Patch 2.4 brings a lot of new things to Genshin Impact, the Action RPG by MiHoYo. In the new update, 2 new characters for Fleeting Lights were announced and showcased through the game’s social media outlets. They are finally available to be played and summoned. The characters are Yun Jin and Shenhe. In this guide, we will be taking a thorough look at Shenhe, the Lonesome Transcendence. 

Shenhe is a 5-star Cryo elemental Claymore user.  Shenhe is a Cryo support type champion where she excels at buffing all allies and debuffing all enemies. She has her own unique effects which boost the damage of allies with her Icy Quill effect and her Elemental Burst Skill does damage to all enemies over time, hence, continuous damage. In this Shenhe Guide, we will enlist the various skills, passives, and ascension traits Shenhe has while explaining each of them in real-time combat. We will also give some tips and tricks on how to play Shenhe by shedding some light on some of her builds as well as some combos available using her.

Shenhe Active Attacks

Shenhe’s basic attacks like all other Genshin Impact characters are divided into 4 types of attacks – Normal/ Basic Attack, Elemental Skill, Elemental Burst, and Sprint/Right Click skill. All of these attacks and spells are further divided into different attacks depending on the way you try to use them. They can also be combined for some chain combos. 

Shenhe’s Basic Attack is called “Dawnstar Piercer” and this attack can be further divided into 3-sub categories – Normal Attack/Auto Attack, Charged Attack, and Plunging Attack.

Normal/Auto Attack – Performs up to 5 consecutive spear strikes.

Charged Attack – Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to lunge forward, dealing damage to enemies along the way.

Plunging Attack – Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging enemies along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.

Her basic attack can perform up to 4 swings using her Polearm. Her basic attacks don’t really have a superior or hidden mechanic attached to them as we have seen with other characters like Arataki Itto. Her auto attacks deal with 5 consecutive attacks and the damage increases with each auto-attack. The damage multipliers for the 5 hits are – 43.30%, 40.20%, 53.30%, 46.6%, and 65.60% respectively per hit. Her charged attack is a delay based skill where she charges for some time and deals 111.70% of her attack damage to the enemies in her path. Her plunging attack is the standard AOE damage skill where deals more damage depending on the height of the plunge. Her base plunge damage is 63.90% while the varying damage ranges from 128-160% depending on the height from where jumped. 

ELEMENTAL SKILLS

Elemental Skills are skills that are on a certain amount of cooldown and deal more substantial damage. They are unique to every hero. Shenhe’s elemental skill is called “Spring Spirit Summoning”. This elemental skill is further divided into a release elemental skill and hold elemental skill. 

Let’s see what her elemental skills can do: –

The frosted dew, silvery and dense, shall exorcise all demons.

Grants all nearby party members the Icy Quill effect and deals Cryo DMG in different ways based on whether it is pressed or held.

Release Elemental Skill: Rushes forward together with a Talisman Spirit, dealing Cryo DMG to opponents along the path.

Hold Elemental Skill: Commands the Talisman Spirit to deal with AoE Cryo DMG.

Icy Quill: When Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks, Elemental Skills, and Elemental Bursts deal Cryo DMG to opponents, the DMG dealt is increased based on Shenhe’s current ATK. The Icy Quill’s effects will be cleared once its duration ends or after being triggered a certain number of times. When held rather than pressed, the Icy Quill’s effect lasts longer and can be triggered more times.

When one Cryo DMG instance strikes multiple opponents, the effect is triggered multiple times based on the number of opponents hit. The number of times the effect is triggered is calculated independently for each party member with the Icy Quill.

As we can read from above, Shenhe’s elemental skills grant all allies with the Icy Quill effect. Icy Quill states that whenever any ally will use his/her Normal, Charged, Plunging, Elemental Skill, and/or Elemental Burst Skill they will deal additional Cryo elemental damage to enemies. This additional cryo damage will be based on Shenhe’s current Attack. Hence, if she is granted attack buff or has boosted attack during this time, she will grant all allies more damage. However, this Icy Quill effect has a certain amount of hit duration post which it will disappear. Hence, players need to maximize this effect to get the maximum damage out of all allies. Shenhe, by herself, is not a great DPS but she can be built like a Sub-DPS where she can boost the damage of all allies while dishing out decent damage by herself. Her Icy Quill effect can last longer if she uses her Hold Elemental Skill rather than pressing it instantly. 

ELEMENTAL BURST SKILLS

Elemental Burst skills can be considered like the ultimate ability used by any hero. Shenhe’s elemental burst skill “Divine Maiden’s Deliverance” is a great elemental burst skill that lets all allies in the team do more damage while also having a continuous damage setup that deals damage to all enemies. Her elemental burst skill creates a different plane where she reduces all enemies’ Cryo resistance and Physical defense while also dishing out AOE Cryo damage. This AOE damage is for all enemies inside the plane and deals continuous damage equal to 33.10% of her Attack. This plane will last for 12 seconds which is ample time to set up the DPS combo with other allies. She pairs well with Cryo damage dealers, especially physical damage dealers as she can maximize their damage with this skill along with her elemental skill which will grant all allies the Icy Quill effect.

