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Genshin Impact Freminet build

Genshin Impact’s Freminet is a four-star cryo claymore wielder with a unique kit. Read on to find his best build, weapons, teams, and more.

Genshin Impact Freminet's 2024 birthday artwork featuring him sat with his clockwork penguin next to some sunflowers

Genshin Impact’s Freminet is a four-star cryo claymore wielder, and the quiet, younger sibling to the fabulous Lyney and Lynette. With the help of his cute lil penguin pal, he can dish out a unique mixture of cryo and physical damage, making use of the shatter reaction to take down his foes. Learn on to find out about the best Freminet build, including weapons, artifacts, team comps, and more.

If you’re looking to prepare for the next step of your journey across Teyvat, head over to our Genshin Impact tier list to see which characters rank the highest, then hop over to our Genshin Impact codes to bag yourself some freemos to spend on the next Genshin Impact banner. We’ve also got build guides for characters like Genshin Impact’s Yae MikoGenshin Impact’s Sucrose, and Genshin Impact’s Furina.

Here’s how to dredge up the best Genshin Impact Freminet build.

What is the best Genshin Impact Freminet build?

Best weapon Skyward Pride
Weapon substitutes
  • Serpent Spine
  • Song of Broken Pines (for physical build)
  • Wolf’s Gravestone (for cryo build)
  • Prototype Archaic
Best artifact set Physical build: Pale Flame
Cryo build: Blizzard Strayer
Artifact substitutes Physical build: two pieces of Pale Flame and two pieces of Gladiator’s Finale
Cryo build: two pieces of Blizzard Strayer and two pieces of Gladiators Finale or Emblem of Severed Fate
Main stats
  • Sands: attack% or energy recharge
  • Goblet: physical or cryo damage bonus (depending on build)
  • Circlet: crit rate or damage
Sub-stats
  • Energy recharge
  • Crit rate/damage
  • Attack%

Overall, Freminet’s best weapon is Skyward Pride, as it suits him well in both a cryo and a physical DPS build. However, if you have a Serpent Spine at refinement rank five, it actually outperforms Skyward Pride for cryo DPS Freminet. But, considering Serpent Spine is hotly contested, Skyward Pride is under-utilized, and that physical DPS is Freminet’s main role, we generally recommend sticking with Skyward Pride. I mean, we’ve all got one gathering dust in our inventory, right?

For a cryo build, Freminet’s best artifact set is a full set of Blizzard Strayer, and Pale Flame is his best set for a physical build. Either way, when picking artifacts you should focus on getting his energy recharge up first, then boost his crit rate/damage and attack%. 

When leveling up Freminet’s talents, we recommend prioritizing his skill first, followed by his normal attack. You can leave his elemental burst until last, as its main use is to activate the Subnautical Hunter state, and the duration of that state doesn’t increase with talent levels.

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How to use Freminet

Freminet is a unique four-star cryo character who can act as a physical DPS, a cryo DPS, or a hyperbloom driver, giving you some flexibility in how you want to play him.

As a physical DPS (which is his standard role), your main focus should be getting Shattering Pressure to level four. You can do this by popping his elemental skill and weaving normal attacks in between to raise that pressure level.

In a cryo DPS role, you should focus on using his elemental skill as often as possible to dish out as many Shattering Pressure instances as you can throughout his elemental burst’s duration.

Freminet can also be a viable hyperbloom driver as he benefits from electro application and the hydro character can enable his shatter. However, this is a bit more of a niche role for him, so we’re primarily focusing on cryo and physical DPS builds in this guide. If you’d like to know more about superconduct Freminet, you can check out the KeqingMains guide or head over to the r/Freminetmains sub-Reddit.

What are the best Freminet weapons?

Overall, Skyward Pride is the best weapon for Freminet, especially if you have him at C2 or lower. Its base attack, energy recharge, damage buff, and vacuum blade passive all add up to make it a very strong option for him, with those aforementioned vacuum blades even providing the benefit of physical resistance shred.

However, Serpent Spine at refinement rank five actually pulls ahead of Skyward Pride if you intend to use Freminet in a cryo DPS role, and it’s a strong second to Skyward Pride in a physical DPS role. At R5, Serpent Spine out-ranks any other five-star claymores for him, but at R1 it is only slightly better than his free-to-play options, so it really depends on those refinement ranks.

