The Albedo banner in Genshin Impact is about to come to an end (or it has, depending on when you’re reading this), and the next will feature Ganyu, the half-adeptus secretary for the Yuehai Pavillion. She’s a 5-star Cryo bow-wielder, adding another option for those who like a little ice in their lineup.
Ganyu uses materials already available in Genshin Impact as of Version 1.2, so if you’ve been sitting on Shivada Jade, Hoarfrost Cores, Qingxin, and Whopperflower Nectar you’ll be sitting pretty once Ganyu debuts. She is a 5-star, so pulling her from her banner will take a lot of Primogems, so please spend responsibly.
Genshin Impact Ganyu Character and Build Breakdown
Below are listed Ganyu’s full set of attacks and abilities, her passive talents, constellations, and finally all of her ascension and talent material requirements. Build recommendations, to include both suggested weapons and artifact sets, are in the center of this guide following Ganyu’s constellations. If you’d like to see a full list of stats – such as damage numbers, percentages, etc. – check out Honey Hunter World, which was used as a source for this guide. You can find guides for other characters by following the link here to our complete Genshin Impact character list.character list.
Ganyu Attacks and Abilities
- Ranged: Liutian Archery
- Normal Attack: Perform up to 6 consecutive shots with a bow.
- Charged Attack: Perform a more precise Aimed Shot with increased damage.
- Whole aiming, an icy aura will accumulate on the arrowhead before th arrow is fired. Has different effects based on how long the energy has been charged.
- Charge Level 1: Fires off an icy arrow that deals Cryo damage.
- Charge Level 2: Fires off a Frostflake Arrow that deal Cyro damage. The Frostflake Arrow blooms after hitting its target, dealing AoE Cryo damage.
- Plunging Attack: Fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE damage upon impact.
- Elemental Skill: Trail of the Qilin
- Leaving a single Ice Lotus behind, Ganyu dashes backward, shunning all impurity and dealing AoE Cryo damage.
- Continuously taunts surrounding opponents, attracting them to attack it.
- Endurance scales based on Ganyu’s max HP.
- Blooms profusely when destroyed or once its duration ends, dealing AoE Cryo damage.
- Leaving a single Ice Lotus behind, Ganyu dashes backward, shunning all impurity and dealing AoE Cryo damage.
- Elemental Burst: Celestial Shower
- Coalesces atmospheric frost and snow to summon a Sacred Cryo Pearl that exorcises evil. During its ability duration, the Sacred Cryo Pearl will continuously rain down shards of ice, striking opponents within an AoE and dealing Cryo damage.
Ganyu Passive Talents
- Harmony Between Heaven and Earth
- Celestial Shower grants a 20% Cryo damage bonus to active party members in the AoE.
- Undivided Heart
- After firing a Frostflake Arrow, the crit-rate of subsequent Frostflake Arrows and their resulting bloom effects is increased by 20% for 5s.
- Preserved for the Hunt
- Refunds 15% of the ores used when crafting bow-type weapons.
Ganyu Constellations
- Dew-Drinker
- Taking damage from a Charge Level 2 Frostflake Arrow or Frostflake Arrow Bloom decreases opponent’ Cryo resistance by 15% for 6s.
- A hit regenerates 2 energy for Ganyu. This effect can only occur once per Charge Level 2 Frostflake Arrow, regardless if Frostflake Arrow itself or its Bloom hit the target.
- The Auspicious
- Trail of the Qilin gains 1 additional charge.
- Cloud-Strider
- Increases the level of Celestial Shower by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
- Westward Sojourn
- Opponents standing within the AoE of Celestial Shower take increased damage. This effect strengthens over time.
- Increased damage taken begins at 5% and increases by 5% every 3s, up to a maximum of 25%.
- The effect lingers for 3s after the opponent leaves the AoE.
- The Merciful
- Increases the level of Trail of the Qilin by 3.
- The Clement
- Using Trail of the Qilin causes the next Frostflake Arrow shot within 30s to not require charging.
Ganyu Build Suggestions in Genshin Impact
Ganyu can work as either a support or a damage-dealer in Genshin Impact, depending on your team composition and needs. Her Trail of the Qilin is a great support skill, essentially tanking the battle by drawing aggro. You’ll want to lean into HP stats to make the most of it, since it scales off of health. Otherwise, Ganyu’s damage is largely Cryo, so Cryo and attack damage are desirable early on. Later on you’ll want crit-rate and crit-damage to maximize her damage output.
