by Not-Casuals

Here is a video version of this guide!

Disclaimer: Yes, EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. in this game is amazing, especially at high level, using decent artifacts and a good weapon. That is the essence behind all of our character guides, which have the sole purpose of showcasing all characters potential! All content in this game can be cleared using F2P Characters with 0 Primogems or Money investment, so, yes, you can play literally any character you like and do well!

Ganyu has quickly gone from being “Cryo Amber” to instead being “Cryo Klee” and we couldn’t be happier about this, as it gives us another reason to stare at her. She is arguably now one of the best Main DPS as well as Support Character in Genshin Impact, and with good gear, she makes all the currently available content in the game very trivial.

Cryo is one of the most powerful element in Genshin Impact, especially since the introduction of the new Cryo Set which can grant you up to 40% Crit Rate against frozen enemies. The only downside to a Cryo Main DPS is that when it procs Melt it can only do up to 150% DMG, as opposed to triggering melt with Pyro, which does 200% dmg instead. Nonetheless, Ganyu’s scaling is so high, she still outputs very similar Damage to Klee, Childe and Diluc.

This guide will explain how to build Ganyu for both MAIN DPS and SUPPORT with using Ganyu at Constellation 0 in mind. I will also explain the different Stat Priorities you should be focusing on her gear and go over her best Weapon Choices as well as Artifact Sets. Lastly, I will give a few Gameplay and Teamcomp Tips on how to use her to her max potential!

Abilities

Normal

• The main part of Ganyu’s Kit as a DPS is going to be her Charged Shot which deals very good Cryo DMG. Additionally, when held long enough, it will proc a Frostflake Bloom, that will explode and deal AOE Cryo Dmg, with insanely high scaling. This is what differentiates her from other Archer DPS, as it basically gives her double Cryo DMG Effects on her attacks, and deals major AOE DMG.

Elemental Skill

• Remember Amber’s skill that throws a obnoxious looking loli Amber on the ground and taunts enemies until it explodes? That’s almost the same, but with Cryo DMG instead. Also, when casting this ability, Ganyu will also dash backward and deal some initial Cryo DMG as well. This is great to get some distance and be able to cast your Charged Shots peacefully from far away.

Elemental Burst

• Ganyu’s Ult is the main reason why she can be played so efficiently as a support as well. It creates a HUGE AoE Area where Icicles will keep falling, dealing AoE Cryo DMG and make Hilichurls cry at night when dreaming about Ganyu. The Icicles will both automatically fall on Targets inside the radius, as well as randomly on the floor. Since they all cause AoE DMG, 2 monsters side by side can get hit 4 times from 2 icicle effects, which makes this ability absolutely insane for dealing dmg and for Cryo application, especially since it can be kept up with 100% Uptime, as it has 15 Seconds Duration, and 15 Seconds of cooldown!

– Leveling Priorities as Main DPS = Normal Attack > Ult > Skill

– Leveling Priorities as Support = Ult > Skill > Normal Attack

Passive Talents

• Undivided Heart makes it so that after firing one Charged Shot, you will gain a buff for 5 seconds granting you 20% Crit Rate on your subsequent Charged Shots. This works on the bloom effects too and refreshes every time you shoot.
• Harmony between Heaven and Earth grants 20% Cryo DMG to Characters standing inside Ganyu’s ult radius.

Constellations

Ganyu is probably one of the most C0 friendly Character to have been recently released, and the majority of her constellations boost her Charged Shots capabilities only.

• The First Constellation will make her fully charged shots reduce the Cryo Resistance of enemies by 15% as well providing her 2 energy per hit. This will help boost her DMG and have her Ult up consistently as a Main DPS.
• The Second Constellation gives her Elemental Skill a second charge, which is a nice Quality of Life buff especially in Abyss Level where you have to protect an objective.
• The Fourth Constellations is the only constellation that is absolutely broken for both Support and Main DPS Ganyu. It will cause enemies standing in her Ult to take increasingly more DMG from all sources, up to a maximum of 25% DMG Bonus.
• The Sixth Constellation will cause the 0.01% of the Genshin Community who actually unlock this to have even wetter dreams about Ganyu, allowing them to cast fully charged aimed shots, after casting her Elemental Skill, without having to actually charge them.

