Genshin Impact's Ayaka is a five-star cryo sword wielder, heralded as one of the best DPS characters in the game. In this Ayaka build, we explain how to make the most of this graceful girl's power, including her best team comps, weapons, artifacts, and more.
If you're wondering how Ayaka sizes up against other character in the game, check out our Genshin Impact tier list - then be sure to snap up some of these Genshin Impact codes and take part in all the current Genshin Impact events so you can start saving for the next Genshin Impact banner.
Here's everything in our best Genshin Impact Ayaka build:
What's the best Genshin Impact Ayaka build?
Ayaka is powerful a five-star cryo sword-wielder. Here's a brief overview of our best Genshin Impact Ayaka build:
| Rarity | Five-star |
| Element | Cryo |
| Weapon type | Sword |
| Best weapon | Mistsplitter Reforged |
| Weapon substitutes |
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| Best artifact set | Blizzard Strayer |
| Artifact substitutes | Gladiator's Finale |
| Main stats |
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| Sub stats |
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Ayaka's offers valuable, on-demand cryo application through both her alternate sprint and cryo infusion, which also allow her to fill downside between rotations. She also has solid free-to-play weapon options, and some solid options for vertical investment into both her and her team.
On the other hand, her ultimate can be tricky to hit in certain situations, which can result in some serious personal damage loss. She also requires pretty strict team comps, artifact sets, and energy management that can make her a little tricky to build. On top of that, her alternate sprint and charged attack can feel a little clunky, and make her less enjoyable for certain players.
How to use Ayaka
Ayaka is best used as a main DPS either on a freeze or mono-cryo team. She has a relatively simple playstyle that's quite easy to learn and execute, and can perform well in pretty much any situation where her cryo application is valued.
The most important part of mastering Ayaka relies on learning how to line up her elemental burst properly, as it's her main damage dealer. For the optimal outcome, you also need to grips with how to manage energy across your entire team so that you can get Ayaka's burst up as quickly as possible, while still allowing her allies enough energy to buff her and set up elemental reactions beforehand.
The only real difficulty with Ayaka's kit is her elemental burst - it's the source of most of her damage, but it can be easy to miss if you're careless, especially if you're facing fast enemies that move around a lot. Therefore, you need to ensure that you activate any buffs before you use her burst, then position yourself to make sure that her it can hit as many enemies as possible. If you struggle with this, pairing her up with an anemo character that has grouping capabilities like Sucrose, Venti, or Kazuha is super handy.
Ayaka imbues her sword with cryo when she sprints. When she emerges from her alternate sprint, she also deals cryo damage in a small AoE. Therefore, you should try to sprint in between normal attacks to get the maximum amount of cryo application.
Thanks to Ayaka's alternate sprint and front-loaded kit, she's pretty flexible in terms of rotations. Her front-loaded damage also makes her a great option in quickswap teams, as you can whip her out and nuke the enemies with a massive, icy blast, then switch to someone else to make the most of the tasty elemental reactions she sets up.
What are the best weapons for Ayaka?
The best weapon for Ayaka is her signature sword, Mistsplitter Reforged. It's perfectly tailored to her kit and she can make full use of its passive. Azurelight is also a brilliant five-star alternate if you can meet the requirements to keep its passive active, and Absolution is a very strong stat stick that offers high base attack and crit damage.
Ayaka's best free-to-play weapon is now the four-star craftable Finale of the Deep, however, you must have a healer on the team to clear the Bond of Life that its passive applies to you. Alternatively, the old faithful Anemoma Kageuchi is a reliable option due to its energy restoration, but its low base attack makes it fall behind Finale of the Deep in most situations.
Here are the best Genshin Impact Ayaka weapons:
| Mistsplitter Reforged | Base stat: crit damage Skill: the wielder gains a 12% elemental damage bonus for all elements and received the might of the Mistsplitter's Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, Mistsplitter's Emblem provides a 8/16/28% elemental damage bonus for the wielder's elemental type. The character obtains one stack of Mistplitter's Emblem under the following conditions:
|
Limted banner |
| Azurelight | Base stat: crit rate Skill: within 12 seconds after using an elemental skill, increases attack by 24%. During this time, when the equipping character has 0 energy, attack increases by a further 24% and crit damage increases by 40% |
Limited banner |
| Absolution | Base stat: crit damage Skill: increases crit damage by 20%. Increasing the value of a bond of life increases the equipping character's damage by 16% for six seconds. Max three stacks |
Limited banner |
| Finale of the Deep | Base stat: attack Skill: when using an elemental skill, the wielder's attack increases by 12% for 15 seconds, and they gain a Bond of Life worth 25% of their max HP. This effect can trigger once every ten seconds. When you clear the Bond of Life, the wiedler gains up to 150 attack based on 2.4% of the total amount of the Life Bond cleared, lasting for 15 seconds |
Forge via blacksmith |
| Amenoma Kageuchi | Base stat: attack Skill: after the wielder uses an elemental skill, they gain one Succession Seed. This effect can trigger once every five seconds, and each seed lasts for 30 seconds. Up to three Succession Seeds may exist simultaneously. After the wielder uses their elemental burst, they consume all Succession Seeds. Then, after two seconds, the wielder regenerates six energy for each seed they consumed |
Forge via blacksmith |
What are the best artifacts for Ayaka?
