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Genshin Impact Tier List (Best Characters)

Genshin Impact Tier List

Updated Version 3.4

Welcome to our Genshin Impact tier list showing off the best characters in the game. Tier lists are a great resource to use when you’re unsure what characters to invest your time and resources into.

However, tier lists aren’t everything. If you enjoy a Genshin Impact character’s design or playstyle, you should play however you want to play.

This resource is simply here to show which characters will give you the easiest time tackling difficult content.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Genshin Impact Tier List Version 3.4

The Best Genshin Impact Characters (Tier List)

Here are our latest rankings with each character being organized into tiers:

Tier Champions
SS Bennett, Fischl, Kazuha, Nahida, Raiden Shogun, Sucrose, Xiangling, Xingqiu, Yelan
S Ayaka, Ayato, Ganyu, Hu Tao, Kokomi, Tartaglia, Traveler (Dendro), Venti
A Albedo, Alhaitham, Arataki Itto, Beidou, Eula, Gorou, Heizou, Jean, Kaeya, Kuki Shinobu, Mona, Nilou, Rosaria, Shenhe, Xiao, Yae Miko, Yoimiya, Zhongli
B Barbara, Chongyun, Collei, Cyno, Diluc, Diona, Faruzan, Keqing, Klee, Kujou Sara, Layla, Lisa, Ningguang, Noelle, Razor, Sayu, Thoma, Tighnari, Wanderer, Yanfei, Yaoyao, Yun Jin
C Amber, Aloy, Candace, Qiqi, Traveler (Anemo), Traveler (Geo), Traveler (Electro), Xinyan

Genshin Impact Tier List Methodology

The goal of this tier list is to show the strengths of different characters for difficult content, specifically, the abyss. There are many factors that go into a tier for a character, and these are the main considerations.

Raw Power

Characters that can output large amounts of damage will obviously rank higher on our tier list than those who can’t. This is the main consideration for Main DPS units who take up on-field time. For sub DPS units, damage and power are also the main consideration, but with small caveats. Lastly, Supports don’t need high damage in order to rank high as they provide other assets to a team.

Flexibility

In terms of methodology, flexibility is somewhat the opposite of raw power in our tier list. While main DPS units can also be very flexible, Supports and Sub DPS are rated much better if they are flexible. Being able to improve the damage capabilities of many different Main DPS units is extremely valuable as an off-field unit.

Flexibility comes in many forms whether it be a generic buff like an attack buff, or maybe their burst provides a lot of elemental application.

Ease of Use

Lastly, ease of use is a small consideration when it comes to tier list ranking. Some characters may sacrifice a bit of power or flexibility in favor of quality of life. A healer may not improve your damage, but will help you clear content much more easily.

Ease of use also comes into play when considering how difficult some teams are to play. If the character or team requires near perfect input, it makes it much harder to play.

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Explaining the Ranks and Characters

Here’s a quick rundown of what the different tiers mean for our Genshin Impact tier list, and our reasoning for the characters being ranked where they are.

SS-Tier

Genshin Impact Kazuha Feature

These characters are some of the best in the game, and perform at a level above the rest. Clearing content with these characters will make your life the easiest.

Bennett

Bennett is simply the best support in the game. He can do it all. He gives a strong ATK buff to your team, and heals. There aren’t many characters that can buff and heal, let alone do it as well as Bennett can.

Fischl

Fischl is an amazing off-field support and Electro applicator. She is a very valuable source of damage in the many different taser teams, and is simply a very powerful reaction based off-field character. With the release of Dendro, we expect Fischl to be a top meta support with reactions like Quicken and Aggravate looking strong.

Kazuha (see guide)

Kazuha is a premier Anemo support. Anemo supports in general are all very powerful. Kazuha provides grouping, Swirl damage, Elemental Mastery, and more. He’s a unit that can easily fit into any team that cares about Elemental Damage.

Nahida

Nahids is the go to Dendro character in the game. She can be played on field or off field, and basically every Dendro team is at it’s highest potential with Nahida.

Raiden

Raiden is an extremely powerful character due to her burst. She is able to become a team battery and supply Energy for the team. This allows other characters to build more damage instead of Energy Recharge. With enough investment, Raiden also can become a powerful main DPS with her burst being able to deal extremely large amounts of damage.

