Genshin Impact Ayaka

An in-depth guide on how to build Genshin Impact’s elegant swordfighter, Ayaka.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

Ayaka is a 5-star Cryo Sword character who specialises as a Cryo Main DPS, and is only available on the Character Event Wish banner while she is featured character. Keep reading to find out what materials are needed to Ascend Ayaka, her best builds and an overview of how to use her effectively.

Ayaka Ascension Stat

All characters in Genshin Impact have a particular stat that levels up alongside their base stats. For Ayaka, this extra stat is CRIT DMG. This will enable her to deal massive DMG, whilst also making her more flexible to build in terms of Weapon and Artifact substats.

Ayaka Ascension Materials

Once you have obtained Ayaka and maxed her to Level 20, she can be further levelled up through Ascension. The materials you will need to Ascend Ayaka are as follows:

Level	Ascension Materials
Level 20	Shivada Jade Sliver x 1 Sakura Bloom x 3 Old Handguard x 3
Level 40	Shivada Jade Fragment x 3 Perpetual Heart x 2 Sakura Bloom x 10 Old Handguard x 15
Level 50	Shivada Jade Fragment x 6 Perpetual Heart x 4 Sakura Bloom x 20 Kageuchi Handguard x 12
Level 60	Shivada Jade Chunk x 3 Perpetual Heart x 8 Sakura Bloom x 30 Kageuchi Handguard x 18
Level 70	Shivada Jade Chunk x 6 Perpetual Heart x 12 Sakura Bloom x 45 Famed Handguard x 12
Level 80	Shivada Jade Gemstone x 6 Perpetual Heart x 20 Sakura Bloom x 60 Famed Handguard x 24

Shivada Jade Slivers, Fragments, Chunks and Gemstones can be obtained by defeating the Cryo Regisvine, located in Mondstadt, and the Cryo Hypostasis, located in Dragonspine.

Perpetual Heart can be obtained by defeating the Perpetual Mechanical Array, located in Inazuma.

Sakura Blooms can be found on Narukami Island, Inazuma. They are particularly abundant at the Grand Narukami Shrine and the surrounding area.

Old Handguards, Kageuchi Handguards and Famed Handguards can be obtained by defeating Nobushi, which can be found wandering Inazuma.

Ayaka Talent Materials

In order to make Ayaka stronger, you’ll need to upgrade her talents. The materials you will need are as follows:

• Old Handguard
• Kageuchi Handguard
• Famed Handguard
• Teachings of Elegance
• Guide to Elegance
• Philosophies of Elegance
• Bloodjade Branch

The Teachings, Guide and Philosophies of Elegance can be obtained by completing the Domain of Mastery: Thundering Valley every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Meanwhile, the Bloodjade Branch is a potential drop from the Weekly Azhdaha Challenge.

Ayaka Best Weapons

Since Ayaka is a Main DPS character, she favours weapons that will give her the highest ATK and CRIT stats possible. That being said, here are some weapons she can make good use of:

Weapon	Rarity
Mistsplitter Reforged	5-star
Primordial Jade Cutter	5-star
Blackcliff Longsword	4-star
The Black Sword	4-star
Amenoma Kageuchi	4-star

Ayaka’s best in slot is easily Mistsplitter Reforged. This is an incredible Sword, with not only the highest Base ATK a Sword can have, but also a very high amount of CRIT DMG as its substat. Its passive is also tailored to suit Ayaka’s playstyle; it gives her an Elemental DMG Bonus that stacks as you play her, which will increase her DMG output. Alternatively, Ayaka can also use the Primordial Jade Cutter to good effect, since it gives a tonne of CRIT Rate and an ATK% Bonus based on her Max HP. There is a misconception that Ayaka shouldn’t use this weapon when equipped with 4-Piece Blizzard Strayer since she could have too much CRIT Rate (which is arguably inefficient,) but as long as the rest of your Artifacts have high CRIT DMG stats, this setup is perfectly viable and will give you a consistently high DPS.

Ayaka can also make good use of some 4-star weapons. Blackcliff Longsword is preferable, since it will give her CRIT DMG which synergises with 4-Piece Blizzard Strayer’s CRIT Rate. However, she can also work well with The Black Sword which gives a nice amount of CRIT Rate; like with the Primordial Jade Cutter, as long as her Artifacts have high CRIT DMG substats, this weapon is perfectly efficient. She can also use the F2P craftable weapon Amenoma Kageuchi, which will give her plenty of ATK. Its passive will essentially give her Energy Recharge, which is great for getting her Burst charged on cooldown.

