Part 2 of 2: My Opinion on Genshin Impact's Playable Characters

Go to part 1 for the rules as well as analyses from Albedo to Klee.

This is based on Version 1.2.

Stats are updated as of January 7, 2021.

Lisa

This character is obtainable for free in the main story.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
21	Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers Lv. 40/40	Wanderer's Troupe (4)	4973	315	250	113	0

Combat

I should've remembered that Lisa has a very rare ability to shred DEF. However, she's held back by an expensive Energy Cost of 80.

Am I just bad at using Lisa, or is her combat performance really utter trash? Her overall damage output is weaksauce, her held Elemental Skill is slow and leaves her vulnerable, and her Elemental Burst knocks light infantry out of the area of effect.

Fischl outclasses Lisa in almost every way; Fischl can spread Electro more quickly and easily with both her Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst.

For AoE Electro damage, I prefer to use Beidou or Razor.

Despite being the best student in Sumeru Arcademia in 200 years, Lisa's combat performance leaves me DISAPPOINTED! She won't be graduating with honors anytime soon in LunaticTactician's Academy of Tactical Lunacy with a pathetic score of 3/10. She's the worst of the four starting characters, in my opinion. I wonder what went on in the miHoYo team's heads while thinking about Lisa's combat...

Lore

Aside from The Tease personality, much of Lisa's story talks about how much of a stealthy slacker she is. When most people physically see Lisa, she looks like she's just sitting around doing nothing productive, when in fact she does her work so well that it's hard to believe she's a slacker. She delegates jobs to others, leaving her with only one job: maintaining the library. She repeatedly declined the position of Captain of the 8th Company despite numerous endorsements, including from Grand Master Varka. Lastly, this quote resonates well with my lazy Nay-Theist mind: "Before demanding too many miracles from the gods, first consider if you are willing to pay the price they ask."

At times when Lisa REALLY doesn't want to work, she will destroy you if you disturb her. The same goes if you don't return a library book on time. Exhibit A: Abyss Mage.

As for Lisa's voiced lines, the fact she's The Tease makes it hard for me to take most of them seriously; I keep thinking about sexual intentions. Some of the few lines which I don't interpret as sexual are her lines about Fischl, Jean, and Razor.

Speaking of Razor, I find it cute and funny how Lisa treats Razor like a pet dog. It makes me imagine Razor standing on all fours while sticking his tongue out like a dog and playing fetch. (I still hate our family dog though.)

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Similarity

My biggest similarity to Lisa is being Brilliant, but Lazy. Why else would I be able to make such brutally detailed analyses about my favorite media but dislike working for others?

I'm the kind of person who likes to "work smarter, not harder". As such, I like to keep my workplaces, both physical and digital, organized.

Being the best student in 200 years is extremely difficult to attain for the average Joe, so I'll tone it down.

While I consider myself an average student overall, I have gotten high grades before, particularly in programming and volunteerism.

In high school, I was Top 9.

To a limited extent, I can explain complicated concepts in simple terms--I regularly do so with my parents. For example, if I were to explain D&D alignments, I would say "lawful" and "chaotic" refer to whether or not someone would follow the rules of society while "good" and "evil" refer to whether they would benefit or harm others.

I give a 5/10.

Waifu Value

Believe it or not, I originally put Lisa as the top-tier waifu in my Discord server.

While her chest area is noticeably large especially compared to Amber and Jean, she's not as fanservicey as other female characters who are intentionally designed to be extremely attractive.

And I reckon she can properly hold a conversation with my...overwhelming ideas.

I...changed my mind.

Glancing at the community's waifu choices makes me see a lot of "Lisa". I don't feel comfortable stealing an extremely popular waifu from the rest of a fan community--I like to stand out from the crowd.

Don't even get me started with NSFW fan art of Lisa. I just want to see cute Klee faces in peace, man!

Also, flirty and suggestive characters are personally disgusting choices for me.

I give a 3/10.

Sorry, Gacha Gamer, but Lisa is not an SS-tier maneater for me.

Side Note

Amber was temporarily made useful in The Chalk Prince and the Dragon because she's the only character who can damage the Resurgent Cryo Regisvine's corolla while it's using its blizzard attack.

Kaeya was also made useful, though more for the long-term, because of the new Cryo artifact set.

How will miHoYo make Lisa more useful?

Mona

This 5-star character is featured in the Wanderlust Invocation Standard Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
51	Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers Lv. 20/20	Wanderer's Troupe (4)	9041	321	460	80	2

Combat

Aside from the differences in Visions, Mona's Elemental Skill effectively power-crept Amber's...despite both of them existing since launch. Then again, Mona is a 5-star character while Amber is 4-star.

Unlike Baron Bunny which only deals damage when it expires or gets destroyed, Mona's Phantom continuously inflicts Hydro damage to nearby foes before exploding, letting the player immediately follow up with other elemental attacks.

Mona's Elemental Burst traps nearby light infantry, allowing the player to quickly suppress foes without the time needed to inflict a Frozen reaction. That said, freezing foes as you pick them off one-by-one is a fun insult to injury.

Mona also has a unique sprint which allows her to move faster on water and inflict Wet on nearby foes after sprinting, creating an opening for melee attackers to inflict another element.

It feels kinda awkward to evade with this because Mona stops "dashing" and slows down upon releasing the sprint button, but unlike other characters, Mona's evasion can be spammed.

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Lore

Mona is interesting in that she gives no firetrucks about what others think of what she says...without being someone with a Hair-Trigger Temper like I'm used to when it comes to people that likely haven't read Mark Manson. She doesn't throw unnecessary insults either, further leading to me respecting her.

Aside from Mona's remarkable skill in astrology, her struggle with maintaining a steady supply of Mora is another important part of her character. She studies astrology almost religiously, preferring to buy more astrology-related goods and literature rather than food. She believes that "astrologers must rid themselves of material desires...[to] see the true world around them."

Oh well, considering how ridiculously accurate Mona's predictions are, I think it'll still be long before she dies. If her death was nearing, I think she'd fear for her life and take care of her physical health more.

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Mona is voiced by Felecia Angelle who also voiced female Kris in Fire Emblem Heroes. It just so happens that Kris is encountered in the same chapter as Freyja and both are rage-inducing. Firetruck these damage-reducing skills.

Similarity

Admittedly, I haven't fully mastered the subtle art of not giving a fuck. I still restrain my speech to maintain peace or avoid being inappropriate 'cause conflict stings my ego and wastes my time. I only give no firetrucks when it's absolutely important or when experiencing strong negative emotions.

Monks and religious people can talk all they want about minimizing material wealth, but I like being rich, thank you very much.

However, I save my money for a different purpose. My focus right now is to gain job experience and adapt to a modest lifestyle, so I eat as little as necessary unless I've been treated to a buffet.

Once I'm confident I can sustain an extravagant lifestyle, I will get such a lifestyle...and whale on Genshin Impact. GIMME JEAN AND VENTI ALREADY!

Edit: I decided to remain F2P. #1, there's always something better to pay for than this game like bills and groceries; #2, many famous Twitch streamers have spent on the game at least once so I want to stand out from the crowd; #3, paying for the game might make me think the game's too easy, causing me to criticize miHoYo for it in surveys. I like to be careful what I wish for; if it comes true, it may harm F2P players. I don't want any more enemies similar to the ultra-tanky Kairagi and Fatui Mirror Maidens and the malikot Pyro Hypostasis.

Mona's salary comes from writing about astrology in a newspaper in Fontaine. Compared to being easy to read in the past, when Mona took over, her writing looked very academic.

My writing is somewhere in-between. Grammarly often tells me that my writing can be understood by those who have had a 9th-grade education. I have a habit of using technical terms and rarely used words as well as making my blog posts long...mainly because I've been inspired by the quality of YouTube information and opinion videos. On the other hand, I still throw the occasional joke.

I give a 2/10.

Waifu Value

What do you know? Mona and Lisa (no pun intended) are adjacent to each other in alphabetical order. Not only that--both are fanservicey AND get tons of sexual fan art. You guys can keep your two waifus. I ain't touchin' any of 'em.

Fanservice aside, I dislike Mona's attitude with money and I don't think she'll like mine. I think, in Mona's mind, being associated with a greedy person will get in the way of her work. On the other hand, I feel deeply concerned when someone I like starves.

I give a 0/10.

Side Notes

Alice

Alice is ridiculously skilled. She wrote the Teyvat Travel Guide, making her a skilled adventurer like Bennett and Fischl. Albedo, an alchemist, served under Alice. Mona's teacher is Alice's rival in astrology. And, of course, she's a bombardier like her daughter Klee.

Makes me wonder how strong Alice would be as a playable character... Could her status as The Ace be amplified by giving her a claymore, suggesting she also has Super Strength? Or could she be a catalyst wielder just like Klee and Mona? A bow would be the most useful for hunting when going for the adventurer-focused route...

I'm guessing her Elemental Skill would be support-focused like Albedo, Fischl, and Mona.

Her Elemental Burst would be more focused on heavy damage, but instead of auto-attacking targets like Klee, it could be one giant explosion.

Ghean, Nacho, and Husbandos/Waifus

I got surprised when my old D&D friend and UPOU classmate, Ghean, pulled my favorite house leader Claude in Fire Emblem Heroes while I pulled her husbando Dimitri. I "offered" to trade my Dimitri for her Claude...but no trading in gacha games, guys.

Similarly, now that Nacho has Keqing, he wants Mona, who I have.

He needs one more Anemo character (he doesn't have Sucrose), so I joked to him that, if he gets Jean, I would trade my Mona in exchange for his Jean.

But...he actually wants more Fischl constellations. I need C2 at minimum so I can safely trade away 2 'cause I have her at C4.

If we can actually trade in Genshin Impact, then SHUT UP AND TAKE MY PRIMOGEMS!

Theater Mechanicus

I only noticed Mona's Normal Attacks had AoE upon playing this event. Her Phantom also lets her inflict passive Hydro damage, allowing a quick-swap to Ayaka, Ganyu, or Kaeya for freezing the enemy.

Windtrace

I'm too lazy to raise Mona and her play style doesn't suit me, so I'm honestly surprised that miHoYo hasn't bitten me in the butt with a Mona meta. (The Pyro Hypostasis doesn't count because Barbara and Xingqiu can beat it down pretty well, so Mona is not a must-have.)

Ironically, the Mona meta that we do have does not require Mona to deal damage: first, Theater Mechanicus, then Windtrace. Her unique sprint is broken for this minigame; she appears as a tiny water spout or something, effectively making her shorter than Klee while allowing her to camouflage in blue places like the Dragonspine map.

Ningguang

This 4-star character was featured in the Farewell of Snezhnaya Event Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
21	Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers Lv. 20/20	The Exile (4)	4114	198	174	13	0

Combat

As you can see, I've made next to no investment in Ningguang. I'm too emotionally attached to many of the other characters I already have.

Ningguang's method of being a DPS character is fairly unique from other DPS characters. Each Normal Attack hit gives her 1 Star Jade. Doing a Charged Attack with the maximum of 3 Star Jades maximizes the damage she deals.

Her Elemental Skill, Jade Screen, summons a projectile-blocking barrier. It's fairly big and can help against Spiral Abyss hilichurls which shoot multiple arrows in an arc, but still, I'm the kind of player who moves a LOT with melee attackers and I don't enjoy having to "hide" behind a shield that only works against ranged attacks.

You probably know what I'll say next. I just shield myself with Noelle.

Her Elemental Burst shoots a bunch of Geo projectiles, especially with Jade Screen active. Okay...it's simple, I suppose. I think the main use of Jade Screen for most players is to set this Elemental Burst up.

Problem is, Geo is a defensive element. While it's good at breaking armor, I prefer to spam offensive elemental reactions, especially because I have Klee whose offense does almost everything Ningguang does, but better.

Even with the Geo buffs in 1.3, I still don't plan to use Ningguang.

I currently don't see a need for Ningguang's ability to display ores on the minimap since much of my Genshin Impact time is spent on using up my Original Resin on fight after fight, but it might eventually come in handy in the endgame where I might need ores to craft weapon enhancement materials.

Besides, the player can conveniently stick a pickaxe icon on the map to indicate a place full of ores.

I give a Meh (4/10).

Lore

Ningguang is not a goddess, but heck, her riches and role in Liyue make her god-like. Let's see...

She lives in the Jade Chamber, a mini palace-like floating island that floats higher than Liyue's highest mountains and allows Ningguang to watch over the entirety of Liyue.

She is ridiculously intelligent. How else would she be the richest in all of Teyvat? Also, her original "chess" game has complicated rules, many editions, and dice of various face counts--reminds me a little of a particular tabletop RPG...

They say Ningguang knows everything...'cause the children of Liyue are, in Yandere Simulator terms, walking security cameras. Ningguang rewards them with tasty treats.

Lastly, the shredded pieces of paper from Ningguang's concluded business plans are made to rain on Liyue Harbor. The citizens collect these pieces, believing they contain great business-growing wisdom.

On the surface, Ningguang seems like a greedy businesswoman whose true allegiance is towards Mora. After all, Zhongli says the Jade Chamber is only the second thing Ningguang values the most in life; the first is...well, Mora. Besides, you can't have the Jade Chamber in the first place without Mora, right? lololol

But there are other things besides Mora which make Ningguang happy, namely, the smiles of children and the prevalence of law and order in Liyue.

