Nina Forneloza 
Aino, the Genius Inventor of Nod-Krai, is coming to Genshin Impact, and with the right build she can become one of the best free-to-play-friendly hydro support and sub-DPS characters in the game.
For the first time ever, Genshin Impact is adding a Hydro Claymore wielder to the roster and it’s none other than Aino. She is the first four-star character from Nod-Krai, and much like Lauma and Ineffa, she also wields the Moonsign Benediction passive.
As a four-star unit, Aino’s performance might seem to be on the average side, but she’s still a good starting unit for Nod-Krai and Lunar Reaction teams. With that in mind, here’s a full breakdown of her kit along with the best builds and teams to run her in.
How to Use Aino in Genshin Impact?
Aino is a four-star Hydro Claymore unit mainly valued for her Moonsign passive, Hydro application, and buffs.
Much like Xingqiu and Bennett, she’s heavily reliant on her Elemental Burst. Her ultimate summons a ‘Focused Hydronic Cooling Zone’ that applies Hydro and deals damage to nearby enemies, firing Hydro attacks every three seconds. This rate of frie can feel painfully slow. Thankfully, it can be reduced down to a two-second interval by activating Moonsign: Ascendant Gleam, though that does require another Nod-Krai teammate. On top of this, Aino also increases the team’s Moonsign count by one just by being in the party.
When pulling for Aino, it’s best to aim for C1 or even C6 if possible. At C0, the Hydro unit from Nod-Krai feels fairly mediocre, but her constellations change that by granting Elemental Mastery buffs and boosting the damage of the Electro-Charged, Bloom, Lunar-Charged, and Lunar-Bloom reactions.
Best artifacts for Aino
Aino’s best artifacts include Silken Moon’s Serenade, Flower of Paradise Lost, Noblesse Oblige and Deepwood Memories.
When building Aino, players must make sure to get as much Energy Recharge and Elemental Mastery. Energy Recharge for the uptime of the effect of her burst, while the latter for increasing her damage.
4-piece Silken Moon’s Serenade
With Aino in a Nod-Krai team that capitalizes on transformative and lunar reactions, it’s best to use the new artifact Silken Moon’s Serenade. Overall, the team receives 120 Elemental Mastery and a 10% bonus to their Lunar-reaction damage. Aino also receives 20% energy recharge, which makes building her a bit easier.
4-piece Flower of Paradise Lost
Flower of Paradise Lost gives Aino 80 Elemental Mastery upfront, and increases the Bloom, Hyperbloom, and Burgeon reaction damage.
4-piece Deepwood Memories
While the two-piece effect is practically useless to Aino, the four-piece effect will definitely help if the other Dendro unit in the team is holding another artifact set. This set shreds the resistance of the enemies to Dendro, which means an increase in overall damage numbers.
4-piece Noblesse Oblige
Aino functions as a hydro applicator which means she could also work outside bloom, hyperbloom, burgeon and lunar-reaction teams. In this case, players can pick up Noblesse Oblige, which gives additional damage to her burst, and a party-wide Attack buff.
Best Aino weapons in Genshin Impact
Aino has multiple free-to-play weapons she could use, and these include Skyward Pride, Flame-forged Insight, Master Key, Forest Regalia and Makhaira Aquamarine.
Skyward Pride (5-star)
Skyward Pride is the only viable 5-star weapon for Aino, and fortunately players can get this from the standard weapon banner. SP gives Aino a decent amount of Energy Recharge for her burst, and a bit of an increase to her damage.
Flame-forged Insight (4-star)
Flame-forged Insight easily stands out as Aino’s best-in-slot despite being a four-star weapon. In fact, this is better than Skyward Pride. With electro-charged, lunar-charged, and bloom constantly triggering, this weapon feeds her a steady stream of elemental particles while also boosting her Elemental Mastery. This provides consistent uptime for her application and allows her to squeeze out every bit of damage from her reactions.
Master Key (4-star)
The Nod-Krai craftable weapon, Master Key is an ER weapon that gives elemental mastery. Maximize this weapon by having two Nod-Krai members in the party.
Forest Regalia (4-star)
Forest Regalia is another weapon that players could forge. Much like Master Key, this weapon is a good source of energy recharge and elemental mastery.
Best Aino teams
Aino is a four-star unit who fits right into many team Lunar compositions. These are the best teams for her.
Flins Lunar-charged Team – Flins, Aino, Ineffa and Flex
When Flins releases, one of his strongest teams is expected to be a Nod-Krai lineup with Aino, Ineffa, and a flex slot. Flins takes the role of main DPS, capitalizing on Lunar-Charged reactions much like Ineffa.
In this setup, Aino provides Hydro application, while Ineffa works as an off-field Electro sub-DPS to help trigger Electro-Charged and Lunar-Charged reactions. The last slot can go to an Anemo support, extra Hydro applicator, healer, or buffer. Options like Sucrose, Kazuha, Kokomi, or Xilonen can all fit here nicely.
Lauma Lunar-Bloom team – Lauma, Aino, Nilou and Baizhu
Aino fits right into Lauma’s lunar-bloom team. Running double Hydro and double Dendro means the squad can pump out tons of Bloom and Bountiful Cores for some serious damage. Having two Nod-Krai members also unlocks the Moonsign passive, and Baizhu rounds things out with steady Dendro application and much-needed team sustain.
Aino Lunar-charged Team – Aino, Ineffa, Sucrose and Ororon
Players can build an optimal F2P Lunar-charged team with Aino, Ineffa, Sucrose and Ororon. The combination of Ineffa, Aino and Ororon’s skills allows the team to trigger Electro-charged and Lunar-charged simultaneously, provided each unit has decent Energy Recharge.
With Inefffa’s shield, players could also get a bit of sustain. Add Sucrose for crowd control, EM buffs from her passive, and the Viridescent Venerer buff.
