Aloy is a powerful 5-Star Cryo character. Here’s how to build her.
Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn has arrived in Genshin Impact as a free character, and many people are looking for the best build for this new Cryo character. Aloy is a 5-Star character, so she should be able to fit right into most team compositions. Aloy has a suite of new abilities and talents to learn, and she has a very unique playstyle that draws a ton of inspiration from her own game. Here is the best build for Aloy in Genshin Impact, including details about her abilities, best artifacts, best weapon, and best team composition.
Genshin Impact Aloy Abilities
Aloy’s kit is centered around AoE Cryo damage. She’s a bow user, so her normal and charged attacks work just like most other bow users’ attacks do. Her normal attack is a four-shot combo, and her charged attack fires a single arrow that does Cryo damage.
Her Elemental Skill is called Frozen Wilds. She tosses a Freeze Bomb that explodes upon impact, and it releases Chillwater Bomblets that explode on contact with enemies or after a short delay.
Dealing damage with this ability grants Coil stacks, which increase Aloy’s damage. Getting four Coil stacks will cause Aloy to enter the Rushing Ice state, which converts her normal attack damage to Cryo damage. Aloy’s Combat Override talent also causes the entire party’s damage to increase when Coil stacks are gained as well once you unlock it.
Finally, her Elemental Burst is called Prophecies of Dawn. It’s a fairly standard AoE Cryo attack where Aloy throws a Power Cell filled with Cryo at enemies. She then detonates it by shooting it with a well-placed arrow.
Best Build for Aloy in Genshin Impact
Aloy’s entire kit is built around Cryo damage and maximizing Rushing Ice uptime. This makes her a great sub-DPS or even main DPS depending on your team composition. She has a low base attack stat, but she can set off devastating reactions and combos with her Cryo abilities. Her PlayStation-exclusive Predator Bow increases her damage output though, so Aloy’s role is really going to come down to how you build her.
Best Aloy Weapon
- Best Main DPS Weapon: Predator Bow
- Dealing Cryo DMG to opponents increases this character’s Normal and Charged Attack DMG by 10 for 6s. This effect can have a maximum of 2 stacks. Additionally, when Aloy equips Predator, ATK is increased by 66.
- Best Sub-DPS Weapon: Thundering Pulse
- Increases ATK by 20% and grants the might of the Thunder Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, the Thunder Emblem increases Normal Attack DMG by 12/24/40%.
Aloy’s best weapon is the Predator Bow, which is only available to PlayStation players. If you want a main DPS build for Aloy, this is the weapon to use. It boosts her attack by 66 just by equipping it, and it buffs her attack power even further after dealing Cryo Damage. This weapon is only available on PS4 and PS5 though, so PC and mobile players will need to find an alternative.
Dealing Cryo DMG to opponents increases this character’s Normal and Charged Attack DMG by 10 for 6s. This effect can have a maximum of 2 stacks. Additionally, when Aloy equips Predator, ATK is increased by 66.
Increases ATK by 20% and grants the might of the Thunder Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, the Thunder Emblem increases Normal Attack DMG by 12/24/40%.
Thundering Pulse is another great bow to use for Aloy. It increases attack by 20% outright and boosts damage even further if you can manage to gain stacks of Thunder Emblem. Thunder Emblem stacks are gained by using your normal abilities though, so it’s not too difficult to keep the buff up.
Best Aloy Artifacts
- Best DPS Artifact Set: Martial Artist
- Increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 15%. After using Elemental Skill, increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 25% for 8s.
- Best Cryo Damage Artifact Set: Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
- ATK +18%. When casting an Elemental Skill, if the character has 15 or more Energy, they lose 15 Energy and Normal/Charged/Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 50% for 10s. This effect will not trigger again during that duration.
- Alternate Cryo Artifact Set: Emblem of Severed Fate
- Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus DMG can be obtained in this way.
Aloy can excel with many different Artifact sets, but there are three sets in particular that play to her strengths particularly well. Martial Artist is good for a lot of DPS characters, and it works for Aloy too. It increases damage by 15%, and having four pieces of the set will increase attack damage even further when you use an Elemental Skill.
Increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 15%. After using Elemental Skill, increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 25% for 8s.
ATK +18%. When casting an Elemental Skill, if the character has 15 or more Energy, they lose 15 Energy and Normal/Charged/Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 50% for 10s. This effect will not trigger again during that duration.
Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus DMG can be obtained in this way.
You could also use the Shimenawa’s Reminiscence set to really capitalize on Aloy’s Cryo abilities. This not only boosts attack by 18% outright, but it also increases attack damage by an additional 50% if you use your Elemental Skill with enough Energy.
For an alternate Cryo Artifact set choice, you could go with the Emblem of Severed Fate set. This set will greatly increase your Elemental Burst damage, allowing you to do instance burst damage with Aloy’s Prophecies of Dawn attack in the right situation.
Best Aloy Team Composition
If you’re using Aloy in your Genshin Impact team, then you will want to have a Hydro and Electro character in your party with her. This way, you can cause the Freeze and Superconduct reactions. A Pyro would also be helpful so you could aim for the Melt reaction.
As long as you have those three elements covered, you should have no shortage of combos with Aloy’s Cryo damage. Of course, your roster is going to come down to which characters you actually have unlocked. Here’s a good team composition for Aloy:
- Cryo: Aloy
- Electro: Baal, Keqing, Razor
- Hydro: Mona, Tartaglia, Xingqiu
- Pyro: Diluc, Klee, Bennett
You could also add an Anemo character like Kazuha, Venti, or Albedo to the party instead of the characters listed above if you choose. Anemo plays well with every element in the game, and it’s great for spreading status effects to large groups of enemies.
Aloy Cryo Resonance Team Composition
You could also swap one of those elements out and opt for a second Cryo character in order to take advantage of Elemental Resonance. Shattering Ice comes into play when you have two Cryo characters in your party, and it increases your critical rate against enemies affected by Cryo by 15%. If you want two Cryo characters, then you could use this party setup for Aloy:
- Cryo: Aloy
- Cryo: Kamisato Ayaka, Diona, Ganyu
- Hydro: Mona, Tartaglia, Xingqiu
- Pyro: Diluc, Klee, Bennett
Like the above team composition, you could add an Anemo character into the mix instead of the Hydro or Pyro party member. You could get good damage off of Pyro and Cryo alone if you choose to replace the Hydro character with an Anemo one, and having an Anemo party member would help you with crowd control.
Genshin Impact is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, and mobile devices.
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