Best artifacts for Ganyu in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact’s five-star Cryo Bow character Ganyu is part human and part illuminated beast which shines through in the powerful damage-dealing skillset she packs in every single battle. Although Ganyu was first released back in Jan. 2021, not too long after Genshin first launched, she remains one of Teyvat’s most impressive recruits when players equip her with the right gear including the best artifacts for her.

What makes Ganyu one of the generally agreed upon strongest characters in all of Genshin is her capacity to dish out brutal damage from afar and up close.

While wielding a bow is a weakness of other DPS units like the five-star Pyro Bow character Yoimiya, it is a strength of Ganyu’s as she never fails at dealing powerful damage against Genshin foes from both afar and right up close.

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The Cryo character is currently a recruitable unit Travelers can obtain for the second half of Genshin’s Version 3.6 update. This run of her Adrift in the Harbor banner is her fourth overall and once it ends it will likely be around six months or longer before she returns to Teyvat.

If you’re looking to employ Ganyu as the main DPS on your team, she’s going to need a superb build composed of the best artifacts Teyvat has to offer.

What are the best artifacts for Ganyu in Genshin?

Since Ganyu’s skillset is tailored to a role as a DPS and overall damage-dealing unit, players will want to ensure her artifacts amplify the statistics that build these skills. Overall, the most important statistics players should be looking for when building Ganyu are:

• Cryo damage bonus
• Critical rate
• Critical damage
• Attack

After these four stats, players should also be looking for solid energy recharge and elemental mastery to ensure players can use her powerful abilities as frequently as possible and that the elemental reactions she is involved in are effective.

There are five artifact sets Travelers can consider equipping her with.

Blizzard Strayer

• Two-piece effect: Grants a Cryo damage increase of 15 percent.
• Four-piece effect: When the equipping character strikes an enemy who is afflicted by Cryo, their critical rate is increased by 20 percent. If the targeted enemy is under the effects of the Frozen elemental reaction, then the wearer’s critical rate is further raised by another 20 percent.
• Location: Players can obtain this set from the Peak of Vindagnyr Domain at Dragonspine, Mondstadt, or through an Artifact Strongbox created at a crafting bench.

The Blizzard Strayer set is the absolute best choice for Ganyu. It builds both her Cryo damage output and critical statistics, which is crucial for her damage-dealing role.

Although the full four-piece version of this set is generally the best choice for her, the team composition you create for Ganyu will determine whether it’s the right fit for you. To fully experience all the benefits this set has to offer, you’ll need to have Ganyu on a team focused on the Frozen elemental reaction since consistently freezing enemies is crucial for gaining the second critical rate buff.

If the team you create for Ganyu isn’t built around the Frozen elemental reaction then you should skip the four-piece version of this set. However, the two-piece set is still a superb choice for Ganyu in any team lineup and will pair well with a different two-piece set.

Wanderer’s Troupe

• Two-piece effect: Raises elemental mastery by 80.
• Four-piece effect: Raised charged attack damage by 35 percent if the equipping character uses a bow or catalyst.
• Location: Travelers can gather pieces of this artifact set by taking on weekly bosses, vanquishing normal bosses, obtaining a Domain Reliquary: Tier I box from the Spiral Abyss, or by creating an Artifact Strongbox at a crafting bench.

The Wanderer’s Troupe set is a strong choice for Ganyu but only worth equipping for certain builds. If you are using Ganyu within a team heavily focused on a damage-dealing elemental reaction like Melt, then the elemental mastery boost this set grants is an excellent bonus.

If you find yourself using Ganyu’s charged attack frequently in battle then the full four-piece set will greatly benefit your playstyle. But generally, the two-piece version of this set is the most useful one since it can be paired with other artifact sets and suits Ganyu’s overall skillset regardless of how players choose to use her.

