Ayaka Genshin Impact Guide

Kamisato Ayaka has returned to Genshin Impact once again in her first official re-run since her release in late July 2021. Nine months on, she is still one of the most sought-after characters in the world of Genshin Impact, and for good reason.

With countless characters to choose from it can be quite difficult to decide who to use your hard-earned in-game currencies, otherwise known as ‘primogems’, on.

In this Ayaka Genshin Impact guide, I hope to help you decide whether Kamisato Ayaka is the right fit for your playstyle and your team.

Kamisato Ayaka: Character Details

“Daughter of the Yashiro Commission’s Kamisato Clan. Dignified and elegant, as well as wise and strong.”

• Title: Kamisato Ayaka
• Nationality: Inazuma
• Rarity: 5-star
• Weapon type: Sword
• Vision: Cryo
• Birthday: 28 September

Kamtisato Ayaka is the younger sibling of Kamisato Ayato and the eldest daughter of the Kamisato clan. She is seen by society as the pinnacle of elegance and grace and as the Shirasagi Himegimi of the Yashiro Commission, is often seen officiating events such as weddings and other social gatherings.

We can get a good taste of the day to day life of Ayaka in her story quest the ‘Grus Nivis chapter’ which will cost you one story key to unlock. Story keys are obtained after completing four daily commissions, so you will not have to wait very long to experience Ayaka’s story quest.

Ayaka’s role is primarily a main DPS. However, she can be played as a burst sub DPS, as her elemental burst is one of the strongest parts of her kit and allows her to deal insane amounts of damage even when she is not on the field.

Ayaka’s cryo DMG output is by far one of the best in Genshin Impact, with all of her basic attacks dealing cryo DMG after she sprints, and both her elemental burst and elemental skill dealing AoE cryo DMG. This makes Ayaka a must-have for any freeze or melt team.

Ayaka is a formidable addition to any team and in this Genshin Impact guide, I’m going to take you through some of the best ways to build her and some of the teams that really make her stand out.

Kamisato Ayaka: Character Availability

Kamisato Ayaka is available in The Heron’s Court wishing banner, which is available in the second half of the 2.6 Genshin Impact update from the 20th of April 2022 until the 10th of May 2022.

Alongside Ayaka, the 4-star units Sayu, Razor, and Rosaria are returning. Sayu, being one of just two anemo 4-star units in Genshin Impact, could be a worthwhile pick for your team for elemental resonance, as well as for her healing and damage-dealing capabilities.

Although Razor is a main DPS and so may not play as well with Ayaka, he is still an effective claymore 4-star unit with a relatively low build cost. Rosaria could be used alongside Ayaka as a sub DPS for cryo resonance.

This would increase your CRIT rate against enemies afflicted by cryo by 15% which when paired with Ayaka’s incredible cryo output can mean huge damage for a relatively low cost.

I would say that this banner is worth wishing on just for Ayaka alone if you don’t already have her. However, the 4-star units could still be a very nice addition to any team and should not be overlooked.

Materials needed for Kamisato Ayaka

By now hopefully, you will have come to a decision as to whether or not you want Ayaka to become a part of your Genshin Impact team. If you have decided to wish for her, amazing! Keep reading and I will tell you everything you need to know to ascend her character level up to 90 and get her talent levels up to 10.

It is important to remember that ascending any character up to level 90 and maxing out, or “crowning”, their talents is a very expensive and resource-heavy process that will take a little time to achieve. So I would say only fully crown a character if you really enjoy playing them!

Many characters, Ayaka included, are just as playable at level 80 with level eight talents as they are fully maxed out. Just bear in mind that you won’t be hitting as hard at level 80 as you would at level 90. However, the trade-off of resources to some is worth missing out on the extra 10 levels for the time being.

You need to calculate your resources and work out what is best for you at the time. Just because you might not be able to ascend Ayaka all the way to level 90 immediately does not mean you can’t save up to do it for the future.

The materials needed to get Kamisato Ayaka to level 90:

• Mora – 2,092,530
• Sakura Bloom – 168
• Hero’s Wit – 421
• Shivada Jade Sliver – 1
• Shivada Jade Fragment – 9
• Shivada Jade Chunk – 9
• Shivada Jade Gemstone – 6
• Old Handguard – 18
• Kageuchi Handguard – 30
• Famed Handguard – 36
• Perpetual Heart – 46

The materials needed to get Kamisato Ayaka’s talents to level 10:

• Mora – 4,957,500
• Crown of Insight – 3
• Teachings of Elegance – 9
• Guide of Elegance – 63
• Philosophies of Elegance – 114
• Old Handguard – 18
• Kageuchi Handguard – 66
• Famed Handguard – 93
• Bloodjade Branch -18

On these lists there are a few rarer items that you need to keep in mind when grinding for level and talent ascension materials:

Crown of insight

Crowns of insights are only obtainable through special events in Genshin Impact but don’t worry, these events are running more or less all of the time, so you’ll be able to get your hands on some in no time.

