Who to Pick for 5 Star Standard Selector (7.1)

With Genshin's shortly upcoming 6th Anniversary, all players that log in during the duration of Patch 7.1 will be given access to a selector that provides them with a free copy of any one of the Standard Banner 5* characters. While many of the available characters aren't meta relevant, a few have received significant buffs in the last few months and can become strong options for any account. This guide will outline who to pick in your scenario and why.

All Standard Banner 5* characters are available, but you can only pick one of them. The options are:

Dehya / Diluc / Jean /Keqing/ Mona / Tighnari / Qiqi / Yumemizuki Mizuki

• Dehya: an off-field defensive option that increases current Interruption Resistance and tanks some of the damage they take with some slow Pyro off-field application, or a Burst reliant on-field damage dealer. Very bad at both roles, Dehya has no real place in the meta. Her Constellations do not help her case.
• Diluc: an on-field damage dealer with the ability to infuse Pyro on his NAs with his Burst. Mostly a Plunge carry with Xianyun nowadays, thanks to his surprisingly high Plunge Talent Values. Requires vertical investment to be playable, is hard to play even with it, and his Constellations are largely useless.
• Jean: Jean is an Anemo healer that can provide some niche and mediocre buffs with her Constellations. Her most important use cases today have largely been to cheese some Stygian Onslaught bosses, although she hasn't been able to do this in a long time. No real use cases.
• Keqing: an Electro on-field DPS and largely worse than every other on-field Electro DPS. Her Constellations are mediocre but sort of relevant. Keqing is not unlikely to receive buffs soon, which could make her much stronger than she currently is.
• Mona: after her Hexerei buffs, Mona has become a very powerful Support option for several strong meta teams, mostly for Mavuika, Arlecchino and Mualani. She provides very high Elemental DMG Bonus buffs, and with her Hexerei buffs can make them have nearly permanent uptime. She's also a strong 4th slot for Skirk teams, although she doesn't make use of her Hexerei buffs there. There are a few other teams she's good for, such as Lohen Freeze teams. Mona's C2 and especially her C4 are both strong Support Constellations, while her C6 lets her become a sometimes usable on-field DPS of sorts. This is mainly done alongside Hexerei cores and Durin.
• Tighnari: a mediocre Dendro on-field DPS with mediocre Constellations. With those Constellations, Tighnari can occassionally clear some endgame content, but is going to have quite a difficult time otherwise. Arguably the best of the bad options of the bunch.
• Qiqi: thanks to her Witch's Revelation buffs, Qiqi is one of the best 4th slot Supports for several Stellar teams and especially Sandrone ones. In Stellar teams, Qiqi mainly provides teamwide Stellar DMG Bonus, some off-field Cryo Application and a lot of Cryo Energy Particles. Qiqi's a mostly a complete character at C0, though her C6 specifically can slightly change her gameplay and make her a bit stronger in her teams.
• Yumemizuki Mizuki: the only other Anemo Stellar Swirl carry besides Vesna, Mizuki can be a strong on-field DPS with a few Constellations. Starting at C2, Mizuki becomes one of the best Anemo carries in general (albeit still a good bit worse than the aforementioned Vesna) and with her C6 can be excellent. All of her C1, C2 and C6 are very strong. She's also very easy to play, with minimal player input. Keep in mind Mizuki doesn't enable Stellar Swirl herself despite being a DPS.

By far the most relevant units, as was outlined above, are Mona, Qiqi and Yumemizuki Mizuki. The other available characters are largely meta irrelevant and carry little value with them. If you are a big fan of one of them and want to invest into them, there are some Constellation options. Most of Dehya's, Tighnari's and Keqing Constellations will make them a little stronger; Keqing is possibly getting buffed soon. Jean and Diluc get negligible value from any of their Constellations, except for C4 in Jean's case making her an almost viable option for a few bad teams.

There are a few use cases for Tighnari, Dehya and Keqing as units for Imaginarium Theater. They are able to hold their own against some of its early stages if they're built and have a couple Constellations. Any unit can be worth picking up if it lets you enter more Imaginarium Theaters in general, but it's rare that you'd be that short on units as to need to pick Jean up instead of anyone else. The three former options are just usable enough.

