The best Genshin Impact Shenhe build, weapons, Artifacts, and F2P options
Shenhe is a unique character who effortlessly blends support with DPS
The best Genshin Impact Shenhe build gives your team a big boost in the Cryo department and some extra support for physical and elemental types as well
Shenhe's biggest asset is a substantial Cryo buff for the party and Cryo and physical resistance reduction for enemies. With the right skill rotation - and enough Qingxin Flower for her ascension - she can shred an opponent's defenses and lead your party to a quick victory.
If you don't use Cryo too much in your party, though, you may want to think twice before spending Primogems on Shenhe.
What is the best Shenhe build in Genshin Impact?
The best Shenhe build focuses on boosting Shenhe's attack as much as possible to help push her Cryo buff higher. Even if you want Shenhe as your main Cryo character, focusing on her attack is still a good idea, so you can squeeze more damage from her skill and burst.
Best Shenhe weapon
Shenhe's signature weapon is the Calamity Queller. It’s a 5-star polearm with a secondary stat that increases the user’s attack and a unique passive skill called Extinguishing Precept. This skill automatically increases elemental damage by 12 percent - handy for Shenhe and good with the buff her passive talent provides. It also rants a Consummation stack after you use an elemental skill, which increases attack by 3.2 percent every second and can stack up to six times.
Vortex Vanquisher is another strong 5-star alternative if you happen to have one lying around. While its passive skill increases shield strength, it also grants the equipping character an attack buff every time they land a hit.
If you don't want to use a 5-star polearm, consider using the Favonius Lance instead. This one won't confer any attack boosts, but it does increase energy recharge and help generate more energy particles, so you can activate Shenhe's burst more frequently.
Best Shenhe Artifacts
The best Artifacts depend on what you want to use Shenhe for. Since raising her attack is the priority, sets such as Gladiator's Finale are ideal. You can use a mix of attack-boosting Artifacts and elemental damage if you want to take advantage of Shenhe as a Cryo main, too.
- Two-piece effect: Raises attack by 18 percent
- Four-piece effect: Raises normal attack by a further 35 percent if the equipping character uses a sword, polearm, or claymore.
This is the easiest set to use and to find. If you have Shenhe at C1, where she gets a second charge for her skill, you may want to consider Pale Flame instead.
- Two-piece effect: Raises attack by 25 percent
- Four-piece effect: If the user's elemental skill damages an opponent, their attack increases by nine percent for seven seconds. If the effect stacks twice, the two-piece effect is doubled for a total attack buff of 68 percent
Shenhe's skill cooldown timer lasts for 10 seconds, so without her first constellation, you can't really make easy use of this set.
An alternative would be combining Gladiator's Finale and Pale Flame to just get the flat attack buff.
Whatever you choose, prioritize attack for your substats, along with Cryo damage and energy recharge.
What is the best Shenhe F2P build?
Shenhe’s F2P build obviously won’t rely on Calamity Queller, but both early-game craftable polearms work very well with Shenhe.
Best Shenhe weapon for F2P
The craftable Crescent Pike raises physical damage and grants a sizeable attack buff for normal and charged attacks when the user picks up an energy particle. Prototype Starglitter boosts energy recharge and raises normal attack damage, so if you're struggling to keep her energy topped up, consider using this one. Neither will do Shenhe's Cryo buff much good, though.
Best Shenhe Artifacts for F2P
Shenhe’s F2P Artifact build is roughly the same - Gladiator's Finale, Pale Flame, or a combination. Since neither free spear raises attack outright, make sure to focus on attack substats for as many artifacts as you can.
A Hydro character, such as Childe — or Xingqiu, if you have him — helps deal with crowds, or you could swap in Barbara or Kokomi if you need a healer.
We recommend an Electro character for the fourth slot to trigger Superconduct and reduce enemy defense. Baal would be ideal, but any Electro character will do, including Sara, Beidou, and Fischl.
Is Shenhe good?
Shenhe is a good physical attacker and Cyro support character who fits into a few different teams, though one of the most popular ways to deploy Shenhe is on Cryo teams. Her skill increases the amount of Cryo damage your party deals, and her burst reduces affected enemies’ Cryo resistance. She’s essentially a walking Viridescent Venerer set, but for Cryo, and makes main DPS characters such as Ayaka and Ganyu even more powerful than they already are.
Her second passive talent grants an additional 15 percent Cryo bonus to characters active in the field her burst creates.
The Cryo buff scales on Shenhe’s attack stat, which is naturally high to begin with and gets an extra boost as Shenhe levels up. Since attack is a priority for any Shenhe build, that means you can also use her as an on-field physical DPS if you wanted to shake up her rotation some. Just be aware that her normal attack multipliers are quite low for a 5-star character, nearer to Raiden Shogun's than Hu Tao's or Xiao's. If you get Mika during the Genshin 3.5 banner’s second phase, his skills and talents will make Shenhe even stronger, as they also buff physical attack and help make up for Shenhe's middling normal attack scaling.
Shenhe’s final passive talent gives her skill even more use outside of boosting Cryo damage. It grants a 15 percent buff to the party’s skill and burst damage if you press the skill button and a 15 percent buff to the party’s physical damage if you hold it. 15 percent isn’t a substantial boost, but every bit helps shave time off of boss battles and Spiral Abyss runs.
Should I pull for Shenhe?
If you run Cryo teams or have a Cryo main DPS you use frequently, then pulling for Shenhe is a good idea thanks to the substantial elemental buffs her skill provides. The support buffs her third passive provides are useful, but not exactly game altering, so if you don’t see a Cryo team in your future, you may be fine to wait.
That said, the 3.5 banner is the first time Shenhe had a rerun since she debuted in early 2022. If you just want the character in your party and aren’t bothered by potentially missing out on Baizhu or other future characters, then it may be best to try for Shenhe.
If you're saving up for future Genshin Impact banners, make sure to check out our up-do-date list of Genshin Impact codes for some free Primogems.