Here you will find a Genshin Impact tier list, an overview of every available Genshin Impact character and how they compare to one another. Genshin Impact continues to bring new updates, zones, and characters. We are now at patch 1.5 of Genshin Impact, and these are the best characters in May 2021.
Getting new characters is difficult and even pricey in gacha games, so knowing which characters are top-tier will be essential, especially for endgame dungeons like the Spiral Abyss. So, I decided to post this Genshin Impact tier list both for myself and others. Before getting to the tier list, make sure to get the latest Genshin Impact codes for some freebies!
Genshin Impact Tier List: Who are the Best & Worst Genshin Impact characters?
| Tier | Main DPS | Sub DPS | Support/Utility |
|---|---|---|---|
| S+ | 
| 
| |
| S | 
| 
| 
|
| A | 
| 
| 
|
| B | 
| 
| |
| C |
| ||
| D | 
|
Some of the above rankings are pretty obvious, as Bennett and Venti are the best support/utility characters in the game.
The best main DPS characters at the moment are Ganyu and Hu Tao, followed closely by Diluc. The next tier of main DPS characters features Eula, Keqing, Klee, and Tartaglia.
The best support units are Bennett, Venti, and Zhongli. Ideally, you want Bennett at C1 or C2, but he is great at C0 too.
I believe the closest thing to an S+ sub-DPS is Xingqiu at C6. I placed him on the S tier as getting him to C6 takes time, but he is the best sub DPS, in my opinion, if built properly. I also believe that maxing out Xiangling's constellation, which is very easy, gets her to the S tier.
Finally, Eula is just awesome and I could have placed her on the S+ tier if played properly.
Why Genshin Impact tier lists don't make much sense
Constellations
Genshin Impact has a lot of good characters. However, the reason it's hard to evaluate them is Constellations.
In Genshin Impact, every character has their own Constellation, which acts as a kind of skill tree. When you unlock part of that character's Constellation, you'll earn a new effect, which impacts an existing skill or offers a completely new perk.
For characters other than the traveler, the only way to level up their constellations is to obtain Stella Fortuna's. A Stella Fortuna is an item players receive after acquiring a duplicate of a character they already possess.
Once you max out a character, you get extra stardust which is enough for you to basically get a free wish if you pull an already maxed character.
So, Constellations are awesome, because, in essence, they make your characters much better every time you get a duplicate character for wishes, because you can unlock up to 6 passive skills (at Constellation level 6 – C6).
So the question here is how do we evaluate characters in Genshin Impact?
Do we do it at C0, C1, … etc.?
I would say that typically you want a tier list at C0 because that's what the majority of the players will have, at least initially.
Elemental Synergies, Elemental Debuffs and Elemental Resonance
Elemental Debuffs
Each element in Genshin Impact has a different negative effect on your enemies, but also on your characters
| Debuff | Element | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Engulfing Storm | Electro | Continuously drains Energy Recharge. |
| Smoldering Flames | Pyro | Continuously inflicts damage over time. |
| Slowing Water | Hydro | Increases skill CD duration. |
| Condensed Ice | Cryo | Increases stamina consumption. |
To understand the importance of elemental debuffs we need to talk about Elemental Reactions first.
Elemental Reactions
Combining different elements in combat is the key to success in Genshin Impact. Elemental reactions or synergies maximize your damage output, help you crowd-control (CC), or produce shields that will defend you from a specific element.
