Wriothesley is finally entering the ring in Genshin Impact! Here's how you build him

We are now in the second half of Genshin Impact version 1.4, featuring the debut of Wriothesley, the imposing Duke of the Fortress of Meropide and the game's first-ever 5-star Cryo Catalyst character!

Wriothesley enforces law and order within the Fortress of Meropide with his boxing skills and a pair of mechanical gauntlets, which let him unleash a flurry of Cryo-infused punches to bring his enemies to heel.

The Duke will be the latest addition in the game's roster of strong Cryo DPS characters and will be a worthy addition to your account. Wriothesley will be debuting alongside a rerun for the Anemo Archon Venti, so if you're still torn on whether you should pull on their banners, read our guide to help you decide.

And if you were lucky enough to have Wriothesley join your party, read on as we break down how to build him as well as his best gear and teams.

The Duke of the underwater fortress

Unlike most other Catalyst users who prefer to attack from range, Wriothesley is more of a melee fighter that isn't afraid to get into the thick of the fighting. His kit is centered around his normal attacks, Forceful Fists of Frost, which he can empower with his skill, Icefang Rush.

Wriothesley's normal attack string has five hits, with the fourth hit having two separate attacks. After using Icefang Rush, Wriothesley rushes forward and enters the Chilling Penalty state for 10 seconds. While in the Chilling Penalty state, he has increased interruption to resistance and his normal attacks will deal more damage at the cost of 4.5% of his Max HP per hit as long as his current HP is above 50% of his Max HP.

Wriothesley's normal attacks are further enhanced by his passive skills. His A2 passive, There Shall Be a Plea for Justice, lets him obtain a charge of Gracious Rebuke when his current HP reaches less than 60% of his Max HP — which he can easily reach during the duration of his enhanced normal attacks.

Once Wriothesley has a charge of Gracious Rebuke, his next charged attack will not consume stamina, deal 50% more damage, and restore 30% of his Max HP upon hitting an enemy. A stack of Gracius Rebuke can be gained once every 5 seconds.

Wriothesley's A4 passive, There Shall Be a Reckoning for Sin, gives him stacks of Prosecution Edict whenever his current HP increases or decreases while in the Chilling Penalty state. Each stack of Prosecution Edict gives him a 6% ATK bonus, up to a max of 5 stacks.

Finally, Wriothesley's burst, Darkgold Wolfbite, lets him unleash a flurry of area-of-effect Cryo DMG in an area in front of him as well as a separate instance of Ousia-aligned Cryo DMG.

In battle, use Wriothesley's skill to get within melee range of enemies and enter the Chilling Penalty state to empower his normal attacks. Once his HP gets low enough, use a charged attack to restore some of his HP, which you can do twice during the duration of the Chilling Penalty state.

Once Wriothesley's enhanced state ends, use his burst to finish off any enemies left standing before switching to your other characters and restarting your rotation.

When leveling up Wriothesley's abilities, prioritise his normal attacks first, skill second, and burst third, though you should have them all maxed out eventually.

Wriothesley's best gear

Weapons

Wriothesley's best weapon is, as you can probably guess already, his signature: the Cashflow Supervision. This weapon has a base ATK of 674 — tied for highest among all Catalysts — and a 22% Crit Rate substat.

The Cashflow Supervision passively increases Wriothesley's ATK by 16%. In addition, it increases normal attack DMG by 16% and charged attack DMG by 14%, stacking up to 3 times. Once 3 stacks are reached, the wielder's ATK speed will also be increased by 8%.

If you don't have Wriothesley's signature, don't fret as he has plenty of strong alternatives.

Among 5-star Catalysts, his best alternative will be the Tulaytullah's Remembrance, which also has a base ATK of 674 while having a 44% Crit DMG substat. This weapon also increases normal attack DMG by up to 48% after its wielder uses their skill.

You can also go for either the Skyward Atlas or the Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds, both of which gives elemental DMG bonuses.

As for 4-stars, your best bets will either be the event-exclusive Ballad of the Boundless Blue, the craftable Flowing Purity, or the gacha weapon The Widsith.

While the Ballad of the Boundless Blue has an Energy Recharge substat, it gives Wriothesley a normal attack DMG bonus that can stack up to 48% at max stacks and refinement level. Flowing Purity has an ATK% substat and passive elemental DMG bonuses.

Meanwhile, The Widsith has a big Crit DMG substat and gives Wriothesley either buffs to either his ATK, Elemental DMG, or Elemental Mastery whenever he takes the field once every 30 seconds.

Artifacts

Wriothesley best artifact set is the 4-piece Marechaussee Hunter set. This set increases his normal attack DMG by 15% with its 2-piece bonus and up to 36% Crit Rate whenever his HP increases or decreases with its 4-piece set bonus.

If you're running Wriothesley in a Freeze team, you can also go for the 4-piece Blizzard Strayer set. It gives him a 15% Cryo DMG bonus 40% Crit Rate when attacking Frozen enemies.

Wriothesley's best teams

As a Cryo character, Wriothesley can headline powerful team compositions that use the Freeze or Melt elemental reactions. However, you can also go all-in on Cryo DMG in a mono Cryo lineup.

In Freeze or mono Cryo teams, Wriothesley's best teammate will be Shenhe, who can provide huge buffs to Cryo DMG while acting as a battery. Both Freeze and mono Cryo compositions will also need Anemo buffers and your go-to character for this role will be Kazuha for his huge elemental damage buffs.

For 4-star alternatives, you can go for Rosaria as an offensive Cryo support or either one of Layla and Diona if you're in need of shields. For 4-star Anemo buffers, you can go with Sucrose or Lynette.

Running Wriothesley in a Freeze team also requires a Hydro character, so go for either Yelan or Xingqiu to provide off-field Hydro application.

If you choose to run Wriothesley in a Melt lineup, then you will need both Bennett and Xiangling. Xiangling is the best off-field Pyro DMG dealer in the game while Bennett will provide a huge ATK buff and healing with his burst while also acting as Xiangling's battery. The fourth slot in this team should go to an Anemo buffer, with Kazuha being the best option due to his ability to buff the damage of two elements.

Wriothesley is the featured 5-star of the second half of Genshin Impact version 4.1 alongside the Anemo Archon Venti.

After version 4.1 comes version 4.2 in early November, which will feature the debuts of Furina, also known as the Hydro Archon Focalors, and the Steambird reporter Charlotte.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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