Just as Honkai Impact 3rd celebrated a loud crossover with Neon Genesis Evangelion, Genshin Impact also brought its own Sony-sponsored crossover in the form of Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn. She's a free character but, more importantly: she's worth five stars which is a never-before-seen freebie in a game like Genshin Impact.
PlayStation players have all the luck when it comes to Aloy as she will be available for them earlier. PC & mobile players will have to wait several weeks later for her release. Regardless, you'll want to maximize that free 5-star character especially since Aloy is a Cryo bow user and Cryo DPS carry characters are all the rage right now. As players would do for her character in Horizon Zero Dawn, give Aloy Genshin Impact's best bows and go hunting.
10 Predator
- Max Base ATK: 510
- Secondary Stat: ATK 41.3%
- Passive Ability Focus: Damage increase
The Predator is a specific 4-star bow dedicated to Aloy and sadly, it's only available for PlayStation users. If you give it to Aloy, it will boost her ATK by 66 which makes the bow inch closer to its 5-star counterparts. More than that, the passive ability is a useful one that increases Aloy's bow attacks whenever she deals Cryo damage.
There are many ways to take full advantage of such an ability and Chongyun's Cryo infusion comes to mind. Using that in tandem with Aloy wielding this bow means a nigh-permanent damage increase for Aloy.
9 Sacrificial Bow
- Max Base ATK: 565
- Secondary Stat: Energy Recharge 30.6%
- Passive Ability Focus: Elemental Skill reset
One of Aloy's weaknesses is that her Elemental Skill, Frozen Wilds, has a 20-second cooldown. Meanwhile, its ATK bonus benefits only last for 10 seconds. That means Aloy has a 10-second downtime where she deals lower damage. You can alleviate or even forego that with the Sacrificial Bow.
The weapon has decent base ATK and a somewhat useful secondary stat. However, the real advantage lies in the passive ability which can reset the wielder's Elemental Skill cooldown. This is highly useful for Aloy and can effectively offset the less-desired secondary stat.
8 Viridescent Hunt
- Max Base ATK: 510
- Secondary Stat: CRIT Rate 27.6%
- Passive Ability Focus: Bonus area damage triggered by attacks
The Viridescent Hunt is sort of expensive for any character since you can only buy it as a Battle Pass reward but it does have its use for Aloy. For one, the CRIT Rate secondary stat is always welcome. Aloy's ascension stat only increases her Cryo damage and not her CRIT Rate or CRIT damage. Hence, she could use some of that CRIT Rate.
The passive ability leaves much to be desired for Aloy, however, because only Normal and Charged attacks can trigger it and the resulting Cyclone area damage is also just physical. Still, with how often Aloy attacks normally, it could be a worthwhile investment.
7 Rust
- Max Base ATK: 510
- Secondary Stat: ATK 41.3%
- Passive Ability Focus: Normal Attack damage increase
You usually can't go wrong with weapons that give out tons of ATK for any character. Rust, for that matter, is an overall decent weapon for Aloy. Rust's passive ability makes Normal Attacks more powerful but lowers Charged Attack damage.
Aloy doesn't exactly have a charge attack that's like Ganyu's meaning her playstyle doesn't involve holding down bow attack keys. That bodes well for Rust in her arsenal as her fast Cryo normal attacks get a boost.
6 The Stringless
- Max Base ATK: 510
- Secondary Stat: Elemental Mastery 165
- Passive Ability Focus: Elemental Skill & Burst damage increase
The Stringless usually prefers users such as Venti since he mostly relies on his abilities, but it would also work well on Aloy. That's because a big chunk of Aloy's damage seemingly comes from her Elemental Skill & Burst, with the latter boasting some impressive multipliers.
The Stringless' straightforwardly buffs those abilities. Meanwhile, the secondary stat, Elemental Mastery, seems wasted but if you go the reverse Melt route for Aloy (Pyro + Cryo+) then it becomes a powerful weapon trait to have.
5 Elegy for the End
- Max Base ATK: 608
- Secondary Stat: Energy Recharge 55.1%
- Passive Ability Focus: Elemental Mastery & ATK increase
Elegy for the End is quite a handful for a 5-star weapon thanks to the hefty and generous description. Too bad it's one of the least optimal 5-star bows for Aloy. The Energy Recharge stat is wasted since Aloy's Elemental Burst only costs 40 Energy and has a considerably long cooldown.
It does make up for that shortcoming with the high base ATK and the good but complex weapon passive ability but there are better options out there even in the 4-star category for someone with a specific playstyle as Aloy.
4 Blackcliff Warbow
- Max Base ATK: 565
- Secondary Stat: CRIT DMG 36.8%
- Passive Ability Focus: ATK increase
Speaking of 4-star weapons that are actually better than some 5-star ones, the Blackcliff Warbow is that fabled troublemaker. It's can be essentially free but working for it takes a while. In any case, the CRIT DMG stat makes it a cut above the rest of the 4-star weapons.
It's easy enough to get CRIT Rate and ATK boosts in Genshin Impact, but CRIT DMG can be quite rare. Hence, Aloy, and most other bow users would benefit a lot from this. The only downside apart from the Herculean effort of acquisition is the passive ability that can become useless during boss fights.
3 Skyward Harp
- Max Base ATK: 674
- Secondary Stat: CRIT Rate 22.1%
- Passive Ability Focus: CRIT DMG increase & bonus physical area attack
The Skyward Harp is the current reigning champion when it comes to bows with the highest base ATK. This is also a 5-star weapon with only a few downsides. That would be the triggered passive ability that gives off physical area attacks.
Even so, the Skyward Harp has another passive ability that grants CRIT DMG. For that matter, it's an impressive weapon that's even better than its Skyward counterparts in other weapon categories.
2 Amos' Bow
- Max Base ATK: 608
- Secondary Stat: ATK 49.6%
- Passive Ability Focus: Increased ATK based on distance
How Amos' Bow works is simple: the father you are from the target, the more visceral their disintegration will be. That's why, for a lot of bow-users, this is the typical be-all, end-all weapon. You have the passive ability to thank for that, it increases the arrow's damage for every second it's in flight.
Bow users like Ganyu greatly benefit from this bow. For Aloy, it's also an impressive bow albeit not as efficient in her hands. She's mostly be dealing fast Normal attacks and her abilities also need her to be a bit close to her enemies.
1 Thundering Pulse
- Max Base ATK: 608
- Secondary Stat: CRIT DMG 66.2%
- Passive Ability Focus: ATK and Normal attack damage increase
If you want to squeeze out the highest damage potential for Aloy, then count yourself lucky if you snagged a Thundering Pulse. It's a weapon from the previous banner and was intended for Yoimiya but also works surprisingly well for Aloy.
The bow gives off a mean and dizzying amount of CRIT DMG that's unparalleled. Meanwhile, the passive ability further buffs the ATK and also strengthens the wielder's Normal attacks. Every bonus of this weapon is a win for Aloy.