| Elemental Reaction | Elemental Combination | Effect |
| Burning | Dendro + Pyro | Deals Pyro damage over time (DoT) |
| Crystalize | Hydro/Pyro/Electro/Cryo + Geo | Creates a crystal that will provide a shield when picked up. Note: The enemy needs to be affected by Hydro/Pyro/Electro/Cryo first and then be inflicted geo damage to produce a crystal. |
| Electro-Charged | Electro + Hydro/Hydro + Electro | Deals Electro DoT |
| Frozen | Cyro + Hydro/Hydro + Cryo | Freezes the target |
| Melt | Pyro + Cryo/Cryo + Pyro | Deals extra damage (2x) |
| Overloaded | Electro + Pyro/Pyro + Electro | Deals AoE Pyro damage |
| Superconduct | Electro + Cryo/Cryo + Electro | Deals AoE Cryo damage |
| Swirl | Hydro/Pyro/Electro/Cryo + Anemo | Deals extra elemental damage and spreads the elemental (hydro/pyro/electro/cryo) effect. Note: The enemy needs to be affected by the |
| Vaporize | Hydro + Pyro/Pyro + Hydro | Deals extra damage (2x) |
What is noteworthy in terms of elemental reactions, is that not all of them are equal. Melt and Vaporize are considered the ones standing on top due to the 2x damage they inflict.
So, for instance in Spiral Abyss, on floors where there are a lot of Cryo enemies such as slimes, Pyro characters like Bennet and Diluc will thrive.
However, there is another aspect of this that makes a character's value skyrocket.
Elemental debuffs affect your characters too, with slowing water and condensed ice considered the worst debuffs.
To remove those debuffs you must trigger an elemental reaction on your character(s).
So for instance, Bennett's elemental burst – Fantastic Voyage – will trigger an elemental reaction for every character affected by an elemental debuff you put within its radius. This is one of the reasons Bennett is among the best characters in the game.
Characters that can cleanse themselves or others
Characters who can cleanse – i.e., generate an elemental reaction to reduce elemental debuffs are split into to two categories. Self-cleansing ones and party-cleansing.
The party-cleansing characters and their skills are:
- Barbara‘s elemental skill Let the Show Begin momentarily applies Wet to the active character when it heals, once every ~4.75 seconds.
- Bennett‘s elemental burst Fantastic Voyage continuously imbues Pyro's active character when standing within its created Inspiration Field.
- Jean‘s elemental burst Dandelion Breeze continuously imbues the active character with Anemo when standing within its created Dandelion Breeze.
- Xinyan‘s elemental skill Sweeping Fervor creates a persistent shield. Upon activation, it imbues Xinyan with Pyro. Additionally, and not mentioned in its description, it also imbues the new character with Pyro when switching characters.
The self-cleansing characters and skills are:
- Beidou‘s elemental skill Tidecaller, when held, creates a shield. Activating this shield imbues Beidou with Electro.
- Diona‘s elemental skill Icy Paws creates a shield on-hit; when the shield is created, it momentarily imbues Diona with Cryo. However, if Diona is Wet, she will not self-inflict Freeze.
- Xingqiu‘s elemental skill Guhua Sword: Fatal Rainscreen applies Wet to Xingqiu.
I hope this gives you an idea of why characters like Bennett are invaluable even if they are 4-star.
A special mention to Anemo characters
I think Anemo characters like Sucrose and Traveller are a bit undervalued. And here is why. When you cast the elemental bursts on top of Fiery ground (e.g. from Bennett's elemental burst, or on grass set on fire from his elemental skill, or from Diona's elemental burst), these elemental bursts turn to a combination of pyro/cryo and anemo. Try the following combo for instance. Use Surrose's elemental burst and immediately switch to Bennett and use his elemental skill on it to set it on fire. Then switch to Diona and watch Swirls on top of Pyro applications and a mix of melts.
Elemental reaction order
When triggering an elemental reaction such as melt the order of the element application does not matter for the melt reaction to be triggered. However, you want your stronger element to be the second one. As an example, when I use Diona first to apply the cryo debuff and then Xynguan to trigger the melt reaction, Xynguan crits for 2k damage. If I choose the reverse order Diona crits for 350 damage. Order matters to maximize your damage output.
Elemental Resonance
When you have a full party, you will receive buffs that correspond to the elemental types of the characters present in the party. This won't necessarily affect the character you wish for. But combined with the characters' passives you can create some really nice team compositions.
