Genshin Impact’s Ganyu is a five-star bow-wielding cryo user from Liyue. Soft-spoken and hard working, Ganyu is a half-qilin Adeptus devoted to both Rex Lapis and the Liyue Qixing. Heralded as one of the best DPS in the game, she’s an extremely powerful unit and a great asset to any player’s roster. In this Genshin Ganyu build guide, we set out to teach you about her skills, constellations, best artifacts and weapons, and more, so you can make the most of this gorgeous gal.
Once you’ve come to grips with Ganyu, head over to our Genshin Impact tier list to see where the rest of the characters rank, and then grab some Genshin Impact codes from our handy list. We’ve also put together some information on other popular characters, make sure you check out our Genshin Impact Venti and Genshin Impact Klee guide to find out more.
Genshin Impact Ganyu
What’s the best Genshin Ganyu build?
Ganyu is a super powerful ranged DPS with many playstyles for different situations. She’s reliable across a wide range of content and, with some investment, is capable of dishing out some of the highest damage in the game. She also has a fairly simple rotation, and is relatively inexpensive to build when it comes to weapons and artifacts.
On the other hand, she can be pretty vulnerable to damage and interruption due to her reliance on charged attacks, and she relies heavily on a well-invested team with some highly contested characters.
However, with her high DPS, brilliant cryo application, and flexibility, it’s no wonder why she’s so highly sought after – and she’s certainly worth your time and primogems.
What’s the best Genshin Ganyu weapon?
Generally, the best weapon for Ganyu depends on your build. In a freeze team where Ganyu is your main, on-field DPS, Polar Star is the best choice. For a quickswap freeze team where you’re switching between characters regularly, Aqua Simulacra takes the top spot. For a melt team, Hunter’s Path charges into the lead.
For a strong four-star choice in both freeze and freeze quickswap teams, Mouun’s Moon at refinement rank five is your best option. However, if you’re looking for something that relies on a little less RNG, R5 Prototype Crescent is a great option.
For a full breakdown of how all bows size up against on Ganyu, check out the Keqingmains Ganyu guide.
| Weapon | Effect |
| Polar Star | Base stat: crit rate Skill: increses elemental skill and elemental burst damage by 12%. After a normal attack, charged attack, elemental skill, or elemental burst hits an opponent, gain one stack of Ashen Nightstar for 12 seconds. When 1/2/3/4 stacks of Ahen Nightstar are present, your attack increases by 10/20/30/48%. The stack of Ashen Nightstar created by the normal attack, charged attack, elemental skill, or elemental burst is counted independently of the others |
| Aqua Simulacra | Base stat: crit damage Skill: increases HP by 16%. When there are opponents nearby, your damage increases by 20%. This takes effect whether the equipping character is on-field or not |
| Hunter’s Path | Base stat: crit rate Skill: gain 12% all elemental damage bonus. Obtain the Tireless Hunt effect after hitting an opponent with a charged attack. This effect increases charged attack damage by 160% of elemental mastery. This effect is removed after 12 charged attacks or ten seconds. You can only gain one instance of Tireless Hunt every 12 seconds |
| Mouun’s Moon | Base stat: attack Skill: for every point of the entire party’s combined maximum energy capacity, the elemental burst damage of the equipping character increases by 0.12%. A maximum of 40% increased elemental burst damage can be achieved this way |
| Prototype Crescent | Base stat: attack Skill: charged attack hits on weak points increase your movement speed by 10% and attack by 36% for ten seconds |
Which artifact set should you use?
For freeze or mono-cryo teams, Blizard Strayer is the best set with no competition. Its crit rate boost is a true asset to Ganyu, and it’s hard to go wrong with the cryo damage bonus.
