Genshin Impact’s Ganyu is a key member of the Liyue Qixing, who we meet in the Liyue storyline. She’s half qilin, and is an adeptus with some fancy red horns. Ganyu is an excellent DPS, with some really strong cryo capabilities, or she can be a great sub-DPS thanks to her big ult move. Here’s the best Ganyu build to make the most of her talents.
Once you’ve come to grips with Ganyu, head over to our Genshin Impact tier list to see where the rest of the characters rank, and then grab some Genshin Impact codes from our handy list. Check out the next Genshin Impact banners, too, to see who you can pull for.
Here’s everything in our Genshin Impact Ganyu build guide:
What’s the best Ganyu build?
Ganyu is a five-star character who uses a bow and the cryo element.
| Rarity | ★★★★★ |
| Element | Cryo |
| Weapon | Bow |
| Best weapon | Polar Star |
| Substitute weapons | Amos Bow, Prototype Crescent |
| Best artifact set | Blizzard Strayer |
| Artifact substitutes | Wanderer’s Troupe, Shimenawa’s Reminiscence |
| Main stats | Sands: Attack Goblet: Cryo damage bonus Circlet: Crit rate/damage |
| Sub-stats | Crit rate, crit damage, attack |
Ganyu is a super powerful ranged DPS that deals cryo damage and uses a bow. She’s reliable in a wide range of team comps, and with some investment, is capable of dishing out some of the highest damage in the game.
Ganyu’s elemental skill acts as a taunt to draw enemy fire away, but you’re best off using a shielder or healer to keep her safe as she charges her shots. Pairing her with hydro units is especially effective thanks to her AoE elemental burst which can freeze enemies in a large area.
The best pieces to equip her with are the Polar Star or Amos Bow, and a set of Blizzard Strayer artifacts to up her cryo damage.
How do I use Ganyu?
Ganyu can deal a ton of damage with her charged shots, so we recommend focusing most of your time on that. Make sure to set up any other elements or healing and shields on field beforehand, so Ganyu can create any reactions you may be going for.
Dropping her ultimate, especially if you also have a unit like Ayato, Xingqiu, Furina, or Mona that can deal off-field hydro damage, will keep enemies frozen so you can take your time targeting them. Or, you can use her with an on-field hydro to freeze, too.
What are the best weapons for Ganyu?
Generally, the best weapon for Ganyu depends on your build. In a freeze team where Ganyu is your main, on-field DPS, Polar Star is the best choice. For a quickswap freeze team where you’re switching between characters regularly, Aqua Simulacra takes the top spot. For a melt team, Hunter’s Path charges into the lead.
For a strong four-star choice in both freeze and freeze quickswap teams, Mouun’s Moon at refinement rank five is your best option. However, if you’re looking for something that relies on a little less RNG, R5 Prototype Crescent is a great option.
| Polar Star | Stat: Increases crit rate Skill: Increases elemental skill and elemental burst damage by 12%. After a normal attack, charged attack, elemental skill, or elemental burst hits an opponent, gain one stack of Ashen Nightstar for 12 seconds. When 1/2/3/4 stacks of Ashen Nightstar are present, your attack increases by 10/20/30/48%. The stack of Ashen Nightstar created by the normal attack, charged attack, elemental skill, or elemental burst counts independently of the others. |
Weapon banner |
| Hunter’s Path | Stat: Increases crit rate Skill: Gain a 12% elemental damage bonus. Obtain the Tireless Hunt effect after hitting an opponent with a charged attack. This effect increases charged attack damage by 160% of Ganyu’s elemental mastery. This effect ends after 12 charged attacks or ten seconds. You can only gain one instance of Tireless Hunt every 12 seconds. |
Weapon banner |
| Aqua Simulacra | Stat: Increases crit damage Skill: Increases HP by 16%. When there are opponents nearby, your damage increases by 20%. This takes effect whether Ganyu is on-field or not. |
Weapon banner |
| Amos Bow | Stat: Increases attack Skill: Increases Ganyu’s normal and charged attack damage by 12%. After a normal or charged attack is fired, damage dealt increases by a further 8% every 0.1 seconds the arrow is in the air up to 5 times. |
Weapon banner |
| The Viridescent Hunt | Stat: Increases crit rate Skill: Upon hit, normal and aimed shots have a chance to create a Cyclone, which pulls in opponents and deals 40% of Ganyu’s attack as damage to said opponents. |
All banners |
| Prototype Crescent | Stat: Increases attack Skill: Charged attack hits on weak points increase your movement speed by 10% and attack by 36% for ten seconds. |
Forged |
What are Ganyu’s best artifacts?
