A new major Mihoyo collaboration has arrived in the form of Genshin Impact Aloy, bringing Horizon Zero Dawn's bow-wielding protagonist into the world of Teyvat. We don't know how Aloy managed to end up in the world of Genshin Impact, but we do know that she's a proper five-star character with her own Elemental Skill, Burst, and animations.
Since she first arrived in Genshin Impact 2.1, we've known virtually everything about her for a fair while, from her attacks to her ascension materials. More than enough to make a best Genshin Impact Aloy build guide, especially now she's launched on PC and mobile, too.
This is Genshin Impact's first major character collaboration, and it's likely that Aloy's arrival is to celebrate the recently added Genshin Impact cross-play functionality for PS4 and PS5. Either way, we're excited to see what she can do. For more information about the red-headed archer, keep reading this Genshin Impact Aloy guide.
Everything We Know About Genshin Impact Aloy
Genshin Impact's Aloy hails from the world of Horizon Zero Dawn and its upcoming sequel, Horizon Forbidden West. These post-apocalyptic open-world games see rival hunter-gatherer tribes battling one another while trying to contend with a growing horde of giant robotic animals.
The games are typically quite serious in tone, so Genshin's cutesy take on Aloy isn't something we've seen before. Even her recent Fortnite appearance somewhat retained her survivalist appearance. Read on to find out more about the upcoming character, including here likely release date and speculative build.
What Is the Genshin Impact Aloy Release Date?
The Genshin Impact Aloy release date is October 13, which is also the release date of version 2.2. Aloy originally released on PlayStation in version 2.1, but now she's heading to PC and mobile as well.
If you want to claim her for free, all you need to do is update to version 2.2 and head to your mailbox. Be warned, though, you have to be adventure rank 20 or higher.
Is There a Genshin Impact Aloy Banner?
There isn't a Genshin Impact Aloy banner, as she is free for everyone to claim. That makes her the first new character (except the Traveler, of course) to not feature in a banner.
What Is the Best Genshin Impact Aloy Build?
Aloy revolves around using ATK to deal high amounts of damage. She doesn't have the most interesting kit and has no choice but to turn her Normal Attacks into Cryo DMG by using them. However, she can stack her stats quickly, so it's safe to say building her around these elemental limitations will be for the best.
Here's what we have so far in terms of the best Aloy builds:
Role | Best Weapon | Alternative Weapon | Best Artifacts | Alternative Artifacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cryo DMG DPS | Hamayumi | Prototype Crescent / Predator (PlayStation only) | Shimenawa's Resistance (four-piece set) | Martial Artist (four-piece set) |
Cryo DMG Sub-DPS | Hamayumi | Prototype Crescent / Predator (PlayStation only) | Blizzard Strayer (four-piece set) | Wanderer's Troupe (two-piece set) / Blizzard Strayer (two-piece set) |
Genshin Impact Aloy Build | Aloy as Cryo DMG DPS
This build opts to use Aloy like a less impressive Ganyu. It's important to avoid Physical DMG bonuses, as Aloy's use of Cryo DMG on her Normal Attacks will negate this entirely.
As her Elemental Burst doesn't sound all that great, it's a good reason to use the new Shinegawa's Resistance Artifact set. She'll charge Energy fast. Keep it stored and you'll be able to boost her Normal Attack DMG by a massive 50% with each use of her Elemental Skill.
Genshin Impact Aloy Build | Aloy as Cryo DMG Sub-DPS
Using Aloy as a Sub-DPS simply means having her around to ensure her enemies are either affected by Cryo or Frozen. Her preferred Artifact set here will then allow your primary DPS to deal high amounts of damage simply by attacking these targets.
When used with characters like Klee or Diluc, the CRIT buffs added to the team this way will allow for the many resulting Melt reactions to deal considerable damage.
What Is the Best Genshin Impact Aloy Team Comp?
Right now, Aloy seems like she's built to be the primary damage dealer on a team. She focuses on boosting her Normal Attack DMG so that her rapid-fire arrows deal decent Cryo DMG. She has light Cryo AoE potential on top, so she's also good at spreading the Cryo of Freeze effect around groups of enemies.
Here's what we think will be the best team comp for Aloy:
Character | Element |
|---|---|
Aloy | Cryo |
Bennett / Diona | Pyro / Cryo |
Diluc / Klee / Yanfei | Pyro |
Mona | Hydro |
The best Genshin Impact Aloy team uses her primarily as a Cryo DMG Sub-DPS when five-star characters such as Diluc and Klee are present. If you're using someone like Yanfei in their place, you'll probably want to use Aloy as your main DPS. Here's how it works:
- Use one of two Elemental Resonance boosts to either increase the team's ATK or CRIT depending on which support you choose: Bennett or Diona.
- Bennett aids with Energy Recharge and boosts ATK and heals with his Elemental Burst, whereas Diona can offer more reliable support with shields.
- Your primary Pyro user is there to hit hard with Melt reactions.
