Genshin Impact Character Tier List
There are so many characters in Genshin Impact, it can be hard to figure out who to want. How do you know who to use or to pull for? Well, that depends on what you want out of the game. Chances are, if you’re looking for a tier list, you want the characters with the highest DPS ratings.
Here is a Genshin Impact character tier list, arranged by their primary role. Within the category, they’re ranked by how usable they are for bosses. That means fights against the Trounce Domain Bosses (Stormterror, Childe, Azdaha) and the World Bosses (Andrius and the Ascension Material Bosses). While there’s rarely a character you can use for all these bosses (some have elemental immunities), it should give you an idea for building teams and finding alternatives.
As for the categories, they’re either classified as DPS or Support. The main difference between them is having skills (whether Burst or Elemental) that still take effect even if they’ve left the field. Those in the DPS category have skills that require them to be on the field (such as an elemental infusion) or have effects that end when they leave it.
Fischl is a great example of a support character, as she leaves behind Oz after using either her E skill or Burst. Ganyu is a special exception, as her level 2 charged attack is insanely strong and that can’t be used if she’s off the field.
The DPS Characters, Ranked
SS: Diluc, Ganyu, Ayaka, Klee, Eula, Keqing
These six characters have high DPS numbers and are pretty straightforward to use. They don’t have troublesome mechanics like the next three characters. Generally, you can’t go wrong fighting bosses with any one of them, though of course, it can depend on the boss you’re fighting.
Andrius, for example, is immune to Anemo and Cryo damage. Eula primarily deals Physical damage, but using her E skill won’t be too efficient. Sure, you get Grimheart stacks, but that’s additional damage you’re missing. That said, Ayaka and Ganyu won’t be able to fight him at all since they rely on Cryo damage for their attacks.
Diluc has a similar problem with Dawn not being able to push back bosses, so they only get a fraction of the skill’s total damage. He makes up for it with sheer firepower, though, as it provides him with a Pyro infusion and an extra 20% Pyro DMG Bonus.
Still, they have the widest variety of bosses they can fight with no problem.
S: Xiao, Tartaglia (Childe), Hu Tao, Yoimiya, Razor
These three also have high DPS numbers, but they have some pretty troublesome mechanics. Xiao’s burst drains his health, Childe has a long cooldown on his E skill, and Hu Tao sacrifices her HP for extra firepower. There are ways to mitigate these problems, but it makes it easy for players to make a mistake while fighting. Yoimiya and Razor don’t have these problems, but they benefit more with the help of support characters.
Yoimiya’s Burst leaves behind a mark that can explode, but only when she’s not the one attacking the marked target. Fortunately, support skills such as Oz and Xingqiu’s Rain Swords do activate it, boosting the damage she can do. As for Razor, pairing him with a Cryo character to produce Superconduct reactions can greatly boost his physical damage.
They need good support to bring out the best in them, which is why they’re good but not the best.
A: Yanfei, Ningguang, Noelle
It can’t be helped that 4-star characters fall behind in damage dealing. However, with the right builds their damage output won’t be anything to scoff at. They just have the problem of needing Constellation upgrades to maximize their output, which can be difficult for F2P players.
Noelle even doubles as a healer with her Burst active. She and Ningguang also have the additional bonus of being Geo characters who can be used to fight all the bosses save for the Geo Hypostasis. Just be careful to manage stamina when using Yanfei or Ningguang, as they both rely on charge attacks for heavy damage.
The Support Characters, Ranked
Since support characters have more than one function, it gets some subcategories, namely Crowd Control, Healing, and DPS support. Sure, many of them can have overlaps in roles, but we’ll be basing it on the function of their skills, mainly their Burst.
Crowd Control
SS: Zhongli, Mona, Kazuha
Zhongli can petrify enemies with his Burst, a good crowd control ability that only bosses can avoid. With his E skill, he can shield the active character with the strongest shield available in the game. He still gets the SS ranking for the latter, even if he can’t petrify bosses.
Mona, on the other hand, gives a damage boost along with her Burst’s crowd control effects. It’s that ability to increase the damage output that puts her in this rating since bosses can’t get stuck in her bubbles.
As for Kazuha, he earns a spot here because of his Burst’s ability to apply elemental effects for easy reactions. It can also do considerable damage with the right build, and with the Viridescent Venerer set, decrease the boss’s resistance to your DPS character’s element.
S: Venti, Sucrose
Venti and Sucrose can suck in and gather enemies for easy pickings, though bosses don’t get affected. The best they can do is to support the party with the VV elemental resistance debuff, though it’s easy for their skills to miss. Sure, there are a few bosses who don’t move, but those are the minority among all the bosses.
Healing
SS: Jean, Qiqi, Diona, Bennet
Jean is a great attack-based healer. Aside from her party-wide initial healing when using her Burst, the circle she leaves behind can also heal allies within it. What’s more, enemies that leave or enter the circle gets damaged. She can also be a physical DPS along with a healer since both will rely on her attack.
Qiqi also bases her healing on her attack, but her healing has different mechanics. Her E skill summons a spirit that heals the active character regularly, while her Burst marks an enemy. When an ally hits a marked enemy, they get healed, making Qiqi essential for keeping up the DPS while recovering health.
Diona may not be a party-wide healer, but she makes up for it by shielding others. Sure, you’ll need some Constellation upgrades to be able to shield others in co-op, but that’s more utility to her advantage. Her Burst also periodically applies the Cryo status to enemies making it easy to produce elemental reactions.
