Among the seven, no element quite makes the impact that Cryo does. With 11 playable Cryo users, it has the most characters outside Electro. This isn’t to mention the actual effects of the elemental status, which is the only so far to slow opponents. That said, some Cryo users make more of an impression than others.
Updated on December 17, 2022, by Elara Leclair: With the recent major version update to Genshin Impact, 3.0, Cryo units have seen a decrease in popularity due to the lack of new reactions involving Cryo and Dendro. Despite this, Cryo units are still incredibly powerful, boasting great DPS, support, and healing capabilities.
Moreover, new characters have been added to the roster, such as Layla who was released in the 3.2 updates, further proving that Cryo units remain a formidable force in Genshin Impact and will continue to be relevant in the future.
11 Aloy
Aloy is the first and only playable crossover character in Genshin Impact, joining the game as a collaboration between Guerrilla Games and HoYoverse. To celebrate her arrival, she was given to all players who logged in during a certain time-period for free, while her weapon was exclusively given to Playstation players.
Unfortunately, Aloy doesn’t stand out from the rest of the characters in Genshin Impact except for looking out of place. Her overall character kit is considered to be lacking in strength and does not provide any noteworthy or innovative contributions to the team. Additionally, players are not able to unlock any constellations for her, making Aloy an easily forgotten unit.
10 Chongyun
In the early days of Genshin Impact, Chongyun was one of the most popular and sought-after characters for players to include in a team. His Cryo infusion made him a powerful ally in combat. But as the game has evolved, Chongyun’s Cryo application has become less necessary, and he has fallen out of favor, especially with the introduction of characters such as Ayaka, who can infuse her weapon with Cryo, or other units who simply have better Cryo application.
Overall, Chongyun is best described as a Cryo support or DPS. As a support, Chongyun specializes in enabling reactions by creating a Cryo infusion zone with his elemental skill. Of course, this strategy has the flaw of infusing all attacks; the character causing the reaction should refrain from using their attacks in Chongyun’s zone unless their skills are not affected by Chongyun’s infusion. On the other hand, Chongyun can also act as a Cryo DPS by causing reactions in his zone. However, this strategy also has its flaws as it makes the enabler’s job more difficult for the same infusion reasons.
9 Kaeya
Granted, Kaeya may have the most use in the early game of the five free characters. However, compared to other Cryo units, Kaeya doesn’t quite make the cut due to his limited potential in battle. While his skill is easy to use, it ultimately is fairly underwhelming compared to other Cryo skills. The same can be said of his burst, though both are still useful from a support basis. On the other hand, Kaeya is a great utility character, but not much outside of that without heavy building.
Another issue with making the most of Kaeya is the difficulty in obtaining his constellations. He is never featured in rate-up banners, so the only way to acquire him is through sheer luck on Standard banner pulls or by purchasing him from the Starglitter Shop, if he is available. For those that do want to use Kaeya in their teams, a good team composition can still make up for his flaws. Players will find Kaeya’s support build to be most efficiently working to enable Cryo reactions.
8 Qiqi
It’s no secret that Qiqi was a much-coveted character when Genshin Impact first hit the scene. Her healing abilities were valuable to any team, and she was a top choice for many players. However, times have changed and with the arrival of new characters, and Qiqi is not considered as the best healer anymore.
Qiqi’s main issue is her lack of versatility; she is limited to being a healer. Unlike the other Cryo healer unit Diona, Qiqi cannot generate energy for the team or create a shield. Furthermore, although her application of Cryo is effective for Superconduct teams, it does not offer any unique advantages for other use cases.
7 Shenhe
Shenhe’s Elemental Skill, which generates Icy Quills, can be a great boon to teams that focus on Cryo DPS, and can even be useful in Physical builds, as she can easily shred enemies’ Cryo and Physical RES. Despite her benefits, she has some drawbacks; the most notable being her niche utility, as she may not be the best fit for every team composition like some other characters on this list.
Furthermore, unfortunately, there is a lot of downtime for her E skill which players need to contend with. Her Burst, however, has decent uptime, but it doesn’t contribute significantly to overall DPS. All things considered, Shenhe is an average character that players don’t need to prioritize unless they are particularly fond of her design and can find great use for her.
6 Rosaria
Rosaria is an exceptional 4-star Cryo Polearm who boasts an incredibly versatile and powerful kit, capable of fulfilling many roles in a variety of teams. Her Skill and Burst both can enable Melt’s reaction, allowing the team to deal tremendous damage. Additionally, she has consistent off-field Cryo application with her short skill cool down which also provides decent energy generation. One of the best and most unique abilities she offers is a team Crit buff, which synergizes exceptionally well with other Cryo units.