Sucrose

Another Anemo support is rated highly, what a surprise. Sucrose is an Anemo support on the level of units like Venti and Kazuha. She fulfills her own niche with her talents giving the team Elemental Mastery. Being a catalyst user also gives her access to TTDS as an option for a support. She can even be run as a driver in taser (electrocharged) teams where her job is to simply swirl react over and over with her attacks and skills.

Xiangling

Xiangling is everyone’s favorite and the best Pyro Sub DPS. She helps deal damage and enable many reactions through her Burst Pyronado. Xiangling is extremely powerful due to her flexibility on any team that wants to use Pyro damage. Her strong off-field burst makes her a viable choice in many strong teams.

Xingqiu

Xingqiu is one of the best supports in the game alongside Bennett. Xingqiu’s claim to fame is his Hydro application. His burst and skill allow him to apply hydro to enemies without spending much time on the field. This allows other characters to react with Hydro very easily, making him the best support at what he does.

Yelan

Yelan is basically another version of Xingqiu. She does a lot of the same things, to varying degrees of power, but considering Xingqiu is one of the few SS-tier units, Yelan basically is instantly an S-tier unit at least. Yelan also moves up into SS-tier because the combination of Yelan and Xingqiu on a team is on of the best combinations in the game.

S-Tier

Genshin Impact Tartaglia Feature

These characters are all amazing and are a great investment. Resources will not be wasted on these characters, but they don’t quite measure up to the SS tier.

Ayaka (see guide)

Ayaka is one of the top DPS units in the game. In the Cryo element, both her and Ganyu are top tier. Ayaka’s playstyle centers heavily around her burst and its damage, so if that playstyle aligns with you, Ayaka is a top tier choice.

Ayato (see guide)

Ayato has seen a lot of solid play in a variety of different teams like Vaporize, Freeze, of Electrocharged. While he doesn’t perform as well as some other Main DPS units, he still is very powerful and can be used in a variety of ways.

Ganyu (see guide)

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As previously mentioned, Ganyu is another top tier main DPS unit that rivals Ayaka for Cryo DPS. Ganyu is a strong unit that is very comfortable to play and can do many things with her Charged Shot or Burst. However, her Freeze teams have become less powerful as more enemies cannot be Frozen. Even still, Ganyu can definitely clear just about any content in the game.

Hu Tao

Hu Tao is without a doubt the premier Pyro DPS unit. She is extremely powerful with single target damage, and is amazing at clearing content quickly. Hu Tao is also mechanically challenging to play as her optimal damage numbers are done through animation cancelling.

Kokomi

Kokomi is a sort of jack of all trades unit when it comes to Hydro. She can heal the team, she has decent Hydro application, and also provides a small bit of damage. Kokomi has seen use in a lot of teams, and her kit allows her to be used in many creative and powerful ways. The off-field hydro application is good, and being a catalyst user makes her an instant support with TTDS.

Tartaglia

Childe, or Tartaglia, is arguably the strongest Hydro unit in the game. While he isn’t an amazing support, he is an amazing Main DPS and even Sub DPS. His on field Hydro application is rivaled by no one, and in content with multiple enemies, his kit truly shines. Based on raw power, Tartaglia should even be an SS-tier unit. We’re holding back a bit simply because he can be quite difficult to learn and play optimally.

Traveler (Dendro)

The Dendro MC is the first Traveler to see a lot of play in strong team comps. At the current moment, almost all Dendro based reaction teams want to use the Dendro Traveler. This is currently the best off field Dendro applicator we have, making the Traveler a strong choice.

Venti (see guide)

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Venti is amazing for the same reason as Kazuha. He’s an Anemo support. His burst can also completely trivialize certain content if enemies are able to be picked up. Anemo overall is just very powerful.

A-Tier

Genshin Impact Eula Feature

These Genshin Impact characters are decently strong, and won’t struggle too much to clear the abyss. They often require more investment or more specific teams to succeed, but they can still be rewarding to play.