- A Hydro character like Mona can Freeze to control more dangerous mob packs.
Basically, you just want to keep chaining Melt reactions off the back of Aloy's powerful Cryo DMG Normal Attacks. A Hydro character can turn this into Freeze if things get complicated, leaving Diona or Bennett to support the team in their usual way.
Genshin Impact Aloy Weapon
Aloy comes with her own bow straight from Horizon Zero Dawn. However, this bow is an exclusive bonus for PlayStation users. There are some other bows that suit her quite well, though:
Weapon | Rarity | Stats | Effect | How to Obtain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Thundering Pulse | Five-star | Base ATK / CRIT DMG | Increases Attack by 20~?% and grants the might of the Thunder Emblem. At stack levels 1/2/3, the Thunder Emblem increases Normal Attack Damage by 12/24/40~?/?/?%. The character will obtain 1 stack of Thunder Emblem in each of the following scenarios: If Normal Attack deals Damage, when casting an Elemental Skill, or if Energy is less than 100%. | Wish |
Hamayumi | Four-star | Base ATK / ATK% | Increases Normal Attack Damage by 16~?% and Charged Attack Damage by 12~?%. When the equipping character's Energy reaches 100%, this effect is increased by 100%. | Crafted |
Rust | Four-star | Base ATK / ATK% | Increases Normal Attack Damage by 40~80% but decreases Charged Attack Damage by 10%. | Wish |
All of these picks focus on building up or making use of Aloy's increasingly powerful Normal Attacks. Her best weapon choice will even build up as she gains stacks from her own skills.
Genshin Impact Aloy Build | The Best Aloy Artifacts
That being said, a brand-new artifact set for Genshin Impact 2.0 actually stands out as a go-to in place of those typically used by Ganyu, who relies on buffing the power of her Charged Attacks rather than Aloy's focus on Normal Attacks.
For this, a four-piece set of Shimenawa's Resistance will probably stand out as the best artifacts for Aloy right now. By saving the energy pulled from her constant Cryo DMG Normal Attacks, she'll boost their power by another 50%. This is on top of the raw ATK% from the two-piece set, which Aloy should scale well with.
Best Artifacts | Two-Piece Effect | Four-Piece Effect |
|---|---|---|
Shimenawa's Reminiscence | ATK +18% | When casting an Elemental Skill, if the character has 15 or more Energy, they lose 15 Energy and Normal/Charged/Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 50% for 10s. |
Blizzard Strayer | Cryo DMG Bonus +15% | When a character attacks an opponent affected by Cryo, their CRIT Rate is increased by 20%. If the opponent is Frozen, CRIT Rate is increased by an additional 20%. |
Martial Artist | Increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 15%. | After using Elemental Skill, increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 25% for 8s. |
Another way to go about things is to boost her Cryo DMG Bonus with Blizzard Strayer. The four-piece set, which increases the damage the team deals to enemies afflicted with Cryo-based effects, should be effective when using Aloy as a Sub-DPS with a Pyro Main DPS.
Aloy Artifact Stats
Before you go trying to grind artifacts, it's important to know which stats to look out for. Levelling up an artifact with less-than-favourable stats is a waste of precious materials and Mora. For Aloy, it's a matter of building up her ATK before gunning for CRIT Rate/DMG to supplement her artifact options.
Slot | Main Stat | Sub Stats |
|---|---|---|
Feather | ATK | ATK% / CRIT DMG / CRIT Rate |
Flower | HP | ATK% / CRIT DMG / CRIT Rate |
Hourglass | ATK% | ATK% / CRIT DMG / CRIT Rate |
Goblet | Cryo DMG Bonus / ATK% | ATK% / CRIT DMG / CRIT Rate |
Headpiece | CRIT DMG or ATK% | ATK% / CRIT DMG / CRIT Rate |
Genshin Impact Aloy Build | Aloy Skills and Talents
Although these are far from officially confirmed by Miyoho, the usual host of leaks and data mines have uncovered what we comfortably believe to be the full set of Genshin Impact Aloy abilities.