Ayaka Best Artifacts

Ayaka’s best set is 4-Piece Blizzard Strayer, since it increases her Cryo DMG by 15%, and also increases her CRIT Rate: when she attacks an opponent affected by Cryo, her CRIT Rate is increased by 20%. If the opponent is Frozen, CRIT Rate is increased by an additional 20% which will give her a grand total of 40% CRIT Rate – not including any CRIT Rate she may have from her weapon and Artifact substats. This will help her deal consistently high CRIT DMG.

If you’re struggling to get a good 4-Piece Blizzard Strayer set, you can alternatively use 2-Piece Blizzard Strayer with 2-Piece Gladiator’s Finale / Shimenawa’s Reminiscence. This will increase her overall DMG, however, this set isn’t preferable over 4-Piece Blizzard Strayer and should really only be used as a placeholder.

For low-level players, 4-Piece Martial Artist or 2-Piece Martial Artist with 2-Piece Berserker work well until you’re able to get higher level Artifacts.

For your Artifact main stats, you will want to run:

Artifact	Main Stat
Sands	ATK%
Goblet	Cryo DMG Bonus
Circlet	CRIT DMG / Rate

In terms of Artifact substats, you’ll want to focus on ATK%, Energy Recharge, Elemental Mastery and both CRIT DMG and CRIT Rate.

How to use Ayaka

Her Elemental Skill, Kamisato Art: Hyouka, summons blooming ice to launch nearby opponents, dealing AoE Cryo DMG.

Her Elemental Burst, Kamisato Art: Soumetsu, unleashes a Frostflake Seki no To that moves forwards continuously. The Frostflake Seki no To is a storm of icy winds that slashes repeatedly at every enemy it touches, dealing Cryo DMG. The snowstorm explodes after its duration ends, dealing AoE Cryo DMG.

Ayaka also has a unique mechanic involving her sprint, Kamisato Art: Senho. Ayaka consumes Stamina and cloaks herself in a frozen fog that moves with her. In her Senho form, she moves swiftly upon water. When she reappears, Ayaka releases frigid energy to apply Cryo on nearby opponents. Coldness condenses around Ayaka’s blade, infusing her attacks with Cryo for a brief period.

Best Team Comps

Ayaka is a Cryo Main DPS who deals a lot of her DMG through her Cryo-infused Charged Attacks. Her Skill and her Burst can also deal huge amounts of DMG, and even more so when coupled with Elemental Reactions. Since Ayaka has such quick Cryo application, she works incredibly well on Freeze teams; Hydro characters such as Mona, Xingqiu and Kokomi, who all have off-field Hydro application, are especially potent when teamed up with Ayaka.

An Anemo character is also important on a Freeze team since they’ll be able to spread Hydro amongst your enemies, who can then be easily Frozen by Ayaka. Anemo characters also have access to the 4-Piece VV Artifact set, which debuffs your enemies’ RES to the Element they Swirl, which will increase your team’s overall DPS. Therefore, characters such as Sucrose, Venti, Kazuha and even a more supportive Jean can work well here.

Diona is a very useful character to have on a Freeze team too, as she can activate Cryo Resonance: this increases CRIT Rate against enemies that are Frozen or affected by Cryo by 15%, which is a fairly significant amount. Diona will also be able to heal and shield your team, which is especially ideal if you don’t have any other healers on your team. You could use Qiqi instead of Diona to fulfill a healer role here, however, she’s generally not preferred over Diona since Diona can also create shields, and acts as a good Cryo battery for Ayaka as well. Alternatively, you could use Shenhe as your second Cryo unit if you already have a healer on your team, since Shenhe can help increase Ayaka’s Cryo DMG.

This team comp is quite straightforward to play; you simply want to apply Hydro to your enemies, spread the Hydro Element with Swirl, and follow up with Ayaka’s Cryo-imbued Charged Attacks, Skill and Burst. By doing this, you’ll create Frozen reactions which will keep your enemies immobilised and allow you to deal high amounts of DMG.