Albedo

Geo characters in general are an interesting case. They can often be very powerful, and can exist outside of the elemental reaction family. Albedo shines as a Sub DPS unit for comps that either want to use Geo supports or want to use a Geo Main DPS.

Alhaitham

Alhatham is still a new addition to the game at this moment, but he seems to have solid potential. He is a bit of a downgrade from Nahida in Dendro teams, but can also work very well along with Nahida.

Arataki Itto

Itto is the first and currently only 5-star Geo Main DPS. Running a Geo DPS makes life easier as you worry less about reactions and difficult rotations. He is very strong, but requires investment into things like levels and talents to shine. While Geo DPS might not overtake elemental reactions, they are a strong niche that can be very strong and enjoyable to play.

Beidou

By no means, is Beidou not a strong character. Taser teams are extremely powerful, and Beidou is a key piece to that recipe. However, she has limited use cases being limited to these electrocharged teams, and it just a slight step down from the characters in S tier and above.

Gorou

Gorou is a Geo support through and through. He is definitely Itto’s best support, and makes mono Geo teams much stronger. Like some other characters in this tier, Gorou has a strong use case, but is limited to it. Even still, what Gorou provides to Geo is so irreplaceable, that he deserves an A tier.

Heizou

Sucrose and Heizou are very similar. Both are 4-star Anemo Catalyst users. Heizou can be used in place of Sucrose in some teams, but doesn’t quite live up to Sucrose. He can still be a driver for things like Taser, but doesn’t have the utility that Sucrose provides.

Eula (see guide)

If you don’t care about fancy elemental reactions, Eula is one of the best characters you can use. Eula is the strongest Physical Main DPS in the game by a longshot. While Physical DPS teams have their own weaknesses, if you embrace their playstyle, you can have a very fun time.

Jean

Jean is mainly used as another Anemo support, but she falls behind the other Anemo supports in terms of her kit. She does have powerful synergies with characters with things like Sunfire, but overall she still falls behind the other Anemo supports.

Kaeya

Kaeya is a Cryo Sub DPS / Battery, and he simply is good at what he does. While he can be outshined by units like Rosaria or Diona for offense / defense respectively, he still is a strong unit that will get the job done.

Kuki Shinobu

When Kuki was released, she seemed to be a bad unit. Her skills couldn’t trigger reactions very well and was considered a bad unit. When Dendro released, it was clear that Kuki was designed around being a Dendro Reaction based support. Her Skill and Burst allow her to be a very strong component of Aggravate or Hyperbloom teams. Being a healer also makes her a huge plus in those teams.

Mona

Mona is a powerful support that is most popular on freeze teams alongside Ganyu or Ayaka. Her skill can apply Hydro while off field, and her burst allows you to debuff enemies. Lastly, being a catalyst user allows her to use Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (TTDS), a very powerful support weapon to buff up your Main DPS.

Nilou

Nilou is a niche unit that only sees play in Bloom teams, but she brings Bloom teams to their highest potential. While her teams are strong, her limiting playstyle is a bit of a downside.

Rosaria

Rosaria is a strong Cryo Sub DPS / Support. Her skills can generate particles like any Support or Sub DPS, and she is the preferred offensive Cryo Support in the 4-star category. Like Kaeya, she’s a simple, yet powerful support. Kaeya and Rosaria can even be used together as Main DPS units in a Reverse Melt team.

Shenhe

Shenhe is basically the premier Cryo support. Her main strength is being able to buff up your Main Cryo DPS. While this is very powerful, it’s not necessarily needed. Shenhe shines when you already have a strong team built around a Cryo DPS. She doesn’t enable your account to build into different and more flexible teams like other units do.

Xiao

Xiao is similar to Eula and Itto in that he is an Anemo Main DPS, which is somewhat separate from most other teams. Since his damage is Anemo, he doesn’t have much access to buffs through things like reactions or the resistance shred from VV (Viridescent Venerer). This hurts Anemo DPS users in general, but Xiao is still plenty strong at tackling abyss content.

Yae Miko

Yae Miko is a decent Sub DPS unit for Electro, but her kit can feel quite clunky to play. She provide a decent amount of damage for a team that can fit her, but her teams don’t excel like others do.

