Genshin Impact Ganyu build guide: Best gear, builds, and party comp
As the Liyue Qixing’s secretary, Ganyu is the backbone of the committee - working hard for thousands of years to serve Liyue and its governing body. She’s often softspoken and gentle, but embarking on her story quest is a journey revealing one of Genshin Impact’s most thoughtful and complicated characters.
And for those of you looking to build the thoughtful half-adeptus, Ganyu is a powerful addition to any team. While Genshin Impact’s roster practically has no character you can’t make “viable,” Ganyu has to be one of the easier choices to arm yourself with for a powerful fighter right at pull. So whether you choose to go all out or make a meager investment in her, we’ll explain how you can make the most out of one of your best five-star options.
- Playing as Ganyu
- Ganyu’s Role and Team Synergy
- How to Build Ganyu
- Abilities, Talent, and Constellations Explained
- Checklist - Materials to Farm for Ganyu
For anyone seeking to pull Ganyu, make sure you’re watching Genshin Impact’s upcoming banner change as she returns alongside Zhongli. You can add to your Primogem stash for pulls by also visiting our Genshin Impact codes guide.
Genshin Impact | How do you use Ganyu?
MiHoYo has done some tweaking amongst the elements since Genshin Impact’s launch, but cryo is still a player favorite, and Ganyu’s elemental spec here already makes her a great choice for just about any team. While she works as a support, I highly recommend making her your investment for a main DPS.
So how do you play Ganyu as a main cryo DPS?
This part is a little tougher, but Ganyu as a main DPS means you need to make heavy use of her charge shot - the ability toggle that comes up when you hold your bow button to aim. Instead of spamming arrows, Ganyu will whip one out and hold it while you lock an enemy in your sights. Wait for the arrow to charge twice, and then you can fire.
That double charge gives you a Frostflake arrow - your big source of DPS on Ganyu. Frostflake gives Ganyu a 20% Crit Rate Up for five seconds, and that’s enough time to prepare another one. You can keep refreshing that buff, and it’s worth spamming for the damage alone. This is your bread and butter for a main DPS Ganyu; prioritize it over anything else.
Her elemental skill is an excellent taunt, and it’s pretty useful even with no investment for extra damage. It’s great to drop the lotus taunt amongst a big group of enemies, wait for them to bunch up, then user her elemental burst for a constant rein of cryo damage. When enemies are all bunched up, take out stragglers with those busted charge shots and watch them go down.
Is Ganyu a good support DPS?
Ganyu is fine as a support character, too. I just enjoyed using her from the beginning as a main DPS due to what little investment that path called for compared to so many others. Her charge shot is less important here, but using the lotus skill for an easy taunt and cryo burst to freeze enemies is still a major help. Ganyu’s range is huge, and her kit doesn’t rely much on you being too precise.
You can also still find use in Ganyu’s elemental prowess as a support with her taunt. While Cryo Burst and Cryo Freeze compositions make her an excellent main DPS, you can still use her just for those abilities to trigger reactions. However, I very rarely find myself interrupting the flow of a fight to use her burst skill and keep the focus on charge shots with my reactions from my pyro party member.
Genshin Impact | What’s the best team for Ganyu?
Ganyu, Bennett, Venti, and Zhongli
This team has served as my go-to roster for nearly everything in Genshin Impact, even in fights where these weren’t the best elemental choices. Venti and Bennett are excellent party staples utility-wise for plenty of teams, but I use Bennett to trigger melt effects with Ganyu, and everything plays nicely with Venti’s anemo swirl. When I'm in a tough boss fight, I’ve also swapped out Venti for Hu Tao, my other main DPS.
Ganyu, Mona, Venti, and Diona
When going for freeze effects, tagging in Mona works well. While I rarely use this setup over melt, Mona doesn’t need to be beefy at all to benefit from tagging an enemy with her hydro skills. Freeze teams are undoubtedly the better AOE option, and if you don’t have Venti you can replace him with characters like Kazuha.
Building Ganyu in Genshin Impact
Priority stats: Attack %, Crit Dmg
Crit is king in most main DPS scenarios, but eschewing it for Ganyu isn’t the end of the world. She’s got that handy charge crit rate up on her Frostflake arrow. Instead, focus on pieces that give you additional Attack and flat Crit.
Bow: Amos’ Bow
Building Ganyu in any capacity still means using Amos’ Bow for best results, as it builds off of aimed shot damage and stacks damage with use. Prototype Crescent is still what I use on Ganyu, and its added speed buff is great.
