The best Genshin Impact Yelan build

Want to learn how to create the best Yelan build in Genshin Impact? The mysterious Hydro Bow user Yelan is a new addition to the ever-growing roster of characters from Liyue, and she’ll make a great addition to your team as a sub DPS (if you’re willing to roll the dice, of course).

This guide will show you how to create the best Yelan build in Genshin Impact. Below we'll cover everything you need to know about Yelan, including wishing, weapons, artifacts, ascension materials, talents, abilities, team composition, and constellations.

How to build Yelan as a sub DPS in Genshin Impact

Best weapon: Aqua Simulacra

Alternatives: Polar Star, Elegy for the End, Favonius Warbow, Sacrificial Bow

Predictably, the Aqua Simulacra is an excellent choice for Yelan — this nifty Bow boosts CRIT DMG and HP, providing an extra DMG boost when foes are nearby (and it was essentially designed for Yelan, so it’ll look great alongside her).

If you can’t get your hands on the Aqua Simulacra but have other 5-star Bows up your sleeve, Polar Star and Elegy for the End are great high-end alternatives. Polar Star boosts CRIT Rate and Elemental Skill/Burst DMG while Elegy for the End raises Energy Recharge and Elemental Mastery.

Finally, for players without access to 5-star Bows, the Favonius Warbow and Sacrificial Bow make excellent alternatives as well. The Favonius Warbow boosts Energy Recharge and generates Elemental Particles, which helps Yelan’s Burst be available more frequently. The Sacrificial Bow is pretty similar — this Bow also boosts Energy Recharge, though it comes with a chance to end the user’s Elemental Skill cooldown. Because of this, if you’re planning on utilizing Yelan’s Burst, we’d recommend the Favonius Warbow, while Skill users should shoot for the Sacrificial Bow.

Best artifacts: 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate

Alternative: 2-piece Heart of Depth with 2-piece Noblesse Oblige, Emblem of Severed Fate, or Tenacity of the Millelith

Since Yelan is a sub DPS, you’ll likely be utilizing her Elemental Burst often, though an Elemental Burst is only as strong as its Artifacts. To level up her Burst to its maximum potential, we’d recommend using a 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate kit. As a 4-piece set, these Artifacts will add a 20% boost to Yelan’s Energy Recharge and an increase for Elemental Burst DMG that scales off of Energy Recharge.

If you’re not too keen on solely focusing on Yelan’s Burst, starting with a 2-piece Heart of Depth set is a great option — this small set will provide a 15% boost to Yelan’s Hydro DMG. We’d recommend pairing this 2-piece set with 2 pieces of either Noblesse Oblige, Emblem of Severed Fate, or Tenacity of the Millelith. Noblesse Oblige will add 20% to Yelan’s Burst DMG, Emblem of Severed Fate will add 20% to Yelan’s Energy Recharge, and Tenacity of the Millelith will add 20% to Yelan’s HP.

With any Artifacts, you’ll want to focus on the stats and substats listed below:

• Circlet of Logos: CRIT Rate/DMG
• Sands of Eon: HP%, Energy Recharge
• Goblet of Eonothem: Hydro DMG Bonus
• Substats: CRIT Rate/DMG, Energy Recharge, HP%

Talent priority: Depth-Clarion Dice (Elemental Burst)

Secondary: Lingering Lifeline (Elemental Skill)

Yelan is best as a sub DPS, meaning you’ll mostly be utilizing her Elemental Burst and Skill to do massive amounts of DMG and boost your team’s stats. You’ll likely want to prioritize Yelan’s Elemental Burst, as this is her strongest asset. Her Elemental Skill can be leveled as well, though it’s unlikely you’ll need to level her Normal Attack at all.

Here’s what you’ll get from the rest of Yelan’s abilities:

• Normal Attack: Stealthy Bowshot - Performs up to 4 consecutive shots with a bow.
• Charged Attack - Perform a more precise Aimed Shot with increased DMG. While aiming, flowing water will accumulate on the arrowhead. A fully charged torrential arrow will deal Hydro DMG.
• Breakthrough - Yelan will enter a "Breakthrough" state after spending 5s out of combat, which will cause her next Charged Aimed Shot to have 80% decreased charge time, and once charged, she can fire a "Breakthrough Barb" that will deal AoE Hydro DMG based on Yelan's Max HP.
• Plunging Attack - Fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
• Elemental Skill: Lingering Lifeline - Fires off a Lifeline that allows her to move rapidly, entangling and marking opponents along its path. When this rapid movement ends, the Lifeline will explode, dealing Hydro DMG to the marked opponents based on Yelan's Max HP. Press to move a certain distance forward swiftly. Hold to engage in continuous, swift movement, during which Yelan's resistance to interruption is increased. During this time, Yelan can control this rapid movement and end it by using this Skill again. Additionally, each opponent marked by the "Lifeline" when it explodes grants Yelan a 34% chance to reset her "Breakthrough" state.
• Elemental Burst: Depth-Clarion Dice - Deals AoE Hydro DMG and creates an "Exquisite Throw," which aids her in battle. Exquisite Throw follows the character around and will initiate a coordinated attack under the following circumstances, dealing Hydro DMG based on Yelan's Max HP. This can occur once every second when your active character uses a Normal Attack. Will occur each time Yelan's Lifeline explodes and hits opponents.
• Passive Talent 1: Turn Control - When the party has 1/2/3/4 Elemental Types, Yelan's Max HP is increased by 6%/12%/18%/30%.
• Passive Talent 2: Adapt With Ease - So long as an Exquisite Throw is in play, your own active character deals 1% more DMG. This increases by a further 3.5% DMG every second. The maximum increase to DMG dealt is 50%. The pre-existing effect will be dispelled if Depth-Clarion Dice is recast during its duration.
• Passive Talent 3: Necessary Calculation - Gains 25% more rewards when dispatched on a Liyue Expedition for 20 hours.

