The best builds for Yelan in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact Yelan build guide: tie up your enemies with this Hydro spy.

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Genshin Impact Xiao build:Demon hunterGenshin Impact Ayato build:Ayaka’s big broGenshin Impact Ayaka build:Frostflake HeronGenshin Impact Venti build:Drunken bard

Looking for a great Genshin Impact Yelan build? Version 2.7 has just launched and Yelan andXiao’s banners have arrived alongside. The five-star Hydro archer is Liyue’s answer to a secret agent, hunting down ne’er do wells and administering justice. Her playstyle is all about getting in opponent’s faces and tying them up with her Lingering Lifeline.

It’s her most flashy ability for sure as she runs through enemies, evading them before unleashing her attack. That said, her Depth-Clarion Dice is also extremely good and basically an upgraded version of Xingqiu’s already amazing Raincutter burst. It makes her a sub-DPS character capable of supporting and buffing damage-dealers, while also repositioning for optimal advantage.

If you’ve just jumped intoGenshin Impact 2.7you might have come across the world quest that requires you to craft someRed Dye, or you might be wondering whenKuki Shinobuis going to show up. Either way, here’s one of the best Genshin Impact Yelan builds, along with her abilities, and ascension materials.

Builds

The best Genshin Impact Yelan build

Yelan is all about running rings around opponents with her evasive Lingering Lifeline skill, using the distance to fire her Breakthrough Barb aimed shots, and her Exquisite Throw to support other damage-dealers as with Xingqiu’s Raincutter burst. Most of her damage scales with HP, so she isn’t too complex to build.

Hydro sub-DPS

Unsurprisingly, the best bow choice for Yelan is the five-star featured alongside her. Aqua Simulacra buffs crit damage and increases her HP by 16 percent. When enemies are nearby, her damage is increased by 20%, whether she’s on the field or not. This gives her Exquisite Throw a big damage boost when supporting other characters, which adds to the buff it already provides with Yelan’s Adapt With Ease passive. The HP boost also helps increase all of her ability damage.

A second choice is the recent Polar Star bow. This five-star weapon buffs crit rate, but also elemental skill and burst damage by 12 percent. When you hit an opponent with any attack or ability, you gain a stack of Ashen Nightstar for 12 seconds. This stacks up to four times, incremently buffing attack by 10/20/30/48 percent.  As you’d imagine, this adds some pretty universal value in terms of strengthening Yelan’s offensive capabilities.

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That said, you might be looking for a no-spend option instead of throwing your wishes into the weapon banner. Slingshot is the best three-star weapon for Yelan due to its crit rate, and proximity-based attack buff, while a good four-star choice is Mouun’s Moon, since it buffs burst damage based on your party’s energy recharge: pretty useful when you’ll want to use Yelan’s burst a lot.

One of the best artifact sets for a sub-DPS Yelan is Emblem of Severed Fates. Two-pieces grants 20 percent increased energy recharge, while four-pieces increases damage by 25 percent of energy recharge. A maximum bonus of 75 percent is available this way. Considering you’ll want to build Yelan’s energy recharge so you can use her amazing burst more, this set is pretty darn perfect.

An alternative would be two-pieces of Heart of Depth for its 15 percent Hydro damage bonus, and two-pieces of Noblesse Oblige for its 20 percent burst damage bonus. In terms of stats, most of Yelan’s ability damage strengthens with HP, so you’ll want to build lots of that. Energy recharge will also be very important in using her burst lots, and crit rate, and crit damage would help take advantage of Aqua Simulcra’s crit damage boost. Finally, an artifact with a Hydro bonus substat would be very good if you have one lying around.

How to unlock

How to get Yelan in Genshin Impact

You can currently wish for Yelan as part of the “Discerner of Enigmas” banner that released alongside version 2.7. This will run for three weeks, concluding around June 21, when Arataki Itto and Kuki Shinobu arrive. The boosted four-stars on Yelan’s banner are Barbara, Noelle, and Yanfei.

Abilities

Yelan’s abilities

Here are Yelan’s abilities, constellations and passives:

Ascension materials

Yelan’s Ascension materials

Character

Like other characters, Yelan needs specific Ascension materials to level her up. TheVarunada Lazuriteitems are dropped by Oceanids and Hydro Hypostases. Meanwhile,Runic Fangsare dropped by level 30+ Ruin Serpents found in the Chasm in Liyue.

TheInsigniasare dropped from Agents and Electro Cicin Mages found in both Liyue and Mondstadt, though the lowest “Recruit” version can also drop from Skirmishers. And lastly, theStarconchitems are found along the beaches of Liyue.

Talents

There are more Ascension materials to collect if you want to level up Yelan’s talents. These are:

TheProsperityitems are rewarded for completing the Taishan Mansion domain on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays. As mentioned above, theInsigniavariants are dropped by Skirmishers, Agents, and Electro Cicin Mages, and theGilded Scaledrops from the weekly boss, Azhdaha.

TheCrown of Insightis a reward from various seasonal activities, like Midsummer Island Adventure or Thunder Sojourn. You can also get this item as a one-off reward by upgrading theFrostbearing Tree in Dragonspineor the Sacred Sakura in Inazuma.

Genshin Impact guide:Beginner tipsGenshin Impact characters:Full tier listGenshin Impact code:Redeem for free rewardsGenshin Impact banner:Every character

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she’s quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.

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