Blizzard Strayer is Ayaka's best artifact set. It increases not only her cryo damage, but her crit rate when attacking frozen or cryo-affected characters, essentially boosting and complimenting the cryo resonance bonus.
Alternatively, you can mix two pieces of Blizzard Strayer with two pieces of an attack set, like Gladiator's Finale or Noblesse Oblige. This combination boosts her overall attack by about 20%. However, it's pretty tough to find pieces with sub-stats that outdo the benefit of a full set of Blizzard Strayer, whereas you find that additional 20% attack through sub-stats pretty easily, so Blizzard Strayer is still the better option in most situations.
Alternatively, if you're pairing Ayaka with Furina and a healer, Marechaussee Hunter pulls into the lead, as she can fully stack the four-piece effect before her elemental burst in order to harness an impressive 36% crit rate and 15% normal and charged attack buff.
Here are the best Genshin Impact Ayaka artifacts:
| Blizzard Strayer | Two equipped: +15% cryo damage bonus Four equipped: increases the equipping character's crit rate by 20% when they attack an enemy affected by cryo. Their crit rate increases by an additional 20% if the enemy is frozen |
Obtain from Peak of Vindagnyr domain, Dragonspine |
| Gladiator's Finale | Two equipped: increases attack by 18% | Obtain from artifact strongboxes, world rewards, etc. |
| Marechaussee Hunter | Two equipped: increases normal and charged attack damage by 15% Four equipped: when current HP increases or decreases, crit rate increases by 12% for five seconds (max three stacks) |
Obtain from Denouement of Sin in Fontaine's Belleau Region |
Artifact stat recommendations
If you're looking for a truly accurate portrayal of what stats and sub-stats you should focus on, you should use the Genshin Optimizer tool. However, as a general rule, here are our recommendations.
Main stats
- Sands: attack%
- Goblet: cryo damage
- Circlet: crit damage or attack%
Sub-stats
- Energy recharge (aim for roughly 140% for team flexibility, 110% if you're using Anemona Kaguechi)
- Crit damage
- Attack%
- Crit rate
What are the best Ayaka team comps?
Ayaka's quick, fluid playstyle and high cryo application means that she can be a massive damage dealer in a wide variety of team comps. However, she excels best in freeze teams, where her talents can truly shine.
Here are some examples of strong Genshin Impact Ayaka team comps:
 Ayaka |
 Escoffier |
 Furina |
 Shenhe |
| Ayaka |
Escoffier |
Furina |
 Rosaria |
| Ayaka |
Escoffier |
Furina |
 Mona |
| Ayaka |
Escoffier |
Furina |
 Yelan |
| Ayaka |
Shenhe |
 Kazuha |
 Kokomi |
| Ayaka |
Shenhe |
Kazuha |
Mona |
| Ayaka |
Shenhe |
Furina |
 Xilonen |
| Ayaka |
Escoffier |
Furina |
 Skirk |
| Ayaka |
 Lynette |
Furina |
 Charlotte |
| Ayaka |
Shenhe |
Escoffier |
 Ganyu |
What are Genshin Impact Ayaka's skills?
Here are all of Ayaka's active and passive skills. Keep in mind that you can level them up by using the talent materials listed further down this guide.