For freeze or mono-cryo teams, Blizard Strayer is the best set with no competition. Its crit rate boost is a true asset to Ganyu, and it’s hard to go wrong with the cryo damage bonus. For melt teams, Wanderer’s Troupe is your best option. It offers a valuable boost to her elemental mastery and is very easy to farm passively or through artifact strongboxes. Any attack-boosting two-piece won’t go amiss either, as Ganyu will gladly make use of a higher stat.
| Blizzard Strayer | Two pieces: Cryo damage bonus Four pieces: Increases crit rate by 20% when attacking an enemy affected by cryo. If the enemies freeze, it increases crit rate by an additional 20%. |
Obtain from the Peak of Vindagnyr domain |
| Wanderer’s Troupe | Two pieces: Increases elemental mastery Four pieces: Increases charged attack damage by 35%. |
Obtain from weekly and world bosses, artifact strongbox |
| Shimenawa’s Reminiscence | Two pieces: Increases attack Four pieces: If Ganyu has 15 or more energy when casting an elemental skill she loses 15 energy and normal/charged/plunging attack damage increases by 50% for ten seconds. This effect won’t trigger again during that duration. |
Obtain from the Momiji-Dyed Court domain |
| Gladiator’s Finale | Two pieces: Increases attack |
Obtain from weekly and world bosses, artifact strongbox |
Stat recommendations
Main stats:
- Sands: Attack
- Goblet: Cryo damage bonus
- Circlet: Crit damage, crit rate
Sub-stats:
- Crit damage
- Crit rate
- Elemental mastery
- Attack
What are the best Ganyu team comps?
Ganyu excels as a main DPS thanks to her charged shots and as a sub-DPS, if you make use of her AoE burst. Here are some of the teams we recommend using her in:
What are Ganyu’s abilities?
Ganyu’s kit overflows with icy benefits that cause devastation to enemies. Here’s what her normal and elemental skills do on the battlefield and what passive skills she possesses.
Active skills
| Normal attack | Liutian Archery Normal: Perform up to six shots with a bow Charge level one: An icy shot that deals cryo damage Charge level two: Fire a Frostflake Arrow that explodes on impact dealing AoE cryo damage Plunging: A shower of arrows that deals AoE damage |
| Elemental skill | Trail of the Qilin This skill deals a small AoE of cryo damage and leaves behind an Ice Lotus. The Ice Lotus taunts enemies into attacking it and deals AoE cryo damage when destroyed |
| Elemental burst | Celestial Shower Ganyu Summons a Sacred Cryo Pearl that deals cryo damage in a large AoE and lasts ten seconds |
Passive skills
| Undivided Heart | After firing a Frostflake Arrow, the crit rate of subsequent Frostflake Arrows increases by 20% for five seconds |
| Harmony between Heaven and Earth | Celestial Shower gives a 20% cryo damage boost to party members |
| Preserved for the Hunt | Refunds 15% of the ore cost when crafting bows |
What are Ganyu’s constellations?
