Ganyu

5★

CryoBowMain Damage

TL;DR

Ganyu does one thing. You hold the aim button until the arrowhead frosts over, then let go. The arrow hits and then bursts again a second later for a bigger hit in an area. Do that over and over. Her Burst is a 15 second hail of ice you drop before you start shooting, her Skill is mostly there for the Energy. The only real requirement is that the enemies hold still long enough for you to aim.

Rotation

Tap Skill (E) for the energy particles, then let your supports do their thing.
Burst (Q) on top of the enemies.
Fire one fully charged Charged Attack.
Keep firing them, back to back, until the hail runs out. Then start again.

Abilities

Skill (E)	She hops backwards and leaves an ice lotus behind. It taunts enemies for about 6 seconds, which is useful while you are standing still aiming. It pops for Cryo damage when it dies or times out. 10 second cooldown.
Charged Attack	The whole character. Hold the attack button until the arrowhead ices over, then release. The arrow deals Cryo where it lands, then a moment later a second, wider hit goes off around it. Release early and you get a plain ice arrow with no second hit, which is most of the damage gone.
Burst (Q)	Costs 60 Energy, lasts about 15 seconds and comes back in 15, so it can be up permanently. Rains ice shards on an area and anyone standing in that area gets 20% Cryo damage on top, her included.

The one mechanic to understand

The second shot is better than the first.

Every fully charged shot she fires gives her 20% Crit Rate for the next 5 seconds, but only for other fully charged shots and their second hits. So the first arrow is the setup and everything after it is the payoff, which is why she is played standing in one spot firing them one after another rather than shooting once and swapping out. It also explains why she wants the enemies frozen or otherwise pinned: a full charge takes about a second and a half. Something that walks out of the way makes you lose both halves of the shot and the Crit bonus you were building.

What actually matters

Something that stops the enemies moving. A Hydro character plus her Cryo freezes them solid and a frozen target cannot dodge the second half of your shot. A Pyro character instead melts every arrow for a much bigger number, but then nothing is frozen and you are aiming at things that move.
The Normal Attack talent is the one to level. Charged shots scale off that talent, not the Burst, so the books go there first and the Burst second. Her Skill can sit at whatever level it came at.
Energy Recharge, but not much of it. 60 Energy on a 15 second cooldown is easy. Somewhere around 120% covers it, less with a second Cryo character making particles.

Gear

Weapon	Crit first, Attack second. Prototype Crescent is craftable and its passive hands her a big Attack boost whenever an aimed shot lands on a weak point, which is what you are already trying to do.
Artifacts	4-piece Blizzard Strayer if the team freezes, since it is a large amount of free Crit Rate against frozen enemies. 4-piece Wanderer's Troupe if you are melting instead, because nothing in that set cares whether the target is frozen and it boosts Charged Attacks directly.

Sands	Goblet	Circlet	Substats
ATK / EM	Cryo DMG	Crit	Crit / ATK

Elemental Mastery sands instead if you are melting.

Works well with

Hydro

Cryo

Pyro

Hydro and Pyro are two different teams and they do not mix. A Pyro character in a freeze team thaws everything you just froze, so pick one route. Cryo is there for the Energy and the resonance.

Don't bother

Her Normal Attack string. Six quick arrows that do nearly nothing.
Half charged shots. No second hit and no Crit bonus.
Physical damage builds. Everything she does that matters is Cryo.
Energy Recharge past about 130%. Put it into Crit.

Want the full deep dive? Read Ganyu on KeqingMains.

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