Genshin Impact’s Gorou is an adorable, four-star, geo and bow-wielding pup, with a caring personality. If you want to get to grips with the puppy general, you’re in luck. With our Gorou build, we 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.
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. Find out more about the newest characters in our Genshin Impact next banner guide, and head over to our other builds for Genshin Impact’s Freminet, Genshin Impact’s Yae Miko, and Genshin Impact’s Xiao.
Here’s everything in our best Gorou build:
What’s the best Genshin Impact Gorou build?
Gorou is a four-star geo bow wielder. He’s a great support unit for mono-geo teams as he can raise everyone’s defense, increase geo crit damage, and even heal allies with the right build.
Here’s a brief overview of our best Genshin Impact Gorou build:
| Rarity | ★★★★ |
| Element | Geo |
| Weapon | Bow |
| Best weapon | Favonius Warbow |
| Weapon substitutes | Elegy for the End |
| Best artifact set | Noblesse Oblige |
| Artifact substitutes |
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| Main stats |
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| Sub-stats |
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Gorou’s best weapon is the Favonius Warbow, a four-star gacha bow. It’s great for buffing his energy recharge capabilities which he needs for his high-cost burst. His best artifact set is Noblesse Oblige if no one else on the team is running it, but The Exile can be a competitive option.
Focus on building his energy recharge, geo damage bonus, crit, and defense. Defense is a higher priority for his goblet if your Gorou is at constellation four or above to buff his healing. Favonius Warbow requires slightly less ER than Elegy for the End.
When leveling up Gorou’s talents, we recommend prioritizing his elemental skill above all. After that, you can level up his elemental burst. His normal attack isn’t all that important, so you can leave that until last.
How should I use Gorou?
Gorou is best suited to playing a support role, as he boosts his allies’ defense, 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 utilize his abilities, and his elemental burst has a high energy cost.
However, as mentioned above, Gorou’s abilities are perfect for supporting defense 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 | Defense bonus |
| Two | Defense bonus and increased resistance to interruption |
| Three | Defense bonus, increased resistance to interruption, and increased geo damage bonus |
Learn more about the Genshin Impact elements right here
What are the best weapons for Gorou?
KQM’s Gorou guide says that Favonius Warbow is the only weapon you should ever use for him. It has incredible particle generation, a decent energy recharge stat, and it’s decently accessible, as you get a free copy by completing the first Archon quest.
The best five-star weapon for Genshin Impact’s Gorou is the Elegy for the End, which 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 it’s not always available.
Here are Gorou’s best weapons:
| Elegy for the End | Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: A part of the “Millennial Movement” that wanders amidst the winds. Increases Gorou’s elemental mastery by 60. When Gorou’s elemental skills or elemental bursts hit opponents, he gains a Sigil of Remembrance. This effect can trigger once every 0.2 seconds and can trigger even if Gorou is not on the field. When you possess four Sigils of Remembrance, you consume them all and all nearby party members obtain the “Millennial Movement: Farewell Song” effect for 12 seconds. This effect increases elemental mastery by 100 and increases attack by 20%. Once this effect is triggered, you won’t gain Sigils of Remembrance for 20 seconds. Buffs of the same type do not stack |
Gacha |
| Favonius Warbow | Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: Crit hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of elemental particles, which regenerate six energy for Gorou. Can only occur once every 12 seconds |
Gacha, A Long Shot quest |
| Sacrificial Bow | Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: 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 artifacts for Gorou?
You can equip Gorou with five artifacts, with different benefits that can help his stats shine. We recommend Noblesse Oblige for him (if you aren’t running him alongside Itto) to make the best use of the set’s team-wide buff.
Despite being a four-star set, The Exile’s flat energy restoration is brilliant for Gorou and his teams. However, due to its lower rarity, it’s much harder to meet his other stat requirements with this set, so KQM recommends using an off-set energy recharge sands or a crit rate hat to boost his numbers.
Thanks to its flat defense boost, Husk of Opulent Dreams is still a decent pick for Gorou, either as a four-piece set or mixed with two pieces of Emblem of Severed Fate.
