Who is Shenhe in Genshin Impact, Waifu Release Date, Vision Predictions

Shenhe is one of the first-ever data mined characters in Genshin Impact, but has yet to be released, here’s what we know about her so far.

While an unfinished model for Shenhe was found in the Closed Beta Test of Genshin Impact pre-release, she is one of the few characters whose existence was never officially confirmed until just recently with Genshin Impact 2.2 and its newly added About Voicelines.

• MORE – “About Shenhe” voicelines

Shenli or Shenhe?

The unreleased character commonly called Shenli is actually named Shenhe. I believe that back when Shenhe was data mined, many fans ended mixing up both names. The name “Shenli” is Ayaka‘s surname in Chinese, and has no relation to Shenhe. I’ve used “Shenli” as well for SEO’s sake, as several fans still call this character Shenli.

Genshin Impact – Who is Shenli / Shenhe and when’s her release date?

Shenhe was one of the characters found by Genshin Impact data miners a few weeks after the game officially launched on September 28, 2020. The characters data mined back then also included Hu Tao and Rosaria, who have now been officially released. Along with Yao Yao and Yun Jin, Shenhe is one of the only data mined characters back then that has yet to become playable.

Right now, a leaker previously mentioned Shenhe will be released in Genshin Impact 2.4. If this is true, miHoYo should officially reveal Shenhe’s artwork for the first time in these next few days, after Version 2.3 launches on November 24.

The unfinished model of Shenhe, seen above, was published by data miners a few months after the release of Genshin Impact. What we know about her lore so far is that Shenhe is a Liyue Harbor female character. You can find several “gameplay” videos of Shenhe on YouTube. However, these were all fan-made using the unfinished 3D model and software like Miku Miku Dance.

Shenhe’s rarity, weapon and vision

When she was first data mined, Shenhe’s data pointed out that she was a Claymore user and a Cryo vision user. Later on, more data mining pointed out that Shenhe was now using Catalyst weapons. Either way, she’s an unreleased character, so there is no definite answer.

It’s very likely her Vision and Weapon were changed since the first time she was data mined over a year ago. The leaker previously mentioned also said that she’s a 5-star character.

Genshin Impact – Is Shenhe the human form of Cloud Retainer?

This theory was debunked ever since the About Shenhe lines were officially added in Version 2.2. These not only officially confirmed for the first time ever that Shenhe exists but also completely denied this theory. In her voice lines, Ganyu refers to Cloud Retainer and Shenhe as different people.

Cloud Retainer is one of the Adepti who has a contract with the Geo Archon, Rex Lapis. She’s an Adeptus who looks like a blue crane bird, and we meet her several times in-game, most notably during the Liyue Archon story chapter. This is why many fans speculated that Shenhe is her human form. Because Shenhe’s clothes look similar, and “Shenhe” can mean crane god in Chinese. You can even find several fanart of Shenhe and Cloud Retainer together.

Could we get more playable Adeptus characters?

Right now, very few Adeptus characters are actually playable and with human forms such as Rex Lapis / Zhongli, Ganyu, and Xiao. Looking at Ganyu’s lines about Shenhe, and how she can “start obliterating her surroundings when her temper gets the better of her” it’s very likely Shenhe is also an Adeptus.

That’s all we know about Shenhe in Genshin Impact so far. Personally speaking, I believe that with her chara design, Shenhe could rake in a lot of money for miHoYo. I’m hoping to see her release in Version 2.4 or 2.5.