Here’s every buff you receive when you level up Ganyu’s constellations.
| C1 | Dew-Drinker When an enemy takes damage from a charge level two Frostflake Arrow Bloom their cryo resistance lowers by 15% for six seconds. A hit regenerates two energy for Ganyu. This effect can only occur once per charge level two Frostflake Arrow |
| C2 | The Auspicious Trail of the Qilin gains one additional charge |
| C3 | Cloud-Strider Increases the level of Celestial Shower by three |
| C4 | Westward Sojourn Enemies standing within the Celestial Shower AoE take extra damage. Damage increase begins at 5% and increases by 5% every three seconds, up to a maximum of 25%. The effect lingers for three seconds after the enemy leaves the AoE |
| C5 | The Merciful Increases the level of Trail of the Qilin by three |
| C6 | The Clement Using Trail of the Qilin causes the next Frostflake Arrow shot within 30 seconds to not require charging |
What are Ganyu’s ascension materials?
Ascension can be an expensive process, so we’ve listed all the items you need to save up while leveling. The Cryo Regisvine drops hoarfrost cores in Mondstadt and qingxin flowers pop up all over Liyue.
| 20➔40 | 20k mora One shivada jade sliver Three qingxin Three whopperflower nectar |
| 40➔50 | 40k mora Three shivada jade fragments Ten qingxin 15 whopperflower nectar Two hoarfrost cores |
| 50➔60 | 60k mora Six shivada jade fragments 20 qingxin 12 shimmering nectar Four hoarfrost cores |
| 60➔70 | 80k mora Three shivada jade chunks 30 qingxin 18 shimmering nectar Eight hoarfrost cores |
| 70➔80 | 100k mora Six shivada jade chunks 45 qingxin 12 energy nectar 12 hoarfrost cores |
| 80➔90 | 120k mora Six shivada jade gemstones 60 qingxin 24 energy nectar 20 hoarfrost cores |
Here’s where to get all of Ganyu’s ascension materials:
- Shivada jade – obtain from normal and weekly bosses – especially the cryo hypostasis and Andrius – or craft via alchemy
- Qingxin – gather from around Liyue, especially on mountaintops and Wuwang Hill
- Whopperflower nectar, shimmering nectar, energy nectar – obtain from whopperflower enemies around Teyvat, especially Liyue and Mondstadt
- Hoarfrost cores – drops from the cryo regisvine boss in Mondstadt
What are Ganyu’s talent materials?
Ganyu requires whopperflower nectar and shadow of the warrior items, which are drops of the weekly Tartaglia boss. The talent book that Ganyu needs is the diligence set. For the highest levels, you’ll need three crowns of insight if you want to completely round out her talents.
| 1➔2 | 12.5k mora Six whopperflower nectar Three teachings of diligence |
| 2➔3 | 17.5k mora Three shimmering nectar Two guides to diligence |
| 3➔4 | 25k mora Four shimmering nectar Four guides to diligence |
| 4➔5 | 30k mora Six shimmering nectar Six guides to diligence |
| 5➔6 | 37.5k mora Nine shimmering nectar Nine guides to diligence |
| 6➔7 | 120k mora Four energy nectar Four philosophies of diligence One shadow of the warrior |
| 7➔8 | 260k mora Six energy nectar Six philosophies of diligence One shadow of the warrior |
| 8➔9 | 450k mora Nine energy nectar 12 philosophies of diligence Two shadows of the warrior |
| 9➔10 | 700k mora 12 energy nectar 16 philosophies of diligence Two shadows of the warrior One crown of insight |
Here’s where to get all of Ganyu’s talent materials:
- Diligence talent books – obtain from the Taishan Mansion domain on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays
- Whopperflower nectar, shimmering nectar, energy nectar – obtain from whopperflower enemies around Teyvat, especially Liyue, and Mondstadt
- Shadows of the warrior – drops from the weekly Tartaglia boss fight in Liyue’s Golden House
Talent priority
As Ganyu focuses on charged attacks, you want to prioritize this when leveling her skills.
- Normal attack > elemental skill > elemental burst
Now that you know all about Genshin Impact’s Ganyu, you may be on the lookout for something new to play. If that’s the case, head on over to see the Honkai Star Rail tier list and any Honkai Star Rail codes that may pop up.