Here are Ayaka's active skills:
| Normal attack | Kamisato Art: Kabuki Normal: perform up to five strikes Charged: consume stamina to unleash a stream of sword ki Plunge: plunge from mid-air to strike the ground, dealing AoE damage on impact |
| Elemental skill | Kamisato Art: Hyouka Ayaka summons blooming ice, then launches nearby enemies and deals AoE cryo damage |
| Alternate sprint | Kamisato Art: Senho Ayaka hides within a stream of sleet that moves as she does. In this form, Ayaka moves at high speed on water. When she reappears, she deals cryo damage in a small AoE, and her normal attack damage temporarily converts to cryo damage |
| Elemental burst | Kamisato Art: Soumetsu Ayaka gathers frost with her fan and sword to create a snowstorm that advances forward and deals cryo damage over time to all enemies in its path. When it stops moving, the snowstorm bursts, dealing AoE cryo damage |
Here are Ayaka's passive skills:
| A1 | Fruits of Shinsa Ayaka has a 10% chance to receive double the product when crafting weapon ascension materials |
| A4 | Kanten Senmyou Blessing The cryo application at the end of Kamisato Art: Senho restores ten stamina and gives Ayaka an 18% cryo damage bonus for ten seconds |
| Utility | Amatsumi Kunitsumi Sanctification After Ayaka uses Kamisato Art: Hyouka, her normal and charged attacks deal 30% more damage for six seconds |
What are Ayaka's constellations?
Constellations are special buffs and passive abilities that enhance a character's kit. If you pull more than one copy of Ayaka on a banner, you can unlock one of her constellations.
Here are all of Ayaka's constellations.
| C1 | Snowswept Sakura When Ayaka's normal or charged attacks deal cryo damage, there's a 50% chance of decreasing the cooldown of Kamisato Art: Hyouka by 0.3 seconds. This can only occur once every 0.1 seconds |
| C2 | Blizzard Blade Seki no To Casting Kamisato Art: Soumetsu unleashes two smaller snowstorms, each dealing 20% of the original storm's damage |
| C3 | Frostbloom Kamifubuki Increases the level of Kamisato Art: Soumetsu by three |
| C4 | Ebb and Flow Opponents damaged by Kamisato Art: Soumetsu's, snowstorm will have their defence decreased by 30% for six seconds |
| C5 | Blossom Cloud Irutsuki Increases the level of Kamisato Art: Hyouka by three |
| C6 | Dance of Suigetsu Ayaka gains Usurahi Butou every ten seconds, this increases her charged attack damage by 298%. The buff is cleared 0.5 seconds after the charged attack hits=, after which the timer will reset |
What are Ayaka's ascension materials?
In order to get Ayaka all the way up to level 90, you need to gather certain materials to ascend her at specific points.
Here are all of Genshin Impact Ayaka's ascension materials.
| 20➔40 |
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| 40➔50 |
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| 50➔60 |
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| 60➔70 |
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| 70➔80 |
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| 80➔90 |
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Here's where to get each of Ayaka's ascension materials:
- Shivada jade - drops for normal and weekly bosses
- Sukura blooms - gather by using an electro character to hit the clouds of pink petals around Inazuma
- Old / kageuchi / famed handguards - drops from nobushi and kairagi enemies around Inazuma
- Perpetual heart - drops from the Perpetual Mechanical Array normal boss in Inazuma
What are Ayaka's talent materials?
As with any other character, you can level Genshin Ayaka's normal attack, elemental skill, and elemental burst up to level ten.
Here are all of the materials you need to upgrade one of Ayaka's talents to level ten.
| 1➔2 |
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| 2➔3 |
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| 3➔4 |
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| 4➔5 |
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| 5➔6 |
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| 6➔7 |
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| 7➔8 |
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| 8➔9 |
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| 9➔10 |
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Here's where to get each of Ayaka's talent materials:
- Elegance talent books - rewards from the Violet Court domain on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays
- Old / kageuchi / famed handguards - drops from nobushi and kairagi enemies around Inazuma
- Bloodjade branch - drops from the Azhdaha weekly boss challenge in the Beneath the Dragon-Queller trounce domain, located in Nantianmen, Minlin, Liyue
Talent priorities
When leveling up Ayaka's talents, we recommend prioritizing the following:
- Elemental burst > normal attack > elemental skill
Who is Genshin Impact's Ayaka?
Kamisato Ayaka is the dignified and elegant daughter of the Yashiro Commission's Kamisato Clan, and is in charge of the clan's internal and external affairs. She's kind and incredibly polite, and holds the people of Inzauma close to her heart, feeling responsible for meeting their needs.
However, while she's loved by many, her strict and disciplined upbringing means that she has very few friends outside of her elder brother Ayato, and her two pals Thoma and Yoimiya. That is, until she meets the Traveler, and her world begins to open up.
Ayaka plays an important part in the Chapter II Archon Quests, and you can also learn more about her through her own story quest, Grus Nivis Chapter.