In a cryo DPS build, Freminet’s next best five-star claymore is Wolf’s Gravestone. As a physical DPS, his next-best five-star after Skyward Pride is Song of Broken Pines. However, both of these have other uses and are likely better used on other characters. Beyond that, other five-star claymores primarily act as stat sticks, generally sitting behind Serpent Spine R5 and above Serpent Spine R1.

If you’re looking for something that’s a little easier or cheaper to obtain, then Prototype Archaic is Freminet’s best free-to-play option in both playstyles.

Weapon Effect How to obtain
Skyward Pride Bonus stat: energy recharge
Skill: increases all damage by 8%. After Freminet hits an enemy with an elemental burst, normal, or charged attack, he creates a vacuum blade that does 80% of attack as damage to enemies along its path. Lasts for 20 seconds or eight vacuum blades
All gacha banners
Serpent Spine Bonus stat: crit rate
Skill: Every four seconds Freminet is on the field, he deals 6% more damage and takes 3% more damage. This effect has a maximum of five stacks and will not be reset if Freminet leaves the field, but will be reduced by one stack when he takes damage
Battle pass
Song of Broken Pines Bonus stat: physical damage bonus
Skill: A part of the “Millennial Movement” that wanders amidst the winds.
Increases attack by 16%, and when normal or charged attacks hit opponents, Freminet gains a Sigil of Whispers. This effect can trigger once every 0.3 seconds.
When you possess four Sigils of Whispers, consume them all and all nearby party members obtain the “Millennial Movement: Banner-Hymn” effect for 12 seconds.
“Millennial Movement: Banner-Hymn” increases normal attack speed by 12% and increases attack by 20%. Once this effect triggers, you will not gain Sigils of Whispers for 20 seconds.
Of the many effects of the “Millennial Movement”, buffs of the same type will not stack
Weapon event gacha
Wolf’s Gravestone Bonus stat: attack%
Skill: increases attack by 20%. On hit, attacks against enemies with less than 30% HP increase all party members’ attack by 40% for 12 seconds. Can only occur once every 30 seconds
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Prototype Archaic Bonus stat: attack%
Skill: on hit, normal or charged attacks have a 50% chance to deal an additional 240% attack damage to enemies in a small AoE. Can only occur once every 15 seconds
Forge via blacksmith

What are the best Freminet artifacts?

As a physical DPS, Freminet’s best artifact set is Pale Flame, as he easily maintains full up-time on its passive, making the most of that lovely attack boost and physical damage bonus.

As a cryo DPS, Freminet’s best artifact set is Blizzard Strayer, giving him a nice boost to both his cryo damage and his crit rate. Unfortunately, as Freminet’s kit triggers shatter, he can’t make use of the additional 20% crit rate from hitting frozen enemies, but it still outperforms any other options in this role.

Alternatively, if you need something to tide you over while you farm for a full set of Pale Flame, you can combine two pieces of Pale Flame with two pieces of an attack set like Gladiator’s Finale to boost both his physical damage and attack.

Similarly, as a cryo backup plan, you can mix two pieces of Blizzard Strayer with two pieces of either an attack set like Gladiator’s Finale for an overall damage boost, or two pieces of Emblem of Severed Fate to help negate his energy recharge issues.

Artifact set Effect How to obtain
Pale Flame Two equipped: physical damage +25%
Four equipped: increases attack by 9% for seven seconds when an elemental skill hits an opponent. This effect stacks up to two times, and you can trigger it once every 0.3 seconds. Once two stacks are reached, the two-set effect is doubled
Ridge Watch domain on Bishui Plain, Liyue
Blizzard Strayer Two equipped: cryo damage +15%
Four equipped: increases Freminet’s crit rate by 20% when he attacks an enemy affected by cryo. His crit rate increases by an additional 20% if the enemy is frozen
Peak of Vindagnyr domain on Dragonspine, in Mondstadt
Gladiator’s Finale Two equipped: attack +18%
Four equipped: not recommended
World and weekly bosses, Gladiator’s Finale artifact strongboxes, and Adventure rank-up and journal rewards
Emblem of Severed Fate Two equipped: energy recharge +20%
Four equipped: not recommended
Momiji-Dyed Court domain on Yashiori Island in Inazuma

Artifact stat recommendations

Main stats:

  • Sands: attack% or energy recharge
  • Goblet: physical or cryo damage bonus (depending on role)
  • Circlet: crit rate/damage

Sub-stats:

  • Energy recharge
  • Crit rate/damage
  • Attack%

Overall, your first priority should be getting enough energy recharge for Freminet to enable you to activate his elemental burst’s Subnautical Hunter state as frequently as possible. On average, he needs around 135 – 200% energy recharge, depending on what role you play him in, how many cryo characters are on his team, and whether you’re pairing him up with Genshin Impact’s Fischl or not.

