The best Genshin Impact Ganyu build
Learn how to put together the best possible Ganyu build
Want to learn how to create the best Ganyu build in Genshin Impact? As an emissary for the Liyue Qixing, Cryo Bow user Ganyu is quiet and composed, often prioritizing work over friendships. However, her adeptal heritage lends her a massive favor in battle as either main or sub DPS, which is why the graceful Ganyu is one of our favorite characters and even earned a spot on the top level of our tier list.
This guide will show you how to create the best Ganyu build in Genshin Impact. Below we'll cover everything you need to know about Ganyu, including wishing, weapons, artifacts, ascension materials, talents, abilities, and constellations.
Best Genshin Impact Ganyu build for DPS
Best weapon: Amos Bow
Alternatives: Skyward Harp/Blackcliff Warbow or Favonius Warbow/The Stringless
Ganyu’s best weapon is the Amos Bow, which increases Aimed Shot DMG by a solid 18%. However, if you aren’t planning on using Ganyu’s Charged Attacks a lot (which are what you’ll want to rely on if you’ve got the Amos Bow) or if you just can’t get your hands on Ganyu’s coveted weapon, there are other great options as well! Thanks to its versatile CRIT Rate and DMG buffs, Skyward Harp is another great 5-star option that can also be replaced by the Blackcliff Warbow. Finally, the Favonius Warbow and The Stringless (which respectively specialize in Energy Recharge and Elemental Mastery) can work wonders if you’re using Ganyu for her Elemental abilities.
Best artifacts: Wanderer's Troupe
Alternative: 2 pieces from Blizzard Strayer and 2 pieces from Noblesse Oblige
If you’re using Ganyu’s Charged Attacks as her main form of damage, go for a 4-piece Wanderer’s Troupe set, which increases Charged Attack DMG for Bow (that’s you!) and Catalyst users by 35%. If you’re opting to use her other Cryo abilities, using a 2-piece Blizzard Strayer set with a 2-piece Noblesse Oblige set will boost both your Cryo DMG and your Elemental Burst DMG, making Ganyu’s Elemental Burst your team’s strongest asset.
No matter what form of attack you’ll be using, you’ll want to look for artifacts with ATK%, Cryo DMG, and Crit DMG stats and substats. Aim for the following as an example:
- Circlet of Logos: CRITs
- Sands of Eon: ATK
- Goblet of Eonothem: Cryo DMG Bonus
- Substats: CRITs and ATK
Talent priority: Liutian Archery (Normal Attack)
Secondary: Celestial Shower (Elemental Burst)
When leveling up Ganyu’s talents, you’ll want to prioritize her Normal Attack first, since this will affect her Charged Attack as well. After that, focus on her Burst and then her Skill. However, if you’re planning on sticking to her Burst in battle, feel free to focus on that first instead! Here’s everything Ganyu has in store:
- Liutian Archery: Normal Attacl
- Normal Attack - Perform up to 6 consecutive shots with a bow.
- Charged Attack - Perform a more precise Aimed Shot with increased DMG. While aiming, an icy aura will accumulate on the arrowhead before the 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 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.
- Plunging Attack - Fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
- Trail of the Qilin: Elemental Skill - Leaving a single Ice Lotus behind, Ganyu dashes backward, shunning all impurity and dealing AoE Cryo DMG. Ice Lotus: 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 DMG.
- Celestial Shower: Elemental Burst - 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 DMG.
- Passive talent 1 - After firing a Frostflake Arrow, the CRIT Rate of subsequent Frostflake Arrows and their resulting bloom effects is increased by 20% for 5s.
- Passive talent 2 - Celestial Shower grants a 20% Cryo DMG Bonus to active members in the AoE.
- Passive talent 3 - Refunds 15% of the ores used when crafting Bow-type weapons.
Party composition
- Main DPS: Ganyu
- Sub DPS: Xiangling
- Shield: Diona
- Support/Healer: Barbara
5-star alternative: Zhongli replacing Diona on shields
As we've already mentioned, Ganyu is one of the best characters in Genshin Impact, and you can't really go wrong with a team that has her on it. However, it's a good idea to team her up with characters whose elements react with hers to best effect.
Thanks to the brutal Melt reaction that occurs when Cryo and Pyro are inflicted together on an enemy, it's a great idea to pair Ganyu up with a Pyro sub DPS like Xiangling or Thoma. Have the sub DPS attack second to maximise the damage, which is strongest when the Pyro character adds their element on top of Ganyu's Cryo (2x damage as opposed to 1.5x if Ganyu goes second).
Having a Hydro character in the party is also a great idea, since Hydro and Cryo react together to Freeze enemies. This is one of the most powerful reactions in the game, completely disabling afflicted characters for a period of time, during which they can neither attack your characters nor defend themselves. Barbara is a good choice to provide Hydro effects for Ganyu's team, since she's also one of the game's best healers.
Finally, it's a very good idea to give Ganyu a strong shielding companion, since her base HP is one of her weakest stats. Diona is a good choice, especially since she's a fellow Cryo character, allowing the whole party to benefit from the Shattering Ice elemental resonance. However, if you have top-tier shield Zhongli at your disposal, it's well worth sacrificing any potential elemental resonances to have Ganyu under the protection of his excellent Geo shields.
