Genshin Impactrecently released version 1.2, which added a brand new area, quests, andGanyu and Albedoto the roster of characters. As more players progress further intoGenshin Impact, the meta of team compositions and characters changes accordingly, so it’ll be interesting for players to see how the new characters match up to the old ones.
As always, it’s important to note that allGenshin Impacttier lists are recommendations instead of requirements, and even the weakest characters on tier lists have the potential to shine when paired with constellation upgrades and heavier investment.
RELATED:Genshin Impact Character Tier List (December 2020)
S Tier
Venti’s ability to crowd control enemies in a large AOE with his elemental burst can trivialize most ofGenshin Impact’scontent. Furthermore, Venti also increases elemental damage while enemies are trapped in his elemental burst and is able to recharge his elemental burst quickly, effectively making him the perfect support. Every singleGenshin Impactteam composition benefitsfrom having Venti, and he requires minimal investment.
Kleeis sometimes called the “strongest knight in the Knights of Favonius,” and despite her size, it’s for a good reason.Genshin Impact’sKleehas one of the highest DPS outputs in the game, and her Pyro vision grants her the ability to deal massive amounts of damage. Moreover, her charged attacks, elemental skill, and elemental burst all apply Pyro damage in an AOE. Klee’s only real drawback is her poor defense gain, meaning she requires players to be effective at dodging and stamina management.
Dilucis one of the bestDPS characters inGenshin Impactand, like Klee, has the ability to deal massive amounts of damage with his Pyro vision. Diluc has the ability to weave between physical damage, and his three-tier elemental skill allows him to deal both physical and Pyro damage. Along with Ganyu, Diluc has the highest base attack of any character in the game and has decent defense and HP gains. However, Diluc does require a decent amount of investment to shine and can only function as the main DPS role as he wants to stay on the field for as long as possible.
Tartaglia,more commonly known by his alias Childe, might not reach the raw damage output of Klee and Diluc but makes up for it with his versatility. With the recent addition of Hydro damage artifacts, Childe’s AOE damage against groups of enemies is unmatched. His ability to switch between melee and ranged stances gives him flexibility and enables him to play different roles. However, Childe does require heavier investment in supports as he has no way to group enemies together on his own.
Ganyuis the newest addition to theGenshin Impactcharacterroster, and her AOE Cryo skills are already putting her at the top of the list. Ganyu’s unique charged shot gives her the ability to deal Cryo damage in an AOE, while her elemental skill helps distract enemies while taunting them. Her elemental burst offers huge AOE Cryo application which makes her a fantastic candidate for Melt or Freeze reactions. She also shares the highest base attack stat in the game with Diluc. Ganyu’s drawback is that her charged shot requires strafing practice while her taunt is down and her small HP pool means players need to dodge effectively.
A Tier
Qiqiis one of the best healers inGenshin Impactas she has three different methods of healing. Her elemental skill not only heals the active character over time, but allows Qiqi to heal her party members as she attacks. She can also apply a talisman on enemies through her ascension talent or elemental burst which allows party members to lifesteal.Qiqi is the most consistent healer inGenshin Impactand allows her party members to conserve stamina well. However, Qiqi’s Cryo application is limited and does not have any way to cleanse elemental debuffs.
Monais one of thestrongest elemental supports inGenshin Impactas her elemental burst can deal up to 940% damage when the bubble explodes. Mona’s status as a Hydro character also allows her to work well together with Pyro characters as they get a 2x multiplier on their damage numbers when combined for a Vaporize reaction. However, Mona is an expensive support character to build as her elemental burst relies on her own stats.
Bennettis one of themost underrated characters inGenshin Impact,but based on his lore, that’s just the way he likes it. Bennett’s elemental burst functions as an attack boost and also heals over time. He also effectively applies Pyro to enemies with his elemental skill which functions as a great setup for Mona or Childe to deal Vaporize damage. Moreover, he has great utility with Pyro DPS characters like Klee and Diluc as two Pyro characters grants a 25% bonus to the attack of all party members. Bennett suffers from a poor attack stat but his utility more than makes up for it.
Xingqiuwas also a character that wasoverlooked whenGenshin Impactwas first released. His elemental burst has incredible damage scaling and doesn’t require him to be on the field. Xingqiu also has a lot of utility as he is able to heal, mitigate damage, and apply Hydro constantly. He is one of the best elemental enablers in the game and pairs well with Pyro DPS characters like Klee and Diluc. Xingqiu’s utility however, is balanced by long cooldowns and his elemental burst requires a large amount of energy recharge.
Ningguangis one of thestrongest 4-star characters inGenshin Impactand is able to output damage comparable to 5 star characters. Since she uses so many attacks in her basic combo, her critical rate can be lower compared to other characters and requires much less investment compared to other DPS characters. Her elemental skill also allows her to block ranged attacks. Ning’s biggest drawback is her Geo element as it scales poorly and doesn’t cause status effects.
B Tier
Fischlis one of the strongest characters thatGenshin Impactgave out for free. While she was closer to S tier in the earlier stages of the game, she unfortunately falls off in the late game. Fischl can apply Electro effectively with her crow Oz, but Electro scales poorly compared to the other elements. Electro depends heavily on elemental mastery and as she’s usually a support, Fischl won’t have artifact priority in most teams.
