When Ganyu was first released in Genshin Impact patch 1.2, she was quickly considered the strongest character in the entire game, such was the power of her charged shots. Nowadays her place in the meta has been balanced by new additions, but she remains a powerhouse of Cryo damage.
In this article, we’ll be looking at her 3 best playstyles and the builds used to best achieve them as of patch 4.1. These are, in order of relevance, her Freeze build, Melt build, and her Mono-Cryo build.
First, an overview of her kit, and what makes her special:
- Extremely powerful charged shots which produce Frostflake Arrows, dealing a base total of ~620% of Ganyu’s attack stat at talent level 10;
- Elemental skill that serves as a useful taunt to pull enemies away from targeting her, as Ganyu generally has frail defenses. Each skill cast will deal 2 instances of Cryo damage, one at the beginning and one at the end of the taunt’s duration. Each hit deals 237% of her attack at talent level 10;
- Elemental burst which summons a field where it rains icicles,, dealing 126% of her attack as cryo damage each. The duration is as long as the skill cooldown, meaning it’s theoretically possible to achieve 100% burst uptime.
- Her elemental burst has quadratic scaling. This means that if, for example, 2 enemies are close together, an icicle will fall on each, and both will hit both targets. With each enemy grouped together in range of the icicles’ AoE, the damage she ultimately deals scales exponentially.
- Her passive talents grant her a 20% crit rate buff to subsequent Frostflake Arrows and Blooms after hitting the first one, and a 20% Cryo damage bonus to any party member (including her) who stands within her burst’s field.
- If you’re lucky, wealthy, or dedicated enough to acquire her constellations, you’ll find a massive increase in power with each. C1, for example, decreases the Cryo resistance of enemies hit by 15%, which is a worthwhile goal if you enjoy her character.
With that being said, it’s time to look into her builds.
Freeze Ganyu
Using the Freeze reaction and Venti’s grouping abilities, Ganyu’s Freeze team, commonly known as Morgana, is the most oppressive in the game. When it works, you’d be hard to find anything like it.
The core of this playstyle is pairing Ganyu with Venti. Venti’s elemental burst will group together all the lightweight enemies on the field, and Ganyu’s will make quick work of them from there. Grouping the enemies together maximizes the potential of her quadratic scaling, meaning that large groups of mobs can be shredded in literal seconds.
The Freeze reaction here only makes the team even more oppressive, since even enemies that aren’t completely sucked up by Venti’s burst will also be rendered immobile. The team is also helped by a 2nd Cryo party member, as the Cryo resonance you get from having 2 characters of the same element will provide a free 15% crit rate. Overall, a Frostflake Bloom shot while this team is working to its full extent will have a base crit rate of 75% before even considering Ganyu’s actual stats.
The one thing to note with this team is that it only works under the condition that the enemies are ‘Venti-able’, meaning they get pulled by Venti’s elemental burst. When it works it’s one of the outright best teams in the entire game, but much of Genshin Impact’s content consists of heavy enemies which can’t be pulled.
What freeze Ganyu excels in:
- Provides some of the best damage in the game thanks to Ganyu’s quadratic scaling burst;
- Provides the best crowd control possible with Venti’s burst and the Freeze reaction;
- Provides a very high amount of free crit rate by making the most of Cryo resonance and the Blizzard Strayer artifact set;
- Is limited by the weight class of the enemies you’re facing, as Venti can only pull light and medium-weight foes;
- Is basically the game on easy mode, once the enemies are frozen and sucked up there is no threat of damage to your characters.
Build details:
- Talent priority should be elemental burst > normal attacks > elemental skill, as the bulk of her damage here comes form her burst;
- Her best weapon in this team is the Polar Star, followed by Acqua Simulacra, Thundering Pulse, and Amos’ Bow. Very good 4-star options are Prototype Crescent and Hamayumi;
- You’re going to want the Blizzard Strayer artifact set, as it provides 15% extra Cryo damage damage and a massive boost of 40% crit rate against frozen targets. Your sands’ main stat should be atk%, goblet’s should be Cryo dmg%, and circlet’s should be crit rate/damage, depending on what you’re lacking more. You should prioritize crit substats, followed by atk%.
Best team for this build:
Best team for this build:
- Venti
Venti is irreplaceable in the Freeze team, as his grouping is what makes it so powerful. He also provides a 40% Cryo resistance reduction to enemies with the Viridescent Venerer artifact set.
- Kokomi
Unlike other Cryo characters, Ganyu can’t use Xingqiu effectively for her team, as her charged shots don’t activate his elemental burst. Kokomi will use her elemental skill to provide long-lasting AoE Hydro application which is frequent enough to keep enemies perpetually frozen.
- Layla
Mostly here to provide Cryo resonance, although her shield can be handy if an enemy manages to somehow escape Venti. She can also provide minor amounts of damage.
