One of the first characters players will meet when they begin their Genshin Impact journey is Kaeya. Kaeya is a four-star Cryo Sword character that resides in Mondstadt, serves as the Calvary Captain of the Knights of Favonius under Acting Grand Master Jean, and is regarded as a charming but mysterious knight.
When it comes to exploration, Kaeya is one of the undisputed best characters that players can use while traversing through the world of Teyvat. His Elemental Skill allows players to freeze portions of water and consistently travel over it by repeatedly using the Elemental Skill following the end of its cooldown. Because his Elemental Skill has a short cooldown, applying Cryo to cross water or freeze enemies is quite easy with Kaeya.
While many players tend to overlook Kaeya in favor of other four-star or five-star characters, the Cryo Sword character can be quite powerful and helpful when equipped with a solid build. Kaeya functions best as either the primary or secondary damage dealer on a team. This means that while building him players should primarily be focused on building his damage output.
Weapons
Since Kaeya only really functions as either a primary or secondary damage dealer, players should choose a weapon that builds upon damage output in general as well as Elemental damage output. Five-star swords will always be the best choice, especially since Kaeya is a four-star character, but there are many suitable four-star options players can choose from as well.
Mistsplitter Reforged
Generally regarded as one of the best, or even the best sword in all of Genshin Impact, Mistsplitter Reforged is a powerful five-star choice for increasing the damage dealt by the wielder. The “Mistsplitter’s Edge” ability of this sword grants a 12-percent elemental damage bonus.
“Mistsplitter’s Edge” also grants a stacking ability through Mistsplitter’s Emblems, which can be obtained when the wielder deals elemental damage through a normal attack, casts an elemental burst, or when their energy is less than 100 percent. One, two, or three stacks of Mistsplitter’s Emblems can be obtained and will provide an elemental damage bonus of eight, 16, or 28 as it corresponds with each stack.
Skyward Blade
One of the easier five-star swords for players to obtain is the Skyward Blade since it is always on the permanent wish banner in addition to the rotating special weapon banner. The Skyward Blade’s “Sky-Piercing Fang” ability increases the wielder’s critical rate by four percent.
The Skypiercing Might ability of “Sky-Piercing Fang” is also gained when an elemental burst is used. This effect increases movement speed by 10 percent, attack speed by 10 percent, and grants normal and charged attack hits a damage bonus that equals 20 percent of attack. Skypiercing Might lasts for a total of 12 seconds.
Primordial Jade Cutter
This five-star sword is a great choice if you’re also looking to massively build upon Kaeya’s Health. The “Protector’s Virtue” ability of the Primordial Jade Cutter increases the wielder’s health points by 20 percent. It also grants an attack bonus that is based on 1.2 percent of the wielder’s total health points.
The Black Sword
One of the best four-star swords is The Black Sword which scales the wielder’s attack damage and health. The “Justice” ability of The Black Sword increases the damage dealt by normal and charged attacks by 20 percent.
This sword also regenerates 60 percent of attack as health points when a normal or charged attack successfully performs a critical hit. The effects of the “Justice” ability can occur once every five seconds.
The Flute
This four-star sword is another excellent option for Kaeya as it increases attack damage. The “Chord” ability of The Flute causes normal and charged attacks to grant Harmonics.
These Harmonics stack until five are gathered, at which point they then activate to deal 100 percent attack damage to all nearby enemies. One Harmonic can be gained every 0.5 seconds. Each Harmonic can also last for up to 30 seconds before dissipating.
The Alley Flash
Another solid four-star sword focused on damage output is The Alley Flash. The “Itinerant Hero” ability increases the damage output from the character wielding it by 12 percent. When the wielder takes damage from foes, “Itinerant Hero” is temporarily disabled for five seconds.
Artifacts
Kaeya’s artifacts, as is also the case with his weapon, should be ones that focus on building his damage output as this will improve his overall functionality and flow alongside any team he is added to. Generally, this means players should equip him with sets that increase his various attacks as well as his elemental abilities. Players should also remember to try mixing and matching between various different two-piece artifact sets because this will oftentimes produce the best results.
Blizzard Strayer
The best artifact set to equip Kaeya with is the full set of the Blizzard Strayer Cryo boosting artifact set. The two-piece set grants a 15-percent Cryo damage bonus.
When a character that the full four-piece set is equipped to attacks an opponent that is affected by Cryo, the character’s critical rate will be increased by 20 percent. If that same opponent is frozen, the critical rate is increased further by another 20 percent.