Generally, as the solo cryo without Fischl, he needs around 180-200%, or as one of two cryo characters without Fischl, he needs around 155-175%. Either way, adding Fischl into the mix knocks his energy recharge requirements down by about 25%.

For more specific numbers relevant to your team, check out the community-driven energy recharge calculator.

What are the best Freminet team comps?

Whether you want to build Freminet as a physical attacker or a cryo attacker, he always works well as the main DPS or a sub-DPS on a team. Although his kit interacts with all cryo-based reactions well, we’ve also had success with him in these freeze and ‘reverse melt’ team comps.

Here are some examples of strong Freminet team comps:

Freminet iconFreminet Shenhe iconShenhe Genshin Impact XianglingXiangling Bennett iconBennett
Freminet iconFreminet Diona iconDiona Venti iconVenti Mona iconMona
Freminet iconFreminet Mika Fischl iconFischl Zhongli
Freminet iconFreminet Xingqiu iconXingqiu Mika Rosaria

Genshin Impact's Freminet sat next to Navia

What are Freminet’s abilities?

Here are all of Freminet’s skills and passives.

Active skills:

Skill Effect
Normal attack: Flowing Eddies Normal: Performs up to four consecutive claymore strikes
Charged: Drains stamina over time to perform continuous spinning attacks against all nearby opponents. At the end of the sequence, performs a more powerful slash
Plunging: Deals AoE damage upon impact with the ground
Elemental skill: Pressurized Floe Performs an upward thrust that deals cryo damage and causes Freminet to enter Pers Timer for ten seconds.
While Pers Timer is active, his elemental skill turns into Shattering Pressure.
Pers Timer: When Freminet uses normal attacks, he also unleashes waves of frost that deal cryo damage and increase Pers’s Pressure Level. The accompanying cryo damage dealt this way is considered elemental skill damage.
Shattering Pressure: Executes different sorts of attacks based on the Pressure Level of Pers Timer, and then cancels Pers Timer.
  • Level zero: Unleashes a vertical cut, dealing cryo damage
  • Levels one to three: Unleashes a vertical cut alongside Pers, dealing cryo damage and physical damage. Damage dealt scales based on Pressure Level
  • Level four: Borrows the power of a fully-pressurized Pers to deal physical damage. Meanwhile, Flowing Eddies is replaced by Shattering Pressure.
    Arkhe: Pneuma: At certain intervals, after using the upward thrust, a Spiritbreath Thorn in the form of another upward thrust will be created, dealing Pneuma-aligned cryo damage
Elemental burst: Shadowhunter’s Ambush Unleashes a wave of untouchable cold, dealing AoE cryo damage, resetting the cooldown of the Pressurized Floe and causing Freminet to enter the Subnautical Hunter mode for ten seconds.
While in Subnautical Hunter mode, Freminet’s resistance to interruption will increase, and his Pressurized Floe obtains the following buffs:
  • Cooldown is decreased by 70%
  • Normal attacks will increase the Pers Timer by one additional Pressure Level, and the frost released by his normal attacks deal 200% of their original damage

Passive skills:

Skill Effect
Saturation Deep Dive When Freminet unleashes Pressurized Floe: Shattering Pressure, if Pers Timer has yet to reach Pressure Level Four, the cooldown of Pressurized Floe is decreased by one second
Parallel Condensers When Freminet triggers Shatter against opponents, the damage dealt by Pressurized Floe: Shattering Pressure increases by 40% for five seconds
Deepwater Navigation Decreases Aquatic Stamina consumption for your own party members by 35%. Not stackable with passive talents that provide the exact same effects

What are Freminet’s constellations?

If you pull duplicates of Freminet you’ll unlock his constellations. These provide additional buffs to his kit.