Spoilers below here. Skip to "Similarity" if you have not completed Chapter I, Act III: A New Star Approaches.

Ningguang is, thankfully, not a complete "slave" to Mora. When the Fatui awakened the Overlord of the Vortex that Rex Lapis KO'd with the spears that formed Guyun Stone Forest in the Archon War, Ningguang finished off the god by...launching the Jade Chamber towards it. RIP palace, but hey, we saved the world!

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Similarity

This would be easier to do if I were someone super rich like Bill Gates, but for the purpose of this series since I'm a slightly above-average Joe, I'll tone down Ningguang.

I am by no means a skilled businessman. I'm not into the complicated business planning that I imagine professional businesspeople do; I just help Mom by making small educated guesses about what the customers want...along with the occasional "cool dude"-style advertising.

I'm not the kind of person who tries to be friendly to everyone. I act stoic and professional towards strangers, including children, unless I'm teaching.

I certainly don't have walking security cameras for mooks--heck, I only trust myself to scout enemies. I imagine, in a typical competitive multiplayer gamer's mind, why scout when you can KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!?

Most importantly, Ningguang is obviously of a lawful good alignment while I'm chaotic neutral.

Speaking of D&D, when BoltOLightnin and I were still friends, I wrote a whole ruleset for Genshin Impact elemental reactions designed for D&D 5th Edition.

I give a 1/10.

Waifu Value

Waifu-wise, Ningguang is the female version of Diluc; they're rich businesspeople who say Fuck No to romance.

Because I have a somewhat competitive personality and I generally dislike asking others for help, I dislike being romantically related to women who are much richer than me. I simply feel unworthy compared to them.

Not to mention the NSFW fan art of Ningguang.

Thank goodness there's no Internet in Teyvat; otherwise, Ningguang would know I'm a yandere. That said, even if Teyvat has Internet, I think it's easier for me to beat up Ningguang than Yandere Simulator's Mary Sue rival, Megami Saikou, a master of hand-to-hand combat. Ningguang is more oriented towards blocking projectiles while I'm a melee-focused fighter.

I give a 0/10.

Noelle

This 4-star character is guaranteed to appear once when doing a Wish x10 for the first time in the Beginners' Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
51	Whiteblind Lv. 61/70	Berserker, Lucky Dog	8967	645	1117	34	0

Combat

You know what makes me rage while playing Genshin Impact? Dealing with loads of quickly incoming attacks almost simultaneously. It'll chip away even at players who've spent hours hunting for every Anemoculus and Geoculus to increase their max stamina...assuming they don't get hit in the first place.

Noelle helps get around that pain in the head with her Elemental Skill which, when paired with a shield from Crystallize, potentially allows the player to No-Sell a wide variety of attacks while becoming immune to attack interruptions, allowing an Attack! Attack! Attack! fighting style. As if that wasn't cool enough, when Noelle hits a foe with her Elemental Skill active, she can heal her team based on her DEF!

Its main drawback lies in its long cooldown of 24 seconds, but the shield lasts more than enough to recover stamina and cool down other Elemental Skills.

I recently noticed flaws in Noelle's combat, including having to stay on the field to heal and being reliant on her Elemental Burst to be a main DPS, so until I don't get lazy, I'll give a temporary 7/10.

Lore

Remind me why the heck Noelle isn't a knight yet. Just look at her. She packs insane dedication--she is very chivalrous, generous, and willing to take on as many jobs as she can. Animator jjjj4rd makes a good point.

But a part of me doesn't like Noelle because she is so eager to do work, she does jobs for the other Knights of Favonius, letting them exploit her so they can slack off, leading Jean to write a new rule deducting the salaries of knights who unload their assigned duties onto Noelle.

There are two reasons. One, Mom has told me off before for willingly washing the dishes whenever it was my younger brother's turn. Two, I think Noelle is too desperate and needy by Mark Manson's standards.

I could be wrong with #2 though because apparently, Noelle enjoys doing all that work, saying being a maid is the "most liberating job". Lisa says, the more exhausted she makes Noelle in working, the happier Noelle becomes.

Mark Manson and Mom aside, I love her attention to detail. One of her idle quotes involves her asking something around the lines of, "Wanna have a tea break? You want sugar? One cube, or two?" (My own paraphrase.)

I want chamomile tea with no sugar, please.

Add some of those Lighter-than-Air Pancakes of yours. They look super delicious.

In exchange, I'll train you in the speedy ways of the thief.

Overall, I give a Pretty Cool (7/10) and Mark Manson can't tell me to say otherwise.

Similarity

In the family, I'm the best cleaner. Whenever I wash the dishes, 99% of the time, I don't leave a spot and they smell fresh afterward. My boxing training increased my strength, allowing me to remove tough stains with brute force.

I actively look for opportunities to help others, especially friends, if I don't feel lazy and I'm confident I can solve their problems.

Still a darn shame that my Windows 10 installation data didn't load on my former crush "Mareeta's" laptop. I could have saved her productivity.

Despite my hard work, I actually dislike doing manual labor for others, especially if I'm ordered to do so while I'm relaxing or deep in thought. I most prefer to do it when I'm bored of playing video games and writing.

I give a 7/10.

I would've rated it higher if Noelle was canonically a yandere.

Waifu Value

Noelle's personality and skills are amazing and all, but it doesn't feel morally right for me to have her as a waifu. As someone who secretly dislikes doing manual labor for others, I vowed to myself that I will be as self-reliant as possible because I don't enjoy having others spend their time to benefit me at the expense of their own health, either physical or mental.

On the bright side, Noelle doing all the domestic work in my home/office lets me allocate more time for game development (real life) or mercenary work (fiction). Since she's used to it, I reckon I can have Quality Time while she works 'cause she'll almost always be within speaking distance. (This assumes she's not with the Knights of Favonius.)

Cooking-wise, I prefer Noelle the most. Her Lighter-than-Air Pancakes are coated in loads of butter and lined with chocolate: an incredibly tasty combination for my sweet tooth.

She can also double DEF-boosting dishes, allowing people I like to survive situations that would otherwise hurt them bad. They're especially fun to feed before a sparring session 'cause the other person won't have to be afraid of me landing clean hits.

If I didn't care about morals, I'd give an 8/10.

Otherwise, I'd give a 3/10.

Side note: Why is no one speculating that Noelle could be a Fatui Cryo Cicin Mage? Besides, similar hairstyles and colors are the arguments for Sucrose being a Fatui Electro Cicin Mage...

Side Note: Ningguang or Noelle as Geo Main DPS?

Both are good offensively and defensively, but in different ways.

Ningguang can only block projectiles with her Jade Screen (and, due to a bug, also sometimes Draw Aggro like Amber). However, being a ranged attacker lets her keep her distance.

Noelle, on the other hand, is a melee character but can give herself a Geo shield that protects against all damage types effectively, unlike Crystallize shields which protect better against their own element. Additionally, she can heal herself and her team.

Noelle is reliant on other teammates to regenerate Energy. Ningguang can generate her own Energy, on top of having a cheap Energy cost of 40 vs. Noelle's 60.

Ningguang is also taller than Noelle, allowing for high-speed movement which is important for main DPSs to survive and maneuver from foe to foe.

Ningguang's Normal Attack is only single-target until she hits C1 which adds AoE damage. Noelle can greatly increase her attack range with her Elemental Burst, even at C0.

However, Noelle becomes extremely powerful at C6 while Ningguang's other constellations are somewhat weak in comparison to her C1.

I'll give the edge to Noelle out of personal preference. Any player can instantly get Noelle for free, after all. If your artifact luck leaves you with tons of DEF% artifacts, just slap 'em on Noelle and leave the actually good artifacts (i.e. ATK%, Elemental DMG Bonus) to other characters. Also, because I hate running out of Stamina, Noelle is a wonderfully lazy choice.

Paimon

This character is not playable. I just wanted to throw Paimon in because she does much of the talking for the Traveler.

Combat

It's unknown if Paimon can fight, but she has so far shown no combat ability. Well...at least she hasn't been injured, either.

Paimon is lucky that real-world people can't travel to fictional worlds. Otherwise, people would literally try to get a piece of her. Heck, the official Genshin Impact Twitter account Retweeted some pictures of a Paimon cake roll.

The best thing I can see Paimon doing in combat is floating high up, but apparently, floating tires her out as shown when the Traveler was fleeing from the scene of the Geo Archon's assassination.

Easy. 0/10. No fight, no score.

This might change if Paimon suddenly Takes a Level in Badass in-game.

If the 4-panel comics that Genshin Impact's social media accounts are posting become canon, then Paimon's combat would have an Amazing (9/10). She can grow into a muscular giant and drink, eat, and punch a hole through raw Pyro Slimes!

But it's not canon because Paimon complains in-game, "Why doesn't Paimon get cool fighting powers?" Darn shame.

Lore

How does Paimon know so much about Teyvat in general despite being fished out of water? How did she get in that water in the first place?

Regardless, I won't deny Paimon is helpful for reminding me about the lore.

As crazy as Paimon is sometimes with food and money, she's got a good sense of morals. Whenever the Traveler makes a rude comment, Paimon is quick to call him/her out on it. Even if it has nothing to do with "emergency food".

However, Paimon is not very nice sometimes even in serious discussions. Over the course of the story, she calls Venti "Tone-Deaf Bard" and Xingqiu "Guhua Geek" among others. (I'm surprised they're chill with Paimon's name-calling, especially Venti for spoiler-related reasons. Personally, I'd be offended by "Tone-Deaf Bard" but I would perceive "Guhua Geek" as a compliment.)

I give an Alright (6/10).

Verr Goldet refers to Paimon as an "elf" while, at the end of Xiao's Story Quest, Paimon is referred to as a "talking fairy".

TV Tropes also refers to Paimon as a fairy.

Similarity

If you consider YoSquid literally wanting to eat my D&D character as a similarity to Paimon, then yes, it counts.

TV Tropes considers Paimon a Big Eater, but I feel like she's more like a foodie tourist than someone who simply eats way more food than normal. There are moments where she did eat a lot, especially in the 4-panel comics.

I prefer to eat a lot of food that I already like. I'm a Picky Eater so I get nervous when I have to try new food.

Admittedly, the way Corina Boettger, the voice of Paimon, says "Sticky Honey Roast" makes me drool... When I'm hungry or I really like the food, I growl like a monster from a children's story, "FOOD!"

As for money, you bet I love money. In real life, it's significantly toned down since I'm mentally preparing myself for meager salaries, but my Author Avatar won't hold back on hoarding stashes from ancient ruins and enemy gangs.

I give a 5/10.

Waifu Value

Are you kidding me? I've seen child-like characters who are Really 700 Years Old, but Paimon looks like a freakin' human baby. I feel like she's wearing a diaper.

Go to jail.

No, sorry, not just jail. Paimon belongs in solitary confinement. YoSquid, may I take your order, sir?

Corina Boettger replied to a Tweet saying "You are...maybe both [emergency food and a floating child]" with "Definitely both." In Albedo's Story Quest, Albedo implied that Paimon might be a floating child, but considering Corina didn't write the Genshin Impact story and Albedo wasn't 100% sure, we're still uncertain overall about Paimon's age. I'm still considering her a child in terms of waifus.

Qiqi

I do not have this character.

This 5-star character is featured in the Wanderlust Invocation Standard Wish.

Combat

Qiqi's Elemental Skill is ridiculously stacked. It heals similar to Barbara's Elemental Skill, except it scales based on Qiqi's ATK instead of max HP. It also inflicts Cryo on surrounding foes similar to Kaeya's Elemental Burst, although it's slower.

In exploration, it even keeps surrounding water frozen while it's active, allowing the player to traverse larger bodies of water without standing idly by.

Its drawback is its long cooldown of 30 seconds (effectively 15 seconds when the skill wears off).

Qiqi's Elemental Burst and Passive Talent 2 apply a debuff on foes that causes the character attacking them to be healed similar to Jean's Passive Talent 1, making Qiqi a valuable support character for any DPS character. DPS characters often stay on the battlefield longer than other characters so they can do their damage-dealing job, meaning they'll usually take a lot more hits.

From my experience, it's harder to find Liyue specialty items than Mondstadt specialties. Most Mondstadt specialties are found in abundance in the places where they spawn (especially the Liyue border, Starsnatch Cliff, and Stormbearer Mountains) while Liyue specialties come in significantly fewer clusters even in areas where it would make sense to find a lot of them. I suspect Qiqi can help greatly in completing the weekly Battle Pass quest "Collect 100 Liyue specialties".

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Lore

Qiqi is probably one of the most unique zombies I've ever seen, though it's likely due to my unfamiliarity with Chinese culture. Funny thing is, I'm of Chinese descent.

When the average Joe from the West hears about a zombie, they think of a mindless corpse dragging its legs and looking for brains to eat.

Thankfully, Qiqi doesn't eat brains and is significantly more intelligent than the typical zombie. She's skilled at looking for herbs and can singlehandedly eliminate a group of Treasure Hoarders with her sword.

On the other hand...Qiqi's intelligence compared to a normal living human is poor. Her poor memory requires her to constantly write everything she needs to remember on a notebook which has been described as a "true 'dummy's guide' on just about anything."

The one person she remembers the most (and which I believe does not require taking notes) is the one who intends to "bury" Qiqi. That's The Power of Hate for you. Ever had a bad break-up where you just wanna beat your ex in a sparring match because of the bad memories?