DPS GANYU

Stat Priority

This section is quite complicated, as Ganyu can be built so differently based on your playstyle, and what artifact you want to use, or you have available. Crit Rate is very important on Ganyu, but you can also gain 75% of it for free without having it on any of your gear.

• Cryo Resonance = 15% Crit Rate on enemies Frozen or affected by Cryo
• 4-PC Blizzard Strayer Artifact Set = 20% Crit Rate on Enemies Affected by Cryo
• 4-PC Blizzard Strayer Artifact Set = Additional 20% Crit Rate on Frozen Enemies
• Undivided Heart Passive Talent = 20% Crit Rate Buff for Charged Shots

It is also IMPORTANT to note that when shooting at enemies HEAD or WEAK POINTS, you have 100% CRIT CHANCE, making building Crit Rate potentially wasteful in a lot of scenario (i.e. if you are very good at aiming)

For this reason, I do not recommend much Crit Rate on her gear for optimal builds, but you can obviously still use it, as not everyone will have access to these buffs or well rolled artifacts!

For DPS, the primary stats that you will be aiming for

• Sands: ATK% or Elemental Mastery (for heavy Melt Comps)
• Goblet: Cryo DMG%
• Circlet: Crit DMG%
• Perfect Sub Stats for her would be Crit DMG%, Atk%, Elemental Mastery/Crit Rate

Weapons

1. Amos Bow is without a doubt the best weapon on her. This has been heavily tested by the GanyuMains community. The reason being that the Frostflake Arrow Bloom effect is delayed, and takes at .3 seconds to hit, benefiting heavily from the Passive of the bow. This also stacks with the actual Travel time of the arrow, making it so you almost always get max DMG% buff (52% dmg at R1)
2. Skyward Harp is the obvious second choice, being a 5 star with Crit Rate and Crit DMG as well as a powerful passive.
3. Stringless is the next best option if you are building Ganyu for heavy Melt Comps, as you benefit from the Elemental Mastery heavily, as well as it boosts your Skill and Ult’s dmg significantly.
4. If not going for Melt Comp, Blackcliff Warbow is going to be her best 4 star option, available for everyone through the Starglitter Shop. It provides Crit DMG and a powerful Passive.
5. Protoype Crescent is also a very good option, being that its craftable, so you can eventually get R5 once Mihoyo stops trolling you with World Boss Drops. It also has a very good passive effect for Charged Shots.

Artifacts

Different Artifact Set Choices will depend heavily on what you, as a Ganyu simp, prefer in terms of Gameplay, as they are all very viable.

1. 4-Piece Blizzard Strayer is the obvious choice, granting her up to 40% Crit rate in Freeze Comps as well as 15% Cryo DMG, which is huge. If you choose this, you will most likely not need to build any Crit Rate on your gear, but you will have to build your team appropriately in order to be able to freeze enemies consistently.
2. 2-Piece Blizzard Strayer + 2-Piece Gladiator is another very decent option, if you do not want to play a Freeze Comp. 15% Cryo DMG and 18% ATK are generally great buffs to her DMG and more consistent as well as easier to play. Though, when going this route, you might have to get some Crit Rate on your gear.
3. 4-Piece Wanderers Troupe is the best option if you are going for a Melt Comp, as it grants Elemental Mastery and increased DMG to your Charged Shots.
4. Other options can include 4-Piece Bolide, as well as for the early game, Berserker is very viable.

SUPPORT GANYU

For Support, you will rely mostly on having 100% uptime on your Ult for permanent Cryo Effects. This means you need about 160% Energy Recharge (as long as your ult is hitting more than 1-2 monsters and you cast your E often). You can achieve this easily with an ER% Sand or an ER% Weapon, or a few substats. From initial testing, it seems like building an offensive weapon and getting ER% on the Artifacts provides more value and overall DMG.