Nevertheless, she still faces stiff competition from other Cryo characters, who can often perform similar roles. Her burst is also quite restrictive as the party needs to remain in the burst circle. And while she is not entirely reliant on Constellations, some of her Constellations—most notably her second—are fairly significant to her performance.
5 Layla
Layla is the newest recruit to the Cryo roster, being added to the game during the 3.2 patch. Her main role is to provide defensive support, as her Elemental skill generates a shield. During this shield, she also generates Night Stars, which allows her to do Cryo application and generate energy. When it comes to building her, she is relatively easy to assemble, opting for Artifacts and Weapons that require sufficient ER to reduce cool downs and as much HP as possible. However, a damage build is not recommended due to her low modifiers.
Despite her heavy reliance on Constellations, Layla is still a nice unit that can fit in plenty of team compositions. However, her shield is not the strongest, and if it is broken, the rest of her benefits such as the damage, cryo application, and energy particle generation will no longer be active. Overall, she can still be a great addition to any team if built correctly.
4 Eula
Eula is the best physical damage unit in the game. If played right, she boasts impressive Elemental Burst damage output that can one-shot almost everything the burst hits. Being a Cryo element also makes it easier for her to set up Superconduct reactions with off-field Electro characters like Fischl, Raiden, and Yae Miko.
In addition, Eula makes for a more stable DPS than others due to her minimal off-times. Her elemental skill stacks not only increase her resistance to interruption but also enhance her base defense stats. Furthermore, when consumed, these stacks can decrease the Physical RES and Cryo RES of surrounding opponents, thus increasing her total damage. Consequently, Eula is an easy-to-build character with enough flexible team slots to optimize her gameplay and damage output. Nevertheless, as she is not an elemental reaction unit, she may feel underpowered in certain high-level gameplay scenarios such as the Spiral Abyss if the enemy roster or buffs do not favor her.
3 Diona
Many Genshin Impact players may be tempted to skip over Diona when choosing a Cryo character. Yet, this makes for one of the biggest mistakes in the game, as fans overwhelmingly lose a high-quality healer and support. Versatility is Diona’s biggest asset. Though she doesn’t necessarily master any one skill, she has enough diversity to fill in multiple roles in a pinch: healing, enabling, shielding, and more. Her most notable feature can be found in her healing, which creates a zone of healing that also applies Cryo status.
Composition-wise, Diona can be paired with most characters. However, given that a Cryo support healer build is advised, a team composition relying on elemental mastery or elemental reactions that can benefit from her C6 can see a lot of benefit from it. This way, Diona can heal while buffing the other party members’ elemental mastery. Players can also opt in for a great Freeze team with Ayaka, or a physical team with Eula.
2 Ayaka
Ayaka’s move set makes for one of the most unique in the game for exploration in particular. Furthermore, her sprint has a significant impact on her combat; as it enables Ayaka to infuse her blade with Cryo, providing a consistent source of Cryo application and damage. Overall, she has the highest raw Cryo damage potential in the entire Cryo roster, thanks to her powerful auto-attacks and Burst. When coupled with her ascension stat being Crit Damage, as well as her great synergy with the Cyro Resonance and Blizzard Strayer artifact set, she can do devastating damage with the right team, especially in Freeze compositions.
Despite being a great raw Cryo DPS unit, Ayaka does not offer much versatility when it comes to other roles or reactions. She does not provide consistent cryo application or other forms of support off-field. Additionally, due to her fast cryo application, it is not recommended to build her for Melt compositions.
1 Ganyu
Despite being released early in version 1.3, Ganyu remains the best Cryo unit to date due to her versatility and high damage output. As for her support ability, Ganyu offers excellent Cryo application with her long-duration Elemental Burst. Her Elemental Skill gives her the ability to keep enemies at a distance while she casts charge attacks, providing an effective crowd control tool for herself or other team members.
As a bow user reliant on charge attacks, some players might not find Ganyu suitable as a primary DPS unit. However, she has an incredibly powerful kit that synergizes perfectly with her own skills and those of other characters. When built correctly for a melt composition, she can even outshine Ayaka as a main DPS Cryo unit.
More: Genshin Impact: 4-Star Teams You Can Take To The Spiral Abyss
