Genshin Impact is an open-world RPG, but it's also a gatcha, which means random character drops are part and parcel for the game. So how can you tell if the characters you pull rule or drool? This guide is here to help! We'll take you through each of the characters and rank them with letters so you know who you want on your squad!
Genshin Impact character tier list
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S Tier
Venti
Venti is extremely sought after because his two abilities allow him to stun tons of enemies and keep them that way for longer than just about anyone else. If you need crowd control, he's your guy and Skyward Sonnet can be handy for some environmental puzzles as well. A certified Good Boy.
- Element: Anemo
- Weapon: Bow
- Elemental Skill: Skyward Sonnet-a powerful upward gust of wind that can be used to launch enemies or allies.
- Elemental Burst: Wind's Grand Ode-a giant wind arrow that sucks enemies in and deals damage while moving them.
Diluc
Diluc is a DPS champ, one of the best in Genshin Impact. So long as your enemies aren't resistant to Pyro damage, they won't stand a chance.
- Element: Pyro
- Weapon: Claymore
- Elemental Skill: Searing Onslaught-a forward slash that does fire damage and can be triggered in quick succession up to three times.
- Elemental Burst: Dawn-unleashes a phoenix that deals fire damage and knocks enemies back. Diluc's sword stays aflame for a bit after so you can do more fire damage after as well.
Fischl
Fischl is another bow-user, but her S ranking is based entirely on her mobility and utility in a pinch. Her Elemental Skill and Burst are both clutch for crowd control and re-positioning while still doing damage, and it's pretty easy to set up elemental combos with other characters using her abilities.
- Element: Electro
- Weapon: Bow
- Elemental Skill: Nightrider-summons an electric raven to attack nearby enemies.
- Elemental Burst: Midnight Phantasmagoria-Fischl transforms into a raven, giving her increased mobility and dealing Electro damage to nearby enemies.
Qiqi
Qiqi is probably the best of the Cryo characters and is an absolute no-brainer to take over your healer slot as her abilities allow her to restore a ton of health while doing damage.
- Element: Cryo
- Weapon: Sword
- Elemental Skill: Adeptus Art: Herald of Frost-deals Cryo damage to all nearby enemies. If you attack afflicted enemies, Qiqi will heal herself and the party. The healing is scaled to her attack stat.
- Elemental Bust: Adeptus Art: Preserver of Fortune-marks nearby enemies and deals constant Cryo damage. If you attack afflicted enemies, Qiqi will heal herself and the party. The healing is scaled to her attack stat.
A Tier
Jean
Jean isn't quite as handy for crowd control and healing as Venti and QiQi respectively, but if you don't have either of those two, she's a solid pick.
- Element: Anemo
- Weapon: Sword
- Elemental Skill: Gale Blade-pulls enemies in and then launches them in the direction of her choosing while dealing massive wind damage.
- Elemental Burst: Dandelion Breeze-creates a large zone that damages enemies and knocks them back while restoring health to her and the party.
Keqing
Keqing is a solid DPS character with good mobility. She can move around the battlefield quickly, and even climb cliffs, not to mention her damage output isn't bad either.
- Element: Electro
- Weapon:Sword
- Elemental Skill: Stellar Restoration-throws an electric orb that sticks to whatever it lands on and does damage. The orb also serves as a marker if you use this ability again and Keqing can either teleport to the first orb's location and do a slashing attack, or you can do a charged attack aimed at the marked area.
- Elemental Burst: Starward Sword-sends out a flurry of Electro powered sword cuts that damage any enemies in front of her.
Traveller (Anemo)
This is your main character when you align them with Anemo. Eventually, you'll probably get access to better Anemo characters, but in the meantime, Traveller is probably the way to go as their starting skills remain useful for a long while.
- Element: Anemo
- Weapon: Sword
- Elemental Skill: Palm Vortex-pulls enemies in and launches them backwards while dealing wind damage.
