Gorou

Gorou

★★★★
Geo
Bow
Off-Field
Support
Builds Update5.5
Teams Update5.5
Gorou is a Support character that can give increasing buffs to your party members from his Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst based on the number of Geo characters in your team (capped at 3). Casting his Elemental Skill sets up a banner which gives flat DEF (1 Geo), Interruption Resistance (2 Geo) and Geo DMG% Bonus (3 Geo) for your active character standing inside the banner radius. Casting his Elemental Burst creates a field following the active character which deals periodic damage and offers the same bonuses given by the Skill, destroying any placed banners in the process, it also pulls in nearby Elemental Shards created by Crystallize reactions. Due to his kit focusing on buffing DEF and Geo DMG, he's a specialised support geared towards Geo DPS that scales with DEF, such as Noelle or Itto. He can see niche use at [C6] with other Geo characters as well.

Best Artifacts

(2) Energy Recharge +20%
(4) Using an Elemental Burst regenerates 2 Energy for all party members (excluding the wearer) every 2s for 6s. This effect cannot stack.
Casting Elemental Burst regenerates a total of 6 Energy for each of your party member. This set reduces your Energy Requirements by a bit for all of your party members, which can be quite beneficial. Do note that this is a 4 star set so you're potentially missing out on 5 star stat scaling, which is a 34% difference in mainstat value and 25% difference in individual substat value.
(2) Elemental Burst DMG +20%
(4) Using an Elemental Burst increases all party members' ATK by 20% for 12s. This effect cannot stack.
The effectiveness of this set increases if you've already met the ER requirement for Gorou. At that point, you'd no longer need to run the recommended ER% sets, which means you can opt for this instead.
(2) Energy Recharge +20%
(4) Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus DMG can be obtained in this way.
(2) Energy Recharge +20%
(4) Gaining Elemental Particles or Orbs gives 3 Energy to all party members who have a bow or a catalyst equipped. Can only occur once every 3s.
(2) Energy Recharge +20%
(4) Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus DMG can be obtained in this way.
(2) Energy Recharge +20%
(4) Using an Elemental Burst regenerates 2 Energy for all party members (excluding the wearer) every 2s for 6s. This effect cannot stack.

Best Stats

Sands
Energy Recharge
Goblet
Geo DMG Bonus / DEF%
Circlet
CRIT Rate / DEF% / Healing Bonus
Substats
Energy Recharge / DEF% / CRIT Rate
DEF% mainstats and substats (and potentially a Healing Bonus mainstat on Circlet) can be considered at [C4] due to being able to heal the active character based on his DEF during burst. This is useful if you plan to use him as a solo healer. Crit Rate circlet and substats can be considered when Gorou is using Favonius Warbow to trigger the passive comfortably. ER% substats can usually be more important than getting the right mainstat, as Gorou's damage contribution to a team is negligible, while being able to get Energy for his Burst is a lot more important.

Best Weapons

Base ATK454
Energy Recharge+61.3%
SourceWish
Windfall
CRIT hits have a 60~100% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12~6s.
Base ATK565
Energy Recharge+30.6%
SourceWish
Composed
After dealing damage to an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 40~80% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30~16s.
Base ATK608
Energy Recharge+55.1%
SourceEvent Wish
The Parting Refrain
A part of the "Millennial Movement" that wanders amidst the winds. Increases Elemental Mastery by 60~120. When the Elemental Skills or Elemental Bursts of the character wielding this weapon hit opponents, that character gains a Sigil of Remembrance. This effect can be triggered once every 0.2s and can be triggered even if said character is not on the field. When you possess 4 Sigils of Remembrance, all of them will be consumed and all nearby party members will obtain the "Millennial Movement: Farewell Song" effect for 12s. "Millennial Movement: Farewell Song" increases Elemental Mastery by 100~200 and increases ATK by 20~40%. Once this effect is triggered, you will not gain Sigils of Remembrance for 20s. Of the many effects of the "Millennial Movement," buffs of the same type will not stack.
Elegy offers a helpful ER substat alongside an EM and ATK% buff for your teammates. While not directly useful in teams centered around Noelle or Itto, this could possibly be a good choice for future Geo DPS characters, or in a team which utilizes Geo Resonance.