Party composition

• Main DPS: Yanfei
• Sub DPS: Yelan
• Sub DPS: Sucrose
• Support/Healer: Bennett

5* alternatives: Hu Tao instead of Yanfei, Venti/Kazuha instead of Sucrose

This team will allow you to make good use of Yelan’s Hydro abilities through the Vaporize reaction, which is triggered when Hydro comes into contact with Pyro. Pairing Yelan with a Pyro DPS like Yanfei or Hu Tao will provide constant Vaporize reactions, which can be applied to a wider group of enemies with the help of crowd control Anemo characters like Sucrose, Venti, or Kazuha. Finally, the amount of damage you’ll do with Yelan can be buffed by adding a stat-boosting character like Bennett to your team (and you’ll get the Pyro Resonance stat, which increases ATK by 25%, as a nice little bonus).

How to level up Yelan in Genshin Impact

Ascension Materials

To fully ascend Yelan, you’ll need:

Looking to round up these materials? Runic Fangs can be obtained by defeating Ruin Serpents. You’ll need to take on Hydro bosses like the Hydro Hypostasis and Rhodeia of Loch to get Varunada Lazurite, while Starconches can easily be foraged on the shores of Liyue. Finally, Fatui foes will drop Insignias.

Talents

To fully level up one of Yelan’s talents, you’ll need:

To triple crown Yelan's talents, you’ll need to collect all of these materials three times over. Good luck! You’ll be able to pick up Insignias from Fatui enemies, who will drop these coveted items. The Prosperity books can be found at the Taishan Mansion Domain on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays. You’ll need to fight Azhdaha a few times for some Gilded Scales. And finally, if you’re looking to go the extra mile, Crowns of Insight (used to fully crown Talents) can be obtained through limited-time events or by making offerings to the Frostbearing Tree and Sacred Sakura.

And if you’re short on Mora, we’ve got a handy guide of all the best ways to liven up your in-game wallet right here.

Constellations

As a 5-star limited character, Yelan’s Constellations are pretty pricey and might require you to shell out some real money. That being said, if you’re dedicated to fully fleshing out your Yelan build, we’d recommend her Constellation 2, which adds a nice amount of Hydro DMG to Yelan’s Burst. Of course, having Yelan at Constellation 6 is pretty powerful, but we can't say it's quite worth the mental anguish of constantly wishing. Here’s what all of Yelan’s Constellations have to offer:

• Constellation Lv. 1: Enter the Plotters - Lingering Lifeline gains 1 additional charge.
• Constellation Lv. 2: Taking All Comers - When Exquisite Throw conducts a coordinated attack, it will fire an additional water arrow that will deal 14% of Yelan's Max HP as Hydro DMG.
• Constellation Lv. 3: Beware the Trickster’s Dice - Increases the Level of Depth-Clarion Dice by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 5.
• Constellation Lv. 4: Bait-and-Switch - Increases all party members' Max HP by 10% for 25s for every opponent marked by Lifeline when the Lifeline explodes. A maximum increase of 40% Max HP can be attained in this manner.
• Constellation Lv. 5: Dealer’s Sleight - Increases the Level of Lingering Lifeline by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 5.
• Constellation Lv. 6: Winner Takes All - After using Depth-Clarion Dice, Yelan will enter the Mastermind state.In this state, all of Yelan's Normal Attacks will be special Breakthrough Barbs. These Breakthrough Barbs will have similar abilities to normal ones and the DMG dealt will be considered Charged Attack DMG, dealing 156% of a normal Breakthrough Barb's DMG. The Mastermind state lasts 20s and will be cleared after Yelan fires 5 arrows.

How to get Yelan in Genshin Impact

Yelan is a limited 5-star character, meaning she’s only available for a short amount of time. She made her debut in May/June 2022, but as of now she's out of rotation for the foreseeable future. Genshin Impact tends to rerun its Character Event Wish banners pretty regularly, though; so if you missed out on her this time, hopefully you'll get another chance to add her to your archive before the year's out.

If you’re looking to save up for Yelan's next appearance, check out our guide on getting characters to learn the best ways to prep, or our Genshin Impact codes list to get some free Primogems!

That’s all the info we’ve got on Yelan! Why not check out our Genshin Impact best characters tier list to see which other characters are good to wish for?