Constellation Effect
C1: Dreams of the Foamy Deep The crit rate of Pressurized Floe: Shattering Pressure increases by 15%
C2: Penguins and the Land of Plenty Unleashing Pressurized Floe: Shattering Pressure restores two energy to Freminet. If a Pressure Level Four Shattering Pressure is unleashed, this restores three energy
C3: Song of the Eddies and Bleached Sands Increases the level of Flowing Eddies by three, up to a maximum level of 15
C4: Dance of the Snowy Moon and Flute After Freminet triggers Frozen, Shatter, or Superconduct against opponents, his attack increases by 9% for six seconds. Max two stacks. This can trigger once every 0.3 seconds
C5: Nights of Hearth and Happiness Increases the level of Pressurized Floe by three, up to a maximum level of 15
C6: Moment of Waking and Resolve After Freminet triggers Frozen, Shatter, or Superconduct against opponents, his crit damage increases by 12% for six seconds. Max three stacks. This can be triggered once every 0.3 seconds

What are Freminet’s ascension materials?

You can level Freminet all the way up to 90 using a combination of experience books and special ascension materials at certain levels.

Here are all of the materials you need to fully ascend Freminet:

Level Mora Ascension materials
20+ 20k One shivada jade sliver, three romaritime flowers, three transoceanic pearls
40+ 40k Two artificed spare clockwork components — Coppelius, three shivada jade fragments, ten romaritime flowers, 15 transoceanic pearls
50+ 60k Four artificed spare clockwork components — Coppelius, six shivada jade fragments, 20 romaritime flowers, 12 transoceanic chunks
60+ 80k Eight artificed spare clockwork components — Coppelius, three shivada jade chunks, 30 romaritime flowers, 18 transoceanic chunks
70+ 100k 12 artificed spare clockwork components — Coppelius, six shivada jade chunks, 45 romaritime flowers, 12 xenochromatic crystals
80+ 120k 20 artificed spare clockwork components — Coppelius, six shivada jade gemstones, 60 romaritime flowers, 24 xenochromatic crystals

Here’s where to get all of Freminet’s ascension materials:

  • Shivada jade – drops from normal and weekly bosses
  • Romaritime flowers – found in and around bodies of water in Fontaine, and sold in Fontaine
  • Transoceanic pearls / transoceanic chunks / xenochromatic crystals – drops from fontemer aberrant enemies in Fontaine
  • Artificed spare clockwork components – Coppelius – drops from the Icewind Suite “Nemesis of Coppelius” normal boss in Fontaine

Genshin Impact Freminet wielding a weapon with his penguin robot companion

What are Freminet’s talent materials?

Given how much time Freminet spends underwater, it makes sense that that’s where you can find a lot of his talent level-up materials. Here are all the materials you need to get one of Freminet’s talents to its max level:

Talent level Mora Materials
One 12.5k Six transoceanic pearls, three teachings of justice
Two 17.5k Three transoceanic chunks, two guides to justice
Three 25k Four transoceanic chunks, four guides to justice
Four 30k Six transoceanic pearls, six guide to justice
Five 37.5k Nine transoceanic pearls, nine guide to justice
Six 120k Four xenochromatic crystals, four philosophies of justice, one worldspan ferns
Seven 260k Six xenochromatic crystals, six philosophies of justice, one worldspan ferns
Eight 450k Nine xenochromatic crystals, 12 philosophies of justice, two worldspan ferns
Nine 700k 12 xenochromatic crystals, 16 philosophies of justice, two worldspan ferns, one crown of insight

Here’s where to get each of Freminet’s talent materials:

  • Transoceanic pearls / transoceanic chunks / xenochromatic crystals – drops from fontemer aberrant enemies in Fontaine
  • Justice talent books – rewards from the Pale Forgotten Glory domains on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays
  • Worldspan ferns – drops from the Guardian of Apep’s Oasis weekly boss in Sumeru

Talent priority

When leveling up Freminet’s talents, you should prioritize them in the following order:

  • Elemental skill > normal attack >> elemental burst

That’s everything in our Genshin Impact Freminet build. If you fancy leaving Teyvat behind and embarking on a star-studded adventure, head on over to our Honkai Star Rail codesHonkai Star Rail tier list, and Honkai Star Rail events guides to hop aboard the Astral Express. We’ve also got build guides like this one for Honkai Star Rail’s Black Swan, Honkai Star Rail’s Firefly, and Honkai Star Rail’s Herta.