Ganyu, if players were lucky enough to have her, is actually the current top DPS in the game right now along with Hu Tao. Of course, only a few people in the Genshin Impact community are aware of this through first-hand experience and even those who have Ganyu are a bit confused as to how she deals the highest consistent damage right now.
Because while she’s rather straightforward to pilot, Ganyu requires a certain understanding from her players. The same is true for all DPS or carry characters in Genshin Impact but Ganyu takes it a step further as she’s actually good in everything she does from being a support to main damage dealer. So in order to maximize her existence, knowing what she can do is crucial.
Updated March 25, 2022 by Sid Natividad: Ganyu remains as popular as ever in Genshin Impact. Despite all the new characters getting released left and right, she’s still the top DPS carry or main for any party. She has a certain simplicity in her playstyle that remains unmatched. But for players to maximize her in her full power, a Ganyu talent priority should always be observed.
Because like many characters in Genshin Impact, Ganyu has her own strengths and weaknesses. Playing to her strength ensures that she stays on top of the hierarchy for any players who have her on their roster. So, it pays to heed some pundit advice regarding the religiously-followed Ganyu talent priority or Ganyu skill priority. Here’s more advice, for that matter.
Upgrading Ganyu’s Talents
One of the most important steps in ensuring that one’s Ganyu is optimal is to level up her talents first. For this to happen, players will need the coveted upgrade materials for Ganyu. To upgrade Ganyu’s talents to level 10 (maxed without constellations) players will need her at level 90. Otherwise, the game will only allow her talents to be increased to level 8 (at level 80).
Refer to this cheat sheet to get a summary of all the materials she needs, courtesy of Genshin Impact Cheat Sheets (Twitter):
That’s just for ascension. For leveling, she’ll need an extra 432 Hero’s Wit and 1,672,000 Mora.
Farming Ganyu’s Talent Ascension Materials
A side not on Ganyu’s Talent books; those are Teachings of Diligence, Guide to Diligence, and Philosophies of Diligence. They can only be farmed in Taishan Mansion during Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
Meanwhile, she requires Shadow of the Warrior which only drops from Childe Tartaglia (boss). Players can only try for this once per week but they might be able to convert other boss materials into Shadow of the Warrior if they have Dream Solvent, which also drops from domain bosses. The Crown of Insight, which is required for level 10 Talents is as always usually available only in events or special quests.
The easiest way to farm for Ganyu’s talent ascension would be the Nectar from Whopperflowers. They’re all over the map and can easily be found in the tracker in the Adventurer Handbook. As for Mora, well, players don’t usually have to ask Zhongli to produce more of it for them as the game typically showers players with this currency via events and all kinds of quests.
Prioritize Her Normal Attack
This is rather optional for anyone who has Ganyu. For most characters, the Normal Attack talent takes a backseat to the Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst because those do the most work. For DPS or carry Ganyu characters, the Normal Attack stat is everything.
It’s her bread and butter thanks to having the best stat increases among all the bow users in the game. Additionally, Ganyu benefits well from having the second-highest base ATK stat in the game, second only to Xiao.
Don’t Do Normal Attacks
Sure, level up her Normal Attack talent but don’t actually use Normal Attacks. That’s because Ganyu shines best as a DPS using her charged shots. She has the highest charged shot damage multiplier in the game right now. This multiplier then increases every time players level up Ganyu’s talent.
Moreover, her charged shots have the best area attack in the game so even those with poor aim can hit their targets regardless and even those beside them. Her normal attacks don’t matter much and pale in comparison to her charged shots.
Always Hold Charged Shots To Level 2
As for getting the most out of Ganyu’s charged shots, having patience is the key. Players need to hold the charged shot for two seconds to it will reach the second level. This is Ganyu at her most damaging.
The level 2 charged shot or Frostflake Arrow has a two-part attack. The first is a cryo damage projectile that’s typical of most elemental charged shots; after that, the arrow will burst into several pieces and those pieces will explode and deal the most damage. Ganyu is practically cluster bombing her enemies every time she charges her shots for two seconds at least.
Aiming At The Ground Is A Safer Option
Now here’s the most unfair part of her charged shots: it doesn’t require much training. All Ganyu has to do is aim at any body part. She doesn’t even have to go for the weak spot as the level 2 exploding bloom of the Frostflake Arrow deals more damage.
So if players are having difficulty hitting their targets, they can simply aim at the ground they’re standing on and they’ll still get hit by the Frostflake Arrow’s exploding bloom. This is useful for dealing consistent damage when supported by characters like Venti or Jean who lift up the targets in the air, making them harder to hit.