- Elemental Burst: Gust Surge-summons a tornado that moves forward, sucking up any enemies in its path and dealing Anemo damage. It can be combined with other elements to do even more harm.
Xiangling
Xiangling is the best Pyro DPS character after Diluc. Her main drawback is just that her Elemental Skill can be hard to place at times.
- Element: Pyro
- Weapon: Polearm
- Elemental Skill: Guoba Attack-summons a magic, fire-breathing panda that attacks enemies for several seconds.
- Elemental Burst: Pyronado-summons a spinning, flaming polearm that circles Xiangling and does massive Pyro damage.
Razor
Razor is good, if you can get a good feel for how to deploy his abilities. He doesn't play super well with other characters, so it can be hard to set up big elemental combos with him.
- Element: Electro
- Weapon: Claymore
- Elemental Skill: Claw and Thunder-pressing this attack will do a small Electro attack and will generate a sigil that ups Razor's energy regeneration rate. He can have up to three sigils at a time. Holding the attack sets of a lightning storm that depletes all of his sigils and turns them into Energy.
- Elemental Burst: Lightning Fang-Razor channels big wolf energy and can claw enemies, doing Electro damage while becoming resistant to it himself.
Xaio
Xaio's strength is his mobility, which is clutch when exploring. Unfortunately when it comes to damage, he's outclassed by other DPS characters.
- Element: Ameno
- Weapon: Polearm
- Elemental Skill: Lemniscatic Wind Cycling-Xaio dashes forward, damaging any enemies in his path. It can be used twice in a row and while in midair.
- Elemental Burst: Bane of All Evil-Xaio turns into a monster, increasing his attack range and turning regular attack damage into Anemo damage. Staying in this form does drain his HP though.
Mona
Mona can literally walk on water, so that's a definite point in her favor. Her abilities also make it easy for her to help out the weaker DPS characters, depending on who you've got in your party.
- Element: Hydro
- Weapon: Catalyst
- Elemental Skill: Reflection of Doom-summons a water phantom that taunts enemies and deals water damage.
- Elemental Burst: Stellaris Phantasm-traps nearby foes in illusion bubbles. Trapped enemies take greater damage when attacked, and the bubble breaks, dealing additional Hydro damage.
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B Tier
Klee
Klee is a solid choice if you haven't gotten your hands on one of the more powerful Pyro characters. Her attacks kind of suck, but she makes up for it with her abilities, to a degree.
- Element: Pyro
- Weapon:Catalyst
- Elemental Skill: Jumpy Dumpty-sends out a bouncing bomb that catches enemies on fire before exploding into several proximity mines.
- Elemental Burst: Sparks n' Splash-shoots a trio of lasers for ten seconds.
Traveller (Geo)
In Liyue, you can change your main character's elemental alignment to Geo. It's not exactly worth it, since the ensuing abilities don't mesh with other elements very well, but you can still do some pretty solid damage. You also need their Elemental Skill to solve puzzles while exploring, so this version is kind of mandatory at some points.
- Element: Geo
- Weapon: Sword
- Elemental Skill: Starfell Sword-pulls a giant hunk of rock upward out of the earth, doing Geo damage. The rock lingers so you can use it to climb or to avoid enemy attacks.
- Elemental Burst: Wake of Earth-sends out a crystalline shockwave that knocks enemies back. The crystals then solidify and can be used as cover.
Bennett
Bennett is strongest as a support character who sets DPS up to succeed. On his own, he's pretty average.
- Element: Pyro
- Weapon: Sword
- Elemental Skill: Passion Overload-if pressed, Bennett does a Pryo slash. If held, there are two phases of charge: phase one Bennett attacks twice and launches enemies, phase two he attacks three times, with the third triggering an explosion that launches both Bennett and enemies.
- Elemental Burst: Fantastic Voyage-Bennett leaps at an enemy and attacks. An inspiration field with different effects, depending on characters' HP threshold, forms around him.