For melt teams, Wanderer’s Troupe is your best option. It offers a valuable boost to her elemental mastery, and is very easy to farm passively or through artifact strongboxes.
| Artifact set | Effect |
| Blizzard Strayer | Two equipped: 15% cryo damage bonus Four equipped: Crit rate is increased by 20% when attacking an enemy affected by cryo. If the enemy is frozen, crit rate is increased by an additional 20% |
| Wanderer’s Troupe | Two equipped: Increases elemental mastery by 80 Four equipped: Increases charged attack damage by 35% |
Alternate artifact set
If you’re still levelling and haven’t managed to grab any of the above artifacts yet, the following set is a great option in the meantime.
| Artifact set | Effect |
| Martial Artist | Two equipped: Increases normal and charged attack damage by 15% Four equipped: After using an elemental skill, Ganyu’s normal and charged attack damage is increase by 25% for eight seconds |
When picking artifacts for Ganyu, you should prioritise the following stats.
Main stats:
- Attack% for Sands of Eon
- Cryo damage bonus for the Goblet of Eonothem
- Crit damage of crit rate for Circlet of Logos
Sub-stats:
- Attack%
- Crit damage
- Crit rate
To find out more about how artifacts work, check out our Genshin Impact artifacts guide.
What are Genshin Ganyu’s skills?
Active skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Liutian Archery | Perform up to six shots with a bow |
| Liutian Archery (charged) | Charge level one: an icy shot that deals cryo damage. Charge level two: fire a Frostflake Arrow that explodes on impact dealing AoE cryo damage |
| Liutian Archery (plunging) | A shower of arrows that deals AoE damage |
| Trail of the Qilin | Deals AoE cryo damage and leaves behind an Ice Lotus. The Ice Lotus taunts enemies into attacking it and deals AoE cryo damage when destroyed |
| Celestial Shower | Summon a Sacred Cryo Pearl that deals AoE Cryo damage |
Passive skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Undivided Heart | After firing a Frostflake Arrow, the crit rate of subsequent Frostflake Arrows is increased by 20% for five seconds |
| Harmony between Heaven and Earth | Celestial Shower gives a 20% Cryo damage boost to party members |
| Preserved for the Hunt | Refunds 15% of the ore cost when crafting bows |
What are Genshin Ganyu’s constellations?
Here’s every buff you’ll receive when you level up Ganyu’s constellations.
| Constellation | Effect |
| Dew-Drinker | When an enemy takes damage from a charge level two Frostflake Arrow Bloom their cryo resistance is lowered by 15% for six seconds. A hit regenerates two energy for Ganyu. This effect can only occur once per charge level two Frostflake Arrow |
| The Auspicious | Trail of the Qilin gains one additional charge |
| Cloud-Strider | Increases the level of Celestial Shower by three |
| Westward Sojourn |
Enemies standing within the Celestial Shower AoE take increased damage. Increased damage taken begins at 5% and increases by 5% every three seconds, up to a maximum of 25%. The effect lingers for three seconds after the enemy leaves the AoE |
| The Merciful | Increases the level of Trail of the Qilin by three |
| The Clement | Using Trail of the Qilin causes the next Frostflake Arrow shot within 30 seconds to not require charging |
What are Genshin Ganyu’s ascension materials?
Ascension can be an expensive process, so we’ve listed all the items you need to save up while leveling.
| Required level | Mora | Materials |
| 20 | 20,000 | One Shivada Jade Sliver, three Qingxin, three Whopperflower Nectar |
| 40 | 40,000 | Three Shivada Jade Fragment, two Hoarfrost Core, ten Qingxin, 15 Whopperflower Nectar |
| 50 | 60,000 | Six Shivada Jade Fragment, four Hoarfrost Core, 20 Qingxin, 12 Shimmering Nectar |
| 60 | 80,000 | Three Shivada Jade Chunk, eight Hoarfrost Core, 30 Qingxin, 18 Shimmering Nectar |
| 70 | 100,000 | Six Shivada Jade Chunk, 12 Hoarfrost Core, 45 Qingxin, 12 Energy Nectar |
| 80 | 120,000 | Six Shivada Jade Gemstone, 20 Hoarfrost Core, 60 Qingxin, 24 Energy Nectar |
Now that you know all about Ganyu, you may be on the lookout for something new to play. If that’s the case, head on over to our list of the best gacha games on mobile.
