With update 1.5 just around the corner for Genshin Impact, players can expect new and shiny stuff along with some balance changes from the huge update. One can hope, however, that the development team looked into some less than stellar characters and saw how they stacked up against others. Because as it is, around half of the Genshin Impact roster needs some tender loving care.
That’s because the most recently introduced characters in the game have upped the power ceiling considerably. This naturally put some already lagging characters even lower in some people’s tier lists and also made formerly good ones a bit obsolete. That leads to a significant portion of the Genshin Impact community wishing for some buffs or at least specific balance changes so that these characters can keep up.
10 Amber
No surprise here, Amber has been at the bottom of the heap from the beginning of the game, which is a shame. After all, she’s quite commonly used as a poster girl in Genshin Impact’s advertisements.
Sadly, Amber remains the character with the lowest damage output among all bow users. Her abilities are also not that exciting; only her Elemental Skill is decent enough. But of course, that’s probably to be expected of the first character to be given for free.
9 Barbara
Barbara is in a weird spot right now even though she can procure Vaporize reactions, which is one of the best in the game right now. Her healing, while decent, has quite a long cooldown and isn’t preferable out of all the available ones in the game.
Meanwhile, Barbara’s hydro application is also a bit lacking since most players have to go up to melee range for her Elemental Skill to apply the wet status. Damage-wise, don’t even bother unless you’re building her for a Vaporize DPS; even then, there are much better options such as Xingqiu. At best, Barbara is way below average.
8 Chongyun
Chongyun is actually a good support for characters like Hu Tao or Diluc but it seems he’s supposed to be a DPS carry, especially with that claymore. In that department, he’s quite bad at dealing damage.
Kaeya can easily outrace him when it comes to DPS as that one can apply the cryo status better. Moreover, Chongyun’s Elemental Burst leaves much to be desired as it’s both clunky to use and only works in a small spot.
7 Xinyan
Xinyan is one of the most unpopular characters in the game despite being the only pyro claymore user next to Diluc. Her abilities are all over the place and seem to have no focus. You either build her for one aspect and lose other advantages or make her a jack-of-all-trades damage dealer with mediocre output.
Most players just want her for the shield produced by her Elemental Skill as this scales with her defense. Her Elemental Burst deals a split of physical and pyro damage, making it hard for her to have a focus.
6 Lisa
Lisa needs tons of buffs and maybe a rework to make her a viable Electro damage dealer like Razor or Fischl. As she is, her abilities contradict her playstyle which is supposed to be a mage casting spells from afar; too bad her Elemental Skill and Burst put her in a melee range.
Moreover, the electro element is the weakest link right now in Genshin Impact now that geo has been buffed. Lisa needs some mechanic changes as well as a buff to her element which is quite a lot to ask for considering she’s a free character.
5 Traveler
The geo Traveler is actually passable, especially after the geo element buff. The anemo one is overshadowed by better characters like Sucrose. However, when it comes to the geo version as well, many players would rather use Ningguang instead for a DPS.
She deals much higher damage and has a more reliable shield generation. At best, the geo version of the Traveler is a utility tool for easier climbing and puzzle activation. Other than that, he doesn’t excel in one particular category.
4 Qiqi
Qiqi has a new nickname right now and that would be “the worst 5-star,” presumably including even the weapons. She isn’t good at anything she does. For damage? Her attacks are pretty weak. For healing? Her cooldowns are too long to be reliable.
For cryo application? Too slow; don’t even bother. She desperately needs a buff because right now even 4-star characters like Bennett are better than Qiqi at her intended job for the party. Even Barbara is sometimes preferred over Qiqi.
3 Albedo
Albedo seems to be the only support-focused 5-star character right now after Zhongli received some massive buffs. Even as the geo element got buffed though, Albedo doesn’t hold a candle to someone like Ningguang.
That’s quite a shame considering Albedo is the 5-star character. Albedo actually needs more effort in the artifact department to make him feel like he’s a 5-star character. As he is right now, his most redeeming value is his floral elevator.
2 Keqing
Poor Keqing is a disappointing 5-star DPS character and one of the worst performing fighters in Floor 12 of the Spiral Abyss. She’s not exactly bad, it’s just that her element is the worst right now.
Electro simply has lackluster elemental reactions. More tests even displayed how a physical Keqing build has a near-identical damage output compared to an electro Keqing build. It’s high time her element gets an overhaul.
1 Diluc
Last but not least is someone who was once the king of DPS, Diluc. Hu Tao dethroned him as a pyro carry but that doesn’t mean Diluc is a bad character now. He’s still a gold standard for DPS since he doesn’t have a drawback and can still deal millions of damage.
It’s just that the latest 5-star characters unfairly had tailor-made weapons for them (like the Staff of Homa for Hu Tao) and Diluc doesn’t. He should either get a claymore equivalent of that or a buff to his multipliers or even some talent overhauls to even the playing field. While they’re at it, the developers ought to give the other 5-star characters their own thematic shiny toys.
NEXT: Genshin Impact Tips And Build Guides For Every Character