Mona

• If you don't have Mona, have Mavuika, Arlecchino or Mualani and want to play their Hexerei Vaporize teams, C0 Mona is going to be fairly low value compared to their other teams but still viable. Mona should be at least C2 to make Arlecchino feel smoother to play, and ideally she should be C4 to become a strong option for either of them. Getting Mona to C2 or C4 for those teams can be worth it if you're actively playing them and want to improve them.
• If you're not getting Vodyanitsa for Skirk teams, getting Mona or getting her to C4 can be worth it for Skirk teams. C4 Mona is one of the strongest 4th slots for Skirk after Vodyanitsa. She's also necessary for Lohen Freeze teams, and her C4 is even better there thanks to the added Hexerei effect.
• There are a few other teams and use cases where Mona is relevant, but they're not nearly as useful. Mona has a hard time pairing with any Lunar or Stellar carry due to her buffs being entirely DMG%. Neither Lunar nor Stellar units are able to benefit from regular Elemental DMG Bonus. This makes Mona have no synergy with most new units, and will likely continue to as long as the Stellar meta sticks around, which should be a while.

Qiqi

• There are two cases for choosing Qiqi: you don't have her at all and want to own her, or you already have her at C5 and the additional copy will get you to C6.
• • If you don't have her at all: Qiqi at C0 is a strong 4th slot Support option for Stellar-Conduct and Stellar Swirl carries. She is best for Sandrone, who makes great use of Qiqi's 6 Cryo Particles, but she's also good for Cyno, Yumemizuki Mizuki and Vesna. She faces stiff competition with C6 Diona for all of the above options, but especially Mizuki and Vesna.
  • If you're getting her to C6: you will now be using her Elemental Burst, but otherwise she stays the same. It's not a massive increase, typically about 5% team DPS. It can certainly still be worth picking her up if you're already using her or are looking for additional Stellar Support options.

Mizuki

• Mizuki at C0 is a decent on-field Stellar Swirl carry but far from particularly competent. She will be able to tackle some endgame content alongside units like Odette, but won't be impressive. That said, Mizuki is also available in the 'Temper Thyself and Journey Far' Event, so if you don't have her you will always be able to get her to at least C1. Her C1 is very important to her proper functioning.
• She starts shining at C2, which massively increases her teams' strength. It's a very strong Constellation and it's what gets her to true meta relevance.
• Her other Constellations outside of her C6 are largely negligible. Her C6 is very powerful if you're able to get it, and makes her one of the strongest carries around, at least compared to C0 / low investment Limited 5 stars.
• If you don't have Odette, Mizuki is unfortunately not that strong. Vesna is the upcoming 7.1 Limited Banner 5 star and is directly better than Mizuki at all levels of investment except for C6, whether with or without Odette. Mizuki does not benefit from Vodyanitsa much, if at all.

• Almost never bother with Dehya, Diluc or Jean outside of Imaginarium Theater scenarios. Some of Tighnari's Constellations can be worth considering if you're using him for some reason. Keqing can be a consideration sometimes if you're thinking long-term and looking at possible upcoming Liyue buffs.
  
• Mona, Qiqi and Yumemizuki Mizuki are the primary considerations.
• • Mona is a strong pick-up for many less recent carries, and can be part of some their best teams. C2 and C4 are her main Constellation breakpoints.
  • Qiqi and Yumemizuki Mizuki are both part of the Stellar meta, with Qiqi as a Support for both Stellar Glimmer Reactions and Mizuki as an on-field Stellar Swirl DPS. Qiqi should only be considered if you don't already own her or picking her up gets you to C6, or if no other option does anything for you and it gets her closer to C6. Mizuki can be considered at any investment, with C1 being her baseline and C2, C6 being her biggest breakpoints.

While your choice in this selector is unlikely to make or break your account, it can absolutely have significant influence on whether you are able to clear certain endgame scenarios. Make sure to take your account's particulars into consideration and make the choice that best fits you and your goals. In a similar vein, make sure to check out the Limited 5* Selector Guide and the New & Returning Player Guide to be even further aware of how to make the correct meta decisions for your account.