As an example, I'm still early in the game (AR 25) and I use Bennett, Xinguan, Sucrose, and Anemo Traveller for exploration because I get the effect of Fervent Flames and Impetuous Winds. That's +25% ATK, -15% STAM consumption and +10% movement speed.
| Name | Requirement | Buff effect |
|---|---|---|
| Enduring Rock | 2 x Geo Characters in party | Increases resistance to interruption. When protected by a shield, increases Attack DMG by 15%. |
| Fervent Flames | 2 x Pyro Characters in the party | Affected by Cryo for 40% less time. Increases ATK by 25%. |
| Soothing Waters | 2 x Hydro Characters in party | Affected by Pyro for 40% less time. Increases incoming healing by 30%. |
| Impetuous Winds | 2 x Anemo Characters in party | Decreases Stamina Consumption by 15%. Increases Movement SPD by 10%. Shortens Skill CD by 5%. |
| High Voltage | 2 x Electro Characters in the party (and listening to AC/DC while playing the game, lol) | Affected by Hydro for 40% less time. Superconduct, Overloaded, and Electro-Charged have a 100% chance to generate an Electro Elemental Particle (CD: 5s). |
| Shattering Ice | 2 x Cryo Characters in party | Affected by Electro for 40% less time. Increases CRIT Rate against enemies that are Frozen or affected by Cryo by 15%. |
| Protective Canopy | Any 4 Unique Elements | All Elemental RES by 15%. |
Genshin Impact Character Base Stats
The stats explanations below were taken by this article on Genshin Impact Wiki.
Health
HP, short for Health Points, is a measure of how much life force your character has. If your HP reaches 0, your character will become incapacitated, and the game will automatically bring another character in your team onto the field. Characters can restore HP by eating food, using talents, character passives, weapons passives that heal, or visiting a Statue of the Seven.
The relevant in-game attribute is Max HP ? the current maximum HP of a character. Max HP can be increased by raising your character level or equipping artifacts and weapons that provide HP or HP% increase. Leveling up these weapons and artifacts will also increase the HP bonus they provide. All flower-type artifacts increase HP, so leveling these up is a good way to boost HP.
Attack
Attack, abbreviated in-game as ATK, is used to calculate how much damage your character does. All forms of damage calculation except specific Elemental Reactions scale linearly with ATK.
Total ATK formula:
![{\displaystyle {\text{ATK}}=\left[({\text{ATK}}_{\text{Character}}+{\text{ATK}}_{\text{Weapon}})\times (1+\%{\text{ ATK Bonus}})\right]+{\text{ATK Flat Bonus}}}](https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/png/aee1a115cc4c40d36db873631e2a967a13f875d5)
Where:
is the character's final attack value, which can be viewed from the character's attributes screen.- is the flat attack value the character receives from leveling up and ascensions.
- is the weapon's flat attack value.
- is the percentage attack bonus that is obtained from all sources. It is specifically listed as ATK % and not DMG %. This includes buffs from artifacts, weapon passives, skills, etc.
- is the flat attack value obtained from from artifacts, skills, food, etc.
is the character's final attack value, which can be viewed from the character's attributes screen.
is the flat attack value the character receives from leveling up and ascensions.
is the weapon's flat attack value.
is the percentage attack bonus that is obtained from all sources. It is specifically listed as ATK % and not DMG %. This includes buffs from artifacts, weapon passives, skills, etc.
is the flat attack value obtained from from artifacts, skills, food, etc.Defense
Defense, abbreviated in-game as DEF, measures how much resistance your character has to incoming damage. The higher your defense, the less damage you take from attacks. Defense can be increased by raising your character level or equipping artifacts or weapons that provide a defense or defense % increase.
Additionally, some characters, most notably Noelle, have talents that increase defense.
Finally, there are food items that provide a temporary defense boost when consumed.
