Genshin Impact’s Gorou is an adorable, four-star, geo and bow-wielding pup, with a caring personality – but also a strong head on his shoulders (under those fluffy ears, of course). If you want to get to grips with the puppy general, you’re in luck. With our Genshin Gorou build guide, we’ll show you all the best weapons and artifacts for him, as well as take an in-depth look at his skills and how to make the most of them.
If you want to know where your mains fit in the meta, check out our Genshin Impact tier list, or if you’re running low on Primogems, head over to our Genshin Impact codes guide. Find out more about the newest characters in our Genshin Impact next banner guide, and head over to our other builds for Genshin Impact’s Kazuha, Genshin Impact’s Sucrose, and Genshin Impact’s Wanderer.
Let’s dig up everything we know about Genshin Impact’s Gorou.
What’s the best Genshin Impact Gorou build?
| Best weapon | Elegy for the End |
| Weapon substitutes | Favonius Warbow |
| Best artifact set | Husk of Opulent Dreams |
| Artifact substitutes | Archaic Petra or Noblesse Oblige |
| Main stats |
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| Sub-stats |
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Gorou’s best weapon is Elegy for the End, a five-star bow from an event banner. It’s great for buffing his energy recharge capabilities which he needs for his high-cost burst. His best artifact set is Husk of Opulent Dreams for his defense and geo damage bonus stats, but Archaic Petra and Noblesse Oblige are also great options.
Focus on building his energy recharge, geo damage bonus, crit, and defense. Defense is a higher priority for his Goblet if your Gorou is at constellation four or above to buff his healing. Favonius Warbow requires slightly less ER than Elegy for the End.
How should I use Gorou?
Gorou is best suited to playing a support role, as he boosts his allies’ defense, and can even heal and increase geo crit damage at higher constellations. He has interruption resistance and can deal some strong damage, but you need geo characters in your team alongside him to fully utilize his abilities, and his elemental burst has a high energy cost.
However, as mentioned above, Gorou’s abilities are perfect for supporting defense scaling allies in a mono geo team, and if you put him with Genshin Impact’s Itto, Genshin Impact’s Albedo, Genshin Impact’s Zhongli, and Genshin Impact’s Noelle, you can guarantee some serious damage and survivability for your whole party.
Also, keep in mind that Gorou’s buffs from both his elemental skill and elemental burst scale based on how many geo characters are in your party.
| Number of geo characters in party | Effect |
| One | Defense bonus |
| Two | Defense bonus and increased resistance to interruption |
| Three | Defense bonus, increased resistance to interruption, and increased geo damage bonus |
Learn more about the Genshin Impact elements right here
What are the best Gorou weapons?
The best weapon for Genshin Impact’s Gorou is the Elegy for the End, a five-star bow that can increase energy recharge rate and elemental mastery. It’s a powerful piece of kit, but since it’s a gacha pull from the Epitome Invocation weapon banner in update 2.2, it’s not currently available.
As such, we’ve included two alternates below, which can still pack a decent punch and compliment the pup’s fighting style, with the Favonius Warbow and Sacrificial Bow being more common four-star gacha pulls.
| Weapon | Effect | How to obtain |
| Elegy for the End | Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: A part of the “Millennial Movement” that wanders amidst the winds. Increases Gorou’s elemental mastery by 60. When Gorou’s elemental skills or elemental bursts hit opponents, he gains a Sigil of Remembrance. This effect can trigger once every 0.2 seconds and can trigger even if Gorou is not on the field. When you possess four Sigils of Remembrance, you consume them all and all nearby party members obtain the “Millennial Movement: Farewell Song” effect for 12 seconds. This effect increases elemental mastery by 100 and increases attack by 20%. Once this effect is triggered, you won’t gain Sigils of Remembrance for 20 seconds. Buffs of the same type do not stack |
Gacha |
| Favonius Warbow | Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: Crit hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of elemental particles, which regenerate six energy for Gorou. Can only occur once every 12 seconds |
Gacha, A Long Shot quest |
| Sacrificial Bow | Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: After Gorou damages an opponent with his elemental skill, the skill has a 40% chance to end its own cooldown. This can only occur once every 30 seconds |
Gacha |
What are the best Gorou artifacts?