Support Ganyu is undoubtedly the best Cryo Character for Melt Comps, with a Pyro Character as your main DPS proccing the melts (Klee, Diluc, Bennett, Hu Tao?) as she provides 100% Cryo Uptime.

Also note that as a support, you do not benefit from all the Crit Rate Bonuses (except from Resonance) so you will want to build some Crit rate to benefit from all the Crit DMG she gains passively.

• Sands: Energy Recharge or ATK%
• Goblet: Cryo DMG%
• Circlet: Crit Rate or Crit DMG%
• Perfect Sub Stats for her would have Crit Rate, Crit DMG, Atk%, Energy Recharge

Weapons

1. Skyward Harp would be the optimal support weapon for Ganyu, but if you have a Skyward Harp, unless youre a mega-whale, you most likely will want to use it on a character with a DPS Role.
2. Stringless, for the common people, is probably the most viable option otherwise, as it directly boosts your Ult and Skill DMG while having decent Base DMG. If building Stringless, you will want ER% on your Sands, or on a lot of your Substats.
3. Blackcliff Warbow and the BP Weapon are otherwise amazing options as well, for higher DMG output. Make sure to build your gear accordingly to balance your Crit Rate/Crit DMG Ratio and build ER on your Sands or Substats as well if you use these.
4. Favonius Warbow, which you get a copy of for free early in the game, is another amazing option for her. It provides all the Energy Recharge you need, and the passive can provide some extra energy regen, though it is important to note that it DOES NOT work when she is not on the field, so you do not benefit that much from it.
5. Sacrificial Bow is another great option for ER%, the passive also helps your gameplay and energy regen as it lets you cast your skill multiple times when it procs.

Artifacts

1. 2-Piece Blizzard Strayer + 2-Piece Noblesse Oblige is one of the most viable option for Support Ganyu. It directly buffs all her DMG as well as her Ult DMG.
2. 4-Piece Noblesse Oblige is also a great option, as you will get a very high uptime on the buff it gives for your party.
3. There are a lot of other sets you can use here that will work fine as well, but these are definitely the best options.

Team Comp and Tips

• As previously stated, you can play Ganyu in MANY different ways. In a Freeze Comp, you will need a Hydro Character to apply Freeze consistently. Mona, Xingqiu and Childe are all very viable in this role, though Childe is much better suited as a Main DPS himself, he is especially good at support Ganyu if you have C4 on him making his Riptide proc Hydro very easily.
• In a Melt Comp, you will be focusing on doing big PP dmg with charged shot on a monster afflicted by Pyro. The best enablers for this are Klee and Xiangling, with Bennett also providing valuable in the team.
• If your Melt Comp uses Ganyu as a support, Diluc, Klee and Bennett are going to be the best Main DPS to use. Xiangling can also work, but she is more viable as a Physical DMG Dealer for main DPS, and due to the nature of her Ult, it can be harder to predict which character will proc the melts.
• Due to the nature of these comps, you will want to be careful about not having other elements come in and mess up your very important reactions, which means that you often will want the last character in your party to be Anemo. Venti and Sucrose are definitely the best options, as they also drag and stack mobs on top of each other, making Ganyu’s AoE insanely powerful.
• Geo Characters can also work very well, since Crystallize is a bonus reaction that does not consume other reactions. Albedo is an obvious great choice, as well as Zhongli, but literally any Geo Character can be okay if you’d like to use them!
• Lastly, while these tips are all for optimal usage, this is a game with a very low difficulty level (especially when you get higher level, decent gear, and use these increasingly powerful 5 star characters). As our friend Enviosity has proven, you can clear the entirety of this games content using only F2P Characters and not spending a single Primogem. This means you can literally play ANY TEAM COMP AND CHARACTER YOU WANT AS ITS YOUR BUSINESS AND YOURS ONLY WHAT YOU DO IN A SINGLE PLAYER GAME!

I hope that you guys enjoyed this guide, feel free to ask any questions or share you tips about her! Let me know what you think of her so far and what angle you think is the best when staring at her!