Genshin Impact Shenhe Build Guide

Shenhe in Genshin Impact is a 5-Star Cryo Polearm character, a frosty exorcist raised in the mountains with a stare colder than Dragonspine and a kit that’ll make any Cryo DPS melt. To build a mono Cryo team or increase Ayaka or Ganyu’s damage into the stratosphere, Shenhe is the answer to your icy needs. Read our guide on the best Shenhe’s build in Genshin Impact, telling her role and playstyle, best weapons, best artifacts, talent priority, skills, and teams.

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Genshin Impact Shenhe: Role & Playstyle

Shenhe is a Cryo support, first and foremost. Her talents are all designed to increase Cryo DMG, shred enemy Cryo and Physical resistance, and make your Cryo DPS a good power. She excels in:

• Freeze comps (Ayaka, Ganyu, Wriothesley, Chongyun)
• Physical comps (Eula, Freminet)
• And niche support for Cryo sub-DPS setups.

You might think of Shenhe as another Cryo support unit at first, but with some investment or upgrades, she’ll turn your Cryo DPS into absolute nukers. She isn’t a massive personal damage dealer (though her Burst can still hit decently hard with the right setup), but what she brings to the table is multiplicative team value. Shenhe’s entire kit is built to increase Cryo damage from teammates and reduce enemy resistance to make the icy attacks more lethal.

Unlike universal supports like Bennett, Shenhe is more specialized, tailor-made for Cryo-heavy squads. If your team has Ayaka, Ganyu, Wriothesley, or Eula, they work best with her. But if core DPS deals Pyro, Electro, or Dendro damage, Shenhe doesn’t have a place there. The main ability of her support is Icy Quill, a mechanic that buffs Cryo damage instances based on her ATK stat, and this makes Shenhe special from EM scalers or crit buffers.

Best Shenhe Build: Support

Shenhe’s build revolves around one thing: ATK. As much ATK as you can squeeze out of your artifacts, weapons, and soul.

Best Artifacts

Recommended Main Stats

Ideal Substats:

• ATK% > Energy Recharge > CRIT Rate/DMG

You only want her to reach 2500+ ATK if possible, and at least 180–200% Energy Recharge for regular Bursts. CRIT is optional unless to experiment with hybrid DPS Shenhe (not recommended unless C6 and bored).

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Best Weapons for Shenhe

Shenhe is a picky eater when it comes to weapons; she wants raw ATK or Energy Recharge to fuel her buffs.

Shenhe’s ideal weapons maximize her ATK stat or provide good Energy Recharge (ER) to allow cast her Burst regularly, because if she doesn’t use her Burst on cooldown, she can’t reach her full potential. Shenhe’s signature weapon, Calamity Queller, offers massive Base ATK (741 at level 90), which scales well with her Icy Quill mechanic, and its passive continuously stacks more ATK every time she uses her Elemental Skill.

That said, Engulfing Lightning is surprisingly close in performance, thanks to its ER substat and ATK-scaling passive. It helps fix the biggest flaw in her kit: her 80-cost Elemental Burst. For free-to-play options, Favonius Lance is a solid pick if your team lacks an energy battery but she needs some CRIT Rate to proc its passive. The Catch is another viable F2P option that gives a juicy ER bonus and some Burst DMG, making it easier to maintain uptime and pressure.

What you don’t want is crit-based or EM-based weapons. Shenhe doesn’t scale off either of those so if it’s not buffing her ATK or ER, it’s only a decoration.

Shenhe Talent Priority and Skills

Shenhe isn’t a standard “level everything up” character. Focus her resources where it counts:

Elemental Skill: Spring Spirit Summoning

This is the bread-and-butter skill that sets Shenhe apart. On use, it applies Icy Quill to all nearby allies. For a short duration (10s if tapped, 15s if held), every Cryo damage type gets a bonus flat DMG based on Shenhe’s current ATK. This buff adds bonus DMG to every instance of Cryo DMG, scaling better with multi-hit characters like Ayaka or Ganyu.

Keep in mind that Icy Quill has a trigger limit of 5 triggers (tap) or 7 triggers (hold) per character. Once those are used, the bonus will be unavailable until she recasts. On top of that, her Ascension 4 passive buffs different attack types depending on how you use the skill:

• Tap: +15% Elemental Skill/Burst DMG (for bursty characters like Ayaka)
• Hold: +15% Normal/Charged/Plunge DMG (for auto-attackers like Wriothesley or Ganyu)

Tip: Pay attention to your team’s attack types to choose between Tap or Hold for optimal buffing.

Elemental Burst: Divine Maiden’s Deliverance

Thanks to this skill Shenhe can pair nicely with Cryo DPS like Ayaka, Ganyu, Wriothesley, and Eula. Shenhe’s Burst creates a big Cryo field that pulses AoE Cryo DMG over time and applies two key debuffs:

• -15% Cryo Resistance
• -15% Physical Resistance

This makes her an incredible partner for both Cryo nukers and Physical DPS such as Eula or Freminet. For characters that rely on keeping enemies frozen (Freeze comps), her AoE Cryo pulses make it easy to keep them locked in place. Her Burst also activates her Ascension 1 passive, granting +15% Cryo DMG Bonus to anyone within the field.

Best Team Comps for Shenhe

Instead of building a team around Shenhe, think of her as the secret weapon you slot into your Cryo squad to supercharge them. Here are a few best team compositions for her:

Meta Freeze Team (Ayaka)

Ayaka gets turbocharged by Shenhe’s Icy Quill and Burst buffs, while Kazuha swirls and Mona adds the juicy Omen multiplier.

Mono Cryo Team (Ganyu)

Ganyu’s charged shots can trigger Shenhe’s buffs consistently due to their multi-hit nature.

Ganyu’s Frostflake Arrows benefit from both the Hold version of Shenhe’s Skill and the Cryo RES shred. In Freeze teams, Shenhe’s Burst pulses help maintain Frozen status while juicing Ganyu’s arrows.

Physical Team (Eula)

Shenhe’s Physical RES shred is often overlooked but pairs very well with Eula.

Here, Shenhe’s Physical RES shred + Cryo application supports Eula’s burst mechanics for heavy damage.

F2P-Friendly Freeze Team

Even with 4-stars, Shenhe finds a way to make everyone hit a little harder and freeze a little longer.

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Shenhe Constellations

If you want to drop primos or wallet juice, here’s how Shenhe’s constellations stack up:

C2 is the sweet spot for whales or pullers for a major quality-of-life boost and damage bump – C6 is overkill but great.

Is Shenhe Worth Building?

With any Cryo main DPS, the answer is yes. Shenhe amplifies Cryo DMG in a way no other character can, and her utility in Freeze or Physical comps is unmatched. She’s not universal like Bennett or Kazuha, but with the right use, she can be the silent MVP of every snowy slaughterfest.

So go forth, Traveler. Collect your Qingxin, max the ATK, and watch your Ayaka or Ganyu delete enemies in record time — all thanks to Liyue’s most elegant exorcist.