I know she's a zombie, but to me, it doesn't make sense that Qiqi's small body makes her faster. My niece regularly tries to run fast but trips often because of her short legs. On the other hand, the combination of my athletic training and height of 5'8" makes me run faster than other Filipinos while maintaining balance.

I don't think Qiqi is cute, but the way her orders are canceled is very cute: hug her from behind and tell her "I love you the most" or similar. I wouldn't do that to Qiqi unless I need to, but for my niece, I'd happily do it because she's so cute and playful.

I give an Alright (6/10).

Similarity

When I'm bored, I speak monotonously to show it. With family members, in particular, I add a funny accent.

Because Qiqi's memory is worse than a normal human's, this is the only time where I'll tone something up to be more human-like.

I consider my memory to be above average. My short-term retention sucks to the point where I often have to ask long and unfamiliar instructions to be repeated, but my long-term memory is fairly sharp. I remember bits and pieces about my early childhood, including but not limited to the fact I drank prune juice as a baby, me not liking baths as a 5-year-old because of my fear of the soap or shampoo entering my eyes, and the year I played my first video game, Pokémon Crystal Version: 2003. I was born on July 10, 1999.

Then again, I almost never take notes, instead preferring to remember things in my head.

Despite my thin and scrawny appearance, I am a One-Man Army. I've blocked attacks from three karate trainees at the same time while staying still and I can comfortably fight two Gold's Gym trainers at once. (Those fights were just for fun. I fought as safely as I could. In a real self-defense situation, my enemy would be beaten badly.)

I give a 6/10.

Waifu Value

Again, go to jail, you human child lookalike.

Raiden Shogun

CAUTION: Because this character is an Archon, the Lore, Similarity, and Waifu Value sections are spoiler-heavy.

Combat

The Raiden Shogun's Elemental Skill deals off-field AoE Electro DMG each time a team member deals DMG to a foe. I see this mostly as chip DMG; its multiplier at Lv. 1 is only 42% vs. Beidou's 96% (x2 when fighting exactly 2 enemies), it has no effect when hitting only a shield, and it suffers from the innate flaws of Electro elemental reactions, meaning physical attackers that use Cryo like Eula benefit the most.

Instead, its best trait is its passive Elemental Burst DMG Bonus which is helpful for nukes like Hu Tao and, again, Eula.

As befitting of an Archon, the Raiden Shogun packs an immensely powerful Elemental Burst where she unsheathes the famous Booba Sword and uses the not-so-famous Musou no Hitotachi, dealing massive nuke DMG that lives up to its name even without Melt and Vaporize. She then uses Musou Isshin where she gains a HUGE attack AoE and makes her attacks restore Energy for the whole team, making her a temporary main DPS. It's a shame this only lasts for 7 seconds because the Raiden Shogun, for me aesthetically, looks more awesome with the Booba Sword in hand.

One of the Raiden Shogun's Passive Talents increases Musou Isshin's Energy restoration, as well as her Electro DMG Bonus. I know some YouTubers recommend building ATK% or Electro DMG% to maximize her DMG, but I like to stack Energy Recharge; the sooner I can get her ridiculously expensive Elemental Burst worth 90 Energy back up, the better. Unlike other characters, I won't lose out on a lot of DMG because of this; heck, I don't even need to go crazy on battery builds for other characters like Diona and Venti!

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Lore

Yae Miko's Zhongli-size explanations plus Kaeya-style teasing and Lisa-style seductiveness made it difficult for me to swallow the Raiden Shogun's lore, not gonna lie. If I missed some details, I apologize.

Death can do all sorts of crazy stuff to those who witness it. The Raiden Shogun is one extreme example. Her friends were shown to have disappeared one by one in her teaser, implying they died. As such, she became obsessed with attaining Eternity for herself and Inazuma.

She needed to start with herself, however, which is why she created the Plane of Euthymia, the place where her consciousness--her true self, Ei--meditates for Archon-knows-how-long. The "Raiden Shogun" that the people see is actually a puppet, hence her (or its?) emotionless personality and strange voicelines like "Birth Date".

I can't really understand why she did this Vision Hunt Decree, though. Was it an experiment? It was only until the Traveler and Yae Miko confronted Ei in the Plane of Euthymia that Ei learned that the Vision Hunt Decree does no good for the people of Inazuma and is being exploited by the Fatui to weaken Inazuma and seize control.

I think Yae Miko is right in comparing Ei to a child. Ei has no idea what she's doing, yet she's doing something that harms other people until it's too late. It doesn't take a genius to know that a Vision is, for the most part, a highly prized possession of a person; a symbol of their ambition and hard work. (Keqing was an exception, of course; she hated having a Vision at first.) Zhongli calls Visions a form of contract, after all; he believes that Vision holders have a duty. The Vision Hunt Decree is kinda like when kids steal money from their parents to buy junk food or arcade tokens, except to a much worse degree.

Makes me wonder how old Ei is compared to Barbatos...

In Ei's Story Quest, the Traveler convinces Ei to come out of the Plane of Euthymia and go sightseeing around Inazuma which she hasn't seen in many years. She has no idea what all the new stuff in the city is, hence the community's comparison of Ei to a hikikomori (Japanese shut-in). And, as with the past two Archons, she has no Mora. Great.

Not gonna lie, I like how this Story Quest looks like a Divine Date. The Traveler and Ei walk around together as if they're casual friends, after all, not as something like a goddess and her loyal servant. This turns Ei from a hated character prior to Version 2.1 to a beloved character, combined with the Booba Sword.

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Similarity

I have done some extreme things after traumatic events. For example, after raging at Big Brother because of my laziness to do favors and suffering the natural consequences, I gave myself a Self-Punishment Over Failure by cutting off most of my friendships at the time and being extra serious with strangers that aren't my students.

Unlike most teens and young adults today, I don't have a "Plane of Euthymia" (i.e. a place to slack off indefinitely). My bed is rather small and uncomfortable thanks to my height of 5'8" as well as my Light Sleeper trait. I have multiple places I derive enjoyment from, not just my bed (which is also my "office"), but also our family store, our roof deck, my punching bag, Gold's Gym, you get what I mean.

I'm not yet good enough to do something similar to the Musou no Hitotachi with any weapon, but I can one-hit KO people with a surprise attack. My CRIT DMG is innately higher than other people for some reason, even when I was a kid--I always seem to survive in a battle where both sides take CRIT hits.

Knowing my friends appreciate what I do motivates me to do better in pretty much any task, similar to the Resolve mechanic.

I do wish people asked for my company more rather than waiting for me to give it. These days, whenever I initiate a conversation with other people, I feel like I'm forcing other people against their will to bow to my will. This is exactly how my high school crush "Mareeta" felt about our...uh, "friendly" relationship; she responded to my calls and messages because she felt like she was obligated to, not because she wanted to. I should've seen this coming.

I give a 5/10.

Waifu Value

Let's get one thing out of the way first: The Raiden Shogun is not the real Archon; she's (or it's?) robot-like in behavior. She goes to jail.

Ei, though? Next thing out of the way: Gaaah, she's as hot as the community makes her out to be. I like the colors on her kimono, as well as her chest and hips.

But remember that looks aren't my priority.

It depends whether we're talking about Ei during or after the Vision Hunt Decree. Obviously, during the Vision Hunt Decree, it's a 0/10.

Side Notes

Anne Yatco

I've never seen the name "Yatco" among Filipinos. Should I pronounce it with an American accent or a Filipino one?

Is it just me or do I hear a small bit of Filipino accent in the Raiden Shogun's Elemental Skill line "There is no escape!"?

Politics

I compare governments during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, including, regrettably, the Philippine government, to the Raiden Shogun. Although the Wuhan coronavirus survival rate is roughly 99.7% (based on 4.66m deaths and 226.67m total cases), almost all governments in the world tell their people to wear masks, socially distance, etc. In the case of the Philippines, I have to mask up even if I'm in our family car with only my family members. In this way, I kinda feel like governments are trying to achieve Eternity for their citizens...at the cost of our sanities.

Razor

This 4-star character was featured in the Gentry of Hermitage Event Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
35	Rainslasher Lv. 41/50	The Exile, Gladiator's Finale	5213	495	310	109	2

Combat

Thanks to being taught to control Electro by Lisa, Razor's Elemental Skill works similar to Lisa's. Pressing the Elemental Skill button does a quick slash that gives Razor an Electro Sigil which increases Energy Recharge; holding the button down damages surrounding foes in a wide AoE, clearing all Electro Sigils and converting them into Energy. He does this AoE attack a lot faster than Lisa, ironically.

All the Energy gathered by Razor's Elemental Skill easily powers his Elemental Burst, summoning his Stand The Wolf Within which continuously deals Electro damage, increases his attack speed, and makes him immune to damage from the annoying Electro-Charged reaction.

Razor, in short, is all about hitting fast and hard with speedy claymore attacks. I imagine, if I get used to Razor, I might forget I have other party members in the first place 'cause he can fight effectively on his own.

I know almost nothing about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure other than the 7-page muda, so TV Tropes informed me about the whole Stand similarity thing. However, there's a more blatant JoJo reference in Genshin Impact; one of the achievements is called "Stardust Crusader".

Heck, I even saw a meme video with Razor's Elemental Burst and the muda voice.

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Lore

Razor's story starts off quite simple, as befitting his simple lifestyle before the time he first remembered encountering another human. Razor knows his wolf family, or "lupical", very well, to the point he knows which wolf is the best at a particular ability or task. His daily routine is simply "eat, drink, and sleep."

...Until he met Grand Master Varka of the Knights of Favonius who gave him the name "Razor" and taught him sword fighting. I'm not sure what motivated Varka to do so; perhaps he was concerned that Razor wasn't living within the secure borders of the Mondstadt city and thought that a human trying to fight like a wolf would be a bad idea because human fingernails and teeth are not designed for combat. Or maybe it befits Varka's other title, "Knight of Boreas". I gotta hand it to the Grand Master--"Razor" sounds awesome.

Razor's Story Quests involve clearing him of accusations that his wolf pack attacked Springvale. Yes, I was trolled the first time he mentioned that a "burny girl" knight burned everything and scared the boars away; I knew next to nothing about Klee at the time since Ballad in Goblets (the Venti banner which came before Sparkling Steps, Klee's banner) was ongoing at the time. I thought maybe Amber burned some grass in the process of hunting, leading to a forest fire.

A small side note: Paimon says "Oh. My. Archon!" during the first slime fight of these quests. I find it silly when fictional media substitutes "Oh my God" and swear words for in-universe concepts; one that I regularly use in everyday speech is "son of a Bisharp!" thanks to MandJTV.

I give an Alright (6/10).

Similarity

Obviously, I wasn't raised in the wild. I'm very used to city life since Metro Manila is the most urbanized (and densely populated) region in the Philippines. As such, I'll assess my similarity with Razor based mainly on the few normal human parts of his lore.

I enjoy playing children's games with my niece, particularly hide-and-seek and tag. She giggles so much when I either find/tag her or she finds/tags me.

When we were little kids, my younger brother and I wrestled a lot using pillows to soften our falls. We would even leap off a high drawer onto the bed, similar to doing a moonsault from the top rope. Too bad my niece doesn't enjoy wrestling.

In one of my visits to Big Brother's house, I tried to draw Richard Watterson, the fat rabbit dad from The Amazing World of Gumball. Unfortunately, my niece was nearby, so she grabbed my tablet and drew...Peppa Pig's face and ears on my outline of Richard's head. I still have that drawing; when I look at it, I laugh at how utterly ridiculous it is...and appreciate what a fun playmate my niece is.

See my Albedo similarity in part 1.

I've never had a Roaring Rampage of Revenge like when Razor's lupical got utterly destroyed by an Abyss Mage, though I think I'm capable of such an experience, especially if it involves a love interest.

I give a 6/10.

Husbando Value

I'm glad Razor isn't completely uncivilized--Lisa taught him how to cook his signature meal, Puppy-Paw Hash Browns. Hash browns are among my favorite real-life foods.

I imagine if Razor didn't know how to cook, he'd regularly eat RAW! meat.

Speaking of meat, apparently, Razor and his wolf friends catch a lot of prey. While I prefer to kill by myself, I won't deny a feast handed straight from the wild.

I appreciate how Razor is protective of his friends, both human and wolf. 

I give a 6/10.

Side Note: Beidou, Keqing, or Razor?

These three Electro characters are all viable main DPS options but in different ways. Beidou is all about defense, Keqing is all about mobility, and Razor is all about MUDA MUDA MUDA!

Both Beidou and Razor can add Electro damage to their Normal Attacks but, again, in different ways. Beidou can do chain lightning and does more Electro damage, while Razor's Electro damage is just chip damage and much of his damage is high-speed physical damage.

Keqing, on the other hand, completely converts her Normal Attacks into Electro damage.

The problem with Keqing's Elemental Skill is it has a lot of ending lag, even if the Lightning Stiletto is placed as close to the ground as possible.

Many enemies, such as mitachurls, Geovishaps, and Ruin Guards resist physical damage. Fewer enemies, such as Fatui Electro Cicin Mages, resist Electro damage, so Electro DPSs don't lose as much as Razor does.

However, Fatui members and Treasure Hoarders are weak to physical attacks.

