While the maximum party size in Genshin Impact is five, there are actually 24 playable characters in the game. Each of these characters has their own unique combination of attributes and attack styles, and they all draw on a certain elemental type. But which are the best characters in Genshin Impact? Well, we’re here to run you through a tier of who we consider the best based on the current meta.
Best Characters in Genshin Impact
Before we jump into our tier ranking, it’s worth noting that although the five-star characters are obviously the best, they aren’t necessarily vital for completing the game and having fun along the way.
Ultimately, you enjoy playing is really the best character to use. If you like a certain character for their appearance, attack style, and special attributes then, honestly, don’t worry yourself too much about whether they appear at the very top of this list. Just have fun, level your character, and experiment with builds.
Most characters are viable for the end game and Spiral Abyss. In our experience, Genshin Impact is more about finding the best party set-up than getting the most powerful individual characters.
Finally, do make sure that whoever you go for as your main characters suit both the device you’re playing on and the type of attack style you are good at. For example, maybe choosing a ranged character isn’t such a good idea if you’re a mobile player since aiming is much harder on a touchscreen.
Now, with that all being said, here’s a list of best characters in Genshin Impact:
Diluc – 5 Star, Sword
Best Characters in Genshin Impact
A fire elemental character that deals massive damage (has been majorly buffed since the beta), Diluc is useful both targeting a single enemy and for his AOE utility.
Overall, he has a great range of different attacks that all combo into each other, which is not only fun to play but seriously powerful. If you pull Diluc, you’ve got yourself the absolute best DPS in the meta right now.
As a bonus, Fire is obviously also a useful element when exploring since it’s used to destroy obstacles.
Fischl – 4 Star, Bow
Best Characters in Genshin Impact
Yes, a four-star character this high up in our tier ranking! Fischl is great because she’s both easy to obtain, and, most importantly, can slot into any team composition. That’s as a result of her ability to deal high DPS and superb electro elemental damage thanks to her summon, Oz.
After Oz appears it’ll stay for ten seconds and offer the chance at an elemental combo with other characters’ abilities. The best tactic, then, is to switch in Fischl, quickly summon Oz, then switch to a different character and combo with, say, a cryo character for a superconductivity effect.
Venti – 5 Star, Bow
Venti is a wind elemental DPC character who hits for significant damage. One of his best attributes is his brilliant AOE Anemo attack that strikes all enemies and propels both them and Venti upward. From there, he can then reign down on any enemies left over.
Obviously, having the ability to propel himself upwards also makes exploration much easier, since you don’t have to climb and worry about stamina.
Venti can also use his bow to create a vortex effect that sucks enemies into its core, which is useful for grouping enemies together to strike them with AOE attacks.
Mona – 5 Star, Catalyst
One of the most powerful characters in the game right now, Mona is a ranged caster that suits someone who likes to pop off attacks from distance and move around quickly.
She has fantastic mobility, which is really fun to use — though mobile players might struggle to get the best out of her using a touch screen.
Jean – 5 Star, Sword
Jean is an excellent healer who also deals big damage, making her a very versatile character. Particularly so, because she’s a wind elemental that can easily combo with other party members for special elemental attacks.
One of her AoE attacks sucks enemies into a tight grouping, which then makes targeting them with other party member’s AoE attacks easier.
As for her support capabilities, Jean’s Dandelion Field ability heals the entire party while also knocking back nearby enemies, dealing Anemo damage in the process (one of the rarer damage-types).
Barbara – 5 Star, Catalyst
One of the game’s most effective healers, Barbara is a very useful character towards the end game. But as we’ve said for Keqing, you don’t really need healers for the early game so Barbara probably isn’t worth building right away.
What makes her healing so effective is her Melody Loop, which makes all of her attacks heal other party members.
This scales with her HP, which means that if you did want to build her early you could just through all your Adventure EXP packs on her and really boost her HP and, in turn, healing abilities.
For those who manage to reach the end of her Constellation tree, Barbara also has a fantastic revive ability that automatically brings back to life any downed party member even if she’s not on the field.
As for damage, she’s just not as effective as Keqing, which is why she’s lower on our tier list. Her elemental type is Hydro, which is quite hard to use, even she can perform some fairly useful AoE attacks with it.
Xiangling – 4 Star, Polearm
Xiangling is just a four-star, but if you get some duplicates of her then she can become very powerful. We’ve included her in this tier more because she’s quite gettable as a F2P character, rather than her being strictly “better” than other characters who arguably offer higher damage, better support capabilities, etc.
Xiangling’s strength is that she’s super powerful once you upgrade her Constellations, so we encourage you to stick with her and not be disheartened by continual duplicates. Her Pyro upgrades are great because they buff both her attack and any other Pyros you have, as well as offering a great Pyro debuff.
So, again, if you manage to score some duplicates and can upgrade her in this way then she’s useful as a DPS and support.
That does it for our list of best characters in Genshin Impact. For more useful tips and guides on the game, search Twinfinite.