Shenhe Genshin Impact Guide for Artifacts, Weapons, and Skills

Shenhe has been a fan favorite for all Cryo-lovers in Genshin Impact. Her AOE cryo skills, paired with rapid polearm strikes, make her one of the most indomitable characters on your team. 

As the in-game lore goes, Shenhe comes from a clan of exorcists. She is the disciple of the Cloud Retainer, as well as Chongyun’s fearsome aunt from his mother’s side. And who wouldn’t wish for an aunt as powerful as Shenhe? 

As a 5-star Cryo unit, you can imagine how buff her cryo support is in almost any team composition. And to make that happen, Shenhe deserves the best artifacts and weapons to enhance her skills for ultimate slaying! Ready to ward off evil? 

The Best Artifacts for Shenhe

When curating Shenhe’s artifact builds, the prime focus is on attacks. Lethal, deadly (ironical, right?), and quick-footed are what describe Shenhe on the battlefield. And for such a dance, opt for artifact pieces that boost her Elemental Burst. 

Now, since her Elemental Burst has a high energy cost, artifact pieces with Energy Recharge are a perfect add-on. Keep in mind, Shenhe works best in a team comp as a support, so the best artifact sets for her would be-

• Noblesse Oblige
• Blizzard Strayer
• Gladiator’s Finale
• Shimenawa’s Reminiscence

Let’s look at what each of these artifact sets has to offer:

Noblesse Oblige

As long as none other in your party comp is using any pieces from the Noblesse Oblige, it’s a perfect Shenhe artifact set. It’s ideal for a DMG Boost comp and lets Shenhe maximize her damage output. 

The full 4-piece set increases her as well as Shenhe’s team’s ATK by 20% for 12 seconds. Which also means her Icy Quills DMG output is raised. This set helps prioritize Energy Recharge and ATK%, so for an energized Cryo DMG party, this is your best set. 

Blizzard Strayer

The Blizzard Strayer is ideal for Shenhe if she’s on your Freeze team. It enhances Cryo DMG output by a mile, and gives your enemies a chilly reception! 

Its 2-piece set offers a Cryo DMG Bonus rise of 18% in overall damages. And if you opt for the 4-piece complete Blizzard Strayer artifact set for Shenhe, prepare for some soul-freezing action. 

Thanks to the whole set, whenever Shenhe attacks an enemy already affected by Cryo, she receives a 20% increase in her Crit Rate. Moreover, if that target is Frozen, Shenhe receives an additional 20% rise in her Crit Rate. 

So if you want an overall boost in her crits and DMG output, Blizzard Strayer has got you 

covered.

Gladiator’s Finale

Want to make Shenhe’s Polearm dish out massive damage? Then check out this killer artifact set! The Gladiator’s Finale is a beast, be it as a 2-piece or a 4-piece set for Shenhe. 

As a 2-piece set, Gladiator’s Finale increases ATK and gives you an 18% boost. As for the 4-piece set bonus, since Shenhe uses a Polearm, the weapon gets a 355 boost in its Normal Attack DMG. This alone makes her an almost-solvable character within Genshin Impact. 

Shimenawa’s Reminiscence

When paired with Gladiator’s Finale’s pieces, Shimenawa’s Reminiscence set pieces to work like magic. These pieces together buff Cryo DMG buffs as well as her ATKs, giving you hefty amounts of damage bonuses from Shenhe’s presence on any team!

Artifact Stats to Prioritize for Shenhe

No need to religiously farm one artifact set for Shenhe when you can mix and match a few pieces to make the cut! End of the day, it’s the stats that are most important. 

So when opting for artifact pieces, here’s a quick check on which piece should have what stats for Shenhe:

• Flower: Main stat: HP. Secondary are Energy Recharge, Attack%, Critical Damage, and Critical Hit Rate. 
• Sands: Main stat: Attack%. Secondary are Attack, Critical Hit Rate, Energy Recharge, Energy Recharge, and Critical Damage. 
• Plume: Main stat: Attack. Secondary are Attack%, Critical Damage, Energy Recharge, and Critical Hit Rate. 
• Circlet: Main stat: Attack%. Secondary are Attack, Energy Recharge, Critical Damage Recharge, and Critical Hit Rate. 
• Goblet: Main stat: Attack%. Secondary are Critical Hit Rate, Energy Recharge, Attack, and Critical Damage. 

Best Weapons for Shenhe

Shenhe’s Polearm is not a weapon to trifle with. As you have seen from her artifact stat priorities, she takes her attack boosts and energy recharges very seriously. 

And there are 4 distinct Polearms available for this 5-star exorcist as of now:

• Calamity Queller (5 Star)
• Engulfing Lightning (5 Star)
• Favonius Lance (4 Star)
• The Catch (4 Star)
• Wavebreaker’s Fin (4 Star)

So why do these weapons suit Shenhe the best?

1.(5-Star) Calamity Queller

Calamity Queller is by far Shenhe’s perfect weapon of choice in Genshin Impact. At level 90, it comes with a Base ATK of 741, making it the 2nd most powerful weapon in the game, other than Eula’s Songs of Broken Pines.

Calamity’s Queller’s Passive helps to boost Elemental Damage by 12% and also grants players bonus ATK buffs when Shenhe is away from the battlefield. 

