Choosing the best artifacts to equip a Genshin Impact character with is always one of the most important aspects of character building. It is perhaps, however, most important when it comes to support units like the five-star Cryo Polearm character Shenhe because they are essential for increasing how effective they are at assisting their teammates.
While just about every Genshin character boasts a rich and unique backstory, Shehe seems to have the darkest backstory of all. After experiencing childhood traumas that ended with her having to vanquish a god to save herself, Shenhe began battling against powerful homicidal tendencies that she could not resist.
Related: Genshin Impact tier list: Best and worst characters ranked
The adepti saw her struggle and stepped in to grant her special red ropes that were bound to her soul to quell the murderous tendencies, which are the very same ropes that players will see throughout her skillset and various trailers. Once the adepti did this, Shenhe’s dangerous behaviors were successfully quelled but at the cost of her personality becoming mostly indifferent outside of occasional instances where she briefly acts beyond the red ropes to become angry or violent for a very short period of time.
Shenhe’s extremely unique backstory is matched by an equally remarkable Cryo skillset. The Cryo Polearm character is an extremely solid support unit that is specifically designed to bolster either fellow Cryo characters or those that primarily dish out physical damage. Her storyline and skillset also combine through the various movements she makes while on the battlefield for a stunningly cohesive force that might make her one of Genshin’s most well-thought-out assets.
Whether you’re adding Shenhe to your roster because you are intrigued by her uniquely dark storyline or because you are seeking an excellent Cryo support unit, you’ll want to ensure that you provide her with the best gear possible. This includes finding the best weapon for her to wield in battle, placing her within a solid team lineup that she can support, and equipping her with the best artifacts possible.
What are the best artifacts for Shenhe in Genshin Impact?
Shenhe’s abilities are targeted toward her always functioning in a support capacity. For players to experience the full benefits that her skillset offers, they’ll primarily want to place her on a team with Cryo and physical damage-centric characters.
Her skillset is specifically suited toward amplifying characters of these two types and ensuring that her artifacts are also focused on aspects that will also serve her support needs is a must for building her properly. Because Shenhe works as a supporting character and due to her skillset scaling off of attack, the most important aspects to focus on with her artifacts are:
- Energy recharge
- Attack percentage
Outside of these, some other decent statistics to look out for in Shenhe’s artifacts are:
- Critical rate
- Critical damage
- Cryo damage bonus
Some Genshin characters have a massive variety of powerful sets that can be utilized to amplify their skillsets, but others like Shenhe will only truly shine with a select few sets. For Shenhe, there are five solid sets that players can choose to equip on her plus many mix-and-match combinations between them.
Noblesse Oblige
For a general build based around Shenhe as a Cryo support character, the Noblesse Oblige artifact set is the overall best choice. This artifact set is generally considered one of Genshin’s best and most versatile options because it has both powerful effects and works well on a wide variety of characters.
The two-piece Noblesse Oblige set grants an elemental burst increase of 20 percent. The four-piece set causes the usage of an elemental burst to then increase all party members’ attack by 20 percent. This effect cannot stack but will last for 20 seconds.
Players can gain the various pieces of the Noblesse Oblige artifact set from the Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern Domain in Minlin, Liyue.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
Building attack is crucial to Shenhe’s success which makes the Shimenawa’s Reminiscence a strong choice to equip her with. The two-piece version of this set applies an attack increase of 18 percent.
With the four-piece set applied and 15 or more energy accumulated, the equipping character will then consume 15 energy to increase normal, charged, and plunging attack damage by 50 percent for the next 10 seconds. This effect cannot be activated again while it is still running.
The Shimenawa’s Reminiscence artifact set can be obtained from the Momiji-Dyed Court Domain at Yashiori Island, Inazuma.
Gladiator’s Finale
Another immensely versatile set that also works well on Shenhe is Gladiator’s Finale. The two-piece Gladiator’s Finale artifact set functions just like Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and also grants an attack increase of 18 percent.