Yoimiya

Yoimiya is another Pyro Main DPS, but she suffers from targeting issues and is prone to interruption. Her kit relies on her full normal attack combo, which can be annoying to use in many situations. Even still, if you can help fix her issues with things like a shielder and a team built around her, Yoimiya will melt enemies in single target situations.

Zhongli

The Geo Archon, Zhongli, is a very powerful Geo support that helps make life a lot easier for many teams. His shields are very powerful for any Main DPS that is prone to interruption. His Burst also helps tackle content much easier than without him. The reason he isn’t higher tier is simply because he is a character that is more about comfort and ease rather than raw power. He is still very powerful and unique, though.

B-Tier

Genshin Impact Keqing Feature

These characters are just below average. It will be more challenging to clear end game content with these characters, but it’s not impossible. Some of these characters also have powerful use cases, but are limited to few cases and can be difficult to use in a variety of teams.

Barbara

Barbara is a decent support in that she provides a lot of healing, but healing is unique in that you don’t need too much of it. Just a small amount is enough, so specializing in healing can be overkill. Her skill can be used as off field hydro application, but it comes at the cost of the wet status and having to be very close to enemies. Overall, she isn’t a terrible pick, but there are many better options.

Chongyun

Chongyun was used in the early days of Genshin, but nowadays, with access to more Cryo units, he has fallen by the wayside. He can still be used, but he doesn’t particularly excel anywhere.

Collei

With Sumeru comes a new 4-star Dendro support and off field applicator. Collei seems to do a decent job at off field Dendro application, but it’s not amazing. She can be used for now, but there likely will be better options moving forward.

Cyno

Cyno is an on field hyper carry of sorts due to the fact that his Burst takes up a long time. Unfortunately, the supports that currently exist for him don’t make him a viable hyper carry. He slots into many other teams, but doesn’t make those teams better. He is simply an option or sidegrade or even downgrade to other teams that already exist.

Diluc

Diluc is basically the baseline by which we assess character power level. He was the first popular Main DPS and was touted as the strongest character on Genshin’s launch. Since then, we’ve learned about many more mechanics, and while Diluc is still a decent Main DPS, he has definitely been overshadowed over time.

Diona

Diona’s claim to fame is the fact that she’s a shielding Cryo support. Being a Cryo support allows her to generate Cryo energy for units like Ayaka or Ganyu. This, combined with the fact that she has solid supporting abilities, ranks her decently. While she can help players with the comfort of shielding, there are other options for Cryo supports that will do more damage.

Faruzan

Faruzan is Genshin’s go to Anemo buffer, but she is quite difficult to play with. She doesn’t generate particles well, and has a very high energy requirement. Even still, if you want to play Xiao or Wanderer, Faruzan will be the best inclusion for those teams.

Keqing

Keqing is one of the OG 5-star characters in the game. She is an Electro Main DPS, but she suffers from a lot of issues. Electro is unfavorable in terms of reactions except electrocharged, and Keqing isn’t amazing at reacting with Hydro. Her ideal attack is also to spam charged attacks, which eat away at stamina.

Klee

Klee is another character that is simply just overshadowed by others. She has good potential and can clear the abyss with the right teams, but she is not as easy to pilot or build around as other characters.

Kujou Sara

So far Kujou Sara’s main role in teams is to buff up Raiden Shogun as the Main DPS. We call this Raiden Hyper Carry (building around buffing up Raiden as much as possible). At C6, Kujou Sara is a great support for Raiden, but before that, she is mediocre. Even at C6, other characters like Lisa can perform similarly in the Electro Support role.

Layla

Layla unfortunately has very high competition in the Cryo slot as a support. She’s mainly used as a shield bot, but Diona already exists for that aspect. Shenhe and Rosaria already exist for offensive Cryo supports, so Layla doesn’t find too much use, but she is good.

Lisa

Lisa, like another Electro Catalyst user, is simply a bit clunky to use. Her skill needs time to channel for 2 seconds, which makes her very clunky to play. She can deal solid damage, but is often too slow to justify. Lisa’s saving grace is that she can hold TTDS.

