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Shenhe is the latest addition to an ever-expanding roster of Cryo characters in Genshin Impact. A student of Cloud Retainer and a prodigy of the Adeptal arts, she was first introduced to players through an exciting quest line that saw Shenhe face off against a giant sea monster to defend the newly-reconstructed Jade Chamber.
A five-star Cryo Polearm user that fits comfortably in the support role, Shenhe can amplify the damage of her teammate's Cryo attacks while shredding the defenses of nearby enemies. Her mechanics are a bit unique and her functionality is perhaps more niche than Genshin Impact's other supports, but Shenhe nonetheless has incredible potential when utilized properly. This guide will recommend everything from weapons to talent priority so that your Shenhe can surely save Liyue whenever the need arises.
Updated March 18, 2022, by Kyle Gorges: Now that players have had a while to learn the ins and outs of Shenhe's gameplay, it's safe to say that she can be a valuable addition to Cryo-based teams. As a powerful buffer for characters like Ayaka, Ganyu, and Chongyun, Shenhe will likely see use as a companion for future Cryo characters as well. This guide has been updated to make sure she can continue supporting your teams until she has as many friends as she deserves (which might take a while).
Best Weapons For Shenhe
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| Weapon Name | Base ATK | Secondary Stat | Passive Ability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Favonius Lance | 44 | Energy Recharge | Shenhe's Critical hits have a 60% chance to generate Elemental Particles that will regenerate 6 Energy. This can only occur once every 12s. |
| Lithic Spear | 44 | ATK | For every character in the party who hails from Liyue, Shenhe gains 7% ATK and 3% Crit Rate. |
| Calamity Queller | 49 | ATK | Shenhe gains a 12% DMG Bonus for all Elements. After using her Elemental Skill, she obtains Consummation for 20 seconds, which causes her ATK to increase by 3.2% per second. This ATK increase can stack up to 6 times, and Consummation's ATK increase is doubled when Shenhe is not on the field. |
Although Shenhe's Burst is arguably less integral to her performance than her Skill, you'll still want to be able to use it as soon as it comes off cooldown. Unfortunately, her Burst is pretty expensive at an Energy cost of 80. This is where Favonius Lance comes in, a fairly common four-star drop that can help Shenhe recharge her Burst. It provides adequate Base ATK, an Energy Recharge secondary stat, and a passive ability that gives her extra Elemental Particles when she Crits. These particles can also be passed along to your DPS carry, like Ayaka, but Shenhe can utilize them just as well to maintain uptime on her Burst.
Lithic Spear is another option for Shenhe's polearm if you have access to it. It has the same Base ATK as Favonius Lance, along with further boosts to Shenhe's ATK stat. Lithic Spear gains increased benefit when you have multiple Liyue characters on your team, but Shenhe also counts so you'll always have at least one stack of the passive effect. Remember that the damage boost Shenhe supplies to your other characters is derived from her ATK, so a weapon like this that provides a lot of ATK will consequently make your entire team stronger.
All five-star polearms have high Base ATK and thus work well for Shenhe. If you're going to try to acquire one for her specifically, though, you might as well shoot for the best: Calamity Queller, Shenhe's signature weapon. Calamity Queller has the highest Base ATK in the game, along with ATK bonuses that work even better when Shenhe is swapped out. This complements her supportive playstyle perfectly, while also allowing her to provide her party members with the largest ATK buffs possible. Also, the weapon looks awesome.
Best Artifacts For Shenhe
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| Artifact Name | Two-Piece Set Bonus | Four-Piece Set Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Gladiator's Finale/Shimenawa's Reminiscence/Vermillion Herafter/Echoes of an Offering | ATK +18% | N/A |
| Noblesse Oblige | Elemental Burst DMG +20% | When Shenhe casts her Elemental Burst, all party members' ATK is increased by 20% for 12s. |
When Shenhe uses her Skill to generate Icy Quills, these Icy Quills will buff your party's Cryo DMG based on Shenhe's ATK. For this reason, you'll want to get Shenhe's ATK stat as high as possible to boost your team's damage by the greatest amount.
An easy way to do this with her Artifacts is by giving Shenhe two pieces of two different ATK-boosting sets. Multiple Artifact sets offer this effect as their two-piece set bonus, which means that it shouldn't be too difficult to acquire these pieces and mix and match them. It's not a particularly intriguing Artifact build, but it does ensure that Shenhe's buffs are as powerful as they can be, and it also means that Shenhe's damage won't be too disappointing either.
Noblesse Oblige, a classic support set, can also be utilized on Shenhe if you want to passively boost your team's damage just by using Shenhe's Burst. This can be a decent budget option when it comes to Shenhe's Artifacts, but keep in mind that using Noblesse Oblige will sacrifice a lot of ATK that Shenhe could be transferring to your Cryo characters via her Skill. Furthermore, the bonus to Shenhe's Elemental Burst DMG is pretty ineffectual since her Burst is mainly used for reducing enemy RES and its damage primarily comes from her Skill anyway.
For Shenhe's Artifact mainstats, ATK% continues to be the name of the game. It's a good idea to use ATK% Sands, ATK% Goblets, and ATK% Circlets on Shenhe, although you should consider using ER Sands if your weapon's secondary stat is ATK%.
Shenhe's Artifact substats should also be focused on ATK% and Energy Recharge. Since Shenhe's damage largely manifests through the Cryo attacks of others, you don't need to worry too much about her Crit ratio, but still try to increase it if possible.
Shenhe's Talents And Constellations
Shenhe's buffs are transferred to other characters via the Icy Quills generated by her Skill. As a result, her Skill should be your priority when leveling up Shenhe's Talents. Level up her Burst next, and only increase her Normal Attacks if you plan to use Shenhe as an on-field DPS character. Leveling up her Normal Attacks and pairing her with Chongyun to turn her into a Cryo hypercarry can be a lot of fun, but this is a pretty specialized setup that most Shenhe players won't opt for.
If you're trying to get your hands on some of Shenhe's Constellations, be aware that they have a few quirks despite being powerful. Her C1 is fantastic and goes a long way towards making her gameplay feel more fluid. It grants you an extra charge of her Skill, thereby giving you access to more frequent and more numerous buffs, and letting you activate both the Hold and Press variations in quick succession. It's a great adjustment to her kit, but keep in mind that Shenhe's Icy Quills do NOT stack—you'll want to make sure all Icy Quills are consumed before you reactivate her Skill.
Shenhe's C6 also sounds especially enticing, allowing Normal and Charged Attacks buffed by Shenhe's Icy Quills to NOT consume the Icy Quills when triggered. On paper, this sounds like infinite buffs for Ayaka or Ganyu as long as you don't use their Skill or Burst. In practice, this is kind of true, but the Constellation doesn't remove the duration limit on the Icy Quills. Even though Normal and Charged Attacks won't consume them, then, they will still only last for 10/15s. This is, of course, a very long time and can be extended each time Shenhe uses her Skill, but it is a small caveat worth noting if you plan on getting her C6.
