to start being considered as a viable DPS unit. Without her constellation level, she falls short of many other characters as both a healer and DPS unit.
What do you think of Noelle? Is there anything I missed? Let us know in the comments below! You can also reach out through our Twitter or my Discord handle Seyfrid#2589.
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*Images of gameplay owned by miHoYo
The Informal Gamer 