Ningguang

Ningguang is another Geo Main DPS user, but she is not very strong unless she is at C6. Before then, she can arguably be put in C tier, but for the lovers out there, there is some hope at C6.

Noelle

There is nothing that is wrong with Noelle’s kit, but she doesn’t provide a whole lot. She is a Geo Main DPS similar to Itto, except she lacks the same punch that Itto has. She can still deal huge chunks of damage with the right investments, but those same investments would pay off more on other characters.

Razor

Back in the day, Razor was a popular main DPS character. His kit leans into both Physical and Electro damage, but doesn’t excel at either. Scaling Razor’s damage is also difficult without tools like resistance shred or reactions. There is some access to scaling these, but like other characters here, investment would be better off on another character.

Sayu

Sayu is not bad, but once again, her kit as an Anemo Support revolves around healing, which is not the best kit to build upon. Her Anemo application is not as strong as other Anemo units, and her advantage with healing is lackluster in time trial end game.

Tighnari

Tighnari is a Quickswap DPS dealing Dendro damage. Unfortunately, his own personal damage doesn’t scale too high up, and he doesn’t play extremely well into Dendro reaction based comps other than things like Quicken and Spread. He’s a solid DPS, but nothing amazing.

Wanderer

Unfortunately, we are not super high on Wanderer. He has a very specific team requirement and playstyle, similar to characters like Xiao, Itto, or Eula. We don’t think he’s quite that powerful, but he can still be strong with the right team.

Yanfei

Much like the other Main DPS units in this list, Yanfei is simply underwhelming compared to other options.

Yaoyao

Yaoyao is the designated Dendro healer, which can be something useful for teams. There are plenty of other healers in the game already, so there’s high competition there. But if you’re lacking a healer in a Dendro based team, Yaoyao can slot in for you.

Yun Jin

Yun Jin is a solid support for any character that uses their Normal attacks. This includes units like Ayato, Itto, Noelle, and more. She’s a solid support that can go on a decent amount of teams. Her weakness is that the current meta revolves a lot around Elemental Reactions and Damage rather than Normal Attacks.

C-Tier

Genshin Impact Traveler Feature

Unfortunately, these characters just aren’t very good. They will struggle to clear endgame content, and are difficult to synergize into teams.

Amber

In the early days, Amber was top tier for completing Pyro puzzles and lighting torches. Now she sits unused in people’s accounts. There is a niche team where Amber is used as a Hu Tao support, but that is one small scenario.

Aloy

Aloy was a free character given in in collaboration with Horizon Zero Dawn. Unfortunately, she just isn’t that powerful.

Candace

Unfortunately, it just doesn’t seem like Candace does anything well. If we want to buff Normal Attacks, we have Yun Jin who is simply better. The Hydro Infusion on her Burst is interesting and fun, but doesn’t provide too much in terms of strength.

Thoma

The issue with Thoma is that he does virtually no damage. He brings utility in the form of shielding, but that’s not enough to overtake the king of Pyro supports, Bennett.

Traveler (Anemo/Geo/Electro)

All of the Traveler variations suffer from just not being able to do quite enough. Anemo and Geo already need lots of help to deal solid damage, and Electro is a niche element that works in very specific teams with specific characters. While the Traveler can definitely fit into many teams, there is almost always a better option.

Qiqi

Qiqi is low on the list similar to Barbara. Her kit revolves around healing, but healing is not a necessary investment. What makes Qiqi even more difficult to use is that she does not generate particles with her skill like most other units do. As such, Diona is preferred to Qiqi in almost every team that wants a Cryo support.

Xinyan

Xinyan is a Main DPS that suffers an identity crisis. Unfortunately, her kit doesn’t synergize with itself and leaves Xinyan as an underwhelming character.

Wrap Up

This wraps up our thoughts on the best characters in Genshin Impact. As previously mentioned, even if a character is rated low, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the game. This tier list is simply meant to be a resource for players who want to optimize their accounts. You can still do very well in the abyss with low rated characters, but it will be more of a challenge.

Even still, Genshin Impact is largely a solo game that should be enjoyed however you want to experience it. You can even opt to skip the abyss altogether and still have a great time playing the game.

Thanks for reading! For more articles, check out our Genshin Impact blog.

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