Yeah, I admit I'm biased, but I'd give the edge to Beidou. I just REALLY enjoy the "Just Frame" Bonus mechanic in Prototype 2. Her Elemental Skill's short cooldown encourages her to stay on the field and wait for incoming enemy attacks; if the player swaps out at the wrong time, they could be in big trouble because they were unable to set up a shield.

As for Fischl and Lisa, meh.

Fischl relies on C1 to be a main DPS and, even then, doesn't boost her damage a lot. Lisa's held Elemental Skill is painfully slow and her Normal Attack has a very small AoE.

Rosaria

This 4-star character will be featured in the second Farewell of Snezhnaya Event Wish.

Combat

Finally, now that we know for sure Rosaria is playable, I can talk about her combat! Woo-hoo!

Though keep in mind that this is still theoretical.

TL;DR: Corina Boettger said (and I paraphrased) that Rosaria is more like an assassin and can be used as both a main DPS and support character.

I agree with Mattjestic MultiGaming that Rosaria is a “Cryo rogue”. She can run faster at night in the open world, while her Elemental Skill performs a Kaeya-like Flash Step behind foes that are small enough; the largest foe this was shown to work against was a mitachurl. The livestream also noted that it doesn't work on Ruin Guards.

Rosaria’s Elemental Burst seems similar to Ganyu’s. It's different in that it inflicts a single strong hit first like Chongyun before dealing continuous Cryo damage, albeit in a smaller AoE than Ganyu's.

The livestream mentioned Rosaria has a Passive Talent that increases the party's CRIT Rate. As such, she synergizes well with characters with high CRIT DMG such as Ganyu, Hu Tao, and Keqing, as well as CRIT-reliant characters like Klee and Tartaglia.

Hopefully, Rosaria will be more competitively viable than Chongyun because I just really like polearms.

I give a temporary 6/10.

Lore

So far, I have a bad impression of Rosaria.

She's from the Church of Favonius just like Barbara, but I don't know if being a nun also means being a knight or knight-like officer. Who knows--maybe Rosaria is like Diluc, an independent protector of Mondstadt.

Rosaria feels more to me like a super spy than a nun. When the player first meets Rosaria by eavesdropping in a conversation with Barbara, Barbara tells Rosaria to go back to the Cathedral, but for the rest of Albedo's story, she doesn't actually do so and spies on the Traveler and Albedo's experiments. She tells the Traveler to watch themselves around Albedo, implying Albedo has sinister intent.

Rosaria does so in a cold, tough, no-firetrucks-given manner, more so than Mona. This is the main fuel for my dislike for Rosaria.

Some good things to say about Rosaria, though:

She mixes up the Albedo story nicely, despite the sheer differences in personalities. The story revolves around Albedo observing the Traveler's use of Vision-less elemental powers, putting the player's focus on swallowing Traveler-related lore. Then boom! Rosaria out of nowhere, telling the Traveler to beware of Albedo... What is the right thing for the player to do? Learn more about the Traveler's powers? Or toughen up around Mr. Creepy Scientist?

An interesting detail about Rosaria’s polearm weapon type: Rogues traditionally wield bows, daggers, or swords. I don’t know any rogues other than myself and Rosaria who wield polearms (although D&D rogues can wield spears because they’re classified as simple weapons)--heck, even Corina found Rosaria's conspicuous weapon choice strange. Polearms were illegal in Mondstadt prior to Vennessa becoming one of the Four Winds because of how easy they are for civilians to wield and revolt with. Still, most Knights of Favonius (Albedo, Jean, Kaeya, generic Favonius NPCs) are sword wielders, while others (Klee, Lisa, Sucrose) use catalysts. Wielding a polearm makes Rosaria extra edgy among both the people of Mondstadt and fictional rogues in general. (She does twirl a dagger in one of her animations, though.)

I give a temporary 6/10. Sucks that The Chalk Prince and the Dragon Act V was just one scene of dialogue between Albedo and the Traveler.

Similarity

Not counting the whole nun thing, as a scout, I enjoy spy work. Mom regularly sends me to spy on my paternal grandma's suspicious conversations.

As a greedy chaotic neutral thief, though, I mainly spy on others for personal gain. Knowing about my paternal grandma's badmouthing of my mom and her kids makes me internally laugh at its (not her) face.

I’ve never used a polearm to fight someone in real life to make an accurate test, but, having adopted a little of Manny Pacquiao’s fighting style and the popular strafing tactic in Minecraft PvP into my own boxing style, I like to strafe really quickly around my foe. I know hitting the spine is illegal in boxing and is potentially lethal, but in self-defense, I’m willing to try it.

Although I frequently work out in the day, I’m actually faster, smarter, and stronger at night. The sun passively drains my stamina while night weather keeps me cool. Another possible reason is I imagine myself chasing a target like I’m in Fast & Furious…except I usually imagine I’m an assassin chasing my hypothetical romantic partner to learn her habits, likes, and dislikes.

I give a temporary 4/10.

Waifu Value

When thinking of a hypothetical police officer or soldier for a real-life girlfriend, I think of someone similar to Rosaria: a cold, tough bringer of justice.

Not only is extreme suspicion unhealthy in a romantic relationship, but as a chaotic neutral person, I'm paranoid about Rosaria nagging me into not doing the harmless things I enjoy...like gaming.

Rosaria's outfit and big...chest area only make me angrier. Her walking animation was even shown in the 1.4 trailer and it emphasized her...posterior. I hate the character, yet I can't stop involuntarily looking at her body. I just wanna shove her off Dragonspine and send her rolling down a cliff. Maybe run over some hilichurls like a bowling ball hitting pins in the process.

She might just dethrone Keqing for my worst waifu choice in Genshin Impact, though, again, there's very little lore about Rosaria.

Also, I think I'd lose to Rosaria in a real-life street fight. If I had the option, though, I would kill her.

Side Note: Theories

As far as I know, the Church of Favonius is more similar to the modern-day Catholic Church than the Church in medieval times. Barbara is the only playable Church of Favonius character, but she's focused on healing, performing, and preaching, not combat. The Knights of Favonius are Mondstadt's combat-focused organization and, as far as I know, there's no requirement for individual knights to also be affiliated with the Church or vice versa. Diluc, a former Cavalry Captain, does not appear to worship Barbatos as much as the other knights. (If you don't mind spoilers of Prologue Act II, here's the reason.)

Jean's "About Rosaria" line implies to me that Rosaria is not directly connected to the Knights of Favonius. (Don't take my word for it, though--the evidence, if any, is very weak.)

Edit: I might have firetrucked up. Jean's "About Barbara" line says "the [Knights of Favonius] also manages the Church."

I have a feeling Rosaria is only part of the Church of Favonius to make her inconspicuous, especially given the non-combat nature of the Church. This gives her a good reputation, letting her sneak into bad guy territory. Imagine you're a Treasure Hoarder. Who would you rather invite for a drink: A knight or a harmless nun?

(If you say "a knight", then you've gotten careless. If you say "a harmless nun", then hah, you've got yourself another test subject. lololol)

In reality, she might, again, be a vigilante like Diluc.

Kaeya seems to have a good impression of Rosaria compared to, in his words, "a certain someone whose name I won't bother to mention." I'm guessing he's referring to his father.

This is weaker than the "vigilante" argument, but maybe Rosaria is secretly working for another organization. Could be good, bad, or morally gray. May or may not be in Mondstadt. I'm betting 1600 Primogems it's not the Fatui.

At least it's implied that Rosaria is the real deal when it comes to her faith, according to Barbara and Fischl. Maybe Rosaria prefers to worship silently and in private. I forgot the Bible verse which talked about praying by yourself in your own room instead of praying loudly in public.

Imagine if she was a Nay-Theist like Keqing. Rosaria would be sus.

Sucrose

This 4-star character was featured in the Secretum Secretorum Event Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
61	Mappa Mare Lv. 40/40	Instructor (4)	8081	426	507	235	3

Combat

I don't have Venti, so Sucrose is my best bet right now for ranged Anemo support. I've gotten a lot more experience after using her a lot, though, so I can give a better analysis.

Sucrose kinda sucks as a sub DPS at Constellation Lv. 0. Her Elemental Skill is great against groups, but it's not so good against a single target, and its suction power is weak.

Her Elemental Burst has stronger suction power, but it lasts a short time.

Sucrose at this state is best used to increase allies' Elemental Mastery.

Constellation Lv. 2 and Sacrificial Fragments power up Sucrose massively, effectively giving Sucrose a whopping THREE uses of her Elemental Skill, making her more effective at sucking in enemies than the Traveler. It also extends her Elemental Burst, making Sucrose more effective at controlling the enemy when the player doesn't have Venti.

Sucrose is also fun to use as a main DPS, especially at Constellation Lv. 4 and with support from Fischl or Xingqiu, because Swirl hits like a truck with stacked Elemental Mastery which Sucrose is designed to be built with. Very few enemies also resist or are immune to Anemo, and even if they are, Swirl can inflict non-Anemo damage.

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Lore

Sucrose's primary traits are her abundant curiosity and shyness. It looks pointless on the surface to research sweet flowers further, but screw that, says Sucrose's mind. When her master, Albedo, gave Sucrose a mandatory one-week vacation upon seeing her burnt out by work, Sucrose couldn't stand not doing research. She described it as "not rest; [it's] torture!"

As for shyness, it's not explained why Sucrose is socially awkward, though it may be related to how unpredictable social interactions can be compared to alchemy. Perhaps it may be related to her Story 5.

Speaking of her Story 5, this is the real kicker. Sucrose had friends who, together, wanted to live in paradise. They eventually left Sucrose, making her feel "lonelier then than she ever had felt before in her whole life." Sucrose pursued alchemy to honor her former friends and in hopes that she could create her own paradise. So now I know where Sucrose's incredible determination comes from...

Funny thing is I didn't notice Sucrose had visible fox ears until recently; to me, they looked like part of her hairstyle. Turns out, looking at Sucrose from below shows skin underneath the ears.

Sucrose comes across as your typical shy nerd when you first talk to her, but dang, when she asks for bones with blood and meat still on them, man, that's disturbing as all heck.

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Similarity

While it's certainly possible to do research in real life like Sucrose does (minus the magical stuff), I'm not a science journal writer and I don't plan to be one so I'll tone this trait of Sucrose's down.

Usually, when I write creative or tactical posts, I avoid only repeating information that can be commonly found on the Internet since, as a person with Asperger's syndrome, Department of Redundancy Department is one of my Berserk Buttons. Instead, I either use only my original ideas or use others' ideas to strengthen my own. For example, most Genshin Impact YouTubers talk about how useful the characters are in combat, Tectone has talked about fighting the characters in real life or having them as waifus, and Teyvat Historia talks about character lore. I take things a step further by talking about how similar the characters are to me as well as what it would be like to fight them in Super Smash Bros. with powers.

This is how I would represent my similarity to Sucrose's further study on sweet flowers. In other words, what other things are there to learn besides what most people already know? I study those.

In The Chalk Prince and the Dragon Act IV, Sucrose has shown a dislike towards describing things in vague terms, just like me. Unless I want to be secretive or I'm feeling unenthusiastic, I have a habit of explaining most of my actions and personal preferences as concretely as possible. In 2nd year high school, a guest speaker who taught us how to write good book reports said that an opinion worth reading is one that is supported by facts; for example, "Sucrose's large AoE is great for crowd control" is superior to "Sucrose is strong!"

I agree completely with this statement in Sucrose's Story 2:

"In alchemy, the process of trial-and-error coupled with a determination to get the truth is sufficient to bring you to your answer eventually. But with interpersonal relationships, there is the added complication of having to factor in manners, moods, and other unquantifiable variables. To make things worse, there seems to be no room for an approach that relies heavily on making errors."

This goes double with the culture of hiding one's true intentions and feelings which can potentially lead to deception. A skilled deceiver's face, voice, and other mannerisms can be indistinguishable from a truthful person. Just look at Sucrose's voice line about Kaeya.

While I lean more strongly towards being a slacker, I do have my moments of guilt when I'm not working. For example, in a hotel, I force myself to wake up early thinking I have to go to my family store. (Actually, yes, I sometimes have to wake up early even on vacation so I can join the family--Mom and Dad are early risers.)

Speaking of my family store, I used to have a document where I named the many customers I had based on what I thought of their appearances, but since they look so similar to one another, especially given that I live in a barangay (village) full of senior citizens, I usually had names like "Short Tomboy-Haired Old Woman 3" or "Tall YoSquid Lookalike Middle-aged Man with Cracked Smartphone".

Oh, and I'm a sweet tooth. I easily gravitate towards sugary food, particularly cake and some cereals.

See my similarity to Fischl for why I want to be a game developer and my similarity to Jean for how being constantly left behind by friends has influenced my personality, both of which are in part 1.

I think the biggest difference I have with Sucrose is, while she seems to dislike conflict considering how she was too shy to say she was hungry and got terrified when Albedo saw Sucrose and the Traveler getting into a skirmish with Fatui members when Sucrose was supposed to be organizing documents, I would call Reckless Pallad an idiot in front of his face for bumping into Festering Desire and awakening an enhanced Cryo Regisvine despite Festering Desire being a cooler shade of purple that, at least according to my perspective, is easily distinguishable from real, typical fire.

But since Reckless Pallad was freezing to death, I would shut up for a while and get him out of Dragonspine before calling him an idiot.

I give an 8/10.

Waifu Value

For this section, I'm completely ignoring the fan theory that Sucrose is secretly a Fatui Electro Cicin Mage.