Perpetual Heart

Perpetual Hearts can be collected from the Perpetual Mechanical Array, a world boss found inside the underground ruins north of Narukami Island in Inazuma.

In order to get there, you will have to travel through the portal that lingers above Jinren Island, similar to how you need to get to the spiral abyss the first time. Then you just have to traverse the ruins until you reach the Perpetual Mechanical Array.

Thankfully, there is both a domain and a teleport point nearby making future visits far easier.

Bloodjade Branch

Bloodjade Branches are dropped by the weekly trounce domain boss “Beneath the Dragon Queller” or as its commonly called by the community, Azhdaha. In order to unlock this trounce domain, you must first be adventure rank level 40, and have already completed the Archon quest Chapter I Act IV: We Will Be Reunited.

You will also need to complete both of Zhongli’s story quests, Historia Antiqua Chapter Act I: Sal Flore and Historia Antiqua Chapter Act 2: No Mere Stone which will cost you a total of two story keys. Once these quests are completed, you will be able to challenge Azhdaha every week.

Whilst this item is not a guaranteed drop, you can use an item called Dream Solvent to convert other boss drops into the one you need. Regardless, collecting trounce domain boss materials can sometimes become a slog, so I’d recommend jumping online with some friends to make the fight go a little faster.

Kamisato Ayaka Playstyle

As a main DPS Kamisato Ayaka should be front and centre in your Genshin Impact team, as you will be relying on her to do as much damage as possible as well as trigger elemental reactions.

It is possible to play Ayaka as a burst sub DPS, however, I would not recommend this as you will be severely limiting the number of buffs and therefore damage both Ayaka and the rest of your team will be able to do.

Ayaka is well equipped to be a main DPS and so I would recommend you use her as one to reach her full potential.

Ideally, you want to keep Ayaka’s elemental skill on cooldown as often as possible and use her elemental burst when enemies are grouped up for maximum damage output. You also want to keep her weapon infused with cryo as much as possible.

To do this you simply need to tap the sprint button, which will then infuse her weapon with cryo for a short period of time.

It is this ability paired with Ayaka’s elemental skill and burst which give her an insane amount of cryo DMG output, which makes her ideal for freeze or melt teams.

Kamisato Ayaka Talents

Normal attack: Kamisato Art – Kabuki

Ayaka’s basic attack allows her to perform up to five rapid strikes. This means that you can press your attack button five times to complete one full attack cycle. By holding down your attack button Ayaka will perform a flurry of attacks for a small chunk of stamina. This allows you to do more damage slightly faster but at a slight cost.

You can also perform a plunging attack by pressing your attack button whilst falling to damage enemies on the way down and deal some AoE DMG as you hit the ground.

As well as the normal physical damage Ayaka’s normal attacks can do, when combined with the passive ability Kamisato Art – Senho all of her normal attacks will be converted into cryo DMG.

This is what makes Ayaka a truly incredible DPS unit to have on your team. When you sprint or dash, for a period of time all of your normal attacks will become infused with cryo, giving you an insane amount of cryo damage output.

Kamisato Art – Hyouka

Ayaka’s elemental skill will summon an area of ice around her, which will deal AoE cryo DMG to enemies. The area of damage that Ayaka summons is wider than it may initially appear so combining her with a good grouper like Kaedehara Kazuha or Sucrose can be a really good idea to get the most out of Ayaka’s elemental skill.

Kamisato Art – Soumetsu

Ayaka’s elemental burst is one of the strongest parts of her kit. With enough crit DMG and crit rate, Kamisato art – Soumetsu can hit like a truck. When you use Ayaka’s elemental burst a swirling storm of ice is unleashed engulfing opponents and dealing huge amounts of cryo DMG. When the elemental burst ends, it explodes, dealing additional AoE cryo DMG.

When I first saw Ayaka’s elemental burst I was concerned about having to aim the cone correctly to hit enemies, but this is not as important as some people may make it out to be.

When you use the elemental burst, the cryo storm will auto-lock onto the closest enemy, and will then travel in a straight line from that point.

This is why it is quite important to have a character who can group enemies together, like Kazuha or Sucrose, to go with Ayaka in order to hit as many enemies in one elemental burst as possible.

