Updated for Version 4.5

Aloy is a 5-star Cryo Bow character in Genshin Impact who can deal decent Cryo damage with her Skill and Burst. She is a crossover from Horizon Zero Dawn and was free to obtain in Version 2.2. Learn about Aloy’s best builds, Talent priority, best weapons, best artifacts, and best teams in this in-depth review.

Note that the information given may change if new discoveries are made. More extensive testing is in progress.

The full-length guide is available here. It is currently in the process of being updated.

New Content

Character Overview

Playstyles

It should be noted that Aloy is rarely the most optimal choice in any given team, but she can still be serviceable with smart gameplay and enough investment.

Reverse Melt DPS

This playstyle utilizes Pyro and Anemo teammates to enable Reverse Melts with Aloy’s Skill and Burst. Reverse Melt teams see the biggest damage numbers from Aloy, though much of the team’s overall DPS comes from her teammates too.

Freeze and Mono Cryo Support

In Freeze and Mono Cryo teams, Aloy can function as a Cryo battery, buffer, and quickswap DPS. She enables Cryo Resonance and serves as a more offensive battery option than Diona. In addition, Aloy’s short Burst cooldown and low Energy cost mean she is a good candidate for holding 4pc Noblesse Oblige.

Talents

Talent Priority

Burst > Skill > Normal Attack

Aloy does use her Normal Attacks in some rotations, so you may not want to totally neglect leveling them.

Talent Overview

Normal Attack

Elemental Skill

Elemental Burst

Ascension 1 Passive

Ascension 4 Passive

Normal Attack

Normal Attack | Rapid Fire

Talent Description

Normal Attack
Performs up to 4 consecutive shots with a bow.

Charged Attack
Perform a more precise Aimed Shot with increased DMG.
While aiming, biting frost will accumulate on the arrowhead. A fully charged frost arrow will deal Cryo DMG.

Plunging Attack
Fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE DMG upon impact.

Aloy is able to infuse her Normal Attacks with Cryo through the Rushing Ice state conferred by her Skill. However, achieving this Infusion is difficult and inconsistent, so many of her teams fail to make full use of this mechanic. Nonetheless, some rotations do use Aloy’s Normal Attacks, so you may want to level her Normal Attack Talent to some degree.

Elemental Skill

Elemental Skill | Frozen Wilds

Talent Description

Aloy throws a Freeze Bomb in the targeted direction that explodes on impact, dealing Cryo DMG. After it explodes, the Freeze Bomb will split up into many Chillwater Bomblets that explode on contact with opponents or after a short delay, dealing Cryo DMG.
When a Freeze Bomb or Chillwater Bomblet hits an opponent, the opponent’s ATK is decreased and Aloy receives 1 Coil stack.
Aloy can gain up to 1 Coil stack every 0.1s.

Coil

Each stack increases Aloy’s Normal Attack DMG.
When Aloy has 4 Coil stacks, all stacks of Coil are cleared. She then enters the Rushing Ice state, which further increases the DMG dealt by her Normal Attacks and converts her Normal Attack DMG to Cryo DMG.

While in the Rushing Ice state, Aloy cannot obtain new Coil stacks.
Coil effects will be cleared 30s after Aloy leaves the field.

This Skill has two main parts: the initial Freeze Bomb and the 6 Chillwater Bomblets. The Freeze Bomb has decent multipliers and can deal respectable damage, especially if it Melts. Each Skill cast immediately generates 5 Cryo Particles.

The Chillwater Bomblets individually deal less damage than the Freeze Bomb, but there are 6 of them. Each Bomblet grants Aloy 1 Coil stack when it hits an enemy, with a 0.1s cooldown between gaining Coil stacks. Upon reaching 4 Coil stacks, Aloy enters the Rushing Ice state, in which her Normal Attacks are infused with Cryo and she gains a ramping Cryo DMG% buff from her Ascension 4 Passive.

The Bomblets can be grouped by some crowd control abilities, but not all (see the list below). However, even if you are able to push the Bomblets into an enemy (or vice versa), the 0.1s cooldown means that not all Bomblets will generate a Coil stack if detonated simultaneously, resulting in failure to achieve Rushing Ice. Combined with the punishing 20s cooldown on this Skill, the inconsistency of this mechanic makes it difficult to take advantage of.