How to level up Ganyu in Genshin Impact
Ascension Materials
To fully ascend Ganyu, you’ll need:
| Ascension Level | Materials |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 Shivada Jade Sliver, 3 Qingxins, 3 Whopperflower Nectars, and 20,000 Mora |
| 2 | 3 Shivada Jade Fragments, 2 Hoarfrost Cores, 10 Qingxins, 15 Whopperflower Nectars, and 40,000 Mora |
| 3 | 6 Shivada Jade Fragments, 4 Hoarfrost Cores, 20 Qingxins, 12 Shimmering Nectars, and 60,000 Mora |
| 4 | 3 Shivada Jade Chunks, 8 Hoarfrost Cores, 30 Qingxins, 18 Shimmering Nectars, and 80,000 Mora |
| 5 | 6 Shivada Jade Chunks, 12 Hoarfrost Cores, 45 Qingxins, 12 Energy Nectars, and 100,000 Mora |
| 6 | 6 Shivada Jade Gemstones, 20 Hoarfrost Cores, 60 Qingxins, 24 Energy Nectar, and 120,000 Mora |
| Total | 1 Shivada Jade Sliver, 9 Shivada Jade Fragments, 9 Shivada Jade Chunks, 6 Shivada Jade Gemstones, 46 Hoarfrost Cores, 168 Qingxins, 18 Whopperflower Nectar, 30 Shimmering Nectar, 36 Energy Nectar, and 420,000 Mora |
You’ll have to beat some Cryo bosses to get there — the Cryo Regisvine is your best bet since it’ll drop both Shivada Jade and Hoarfrost Cores. Journeying through Liyue will likely net you the rest of these materials — beating the annoying little Whopperflowers that spring up from the ground will get you some Nectar while searching atop Liyue’s highest peaks will earn you enough Qingxins.
Talents
To fully level up one of Ganyu's talents, you'll need:
| Talent Level (+ required Ascension Level) | Materials |
|---|---|
| 2 (2) | 6 Whopperflower Nectars, 3 Teachings of Diligence, and 12,500 Mora |
| 3 (3) | 3 Shimmering Nectars, 2 Guides to Diligence, and 17,500 Mora |
| 4 (3) | 4 Shimmering Nectars, 4 Guides to Diligence, and 25,000 Mora |
| 5 (4) | 6 Shimmering Nectars, 6 Guides to Diligence, and 30,000 Mora |
| 6 (4) | 9 Shimmering Nectars, 9 Guides to Diligence, and 37,500 Mora |
| 7 (5) | 4 Energy Nectars, 4 Philosophies of Diligence, 1 Shadow of the Warrior, and 120,000 Mora |
| 8 (5) | 6 Energy Nectars, 6 Philosophies of Diligence, 1 Shadow of the Warrior, and 260,000 Mora |
| 9 (6) | 9 Energy Nectars, 12 Philosophies of Diligence, 2 Shadows of the Warrior, and 450,000 Mora |
| 10 (6) | 12 Energy Nectars, 16 Philosophies of Diligence, 2 Shadows of the Warrior, 1 Crown of Insight, and 700,000 Mora |
| Total | 6 Whopperflower Nectars, 22 Shimmering Nectars, 31 Energy Nectars, 3 Teachings of Diligence, 21 Guides to Diligence, 38 Philosophies of Diligence, 6 Shadows of the Warrior, 1 Crown of Insight, and 1,652,500 Mora |
Ganyu has three talents, so to level them all up, you need to collect the whole list of items for each one individually. Unfortunately it's going to take a lot more sparring with those Whopperflowers to collect all those nectars. Diligence books can be picked up at the Taishan Mansion domain (Tuesday/Friday/Sunday only), while Shadows of the Warrior can only be obtained by taking on Tartaglia in his Childe boss form at Challenge Level 70+. Finally, Crowns of Insight can be obtained through limited-time events or by making offerings to the Frostbearing Tree and the Sacred Sakura.
Constellations
All of Ganyu’s Constellations are pretty great, but one of her best is Constellation 1, which decreases opponents’ resistance to Cryo abilities while also slightly refilling Ganyu’s energy bar. Just be warned that Constellations are especially hard to get for characters at 5-star rarity. If you’re desperate, though, here are all of her Constellations:
- Dew-Drinker: Constellation Lv. 1 - Taking DMG from a Charge Level 2 Frostflake Arrow or Frostflake Arrow Bloom decreases opponents' Cryo RES 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: Constellation Lv. 2 - Trail of the Qilin gains 1 additional charge.
- Cloud-Strider: Constellation Lv. 3 - Increases the Level of Celestial Shower by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
- Westward Sojourn: Constellation Lv. 4 - 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 3s, up to a maximum of 25%. The effect lingers for 3s after the opponent leaves the AoE.
- The Merciful: Constellation Lv. 5 - Increases the Level of Trail of the Qilin by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
- The Clement: Constellation Lv. 6 - Using Trail of the Qilin causes the next Frostflake Arrow shot within 30s to not require charging.
How to get Ganyu in Genshin Impact
Ganyu is a limited character, meaning she’s not always available to wish for. After her introduction in 2021 she saw two reruns in 2022 and has so far had one in 2023. Her banner is once again unavailable right now, but the odds of her getting at least one more go this year seem good, so watch this space for more information!
If you're hoping to nab Ganyu on her next rerun, check out our guide on getting characters to learn the best ways to get more currency for wishes, or our codes list to get some free Primogems!
That’s all the info we’ve got on Ganyu! Why not check out our Genshin Impact character tier list to see which other characters are good to wish for?