Kaeya Guide and Best Builds for Genshin Impact
Kaeya is the 4-Star Cryo sword Knight of the Favonius from Mondstadt who specializes in Off-field Cryo Damage and Freeze Reactions. Read our Kaeya guide to learn more about Kaeya's kit, Kaeya's best Builds and also his Ascension and Talent Materials.
Kaeya Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Easy to play and understand.
- Requires low field-time and has a good off-field Cryo application.
- Low Energy Requirements.
- Can help you cross large bodies of water in the open-world.
- Is a free character given rather early in the game.
Weaknesses
Kaeya's Burst and Skill both are short range, forcing you to play in melee range.
- While being a good Cryo battery, other similar characters have more utility.
- Constellations are among the hardest to get.
Kaeya Build Guide, Best Artifacts, Weapons and Talent Priority
Kaeya can be built to be played in both Freeze teams or Reverse Melt team compositions.
Kaeya's Build Options
Freeze Kaeya Build
This build is used if you want to play Kaeya in Freeze teams. Kaeya is able to keep the enemies Frozen with his low cooldown on his skill, as well as his burst that will stay around the active character even when you swap kaeya off-field. Kaeya can also serve as a Cryo Battery with this build.
| BiS Weapon | Mistsplitter Reforged |
| Alternate Weapons |
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| Best Artifacts |
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| Main Stats |
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| Substat Priority |
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| Talent Priority |
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For a Freeze Kaeya build you want to go for Mistsplitter Reforged as it is his BiS weapon. it provides with high CRIT DMG and more elemental DMG bonus. The rest of the weapons are are all viable options. Weapons with CRIT DMG as a base stat are recommended.
Freeze Kaeya should only be build with Blizzard Strayer. It is the best-in-slot artifact set with the 15% Cryo DMG bonus and the additional CRIT Rate which makes it very powerful for Freeze Kaeya.
Reverse Melt Kaeya Build
This second Kaeya build revolves around the Reverse Melt reactions. The goal is to use Kaeya's Burst to trigger Melt off-field, while being a battery for a Main Cryo DPS.
| BiS Weapon | Primordial Jade Cutter |
| Alternative Weapons |
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| Best Artifacts |
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| Main Stats |
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| Substat Priority |
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| Talent Priority |
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For Kaeya's Reverse Melt build, the best-in-slot weapon is Primordial Jade Cutter as it will provide Kaeya with high CRIT Rate and ATK, and the very good passive. Mistsplitter Reforged is another good option for the CRIT DMG, high base ATK, and passive. Lion's Roar is the best 4-star option and the passive is easy to trigger in a reverse melt team.
Kaeya's best artifact for a reverse melt build is Emblem of Severed Fate with it's high energy recharge and the increased Elemental Burst DMG that is highly appreciated.
For both builds, Kaeya will require you to get around 160 - 200% Energy Recharge if he is the only Cryo user and no Favonius in the team. If you play Kaeya with other Cryo characters, or you use Favonius, you can aim for around 140%. If you have Kaeya's C6, you can lower the Energy requirement a bit more.
Kaeya Combos and How to Play
Kaeya is a rather straightforward character. The primary goal is to generate particles with his skill that has a very low cooldown, and can be used often, while also inflicting Cryo DMG. His Burst will be important in both Freeze and Reverse Melt teams, as it stays around the active character for a short while, allowing you to either trigger Melt often, or maintain enemies frozen all the time.
Kaey's rotation in both cases is rather simple: you want to use his skill when it's up, and Burst every rotation to always have the burst active around the on-field character.
Kaeya's Best Team Comps
Kaeya functions best with two primary teams — Freeze and Reverse Melt. These two teams use his abilities for Cryo application and damage to the maximize their elemental reactions and deal massive damage.
Freeze Team
| Sub DPS | Sub DPS | Main DPS | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaeya | |||
| Kaeya | Furina | Wriothesley | |
| Kaeya | Furina | Kamisato Ayaka |
Freeze teams are very straight forward. You want to use a Main Cryo DPS and at least one Hydro. Characters such as Furina are very useful as they will greatly help with constant freeze, while also buffing and providing additional DMG. The last slot can be filled with either a Shield like Citlali, a Sub-DPS such as Chongyun, or a Cryo buffer like Shenhe. Using Anemo unit also works in the last slot, as they usually provide RES Shred.