Interestingly, despite the fact there are more physically attractive waifus in Genshin Impact, I have the biggest crush on Sucrose.

No, it's not the dandere personality that drew me in. It's the darn outfit, man! Again, I can't explain it too much without getting too NSFW, but the combination of mint green hair (green being my favorite color), blue dress (second favorite color), and white coat (one of my favorite colors on girls) attracts me a lot.

I like to think I'm edgy considering Sucrose is only 14th out of 39 among the Genshin Impact characters in MyWaifuList with only 140 hearts (mine included) compared to Fischl and Mona's 287 and Lisa's 268.

However...I think Sucrose is a Fuck No, not just because of her obvious shyness, but also because she's afraid of Jean who Sucrose calls good yet strict. Given my lack of emotional maturity, I still have a hot temper and little tolerance for others pressing my Berserk Buttons, so I imagine Sucrose would be more afraid of me than others (except maybe Jean).

Also, I don't know how much time Sucrose would have for Quality Time considering she can hardly go an hour without doing some kind of research. There isn't much to learn about one person when you've learned a ton about them already, right?

Disclaimer: I am not a furry.

I give a 2/10.

Side Note: Valeria Rodriguez

Not gonna lie, I...have a small crush on Valeria Rodriguez, considering she has done a dance with a Bare Your Midriff outfit on TikTok. I also think she looks good with straight hair.

Buuut...she isn't a straight woman, so I'm gonna figuratively back away.

She has a Sucrose wig now! In addition to her official lines, she has also done "Ara Ara" and "Budget Venti" performances in the same TikTok video.

In the Budget Venti part, she punched the camera, knocking it down. She also talked with a tough voice. Huh. Makes me want to challenge both Sucrose and Valeria Rodriguez to some friendly sparring.

Tartaglia (Childe)

This 5-star character will be featured in the Farewell of Snezhnaya Event Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
80	Amos' Bow Lv. 90/90	Gladiator's Finale, Instructor	13391	1864	848	95	1

Combat

Tartaglia brings the power of both bow and sword characters in one. He is technically a bow character, but his Elemental Skill gives him sword-like melee attacks that are much faster and more powerful. This makes him versatile in different combat situations; Cryo and Geo Samachurls can keep themselves and other hilichurls out of melee range, so Tartaglia can knock 'em off their platforms first using headshots before hammering away with melee attacks.

Tartaglia seems complicated on the surface because of the various Riptide-related effects his attacks have, but once you have his Passive Talent 2, there are only two things you really need to remember: Land a CRIT with his Elemental Skill then use his wickedly powerful Elemental Burst to maximize your damage. Alternatively, inflict Pyro on an enemy first, activate his Elemental Skill far from the enemy, then use his Elemental Burst for massive Vaporize damage.

Tartaglia's biggest drawback is being heavily reliant on his Elemental Skill to be a DPS, especially at Constellation Lv. 0. His Melee Stance lasts 30 seconds which is enough to quickly end short fights or deal heavy damage to the Pyro Hypostasis and Pyro Regisvine while they're vulnerable, but in fights like the Spiral Abyss where DPS characters may have to stay long in the field, Tartaglia is outclassed, especially with his Elemental Skill's painfully long cooldown. His Normal Attacks in Ranged Stance, on the other hand, are painfully slow and inaccurate compared to other archers.

To make the most out of his Melee Stance's duration, pairing Tartaglia with a shield-creating character helps him No-Sell enemy attacks and focus on dealing damage. (Cue Tartaglia + Zhongli shippers.)

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Lore

Tartaglia's story revolves around his skill and opinions on combat. As a kid, he was inspired by the stories of his father's adventures. When Tartaglia got lost in a snowy forest, he ran from bears and wolves until he fell into a bottomless crack where a dark swordswoman from the Abyss taught him how to "stir up endless havoc."

This guy gives absolutely no firetrucks when it comes to combat, and boy, it shows in his combat record.

Tartaglia single-handedly curb-stomped other older Fatui members during what I assume are his first few days among the Fatui.

He's willing to do tasks like "exterminating all the dragons inside their lair" and "overthrowing the territory of a nobleman single-handedly"...and actually succeeds.

To put it into perspective, the Challenge Rating (CR) of a D&D monster refers to the recommended level of a 4- to 5-member party to beat a single instance of that monster. An ancient red dragon has a CR of 24 while the maximum level for D&D player characters is 20. Tartaglia taking down such powerful monsters by himself is just...wow.

Tartaglia, as far as I know, has the clearest hint as to his age, not counting the Dendro and Geo Archons. His Character Details call him a "young adult" and his Story 2 calls him the "master of all weapons" at the age of 14. But dang, the dude is freakin' tall.

Speaking of being the "master of all weapons", this might be inconsistent with Tartaglia being the weakest with a bow. Did bow training come with that mastery? Is it possible that Tartaglia is only slightly worse with a bow than other weapons but is still deadly with a bow? How well can he wield a catalyst!?

To be fair, Tartaglia's Normal Attack with a bow is slower than other archers'.

The Genshin Impact Wiki has trivia about Tartaglia's mythological references, and boy, there are a lot.

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Tartaglia is voiced by Griffin Burns, but his voice reminds me of Claude from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. They both have a chill and friendly vibe, but Tartaglia is hammier. Can Joe Zieja (Claude's voice actor) do an impression of Tartaglia?

Also, subscribe to Griffin Burns on YouTube and follow him on TikTok. He posts cursed Childe content. (Huh. Sounds like...a particular Harry Potter book title.)

My favorite video is his Super Bass cover...'cause I've heard the original song by Nicki Minaj before in public and it gives me nostalgic vibes, especially given I'm a hopeless romantic. Listening to it makes me want to go on a date fueled by the energy of my favorite Blood Knight character.

Similarity

I'm not bad with any of Tartaglia's weapons in real life. I know some basic sword techniques and archery and I feel comfortable with a spear. I am, however, best with fists.

Unfortunately, I'm still terrified of learning to shoot a gun which I have no knowledge of other than priming and reloading. (I've used the Weaphones app before.)

As for my Author Avatar, while he's bad with guns, he's worse at light magic. He's a Nay-Theist who, in the end, cares only about himself despite his apparent altruism.

I'm an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight. Why else would I regularly say "KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"? Whenever I see a group of hilichurls near the road, even if they're not blocking my way to a point of interest and I don't need their materials, I'd kill them anyway for fun.

In real life, I'm not Ax-Crazy, but I often feel an urge to challenge people to fights when I know they are capable of fighting. Beating up YoSquid and my trainer repeatedly has greatly increased my combat confidence. In fact, this is why Ria (see the Barbara section in part 1) thinks my fighting style most accurately reflects Tartaglia, in addition to my fast melee attacks.

Specifically, I REALLY wanna fight my former crush "Mareeta". Immediately after I taught her some basic punches, she punched me incredibly fast.

I have laughed before at YoSquid when he broke his keyboard after I rekt him in Krunker (we were playing in his house at the time), but I promise I only did that playfully. When something bad happens to strangers or friends, I'm quick to show concern. I only laugh maliciously when I troll my enemies.

I do have a younger brother, but he hates me 'cause I often call him cute names like the name of my niece when he makes me angry. He does ask me for help with technical problems...and unlike Tartaglia who can't actually make toys, I can actually help with technical problems. Heck, I used to make paper guns in my free time.

Instead, I like to treat my niece as the Teucer to my Tartaglia. She loves it when I demonstrate my skills, including but not limited to boxing, parkour, and voice acting. I want to teach her boxing someday...mainly because I love Cute Bruisers like Klee, arguably the strongest person in Mondstadt.

(If only I knew how to make plushies, I would make a Dodoco for my niece.)

All of my gym trainers (both boxing and non-boxing) have been very nice to me. They have seen me use aggressive video game attacks during training, but they usually tolerate it because they're probably fans of Dragon Ball Z. Others are WWE fans.

Any darkness that emanates from my fighting is due to my mood.

Problem is, Tartaglia is a terrible tactician. He's the kind of person who prefers to Attack! Attack! Attack!

On the other hand, being in the heat of battle doesn't stop me from thinking straight. Even while engaged in Minecraft mob combat or PvP, I regularly issue orders to my allies through voice chat.

I give an 8/10.

Husbando Value

Tartaglia's mere affiliation with the Fatui already makes him too risky to be my husbando since people often judge others based on who they work for or who their family or friends are.

The closest non-political example I can think of is YandereDev's "Driving Your Rivals To Murder" video: one of the cops suggested convicting the yandere protagonist, Ayano Aishi, simply because she's the daughter of a yandere. In the end, Ayano was free to go because the cops found no evidence that she was behind the killing of Musume Ronshaku. What the cops don't know is Ayano drove her schoolmate, Kokona Haruka, to do it.

I can cover it up temporarily since I've been single for all my teenage years, but I just hope I don't have to fill up a government form where I have to write "Fatui Harbinger" under "Spouse's Occupation".

I imagine Tartaglia to have the personality of a typical competitive multiplayer gamer. Like the other people I played with in Minecraft, I think Tartaglia would get bored of "strategy" and all that slow and steady stuff, preferring to finish a task ASAP.

My solution for that is I will do the complicated strategy on my own then discuss it with Tartaglia in simple terms that would translate in his brain to "KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"

I give a 1/10.

Thankfully, I'm not obligated by law to say who my friends are. Tartaglia would, for me, make a great sparring partner.

Traveler

All players start with this character. (I picked the male one, Aether, 'cause I'm a boy in real life. As such, I will use male pronouns.)

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
81	Festering Desire Lv. 81/90	Gladiator's Finale, Wanderer's Troupe	13784	1199	857	279	6 (Anemo) 6 (Geo) 3 (Electro)

Combat (Anemo)

This is currently my main element for the Traveler, which is why the stat table above uses the Anemo color scheme.

His Elemental Skill, Palm Vortex, is plain and simple; it hits foes in an area close to him. With Constellation Lv. 1, which can be acquired through normal gameplay progression, he can pull nearby enemies in, allowing him to inflict a boatload of elemental damage. It can even pull in things like Baron Bunny, Guoba, and Klee's mines!

While not very good at exploration, he can expand Kaeya's ice bridges, allowing the player to spend less time standing around waiting for cooldowns and more on spamming bridges, especially with the decreased cooldown times provided by having two Anemo characters. Edit: Ice bridges spread by Anemo were nerfed in 1.1 to last shorter.

His Elemental Burst is fun to watch against hordes of light infantry but does little to larger foes like Ruin Guards.

It's also somewhat difficult to position well because it sucks in foes in a straight line and enemies like to surround the player in a circle. I wish it could be held down to aim similar to Jean's Elemental Skill.

I prefer to spam Palm Vortex because of its more reliable AoE.

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Combat (Geo)

Geo Traveler was considered low-tier before because players thought their play style was awkward, in addition to the limitations of the Geo element itself.

Their elemental abilities create Geo Constructs that function as walls. The Elemental Skill, in particular, can be climbed. This can limit both the enemy's and player's movement, especially because, in the top tiers, there are more melee main DPSs than ranged ones.

Geo was mostly defensive before 1.3; its only offensive perk was increasing damage dealt by 15% when protected by a shield.

However, the Geo Traveler truly shines in terms of utility, both in and out of combat. Zelle made an excellent video detailing the many ways to use the Geo Traveler, but in case you're in a hurry, here are the most notable uses:

For combat, the Traveler can block attacks on the Ley Line Monolith in the notoriously difficult Spiral Abyss Floor 11-2 from 1.2-1.4.

For exploration, the Traveler can create platforms to rest and recover stamina while climbing.

Geo Traveler's utility extends further to events. For example, in Theater Mechanicus, their Geo Constructs can delay, if not completely block, the enemies' movement. They're a bit like Wall-nuts from Plants vs. Zombies. In the Peculiar Wonderland minigame "Stepping Stone Antics", they can completely avoid the falling platforms by AFKing on a nearby wall.

Unlike the Anemo Traveler who focuses on dealing damage, the Geo Traveler requires very little investment to be viable. All you really need to do is ascend them once to reduce their Elemental Skill cooldown then get C1 for increased CRIT Rate.

I still don't enjoy Geo Traveler, though. I focus heavily on offensive elemental reactions and I lack a proper Geo main DPS to maximize the Geo Traveler's potential.

However, when I do raise Noelle seriously, I will pair her up with the Geo Traveler to regenerate Energy more quickly.

I give an OK (5/10).

Combat (Electro)

Most battery characters prior to Electro Traveler gathered Energy by going on-field, using their Elemental Skill, then quick-swapping to the character who needs the Energy. The Electro Traveler steps that up by increasing a character's Energy Recharge even while the Traveler is off-field. This increase can scale with their own Energy Recharge, so even non-Electro characters can gain a TON of Energy. This makes them very F2P-friendly since the other 6 starter characters have OK (Kaeya) to non-existent (Noelle) Energy regeneration.

I give an Alright (6/10).

Lore (Player Character)

Note: I am completely unfamiliar with Honkai Impact 3rd, another game by miHoYo. Genshin Impact is supposedly a Spiritual Successor to Honkai Impact 3rd.

Considering the player makes many of the choices for the Traveler while Paimon does most of the talking, I feel like there's not much to their personality.

There are plenty of Deadpan Snarker reply choices, though, most notoriously the "emergency food" description for Paimon, which I chose because I've heard bad things about Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and assumed Paimon would have some annoyance factor as well.