2.(5-Star) Engulfing Lightning

You might recognize Engulfing Lightning as Raiden Shogun’s signature weapon. But in reality, this weapon is nearly as perfect as Calamity Queller in terms of stat-boosting. 

For example, it comes with 608 Base ATK and 55% Energy Recharge. As for the Passive, it grants Shenhe with raised attack bonus depending on Energy recharge. The weapon also comes with secondary stats to help accentuate Energy Recharge from Shenhe’s high-powered attacks. 

3.(4-Star) Favonius Lance

This is a free weapon with stats as good as a rare 5-star Polearm. It comes with 565 Base ATK while its sub-stats offer 30.6% Energy recharge, making it a perfect blend of Energy and Attack stats for Shenhe’s OP shenanigans. 

4.(4-Star) The Catch

The Catch is one of the most popular 4-star Polearms, especially as a fan-favorite to switch among all Polearm characters. Its hight-Enerrgy Recharge sub-stat makes it a formidable weapon even though its ATK stats are lower than the abovementioned Polearms. 

5.(4-Star) Wavebreaker’s Fin

Wavebreaker’s Fin is a tad hard to acquire, but it’s worth it for damage-heavy team composition. While it’s just a 4-Star weapon, it comes with 620 Base ATK at level 90. 

Meaning its contribution to Shenhe’s Burst Damage is insanely good, especially for a Cryo DMG team composition for dungeons and challenging boss fights. 

Shenhe’s Best Skills Ranked

Given that Shenhe is primarily a support role- keep in mind that their responsibilities include buffing the main Cryo DPS in the team composition. Hence, the first skill to level is always her Elemental Skill. 

This helps tremendously during battles, as Shenhe’s Elemental Burst reduces enemies’ Physical and Cryo Resistance, making them susceptible to large chunks of damage from other units in your team. 

so accordingly, the priority ranking for her talents-

(Elemental Burst) Divine Maiden’s Deliverance– Shenhe’e Elemental Burst is the most crucial skill, given her role as a Cryo Support in team composition. The skill activates as Shenhe sets forth her powerful Talisman Spirit to wander to deal with Cryo AoE DMG. 

This Talisman Spirit also roams free, reducing enemies’ Cryo and Physical Resistance within a designated field. Additionally, it deals periodic Cryo DMG to every enemy within that field. 

(Normal Attack) Dawnstar Piercer: During her Normal Attack, Shenhe deals 5 sphere strikes with her Polearm. Her charged attack makes her lunge forward. While it does consume some energy, she moves while dealing damage to all opponents in her way. 

(Elemental Skill) Spring Spirit Summoning: This skill is a perfect Support cast for all other party members. Every party member receives the Icy Quill effect. Now depending on how it’s used, it dishes out different Cryo DMG effects. 

For example, if the Icy Quill is pressed, a character can rush forward while dealing Cryo DMG to all enemies within the line of sight. If it is held, Shenhe can command the Talisman Spirit to lash out AoE DMG. Icy Quills enhances Cryo DMG from all types of attacks, be it normal or elemental. 

Shenhe Team Synergy

We have been discussing builds for Shenhe focusing mainly on her Support role for Cryo teams. But which team compositions synergize well with her Cryo buffs? Rather, which other Genshin Impact characters sync well with Shenhe’s buffs and elemental bonuses? 

Let’s check out the list below:

Kamisato Ayaka– If you are looking to maximize your team’s DPS output, Kamisato Ayaka has your back. 

Ganyu– Ganyu is not only a formidable damage dealer but also raises your crit rate by 15% on all Frozen and Cryo-affected enemies. Not to forget, her Elemental Burst adds more to your team’s overall Cryo DMG.

Venti– Perfect Secondary damage dealer and adds Anemo support to your icy teams. 

Xiangling– Looking for some Melt effect? Xiangling is another Polearm user with powerful Pyro elemental damages to generate more kills. 

Chongyun– If you did not have a successful pull for Ayaka, consider Chonyun, a dynamic teammate for his aunt. He works well as a primary damage dealer and utilizes her elemental buffs perfectly. 

Xingqiu- Now Auntie Shenhe is no big fan of her nephew’s pranking bookwork “friend.” But Xingqiu works perfectly with Chonyun on a Shenhe team comp as a secondary damage dealer. 

Bennet– A stroke of good luck for any Melt team. Bennet has strong elemental attacks and ensures his Pyro power blends beautifully with Cryo buffs. 

Kaedehara Kazuha– Kazuha works best as a secondary damage dealer. Moreover, his Wind Vortex Anemo skills help round up nearby enemies, making it easy for Shenhe to unleash her AoE Cryo DMG over a horde.  

Sucrose– Sucrose is a perfect secondary Support for a Shenhe team comp. She is also a perfect replacement for Kazuha if you didn’t pull his banner yet.

From this team list, we believe 3 teams can come out victorious- 

1. Shenhe, Chongyun, Xingqiu, and Bennet
2. Shenhe, Chongyun, Bennet, and Sucrose
3. Shenhe, Ayaka, Xiangling, and Kazuha 

All in all Shenhe, with a powerful team, will help you ‘exorcise’ your rights to cheese every combat in the blink of an eye!