Reverse Melt Team
| Sub DPS | Main DPS | Support / Sub DPS | Pyro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaeya | Kamisato Ayaka | Xiangling | Bennett |
| Kaeya | Rosaria | Mavuika | Kaedehara Kazuha |
For these reverse melt teams you basically want a Pyro aura in order to allow you to trigger melt with your Cryo abilities. Anemo abilities usually provide enough Pyro application through swirl to allow for constant Melt, so you want to have someone like Kaedehara Kazuha. Bennett is also important as he provides a good ATK buff, healing, and can battery your main Pyro applicator.
Kaeya's Ascensions, Talents, and Constellations
Kaeya Ascension Passives and Materials
| Unlock | Ascension Passive | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| With Character | Hidden Strength | Decreases sprinting Stamina consumption for your own party members by 20%. Not stackable with Passive Talents that provide the exact same effects. |
| 1st Ascension | Cold-Blooded Strike | Every hit with Frostgnaw regenerates HP for Kaeya equal to 15% of his ATK. |
| 4th Ascension | Glacial Heart | Opponents Frozen by Frostgnaw will drop additional Elemental Particles. Frostgnaw may only produce a maximum of 2 additional Elemental Particles per use. |
Kaeya requires a range of materials to ascend to the 6th ascension. Starting from the second ascension he gains additional Energy Recharge as he levels, giving a total of 26.8% Energy Recharge at the final ascension. The total cost to upgrade all ascensions is:
| Source | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Mora | 420,000 Mora |
| Boss Material | 46x Hoarfrost Core |
| Ascension Material | |
| Local Specialty | 168x Calla Lily |
| Enhancement Material |
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Kaeya's Talents
Listed below is each talent and a brief explanation of how they work.
| Type | Talent Name | Brief Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Normal Attack: Ceremonial Bladework | Standard Normal Attack performs 5 rapid strikes. Charged Attack unleashes 2 rapid sword strikes. Plunging Attacks strike the ground below, dealing AoE DMG upon impact. |
| Elemental Skill | Frostgnaw |
Unleashes a cone attack of Cryo damage in front of Kaeya. |
| Elemental Burst | Glacial Waltz | Summons 3 icicles that spin around your character, dealing Cryo Damage to any enemies that come into contact them. This lasts for the duration of the ability. |
To upgrade a single talent to level 10, it costs:
| Source | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Mora | 1,625,500 Mora |
| Special Material | 1x Crown of Insight |
| Boss Material | 6x Spirit Locket of Boreas |
| Domain Material |
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| Enhancement Material |
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Kaeya's Constellations
Kaeya's constellations are very good, but not required, especially since his constellations are very rare to get.
| # | Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Excellent Blood | The CRIT Rate of Kaeya's Normal and Charge Attacks against opponents affected by Cryo is increased by 15%. |
| C2 | Never-Ending Performance | When Glacial Waltz is in effect, for each opponent defeated, its base duration is increased by 2.5s, up to a maximum of 15s. |
| C3 | Dance of Frost |
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| C4 | Frozen Kiss |
Triggers automatically when Kaeya's HP falls below 20%: Creates a shield that absorbs damage equal to 30% of Kaeya's Max HP. Lasts for 20s. This shield absorbs Cryo DMG with 250% efficiency. Can only occur once every 60s. |
| C5 | Frostbiting Embrace |
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| C6 | Glacial Whirlwind | Glacial Waltz will generate 1 additional icicle, and will regenerate 15 Energy when cast. |
Changelog
- 01 Apr. 2025: Guide updated for 5.5.
- 30 Sep. 2024: Guide reviewed for Update 5.1.
- 16 Apr. 2024: Guide added.
Jay is a long time Hoyoverse player in both Genshin and Honkai Star Rail, enjoying the exploration, lore, challenges, and theorycrafting for his favorite characters. Next to creating guides, he is also an avid fan of editing videos, and you can watch him stream on Twitch