Bennet is one of the best support characters in the game. Even better, he’s only a 4-star character and always available on the Standard Banner. He can do anything, even be a DPS, with the right build. His Burst may only heal up to 70% of a character’s HP, but it also boosts allies’ attack when they’re inside the circle.
S: Barbara, Sayu
Barbara is a great healer like her sister, but she ranks lower because her E skill makes the active character Wet. That’s already half of getting frozen, which is inconvenient when fighting a boss. Sure, there are about four bosses that use Cryo, but that’s four fewer bosses you can do with her.
Sayu has a bit of trouble with charging her Burst, as using her E skill doesn’t give much energy. She can heal every time her Windwheel state produces a Swirl reaction, but that only happens every few seconds. That healing also scales off her Elemental Mastery, while her Burst’s healing scales off of her attack. You’d either have to focus on healing through her Burst or by producing elemental reactions or just make her a VV support.
DPS Support
SS: Albedo, Fischl, Xingqiu, Xiangling
Albedo and Fischl work similarly, but with different mechanics. Their E skill leaves behind something that attacks enemies in tandem with the active character. Albedo’s effect procs when enemies are attacked within his flower’s range, while Oz can auto-target nearby enemies.
One advantage Oz has over Albedo’s flower is Oz can be summoned almost anywhere, but Albedo’s flower won’t take in some environments. A particular example is the platform where you fight the Oceanid. Perhaps it’s the water, but the flower just won’t stay.
Another advantage is Oz can stay out for a set duration and cannot be dispelled, but the flower can be destroyed by a boss’s attacks. Sometimes, the flower also doesn’t take if it’s placed right under the boss, so you’ll have to aim well. However, in situations where the flower can be used, it’s a great help in adding to the DPS of the active character.
Xingqiu’s Burst provides great opportunities for Hydro-related reactions, as well as increasing the damage output. It also gives a pseudo-shield that can take a hefty amount of damage for the active character. As for Xiangling, with her constellation upgrades, she can decrease a target’s Pyro resistance, increase the active character’s Pyro damage, and even give a 20% attack boost. Plus, she can leave behind Guoba and a spinning, flaming spear that orbits around the active character.
S: Chongyun, Rosaria, Beidou
Chongyun is good at providing a Cryo infusion for his team, but that’s not his only trick. With his second Constellation upgrade, any skill activated within the range of his Frost Field will have its cooldown decreased by 15%. Decreased cooldowns mean more skills used, and with more skills used Bursts can be charged and used again and again. However, that’s if you have the correct upgrade.
Rosaria can boost the Crit Rate of the party when her Burst is active. It can also apply Cryo to nearby enemies, but that’s pretty much how she can support the team. As for Beidou, her DPS potential is very situational, so it’s better to just use her burst for Electro-related reactions. If you don’t have Diona, Chongyun or Rosaria can be good Cryo supports, without the healing and shields, though.
A: Xinyan, Lisa, Kaeya, Amber
Xinyan’s a great addition for increasing damage, but the circumstances to activate that is too situational and inapplicable to boss fights. It depends on how many enemies she hits with her E skill, and boss battles are all 1v1.
As for the three starter characters, they’re outshined by all the other characters in the game. However, if there’s no one else, they can serve their purpose.
Genshin Impact: How to Get Characters
Getting characters in Genshin Impact is simple. With Fates (Intertwined or Acquaint), you can ‘wish’ for new characters in the available banners. The first kind of Fate is used for the Event Banners, while the latter is for the forever available Standard Banner. Fates can be obtained from the Battle Pass, event sign-in rewards, or milestone rewards when increasing Adventure Ranks.
You can also use various currencies to buy them from the in-game shop. It costs 160 Primogems (infinite stock), 5 Masterless Starglitter (infinite stock), and 75 Masterless Stardust (5 of each kind in stock every month).
When wishing, every 10 wishes guarantees a 4-star and above character or weapon. Genshin Impact 5-star characters and weapons are guaranteed within 90 wishes. In the Event Banner, a 5-star pull has a 50-50 chance of either getting the featured character or one of the 5-star characters from the standard banner. If you got one from the standard banner, your next 5-star pull is guaranteed to be the featured character.
Occasionally, in-game events will reward a character. By participating in the event, you can get this character guaranteed. From past events, examples are Fischl, Diona, a Liyue 4-star of your choosing (barring Yanfei as she was not out yet at the time), and Beidou. Other sources for Genshin Impact free characters are promotional or crossover events such as Aloy or the starter characters who join after a quest.
Conclusions
There are 30+ characters in the game now, with new Genshin Impact characters coming regularly. Preference strongly impacts which characters you’d like to pull for, from appearance to gameplay and character.
That said, there aren’t actually any ‘useless’ characters in the game. All Genshin characters can be used effectively with the right investments and build. With resources being limited, it isn’t currently possible to upgrade all the characters you like without significant investment (aka being a whaler).
There are more characters to come in the future, such as the rest of the Inazuma characters Genshin. The Raiden Shogun, Kujou Sara, and Kokomi are rumored to be the next featured characters in upcoming banners. No word yet when Thoma or Gorou will be featured. In the far future, there are the Dendro characters in Genshin Impact such as Baizhu or the Dendro Archon, and a few other Genshin Impact leaked characters. We’ll be updating this page periodically when new characters come out, so watch this space. There will also be links to individual pages for Genshin Impact best artifacts for each character, as well as a bit of backstory for them. As always, enjoy Genshin Impact!