As long as the equipping character wields a polearm, sword, or claymore then the full four-piece set increases normal attack damage by 35 percent. Shenhe is a polearm character which means that she can enjoy the full benefits of this set if players choose to equip it on her.
While every other artifact set in Genshin can be gained through vanquishing foes in various Domains, the Gladiator’s Finale set is exclusively available through vanquishing weekly and normal bosses or from completing a Spiral Abyss level that grants the Domain Reliquary: Tier II box as a reward.
Blizzard Strayer
Each of Teyvat’s seven elements has a specific artifact set based around them. The Cryo version is called Blizzard Strayer and is all about building Cryo-based damage.
Depending on what kind of team players have Shenhe join, this set might be the best option for her. Generally, any player that adds Shenhe to a Frozen-based team, otherwise known as “permafrost” or “permafreeze” by the Genshin community, will also want to equip her with this set to increase the team’s Cryo damage output.
The two-piece Blizzard Strayer set grants a Cryo damage bonus of 15 percent. With the four-piece set equipped, critical rate is increased by 20 percent when the character attacks an enemy that is actively afflicted by Cryo. If the enemy is instead affected by the Frozen elemental reaction then critical rate is raised by another 20 percent.
While many artifact sets are easily obtainable right away, the Blizzard Strayer set can only be unlocked by players that have successfully reached the peak of Dragonspine in Mondstadt where the Peak of Vindagnyr Domain can be found.
Emblem of Severed Fate
If you are seeking to increase the damage Shenhe’s energy recharge and elemental burst damage then the Emblem of Severed fate artifact might be the set that you want to equip her with. The two-piece set increases energy recharge by 20 percent which will allow her to utilize her powerful abilities more often.
The four-piece set increases elemental burst damage by 25 percent of energy recharge. Because building energy recharge is essential for Shenhe even without this set equipped, choosing to apply the full four-piece Emblem of Severed Fate set can be a powerful choice.
The energy recharge that players build up for the Cryo character will be beneficial for ensuring that she can utilize her abilities more frequently and will also increase how much damage her elemental burst can deal when this artifact set is applied. Up to 75 percent bonus damage can be gained through the effects of this set.
Players can obtain the Emblem of Severed Fate artifact set from the Momiji-Dyed Court Domain at Yashiori Island, Inazuma.
Sometimes the best option for a Genshin recruit is not a full four-piece set but rather two different two-piece sets. For Shenhe, this can be an incredibly powerful option for players who find that they want her to experience the benefits of two unique sets.
The best artifact combinations that players can apply on Shenhe are:
- Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Gladiator’s Finale
- Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Noblesse Oblige
- Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Blizzard Strayer
- Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Emblem of Severed Fate
- Two-piece Gladiator’s Finale and two-piece Noblesse Oblige
- Two-piece Gladiator’s Finale and two-piece Blizzard Strayer
- Two-piece Gladiator’s Finale and two-piece Emblem of Severed Fate
- Two-piece Blizzard Strayer and two-piece Noblesse Oblige
- Two-piece Blizzard Strayer and two-piece Emblem of Severed Fate
- Two-piece Emblem of Severed Fate and two-piece Noblesse Oblige
The five-star Cryo Polearm recruit is currently live for the second-ever run of her featured “The Transcendent One Returns” banner. Players can wish on her until her banner ends on April 11 alongside the official end of the Version 3.5 update.
Shenhe’s banner is running at the same time as the five-star Cryo Sword character Kamisato Ayaka which means that most Travelers will have to face the tough choice of choosing between the two powerful Cryo units. Once their banners come to an end, both characters will likely then become unobtainable for at least six months but possibly even a year or longer.
Because Shenhe has only had two banner runs so far, it is likely that she will return sooner rather than later which means that players who miss out on her this time may receive another chance to add her to their rosters fairly soon. MiHoYo’s banner reruns are, however, notoriously unpredictable and it is also very possible that Shenhe might be unobtainable for an extended period of time as is currently the case with the five-star Cryo Claymore character Eula.
