Genshin Impact Guardian Blade of Drifting Snow: Where to Find and How to Beat the Boss

Guardian Blade of Drifting Snow is a new Snezhnaya field boss that arrived in Version 7.1. If you own Vesna, you’ll be seeing a lot of her, because she is the only source of Vesna’s ascension material. This guide covers where to find the boss, how her Ice Coffin mechanic works, which teams to bring, and what you get for beating her.

Where to Find Guardian Blade of Drifting Snow

Guardian Blade of Drifting Snow sits on Fellfrost Peak in Snezhnaya. You’ll find her south of the House of Hesperides and east of Tidesong Cavern, in the southern part of the region. You don’t need to unlock anything to reach the area.

The fastest route starts at the waypoint south of the Tidesong Cavern Meeting Point. Teleport there and head east. The boss waits on a frozen pond and appears once you walk up to the arena. A waypoint near the entrance lets you skip the walk on later runs, so activate it on your first visit.

If a snowstorm covers the area, wait for the weather to clear or use a Linking Mechanism Prime Ice Construct left by other players.

Guardian Blade of Drifting Snow Attacks

All of her regular attacks deal Cryo DMG, but you can read them easily:

• Circular Slash. She summons a second sword and spins.
• Double Slash. She swings twice, and the second hit covers a wider area.
• Thrust. She lunges at her target and can chain into Circular Slash.
• Double strike combo. She slashes twice, then follows up with Double Slash.
• Icicles. She summons six icicles and throws them three at a time at your position.

Dodge on time and you’ll be fine during this stage. Her attacks don’t one-shot, so a stray hit won’t end the fight and you’ll have time to recover.

Ice Coffin Mechanic

The hard part starts at 50% HP. Ten seconds later, she teleports to the center of the arena and seals herself in an Ice Coffin. She gains a Cryo Ward and deals AoE Cryo DMG around her the whole time. Inside the coffin she can’t do anything else, while six stalagmites form in the air one by one.

You have a time limit here. If you don’t break the coffin within 16 seconds, she opens it herself, restores 20% of her Max HP, and drops the stalagmites on your position. That’s why she can heal in the middle of the fight.

You can break the coffin in two ways:

• Trigger Stellar Glimmer. The shield takes extra damage from Stellar-Glimmer (Stellar-Swirl or Stellar-Conduct), so start with it right away. Once Stellar Glimmer hits her, a barrier worth 15% of her Max HP replaces the Cryo Ward.
• Use Anemo or Electro. The coffin is weak to Electro and Anemo attacks during this phase.

Break the coffin and she becomes weakened and stunned for a short time. Save your strongest rotation for that window instead of spending it before the coffin appears.

Stygian Onslaught runs this mechanic differently. There she raises the shield at 80% HP and brings it back about 40 seconds later, so you’ll repeat the process two or three times depending on your damage. In the open world, the coffin appears once, at 50%.

Best Teams for Guardian Blade of Drifting Snow

You win this fight by handling the mechanic, not by topping the damage chart. Your whole team doesn’t need to match the right elements, but you need a reliable Stellar Glimmer trigger and enough Electro or Anemo damage to crack the coffin. Bring survivability too, because the coffin keeps hitting the whole arena with Cryo DMG. Add a healer or shielder if your usual team struggles while you deal with the mechanic.

Recommended teams:

• Vesna, Vodyanitsa, Odette, Faruzan. A Stellar-Glimmer team you can also use to farm Vesna’s materials.
• Cyno, Odette, Alyosha, Yae Miko. An Electro DPS option.
• Sandrone, Odette, Nicole, Yae Miko. This team shreds the shield with Stellar Conduct reactions.
• Mavuika, Iansan, Ororon, Chevreuse. An Overloaded team that clears the fight without a Stellar enabler. Mavuika’s heavy Pyro application breaks the Cryo shield.

Guardian Blade of Drifting Snow Drops

After the fight, you can claim the Trounce Blossom for 40 Original Resin.

She can also drop artifacts from the Berserker, The Exile, Prayers for Destiny, Lucky Dog, Gladiator’s Finale, and Wanderer’s Troupe sets, along with Mora, Adventure EXP, Character EXP, and Companionship EXP.

Your World Level decides how much Vagabond’s Cracked Armor you get. At World Level 0, you get one guaranteed piece plus a 61.85% chance at a second. At World Level 8, you get two guaranteed pieces plus a 55.56% chance at a third.

The item description calls it an ancient piece of Snegovik armor covered in cracks. Right now only Vesna uses it, and she needs 46 pieces to reach her final ascension. If you need Primogems for her banner, check out our list of working Genshin Impact codes.