Traveler Cryo Build and Guide

Cryo Traveler is a 5-star Cryo Sword character that can be flexibly played as a Quickswap or Main DPS in Stellar-Conduct teams and as an Sub-DPS and support in Stellar Swirl teams. This is due to their Skill performing co-ordinated attacks with Cryo Traveler in the former archetype while doing off-field damage in the latter; both help them setup stacks for their powerful Burst.

Stellar-Conduct is a reaction that replaces Superconduct when certain characters are on the team. It deals no damage when triggered, instead spawning a Starlight Prism which generates a Polestar Field around it. This applies the 40% Physical RES Shred from the base reaction while also activating Radiance: Stellar-Conduct effects in kit. It additionally provides a DMG Bonus for the Electro and Cryo DMG and a Base Reaction Coefficient for direct Stellar-Conduct damage based on a tally which counts whenever these elements are applied; this starts at 29% and 1.45 at one stack, and increase by 1% and 0.05 to a maximum of 40% and 2 respectively. These bonuses are granted every 4 seconds, with the tally beginning anew each time.

Stellar Swirl meanwhile replaces Cryo Swirl, and activates Radiance: Stellar Swirl effects when triggered. It also deals Anemo Stellar Swirl reaction damage to the target and creates a “Level 1” Vortex; this Vortex levels up after Stellar Swirl is triggered two additional times, exploding after 3 seconds or 5 additional Stellar Swirl triggers to deal Cryo Stellar Swirl reaction damage based on the Vortex’s level. A large jump can be performed just after the Vortex explodes, though this is generally impractical to use. Note that if both Stellar-Conduct and Stellar-Swirl are triggered by the team, Radiance: Stellar-Conduct will take priority.

Similar to other damaging reactions, Stellar damage scales with EM, reaction damage bonuses, ignores DEF, and does not benefit from standard DMG% - unlike typical reactions, it can also CRIT. Stellar Swirl damage from reactions also takes into account the level and stats of all characters who contributed to triggering reaction based on their damage dealt to the enemy: 60% of the stats of the strongest participant, 30% of the second, and 5% for the third and fourth. Direct Stellar damage is considered to be of the element of the unit dealing it and is based on the multiplier and the scaling stat listed in the ability instead of level, with Stellar-Conduct damage additionally being multiplied by the Base Reaction Coefficient. 

Cryo Traveler’s  Passive enables reactions to be converted to their Stellar variants and boosts its Base DMG based on their ATK, reaching the cap of 7% at 2000 ATK. This is a separate multiplier to Reaction DMG and Base Reaction Coefficient. Since Cryo Traveler’s kit relies on the reactions to deal the direct Stellar damage through their corresponding Radiance effects, this review will assume they are played on a Stellar reaction team.

While hardly their most flashy ability, Cryo Traveler’s Skill dictates how they are played. By default, it summons a “Frostpierce Star” which follows the active character and fires “ice crystals” every 3 seconds which deal Cryo damage. However, when the Cryo Traveler has Radiance: Stellar-Conduct, the Frostpierce Star instead only fires “ice crystals” when the Cryo Traveler themselves hits an enemy with their Normal, Charged, or Plunging Attacks; thanks to their first Ascension Passive, it also converts these attacks to Cryo on Stellar-Conduct teams. Considering the mediocre damage of Cryo Traveler’s Normal Attacks and their ice crystals - regardless of which Radiance they possess - it’s easy to wonder why this distinction is important.

The answer comes from the “Frostglow” stacks that are generated when an ice crystal hits an enemy, with a maximum of 8 being able to be held. Visually, these are indicated by a star-like snowflake icon next to the Traveler. These are instrumental for Cryo Traveler’s Burst, which is a simple damage nuke that summons “Ice Javelins” which deal direct Stellar damage. Their Burst consumes all of Traveler’s Frostglow stacks to deal more DMG; moreover, when 8 stacks are consumed, it summons 5 Ice Javelins instead of 3! This is a massive bonus, making reaching 8 Frostglow stacks vital. Note that the lower multiplier listed for Cryo Traveler’s Stellar-Conduct Ice Javelins compared to their Stellar Swirl ones is deceptive - due to the Stellar-Conduct Ice Javelins benefitting from the Polestar Field stacks, it regularly does considerably more damage than their Stellar Swirl variant. 

Additionally, like all other Traveler variants, the Cryo Traveler can unlock the use of a special Charged Attack through the main story. To use it, the Traveler requires “Icepoint”, which can be obtained once every 2 seconds when any character in the team deals Stellar damage to the enemy. When reaching 3 stacks, the Cryo Traveler consumes them on their next Charged Attack to not only generate 2 Frostglow stacks but also deal massive Stellar damage; this ability has a 15 second cooldown. 

The remainder of Cryo Traveler’s base kit consists of simple stat buffs. Their second Ascension Passive increases their Elemental Mastery based on their ATK, gaining up to a maximum of 160 Elemental Mastery at 2000 ATK. Furthermore, as part of the main story, the Cryo Traveler can obtain a buff for each Element they have resonated with: in total, this grants them a 20% increase to CRIT DMG, ATK, Max HP, Energy Recharge, and DEF alongside a 10% increase to their CRIT Rate and 60 Elemental Mastery.

Cryo Traveler’s Constellations can eventually be obtained for free through exploration.  Their C1 helps alleviate their Energy requirements, while C2 is more notable - it provides a 60 Elemental Mastery buff to the active character when an ice crystal hits the enemy, which is increased to 120 if said character triggers a Stellar reaction or deals Stellar damage. Note that on Stellar-Conduct teams, the short duration of this Constellation can make it difficult to buff allies with. C4 is a simple extension of their Skill’s duration from 12 to 15 seconds, allowing for 100% uptime. Their C6 rounds things off in a more noteworthy fashion - it increases the Stellar DMG dealt by allies based on the Frostglow stacks consumed when Cryo Traveler uses their Burst, up to 40%.

Finally, the Traveler’s damage is also especially bolstered by Exaiphanes Blade - a powerful signature weapon for them obtained through the story. While not an inherent part of their kit, the stats and Energy provided by this weapon serve as a significant improvement to their role.