Funny thing is, while the player can choose not to imply Paimon is food, the voiced lines in the Traveler's character profile do so. Why is the Traveler a jerk to Paimon? Does miHoYo want players to feel sympathy for Paimon? Are they intentionally starting a meme? Or are they poking fun at Annoying Video Game Helpers in general?

While I love how the game details the stories of many of the non-Traveler characters, I feel like the Traveler themselves gets left out, mostly doing others' dirty work.

Oh well. We've still got a long way to go until we reach the seventh region of Teyvat and, along with that, the seventh Archon.

For now, I give an OK (5/10) until I can beat up the Tsaritsa.

The non-player sibling was intentionally ignored due to a major spoiler in the Mondstadt story. Let's just say they left me scratching my head.

Similarity

I have next to nothing in common with the Traveler. Let's see... I don't have a twin sibling, both of my siblings are boys, I'm not a sword wielder, I cannot effectively use all seven elements, and none of my current long-term life "quests" involve any of my siblings. Additionally, I don't like the Bare Your Midriff trope which Aether plays. (He looks better in a regular T-shirt, though.)

I give a 1/10.

Husbando/Waifu Value

Nah, I ain't about to go on an epic quest to rescue someone's sibling. I'd rather KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM! by myself so I don't have to feel restricted.

It also feels weird to date the Traveler while Paimon constantly travels with them...especially since Paimon is basically Mr. Krabs + many foodie travel-loving teenage girls, making the Traveler, by extension, dangerous for my wallet and weight.

But I admit Lumine, the female Traveler, hypnotizes me with her hairstyle and white dress. Eh, she's probably going after the tall dudes like Tartaglia anyway (not canon).

I give a 1/10.

Side Notes

If I had to choose an element for the Traveler based on what I aesthetically like the most, I'd still pick Anemo. I want to be edgy and like something that is less liked by others. Plus, I think of myself as being fast and carefree like the wind.

For a second option, I'd take Pyro because I have a Hair-Trigger Temper.

Electro has been taken by BoltOLightnin and CanadianFlash (a Hytale YouTuber).

I wish it was possible to change the Traveler's weapon type as well for even more personalized gameplay. Imagine how OP a polearm-wielding Traveler would be.

None of the Traveler's Elemental Skills and Elemental Bursts involve them using their weapon, unlike, say, Beidou, Bennett, and Diluc who imbue their weapons with elements, so from a technical standpoint, I think it's possible. No need to make new animations.

Then again, I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who has played Fire Emblem Awakening where the player character can change to almost any class.

Edit: I forgot that each of the Traveler's elements has a separate Normal Attack Talent. Combo and damage-wise, they're exactly the same, but they level up separately. There's a possibility that maybe there'd be a Traveler prefab for every combination of element, gender, and weapon; for example, a sword-wielding Anemo-aligned Aether may technically be a separate character from a polearm-wielding Anemo-aligned Aether.

Speaking of Fire Emblem, Aether is voiced by Zach Aguilar, the new voice of male Byleth, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Starting a streak with protagonists I'm familiar with, huh?

But...most people have no idea when I use an Aether avatar in VRChat to voice Byleth. I should try Tanjiro from Demon Slayer.

For some odd reason, some fan artworks of Lumine sometimes make me confuse her for female Corrin from Fire Emblem Fates, especially if Lumine is wearing black.

Fans often depict Aether as a Memetic Molester, especially the Korean fan animator Gimnaeng where he has so far been attracted to Amber, Barbara, Eula, Fischl, Ganyu, Hu Tao, Jean, Kamisato Ayaka. Keqing, Mona, Noelle, adult Qiqi, the Raiden Shogun, Rosaria, and Yanfei.

I don't remember many of Gimnaeng's lines, but I remember his voice for a possible Barbara Hangout Event response: "It's alright, this is the perfect place for two people to spend some time together. E-hehehehehe!" Unfortunately, most people in VRChat don't recognize my Gimnaeng impression.

Anyway, I enjoy seeing how Gimnaeng makes Aether make a fool of himself.

As for fan depictions of Lumine, Sylleblossom's comic dubs are my favorite. She pulls off romantic scenes EXTREMELY well to the point I get even more attracted towards Lumine.

Heck, one of her Discord server rules is "Must be a simp for any Genshin character".

Venti

CAUTION: This section contains major spoilers. Do not read until you've either completed Prologue Act II, For a Tomorrow Without Tears or finished reading the manga Prologue: Songs of the Wind.

This 5-star character is featured in the Ballad in Goblets Event Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
81	The Stringless Lv. 81/90	Viridescent Venerer (4)	11131	900	701	179	0

Combat

Currently rewriting this section from scratch.

From my Co-Op experience, most Venti players use the pressed version of his Elemental Skill. It actually has more DPS than the held version; at Talent Lv. 1, the pressed version deals 276% damage and has a 6-second cooldown while the held version deals 380% damage and has a 15-second cooldown, leading to a 46% DPS when pressed vs. ~25.33% DPS when held (not counting cooldown modifiers like Anemo Resonance or Slowing Water).

However, the pressed version feels to me like a downgraded version of Sucrose's Elemental Skill. It does not suck enemies in and its AoE is smaller. I think it's mainly for damaging single targets and recharging Energy.

The held version, on the other hand, seems to have a very wide AoE. It doesn't suffer from the Stormtrooper aim issues of Sucrose's Elemental Skill, so it's easier for the player to manually group up enemies without a Draw Aggro character like Amber or Ganyu. On top of that, its updraft has a wide variety of uses, from spamming Plunging Attacks with sword or polearm wielders when a claymore or Geo character is unavailable, to avoiding damage from some melee attackers while skills are on cooldown, to simply making it easier to scale heights in the open world.

Both versions leave light infantry suspended in mid-air for a while, allowing for a breather or an opportunity to juggle, especially against unshielded Abyss Mages, Fatui Cicin Mages, and Pyro Agents.

TL;DR: Press Venti's Elemental Skill when fighting a single target for higher DPS. Hold it for crowd control and exploration.

Venti's Elemental Burst is why many, including I, consider Venti to be ridiculously powerful. It creates a huge vortex that sucks in light infantry, leaves them unable to attack or defend themselves, and quickly deals heavy Anemo damage, arguably making Venti the ultimate crowd control character.

Venti's biggest problems are also related to his Elemental Burst. First, he makes light infantry unreachable for most melee characters. Second, he can't suck up large enemies like mitachurls, large Fatui Skirmishers, and strangely, the smaller Nobushi.

I give an Amazing (9/10).

One minor flaw just for funzies: I think Venti is the worst Aimed Shot character. All other bow wielders have some kind of useful Aimed Shot-enhancing Talent or Constellation; Amber's ATK rises upon hitting a weak point, Diona's C4 lets her do rapid-fire Aimed Shots, Fischl can shoot Oz to deal AoE Electro damage, Tartaglia can inflict Riptide, and we all know about Ganyu's rocket launcher-like shots. Venti...uhhh...can shoot 3 arrows in an arc with C1, and the other 2 arrows deal less damage. Anemo, for me, is not an ideal element for the slow and steady pace of Aimed Shot gameplay. This is why, even though I'm super hyped for a Venti re-run, I wouldn't try for Venti Constellations because I'm F2P and I might bump into another character I like.

...But I could be wrong. Mogawty made a shotgun physical DPS Venti build.

Aby (a.k.a. BoltOLightnin): Venti's combat is mainly that of a supporting value; he sets the stage for the rest of the team to shine. His Ultimate is considered one of the best in the game with good reason. Given that you buff his elemental stats you can practically spam Venti's ult which is exceedingly powerful for CC. Add in the fact that you can combine elements with the ult. His Secondary is also great as it deals decent damage and also can lift him up (useful in exploration).

Lore

This is your last chance to back out 'cause according to TV Tropes, Venti is a Walking Spoiler. Heck, I wonder how hard it would be for me to talk to a new Genshin Impact fan about Venti's lore. All I can say is he's a handsome bard with a high-pitched voice, an addiction to alcohol, and cat allergies.

Venti comes across as your typical annoying bard at first, considering that he Rhymes on a Dime and is willing to play a lot of music in public in exchange for food, Mora, or wine. In the manga, in particular, Venti won't settle on a one-coin discount on a 10-coin apple; he instead played another song to the shopkeeper.

Then again, his antics in various fan-made comic dubs give me a good laugh.

The prologue of the Genshin Impact game involves the Traveler and company stopping Stormterror from wreaking havoc in Mondstadt. Somewhat later in the story, they realize Stormterror is Dvalin, one of the Four Winds, whose blood has been corrupted by the Abyss Order. The goal is to reverse this corruption and make Dvalin good again.

Part of this purification process involves using the Holy Lyre der Himmel which belonged to Barbatos, the Anemo Archon. Venti tried to ask to borrow it from a nun in the Church of Favonius who denied the request, suggesting Stormterror is irredeemable. Venti then told the nun he was Barbatos. Naturally, the nun didn't believe Venti. Even I would think he's crazy.

Plan B was to have the Traveler ask for the Holy Lyre using his status as an Honorary Knight of the Knights of Favonius. Unfortunately, a signed document containing signatures from multiple people, one of them being the absent Grand Master Varka (not Jean), is required, so that was a no-go.

Plan C was to have the Traveler steal the Holy Lyre since, according to Venti, the Traveler being the Honorary Knight means they can talk their way out if they get caught. This brings the player to a stealth level where the player avoids being detected by patrolling knights. Why don't we get to do this stealth stuff in the open world? I wanna assassinate some hilichurls... (The stealth levels in Genshin Impact have no combat at all.)

So where's this long paragraph going? In short, I believe Venti's D&D alignment is chaotic good. He's an alcoholic who is annoying to some people and is willing to steal to accomplish his goals, but he cares deeply for Dvalin. (Some say Venti is chaotic neutral.)

As soon as the Traveler got within reach of the broken Holy Lyre, the Fatui stole it first. As expected, the gang got it back and repaired it.

Venti played the Holy Lyre at Starsnatch Cliff to summon and reattempt to calm Dvalin...but an Abyss Mage showed up and fueled Dvalin's rage. (This is why anime talking scenes during combat are often pointless. I think most real people would try to kill the Abyss Mage on sight.) In this scene, Dvalin referred to Venti as "Barbatos".

Yeah...I intentionally put this looong setup so the reader will be less likely to see the epic "Barbatos" reveal when there are multiple lines of text on-screen.

Well, now we know why Venti is such a powerful character in-game.

After the resolution of the Stormterror Crisis, La Signora, 8th of the Fatui Harbingers, stole Venti's Gnosis and KO'd the Traveler.

During that fight, Venti gave Deadpan Snarker replies to La Signora. This is one of my favorite lines from Venti: "Beauty is a waste... when the beholder has no taste..." Even before hearing this line, it has governed my philosophy in hunting for a romantic partner. Besides, La Signora is so fanservicey that she's very punchable for me.

Nope, I'm not done yet 'cause the Anemo Archon has freakin' Story Quests. Fitting because of his importance to Mondstadt's history, right?

The story starts off pretty chill. Venti and the Traveler use a device created by Lisa to detect imaginary friends. Many of the children have imaginary friends while adults don't, making Paimon curious as to what age these friends disappear. They check on Ellin, a trainee knight who's probably a teen or young adult and see that Jean is her imaginary friend. Ellin directs the Traveler to deliver a message to an adventurer named Jack at a shrine Domain. Along with Jack, the Traveler meets Stanley, a veteran adventurer, and sees an imaginary younger Stanley next to him. This is where the rest of the story gets serious.

Skipping the whole "Jack recovering Vennessa's weapons" thing, the Traveler and Venti find Stanley crying in the Angel's Share tavern over the death of his partner named...Stanley. (This alive Stanley's real name is Hans Archibald.) They comfort Hans with an epic cutscene showing Venti using his Barbatos powers and asking Hans for Stanley's spirit, letting Stanley go in peace.

Nope, that's not the end of that epicness. Venti and the Traveler meet on the hands of the statue of Barbatos where Venti recites the story of the bard friend whose form he's taking now. This friend and Barbatos, who was merely one of the Thousand Winds at the time with no human form or godly powers, overthrew the tyrannical Decarabian, the God of Storms. Unfortunately, this friend died, leading Barbatos, now the Anemo Archon, to take on his form and become a bard to honor his memory.

I honestly did not expect this story to be so emotional, but it was. miHoYo did an amazing job writing this story. An adventure hook driven by personal curiosity leading to learning about and recovering from lost friendships. I wish I could do something like this in my own D&D campaigns.

Whew, what a section. Barbatos is the weakest of the Archons because he values freedom and does not personally govern Mondstadt, but man, his combat and lore are far from "weak". As such, Venti gets a well-deserved Amazing (9/10).

Aby: Well, trying to describe the lore of the Anemo Archon is no small feat and therefore I won't bother doing it, but it must be noted that Venti is a quite playful, quick-witted, sometimes annoying, [yet] gifted bard. The Anemo Archon is considered to be the weakest of the seven Archons but regardless is still quite powerful. The city Mondstadt is the city representing the Anemo Archon.

Similarity

A few years in the past

'Tis a shame time is fast

I sometimes rhymed for fun

But now, my rhymes are done.

Yeah, back in 2018, I sometimes spoke in rhymes out of nowhere. It happened so frequently that I thought, maybe I should rhyme more often to sound convincing to others.