Melt Ganyu
Ganyu’s Melt team revolves around affecting enemies with Pyro so that she can Melt her charged shots, dealing 50% more damage with each one.
While Freeze excels against groups of enemies, Melt Ganyu is your best option against a single target, or against heavy opponents. This team has 2 variations: pure Melt or Burn-Melt. Pure Melt implies the use of just Ganyu and Pyro characters, while Burn-Melt makes use of Nahida to apply Dendro too, causing a Burning reaction which will provide reliable Pyro application for a time.
While not as game-breaking as her Freeze team, Melt Ganyu still provides a very high level of damage. This build is also cheaper to invest in thanks to the artifact sets being more resin-efficient to farm and the supports being more flexible.
What Melt Ganyu excels in:
- Very good ability to deal damage thanks to the Melt reaction;
- Can make more use of 4-star supports like Bennett;
- Benefits from elemental mastery, which increases the effectiveness of reactions;
- Flexible team options when using Nahida to enable the Burn reaction;
- Makes use of artifact sets that you’d naturally get anyway by farming for other characters.
Build details:
- Prioritize her normal attacks, as those are where the scaling for her charged shots lie. Then elemental burst > elemental skill.
- Her best weapon for Melt is Hunter’s Path, followed by Acqua Simulacra, Amos’ Bow, Polar Star, and Thundering Pulse. Her best 4-star options are the craftable bows Prototype Crescent and Hamayumi.
- Her best artifact set is Wanderer’s Troupe, which you obtain from defeating world and weekly bosses. It gives a boost of 80 elemental mastery and 35% additional charged shot damage. Shimenawa’s Reminiscence is a comparable option, but its energy drain is restrictive. Your sands’ main stat should be EM, goblet’s should be cryo dmg%, and circlet’s should be crit rate/damage, depending on what you’re lacking more. You should prioritize crit substats, followed by atk%.
Best team for this build:
- Bennett
He can funnel energy into the other Pyro character and provides a large boost in attack when inside the field of his burst.
- Nahida
She is the character who glues everything together, as her elemental skill is the only way to apply Dendro quick enough to keep up the Burning reaction.
- Dehya
This character is here to apply Pyro from off-field to fuel the Burning reaction. She also provides valuable defensive utility that helps a frail unit like Ganyu.
Mono-cryo Ganyu
Mono-Cryo is like Freeze, but you give up the Freeze reaction and its benefits for the addition of another Cryo character which can often add to your team’s damage.
While Freeze is a nice reaction to use, it’s not strictly necessary when using Venti as his burst is so oppressive to any lightweight enemies. For this reason, it’s often viable to replace the Hydro character and the 20% additional crit rate Freeze teams get with an additional Cryo character who can do more damage.
Mono-Cryo Ganyu also doesn’t necessarily need Venti, as it relies more on her charged shots, diminishing the importance of her burst’s quadratic scaling. This team is a good option against any type of enemies, whether in a group or as a single large target. Also, some enemies simply can’t be frozen, so Mono-Cryo becomes a good option to deal with those.
What Mono-Cryo Ganyu excels in:
- It’s the most flexible of her teams in terms of what type of battles it works in, being a balance between her Freeze and Melt teams;
- It’s a balance that many players will appreciate between using her elemental burst and charged shots;
- It’s also very flexible in terms of her team compositions, not requiring any specific support character to work;
- It can still do very good damage thanks to the more offensive nature of her support units;
- Its build is similar to Freeze’s, so you can farm the artifacts for both play styles in one.
Build details:
- Talent priority is still her elemental burst, but an equally large focus should be put on her normal attacks, as her charged shots contribute much more to her damage in this team;
- Her best weapon choices here are the same as in freeze: Polar Star, Acqua Simulacra, Thundering Pulse, Amos’ Bow, Prototype Crescent, and Hamayumi;
- Her best artifact set here is still Blizzard Strayer. While she won’t benefit from the set’s full buff, enemies will still be affected by Cryo, giving an important 20% crit rate increase. Your sands’ main stat should be atk%, goblet’s should be cryo dmg%, and circlet’s should be crit rate/damage, depending on what you’re lacking more. You should prioritize crit substats, followed by atk%.
Best team for this build:
- Zhongli
Zhongli will lower enemies’ resistance to Cryo, and provide a very useful shield.
- Shenhe
Shenhe buffs Ganyu’s charged attacks while allowing for the Cryo resonance to be active.
- Kazuha
Kazuha is an excellent option as he’ll provide resistance shred and elemental damage bonus when he Swirls.
Ganyu is one of the best-aging characters from the early days of Genshin Impact, and she still holds a place in the meta as one of the strongest picks out there for the situations in which she excels. She has many different ways to be played, and her play styles only grow more varied with time. The addition of Furina, the Hydro archon, in patch 4.2 is expected to be more good news for Ganyu as it opens up her Freeze teams to adapt to the incoming meta in Fontaine.
