Genshin Impact has a large cast of 5-star characters, each intended for a particular combat role like the main damage dealer, a support buffer, a healer, a tank, or a reaction driver. Characters of higher rarity naturally outpace your average 4-star character because of their higher base stats, better scaling, and more impactful aspects to their skills. Owning a strong 5-star character is not enough, since their potential is only realised when other aspects like weapons, artifacts, team roles, and understanding of playstyle line up.
A good build does not simply mean a character has higher numbers; a build can change how they feel in combat. The right weapon will shorten rotations, allow easier energy generation, or significantly increase reaction damage. The right artifacts will see a character go from decent to elite carry.
The following guide is a complete breakdown of 10 of the strongest 5-star characters with explanations not just on what to equip, but why it matters, how their abilities interact behind the scenes, and what players should focus on while playing them.
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1. Hu Tao - Pyro Main DPS
- Recommended Weapon: Staff of Homa
- Recommended Artifacts: 4-piece Crimson Witch of Flames
How Character Works & Why This Build Works
Hu Tao gets stronger the lower her HP is, so Hu Tao thrives on calculated aggression. Homa is great for Hu Tao - it gives HP, ATK, and Crit DMG, and makes her charged attacks and reaction hits absolutely bonkers. Out of the Pyro sets, Crimson Witch is chosen precisely because Hu Tao often triggers Vaporise and Melt, and there is no other set that scales the reaction bonus from Pyro damage like this set does.
Hu Tao shines most when pairing her with Hydro supports (Xingqiu/Yelan), but Hu Tao's "flow" feels best when players learn to animation-cancel charged attacks for maximum output.
2. Neuvillette - Hydro DPS
- Recommended Weapon: Tome of the Eternal Flow
- Recommended Artifacts: 4-piece Marechaussee Hunter
How Character Works & Why This Build Works
Neuvillette is built around a unique mechanic: his charged attacks consume stamina and do wide-swinging Hydro damage that scales massively with HP. His weapon adds HP and recovers energy during charged cycles, allowing for a never-ending attack cycle. Marechaussee Hunter triggers when Neuvillette's HP rises and falls - which he does constantly - and gives massive Crit Rate boosts, and overall, makes his charged attacks way more consistent.
While Neuvillette is simple, he is extremely powerful.
3. Raiden Shogun – Electro Hypercarry
- Ideal Weapon: Engulfing Lightning
- Ideal Artifacts: 4-pc Emblem of Severed Fate
How Character Works & Why Choosing This Build Makes Sense
Raiden's playstyle revolves around keeping her Energy Recharge stat as high as possible, as her Burst scales off of Energy Recharge. Engulfing Lightning takes that Energy Recharge and converts it into increased ATK, making it a synergistic pairing. Emblem simultaneously increases her burst damage based on Energy Recharge, offering high multipliers on her damage in ways that few other builds accomplish.
Her kit plays out in a rotation-based style - she essentially resets her team's energy, and then acts as the on-field damage carry for a few seconds. Great in National teams and Electro-charged gameplay.
4. Zhongli – Universal Shield Support
- Ideal Weapon: Staff of Homa / Black Tassel (F2P)
- Ideal Artifacts: 4-pc Tenacity of the Millelith
How Character Works & Why Choosing This Build Makes Sense
Zhongli isn't focused on damage; Zhongli is focused on stability. His shield negates almost all interruptions, allowing gameplay to feel much smoother for any team's rotation. Tenacity increases the strength of his shield and the ATK of your party as long as enemies are within the area of the pillar - passively, and without any maintenance.
Homa is for players utilising Zhongli in an offensive capacity, while Black Tassel is the best budget option in case you just need him as a shield generator.
5. Nahida – Dendro Reaction Driver
- Best Weapon: A Thousand Floating Dreams
- Best Artifacts: 4-pc Deepwood Memories
How Character Works & Why This Build Fits
Nahida's greatest asset is her capacity to apply Dendro to a plethora of enemies simultaneously; this provides the potential for teams utilising Hyperbloom, Aggravate, and Bloom reactions to shine. Her signature catalyst provides Elemental Mastery while boosting the reaction output of every team member.
