The best Genshin Impact Chongyun build

Want to learn how to create the best build for Chongyun in Genshin Impact? Genshin Impact's original Cryo Claymore user, Chongyun is a young man with a colourful history. Born into a family of powerful exorcists, Chongyun's cool appearance belies the fact that he's really a figurative sunbeam of pure positive energy — which in turn makes him more volatile than he might seem.

In-story, Chongyun is noteworthy for his interesting collection of contradictions. As a member of your party, he's versatile enough to act in any DPS role, taking his Elemental Burst as a focal point for his fighting style. However, Chongyun really shines as sub-DPS to a Pyro DPS character. Read on below for our suggestions on how best to put the best Chongyun build together.

Best Genshin Impact Chongyun build for sub-DPS

Best weapon: Skyward Pride

Alternative: Sacrificial Greatsword

Chongyun's elemental attacks tend to pack a better punch than his normal ones, so you want to pick a weapon that makes the most of his strengths. Though as a 5-star item it can be hard to obtain (not to mention in high demand if you have multiple Claymore wielders in your party), the Skyward Pride really is Chongyun's best weapon. Comparatively few Claymores incorporate elemental abilities into their attacks, and the Skyward Pride simply is the best choice. It boosts all damage dealt by a minimum of 8%; and carries a guaranteed after-effect trigger after a normal, charged, or Elemental Burst attack, which does another 80% of the original attack damage to enemies in its direct path.

However, if you can't or don't want to equip Chongyun with a 5-star weapon, the best 4-star alternative to apply a similar Cryo-boosting effect is the Sacrificial Greatsword. After Chongyun damages an enemy with his Elemental Skill, there's a minimum 40% chance that the skill's cooldown will end immediately if this Claymore is equipped, raising to 80% with the weapon fully upgraded.

Best artifacts: Blizzard Strayer and Noblesse Oblige mixed set

Set bonuses:

• 2 piece bonus for Blizzard Strayer: Cryo DMG Bonus +15%
• 2 piece bonus for Noblesse Oblige: Elemental Burst DMG +20%

Alternative: 4 pieces from Blizzard Strayer set

You'll definitely want to pick up at least a couple of items from the Blizzard Strayer set for Chongyun. This set specifically supports Cryo characters, and with two pieces equipped at once, Chongyun will enjoy an extra 15% damage on his elemental attacks.

There are a couple of choices when it comes to finishing Chongyun's Artifact loadout. Completing the Blizzard Strayer set is a compelling option, as at four pieces it gives Chongyun an extra 20% crit rate against enemies affected by Cryo, with an additional 20% on top if the enemy is Frozen. However, a tempting alternative is to take a blended approach and equip a couple of pieces from the Noblesse Oblige set instead — which will add a highly desirable further 20% damage to Chongyun's Elemental Burst attacks.

Prioritise the following stats and substats on Chongyun's artifacts to best support this build:

• Circlet of Logos: ATK or Energy Recharge
• Sands of Eon: ATK or CRITs
• Goblet of Eonothem: Cryo DMG Bonus
• Substats: ATK and CRITs

Talent priority: Spirit Blade - Cloud-Parting Star (Elemental Burst)

Secondary: Spirit Blade - Chonghua's Layered Frost (Elemental Skill)

It's no secret that Chongyun's Cryo skills are his strongest feature, and thanks to the range of benefits that his best weapons and artifacts convey on his Elemental Burst, Spirit Blade - Cloud-Parting Star is definitely the Talent you want to focus on first and foremost. Meanwhile his Elemental Skill, Spirit Blade - Chonghua's Layered Frost, has the unique ability to imbue not only Chongyun's weapon but those of his fellow party members with Cryo. This skill improves best from developing his passive abilities (see Constellations, below) but definitely shouldn't be neglected either.

Here's a quick run-down of Chongyun's Talents and what they do:

• Normal Attack: Demonbane
• Normal Attack - Perform up to 4 consecutive strikes.
• Charged Attack - Drains Chongyun's Stamina over time, allowing him to perform continuous swirling attacks against all nearby opponents. At the end of the sequence, Chongyun performs a more powerful slash.
• Plunging Attack - Chongyun plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents in his path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
• Elemental Skill: Spirit Blade - Chonghua's Layered Frost - Chongyun strikes the ground with his Claymore, causing a Cryo explosion in a circular AoE in front of him that deals Cryo DMG. After a short delay, the cold air created by the Cryo explosion will coalesce into a Chonghua Frost Field, within which all Sword, Claymore, and Polearm-wielding characters' weapons will be infused with Cryo.
• Elemental Burst: Spirit Blade - Cloud-Parting Star - Chongyun summons 3 giant spirit blades in mid-air that fall to the earth one by one after a short delay, exploding as they hit the ground. When the spirit blades explode, they will deal AoE Cryo DMG and launch opponents.
• 1st Ascension Passive: Steady Breathing - Sword, Claymore, or Polearm-wielding characters within the field created by Spirit Blade - Chonghua's Layered Frost have their Normal Attack speed increased by 8%.
• 4th Ascension Passive: Rimechaser Blade - When the field created by Spirit Blade - Chonghua's Layered Frost disappears, another spirit blade will be summoned to strike nearby opponents, dealing 100% of Chonghua's Layered Frost's Skill DMG as AoE Cryo DMG. Opponents hit by this blade will have their Cryo Resistance decreased by 10% for 8s.
• Utility Passive: Gallant Journey - When dispatched on an expedition in Liyue, time consumed is reduced by 25%.

