Genshin Impact’s Ganyu, a five-star bow-wielding cryo user from Liyue, is sure to decimate any enemies in her path. She is 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 thanks to her hefty charged shots, 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.
Genshin Impact Ganyu
When is the next Genshin Impact Ganyu banner?
Ganyu’s banner, Adrift in the Harbor, will rerun in the second half of version 3.6, alongside Genshin Impact’s Baizhu, and new four-star Genshin Impact Kaveh.
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 team comps, 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 artefacts, as she doesn’t scale off any stat in particular.
She can be pretty vulnerable to damage and interruption due to her reliance on charged attacks, so she relies on a well-invested team involving a shielder and/or a healer.
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: Increases 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 Ashen 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 a 12% 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 |
What are the best artifacts for Genshin Impact Ganyu?
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 these items 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 |
What are Genshin Impact Ganyu’s talent materials?
Each character needs a set of materials to level up their talents with, and Ganyu is no different. Ganyu requires Qingxing flowers, Whopperflower Nectar (and its further evolutions), and Shadow of the Warrior items, which are dropped from the weekly Tartaglia boss. The talent book that Ganyu needs are the Diligence set. For the furthest levels, you’ll need three Crowns of Insight if you want to completely round out her talents.
| Level | Mora | Materials |
| Two | 12,500 | Six whopperflower nectar, three teachings of Diligence |
| Three | 17,500 | Three shimmering nectar, two guides to Diligence |
| Four | 25,000 | Four shimmering nectar, four guides to Diligence |
| Five | 30,000 | Six shimmering nectar, six guides to Diligence |
| Six | 37,500 | Nine shimmering nectar, nine guides to Diligence |
| Seven | 120,000 | Four energy nectar, four philosophies of Diligence, one Shadow of the Warrior |
| Eight | 260,000 | Six energy nectar, six philosophies of Diligence, one Shadow of the Warrior |
| Nine | 450,000 | Nine energy nectar, 12 philosophies of Diligence, two Shadow of the Warrior |
| Ten | 700,000 | 12 energy nectar, 16 philosophies of Diligence, two Shadow of the Warrior, one Crown of Insight |
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.
