Completing the Ultimate Skirk Build: Teams, Weapons, and Artifacts in Genshin Impact

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In Genshin Impact, players can frequently acquire new characters from limited-time banners, which are regularly refreshed. Typically, these characters appear in main story updates in advance to create excitement, particularly for those connected to established regions.

Skirk is an exception, having first made her appearance in the conclusion of Fontaine’s story arc. After a wait of over a year, she is now available as a five-star Cryo character, ready to wreak havoc when properly outfitted.

Skirk Summary, Skills, and Talent Focus

Exploration	S+ Tier
Spiral Abyss	S+ Tier
Imaginarium Theater	S+ Tier

Even though Skirk hails from a region outside Natlan, she was launched along with the updates for that area, benefiting players with enhanced mobility in the open world. By activating her Elemental Skill, Skirk enters a unique mode that allows for quick movement across the map and the ability to glide on water.

Additionally, Skirk operates outside the standard energy system, enabling her to inflict significant damage during every rotation without requiring team support, making her exceptional for exploration. In endgame content, she stands out as the premier Cryo character, easily reaching damage outputs exceeding 150,000.

The high damage mentioned above is attainable with her premium team setup, but you can also reach similar numbers with a free-to-play team given the right build.

Skirk’s abilities may seem complex at first, but her combat mechanics are straightforward.

Skirk’s Abilities Detailed

While Skirk’s normal attack talent doesn’t contribute much, she delivers considerable damage through alternative skills:

Skirk gains 45 Serpent’s Subtlety points from using her Skill, regardless of whether you press or hold it. Pressing activates a special state while holding enables high-speed movement; during the special state, Skirk executes Cryo-infused normal attacks and can sprint.
Her Elemental Burst activates with 50 Serpent’s Subtlety, dealing heavy damage, but it’s typically better to utilize her second Burst, Havoc: Extinction, which boosts her normal attack damage in the special state without any cost.
If you do use her normal Elemental Burst, its damage increases for every Serpent’s Subtlety over 50, with a max of 62.
For every 2.5 seconds that her team triggers Frozen, Superconduct, Cryo Swirl, or Cryo Crystallize reactions, Skirk can summon a Void Rift. Up to three can be on the battlefield, and they can be absorbed via her Cryo-infused Charged Attack, Havoc: Extinction Burst, or the hold version of her Elemental Skill.
Each absorbed Void Rift grants eight Serpent’s Subtlety and further boosts the damage of her Cryo-infused normal attacks when using Havoc: Extinction Burst.
You’ll mainly trigger the Frozen reaction in her team because her allies can enhance her normal attack DMG by up to 170% when applying Hydro or Cryo damage, making it necessary to build around a Hydro/Cryo team.

You can find the general rotation for Skirk’s attacks in the team section below.

Skirk’s Constellations Explained

If you’re investing in Skirk’s constellations, here’s what to expect in terms of buffs:

Each consumed Void Rift can also inflict AoE damage equal to 500% of Skirk’s ATK, counting as charged attack damage.
Skirk gains an extra ten Serpent’s Subtlety with her Skill, and her normal Burst can use an additional ten Subtlety for more damage. Additionally, using the Havoc: Extinction Burst increases her ATK by 70%.
Her Elemental Burst can be leveled up by three.
Aside from the normal attack damage from Hydro/Cryo, Skirk can gain up to 40% extra ATK with maximum stacks.
Her Elemental Skill can also be leveled up by three.
Skirk can accumulate stacks of Havoc: Sever while consuming Void Rifts, which can be triggered when she activates her normal Burst, uses Cryo-infused attacks from her Skill, or takes damage to deal extra damage to enemies.

Skirk Talent Focus

Like every other Genshin Impact character, Skirk can upgrade three talents: normal attack, Elemental Skill, and Elemental Burst. However, as noted earlier, her normal attack is not particularly valuable since the multipliers for her Cryo-infused attacks are inherent to her Elemental Skill.

Focus on upgrading her Elemental Skill first, as it generates the majority of her damage, followed by her Burst.