Shimenawa’s Reminiscence

• Two-piece effect: Raises the wearer’s attack by 18 percent.
• Four-piece effect: When the equipping character has 15 or more energy and casts an elemental skill, then 15 energy is consumed and normal attack, charged attack, and plunging attack damage will be increased by 50 percent for 10 seconds. This effect cannot be activated again until the 10-second duration has come to an end.
• Location: Players can only obtain this set by taking on the Momiji-Dyed Court Domain in Yashiori Island, Inazuma.

The most powerful part of the Shimenawa’s Reminiscence artifact set for Ganyu is the two-piece set that increases her attack. This can be paired with the artifact sets for reliable and versatile results sure to help Ganyu’s skillset no matter what kind of team she is on.

For certain team compositions, like a Melt-based Ganyu team, the four-piece can also be a decent choice. If you use her basic attacks quite frequently when playing her then equipping the four-piece set will highly enhance the damage she does through them, but unless it specifically suits your ideal Ganyu build then it is still a better idea to only use the two-piece version of this set alongside another set.

Gladiator’s Finale

• Two-piece effect: Grants an attack increase of 18 percent.
• Four-piece effect: Raises normal attack damage by 35 percent when the equipping character wields a claymore, polearm, or sword.
• Location: This artifact set can be obtained by defeating weekly bosses, taking on normal bosses, obtaining the Domain Reliquary: Tier I reward from the Spiral Abyss, or by trading in other artifacts to craft an Artifact Strongbox at any crafting bench.

The two-piece Gladiator’s Finale set grants the same bonus as the two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence set so either can be used as a two-piece alongside another set or alongside each other. Raising Ganyu’s attack is one of the more important aspects of her DPS build, so the two-piece Gladiator’s Finale set is a strong choice.

Ganyu does not wield one of the required weapons to obtain the four-piece bonus, so players should never equip her with the four-piece version of this set. The effects won’t activate on her so players would essentially be wasting two artifact slots. Instead, Travelers can use the two-piece version of this set for powerful results.

Noblesse Oblige

• Two-piece effect: Raises elemental burst damage by 20 percent.
• Four-piece effect: Raises all party members’ attack by 20 percent for 12 seconds after an elemental burst has been cast. This effect cannot be stacked.
• Location: Players can obtain this artifact set from the Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern Domain in Minlin, Liyue, by creating an Artifact Strongbox at a crafting bench, or by leveling up their Adventure Rank to levels 43, 47, 48, 49, and 51.

Ganyu will never be a superb secondary damage-dealing unit since her skillset is not designed for this role, but if you still wish to use her as one then you may want to equip her with the full version of the Nobless Oblige set. The two-piece set is also a powerful choice for raising the effectiveness of Ganyu’s elemental abilities.

If you’re planning on using Ganyu as a primary damage dealer but still want the effects of the four-piece Nobless Oblige set, you can still obtain them by equipping this set on someone else within Ganyu’s party.

Related: Best weapons for Ganyu in Genshin Impact

Based on my experience with artifacts in Genshin, some of the most powerful and impactful results are created by combining different two-piece artifact sets together.

Ganyu will certainly experience superb results from a few four-piece sets, but she will also benefit from various mix-and-match combinations that place different artifacts together to grant her a unique set of buffs.

The best artifact combos players can equip are:

• Two-piece Blizzard Strayer and two-piece Wanderer’s Troupe
• Two-piece Blizzard Strayer and two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
• Two-piece Blizzard Strayer and two-piece Gladiator’s Finale
• Two-piece Blizzard Strayer and two-piece Noblesse Oblige
• Two-piece Wanderer’s Troupe and two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
• Two-piece Wanderer’s Troupe and two-piece Gladiator’s Finale
• Two-piece Wanderer’s Troupe and two-piece Noblesse Oblige
• Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Gladiator’s Finale
• Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Noblesse Oblige
• Two-piece Gladiator’s Finale and two-piece Noblesse Oblige

Dot Esports gathered this information by playing Genshin Impact Version 3.6 “A Parade of Providence” on PC.