Genshin Impact: Is Shenhe good for Physical DPS?

The five-star Cryo character Shenhe has been proven to boost Cryo Damage with her Elemental Skill while lowering the Cryo Resistance of enemies with her Burst. Even with all these buffs tailored towards a Cryo Support playstyle, she has many things that make her excel as a Physical DPS. Looking at different Artifacts and team compositions, Shenhe has been proven to be a good Physical attacker.

Lowering Physical Resistance

Shenhe naturally has the ability to lower enemy Physical Resistance with the use of her Elemental Burst, Divine Maiden's Deliverance. After using it, a large field erupts from the Talisman Spirit that she spawns that lowers both Cryo and Physical Resistance of all opponents inside. This is six percent at Talent Level 1 and 15 percent at Talent Level 10. Gathering enemies inside area of effect Elemental Bursts like Shenhe's can be done easily with the help of an Anemo character such as Sucrose or Kazuha.

Paired with an Electro character, Shenhe can proc Superconduct on enemies to even further lower their Physical Resistance by 40 percent. Superconduct will do a fair amount of Cryo Damage as well, which is further increased by her naturally high Attack and her Elemental Burst. Raiden and Beidou can apply Electro quickly and reliably while dealing massive amounts of damage. Fischl is a good Electro applicator as well but won't deal as much damage as a Support character.

Zhongli and Rosaria are also very good options for any Physical DPS team. Zhongli's Elemental Skill, Dominus Lapidus, will cause a Jade Shield to be created that lowers the Elemental and Physical Resistance of all enemies near it by 20 percent. Rosaria's debuffs only apply at Constellation Six as she unlocks the ability to lower Physical Resistance as well. This causes her Elemental Burst, Rites of Termination, to lower the Physical Resistance of all enemies hit by it by 20 percent. Rosaria also serves as a good source of Energy so Shenhe can keep using her Elemental Burst as much as possible off cooldown.

Related: Best Sucrose Build in Genshin Impact

Artifacts For Physical DPS

For a Physical DPS build, Crit Rate, Crit Damage, Physical Damage, Attack, and Attack percent are all important to provide the most damage possible. Getting Crit Damage to over 150 percent and Crit Rate to over 50 percent can be a challenge so sacrificing Physical Damage for a better Crit ratio may end up happening. Even with these setbacks, Shenhe's Normal and Charged Attacks will deal lots of damage for players wanting to use her as their main DPS.

Hybrid Artifacts

There are quite a few Artifacts that Shenhe can use to increase her Physical Damage output. Pale Flame and Bloodstained Chivarly's 2-Piece Set Bonuses both increase Physical Damage by 25 percent for a total of 50 percent if equipped together. As the bonus is high, this can remove the need for a Physical Damage percent Goblet, making players able to go for an Attack percent Goblet instead.

Gladiator's Finale and Shimenawa's Reminiscence 2-Piece Set Bonuses both increase the Attack stat by 18 percent for a total of 36 percent if equipped together. Mixing and matching these sets can be good to use for Shenhe as she is able to put these stat bonuses to good use. Holding her Elemental Skill, Spring Spirit Summoning, will increase her Normal and Charged Attacks by 15 percent while also increasing Cryo Damage from all sources thanks to her Icy Quills.

Gladiator's Finale

The four-piece Gladiator's Finale set increases Attack by 18 percent as well as increases Shenhe's Normal Attack Damage by 35 percent. This is the most straightforward set to use and farm for and provides a surprisingly high amount of damage potential. This bonus damage is additive and is multiplicative along with all other damage bonuses to the total damage output of Shenhe's Normal and Charged Attacks.

Shimenawa's Reminiscence

While Shenhe's Elemental Burst is necessary to further decrease opponents Physical Resistance, the bonus from a four-piece Shimenawa's Reminiscence should not be underestimated. A full set will increase Shenhe's Attack by 18 percent and increase her Charged Attack Damage by 50 percent for 10 seconds after using her Elemental Skill in exchange for 15 energy. The loss in energy makes using Shenhe's Elemental Burst unlikely but trading a maximum of 15 percent Physical Resistance reduction for 50 percent Charged Attack Damage might be more than worth it.

Pale Flame

Because of Shenhe's Elemental Skill's cooldown of 10/15 seconds depending on if she taps or holds it, the four-piece bonus for this set is impossible to achieve. If the bonus from Icy Quills were to count as Shenhe using her Elemental Skill, then this set could easily be her best, however, it does not and therefore is not a good option for her.

Related: Shimenawa’s Reminiscence Artifact Set: Stats, how to get, and who can use it in Genshin Impact

Weapons

Several weapons cater to using Shenhe as a Physical DPS and can be categorized by how expensive they are.

• Crescent Pike - With 565 Attack and a 34.5 percent Physical Damage Bonus, the Crescent Pike is an excellent free to play option for players to invest in. It's Passive Ability also increases Normal and Charged Attacks Damage by 40 percent at Refinement Five.
• Dragonspine Spear - At 454 Attack with a 69 percent Physical Damage Bonus, the Dragonspine Spear is another free to play option for players wanting to further increase their Physical Damage Bonus over their Base Attack. Crescent Pike is generally a better option because of it's Passive, however this weapon can cause icicles to crash down on opponents that are based off of Shenhe's Attack stat.
• Deathmatch - One of the Battle Pass weapons that has 454 Attack and a Crit Rate of 36.8 percent. The weapon also further increases Shenhe's Attack by either 32 or 48 percent depending on whether there are more or less than two enemies nearby.

While Eula can out DPS Shenhe in most instances, Shenhe can scratch that Physical DPS itch that players who didn't pull Eula may have. She is fun as both a Cryo Support or a Physical DPS and players should play her in whatever option is the most fun to them.

For more character guides for Genshin Impact, check out Best Venti build in Genshin Impact on Pro Game Guides.