Best Shenhe Genshin Impact build: Artifacts, weapons, more

James Busby
Shenhe official Genshin Impact artwork

The best Shenhe build utilizes a number of Genshin Impact’s meta Artifacts and weapons, which help maximize the 5-star Cryo character’s damage.

Genshin Impact’s Shenhe banner was released as part of the 2.4 update, which included the area Enkanomiya, Keqing/Ningguang skins, and Yun Jin

Just like Eula, Shenhe dominates the battlefield with AoE Cryo abilities, freezing her opponents in place before shattering them with her polearm. 

When Shenhe is equipped with the best Artifacts and weapons, she’ll be able to melt through the game’s toughest enemies. Keep reading for which artifacts and weapons will maximize her potential. 


Contents


Genshin Impact Shenhe standing in a field
Shenhe’s abilities are tailored around supporting her team with AoE Cryo attacks.

Shenhe abilities in Genshin Impact

  • Normal Attack: Shenhe performs up to five rapid polearm strikes.
  • Charged Attack: Shenhe consumes a portion of stamina and lunges forward with her polearm, striking all nearby enemies.
  • Plunging Attack: Shenhe plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.

Shenhe Elemental Skill: Spring Spirit Summoning

Shenhe grants all nearby allies the Icy Quill effect and deals Cryo damage. When normal, charged, plunging, Element Skills, and Element Bursts deal Cryo damage to enemies, the damage dealt is increased based on Shenhe’s current attack. 

The Icy Quill will be cleared once its duration end or after a certain amount of stacks are consumed. 

Shenhe Elemental Burst: Divine Maiden’s Deliverance 

Shenhe unleashed the power of the Talisman Spirit, allowing it to roam free, dealing AoE Cryo damage to all nearby enemies. The Talisman Spirit then creates a field that decreases the Cryo resistance of opponents, enabling Shenhe to deal even more damage with her abilities. 

Shenhe Constellations

If you’re lucky enough to unlock multiple copies of Shenhe, then you’ll have access to some of her fantastic constellation buffs.

  • Level 1 – Clarity of Heart: Spring Spirit Summoning can be used one more time. 
  • Level 2 – Centered Spirit: Divine Maiden’s Deliverance lasts for six seconds longer. Active characters within the skill’s field deal 15% increased Cryo crit damage. 
  • Level 3 – Seclusion: Increases the level of Spring Spirit Summoning by three. Maximum upgrade level is five. 
  • Level 4 – Insight: When characters under the effect of Icy Quill trigger its damage bonus effects, Shenhe will gain a Skyfrost Mantra stack. When Shene uses Spring Spirit Summoning, she will consume all stacks of Skyfrost Mantra, increasing the damage by 5% for each stack consumed. Maximum of 50 stacks. Stacks last for 60 seconds. 
  • Level 5 – Divine Attainment: Increases the level of Divine Maiden’s Deliverance by three. Maximum upgraded level is 15.
  • Level 6 – Mystical Abandon: When characters trigger Icy Quill’s effects using normal and charged attacks, no Icy Quill stacks will be used. 

Best Shenhe Artifacts in Genshin Impact

Shenhe official Genshin Impact artwork
The best Shenhe build uses the Blizzard Strayer Artifact set.

The best Shenhe build makes use of the Blizzard Strayer set, which increases the polearm user’s crit rate when an opponent is affected by Cryo. To make matters even better, if Shenhe’s enemies are Frozen, her CRIT rate is increased even further. 

As Shenhe’s abilities are all tailored around dealing huge amounts of damage, having a set that directly boosts CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK%, and Cryo DMG is a must for any traveler who wants to maximize her DPS. 

You could also use the 2-piece Gladiator’s Finale and the 2-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence to buff Cryo DMG.

Artifact Set Bonuses
Blizzard Strayer
Blizzard Strayer
2-piece set bonus: Cryo DMG Bonus +15%.

4-piece set bonus: When a character attacks an opponent affected by Cryo, their Crit Rate is increased by 20%. If the opponent is Frozen, Crit Rate is increased by an additional 20%.

Gladiator’s FinaleGladiators Finale Genshin 2-piece set bonus: ATK +18%.

4-piece set bonus: If the wielder of this artifact set uses a Sword, Claymore or Polearm, this set increases their Normal Attack DMG by 35%.

 

Shimenawa's Reminiscence Artifact imageShimenawa’s Reminiscence 2-piece: ATK +18%.

4-piece: When casting an Elemental Skill, if the character has 15 or more Energy, they lose 15 Energy and Normal/Charge/Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 50% for 10s. This effect will not trigger again during that duration.

Best Shenhe weapon in Genshin Impact

The best Shenhe polearm is the Calamity Queller. This 5-star weapon provides a 12% Elemental DMG bonus and an ATK boost after using an Elemental Skill. 

Another option is Raiden Shogun’s signature Engulfing Lightning, which increases ATK by 28% of Energy Recharge and provides a 30% Energy Recharge boost for 12 seconds after using an Elemental Burst. If you don’t have access to either, you can use the 4-star weapon Favonius Lance, which focuses on regenerating energy. 