You can equip Gorou with five artifacts, with different benefits that can help his stats shine. We recommend Husk of Opulent Dreams above all others, as it’s perfect for defense-scaling geo characters and will really enhance his buffs.
Husk of Opulent Dreams is a five-star set, so if you’re struggling to get all the pieces, you can try one of the alternatives below instead. Only go for Nobless Oblige if you don’t have Itto on your team, as he also benefits from this set and the effect can’t stack.
| Artifact set | Effect | How to obtain |
| Husk of Opulent Dreams | Two equipped: defense +30% Four equipped: obtain the curiosity effect in the following conditions: when Gorou is on the field, he gains one stack after hitting an opponent with a geo attack, triggering a maximum of once every 0.3 seconds. When off the field, Gorou gains one stack every three seconds. Curiosity can stack up to four times, each providing 6% defense and a 6% geo damage bonus. When six seconds pass without gaining a curiosity stack, one stack expires |
Slumbering Court domain in Fort Hiraumi, on Seirai Island, Inazuma |
| Archaic Petra | Two equipped: geo damage +15% Four equipped: upon obtaining an elemental shard created through a crystallize reaction, all party members gain a 35% damage bonus for that particular element for ten seconds. Characters can only gain one form of elemental damage bonus in this manner at any one time |
Domain of Guyun in Sea of Clouds, Guyun Stone Forest, Liyue |
| Noblesse Oblige | Two equipped: elemental burst damage +20% Four equipped: increases all party members’ attack by 20% for 12 seconds after using an elemental burst. This effect cannot stack |
Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern domain in Minlin, Mt. Aozang, or from the Noblesse Oblige Artifact Strongbox |
| Defender’s Will | Two equipped: defense +30% Four equipped: increases elemental resistance by 30% for each element present in your party |
Chests, domains, boss drops |
Artifact stat recommendations
Main stats:
- Sands: energy recharge
- Goblet: geo damage bonus or defense% if he’s at C4 and you want to maximize his healing
- Circlet: crit rate/crit damage (try to maintain a 2:1 ratio overall)
Sub-stats:
- Energy recharge to requirements (about 220% with Favonius Warbow, 250% without)
- DEF%
- Crit rate/crit damage
What are the best Gorou team comps?
As we mentioned at the top of the guide, Gorou shines best in mostly geo team comps, functioning as a support unit to buff and potentially heal your other attackers. The whole geo cast of characters is pretty strong, so you can essentially run whichever mono geo/three geo and one flex team suits your playstyle and resources.
Here’s an example of a strong Gorou team comp:
| First character slot | Second character slot | Third character slot | Fourth character slot |
 Gorou |
 Itto |
 Albedo |
 Bennett |
What are Gorou’s abilities?
When leveling Gorou’s talents, it’s a good idea to focus on Juuga: Forward Unto Victory first.
Active skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Normal attack: Ripping Fang Fletching | Normal: Perform up to four consecutive shots with a bow Charged: Perform a more precise aimed shot with increased damage. While aiming, stone crystals accumulate on the arrowhead. A fully charged crystalline arrow deals geo damage Plunging: Fire a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE damage on impact |
| Elemental skill: Inuzaka All-Round Defense | Deals AoE damage and sets up a General’s War Banner, which provides up to three buffs to active characters within the AoE, based on the number of geo characters in the party. – One geo character (Standing Firm): gives a defense bonus – Two geo characters (Impregnable): increases resistance to interruption – Three geo characters (Crunch): gives a geo damage bonus |
| Elemental burst: Juuga: Forward Unto Victory | Gorou deals AoE geo damage and creates a field known as General’s Glory, which acts as a mobile version of the General’s War Banner, giving the same buffs as above. If a General’s War Banner is present in the field when Gorou uses General’s Glory, the General’s War Banner will be destroyed, and cannot be summoned until General’s Glory’s duration has ended |
Passive skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Heedless of the Wind and Weather | After using Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, all nearby party members’ defense is increased by 25% for 12 seconds |
| A Favor Repaid | Gorou receives damage bonuses to his attacks based on his defense. When using Inuzaka All-Round Defense, his skill damage is increased by 156% of his defense. When using Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, his skill damage and crystal collapse damage is increased by 15.6% of defense |
| Seeker of Shinies | Displays the location of nearby resources unique to Inazuma on the mini-map |
What are Gorou’s constellations?
