Genshin Impact’s Gorou is an adorable, 4-star, geo and bow-wielding pup, with a caring personality – but also a strong head on his shoulders (under those fluffy ears, of course). If you want to get to grips with the puppy general, you’re in luck. With our Genshin Gorou build guide, we’ll show you all the best weapons and artifacts for him, as well as take an in-depth look at his skills and how to make the most of them.
To find out more about Gorou and how he ties in with Genshin Impact’s Itto, as well as the mysteries of his hangout event, be sure to check out our Genshin Impact Ms Hina article. If you want to know where your mains fit in the meta, check out our Genshin Impact tier list, or if you’re running low on Primogems, head over to our Genshin Impact codes guide.
Genshin Impact Gorou
What’s the best Genshin Gorou build?
Gorou is best suited to playing a support role, as he boosts his allies’ defence, and can even heal and increase geo crit damage at higher constellations. He has interruption resistance, and can deal some strong damage, but you need geo characters in your team alongside him to fully utilise his abilities, and his elemental burst has a high energy cost.
However, as mentioned above, Gorou’s abilities are perfect for supporting defence scaling allies in a mono geo team, and if you put him with Genshin Impact’s Itto, Genshin Impact’s Albedo, Genshin Impact’s Zhongli, and Genshin Impact’s Noelle, you can guarantee some serious damage and survivability for your whole party.
Also, keep in mind that Gorou’s buffs from both his elemental skill and elemental burst scale based on how many geo characters are in your party.
| Number of geo characters in party | Effect |
| One | Defence bonus |
| Two | Defence bonus and increased resistance to interruption |
| Three | Defence bonus, increased resistance to interruption, and increased geo damage bonus |
Learn more about the Genshin Impact elements right here
What’s the best Genshin Gorou weapon?
The best weapon for Genshin Impact’s Gorou is the Elegy for the End, a five-star bow that can increase energy recharge rate and elemental mastery.
It’s a powerful piece of kit, but since it’s a gacha pull from the Epitome Invocation weapon banner in update 2.2, it’s not currently available. As such, we’ve included two alternates below, which can still pack a decent punch and compliment the pup’s fighting style, with the Favonius Warbow and Sacrificial Bow being more common four-star gacha pulls.
| Weapon | Effect (level one) | How to get |
| Elegy for the End | Increases energy recharge rate by 12%, and elemental mastery by 60. Gorou gains sigils when dealing damage with his elemental skill or burst. When he has four sigils, his elemental mastery is increased by 100, and his attack is increased by 20% | Gacha |
| Favonius Warbow | Energy recharge rate is increased by 13.3%. Crit hits have a 60% chance to generate a small number of elemental particles, which regenerate six energy for Gorou. This can only occur once every 12 seconds | Gacha |
| Sacrificial Bow | Energy recharge rate is increased by 6.7%. After Gorou damages an opponent with his elemental skill, the skill has a 40% chance to end its own cooldown. This can only occur once every 30 seconds | Gacha |
What are the best Genshin Gorou artifacts?
You can equip Gorou with five artifacts, with different benefits that can help his stats shine. We recommend Husk of Opulent Dreams above all others, as it’s perfect for defence-scaling geo characters and will really enhance his buffs.
Husk of Opulent Dreams is a five-star set, so if you’re struggling to get all the pieces, you can try one of the alternatives below instead.
| Artifact | Effect | How to get |
| Husk of Opulent Dreams |
Two equipped: increases defence by 30% Four equipped: Gorou obtains the curiosity effect. When in the field, he will gain one stack of curiosity after hitting an enemy with a geo attack, triggering a maximum of once every 0.3 seconds. When off the field, he gains one stack every three seconds. Curiosity can stack up to four times, with each stack providing a bonus of 6% defence and 6% geo damage. For every 6 seconds that pass without gaining a new curiosity stack, one stack is lost |
From the Slumbering Court Domain on Seirai Island |
| Archaic Petra | Two equipped: +15% geo damage bonus Four equipped: When Gorou gains an elemental shard through a crystalize reaction, all party members gain a 35% damage bonus for the element of the shard for ten seconds. Only one form of elemental damage bonus can be gained in this manner at a time |
From the Domain of Guyun in the Sea of Clouds in Guyun Stone Forest |
| Noblesse Oblige | Two equipped: increases elemental burst damage by 20% Four equipped: using Gorou’s elemental burst increases all party members’ attack by 20% for 12 seconds. This effect cannot stack |
From Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern domain in Minlin, Mt. Aozang, or in an artifact strongbox |
Alternative Artifacts
If you’ve not gotten your paws on the sets above, you can use these artifacts as a substitute.
| Artifact | Effect | How to get |
| Defender’s Will | Two equipped: Increases defence by 30% Four equipped: Increases elemental resistance by 30% for each element present in your party |
From Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula in Bishui Plain, Wuwang Hill |
Artifact stat recommendations
Main stats
- Sands – energy recharge
- Goblet – geo damage bonus or DEF% if he’s at C4 and you want to maximise his healing
- Circlet – crit rate/crit damage (try to maintain a 2:1 ratio overall)
Sub-stats
- Energy recharge to requirements (about 220% with Favonius Warbow, 250% without)
- DEF%
- Crit rate/crit damage
What are Genshin Gorou’s abilities?
