With a new region comes a new weapon you can trade fish for! This time around we're getting the Fleuve Cendre Ferryman. Let's take a look at the weapon, how it can be used and how to get it.

Weapon Overview

Fleuve Cendre Ferryman weapon description at Level 1, Refinement 1

Fleuve Cendre Ferryman is a 4⭐ rarity sword-type weapon with an Energy Recharge (which I'll abbreviate to ER) secondary stat. Its passive ability increases the CRIT Rate of the wielder's elemental skill, and increases the wielder's Energy Recharge after using their elemental skill.

It passive is strikingly similar to the 4⭐ rarity sword-type weapon Festering Desire from the 1.2 flagship event, The Chalk Prince and the Dragon, but increases ER instead of elemental skill damage, similar to what the 5⭐ banner-limited polearm Engulfing Lightning does after casting an elemental burst. Unfortunately, the Festering Desire was made available back in December 2020 and never seen again, so this is most peoples' best bet at a replacement.

The ER stat starts at 10.0%, but goes up to 45.9% when the weapon is ascended to level 90. At refinement 5, it grants 16% extra CRIT Rate to the wielder's elemental skill and increases their ER by 32% after using their skill. That means that the weapon gives you up to a massive 77.9% ER bonus, which is absolutely huge! More on how this big ER boost can directly increase your damage later on.

Obtaining the Weapon

There are currently 8 fishing spots in Fontaine based on the markers on the official Teyvat Interactive Map, click here to see them all.

Each fishing spot has a different variety of fish that can be caught there, and certain fish are only obtainable at certain times of day.

Fontaine fish locations - 4.0 first half

To catch certain new species of fish you will require different kinds of bait.

The old fish - these fish are NOT required for Fleuve Cendre Ferryman:

• The Medaka is one of the originally available fish and is caught with the Fruit Paste Bait, the original bait recipe which is given to you during the fishing tutorial as part of the world quest Exploding Population.
• The Sandstorm Angler is a fish originally from Sumeru and requires the Sugardew Bait, the round purple bait available from the Sumeru fishing association.

The new fish - some of these are required for Fleuve Cendre Ferryman:

• Streaming Axe Marlins require the same bait as the Sandstorm Angler, that's the Sugardew Bait from the Sumeru fishing association.
• Both types of Heartfeather Bass, the Rippling and Blazing varieties, require Sour Bait. This is a new kind of bait, the recipe for which can be purchased from the Fontaine fishing association.
• All Maintenance Mek-type fish require Flashing Maintenance Mek Bait (what a mouthful!) the recipe for which is also purchased from the Fontaine fishing association.

In case you don't already have these materials, and as a result aren't seeing the entries at the Alchemy Table even though you definitely obtained the recipe, here are the ingredients required to make the two new kinds of bait (1 craft = 10 bait)

Sour Bait crafting recipe

Flashing Maintenance Mek Bait crafting recipe

Here is the overview infographic of fishing for Fleuve Cendre Ferryman! I hope it is informative for you all.

Infographic summarizing how to obtain Fleuve Cendre Ferryman and its refinement material

Upgrading the Weapon

Refinement

As seen in the section about obtaining the weapon above, Fleuve Cendre Ferryman has a unique refinement material just like the other fishing-acquired weapons and event weapons: Martens' Omni-Fix. Martens' Omni-Fix can be traded for at the Fontaine Fishing Association, the same place where you trade fish for the base weapon, and uses the same materials. You'll need 4 of Martens' Omni-Fix in total to fully refine Fleuve Cendre Ferryman, up to Refinement 5.

Martens' Omni-Fix in-game item description

Ascension

Fleuve Cendre Ferryman uses the new Fontaine ascension material Ancient Chords to ascend (Fragment of an Ancient Chord, Chapter of an Ancient Chord, Movement of an Ancient Chord, Echo of an Ancient Chord), which are available from Fontaine's Domain of Forgery, Echoes of the Deep Tides, on Monday, Thursday and Sunday.

Fontaine Domain of Forgery daily rotations

Fontaine Domain of Forgery daily location

The domain is located at the northernmost (top of the map) point of Fontaine that is currently available.

In addition to the ascension materials from the domain, the weapon also requires 2 kinds of enemy drops to ascend, as with all other weapons:

The first are the Transoceanic Pearl, Transoceanic Chunk and Xenochromatic Crystal, which are dropped by various aquatic monsters found in Fontaine, known as Fontemer Aberrants. These can mostly be found underwater, such as the stingray and octopus-like monsters, but can also be found on land or on both land and in the water, such as the seal-like or crab-like monsters.

Find these on the official Teyvat Interactive Map!

Xenochromatic Crystal, Transoceanic Chunk, Transoceanic Pearl

Next are the Drop of Tainted Water, Scoop of Tainted Water and Newborn Tainted Hydro Phantasm (weird name but ok), dropped by Tainted Hydro Phantasm monsters in Fontaine and, for reasons that only the hydro archon knows, in Liyue as well. The names of the monsters are not distinguished on the interactive map, but separately they are the Tainted Water-Spouting Phantasm and the Tainted Water-Splitting Phantasm, both of which drop these materials.

Find these on the official Teyvat Interactive Map!