For both characters and enemies, defense reduces incoming damage based on this formula:
Elemental Mastery
Elemental Mastery is a measure of how powerful Elemental Reactions created by your character will be. These reactions are Vaporize, Melt, Overloaded, Superconduct, Electro-Charged, Shattered, Swirl, and Crystallize.
The attribute can be increased by equipping artifacts or weapons that provide a bonus to Elemental Mastery. Additionally, some characters, such as Lisa, gain Elemental Mastery by raising their character level.
- Increases damage caused by Vaporize and Melt by X.
- Increases damage caused by Overload, Superconduct, Electro-Charged, Shattered, and Swirl by Y.
- Increases the damage absorption power of shields created through Crystallize by Z.
- Where X, Y, and Z are :
The damage of Overload/Superconduct/Electro-Charged/Shattered/Swirl and shields from Crystallize also depend on the level of the character triggering the reaction.
Vaporize and Melt multiply the damage of the attack that proc this effect.
Stamina
Stamina is a measure of how much physical exertion your character can expend before needing to rest. It is consumed by performing charged attacks, dodging, sprinting, climbing, and gliding.
Stamina is restored automatically and gradually when your character stops consuming it for a short time. Additionally, you can consume food that restores stamina. You can increase your maximum stamina by finding Anemoculus and Geoculus and offering them worship to their respective Statue of the Seven.
There are also ways to reduce stamina consumption of some or all actions that require it.
Critical Rate
Critical Rate is abbreviated in-game as CRIT Rate and is commonly known as Crit Chance. This attribute, expressed as a percentage, determines how likely an attack will hit critically and deal with bonus critical damage. Crit Rate can be increased by equipping artifacts or weapons that provide an increase to Crit Rate.
The default Crit Chance is 5%.
At critical rates, at or above 100%, attacks give a critical hit every time.
Additionally, on enemies with weak points guarantees a critical hit regardless if the triggering attack is critical or not, e.g. when targeting the eye of those cyclopean Ruin Guards with a bow.
The Shattering Ice Elemental Resonance provides a 15% boost to Crit Rate against enemies that are Frozen or affected by Cryo.
Some characters, such as Diluc, gain Crit Rate by raising their character level. Finally, you can consume certain food items to temporarily increase Crit Rate.
Critical Damage
Critical Damage is abbreviated in-game as CRIT DMG. This attribute, expressed as a percentage, determines how much bonus damage your character does when an attack hits critically. Equipping Weapons and Artifacts with Crit Damage bonuses will increase CRIT DMG.
Some characters, such as Keqing, gain Crit Damage by leveling up.
Additionally, there are food items that can be consumed to temporarily increase it. The default Crit Damage is 50%, which is a 150% multiplier.
Healing Bonus
Healing Bonus, expressed as a percentage, determines the bonus to outgoing healing by characters that can heal themselves or other party members. You can increase the healing bonus by equipping artifacts that increase character healing effectiveness or provide a healing bonus % increase. Some characters, such as Jean, gain a healing bonus by leveling up.
Incoming Healing Bonus
Incoming Healing Bonus, expressed as a percentage, determines the bonus to incoming healing directed at the character. You can increase the incoming healing bonuses by equipping artifacts that boost healing received or incoming healing. For example, the Elemental Resonance Soothing Water increases it by 30%. Additionally, there are food items that can boost healing effects temporarily.
Energy Recharge
Energy Recharge is the percentage increase of energy regenerated by each elemental particle and elemental orb that is absorbed. You can increase Energy Recharge by equipping artifacts or weapons with the Energy Recharge % attribute. Additionally, some characters, such as Venti, gain Energy Recharge with their ascensions.
Cooldown Reduction
Reduce CD, commonly known as cooldown reduction, is a percentage decrease on the cooldowns after using your elemental skill or elemental burst before you can use them again. For example, if your elemental skill normally has a cooldown of 10 seconds, and you have a 10% cooldown reduction, your skill can be used every 9 seconds.
