Traveler (Cryo)

Traveler (Cryo)

5★CryoSwordMain Damage

TL;DR

The first Traveler form that stands on the field and swings. Skill puts a floating star beside you, the star fires ice crystals, every crystal that lands is a stack, and the Burst spends all eight stacks at once for the big hit. It only works with an Electro or an Anemo teammate, because the whole kit is built on the new Stellar reactions and you cannot make one on your own.

Rotation

  1. Supports first, and get the Stellar reaction going. Electro for the glowing field, Anemo for the swirl version.
  2. Skill (E) to put the star out.
  3. Normal attack, and charged attack whenever it lights up as the heavy one.
  4. Burst (Q) once you are at eight stacks.

Abilities

Skill (E) Costs no Energy, about a 15 second cooldown. A stab of Cryo ahead of you, and a star appears beside you for about 12 seconds. It follows your party around and fires ice crystals at whatever is nearby.
Burst (Q) Costs 60 Energy, back in about 15 seconds. An ice javelin that hits several times over. It eats every stack you have, and more stacks mean bigger hits. At the full eight it adds extra hits on top, which is why eight is the number you want.
Charged attack Your teammates' Stellar reactions charge it up, one charge at a time to a maximum of three. At three the next charged attack is a much heavier one that also gives you two stacks for free. Once every 15 seconds.
Their stacks One per ice crystal that connects, up to eight. The Burst spends the lot.

The one mechanic to understand

The glowing field changes what the star does.

Left alone, the star fires on its own timer and you could walk away. Stand in the glowing field that a Stellar-Conduct leaves on the ground and the star stops doing that. Instead it fires a crystal every time the Traveler lands a normal, charged or plunging attack, up to about five times a second, and at the same time their sword swings turn Cryo and gain a large slice of their attack stat. That is the good version and it is entirely on-field: in an Electro team, if the Traveler is not swinging, the star is not firing and you are not building stacks. The Anemo route is gentler. A teammate triggering a Stellar Swirl puts the Traveler in that state for about 8 seconds with no field to stand in, but you do not get the upgraded star or the converted attacks out of it.

What actually matters

The two or three real decisions. Everything else is noise.

  • Attack, and only attack. Their Elemental Mastery comes free as a percentage of their attack stat, the Stellar reaction bonus reads off attack, and the chunk added to their swings is a percentage of attack. There is no slot where Cryo damage bonus beats it.
  • Eight stacks before you Burst. Seven is not eight. The eighth adds extra instances of damage rather than a slightly larger number, so it is worth another second of swinging to get there.
  • The teammate is not optional. No Electro and no Anemo means no Stellar reaction, no field, no converted attacks. You are left with a sword character and a summon that fires on a slow timer.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Exaiphanes Blade, the free 5-star sword the Snezhnaya Archon Quest hands you. It takes no ascension materials or mora at all, and you level and refine it by enhancing it at the Snezhnayan Statues of the Seven. It is the best sword on every Traveler form, not just this one, so it is worth collecting even if you mostly play a different element.
Artifacts 4-piece Disenchantment in Deep Shadows, which is the set built for Stellar reaction damage. 4-piece Gilded Dreams while you farm it.
Main stats Attack sands, attack goblet, crit circlet. The Cryo damage goblet is the classic mistake here, because the reaction half of their damage ignores it completely.

Works well with

ElectroAnemo

One of the two, and the choice decides how you play them. Electro gives you the field and the on-field version. Anemo gives you the swirl version, which asks less of your field time. A second Cryo character keeps the aura up so the reactions keep landing.

Don't bother

  • Playing them off the field in an Electro team. The star only fires when they swing, so benching them switches it off.
  • Piling on Energy Recharge. The Burst is only 60 and the first constellation feeds Energy back every time you deal Stellar reaction damage.
  • Counting to three for the heavy charged attack. The button tells you. Press it when it lights up and get back to swinging.
  • Wishing for constellations. Cryo Traveler's come out of levelling Snezhnaya's Statues of the Seven, same as the weapon.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Traveler (Cryo) on KeqingMains.