Kamisato Ayaka Passive Abilites

Kamisato Art- Senho

This passive ability gives Ayaka an alternative sprint. Much like how Mona will turn into a puddle when sprinting, Ayaka transforms into a frozen fog. This allows her to sprint slightly faster than normal characters and it also allows Ayaka to traverse over water without having to swim. This skill makes her incredibly useful for traversing the overworld in Genshin Impact.

In combat scenarios, Kamisato Art – Shenho is also incredibly useful. When Ayaka exits the sprinting animation she will affect any nearby opponents with cryo.

Bear in mind that the AoE on this cryo application is very small, so you’ll have to get up quite close and personal with opponents to make this work, but as a sword user, you’ll likely be very close to your enemies regardless. On top of this, all of Ayaka’s normal attacks will now be infused with cryo for a short time.

In order to get the most out of Ayaka’s sprint ability in combat, I would recommend periodically tapping the sprint button to keep both enemies and your normal attacks cryo infused. The only thing you will have to be mindful of is your stamina consumption.

If you sprint too often, you will no longer have any stamina for your charged attacks, but if you don’t sprint often enough your cryo DMG output won’t be nearly as high as it should be. It can be a tricky balancing act at first but with a little practise you will work out the correct rhythm.

Amatsumi Kunitsumi Sanctification

After reaching ascension level one with Ayaka, this passive ability will unlock. This passive ability makes it so that after using Ayaka’s elemental skill, all of Ayaka’s normal and charged attacks will bead an additional 30% damage for six seconds. This ability only affects Ayaka so when she leaves the field so does the buff.

Kanten Senmyou Blessing

Once Ayaka hits ascension level four, this passive talent will be unlocked. When the cryo application at the end of Ayaka’s alternate sprint hits an opponent, Ayaka will restore 10 stamina. This makes stamina management slightly easier but you should still do your best to keep on top of how much stamina you are using.

As well as this, you will also gain an additional 18% cryo DMG bonus for 10 seconds, yet again increasing the amount of cryo DMG Ayaka can deal. With the practically constant amount of cryo DMG Ayaka can deal, there is little wonder as to why she is a lot of people’s go-to for challenges like the Spiral Abyss.

Fruits of Shinsa

Ayaka’s utility passive ability allows a 10% chance to double the product when she is used to craft weapon ascension materials. This ability is identical to Albedo’s and can be quite useful to help you save on some resource grinding when leveling up your weapons.

Kamisato Ayaka Constellations

Constellations are designed to make a character stronger, and it’s no secret that some constellations are far better than others. Being a five-star character, Ayaka’s constellations take her from great to phenomenal, but this will be a huge investment as it will require you to get at least two successful Ayaka pulls on a limited wishing banner for you to start collecting constellations.

That being said, if you are hugely invested in Ayaka and have to means to try and get some constellations on her, go ahead. But if you’re like me and would rather collect more characters than committing everything into just one, it might be a better idea to hold off on constellation farming for now.

• C1 – Snowswept Sakura: When Kamisato Ayaka’s normal or charges attacks deal cryo DMG to opponents, it has a 50% chance of decreasing the cooldown of Kamisato Art: Hyouka by 0.3 seconds. This effect can occur once every 0.1 seconds.
• C2 – Blizzard Blade Seki no To: When casting Kamisato Art: Soumetsu, unleashes two smaller additional Frostflake Seki no To, each dealing 20% of the original storm’s DMG.
• C3 – Frostbloom Kamifubuki: Increases the level of Kamisato Art: Soumetsu by three. The maximum upgrade level is 15.
• C4 – Ebb and Flow: Opponents damaged by Kamisato Art: Soumetsu’s Frostflake Seki no To will have their defence decreased by 30% for six seconds.
• C5 – Blossom Cloud Irutsuki: Increased the level of Kamisato Art: Hyouka by three. The Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• C6 – Dance of Suigetsu: Kamisato Ayaka gains Usurahi Butou every 10 seconds, increasing her charged attack DMG by 298%. This buff will be cleared 0.5 seconds after Ayaka’s charged attack hits an opponent, after which the timer for this ability will restart.

Ayaka’s constellations put a lot of buffs into her elemental burst, which is already one of the strongest parts of her kit, so if you’re looking for a cryo powerhouse, I would recommend trying to get Ayaka to at least C2, as this will give her a huge buff.

Her C4 buff is also incredible and allows for her elemental burst and subsequent attacks to deal a decent amount of extra damage, so if you have the resources this is another constellation that is worthwhile to try and get.