Leveling up Gorou’s constellations can give you some pretty great bonuses. Here’s what you can get if you’re lucky enough to pull a few duplicates.
| Constellation | Effect |
| C1: Rushing Hound: Switch as the Wind | When characters (other than Gorou) within the AoE of Gorou’s General War Banner or General’s Glory deal geo damage to opponents, the cooldown of Gorou’s Inuzaka All-Roud Defense is decreased by 2 seconds. This effect can occur every ten seconds |
| C2: Sitting Hound: Steady as the Clock | While General’s Glory is in effect, its duration is extended by one second when a nearby active character obtains an elemental shard from a crystallize reaction. This effect can occur once every 0.1 seconds, and the extension can last a maximum of three seconds |
| C3: Mauling Hound: Fierce as Fire | Increases the level of Inuzaka All-Round Defense by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15 |
| C4: Lapping Hound: Warm as Water | When General’s Glory is in the ‘Impregnable’ or ‘Crunch’ states, it will also heal active characters within its AoE by 50% of Gorou’s own defense every 1.5 seconds |
| C5: Striking Hound: Thunderous Force | Increases the level of Juuga: Forward Unto Glory by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15 |
| C6: Valiant Hound: Mountainous Fealty | For 12 seconds after using Inuzaka All-Round Defense or Juuga: Forward Unto Victory, increases the crit damage of all nearby party members’ geo damage based on the buff level of the skill’s field at the time of use.
This effect cannot stack |
What are Gorou’s ascension materials?
Here are all the materials you need to ascend Gorou. You can farm perpetual hearts from the Perpetual Mechanical Array in Inazuma.
| Required level | Mora | Materials |
| 20 | 20k | One prithiva topaz sliver, three sango pearl, three spectral husk |
| 40 | 40k | Three prithiva topaz fragment, ten sango pearl, 15 spectral husk, two perpetual heart |
| 50 | 60k | Six prithiva topaz fragment, 20 sango pearl, 12 spectral heart, four perpetual heart |
| 60 | 80k | Three prithiva topaz chunk, 30 sango pearl, 18 spectral heart, eight perpetual heart |
| 70 | 100k | Six prithiva topaz chunk, 45 sango pearl, 12 spectral nucleus, 12 perpetual heart |
| 80 | 120k | Six prithiva topaz gemstone, 60 sango pearl, 24 spectral nucleus, 20 perpetual heart |
What are Gorou’s talent materials?
Here are all the talent materials you need to ascend one of Gorou’s talents to level ten.
| Talent level | Mora | Materials |
| Two | 12.5k | Six spectral husk, three teachings of light |
| Three | 17.5k | Three spectral heart, two guide to light |
| Four | 25k | Four spectral heart, four guide to light |
| Five | 30k | Six spectral heart, six guide to light |
| Six | 37.5k | Nine spectral heart, nine guide to light |
| Seven | 120k | Four spectral nucleus, four philosophies of light, one molten moment |
| Eight | 260k | Six spectral nucleus, six philosophies of light, one molten moment |
| Nine | 450k | Nine spectral nucleus, 12 philosophies of light, two molten moment |
| Ten | 700k | 12 spectral nucleus, 16 philosophies of light, two molten moment, one crown of insight |
That’s everything you need to know about the puppy general Genshin Impact’s Gorou. If you want to check out Hoyoverse’s space-faring RPG, head on over to our Honkai Star Rail codes guide and Honkai Star Rail tier list. We’ve also got build guides for Honkai Star Rail’s Argenti, Honkai Star Rail’s Topaz, and Honkai Star Rail’s Seele.