Chongyun
Chongyun is a solid fighter and he can take a hit, but his abilities aren't all that special.
- Element: Cryo
- Weapon: Claymore
- Elemental Skill: Layered Frost-Chongyun strikes the ground, creating a field of frost that gives regular attacks Cryo damage.
- Elemental Burst: Cloud-parting Star-giant ice spikes smash enemies and launch them upwards.
C Tier
Ningguang
Playing defensively in Genshin Impact just isn't that rewarding, which is to Ningguang's detriment. She has cool abilities, but it's hard to make them worthwhile in play.
- Element: Geo
- Weapon: Catalyst
- Elemental Skill: Jade Screen-creates a giant barrier that blocks ranged attacks.
- Elemental Burst: Starshatter-fires crystal projectiles. If Jade Screen is active, you get more crystals.
Kaeya
Kaeya is a freebie and easily replaced. He's just kind of there.
- Element: Cryo
- Weapon: Sword
- Elemental Skill: Frostgnaw-shoots a Cryo blast in front of Kaeya
- Elemental Skill: Glacial Waltz-three icicles surround Kaeya and rotate, damaging enemies caught in their path.
Beidou
Beidou seems like she'd be cool, but getting the timing right on her abilities is actually kind of a pain and again, it's not all that fun to play defensively.
- Element: Electro
- Weapon: Claymore
- Elemental Skill:Tidecaller-when pressed Beidou does one Electro attack. When held she uses her Claymore as a shield and enemy damage is stored to be used as a front facing attack.
- Elemental Burst: Stormbreaker-decreases damage and how easily Beidou can be interrupted. Her attacks also cause chain lighting to bounce between foes.
Lisa
Lisa is another free character who's easy to replace, despite her powerful Elemental Skill..
- Element: Electro
- Weapon: Catalyst
- Elemental Skill: Violet Arc-press quickly to fire and Electro orb that pursues and zaps enemies. Hold to charge up a powerful electrical storm.
- Elemental Burst: Lightning Rose-summons a floating lamp that zaps enemies who get close.
Sucrose
Sucrose's abilities aren't bad, there are just Anemo characters who do what she does better.
- Element: Anemo
- Weapon: Catalyst
- Elemental Skill: Astable Anemohypostasis Creation - 6308-creates a small wind spirit that sucks enemies up and deals Anemo damage.
- Elemental Burst: Forbidden Creation-Isomer 75/Type II-creates a bigger wind spirit that sucks enemies up and launches them.
Xingqiu
Xingqiu is another character who's more inclined towards defense, which makes him a harder sell.
- Element: Hydro
- Weapon: Sword
- Elemental Skill: Fatal Rainscreen-a ring of swords surround Xingqiu. Each time he takes damage a sword breaks and reduces the damage.
- Elemental Burst: Raincutter-More swords, and these ones attack too.
Noelle
Noelle is okay, but it's hard to figure out where she fits in a party since she's not much of a healer or support.
- Element: Geo
- Weapon: Claymore
- Elemental Skill: Breastplate-covers Noelle in armor that absorbs damage and deals a bit of Geo damage to enemies. If Noelle attacks while armored, she has a small chance to restore HP to the party.
- Elemental Burst: Sweeping Time- After an initial massive slash, Noelle's regular attacks hit a much larger area, deal Geo damage, and have increased attack damage.
D Tier
Amber
Unfortunately, everyone seems to agree that Amber just kind of sucks all around. Once you get another archer she pretty much becomes useless and her abilities are fairly disappointing.
- Element: Pyro
- Weapon: Bow
- Elemental Skill: Explosive Puppet-summons a puppet that taunts enemies and explodes when destroyed or damaged, doing Pyro Damage.
- Elemental Burst: Fiery Rain-summons a hail of flaming arrows.
Now that you've read our Genshin Impact character tier list, you can begin putting together a superstar squad! For more on Genshin Impact, click here to go to our game hub.