Top Weapons for Skirk

Weapon choice is essential for Skirk as the right sword can offer substantial bonuses. Her best option is her signature weapon, Azurelight. However, several alternatives are available depending on your account:

Weapon Name	Rarity	Synergy with Skirk
Azurelight	Five-Star	This weapon not only grants a 22.1% Crit Rate from its secondary stat, but Skirk can also gain up to 48% ATK and 40% Crit DMG after using her Elemental Skill. This makes it the ideal weapon for her.
Mistsplitter Reforged	Five-Star	As Skirk receives a lot of free Crit Rate from certain artifacts and Cryo synergy, the Crit DMG from this weapon is highly beneficial. You can also gain another 40% Elemental DMG bonus.
Haran Geppaku Futsu	Five-Star	This sword offers substantial Crit Rate enhancement alongside a boost in Elemental DMG and normal attack DMG.
Calamity of Eshu	Four-Star	This weapon, available from a limited-time event, is an excellent F2P option, providing significant normal and charged attack DMG along with ATK and Crit Rate. However, a shielder needs to be part of your team for optimal performance.
The Black Sword	Four-Star	Available through the battle pass, this sword provides bonuses to normal and charged attack DMG as well as Crit Rate.
Blackcliff Longsword	Four-Star	As a last resort, this sword is a solid option for Skirk if you lack the others.

Top Artifacts for Skirk

Equipping two or four pieces of specific artifact sets on Skirk grants unique bonuses, but only a few offer the best synergy:

Best Artifact Sets Ranked	Synergy with Skirk
Finale of the Deep Galleries	This set is perfectly suited for Skirk, offering a 15% Cryo DMG bonus and up to 60% increased normal and Burst DMG. Since the Havoc: Extinction Burst doesn’t deal damage, it maintains damage bonuses from this set.
Marechaussee Hunter	This set also pairs well with Skirk, especially if you have her alongside Furina, providing up to 36% Crit Rate and 15% increased normal and charged attack DMG.
Blizzard Strayer	This set can grant Cryo DMG Bonus and free Crit Rate for Skirk, though it’s less effective against bosses that cannot be frozen.
Gladiator’s Finale	If you lack the previous sets, Gladiator’s Finale offers ATK and normal attack DMG boosts.

Skirk Artifact Stat Focus

Being a Crit-focused DPS, Skirk can be tricky to build due to the significant free Crit Rate she may receive. For instance, using her signature weapon and the Marechaussee Hunter set can provide a 73% Crit Rate:

36% Crit Rate from the four-piece Marechaussee set
15% Crit Rate from Cryo resonance
22% Crit Rate from her signature weapon

This doesn’t include the initial five percent Crit Rate that every character starts with.

This leaves minimal room for Crit Rate from her artifacts, requiring you to emphasize Crit DMG and other stats instead. Therefore, it’s advisable to utilize her designated set with the signature weapon or any other weapon that provides Crit Rate as the secondary stat. For the artifacts, focus on the following stats:

Sands	ATK Percent
Goblet	Cryo DMG Bonus / ATK Percent
Circlet	Crit DMG > Crit Rate
Sub-Stats	Crit Rate/DMG > ATK Percent > Elemental Mastery (optional)

Optimal Skirk Teams

Team Name	Main Characters	Alternative Characters
Skirk Premium Team	Skirk, Shenhe, Escoffier, Furina	Citlali, Yelan
Skirk F2P Team	Skirk, Xingqiu, Chongyun, Dahlia	Rosaria

To maximize Skirk’s damage output, she should primarily be paired with Hydro and Cryo characters. Suitable choices include Shenhe, Escoffier, Furina, Citlali, and Yelan, as they can provide various buffs, including damage output increases and enhanced ATK stats.

The first three characters will offer the most support to her attacks, boosting damage, ATK, and Cryo resistance. If you don’t have Furina, Yelan can serve as an alternative, while Citlali can sustain the team if Escoffier is unavailable, albeit with fewer boosts to Skirk.

It’s essential to include at least one Hydro character in the team for triggering the Frozen reaction.

For those lacking premium five-star characters, substitute with Chongyun, Dahlia, and Xingqiu. Using the F2P sword on Skirk makes Dahlia a viable choice, as he can boost her attack speed and provide a shield. Additionally, Chongyun can enhance her attack speed with his second constellation.

Your rotation with Skirk in a premium team should look something like this:

Start with Furina’s Skill, quickly switching to Escoffier for her Skill and Burst, which will begin triggering essential Frozen reactions for the Void Rifts. Afterward, return to Furina to utilize her Burst.
Switch to Shenhe and activate her Skill (hold version) along with her Burst before returning to Skirk. This timing should allow enough time to accumulate three Void Rifts.
With Skirk, engage your Elemental Skill, then immediately use your Burst to consume the Void Rifts. Following that, alternate to her normal attacks until her Skill expires.
If your Serpent’s Subtlety (displayed next to Skirk or in her Burst icon) is about to deplete, you can execute a charged attack to consume more Void Rifts and restore Serpent’s Subtlety.

Adjust this rotation slightly to accommodate your team composition, but the main goal is to start triggering Frozen reactions as swiftly as possible.