Let’s understand her burst skill in detail:

• Unleashes the power of the Talisman Spirit, allowing it to roam free in this plane, dealing AoE Cryo DMG.
• The Talisman Spirit then creates a field that decreases the Cryo RES and Physical RES of opponents within it. It also deals periodic Cryo DMG to opponents within the field    

Shenhe’s Passive Talents

Passive talents are those talents that do not need to be activated manually and just require some conditions to be met to be activated automatically. These talents are unique to all heroes and can be unlocked at some levels of ascension. 

There are three types of passive talents for Shenhe: –

• Deific Embrace (Unlocks at 1stAscension) – An active character within the field created by Divine Maiden’s Deliverance gains 15% Cryo DMG Bonus.
• Spirit Communion Seal (Unlocks at 4th Ascension) – After Shenhe uses Spring Spirit Summoning, she will grant all nearby party members the following effects:

Press: Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst DMG increased by 15% for 10s.

Hold: Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack DMG increased by 15% for 15s.

• Woodchuck Chucked (Unlocks Automatically) – Gains 25% more rewards when dispatched on a Liyue Expedition for 20 hours.

Shenhe’s Constellations

Constellations in Genshin Impact are an essential way to power up your heroes. They not only boost stats but also provide new unique abilities or constellation bonuses that can empower the hero greatly. However, they can only be upgraded by using a duplicate of the same hero multiple times. Shenhe’s constellations are as follows: –

1st Constellation (C1) – Clarity of Heart

Spring Spirit Summoning can be used 1 more time.

2nd Constellation (C2) – Centered Spirit

Divine Maiden’s Deliverance lasts for 6 seconds longer. Active characters within the skill’s field deal 15% increased Cryo CRIT DMG.

3rd Constellation (C3) – Seclusion

Increases the Level of Spring Spirit Summoning by 3.

The maximum upgrade level is 15.

4th Constellation (C4) – Insight

When characters under the effect of Icy Quill applied by Shenhe triggers its DMG Bonus effects, Shenhe will gain a Skyfrost Mantra stack:

• When Shenhe uses Spring Spirit Summoning, she will consume all stacks of Skyfrost Mantra, increasing the DMG of that Spring Spirit Summoning by 5% for each stack consumed.
• Max 50 stacks. Stacks last for 60s.

5th Constellation (C5) – Divine Attainment

Increase the Level of Divine Maiden’s Deliverance by 3.

The maximum upgrade level is 15.

6th Constellation (C6) – Mystical Abandon

When characters trigger Icy Quill’s effects using Normal and Charged Attack DMG, it does not count toward the Trigger Quota.

Shenhe Build, Artifact, and Party Recommendations

Shenhe is mainly going to be used as a sub-DPS where she buffs all allies with the help of her Icy Quill effect she can give using her Elemental Skills. She can also provide more utility with the help of her elemental burst skill which reduces the Cryo resistance and physical defense of all enemies inside her plane. She needs to be built with a lot of ER (Energy recharge) so she can effectively spam her skills. We recommend building her as a Sub-DPS.

Let’s check out the weapons and artifacts used for Shenhe: –

Engulfing Lightning (Weapon) – Engulfing Lightning seems to be one of the best weapons for Shenhe currently in her role as a Sub-DPS that also buffs and debuffs enemies with her skills. It increases her Attack according to her Energy Recharge which is great as Shenhe is built with High Energy Recharge to spam her skills. The weapon description reads – “ATK increased by 28/34/40/46/52% of Energy Recharge over the base 100%. You can gain a maximum bonus of 80/90/100/110/120% ATK. Gain 30/35/40/45/50% Energy Recharge for 12s after using an Elemental Burst.”

Gladiator’s Finale (Artifact) – Attack +18% (2-Set)

• 2/2/2 (Atk%/Atk%/Atk%) Recommended Build

• If the wielder of this artifact set uses a Sword, Claymore or Polearm, increases their Normal Attack DMG by 35%.

Gladiator’s Finale is one of the most standard artifact sets used for DPS heroes particularly those who use Claymore, Polearm, or Sword as their weapon. That’s because it increases the Attack of the user’s normal attack by 35% which also benefits from the Icy Quill effect. Shenhe can do a good amount of damage when equipped with this artifact as well which makes her fit more into the category of Sub-DPS and not just a Support/Buffer type unit.

Party Member’s Recommendation

• Ganyu – Ganyu is a Cryo user that can be in party primarily as the DPS. Shenhe can boost Ganyu’s charged attack damage with the help of her Icy Quill effect as well as her Elemental burst skill can help increase her overall Cryo damage. 

• Eula – Eula is another Cryo user that can be in party primarily as the DPS. Shenhe can boost Eula’s basic attack damage with the help of her Icy Quill effect as well as her Elemental burst skill can help increase her overall Cryo damage.

That is everything regarding Shenhe, the current banner hero available in Genshin Impact from 5th January 2022 till 25th January 2022. To read more such guides, check out our Blog section where we cover the latest happenings at Genshin Impact for our lovely community.

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