But I almost never rhyme anymore since my writing has become more academic-sounding. I didn't like trying to do rhymes in the first place anyway. Too much hard work.

The only music I know how to do is whistling. I can even mimic drum beats while I whistle.

I don't enjoy singing and I can't play musical instruments.

If you count my excessive water-drinking as similar to Venti's alcohol addiction, then yes, it counts. Too bad I still get "fat" after drinking lots of water, so I don't have superhuman water tolerance similar to Venti's alcohol tolerance.

But I hate actual alcohol.

As for the whole "god of freedom" thing, I do the "protecting freedom" thing begrudgingly.

I actually hate sharing food, money, or video games most of the time but do it anyway for my family members to avoid household chaos...at least until I get my own house and job.

It's a lot easier to empathize with others when I've actually experienced what they're experiencing, so I'm often quick to forgive people I like for repeatedly not showing up to events because life's a Bisharp...at least until the whole Zhongli thing (see his Similarity section) happens.

Finally, when it comes to Venti's fallen friend, I don't like to dress up like one of my dead grandfathers (but I look like a younger version of my maternal grandfather), but I want to cosplay at some point.

Maid outfits in general, as well as Tartaglia, are already super popular, so I'd probably dress as a male Sucrose. Sucrose is, I think, an underrated character in both combat and lore.

(Can I dress my niece in a Klee outfit, plz?)

I give a 2/10.

Husbando Value

Not gonna lie, Venti is extremely handsome and charming. I guess miHoYo's staff being made of anime otakus has made them accustomed to fanservicey female body shapes, so they tried to replicate some of them with Venti: small braids, a hat with a Cecilia flower, a thin body with seemingly little muscle, white on the part of the clothing covering the chest area (similar to Amber and Jean), thick shorts that emphasize the hips, and slender legs.

His Barbatos form is EXTRA fanservicey: a white color scheme, angelic wings, and a Stripperiffic outfit that only covers his chest and includes very short shorts. (What if La Signora kicked Barbatos in the crotch in this form?)

(However, I'm disgusted with a particular piece of fan art of Venti that shows him with a big chest area similar to Gardevoir fan art, as well as a Panty Shot.)

I wonder though: What is the female fanbase's general opinion on Venti as a husbando? I keep hearing about Diluc, Tartaglia, and Zhongli being ideal husbandos for straight women and Kaeya for gay men.

Looks aside, Venti is annoying in that he pesters people--particularly Diluc and the Traveler--to give him alcohol. He even steals from Diluc...no matter how many times Diluc finds out.

Unlike Zhongli though, Venti doesn't fly into a rage if you don't give him what he wants. He remains chill with the Traveler throughout all of his appearances.

However, in real life, I wouldn't dare be accused of a crime Venti did just because he's my husband. I know justice is getting better here in the Philippines, but I still wouldn't risk it.

On a positive note, I think Venti would be very respectful of my personal space, as long as alcohol isn't involved.

Also, I know SOME people who just might need a beating from Venti 'cause they're screwing over others' freedoms...

I give a 3/10.

BoltOLightnin: Probably a great person to have around you if you can survive all of the cringy rhymes and the incessant singing. ;)

Side Notes

I wish I could do girly voices like Venti's Japanese voice actor, Ayumu Murase, who is male.

I remember, when I did an impression of Young Merric's voice, my classmate Alyanna said I sounded like a girl.

The next time I get a Venti-size Starbucks cup, I'll tell the barista my name is Barbatos. After drinking, I'll take the cup home, wash it, and draw Venti's face on it.

Hopefully the barista has no idea what Genshin Impact is.

Yyyeeeah...this plan failed. I completely forgot that I always show my Person With Disability (PWD) ID to get a discount on meals. "Barbatos" is nowhere close to "Paul Juliann Baloran".

Summoning Ritual

I got 29 Intertwined Fates at the ready and I'm 16 wishes away from pity.

I have my dark green jacket. Tectone wore a blazer for good luck while wishing for Albedo (I think), but he calls it a "jacket".

I have my Starbucks Venti cup. Thanks to the barista for writing "Juliann" on it instead of the usual "Paul".

I have a +1 merged Guinivere in Fire Emblem Heroes. She was also voiced by Erika Harlacher.

I cleaned my room before the Chinese New Year.

Note that Fire Emblem Heroes is the only other gacha game I'm familiar with and, in that game, some units are exclusive to banners that only appear once a year, such as banners for the New Year, Valentine's Day, and other seasons.

As such, I want to temper my expectations with Venti. Then again, the birthday of the unreleased character, Kamisato Ayaka of Inazuma, is on September 28, the same as the global launch date of Genshin Impact.

Xiangling

This character is obtained upon completing Floor 3, Chamber 3 of the Spiral Abyss.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
71	White Tassel Lv. 80/90	Gladiator's Finale (4)	13244	1049	778	170	4

Combat

Even though she's one of the few polearm wielders (and the only 4-star one) currently playable in Genshin Impact, Xiangling does not disappoint. Her quick attacks and long Normal Attack combo of 9 hits (vs. most characters' 4 or 5) make her deal loads of damage, especially with a damage-boosting weapon like White Tassel. I have a strange bad habit of mashing left-click as fast and as hard as I can while using Xiangling, thinking to myself, "Just die already, dang it!" *stabby stab stab*

Her C2 improves her main DPS potential by putting a "time-bomb" on enemies...dealing AoE Pyro DMG.

While most DPS-oriented characters have simple Elemental Skills that just slash foes, Xiangling's Elemental Skill is more support-oriented. It summons Guoba who stays still and breathes fire at nearby foes in a wide area like a tower in a tower defense game. Unlike Baron Bunny, Guoba deals more damage and does so continuously but doesn't Draw Aggro.

Xiangling's Elemental Burst is awesome. It summons a Pyronado that constantly hits foes surrounding the player, making it ideal against large groups of melee foes, especially when paired with Tartaglia or Xingqiu to constantly cause Vaporize reactions.

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Lore

Though I'm disgusted by the idea of eating lizards, Xiangling is an edgy chef.

Apparently, slime condensate is edible in Teyvat, given Paimon also uses it in a recipe. I was initially disgusted by the idea when Xiangling mentioned it, but now that I know Xiangling isn't the only slime user, I'm more willing to taste it.

Okay, Xiangling, trying to cook Stormterror is extreme. You don't want mah boi Venti to get mad...

Despite me grinding the heck out of Ena in Tempest Trials in Fire Emblem Heroes, therefore making me familiar with Jackie Lastra's voice, I was completely unable to tell Xiangling was voiced...by Jackie Lastra as well. Dat vocal range tho. (intentional bad spelling)

Speaking of Jackie Lastra, her favorite voice line is "Help! My dinner is attacking me!"

Interestingly, this voice line can play...while fighting the Fatui or Treasure Hoarders. Is Xiangling...a humanitarian? See this comic dub by RedVelvetVA.

Similarity

Hmmm...this is tricky. I know I wield polearms and I'm not good at cooking but the other parts of Xiangling's personality are tough.

Mom tells me that regular customers at our family store ask her, "Where's your son?" Mom and I have a Strong Family Resemblance which, combined with my unusual accent and subpar vocabulary when speaking Filipino, as well as my "magic trick" of predicting the bills customers will pay, makes me...notable, to say the least.

On the other hand, they ask for Mom when I'm in the store simply because "wala lang" (just nothing) or because "she's my friend."

See my similarity to Sucrose for my desire to be original. Unfortunately, that doesn't extend to cooking...yet. Mom, on the other hand, often experiments with ingredients and creates food that I surprisingly enjoy.

I suppose the closest thing I've done to eating Qingxin flowers which supposedly cause diarrhea is I've eaten spoiled food without getting sick.

I give a 4/10.

Waifu Value

Xiangling is...very weird to me as a waifu. She has a very high-pitched voice, a cute appearance, and a very thin body shape, making her child-like to me.

Xiangling is very passionate about cooking--I imagine, if we were friends at minimum, she would willingly cook for me and not get stressed at all in the process. Being able to double ATK-boosting dishes is also great for my muscle growth and anti-armor fighting style.

But screw it. I'm not eating lizards. 2/10.

Side Note: Klee or Xiangling?

Both are powerful Pyro-using DPS-oriented characters but with different fighting styles.

Klee is best against either armored foes or groups of foes since all her means of attack deal AoE Pyro damage.

("Armored" foes in this series refer to foes that have some kind of Geo shield. These include Large Geo Slimes, Rock Shield Mitachurl Guards, and Stonehide Lawachurls.)

Xiangling, on the other hand, is best against a single non-armored foe because of her fast attacks as a polearm wielder.

She's also better defensively thanks to her Pyronado striking foes surrounding the player.

I'll give the edge to Klee. Her mines from Jumpy Dumpty can be sucked up by Anemo users like Jean and the Traveler, dealing almost immediate damage, unlike Guoba.

Also, Klee is so much cuter.

Xiao

I do not plan to get this character.

This 5-star character was featured in the Invitation to Mundane Life Event Wish.

Combat

Xiao, I think, is the first true Anemo main DPS character. While most Anemo characters are capable of being a main DPS in some way or another, such as with Jean's Charged Attack, Sucrose's Swirl spam, the Traveler's Sword Beam, and mah boi Venti's Constellation Lv. 1, Xiao beats them all in the main DPS department with his Elemental Burst, which drains Xiao's HP in exchange for huge Anemo damage in his attacks.

Xiao's Elemental Skill is pretty simple--he thrusts forward like a typical polearm user's Charged Attack, except it can be used in the air (unlike other Elemental Skills) and it obviously inflicts Anemo damage. So far, the main uses I see for this are crowd control, parkour, regenerating Energy, and repositioning the player; I wouldn't heavily rely on this for Anemo damage.

Xiao takes no fall damage from Plunging Attacks regardless of height, making him ideal for getting the "Geronimo!" achievement. (It might also come in handy when miHoYo decides to re-run the infamous While It's Warm event.)

Xiao has a unique Charged Attack. It works similar to Jean's but doesn't keep the enemy in mid-air. I think this was designed because, #1, the standard polearm Charged Attack (used by Xiangling) is redundant with Xiao's Elemental Skill; and #2, it synergizes with his elemental abilities by letting Xiao launch an enemy, jump, use his Elemental Skill to juggle the enemy, then finish with a Plunging Attack. I've tried this combo but I think it's Difficult but Awesome...but Impractical. Most Xiao players just spam his Plunging Attack.

But, sorry, Xiao. I like Venti better for huge Anemo damage and Jean as a main DPS.

I'll still give you an Awesome (8/10), though.

Lore

When Version 1.3 was showcased in a livestream, Xiao's Story Quest was teased, showing dead (or KO'd?) hilichurls with an evil black aura. The quest itself starts with these hilichurls, though the encounter ended in a way I didn't expect: an adeptus by the name of Starsnatcher drove some of the other hilichurls back. Paimon got suspicious about Starsnatcher, so the Traveler followed him around and eventually met with Xiao as shown in the livestream.

Despite the Traveler and Paimon following Xiao into an evil-infested domain, I didn't expect Xiao would be the only controllable character. Uniquely, in this domain, he is permanently under the effects of his Elemental Burst and he regains HP upon hitting an enemy.

I think it doesn't make sense considering the Traveler's purification ability as shown in the Mondstadt Archon Quests and The Chalk Prince and the Dragon, but I suppose one counter-argument would be that the evil energies in Liyue are different from those from Mondstadt. That said, I feel like Xiao should be more trusting of the Traveler, considering Xiao and Venti know each other and the Mondstadt Archon Quests need to be completed first.

Paimon later asks Xiao about Starsnatcher, with Xiao saying he doesn't know of such an adeptus. Paimon and the Traveler then conclude Starsnatcher is a fake adeptus, which is later proven when he used a Sigil of Permission to repel hilichurls.

They then do a ritual to scare Starsnatcher's soul into stopping this fake act, yadda yadda yadda.

Despite him having a boss bar, he has roughly the same AI as a Treasure Hoarder Scout minus the throwing knives; he can only roundhouse-kick. He also has very low HP. Huh. I was expecting him to put up more of a fight just like the wannabe Treasure Hoarder in the Lantern Rite who can throw knives and elemental cocktails.

At least collecting the materials for this quest was interesting, unlike with Zhongli. The Traveler meets Pervases, a long-dead yaksha. The Traveler and Paimon then informed Xiao about this and, at the end of the Story Quest, he ordered Pervases's favorite food, Grilled Ticker Fish (now Grilled Tiger Fish) instead of his usual Almond Tofu to honor Pervases's memory.

Also, in the end, Starsnatcher stayed at the Wangshu Inn under his real name, Wang Ping'an. He wrote the Traveler a letter vowing to improve himself and honor the adepti.

Yay for Starsnatcher redeeming himself. Now it's your turn, Reckless Pallad and Xin Cheng.

Anyway, I think Starsnatcher is also voiced by Patrick Seitz. Unlike Little Wu in Hu Tao's story, Starsnatcher sounds more like Hector from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.

I'll cover the story in his profile later 'cause I'm lazy.

Notice that many enemies in Yashiori Island have a black aura similar to the hilichurls in Xiao's Story Quest. This is the same "angry dead god" influence that Xiao fights against; in this case, this is caused by the Tatarigami.