Although Ayaka only improves the more constellations you can unlock on her, she is still an incredibly powerful character without any constellations at all.

Getting constellations on any character, let alone a five-star unit can become very time-consuming and very expensive, especially if you like to purchase primogems with your hard-earned money.

Don’t let others make you think you need to get constellations on characters for them to be good, as most are already brilliant additions to any team straight out of the box.

Kamisato Ayaka Artifact sets

There are a few different artifact sets that will work with Ayaka, however, I’d recommend that you lean into any cryo DMG improvements that you can, as that is where most of your heavy damage will come from.

I’d encourage you to experiment with different artifacts to see what works best for you, but in general, the best set for Ayaka will be the Blizard Strayer set for the cryo DMG and crit bonus.

Regardless of which artifact set you choose, the main stat and substat priority will remain the same. For your sands artifact you want to go for an attack percentage main stat. Like most other characters you want your goblet to give you an elemental DMG bonus, so for Ayaka, you want a cryo DMG bonus goblet.

Finally, you ideally want crit DMG on your circlet, but if RNG really isn’t on your side, crit rate will also be okay. The flower and feather artifacts will always have HP and attack as their respective main stat, so you’ll only need to be worried about substats on those.

Like most other DPS characters, you want to build up as much crit rate and crit DMG as possible in your artifact substats. With the exception of the circlet, which will already have a crit as the main stat, any artifact with two crit substats is going to be good.

Ideally, you would also have attack percentage and energy recharge on top of the crit substats, but crit stats should be your priority.

Any crit or attack substats will be good for Ayaka as they will help her deal huge damage. Energy recharge is also brilliant for her as that will help her get her elemental burst back faster, allowing her to deal more damage.

Blizzard Strayer

The first artifact set and the one that I would recommend the most for Ayaka is the Blizzard Strayer set. As it stands this is the best build for Ayaka. A two-piece Blizzard Strayers set will give a 15% cryo DMG bonus.

A four-piece set will increase your critical rate by 20% when you attack an enemy affected by cryo. If the enemy is frozen, you will gain an additional 20% crit rate.

I would recommend a four-piece set over the two-piece, as it gives you an insane amount of crit rate especially if you decide to play a freeze build.

This artifact set is the reason you want to aim more for crit damage than crit rate on your circlet piece. Blizzard Strayer really improves Ayaka, and if you choose to run her with another cryo character, almost every hit you land will become a critical hit.

If you feel like mixing artifacts with Ayaka, a two-piece Blizzard Strayers will still work very well with her, but it is the four-piece set that makes her shine.

Gladiator’s Finale

Another artifact set you could use with Ayaka is the Gladiators Finale set. This artifact set can be used on almost every main DPS to great effect, however, I would still rate the Blizzard Strayer set at the top of the class for Ayaka.

A two-piece Gladiators set will increase your attack DMG by 18%, which when combined with a two-piece Blizzard Strayer set can be very effective.

A four-piece Gladiator set will increase your normal attack DMG by  35% if your character is holding a sword, claymore or polearm, so Ayaka will be able to benefit from this bonus.

Noblesse Oblige

Noblesse Oblige can also be powerful on Ayaka, especially if you were to combine a two-piece set of Noblesse with a two-piece set of Blizzard Strayers.

A two-piece set of Noblesse Oblige will increase Ayaka’s elemental burst damage by 20%, and when Ayaka’s elemental burst is as strong as it is, any bonus to it will make it incredibly powerful.

A four-piece set will increase all party member’s attacks by 20% for 12 seconds after an elemental burst is used. This effect will not stack so you will have to wait 12 seconds to gain another buff.

This set is fine however Blizzard Strayer is still the way forward for Ayaka, as the buffs she gains from it simply outshine all other artifact sets.

Kamisato Ayaka Weapons

While most five-star rarity weapons will perform incredibly well with Ayaka, I don’t want to only list those weapons as I find it can make building any character feel as though you have to spend money in order to make them worth playing, which simply isn’t the case.

Ayaka is already a very powerful character and whilst yes, a five-star weapon will only enhance that, there are plenty of four-star and free-to-play weapons that gel with her very well.

Mistsplitter Reforged

That being said, perhaps the best weapon for Ayaka is her signature weapon, the Mistsplitter Reforged. The Mistsplitter Reforged is available on the limited weapon banner, which is running alongside Ayaka’s limited wishing banner.

It increases your crit DMG stat which makes this sword great on any main DPS, not just Ayaka. The Mistsplitter Reforged also gives a 12% elemental DMG bonus to suit your character’s vision element.

When you use the Mistsplitter Reforged you will gain one stack each for using normal attacks with elemental damage, up to 10 seconds after casting an elemental burst and having less than 100% energy (this stack will disappear at 100% energy).

These stacks will increase your elemental damage by up to a further 28% for three stacks, allowing you to deal huge amounts of damage.

This sword was essentially purpose-built for Ayaka, with all of its abilities playing perfectly into her skill set. However, if you’re like me you will have noticed that its design doesn’t match Ayaka’s, unlike most other characters’ signature weapons.

This on top of the fact that it’s a limited event wish weapon put me off of the idea of getting the Mistsplitter Reforged, because despite it being an incredible sword for Ayaka, there are more visually appealing and cheaper swords that work just as well on her.

If  5-star weapons are your style, the Primordial Jade Cutter would also work very well as a replacement, but to avoid this list becoming more pay to win than it already is, I have not categorised it on its own.

Black Sword

Another good weapon for Ayaka is the Black Sword. The Black Sword is available after reaching level 30 on the Gnostic Hymn battle pass, so whilst there is still a monetary cost involved, the amount of rewards you get overall is far better than simply trying your luck to get a five-star rarity weapon on the weapons limited wishing banner.

The Black Sword increases the CRIT rate percentage stat and its main skill also increases damage from both normal and charged basic attacks by 20% and regenerates 60% of the character’s attack stat as HP when a critical hit is landed. This effect can occur once every five seconds.

The bonus attack on normal and charged attacks is nice for Ayaka and the bonus HP back can also be really good when you run her with healers like Bennett to fill out that chunk of HP that Bennett’s elemental burst cannot touch.

Continue reading our complete Black Sword Genshin Impact Guide.

Amenoma Kageuchi

Finally, one of the best free-to-play weapons for Kamisato Ayaka is the Amenoma Kageuchi. The Amenoma Kageuchi blueprint can be obtained after completing the world quest called “The Farmer’s Treasure” after which it can be crafted at any blacksmith for one Northlander Sword Billet, 50 amethyst lumps, and 50 white iron chunks.

This weapon increases a character’s attack stat and after using an elemental skill,  characters will gain one succession seed. This effect can be triggered once every five seconds. The succession seeds lass for 30 seconds.

Up to three succession seeds may exist simultaneously. After using an elemental burst, all succession seeds are consumed and after two seconds, the character will regenerate six elemental energy for each seed consumed.

The Amenoma Kageuchi also has the bonus of matching Ayaka’s aesthetic so not only is it an effective yet affordable weapon for all players, but it also looks really good!

Team compositions for Ayaka

Ayaka can fit well as a main DPS in any team, and I would recommend you prioritise her in the main DPS role to use her to her greatest ability.

The best Ayaka team you could run would be a freeze team. Her fast and powerful cryo DMG output really sets her up for freeze builds and I believe that this is where she shines brightest.

A team with Ayaka as the main DPS, Shenhe as a cryo sub DPS providing elemental resonance and a cryo DMG bonus, Kazuha for crowd control and Kokomi as your healer is an incredibly powerful but non-free to play friendly team, best is one of the most powerful Ayaka teams you can get.

A free to play friendly version of this team would still have Ayaka as your main DPS, Mona as a sub DPS and hydro applier, Sucrose for crowd control and Diona for shielding and healing.

You could replace Mona with a different sub-DPS Xingqiu or Rosaria if you wanted to, but the hydro application is very important for a freeze build to work.

A melt team could also be good with Ayaka, but I would recommend sticking to a freeze build to really capitalise on Ayaka’s damage-dealing capabilities.

A relatively simple melt build would have Ayaka as the main DPS, then Xiangling for pyro application, Sucrose for crowd control and Diona for elemental resonance and shields and healing.

You could swap Diona for Bennett however you will lose the cryo resonance that Diona brings and gain the attack bonus from pyro resonance instead.

Q&A

Final Thoughts

Ayaka has been a staple of my team since I pulled for her on her first banner, and she will remain on my team for the foreseeable.

I hope that this guide has been helpful to show you just how good Kamisato Ayaka can be and will be useful if you plan on building her.

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Bethany Gerrish

Beth is a dedicated and passionate writer, with a deep love of gaming. It was only a matter of time before the two collided and with a slight Genshin Impact obsession, writing about the game was the most logical next step! Open world and RPG's have always been a favourite of Beth's, but Genshin Impact has been a long-running favourite since picking it up for the first time. As a soon to be university graduate with a bachelor's in Journalism, Beth is taking her first steps into the real world of digital journalism and is looking forward to meeting lots of new people and writing many informative pieces for you to enjoy!

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