Genshin Impact: Should You Trust Character Tier Lists?

Himel Mahmud
By Himel Mahmud
9 Min Read
Credit: HoYoverse

This article will discuss why new and old players should not trust the Genshin Impact character tier lists when pulling for characters.

Genshin Impact is a popular online action RPG game developed by Chinese game studio Mihoyo. The free-to-play game is available across PlayStation, PC, and Mobile. Since its release, Genshin has garnered the attention of many gamers worldwide.

Genshin Impact has more than 50 playable characters available. However, being a gacha title, players sometimes cannot get the character they want, which is why the majority of players search up which characters are good or bad on different websites. Most popular are character tier lists, which might not be the best thing for old and new players to look into.

Read More: Genshin Impact Beginner’s Guide 2022

Here is why you should not take character tier lists seriously to pull for a character in Genshin Impact.

What is a Character Tier List?

The character tier list in Genshin Impact provides overall feedback on characters in the game, which is often pretty misleading. Most of the character tier lists you can see on the internet are mainly based on opinion.

Here is a character tier list of Genshin Impact created by CN community member Usagi Sensei.

Genshin Impact Tier List CN 2.6 by Usagi Sensei. Credit: Reddit
Genshin Impact Tier List CN 2.6 by Usagi Sensei. Credit: Reddit

How Genshin Impact Character Tier List Is Created

Since the beginning of Genshin Impact, many players and websites have created character tier lists based on how good or bad they are. So, for example, if a player didn’t like a character’s playstyle, they might place that character at the bottom of a tier list. But that does not mean that the character is terrible in general. It’s just an opinion of a player on a specific character.

Genshin Impact character tier lists are constructed based on one thing now, Spiral Abyss. Whenever a new character comes out in Genshin Impact, players test how they can perform in Spiral Abyss and provide feedback on them. While it is true that Spiral Abyss is the one place where players can see the full potential of a character, it does not fully reflect a character’s worth.

Popular Characters in Spiral Abyss Tier List Genshin
Popular Characters in Spiral Abyss Tier List

Every character in Genshin Impact is unique and serves a purpose. Not every character in the game is supposed to be a damage dealer, which most players mainly look for. Some characters serve as a Support, while some are purely played for healing or buffing your entire party.

Read More: Should you upgrade to Bennett C6 in Genshin Impact?

But not every Genshin Impact character tier list is made that way. The vital part of any tier list or scoring, in general, is having people understand and agree to view characters under a specific point. Unfortunately, since we can’t agree on basic things and the authors often do not follow their own rules, it’s just a recipe for disaster.

Should You Trust Tier Lists

Players who want to explore and enjoy the story aspect of Genshin Impact are just looking to have fun. Different players have different priorities when it comes to characters in the game. Some players may like the aesthetics of a character, and some players want to deal massive damage to enemies. It will all come down to the person playing the game.

Characters in Genshin Impact are well balanced for all of them. But there are some key factors where they might perform good or bad, one of them being Constellations.

Constellations are passive abilities unlocked when getting duplicate characters when you wish on banners. In addition, with each constellation, your character will unlock different abilities that will increase their abilities or level up their elemental skill or burst, making them stronger. Many characters in Genshin Impact heavily rely on constellations to get better.

Since most players don’t have constellations of a specific character, that character might not provide the necessary backup for your team. As a result, those characters are ranked low on the character tier lists. For example, one of the most notable characters placed poorly in most tier lists is Ninnguang.

Ningguang Constellations. Credit: HoYoverse
Ningguang Constellations. Credit: HoYoverse

Ninnguang is a 4-star Geo catalyst character who acts as an on-field DPS in Genshin Impact. Ninnguang is placed low on character tier lists because Catalyst Main-DPS characters are pretty rare in the game, and Ninnguang is pretty hard to build and needs constellations to get better. However, with a proper build and weapon, Ninnguang can outperform 5-star characters. Also, Ninnguang has the strongest constellations in the game, even for a 4-star character.

Who can forget how unpopular Bennett was when Genshin Impact first launched. Bennett used to be ranked pretty low on character tier lists when the game came out. Most players thought Bennett was underwhelming compared to other characters in the game, and we know how that worked out. Now, Bennett has become arguably the best overall character in Genshin Impact. The same goes for Xingqiu, another top tier Hydro support who used to be underestimated by a lot of players back then.

One of the First Popular Genshin Impact Character Tier List. Credit: Genshin.gg
One of the First Popular Genshin Impact Character Tier List. Credit: Genshin.gg

In the early days of Genshin Impact, and even now, the majority of players prefer DPS characters over Sub DPS or Supports because damage matters. This proved to be the point when Kaedehara Kazuha was introduced alongside Klee in the version 1.6 update. Before Kazuha was released, almost all character event banners featured DPS or Sub-DPS characters. He was one of the first 5-star support characters in Genshin Impact.

Kaedehara Kazuha, Credit: HoYoverse
Kaedehara Kazuha, Credit: HoYoverse

After his release, the player’s impression of Kazuha was somewhat poor because of his gameplay. Many players even compared his usability with Sucrose and claimed he was even worse. Because of this, most players skipped his banner and didn’t pull for him. However, Kazuha ultimately became one of the best Sub-DPS, and Anemo supports. So, now the majority of the players are eagerly waiting for his rerun.

Chongyun is another character who is often ranked low in the character tier lists. Chongyun might seem a bit niche as a solo character, but he is incredible as a support and a Sub-DPS. One of the most popular teams in Genshin Impact right now is the National Team consists Bennett, Xingqiu, Xiangling, and Chongyun. National teams became insanely popular because 4-star characters are easy to get and build with minimal resources and investment. This shows how good Chongyun can be if used properly with a team.

National Team featuring Xiangling, Chongyun, Xingqiu and Bennett
National Team featuring Xiangling, Chongyun, Xingqiu, and Bennett

Even Amber, who is considered one of the weakest characters in Genshin Impact, can be a viable backup in a Pyro-oriented team. This shows that every character in Genshin Impact excels in their way.

Amber, Credit: HoYoverse Genshin
Amber, Credit: HoYoverse

Read More: Genshin Impact: Artifacts Guide for Beginners

If you are starting to play Genshin Impact, we always recommend playing with the characters you find fun and flexible to play. The character tier lists are primarily misleading, and they might affect your impression of a character when you start playing the game. This is why you should not look up character tier lists and take them seriously.

Keep an eye on GameRiv for more Genshin Impact content and guides in the future.

By Himel Mahmud Guide Writer
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Himel Mahmud is a Staff Writer and Social Media Manager at GameRiv. A former FIFA Professional, Himel has been playing video games forever. He plays video games passionately, loves football and an avid music listener.