Party composition

• Main DPS: Bennett
• Sub DPS: Chongyun
• Shield/Support: Xingqiu
• Healer/Support: Diona

5-star alternative: Diluc replacing Bennett as main DPS

Chongyun and Bennett make for an excellent 4-star DPS team. Bennett is just generally one of the best characters in the game, and while it's his healing powers that really put him in the big leagues, he's a highly suitable DPS main as well. Chongyun fits comfortably into the sub-DPS role with Bennett, as while their combined elemental powers will regularly trigger the Melt reaction, its effects are more powerful when Bennett takes the lead and triggers them. But this is true for any Pyro DPS you pair Chongyun with, so if you have 5-star Diluc in your roster, it's a good idea to sub him in over Bennett. Diluc's unique powers include the ability to use his Elemental Skill three times before triggering a cooldown, allowing for more opportunities for his element to react with Chongyun's for extra damage.

Place Xingqiu in support to take advantage of his Hyro powers. Wet-affected enemies will react with both Chongyun's Cryo attacks and the main DPS's Pyro attacks for powerful elemental reactions. In particular, Frozen (Hydro + Cryo) enemies are rendered completely unable to move for a period of time, allowing your DPS team to chip away on their health bar uninterrupted. Xingqiu can also provide supporting DPS assistance and shield buffs.

Finally, include Diona on this team to take advantage of her ability to spread Cryo affects across a wider area, and her passive interaction with fellow Cryo character Chongyun that triggers the Shattering Ice resonance for incresed CRIT rates against Cryo-affected enemies. Diona's also a dab hand as a healer, so she'll come in handy for that role too, especially if Bennett isn't in the party.

Best Chongyun build: Ascension Materials

To fully ascened Chongyun you will need the following materials:

Luckily, Chongyun's ascension materials are by and large easy enough to get hold of. Foraging in the countryside around his home nation of Liyue and taking on plenty of Cryo Regisvine, Cryo Hypostasis, and Hilichurl enemies should over time provide you with everything you need.

Best Chongyun build: Talents

If you decide you want to crown one of Chongyun's talents, you'll need the following materials. Note that this tally is per talent, so if you want to triple crown him, you'll need to collect all this three times over:

Collect masks by defeating Hilichurl enemies of various difficulties, and get Diligence books from the Taishan Mansion domain (Tuesday/Friday/Sunday only). Dvalin's Sighs are exclusively available at the Confront Stormterror trounce domain at Lvl 70+. Finally, to fully level up any of Chongyun's talents, Crowns of Insight can be obtained through limited-time events or by making offerings to the Frostbearing Tree and the Sacred Sakura.

Constellations

If you have Chongyun in your party in any DPS role, it's well worth investing in his Constellations all the way up to Level 6 to make the absolute most you can of his Elemental Talents.

Here's a full run-down of Chongyun's Constellations:

• Ice Unleashed (Lvl 1): The last attack of Chongyun's Normal Attack combo releases 3 ice blades. Each blade deals 50% of Chongyun's attack as Cryo damage to all opponents in its path.
• Atmospheric Revolution (Lvl 2): Elemental Skills and Elemental Bursts cast within the Frost Field created by Spirit Blade - Chonghua's Layered Frost have their cooldown time decreased by 15%.
• Cloudburst (Lvl 3): Increases the Level of Spirit Blade - Cloud-Parting Star by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Frozen Skies (Lvl 4): Chongyun regenerates 1 Energy every time he hits an opponent affected by Cryo. This effect can only occur once every 2s.
• The True Path (Lvl 5): Increases the Level of Spirit Blade - Chonghua's Layered Frost by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Rally of Four Blades (Lvl 6): Spirit Blade - Cloud-Parting Star deals 15% more DMG to opponents with a lower percentage of their Max HP remaining than Chongyun. This skill will also summon 1 additional spirit blade.

How to get Chongyun in Genshin Impact

As a 4-star character, you have the chance to pull Chongyun from the gacha any time you Wish on the Wanderlust Invocation banner (standard wish). As one of Genshin Impact's original heroes available since launch, he's also available on the Beginners' Wish banner, which is available to new players until 20 Wishes have been made using their profile.

Chongyun is included in the wish pool of all Character Event Wishes and Weapon Event Wishes, and your chances of pulling him are increased whenever he's featured on a 5-star character's banner. That's not the case right now, but we'll be sure to let you know when it happens so you can take advantage of the increased odds of pulling him from the gacha.

That's everything you need to know to put together the best possible Chongyun build in Genshin Impact! There are quite a few Cryo characters available in the game, from starting recruit Kaeya to popular 5-star addition Kamisato Ayaka — why not take a look at our Genshin Impact character tier list to see how Chongyun compares? And if you decide to add to your character roster, check out our guide to getting more characters in Genshin Impact.