Deepwood is built even when she is the primary damage dealer, as it reduces enemy Dendro resistance, providing a tangible advantage for the entire team. She is a catalyst character who shows great value to players who prioritise reactions over pure normal attack damage.
6. Ganyu – Cryo Charged-Shot DPS
- Best Weapon: Amos' Bow
- Best Artifacts: 4-pc Blizzard Strayer
How Character Works & Why This Build Fits
Ganyu provides long-range charged shots with AoE Cryo damage upon detonation. Amos' Bow boosts both the initial shot damage and the detonation damage, which Ganyu relies heavily on. Blizzard Strayer makes sure all of Ganyu's attacks are crits when specific enemies are frozen, which gives her a very safe and reliable performance.
She does her best work in Freeze teams if paired with either Mona or Ayaka, who will freeze the enemies in place while Ganyu fires off charged shots without worrying about enemies moving.
7. Kamisato Ayaka – Cryo Burst DPS
- Best Weapon: Mistsplitter Reforged
- Best Artifacts: 4-piece Blizzard Strayer
How Character Works & Why This Build Fits
Ayaka has some of the biggest burst damage in the game. Mistsplitter increases her elemental damage through stacks that she receives naturally during a fight. Blizzard Strayer gives her crazy Crit Rate against frozen enemies, which almost guarantees her burst critting.
She does need good energy generation - pairing her with Shenhe or running her with another Cryo battery makes the experience much smoother.
8. Yelan – Hydro Off-Field DPS
- Best Weapon: Aqua Simulacra
- Best Artifacts: 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate
How Character Works & Why This Build Fits
Yelan plays off-field when her burst is activated to fire arrows of Hydro whenever the active character attacks. Aqua gives her extra HP and Crit Damage, which directly scales with how much damage her burst hits for. Emblem will also allow her to cast her burst every rotation without any energy issues.
Yelan fits extremely well into a Vaporise, Hypercarry, and quick-swap team, whereas she pairs beautifully with Hu Tao, Diluc, Yoimiya, and Xiao.
9. Diluc – DPS Claymore User with Pyro Element
- Best Weapon: Wolf’s Gravestone
- Best Artifacts: 4-piece set of Crimson Witch of Flames
How Character Works & Why This Build Fits
Diluc is a pure character. He goes in and hits a series of swift, infused Pyro slashes. Wolf’s Gravestone is a strong weapon for increasing ATK via boosting, since your values for multipliers are very high. Crimson Witch acts as a minor boost in his Pyro damage, as well as in increasing the reaction damage while his combos build reactions.
Diluc, though power-creeped a bit, is still extremely easy to play with and performs very well when combining all forms of Pyro - the strongest of which is Melt or Vape.
10. Alhaitham – Dendro On-Field Generator of Damage
- Best Weapon: Light of Foliar Incision
- Best Artifacts: 4-piece set of Gilded Dreams
How Character Works & Why This Build Fits
Alhaitham can again perform fast, quickly combining his normal and charged attacks into quick slice Dendro or otherwise. He also creates mirrors that further ramp up his damage. He also has a sword that increases Crit Rate, and while increasing damage as well. Gilded Dreams also provides a great amount of Elemental Mastery for Alhaitham, though much of it will go toward increasing Spread and Catalyse reactions.
He particularly shines with Fischl, Kuki Shinobu, or Yae Miko as off-field Electro support.
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Conclusion
When it comes to assembling the best weapons and artifacts for 5-star characters, this is not a case of mimicking other people's builds, but understanding how a character is supposed to work. The strength of each character above is because their builds enhance their intended mechanics: Hu Tao excels at low-HP aggressiveness; Raiden scales with energy; Neuvillette relies on attacking HP-charged attacks; Nahida and Alhaitham's strength depends heavily on reacting.