Chillwater Bomblets can be moved by:

Anemo Traveler’s Skill and Burst
Kazuha’s Skill
Jean’s Skill
Sucrose’s Skill
Lynette’s Skill, Constellation 1 (not recommended)
Faruzan’s Pressurized Collapse vortices (not recommended)
Heizou’s Burst (not recommended).

Chillwater Bomblets are unaffected by:

Sucrose’s Burst
Venti’s Burst
The Viridescent Hunt’s passive.

Elemental Burst

Elemental Burst | Prophecies of Dawn

Talent Description

Aloy throws a Power Cell filled with Cryo in the targeted direction, then detonates it with an arrow, dealing AoE Cryo DMG.

The bread and butter of Aloy’s kit. As of Version 4.5, this Talent multiplier is the highest single instance of Cryo damage in the game — and on a 12s cooldown to boot. It’s also very cheap with a cost of only 40 Energy. As a single hit of Cryo damage, it is easy to Melt for screenshot-worthy numbers.

Note that multipliers and motion value are not the only factors contributing to overall damage. Other factors include but are not limited to teammates, rotations, buffs, and reactions.

Ascension 1 Passive

Ascension 1 Passive | Combat Override

Talent Description

When Aloy receives the Coil effect from Frozen Wilds, her ATK is increased by 16%, while nearby party members’ ATK is increased by 8%. This effect lasts 10s.

Luckily, Aloy’s Ascension 1 Passive only requires 1 Coil stack, not the full 4. This is a modest buff to herself and a smaller buff to the rest of her team.

Ascension 4 Passive

Ascension 4 Passive | Strong Strike

Talent Description

When Aloy is in the Rushing Ice state conferred by Frozen Wilds, her Cryo DMG Bonus increases by 3.5% every 1s. A maximum Cryo DMG Bonus increase of 35% can be gained in this way.

It’s difficult to rely on this passive since it requires Aloy to gain 4 Coil stacks and achieve Rushing Ice. When it does trigger, you can delay casting Aloy’s Burst in order to maximize the Cryo DMG% buff on her Burst hit. How long you can delay depends on your rotation, but, in general, you should only delay by about 3–4s before you risk losing the buff altogether. You can fill this time with Normal Attacks if you decide to go this route.

Combos

N = Normal Attack
E = Elemental Skill
Q = Elemental Burst

E (swap) Q	Aloy’s go-to combo. After casting her Skill, you should swap to your Anemo grouper to detonate as many Chillwater Bomblets as you can.
E (swap) N4 Q	If you achieve Rushing Ice and wish to maximize Aloy’s A4 buff on her Burst, you can fill time with Normal Attacks before you Burst. Depending on when Rushing Ice is triggered, you may not have time to do a full N4 combo, so you can do fewer Normal Attacks if unsure.

ER Requirements

Solo Cryo	~140–165%
Double Cryo, With Venti, With a Favonius Proc, or With Sacrificial Bow	~100–125%

Use the Energy Recharge Calculator to determine exact requirements for your team and rotation.

Reverse Melt DPS

Reverse Melt Infographic

Design: kol
Content: baloopy

Reverse Melt Artifact Stats

Stat Priority: ER% (until requirement) > CRIT > EM > ATK%

If you don’t use an ER% weapon and your ER needs are above about 150%, an ER% Sands with good substats can sometimes be optimal for damage. As Bennett is almost always used in Reverse Melt Aloy teams for his valuable Flat ATK buff, an EM Sands typically increases Aloy’s personal damage more than an ATK% Sands.

Choose a Circlet based on what brings you closest to a 1:2 ratio of CRIT Rate to CRIT DMG.

Reverse Melt Artifact Sets

Reverse Melt Weapons

Reverse Melt Teambuilding

**Aloy — Bennett — Anemo / Xiangling — Pyro / Cryo**

Reverse Melt teams usually consist of Aloy, Bennett, an Anemo grouper for Aloy’s Bomblets, and a flex slot. The last team member can be a Pyro off-field DPS (e.g., Xiangling) or another Cryo DPS. Xiangling, Kazuha, or Jean can provide enough Pyro application to sustain a second Cryo DPS, though using Xiangling as the sole Pyro applier means forgoing an Anemo grouper. All Anemo units should equip 4pc Viridescent Venerer (VV).