Newborn Tainted Hydro Phantasm, Scoop of Tainted Water, Drop of Tainted Water

Here is the overview infographic of this part of the post! I hope it is informative for you all.

Infographic summarizing upgrade materials for Fleuve Cendre Ferryman

Using the Weapon

So now you have the weapon fully refined and upgraded. The last question is... who do you use it on?

The fact that you've obtained and upgraded the weapon all the way probably means you already have someone in mind, but if you just did it for completion's sake and are now looking to slap it on someone who can use it well, here are some of my personal favourites.

Xingqiu

While this weapon falls short of wished 4⭐ alternatives like Sacrificial Sword and Favonius Sword as well as pretty much any 5⭐ sword, it now holds its place as his top purely F2P alternative, even overtaking craftable weapons such as Finale of the Deep and Amenoma Kageuchi.

Xingqiu is innately an extremely energy-hungry character, even with high constellations, and as such all of the ER bonuses that he can get are crucial to him getting his burst up in a timely manner. If he runs the 4-piece set of Emblem of Severed Fate, this ER bonus also translates to a damage bonus for his elemental burst.

His skill damage is also not to be ignored. Even though it's primarily just for generating more particles for him to get his burst back up, it has potential to do huge amounts of damage in a single hit if the talent is leveled up and it crits, so Fleuve works well on him.

Layla

This recommendation assumes you're willing to sacrifice some utility/team support capabilities in favour of more personal stats for Layla. If you would prefer to retain greater energy generation capabilities for the team, stick with wished 4⭐ swords like Sacrificial Sword and Favonius Sword. To prioritize her shield, the best weapon would be the 5⭐banner-exclusive weapon Key of Khaj-Nisut, but in my opinion it isn't worth rolling for this weapon just for her.

Fleuve Cendre Ferryman allows Layla to get some extra personal ER, allowing her to get her burst up faster, and increases the damage from her elemental skill. This makes it especially useful on teams where you'd like Layla to contribute a little bit extra personal damage.

Waiting for testing...

I'm curious to see how this weapon is found to perform on the following characters, since I think it has potential, but I can't be 100% sure if it out-performs other F2P options yet.

Kaeya

I can see it being good on Kaeya for the same reasons the weapon benefits Xingqiu, except that Kaeya's energy needs are far lower. Therefore, I'm curious if it will be better on Kaeya compared to the already-available free weapons Kagotsurube Isshin from Kazuha's story quest and the craftable Amenoma Kageuchi.

Lynette

Considering this weapon came out (for free) in the same patch that she came out (also for free), and it seems to align with her talents, it seems like this weapon would be a good choice for her. However, it remains to be seen if this weapon can outperform craftable alternatives. In theory the ER and skill CRIT Rate bonuses look good on her, but its utility depends on her build and role on a team.

Kazuha

Another energy-hungry character. On a standard full EM build, the skill CRIT Rate bonus from Fleuve Cendre Ferryman is completely lost on him, as the Swirl reaction cannot crit. It's probably useable in a pinch in the absence of having any other ER weapons, such as Sacrificial Sword and Favonius Sword, and grants more personal ER to Kazuha in the absence of extra particle generation for the rest of the team. However, it remains to be seen if this weapon would be preferred with an EM sands over running an EM weapon (such as the craftable Iron Sting) with an ER sands.

Alhaitham

A character who benefits somewhat from the ER. I am curious to see how the skill CRIT Rate bonuses apply to his mirror-shards, because if they apply, they have potential to boost his damage, but if not, then they don't. He can also generate mirror shards through his burst which won't involve casting his skill and therefore won't activate the ER part of the weapon passive. At the moment, his best F2P weapons are the EM-granting craftable Iron Sting and event weapon Toukabou Shigure.

But why not...?

As an aside, here are a couple reasons why I have elected to NOT recommend this weapon over other F2P alternatives for the following sword-wielding characters.

Bennett

While the ER looks tempting on him and he does use his elemental skill in most rotations for energy particle generation, the Base ATK stat on this weapon only reaches 510 at Level 90, a whole 55 short from the already free craftable weapon from Sumeru, the Sapwood Blade. Bennett's Base ATK matters as that is what the ATK buff from his burst scales on. Therefore Sapwood Blade overtakes this weapon as his best free choice.

Nilou

There is no reason for her to burst every rotation in most circumstances so her ER is not a priority in comparison to her HP (extremely important) and her EM (also somewhat important). Stick with the craftable Iron Sting or event weapon Tokabou Shigure in most situations.

Albedo

In the standard DEF-oriented build, Albedo has no need for the ER (his burst damage is unaffected by DEF, it scales on ATK) and would pretty much only be benefitting from the elemental skill CRIT Rate part of the passive. The 3⭐ sword Harbinger of Dawn grants him a much greater CRIT Rate bonus given you can keep up the passive - easily done with a consistent shielder since Albedo tends to have relatively short amounts of field time. It additionally grants him CRIT DMG as a secondary stat which benefits him far more than the ER of Fleuve Cendre Ferryman does. His best weapon overall is still his event-limited 4⭐signature, Cinnabar Spindle, but without it your next best bet is Harbinger of Dawn.