Weapon Details
Calamity Queller in Genshin Impact
Calamity Queller 
Gain a 12% Elemental DMG Bonus. Obtain Consummation for 20s after using an Elemental Skill, causing ATK to increase by 3.2% per second. This ATK increase has a maximum of 6 stacks. When the character equipped with this weapon is not on the field, Consummation’s ATK increase is doubled.
Engulfing Lightning

Engulfing Lightning

ATK increased by 28% of Energy Recharge over the base 100%. You can gain a maximum bonus of 80% ATK. Gain 30% Energy Recharge for 12s after using an Elemental Burst.
Favonius Lance in Genshin Impact
Favonius Lance 
CRIT Hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s.

Shenhe Talent Level-Up and Ascension materials

Shenhe Talent and Ascension materials can be found in Mondstadt, Inazuma, and Liyue. In order to level up and ascend Shenhe, you’ll need to fight the Bathysmal Vishaps – a boss that can be found in Enkanomiya. 

This boss drops the Dragonheir’s False Fin and other rare items. Meanwhile, the usual Energy Nectar and Teachings of Prosperity can be found across Liyue. As Shenhe excels as a main damage dealer, you’ll want to max out her normal attack and Elemental Skill to help generate elemental reactions. Once that’s maxed out, simply pump the rest of the levels into her Burst. 

Shenhe Talent Level-Up Materials

Talent Level-Up Materials
Talent Level-Up Materials Teachings of Prosperity x9 Guide to Prosperity x63 Philosophies of Prosperity x114
Common Ascension Materials Whopperflower Nectar x18 Shimmering Nectar x66 Energy Nectar x93
Weekly Boss Materials Hellfire Butterfly x18

Shenhe Ascension Materials

Ascension Level Mora Cost Materials
1 20,000 Shivada Jade Sliver x1 Qingxin x3 Whopperflower Nectar x3
2 40,000 Shivada Jade Fragmentx3 Dragonheir’s False Fin x2 Qingxin x10 Whopperflower Nectar x15
3 60,000 Shivada Jade Fragment x6 Dragonheir’s False Fin x4 Qingxin x20 Shimmering Nectar x12
4 80,000 Shivada Jade Chunk x3 Dragonheir’s False Fin x8 Qingxin x30 Shimmering Nectar x18
5 100,000 Shivada Jade Chunk x6 Dragonheir’s False Fin x12 Qingxin x45 Energy Nectar x12
6 120,000 Shivada Jade Gemstone x6 Dragonheir’s False Fin x20 Qingxin x60 Energy Nectar x24

Shenhe Genshin Impact trailer

MiHoYo has released Shenhe’s official character trailer, giving travelers a look at her in-game idle animations and abilities.

Shenhe can be seen using her Normal and charged attacks before unleashing her Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst. These AoE abilities quickly freeze surrounding enemies and enable Shenhe to take down even the fiercest of foes with ease. 

Best Shenhe team comp

Ganyu standing in Genshin Impact
Ganyu is a great Cryo user that will enhance Shenhe’s combat effectiveness.

The best Shenhe team comp utilizes Ganyu, Mona, and Jean. Having another Cryo character like Ganyu will provide a 15% increase to your crit rate against enemies that are Frozen or affected by Cryo. This buff should constantly be in effect, especially since Mona will be able to constantly Freeze any grouped enemies with her Elemental Skill and Burst.

Ganyu’s Elemental Skill will also enable Shenhe to continually attack her targets without the fear of being targeted, while Ganyu’s Elemental Burst provides even more AoE Cryo damage. 

This comp can either use Shenhe as the main DPS or support, which gives you a great deal of flexibility. If you don’t have Ganyu, Ayaka is another great choice that will help maximize this comp’s DPS. 

Obviously, having decent survivability is important to any melee-focused team comp, so we’ve utilized Jean as our final pick. Not only can Jean provide lifesaving heals with her Burst, but the added Swirl effect will also help spread the Cryo damage to nearby enemies. You could also replace Jean with Kazuha. 

Alternatively, you could use Kokomi instead of Mona to freeze enemies alongside Shenhe, Kazuha, and Ayaka.


So, there you have it, the best Shenhe build in Genshin Impact. Make sure you check out our other Genshin Impact character guides

Best Albedo Build | Best Hu Tao build | Best Childe Build | Best Kokomi build | Best Raiden Shogun build | Best Ayaka build | Best Aloy build | Best Ganyu build | Best Diluc build | Best Yoimiya build | Best Klee build | Best Eula build

About The Author

James is Dexerto's Associate Games Editor who joined the website in 2020. He graduated from university with a degree in Journalism, before spending four years freelancing for GamesRadar+, PCGamesN, RPS, LoL Esports, Red Bull Gaming, and many more. You can find him covering everything from CoD, Apex Legends, Genshin Impact, and Monster Hunter. Need to get in touch? Email James at james.busby@dexerto.com.