Notable Teammates

Example Teams

This is not a comprehensive list of teams. The inclusion or exclusion of any given team does not necessarily reflect its power level.

Freeze and Mono Cryo

Freeze and Mono Cryo Infographic

Design: kol
Content: baloopy

Freeze and Mono Cryo Artifact Stats

Stat Priority: ER% (until requirement) > CRIT DMG ≥ CRIT Rate > ATK%

Cryo Resonance grants an additional 15% CRIT Rate against enemies that are Frozen or affected by Cryo. If Aloy equips 4pc Blizzard Strayer, she gains further CRIT Rate buffs (up to 40%) through the artifact set bonus. This makes CRIT DMG a more valuable stat whenever Aloy benefits from these buffs.

Choose a Circlet based on what brings you closest to a 1:2 ratio of CRIT Rate to CRIT DMG.

Freeze and Mono Cryo Artifact Sets

Freeze and Mono Cryo Weapons

Freeze Teambuilding

**Primary Cryo DPS — Hydro — Anemo — Aloy**

Freeze teams can use Aloy as a second Cryo unit to provide buffs and Energy for the primary Cryo DPS. These teams usually consist of Aloy, a Cryo DPS, an Anemo unit, and a Hydro unit. All Anemo units should equip 4pc Viridescent Venerer (4pc VV) in order to shred enemy RES.

Notable Teammates

Example Teams

This is not a comprehensive list of teams. The inclusion or exclusion of any given team does not necessarily reflect its power level.

**Rosaria / Kaeya — Xingqiu — Jean — Aloy**

Mono Cryo Teambuilding

**Primary Cryo DPS — Shenhe / Cryo — Kazuha / Anemo — Aloy**

Mono Cryo teams are similar to Freeze teams, just without a Hydro unit; they perform better against enemies that are immune to Freeze, such as Bosses. Mono Cryo teams typically consist of Aloy, Shenhe, Kazuha, and another Cryo DPS. The Anemo unit should equip 4pc Viridescent Venerer (VV) to shred enemy Cryo RES.

Mono Cryo Aloy teams tend to be somewhat fragile since you need as much DPS as possible from your teammates, and running a healer means compromising your damage.

Notable Teammates

Example Teams

This is not a comprehensive list of teams. The inclusion or exclusion of any given team does not necessarily reflect its power level.

Credits

nociii, raven.9205, cuppacote, cuzimori, idkanonymized, chasing_haze, nikatosaurus, polomo

Team images courtesy of the KQM portrait generator.

Furina	Furina is a powerful off-field DPS and support who provides a ramping DMG% buff and some Hydro application. However, a strong healer is recommended since Furina drains team HP and her buff depends on HP changes.
Lynette	Lynette is a free Ousia-aligned Anemo support unit who acts as an alternative to characters like Kazuha. She provides RES Shred via 4pc Viridescent Venerer, an ATK% buff, and a Taunt for some survivability.
Xianyun	Xianyun is a support who heals and can turn any on-field DPS into a Plunging Attack DPS. Unfortunately, Aloy is not a great Plunging Attack DPS and does not make great use of Xianyun’s kit. Xianyun is still viable as a general healer who holds 4pc Viridescent Venerer, particularly in Furina teams.
Wriothesley	In Wriothesley teams, Aloy acts as a Cryo battery, buffer (4pc Noblesse Oblige), and quickswap DPS. She also enables Cryo Resonance.
Charlotte	Charlotte does not have any particular synergy with Aloy — considering that Aloy largely depends on teammates for DPS — but she does heal, provide buffs with TTDS, and enable Cryo Resonance.
The First Great Magic	Although most of Aloy’s damage comes from her Skill and Burst rather than her Charged Shots, the First Great Magic is still a strong weapon for the CRIT DMG and ATK% it provides.
Song of Stillness	A solid craftable option with an ATK% secondary stat and DMG% when its passive is up.
4pc Marechaussee Hunter	A strong artifact set when paired with Furina, as it effectively provides 36% CRIT Rate.