4-star bows that will work well with Ganyu are the Sacrificial Bow, The Stringless, and the Sharpshooters Oath.
- Sacrificial Bow: After dealing damage to an opponent with an Elemental Skill, the skill has a 40% chance to end its own CD. Can only occur once every 30s. Secondary: Elemental Recharge.
- More Trail of the Qilin Ice Lotuses for support builds, without needing her second constellation.
- The Stringless: Increases Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst damage by
- Makes her potent burst all the more powerful.
- Sharpshooter’s Oath:
- Works in a bind, but not as desirable as the other two. A solid fallback weapon.
Artifact sets that work well with Ganyu are Wanderer’s Troupe, Noblesse Oblige, Blizzard Strayer, and the Glacier and Snowfield set. Depending on your team makeup Glacier and Snowfield can make your Electro and Pyro damage dealers into absolute beasts. Wanderer’s and Noblesse are solid all-rounder four-piece sets for Ganyu, especially Wanderer’s with its boost to Charged Attacks. Blizzard Strayer is decent, but is best used in Cryo and Hydro-heavy party comps.
- Wanderer’s Troupe (Elite Bosses, Stormterror, Wolf of the North, Golden House)
- (2) Elemental Mastery +80
- (4) Increases Charged Attack damage by 35 percent if the character uses a Catalyst or Bow.
- Noblesse Oblige (Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern)
- (2) Elemental Burst damage increased by 20 percent.
- (4) Using an Elemental Burst increases all party members’ Attack stat by 20 percent for 12 seconds, but this effect cannot stack.
- Glacier and Snowfield (Coming Soon)
- (2) Increases Cryo damage by 15%.
- (4) Increases Superconduit damage by 100%, and increases Melt damage by 15%. Using an Elemental Burst increases Cryo damage bonus by 30% for 10s.
- Blizzard Strayer (Peak of Vindagnyr)
- (2) Cryo DMG Bonus +15%
- (4) When a character attacks an opponent affected by Cryo, their CRIT Rate is increased by 20%. If the opponent is Frozen, CRIT Rate is increased by an additional 20%.
Ganyu Character Ascension Materials
- Level 20
- 1x Shivada Jade Sliver, 3x Qingxin, 3x Whopperflower Nectar, 20000 Mora
- Level 40
- 3x Shivada Jade Fragment, 2x Hoarfrost Core, 10x Qingxin, 15x Whopperflower Nectar, 40000 Mora
- Level 50
- 6x Shivada Jade Fragment, 4x Hoarfrost Core, 20x Qinqxin, 12x Shimmering Nectar, 60000 Mora
- Level 60
- 3x Shivada Jade Chunk, 8x Hoarfrost Core, 30x Qinqxin, 18x Shimmering Nectar, 80000 Mora
- Level 70
- 6x Shivada Jade Chunk, 12 Hoarfrost Core, 45x Qinqxin, 12x Energy Nectar, 100000 Mora
- Level 80
- 6x Shivada Jade Gemstone, 20x Hoarfrost Core, 60x Qinqxin, 24x Energy Nectar, 120000 Mora
Ganyu Talent Level-Up Materials
- Level 2
- 3x Teachings of Diligence, 3x Whopperflower Nectar, 12500 Mora
- Level 3
- 2x Guide to Diligence, 3x Shimmering Nectar, 17500 Mora
- Level 4
- 4x Guide to Diligence, 4x Shimmering Nectar, 25000 Mora
- Level 5
- 6x Guide to Diligence, 6x Shimmering Nectar, 30000 Mora
- Level 6
- 9x Guide to Diligence, 9x Shimmering Nectar, 35000 Mora
- Level 7
- 4x Philosophies of Diligence, 4x Energy Nectar, 1x Shadow of the Warrior, 120000 Mora
- Level 8
- 6x Philosophies of Diligence, 6x Energy Nectar, 1x Shadow of the Warrior, 260000 Mora
- Level 9
- 12x Philosophies of Diligence, 9x Energy Nectar, 2x Shadow of the Warrior, 450000 Mora
- Level 10
- 16x Philosophies of Diligence, 12x Energy Nectar, 2x Shadow of the Warrior, 1x Crown of Insight