Noblesse Oblige
The Noblesse Oblige set works well for nearly every character in Genshin Impact since it builds upon Elemental Burst damage, which is generally where the most damage output comes from. The two-piece set of Noblesse Oblige increases elemental burst damage by 20 percent.
The four-piece set increases all party members’ attack by 20 percent for a total of 12 seconds. This ability cannot stack.
Gladiator’s Finale
The Gladiator’s Finale set is a great choice for increasing attack damage output. The two-piece set increases attack by 18 percent. The four-piece set increases normal attack damage by 35 when the character this set is equipped to uses a Sword, Claymore, or Polearm.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
This artifact set builds upon attack and elemental damage. The two-piece set increases attack by 18 percent. The full four-piece set causes characters to lose 15 energy when they have 15 or more energy and cast an elemental skill. In return, the character that this set is equipped to will have their normal, charged, and plunging attack damage increased by 50 percent for 10 seconds.
Pale Flame
The Pale Flame artifact set boosts damage and attack. The two-piece Pale Flame set grants a 25 percent physical damage bonus. When a character has the full four-piece set equipped and their elemental skill successfully hits an opponent, their attack increases by nine percent for up to seven seconds. This ability can stack up to two times and may be triggered every 0.3 seconds.
Ascension Materials
Because Kaeya was one of the first characters ever released in Genshin Impact and is a free character available to all players through gameplay, his required materials are easy for anyone to attain. Kaeya’s Ascension Materials can all be found in Mondstadt since he is from this region and was released when Genshin Impact launched.
In total, players will need 420,000 Mora, 46 Hoarfrost Core, one Shivada Jade Sliver, nine Shivada Jade Fragment, nine Shivada Jade Chunk, six Shivada Jade Gemstone, 168 Calla Lily, 18 Treasure Hoarder Insignia, 30 Silver Raven Insignia, and 36 Golden Raven Insignia.
Related: All Genshin Impact character visions, birthdays, weapons, and bios
Players can break the process of collecting Ascension Materials down over time as all of the materials are not required immediately but instead are divided across each Ascension level. This makes the process of gathering materials seem much more doable.
- Ascension to level one requires 20,000 Mora, one Shivada Jade Sliver, three Calla Lily, and three Treasure Hoarder Insignia.
- Ascension to level two requires 40,000 Mora, three Shivada Jade Fragment, two Hoarfrost Core, 10 Calla Lily, and 15 Treasure Hoarder Insignia.
- Ascension to level three requires 60,000 Mora, six Shivada Jade Fragment, four Hoarfrost Core, 20 Calla Lily, and 12 Silver Raven Insignia.
- Ascension to level four requires 80,000 Mora, three Shivada Jade Chunk, eight Hoarfrost Core, 30 Calla Lily, and 18 Silver Raven Insignia.
- Ascension to level five requires 100,000 Mora, six Shivada Jade Chunk, 12 Hoarfrost Core, 45 Calla Lily, and 12 Golden Raven Insignia.
- Ascension to level six requires 120,000 Mora, six Shivada Jade Gemstone, 20 Hoarfrost Core, 60 Calla Lily, and 24 Golden Raven Insignia.
Talent Materials
As is the case with Kaeya’s Ascension Materials, his Talent Materials too are relatively easy to gather. Gathering the various levels of Treasure Hoarder Insignia can be done around Mondstadt or any other region since they can be found anywhere. To obtain all the levels of Guide to Ballad, players will need to head to the Forsaken Rift Domain in Mondstadt on Wednesdays, Saturdays, or Sundays. Players will also need to take on the Dominator of Wolves in “The Wolf of the North Challenge” to obtain the required Spirit Locket of Boreas.
To fully level up all of Kaeya’s talents, players will need to gather 1,652,500 Mora, six Treasure Hoarder Insignia, 22 Silver Raven Insignia, 31 Golden Raven Insignia, three Teachings of Ballad, 21 Guide to Ballad, 38 Philosophies of Ballad, six Spirit Locket of Boreas, and one Crown of Insight.
Kaeya can be obtained by all players for free upon completion of the “Crash Course” quest during “Prologue, Act I: The Outlander Who Caught the Wind.” He is also permanently available in the “Wanderlust Invocation” wish so players can obtain duplicates of him and thus collect his constellations.