The Reduce CD attribute stacks additively and is affected by any effect that reduces all cooldowns, but any effects that reduce cooldowns of particular talents will stack multiplicatively.
Shield Strength
The Powerful Shield attribute is a percentage decrease for shield damage taken while your character is active; increasing your shield strength will allow your shields to sustain more damage before being destroyed.
You can increase this attribute by equipping the Retracing Bolide artifact set.
Some Food items (such as Triple-Layered Consommé) can also increase it.
Note: when taking shield damage, the shield strength of the active character is used; this may not be the same as the character that created the shield.
Elemental Damage Bonus
The “Details” page in character attributes lists out a character's damage bonuses for physical damage and for each element (with “damage” abbreviated as “DMG”). These bonuses describe the percentage increase of damage dealt of the corresponding type and stack additively with other damage bonuses.
In addition to elemental and physical DMG bonuses, other DMG Bonuses that are not displayed in-game include: Normal and Charged Attack DMG Bonus, Elemental Skill/Elemental Burst specific DMG Bonus, General Elemental DMG Bonus, and General Increased DMG Bonus.
Elemental Resistance
The “Details” page also lists out a character's resistance to each damage type (with “resistance” abbreviated as “RES”). These resistances describe the percentage decrease of incoming damage of the corresponding type.
Note that resistances have soft caps below 0% and above 75%; see Damage for more details.
Resistances can be increased by the Elemental Resonance Protective Canopy, Potions (e.g., Frostshield Potion: +25% Cryo resistance), Artifact set bonuses (e.g., 2-piece Tiny Miracle: +20% All Elemental resistances), and Talents (e.g., Lightning Fang: +80% Electro resistance).
Movement Speed
Movement speed, abbreviated as Movement SPD in-game, determines how much faster your character moves in relation to their normal movement speed. To increase your movement speed, you can equip weapons that provide a bonus to movement speed when their conditions are activated. Also, the Impetuous Winds Elemental Resonance increases movement speed by 10%.
Attack Speed
Attack Speed, abbreviated as ATK SPD in-game, determines how much faster your character can attack compared to normal. For example, if your character can normally attack once every 0.8 seconds but has a 30% attack speed bonus, they will be able to attack every 0.8 / (1+0.3) = 0.62 seconds instead.
Certain weapons, talents, and character passive abilities provide attack speed bonuses when you fulfill their activation conditions.
Note that Attack Speed does?not?decrease the amount of hit lag characters receive when hitting enemies, so a percentage increase in attack speed will result in a lesser percentage increase in damage-per-second (for attacks that have hitlag, i.e., most melee attacks).
Stamina Consumption
Stamina Consumption describes the percentage increase of stamina used by actions that require stamina.
The Elemental Resonance Impetuous Winds decreases all stamina consumption by 15%.
Some food items and character talents also reduce the amount of stamina used by particular activities such as sprinting, climbing, or gliding. On the other hand, the Ley Line Disorder Condensed Ice increases all stamina consumption.
Interruption Resistance
Interruption Resistance, or poise, affects how difficult it is for a character or an enemy to be staggered.
Note that the strength of the stagger and knockback effects on characters and enemies is also affected by the subject's and attacker's levels, the particular attack used, and physical properties including separation distance and mass.
Focus on Elemental Reactions
I cannot stress enough the importance of this. Genshin Impact is not a single-character game. Instead, it is a game in which you create combos with character switches.
Elemental Mastery maximizes the damage you deliver with elemental reactions, while Energy Recharge maximizes the frequency of your Elemental Bursts.
So building characters with high Elemental Mastery is incredibly beneficial, while characters with great Elemental Bursts and low Elemental Skill CDs can end up spamming their Elemental Bursts. Like, you know… Bennett.
This is very useful for beginner players. As you progress into the game and raise characters' ascension level you will have to follow individual build guides and stat priorities for each character.