Here are Gorou’s best artifacts:
| Noblesse Oblige | Two equipped: elemental burst damage +20% Four equipped: increases all party members’ attack by 20% for 12 seconds after using an elemental burst. This effect cannot stack |
Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern domain in Minlin, Mt. Aozang, or from the Noblesse Oblige Artifact Strongbox |
| The Exile | Two equipped: energy recharge +20% Four equipped: using an elemental burst regenerates two energy for all party members (excluding Gorou) every two seconds for six seconds. This effect cannot stack |
Chests and boss drops |
| Husk of Opulent Dreams | Two equipped: defense +30% Four equipped: obtain the curiosity effect in the following conditions: when Gorou is on the field, he gains one stack after hitting an opponent with a geo attack, triggering a maximum of once every 0.3 seconds. When off the field, Gorou gains one stack every three seconds. Curiosity can stack up to four times, each providing 6% defense and a 6% geo damage bonus. When six seconds pass without gaining a curiosity stack, one stack expires |
Slumbering Court domain in Fort Hiraumi, on Seirai Island, Inazuma |
| Emblem of Severed Fate | Two equipped: energy recharge +20% Four equipped: not recommended |
Momiji-Dyed Court domain on Yashiori Island, Inazuma |
Artifact stat recommendations
Main stats:
- Sands: energy recharge
- Goblet: geo damage bonus or defense% if he’s at C4 and you want to maximize 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 the best Gorou team comps?
As we mentioned at the top of the guide, Gorou shines best in mostly geo team comps, functioning as a support unit to buff and potentially heal your other attackers. The whole geo cast of characters is pretty strong, so you can essentially run whichever mono geo/three geo and one flex team suits your playstyle and resources.
Here are some examples of strong Gorou team comps:
 Gorou |
 Itto |
 Chiori |
 Zhongli |
| Gorou |
 Noelle |
Chiori |
 Furina |
| Gorou |
Noelle |
 Geo Traveler |
 Kaeya |
| Gorou |
Noelle |
 Kachina |
 Fischl |
What are Gorou’s abilities?
When leveling Gorou’s talents, it’s a good idea to focus on Juuga: Forward Unto Victory first.
Gorou’s active skills:
| Normal attack | Ripping Fang Fletching Normal: Perform up to four consecutive shots with a bow Charged: 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 Plunging: Fire a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE damage on impact |
| Elemental skill | 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 defense bonus – Two geo characters (Impregnable): increases resistance to interruption – Three geo characters (Crunch): gives a geo damage bonus |
| Elemental burst | 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 |
Gorou’s passive skills:
| A1 | Heedless of the Wind and Weather After using Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, all nearby party members’ defense is increased by 25% for 12 seconds |
| A4 | A Favor Repaid Gorou receives damage bonuses to his attacks based on his defense. When using Inuzaka All-Round Defense, his skill damage is increased by 156% of his defense. When using Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, his skill damage and crystal collapse damage is increased by 15.6% of defense |
| Utility | Seeker of Shinies Displays the location of nearby resources unique to Inazuma on the mini-map |
What are Gorou’s constellations?
Leveling 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.
Here are Gorou’s constellations:
| C1 | 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 |
| C2 | 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 |
| C3 | Mauling Hound: Fierce as Fire Increases the level of Inuzaka All-Round Defense by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15 |
| C4 | 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 defense every 1.5 seconds |
| C5 | Striking Hound: Thunderous Force Increases the level of Juuga: Forward Unto Glory by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15 |
| C6 | 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 Gorou’s ascension materials?
To make the most of Gorou, you’ll need to level him up, and to do that, you need to ascend him at certain intervals.
Here are all of Gorou’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 all of Gorou’s ascension materials:
- Prithiva topaz – drops from normal and weekly bosses
- Sango pearls – found on Watatsumi Island and Enkanomiya, or sold in Inazuma and Sumeru
- Spectral husks / hearts / nuclei – drops from specter enemies in Inazuma and Sumeru (dendro specters only)
- Perpetual hearts – drops from the Perpetual Mechanical Array normal boss in Inazuma
What are Gorou’s talent materials?
You can upgrade Gorou’s normal attack, elemental skill, and elemental burst to a maximum of level ten each.
Here are all the talent materials you need to ascend one of Gorou’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 Gorou’s talent materials:
- Spectral husks / hearts / nuclei – drops from specter enemies in Inazuma and Sumeru (dendro specters only)
- Light talent books – rewards from the Violet Court domains on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays
- Molten moment – drops from the La Signora weekly boss in Inazuma
Talent priorities
When leveling up Gorou’s talents, we recommend prioritizing them in the following order:
- Elemental skill >> elemental burst > normal attack
That’s everything you need to know about the puppy general Genshin Impact’s Gorou. If you want to check out Hoyoverse’s space-faring RPG, head on over to our Honkai Star Rail codes guide and Honkai Star Rail tier list. We’ve also got build guides for Honkai Star Rail’s Firefly, Honkai Star Rail’s Argenti, and Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka.