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Genshin Impact: Lan Yan build and materials guide

Originally posted on Video Games on SI | By Marco Wutz | Last updated Jan 21, 2025 8:09 AM ET

Weave a tale of your enemies’ destruction with the best Genshin Impact Lan Yan build. This 4-Star Anemo character wielding a catalyst disguised as a chakram is a shielder who supports reaction-based teams.

Her Elemental Skill, Swallow-Wisp Pinion Dance, allows Lan Yan to dash forward and leap into the air upon making contact with a target – holding the button allows you to adjust the direction. This move creates a shield, its strength being based on Lan Yan’s ATK. While she’s in the air, activating her Skill again or using her Normal Attack will make Lan Yan throw her chakrams at enemies, bouncing between nearby targets to deal Anemo DMG before returning to her.

If Lan Yan’s shield interacts with Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, or Electro while she’s dashing, it absorbs the corresponding element and gains higher efficiency against that type of damage. Absorbing an element in this way also infuses Lan Yan’s chakrams with this element for the mid-air attack.

Lan Yan’s Elemental Burst, Lustrous Moonrise, pulls in nearby enemies and deals Anemo DMG to them.

Both the Skill and the Burst have their damage increased from Lan Yan’s Elemental Mastery, so this is an important stat for her.

Her Constellations, which are unlocked by pulling duplicates, further bolster her power. Level 1 adds more attacks to her Skill when an elemental absorption has taken place, while Level 2 is allowing the Normal Attacks of any party member to restore the strength of Lan Yan’s shields. Level 4 increases the Elemental Mastery of all party members after Lan Yan’s Burst. Level 6 enables Lan Yan to use her Skill an additional time before it enters cooldown.

Best Lan Yan weapons – Genshin Impact

Lan Yan serves two roles in a team that you can specialize her in: She can be your shielder, in which case you’ll want to maximize her ATK, or she can be your Swirl support, in which case a boost of her Elemental Mastery is recommended. Naturally, you can mix both roles to have more of an all-round character at the expense of losing efficiency in both areas.

Starcaller’s Watch is the best weapon if you need Lan Yan to cause Swirl reactions. It has tons of Elemental Mastery and a shield-related effect that supports the party to offer.

Memory of Dust is the best option for a shield-focused build, adding lots of ATK and shield strength to the equation.

Best weapons for Lan Yan in Genshin Impact:

[Reaction] Starcaller’s Watch (5-Star)
[Reaction] A Thousand Floating Dreams (5-Star)
[Reaction] Mappa Mare (4-Star)
[Reaction] Sacrificial Fragments (4-Star)
[Reaction] Wandering Evenstar (4-Star)
[Shield] Memory of Dust (5-Star)
[Shield] Skyward Atlas (5-Star)

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Best Lan Yan artifacts – Genshin Impact

There is no need for two specific routes when it comes to artifacts, no matter which role you want Lan Yan to play. Viridescent Venerer is the best artifact set for her, increasing Swirl DMG and shredding the enemies’ Elemental RES. It offers the most value to any team Lan Yan is slotted into.

In regards to the stats, you’ll want to focus on ATK for a shield build and Elemental Mastery for the Swirl build, but still stack as much of the other one in your sub stats as possible to max out Lan Yan’s effectiveness in combat.

You should get the following stat distribution on Lan Yan’s artifact set:

Flower: HP (main stat), ATK %, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, ATK (secondary stats)
Plume: ATK (main stat), ATK %, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, HP % (secondary stats)
Sands: ATK % or Elemental Mastery (main stat), ATK % or Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, ATK, HP % (secondary stats)
Goblet: ATK % or Elemental Mastery (main stat), ATK % or Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, ATK, HP % (secondary stats)
Circlet: ATK % or Elemental Mastery (main stat), ATK % or Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, ATK, HP %

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Best Lan Yan teams – Genshin Impact

Lan Yan is an excellent addition to many teams, because she combines the functions of sustain and reaction support – this is making her extremely versatile. As such, take the two comps that we’ve listed below as mere examples for the many possibilities.

Mavuika (Main DPS), Rosaria (Sub DPS), Lan Yan (Support), Bennett (Support)

Lan Yan is a fantastic budget option for anyone who wants to create a team around Mavuika and missed out on Citlali. She helps Bennett with sustain duties, provides crowd control, and adds a whole lot of Swirl into the mix to shred the Elemental RES of enemies.

Hu Tao (Main DPS), Yelan (Sub DPS), Xingqiu (Sub DPS), Lan Yan (Support)

This Liyue-based Vaporize team is another great example of Lan Yan’s versatility. As a shielder, she’s especially good with HP-based characters like Hu Tao that require a lot of field time. With Lan Yan being present, Hu Tao can freely consume her own HP without being under threat of a one-hit kill. Add in the crowd control and Swirl capabilities and you’ve got a lethal combo going. Yelan and Xingqiu, of course, are here to provide off-field Hydro application.

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Lan Yan ascension materials – Genshin Impact

You’ll want to quickly raise Lan Yan’s level when you finally pull her, which means that you’ll need to farm her ascension materials. You’ll also require some material to upgrade her talents.

Here’s what you need to get Lan Yan to level 90:

Vayuda Turquoise Sliver x1
Vayuda Turquoise Fragment x9
Vayuda Turquoise Chunk x9
Vayuda Turquoise Gemstone x6
Whopperflower Nectar x18
Shimmering Nectar x30
Energy Nectar x36
Clearwater Jade x168
Gold-Inscribed Secret Source Code x46
Mora x2,092,530

Vayuda Turquoise can be obtained from any Anemo-affiliated boss on the world map, while the Gold-Inscribed Secret Source Code is loot dropped by the Secret Source Automaton in Natlan.

Nectar can be gained from defeating the Whopperflowers found in many of Teyvat’s regions. To find Clearwater Jade you’ll need to head to Chenyu Vale. The best way to earn more Mora in the game is to farm golden Ley Line Blossoms.

Here’s what you need to upgrade all of Lan Yan’s talents to their maximum level:

Whopperflower Nectar x18
Shimmering Nectar x66
Energy Nectar x93
Teachings of Diligence x9
Guide to Diligence x63
Philosophies of Diligence x114
Eroded Sunfire x18
Crown of Insight x3
Mora x4,957,500

For the materials already mentioned, see above. You’ll need to visit the Taishan Mansion Domain on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday to farm Scrolls of Conflict. Eroded Sunfire is available from the weekly boss fight with the Lord of Eroded Primal Fire in Natlan.

Crowns of Insight are a rare item gained from time-limited events or regional reward mechanics like the Grand Narukami Shrine in Inazuma, Tree of Dreams in Sumeru, Fountain of Lucine in Fontaine, and the Tablet of Tona in Natlan.

This article first appeared on Video Games on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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