As mentioned above, Genshin Impact’s Gorou has some great abilities when it comes to buffing and supporting his team, especially fellow geo characters, and his fourth ascension turns him into a brilliant healer. When levelling his talents, it’s a good idea to focus on Juuga: Forward Unto Victory first.
Active skills
| Skill | Effect |
| Ripping Fang Fletching (normal) | Perform up to four consecutive shots with a bow |
| Ripping Fang Fletching (charge) | Perform a more precise aimed shot with increased damage. While aiming, stone crystals accumulate on the arrowhead. A fully charged crystalline arrow deals geo damage |
| Ripping Fang Fletching (plunge) | Fire a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE damage on impact |
| Inuzaka All-Round Defense | Deals AoE damage and sets up a General’s War Banner, which provides up to three buffs to active characters within the AoE, based on the number of geo characters in the party. – One geo character (standing firm): gives a defence bonus – Two geo characters (Impregnable): increases resistance to interruption – Three geo characters (Crunch): gives a geo damage bonus |
| Juuga: Forward Unto Victory | Gorou deals AoE geo damage and creates a field known as General’s Glory, which acts as a mobile version of the General’s War Banner, giving the same buffs as above. If a General’s War Banner is present in the field when Gorou uses General’s Glory, the General’s War Banner will be destroyed, and cannot be summoned until General’s Glory’s duration has ended |
Passive skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Heedless of the Wind and Weather | After using Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, all nearby party members’ defence is increased by 25% for 12 seconds |
| A Favor Repaid | Gorou receives damage bonuses to his attacks based on his defence. When using Inuzaka All-Roud Defense, his skill damage is increased by 156% of his defence. When using Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, his skill damage and crystal collapse damage is increased by 15.6% of defence |
| Seeker of Shinies | Displays the location of nearby resources unique to Inazuma on the mini-map |
What are Genshin Gorou’s constellations?
Levelling up Gorou’s constellations can give you some pretty great bonuses. Here’s what you can get if you’re lucky enough to pull a few duplicates.
| Constellation | Effect |
| Rushing Hound: Switch as the Wind | When characters (other than Gorou) within the AoE of Gorou’s General War Banner or General’s Glory deal geo damage to opponents, the cooldown of Gorou’s Inuzaka All-Roud Defense is decreased by 2 seconds. This effect can occur every ten seconds |
| Sitting Hound: Steady as the Clock | While General’s Glory is in effect, its duration is extended by one second when a nearby active character obtains an elemental shard from a crystallize reaction. This effect can occur once every 0.1 seconds, and the extension can last a maximum of three seconds |
| Mauling Hound: Fierce as Fire | Increases the level of Inuzaka All-Round Defense by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15 |
| Lapping Hound: Warm as Water | When General’s Glory is in the ‘Impregnable’ or ‘Crunch’ states, it will also heal active characters within its AoE by 50% of Gorou’s own defence every 1.5 seconds |
| Striking Hound: Thunderous Force | Increases the level of Juuga: Forward Unto Glory by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15 |
| Valiant Hound: Mountainous Fealty | For 12 seconds after using Inuzaka All-Round Defense or Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, increases the crit damage of all nearby party members’ geo damage based on the buff level of the skill’s field at the time of use.
This effect cannot stack |
What are Genshin Gorou’s ascention materials?
Here are all the materials you need to ascend Gorou. You can farm Perpetual Hearts from the Perpetual Mechanical Array in Inazuma.
| Level | Mora | Materials |
| 20+ | 20,000 | One Prithiva Topaz sliver, three sango pearl, three spectral husk |
| 40+ | 40,000 | Three Prithiva Topaz fragment, ten sango pearl, 15 spectral husk, two Perpetual Heart |
| 50+ | 60,000 | Six Prithiva Topaz fragment, 20 sango pearl, 12 specral heart, four Perpetual Heart |
| 60+ | 80,000 | Three Prithiva Topaz chunk, 30 sango pearl, 18 spectral heart, eight Perpetual Heart |
| 70+ | 100,000 | Six Prithiva Topaz chunk, 45 sango pearl, 12 spectral nucleus, 12 Perpetual Heart |
| 80+ | 120,000 | Six Prithiva Topaz gemstone, 60 sango pearl, 24 spectral nucleus, 20 Perpetual Heart |
What are Genshin Gorou’s talent level up matierials?
Here are all the talent level-up materials you need to ascend one of Gorou’s talents to level ten.
| Level | Mora | Materials |
| Two | 12,500 | Six spectral husk, three Teachings of Light |
| Three | 17,500 | Three spectral heart, two Guide to Light |
| Four | 25,000 | Four spectral heart, four Guide to Light |
| Five | 30,000 | Six spectral heart, six Guide to Light |
| Six | 37,500 | Nine spectral heart, nine Guide to Light |
| Seven | 120,000 | Four spectral nucleus, four Philosophies of Light, one Molten Moment |
| Eight | 260,000 | Six spectral nucleus, six Philosophies of Light, one Molten Moment |
| Nine | 450,000 | Nine spectral nucleus, 12 Philosophies of Light, two Molten Moment |
| Ten | 700,000 | 12 spectral nucleus, 16 Philosophies of Light, two Molten Moment, one Crown of Insight |
Who is Genshin Impact Gorou’s voice actor?
Genshin Impact Gorou’s English voice actor is Cory Yee, while the Japanese actor is Hatanaka Tasuku.
If you’re looking to stay up to date on the comings and goings of Teyvat, be sure to check out our Genshin Impact update and Genshin Impact next banner guides.