Elemental Skill Is A Multi-Purpose Tool
Now, on to the Elemental Skill, Trail of the Qilin, because Ganyu’s literally Qilin her enemies. Bad pun aside, this is one of the best utility skills in Genshin Impact. Its main purpose, of course, is to draw enemy aggression away from Ganyu as she’s rather squishy in regards to her HP.
However, players will soon find out that it’s also a decent grouping tool in order to draw melee enemies and make them easier to kill all at the same time with Ganyu’s charged shots. Moreover, Ganyu can also use it as a third dodge due to its animation.
Skill Positioning Can Be Tricky
With that said, getting used to the Trail of Qilin as a dodge or a taunt ability is rather finicky. Unlike other Elemental Skills, it doesn’t seem to have any auto-targeting; thus, the bloom gets released in the direction she’s facing.
In many instances, such as when dodging or running away from an enemy, this can get impractical as it will launch Ganyu back in the direction of her foe. The best would be to use it as the first dodge instead of the third while taking note of its lack of auto-targeting.
Elemental Burst Is Useful For Perma-Freeze
Apart from being a charged shot monster, another Ganyu strategy that’s popular is using her Elemental Burst, Celestial Shower, as a perma-freeze setup. This is easily done when she’s paired with characters like Mona, Barbara, or Xingqiu. When leveling up talents, this is the second most important one to level after Normal Attacks.
What makes this also quite broken is the fact that Celestial Shower has a 15-second duration and also a 15-second cooldown. If players have enough Energy Recharge or an energy battery like Venti, then it’s pretty much a winter wonderland for the enemies as they won’t be able to move.
Her Burst Synergizes Well With Venti, Kazuha, or Sucrose’s Abilities
Ganyu’s Elemental Burst is a powerful tool and despite being stronger if built around her Charged Shots, Ganyu can also be built around her Elemental Burst. Characters like Venti, Kazuha, or even Sucrose (for those on a budget) pair well with her. All those Anemo characters have impressive crowd control that either Swirl with Cryo or group enemies continuously.
This ensures maximum damage for Ganyu’s Elemental Burst. The best part is that she’ll usually be up and ready again to cast her Burst once it’s done since all those aforementioned Anemo supports can also grant tons of energy. This makes the perma-freeze setups a.k.a. “Morgana” builds all the more viable.
Burst Also Further Increases Ganyu’s Charge Shots
Then again, the perma-freeze setup isn’t always for everyone since Ganyu’s charged shots look way more glorious and produce higher numbers. In that case, Celestial Shower still helps a lot since it gives a bonus to everyone friendly in its area of effect. It’s thanks to her passive talent, Harmony Between Heaven and Earth.
That bonus would be a 20 percent cryo damage increase. Since Ganyu’s charged shots only deal cryo damage, then it’s a big boost for her. Add this to augment Melt team compositions for Ganyu (which isn’t even necessary) and her damage numbers can easily reach six digits.
Burst Also Seeks Out Targets
If players are on the fence about using their Celestial Shower against just one (presumably tough) enemy, they needn’t be. The Elemental Burst actually has auto-targeting of some sort. The icicles slowly determine where the target is so they’ll get hit eventually.
That doesn’t mean they’ll eat all the icicle shards though. The icicles are rather lazy in homing in on targets so they’re still more suited for groups of enemies. However, if players can get someone like Venti or Sucrose to cluster up the enemies, then the shards will often go to their spot.
She’s Great For Crafting Bow Weapons
Ganyu’s third passive talent, Preserved for the Hunt, isn’t exactly that groundbreaking but it will help players who are just starting out in the game. Because Preserved for the Hunt will refund 15 percent of the ore used for crafting Bow-type weapons.
For many, it can be tedious to keep mining ore (especially for beginners) so this is always a welcome bonus. Moreover, Genshin Impact’s steadily increasing number of Bow-users means Ganyu’s third passive talent will be put to use more frequently in the near future, especially with characters like Yelan looming over the horizon (she’s rumored to be a Hydro bow user).
She Creates Her Own Crit Rate
One of the best things about Ganyu, aside from getting Crit Damage for her Ascension Stat is that she also creates her own Crit Rate. That somewhat makes her the most readily independent character in the game who can also sustain herself.
Ganyu’s passive talent, Undivided at Heart, gives her Frostflake Arrows (charged shots) 20 percent Crit Rate. This lasts for five seconds upon firing a Frostflake Arrow. That’s already a permanent 20 percent Crit Rate for her which easily becomes 40 percent with the Blizzard Strayer set. Not many DPS characters can compete with that.
Genshin Impact is available on PS5, PS4, PC, Android, and iOS. Genshin Impact has been also announced for the Nintendo Switch but a release date has yet to be confirmed.