As a Cryo bow wielder, Aloy has big shoes to fill to compete with the heavy DPS of Ganyu and the solid Support skills of Diona. Expect her abilities to be pretty powerful. Sony wouldn't want the star of its major series to struggle to stand out against a catgirl and a goat, after all. Here's are the Aloy abilities she'll bring to the table:
Attack | Effect |
|---|---|
Normal Attack (tap) | Perform up to four consecutive shots with a bow for Physical DMG. |
Charged Attack (hold) | Perform a more precise Aimed Shot with increased physical DMG. Deals Cryo DMG if held long enough. |
Plunge (hold in air) | Deals physical AoE DMG. |
Elemental Skill - Frozen Wilds | Throws a Freeze Bomb that explodes on impact, dealing Cryo DMG. At this time, Chillwater Bomblets will burst out from the explosion, dealing additional Cryo DMG to nearby opponents on impact or after a short delay. Enemies hit by either effect have their ATK reduced. Aloy gains a stack of Coil for each enemy hit this way (one per 0.1s). Each stack (max four) increases Aloy's Normal Attack DMG, which becomes Rushing Ice at four stacks, converting her Normal Attack DMG to Cyro DMG. Stacks dissipate 30 seconds after Aloy leaves the field and she cannot receive new Coil stacks until the effect of Rushing Ice wears off. |
Elemental Burst - Prophecies of Dawn | Aloy tosses a Power Cell in the target direction which can be detonated with an arrow, dealing Cryo AoE DMG. |
Talent #1 - Combat Overdrive | Increases Aloy's ATK by 16% and the team's ATK by 8% whenever she has a stack of Coil. |
Talent #2 - Strong Strike | When under the effect of Rushing Ice (four coil stacks) Aloy's Cyro DMG Bonus increases by 3.5% every second. A maximum bonus of 35% can be gained this way. |
Passive - Easy Does It | Small animals that produce Fowl, Raw Meat, or Chilled Meat will not be so easily startled while Aloy is in the team. |
Just as she focuses on raw power in the game she hails from, Aloy will bring her unique brand of chilling pain to the creatures of Teyvat. Her abilities paint a picture of a raw DPS character who can rapidly build up her strength the longer she's on the field. This can persist for 30 seconds as you cycle through other party members, who also get a modest ATK boost from her efforts.
It's worth noting that on top of her stat-boosting skills, Aloy's signature Predator bow helps her scale even further. So long as you're playing on a PlayStation system, at least.
What Are Aloy's Constellations?
While Genshin Impact Aloy Constellations exist, they all share the same name, Star of Another World. They can't be leveled up, and possibly never will. As the character will not have a banner, it's impossible to pull the duplicates typically needed to unlock her Constellations. It's possible this could change or miHoYo will include some kind of event where you earn unlock materials, similar to the Dodoco Tales refinement items, but we just don't know yet.
Genshin Impact Aloy Build | Aloy Ascension Materials
Before you can get Aloy performing at her best, you'll need to level her up. The various level caps imposed by Character Ascension requirements mean you'll also need stacks of materials on top of the actual EXP items as well.
Here are all of Aloy's Ascension Materials so that you can gather up the lot before she releases:
Item | Amount | How to Obtain |
|---|---|---|
Shivada Jade Sliver | One | Cryo Hypostasis |
Shivada Jade Fragment | Nine | Cryo Hypostasis |
Shivada Jade Chunk | Nine | Cryo Hypostasis |
Shivada Jade Gemstone | Six | Cryo Hypostasis |
Crystalline Bloom | 46 | Cryo Hypostasis |
Crystal Marrow | 168 | Inazuma (gathered) |
Spectral Husk | 18 | Specters |
Spectral Heart | 36 | Specters |
Spectral Nucleus | 30 | Specters |
Most of the materials are a simple Resin grind away against the Cryo Hypostasis, but the Crystal Marrow will take a bit of foraging around.
Aloy Talent Materials
Another important part of building Aloy is leveling up her talents and abilities. No matter how you plan to fit her onto your team, Aloy should be built to prioritize her Normal Attacks first and foremost. They're the main source of her damage.
Here are all of Aloy's Talent materials and the talent upgrade order:
- Normal Attack
- Elemental Skill
- Elemental Burst
Daily Drops | Enemy Drops | Weekly Drops |
|---|---|---|
Teachings/Guide/Philosophies of Freedom | Spectral Husk/Heart/Neculeus | La Signora |
Genshin Impact Aloy Voice Actor - English and Japanese
Though we would assume Ashly Burch will be back to voice any unique lines of dialogue Aloy gets in Genshin Impact, that isn't necessarily always the case in these crossover situations. The same goes for her Japanese voice actor, Ayahi Takagaki.
Assuming the Genshin Impact Aloy voice actor is Ashly Burch in English and Ayahi Takagaki in Japanese, here's where you might have heard her voice before.
Ashly Birch is an extremely prolific voice actor in the Western games and anime markets. She voiced Chloe Price in the original Life is Strange, Tiny Tina in the Borderlands franchise (and her own upcoming spin-off Tiny Tina's Wonderlands), and a silly amount of characters in the cartoon OK K.O.! and the Attack on Titan dub. Persona fans will know her as Rise Kujikawa from her appearances after Persona 4 Golden and as Rei in Persona Q.
As for Ayahi Takagaki, she's Lisbeth in her many recurring roles across the Sword Art Online franchise, Dagr in Fire Emblem Heroes, and Erika Karisawa in the Durarara franchise.
That's everything we currently know about Genshin Impact's Aloy, but you can read more about her backstory in the official Aloy announcement. If you're looking for more guides to help you out in Inazuma, we've also got full lists of Sakura Bloom locations and Electroculus locations, as well as an Ayaka build guide, Kokomi build guide, and Gorou build guide. Check them out!