Equipment: Wanderer’s Troupe
Wanderer’s Troupe buffs work great with charged attacks, making it one of the more obvious go-to for Ganyu. However, while a four-piece Wanderer’s Troupe gets the job done on just about any Ganyu build and is easy to pick, you can also opt for Blizzard Strayer.
Ganyu’s Talents and Constellations
As mentioned before, Ganyu is great because you don’t need a ton of effort to make her really shine. However, if you’re looking to sink more into her and invest, here’s where to begin.
Talents
For a main DPS Ganyu, prioritize leveling Liutian Archery, Celestial Shower, and Trail of the Qilin in that order. Support Ganyu should focus on just leveling Trail of the Qilin and Celestial Shower.
Liutian Archery (Normal Attack)
- Perform up to six consecutive shots with a bow. Charged attacks perform Aimed Shot with increased damage with different effects based on how long the energy is charged:
- Charge Level 1: Fires off an icy arrow that deals Cryo DMG.
- Charge Level 2: Fires off a Frostflake Arrow that deals Cryo DMG. The Frostflake Arrow blooms after hitting its target, dealing AOE Cryo DMG.
Trail of the Qilin
- Leaving a single Ice Lotus behind, Ganyu dashes backward, shunning all impurity and dealing AOE Cryo DMG. Ice Lotus taunts surrounding opponents and scales based on Ganyu’s max HP. Blooms after being destroyed or once duration ends for AOE Cryo DMG.
Celestial Shower
- Coalesces atmospheric frost and snow to summon a Sacred Cryo Pearl that exorcises evil. The Sacred Cryo Pearl continuously rains down shards of ice during its ability duration, striking opponents within an AOE and dealing Cryo DMG.
Undivided Heart
- After firing a Frostflake Arrow, the CRIT Rate of subsequent Frostflake Arrows and their resulting bloom effects is increased by 20% for five seconds.
Harmony between Heaven and Earth
- Celestial Shower grants a 20% Cryo DMG Bonus to active members in the AOE.
Preserved for the Hunt
- Refunds 15% of the ores used when crafting Bows.
Constellations
While my personal experience with Ganyu are limited to a C1 and C2 buff, she’s fine at C0. Of course, most Genshin characters are, but Ganyu is among the few where it’s easier to argue there’s no need to keep going.
On that same note, she’s also one of the few Genshin characters where an added constellation almost always seems like a major win for your team. There’s not a constellation of Ganyu’s that’s a waste, so either way, you won’t mess up here if you accidentally wind up with a double.
C1: Dew-Drinker
- Taking DMG from a charge level two Frostflake Arrow or Frostflake Arrow Bloom decreases opponents' Cryo RES by 15% for 6s. A hit regenerates two energy for Ganyu. This effect can only occur once per charge level two Frostflake Arrow, regardless of whether Frostflake Arrow itself or its Bloom hit the target.
C2: The Auspicious
- Trail of the Qilin gains one additional charge.
C3: Cloud-Strider
- Increases the Level of Celestial Shower by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
C4: Westward Sojourn
- Opponents standing within the AOE of Celestial Shower take increased DMG. This effect strengthens over time. Increased DMG 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 opponent leaves the AOE.
C5: The Merciful
- Increases the Level of Trail of the Qilin by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
C6: The Clement
- Using Trail of the Qilin causes the next Frostflake Arrow shot within 30 seconds to not require charging.
Checklist | Everything You Need for Leveling Ganyu
If you’re looking to collect everything needed to boost Ganyu up immediately - EXP books and Mora aside - here’s a handy checklist to help you prepare for her arrival, along with any resource links we may have.
Ganyu’s Ascension Material Total Costs:
- Hoarfrost Core - 46
- Shivada Jade Sliver - 1
- Shivada Jade Fragment - 9
- Shivada Jade Chunk - 9
- Shivada Jade Gemstone - 6
- Qingxin - 168
- Whopperflower Nectar - 18
- Shimmering Nectar - 30
- Energy Nectar - 36
Ganyu’s Talent Book Total Costs:
- Whopperflower Nectar - 6
- Shimmering Nectar - 22
- Energy Nectar - 31
- Teachings of Diligence - 3
- Guide to Diligence - 21
- Philosophies of Diligence - 38
- Shadow of the Warrior - 6
- Crown of Insight - 1