Sands	Goblet	Circlet
EM, ER%, or ATK%	Cryo DMG Bonus	CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG

4pc Emblem of Severed Fate	About half of Aloy’s damage comes from her Burst, making 4pc Emblem a solid choice at higher ER requirements.
4pc Gilded Dreams	4pc Gilded is also a good option due to the sheer amount of EM it provides. It grants less EM if there is a second Cryo unit in your team, but if you have enough EM from your weapon and artifact stats, the difference is small.
4pc Lavawalker	4pc Lavawalker is a staple in Reverse Melt teams where the 4pc effect is almost always active. It provides good damage potential, but may be Resin-inefficient to farm for.
2pc Mixed Sets	2pc Bonuses: Cryo DMG%, ER%, Burst DMG%, ATK%, EM These 2pc effects are all helpful to Aloy, and all combinations perform similarly to each other. The 4pc options above are usually stronger, but the difference is easily overcome by substats.

Polar Star	Aloy’s Best-in-Slot weapon. Incorporate Normal Attacks and Aimed Shots into your rotation in order to benefit from Polar Star’s ATK% buffs.
Sacrificial Bow (R4+)	At high refinements (R4+), Sacrificial Bow can allow for a second Skill cast, which means another big hit of Cryo damage as well as more consistency in achieving Rushing Ice. This weapon also single-handedly takes care of Aloy’s ER needs by generating more particles.
5-Star CRIT Bows	Options: Aqua Simulacra, Hunter’s Path, Thundering Pulse, The First Great Magic, Skyward Harp These are hefty 5-star CRIT stat sticks with passives that are marginally useful to Aloy.
Elegy for the End	Elegy’s passive usually only activates every other rotation. When it does, however, it gives an EM and ATK% buff to the entire team. Its ER secondary stat lets Aloy comfortably meet her ER requirements.
The Stringless	The Stringless has an EM secondary stat and a passive that grants Skill and Burst DMG Bonuses. Scales well with refinements.
Prototype Crescent	Prototype Crescent performs remarkably well as a craftable option. However, you will need to start your rotation with a quick headshot to activate its passive — something that’s not always possible. Scales well with refinements.
Song of Stillness	Another solid craftable option if you can consistently gain the DMG% from its passive.

Bennett	Indispensable in Reverse Melt teams. Bennett provides a massive Flat ATK buff and applies Pyro to the active character when standing inside his Burst circle. Kazuha and Jean can take advantage of this to apply Pyro to enemies.
Kazuha	Kazuha’s Hold Skill is recommended for grouping enemies and Bomblets alike. He can apply Pyro to enemies by absorbing it into his Burst. Depending on your teammates and rotation, it may be difficult to Swirl Cryo and receive the DMG Bonus from his Ascension 4 Passive.
Sucrose	Sucrose does a decent job at gathering Aloy’s Bomblets with her Skill. Her EM sharing is also useful for buffing Aloy and is not contingent on Swirling the correct Element.
Lynette	Lynette is a solid option players can obtain for free. She provides a useful ATK% buff, and her Burst provides a Taunt and mild Elemental application (usually Pyro). Her C1 can technically group Aloy’s Bomblets, but the small range makes it fairly negligible.
Jean	Jean can gather Aloy’s Bomblets with her Hold Skill and throw them at enemies. She can also push enemies into the Bomblets, which is often better for generating Coil stacks. Together with Bennett, Jean enables the “Sunfire” interaction, which provides rapid Pyro application and enables even more Melts from a second Cryo DPS.
Anemo Traveler	Anemo Traveler can gather Aloy’s Bomblets with their Hold Skill and Burst. Their Burst can be difficult to utilize; although it does group enemies, it also tends to carry them away from Bennett’s circle.
Xiangling	Xiangling contributes high personal damage and applies Pyro to enemies — enough to sustain Melts for another Cryo DPS, though doing so means forgoing an Anemo grouper.
Rosaria, Kaeya, Shenhe, Chongyun	These are options for a second Cryo DPS. Rosaria and Shenhe can also buff your team, whether through Rosaria’s CRIT Rate share or Shenhe’s Icy Quill effect. If you are able to Melt all or most of Chongyun’s Burst hits, he is also a viable quickswap DPS.