Keqingis the most versatile character inGenshin Impactas she can occupy a variety of different roles while being flexible with different builds. She’s extremely mobile, has a gap closer, fantastic energy recharge and attacks quickly. Unfortunately, while Keqing’s physical damage is strong, her Electro vision holds her back in the late game as it scales poorly.
WhileDionamight not be the best healer inGenshin Impact,she offers a ton of utility with her cleansing shields. This makes Diona incredibly strong in the Spiral Abyss and in late game content. She also offers decent healing with her elemental burst while applying Cryo to enemies in an AOE. However, Diona’s healing AOE ticks slowly and is inconsistent meaning players must manage her cooldowns well.
Thanks toRazor’s ascension stat, he deals themost physical damage of any character inGenshin Impact.His elemental burst is extremely strong and uses a strong hybrid of Electro and physical damage. However, as with all Electro characters, Razor’s damage doesn’t scale well in the late game and even more so because of his focus on physical damage. Razor is also limited to the main DPS role as his elemental burst forces him to be on the field as long as possible.
Albedois one of thenewest characters added toGenshin Impactand he is surprisingly F2P friendly. One of his best weapons is the 3 star Harbinger of Dawn sword and doesn’t require too much investment to shine. His shields are very strong, he has great uptime on his skills, and he is able to deal AOE Geo damage effectively. Unfortunately, like most Geo characters, the element itself holds Albedo back from greatness.
Jeanis essentially a jack of all trades, master of none inGenshin Impact.While she can easily fit in any role as a DPS, healer, support or utility, she rarely competes with the best characters in each category. Nonetheless, her ability to trigger fall damage with her elemental skill is very useful and her Anemo vision allows her elemental burst to cleanse any debuff easily.
Sucroseis one of the best crowd controllers inGenshin Impactif players don’t have access to Venti. She is able toconsistently create Swirl reactionswhile buffing the elemental mastery of her fellow party members. Furthermore, her constellations are quite strong and even one or two copies can make a huge difference. However, she can’t match up to Venti’s crowd control and she requires a bit of investment into her elemental mastery stat.
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C Tier
Barbarais anotherfree character given out inGenshin Impact,and she is a great dedicated healer. While her healing consistency doesn’t match up to Qiqi, she’s able to burst heal quite well. Unfortunately, while Barbara can cleanse her party members, her elemental skill applies Hydro to her team, and this can make fights against Cryo enemies frustrating.
Xinyanis a solid support character inGenshin Impactbut is often outshined by Diona and other Geo characters when it comes to shields. Her Pyro application is solid and she has her uses in certain domains and the Spiral Abyss. However, Pyro rarely feels like a support element and Xinyan just doesn’t match up to other characters.
On paper,Beidouseems like an extremely strong character to play inGenshin Impact.Her counter ability is tons of fun and her elemental burst offers great Electro coverage. However, it’s difficult for Beidou to actually force enemies to attack her without a taunt skill. The timing needs to be precise and that’s difficult during high level content.
Xianglingwas another free character given out byGenshin Impact.Her physical damage output is quite strong especially when paired with the Crescent Pike polearm. However, her ability to apply consistent Pyro damage is weak and extending that uptime is locked behind constellations.Xiangling’s focus on physical damage also doesn’t scalewell in the late game.
The main character ofGenshin Impact, commonly calledTraveler, is the only character that can change their element. While both the Anemo and Geo versions of Traveler can be useful in the Spiral Abyss, neither of them stand out in comparison to other characters. If Traveler eventually is able to wield all seven elements, they could be a lot more versatile in team compositions.
WhileChongyunis quite effective at converting his party members' damage to Cryo, he doesn’t excel in any specific role. He seems to have a DPS kit but his damage output rarely matches other characters inGenshin Impact. His Cryo conversion ability only applies to melee damage and he requires constellations in order to shine.
Despite the controversy withZhongli, he has some things going for him. His elemental burst does a ton of damage, he has decent utility with shields and petrify, and his charged attack gives him free invincibility frames. However, miHoYo is planning to buff Zhongli and the Geo element in general as a whole as he simply cannot match up to the utility of other characters.
D Tier
Ambergets looked down upon byGenshin Impactplayers but she is actually quite useful in the Spiral Abyss and overworld puzzles. Unfortunately, much of her true potential is locked behind constellations. Since she has yet to have a rate-up banner, these constellations are quite difficult to come by. Her ultimate also has a poor AOE and her Baron Bunny gets moved around too easily by enemies.
Genshin Impact’sLisahas some fantastic potential that’slimited by her Electro elementand constellation unlocks. She’s also difficult to fit into some team compositions and her elemental skill takes far too long to charge. She’s a great character for large groups of enemies but requires a lot of investment to make up for her drawbacks.
Kaeya’s kit is very generic and much of his damage potential is gated by constellations and artifact investment. While his elemental burst can be great for applying Cryo, he’s outshined by Chongyun and Ganyu’s uptime on their skills. Kaeya also suffers from a below-average attack gain and requires heavier investment in his talents and weapons to make up for it.
Noelleis quite useful whenGenshin Impactplayers stack high defense on her but she doesn’t excel at any particular role. While she can mitigate damage and heal,Noelle’s more fit for specific Geo compositionsrather than occupying a flexible role. She’s simply outclassed by other characters in the higher tiers.
Genshin Impactis available on Mobile, PC, and PS4, with a PS5 and Switch version also in the works.