Similarity

I'm actually happy that Xiao doesn't exist in real life. After all, Xiao said something around the lines of "Do not judge adepti by your mortal standards." I don't know what he'd do with me if he sees this, but at least I know he won't kill me 'cause he's on a "no killing mortals" contract...as long as I don't get close to him during a fight.

Screw it. I'm doing it anyway 'cause I'm a lunatic.

Xiao is under a contract with Rex Lapis to be a guardian of Liyue. Obviously, I'm not someone whose job is fighting like a police officer or soldier, so I won't count this.

If you wanna talk about my Author Avatar, though, he's the leader of his own criminal organization. He actively fights law enforcement, militaries, other gangs, and monsters alike. Because of his chaotic neutral alignment, he hates abiding by most contracts except for ones he likes and is confident with.

In terms of combat and mobility, I can long-jump up to 2 meters while standing still. When charging towards my enemies, I often use shoulder tackles, if not Roman Reigns's Superman Punch. I also practice running around my painfully difficult-to-navigate house...much to the dismay of Mom.

However, Xiao decreases climbing Stamina consumption...and I still have difficulty with long flights of stairs. I've also never tried rock climbing.

I only speak bluntly and rudely to most people, including strangers and good friends, when I'm in a bad mood. Otherwise, I maintain a stoic and professional attitude (like Diluc) in the case of strangers or a friendly and lively attitude (like Amber) in the case of friends.

Unfortunately...I have infected some of my former friends with that negative energy.

Not gonna lie, I want to work or play with a team, but considering I have Taken a Level in Cynic and I don't want to burden others with my problems, I mostly work alone...and expect others to be able to do the same 'cause I'm too lazy to help others and I hate being exploited.

As a mentor, I imagine I sound like a mix of Albedo, Lisa, and Tartaglia. I explain things in great detail while equating them to relatable everyday experiences...while showing a bit of Blood Knight attitude when it comes to combat or tactical training.

Again, I only act as a Mentor in Sour Armor when I'm in a bad mood, though usually if the person I'm mentoring caused my bad mood. Otherwise, I pretend to be stoic...and struggle to do so.

Oh, by the way, I love almonds and tofu.

I give a temporary 3/10.

Husbando Value

Xiao is about as much of a Jerkass as Rosaria, if not worse. Even if he isn't a jerk or his jerkassery is tolerable, I'd still have very few opportunities to have Quality Time with him because he's always busy fighting Rex-Lapis-knows-what. It's not like an ordinary "soldier" like me can stand up to the hidden catastrophic threats Liyue experiences on a regular basis...

I give a 0/10.

Considering Ganyu is a thing, though, saying humans can breed with adepti would be a valid argument. lololol plz don't tell xiao (intentional bad grammar)

Side Notes

Laila Berzins

As if Venti being voiced by Erika Harlacher (English, female) and Ayumu Murase (Japanese, male) wasn't bamboozling enough, Xiao is voiced...by a woman! I was honestly in disbelief.

While Laila was one of Zach Aguilar's guests in his Xiao pulls, Laila talked about her various roles, including several creatures, one of which is...the Runners in The Last of Us Part II.

Uh...can adepti be infected by the Cordyceps Brain Infection? Eh, don't think too hard about it. I just did this for funzies.

Do Girls Want Bad Boys?

Xiao is perceived by the community to have a bad boy's charm. He always sounds angry, he has fully exposed and muscular arms with tattoos, and he used to be evil. He even has a Sexy Backless Outfit for some reason.

But, to be honest, I don't like the idea of wanting to be in a relationship with a bad boy, even though I probably understand the reasons.

Being a mother is hard-coded into older human females, so I think they want to treat Xiao more like a son than a boyfriend or husband, thinking that they might be the solution to Xiao's problems and Xiao might do something good for them in return. I think it's for a similar reason I want to take care of Klee.

But girls understand very well that Xiao is a fictional character so there are no risks in having him as a husbando. It's like being anonymous on the Internet; you can't be punished for doing something bad because you can't be personally identified easily--you can hide your identity. In reality, I get bombarded by dating profiles that explicitly reject sadbois, which is my image of Xiao.

But this is just me being realistic about relationships with fictional characters for fun. If you love Xiao, then go get 'em! No one's stopping you.

Electro Archon

The Electro Archon seeks to become immortal. It's somewhat inconsistent with Xiao's Story 1 which states, "However, gods are immortal. Their consciousness may diminish, but their power and hatred will always remain and spread like poison, relentlessly stirring up chaos for the world and its inhabitants."

Heck, this is exactly what the Tatarigami (from 神 kami = god) is doing in Kannazuka and Yashiori Island.

Maybe, by immortality, the Electro Archon specifically wants an immortal consciousness.

National Protectors

Mondstadt and Liyue have another thing in common: They have a super strong protector that is neither an Archon nor the human ruler of the nation (Jean/Varka, members of the Liyue Qixing). For Mondstadt, it's Diluc. For Liyue, it's Xiao. In addition to their strength, they are wise and highly respected by their nations: Diluc for being the "king" of the wine industry and Xiao for being an adeptus.

I wonder what Inazuma's super strong protector will be like. A shrine maiden, maybe? I want to mix it up because Diluc fills the "ninja" role as "Batman" and Xiao is not human, which means a yokai would be redundant.

By the way, Tartaglia doesn't fill the role for Snezhnaya, I think. He'd rather attacc than protecc.

Edit: I'm still not sure who is Inazuma's designated protector. Note that I consider Kamisato Ayato and Kujou Sara to be the Inazuma equivalents of Jean/Varka and the Liyue Qixing because they're the leaders of the Yashiro and Tenryou Commissions, respectively.

There's very little we know so far about Yae Miko, but I'll take a guess and say she'll play a bigger role in Chapter II, Act III. All she did before was "diagnose" a swordmaster with insanity caused by having his Vision taken away by the Raiden Shogun.

Xiao Impressions?

When I do Xiao impressions, I pretend I'm angry all the time...which is easy given my Hair-Trigger Temper.

In case people get the wrong idea, I say "just kidding" in my real voice.

Xingqiu

This 4-star character was featured in the Adrift in the Harbor Event Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
61	Sacrificial Sword Lv. 60/60	The Exile (4)	9580	651	551	68	2

Combat

I'm planning to rewrite some of this. Xingqiu's Elemental Burst is carrying my Pyro teams, but his Energy Cost of 80 is painfully high.

Xingqiu has an interesting history in Genshin Impact community tier lists. Before, he was ranked low-tier; according to Gacha Gamer's old tier list, Xingqiu "tries to do too many things at the same time, making him a master of none." As such, I put very little investment into Xingqiu just to test him out...and I concluded I should stick to the characters I felt comfortable using.

Now, even though Xingqiu's combat has remained unchanged, he made a sudden jump to the highest tiers. In mid-November, I began to see a lot of YouTube videos of why Xingqiu was awesome and worth raising, almost as if turning the community's perception of Xingqiu from Master of None to Master of All.

Xingqiu's Elemental Skill starts with two simple Hydro-infused slashes before creating Rain Swords, which are basically shields. They don't allow the player to No-Sell like Noelle and the Crystallize reaction do, but only one Rain Sword is destroyed each time the player is hit, unlike the other shield providers whose shields can potentially be broken in one exceptionally strong hit. I'd mainly use Xingqiu's Elemental Skill like I would use, say, Bennett's.

Xingqiu's Elemental Burst is the true butt-kicker. It adds Hydro damage to the player's Normal Attacks and temporarily keeps Rain Swords at maximum, allowing DPS characters like Xiangling to spam the heck out of Vaporize reactions with an Attack! Attack! Attack! style. It also makes Xingqiu essential for permafreeze teams.

However...I've already invested more in Tartaglia and I think he's more fun to use with his incredible DPS and Hydro spreading. Too lazy to invest in Xingqiu.

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Lore

As befitting the nation of the God of Contracts, there is no shortage of powerful and skilled businessmen in Liyue, and Xingqiu is one of them. How else would he be able to help the Traveler buy every last piece of Cor Lapis in Liyue?

Unlike Ningguang, though, Mora is not among Xingqiu's most defining traits. While both his chivalry and love for reading (particularly martial arts novels) are those defining traits, I think his reading is more significant and has contributed to why he is chivalrous because of this paragraph from Xingqiu's Story 1:

"Inspired by tropes from his beloved martial arts novels—such as the king who wears a disguise and mingles with the common folk—Xingqiu does not hesitate to leverage the power of the Feiyun Commerce Guild to resolve more complex issues when violence isn't the answer."

I think Xingqiu's behavior with friends and family versus strangers is typical of some shy people: quiet towards strangers but crazy to friends and family. While Xingqiu's story doesn't explain why this is the case for Xingqiu, I think it's a natural behavior to be defensive in front of strangers out of fear of being publicly ridiculed. Friends and family, on the other hand, are less likely to be critical of "weird" actions because their knowledge of their friend's/family member's behavior makes them more tolerant.

Xingqiu's Story Quest is among my favorites. The Traveler coincidentally runs into Xingqiu at the Wanwen Bookhouse where he asked for a copy of a novel that the bookhouse did not have, forcing the two to borrow the book from a man who was threatened to sell Cor Lapis for 70% off or get firetrucked up by some Fatui mooks. As I said earlier, the gang bought every Cor Lapis ever, including the Cor Lapis from the man Xingqiu wanted to borrow from, and as you expect, the threatening guy flew into a RRRAAAGGGEEE...before the Traveler and Xingqiu stomped the guy's mooks and the Fatui. The man happily lent his book afterward.

Happy endings like that are heartwarming to me and encourage me to become a hero in real life.

I give an Awesome (8/10).

Similarity

See Diluc in part 1 for the whole businessman thing.

Alongside Jean, Xingqiu represents another significant part of my personality that was influenced by my bad experiences with people I liked: returning almost every favor done for me.

Normally, this is merely a simple "thank you" for a friend or a silent bow for a stranger because either I have no bigger way to give my thanks or I'm playing defensively in case I'm being deceived.

But again, like I said for Jean, I do generous acts for selfish reasons.

I'm very unlikely to joke around with strangers, instead preferring to stay polite and say only what the other person needs to hear. While Xingqiu's voice and manner of speech give a calming impression, I like to think my kuudere attitude is intimidating and mysterious...even though I have not officially scared anyone with it.

With family members and friends, though, I'm a lot crazier. I'd be more likely to jokingly call friends words like "dingus" while doing activities like playing D&D, for example.

Xingqiu mastered the Guhua style in four years. While I'm nowhere close to mastering boxing, I still consider myself a powerful boxer, considering I repeatedly beat up Coach G-Force and actually KO'd the heavier YoSquid after four years of training.

Additionally, in late April 2021, I double-attacked my spear-wielding brother...with a sword.

Like how Beidou treats Xingqiu, I get talked to by older Filipinos as if I were a much younger person. For example, when I do mental two-digit math correctly, they say "Tama!" (Correct!) as if they're a teacher and I'm an elementary student. Some less educated security guards in malls have even asked me to read the names on their uniforms aloud as if I can't read the Latin alphabet...and, to be fair, I look Chinese so I guess people assume I can only read hanzi (Chinese characters). I can't read maybe 99% of Japanese joyo kanji.

As for my head being rubbed, I generally hate being touched...unless it's my big brother, mom, or niece.

I actually have a lot of written works stored in my PC, such as fanfiction, sadposts, shitposts, and tactics.

But I don't publish most of them, let alone show them to a friend. They typically don't meet my own standards for quality and I don't want friends to feel obligated to read them.

As for reading, I haven't read novels in a long time, but I'm still a sucker for video game lore. Exhibit A: This series.

I'm often brutally honest when I talk about someone I dislike, even if that person holds some form of high authority, when that person isn't around to hear me, but at the same time, I try to remain objective and find some redeeming qualities: a trait I do not share with Xingqiu.

I have said some insulting words to a professor in schoolwork before and, when I edited it before getting graded, the professor said my old version was against some kind of code of conduct or whatever. Like another professor I know, he is brutally honest in his work; he sometimes adds swear words like "damn" when giving criticism or instructions...which is something I, an English tutor, am not allowed to do. However, I'm sure that, like any other professor, he expects his students to study hard; the study materials he made are wonderfully simple to understand.

I promise that even my preschool handwriting is better than Xingqiu's current handwriting.

I'm indifferent towards carrots which Xingqiu hates.

I give an 8/10.

Both NachoPizza and I want to cosplay Xingqiu...which I think is weird because it feels like talking to myself. I felt the same thing when a girl in VRChat who heard my Lisa impression cloned my Xingqiu avatar.

Miyako, an Italian cosplayer I met in VRChat, has noted how similar I am to Xingqiu, even when speaking properly as LunaticTactician, largely due to my martial arts experience. It's further supported by me having the highest-pitched voice among my male family members.

To be fair, I used my Xingqiu avatar throughout much of the conversation. The way we sat on adjacent logs outdoors made me feel like Xingqiu was dating Ayaka, Ganyu, or Sailor Moon.

Someone make a Keqing x Xingqiu fanfic/comic where Xingqiu gets dumped. lololol

Husbando Value

I know I said I don't like Ningguang because of how insanely rich she is, but for me, Xingqiu's personality greatly outweighs my opinion of his financial status.

Xingqiu is probably my best source of Quality Time among the Genshin Impact characters. While I'm not a novel reader nowadays, I think Xingqiu would be entertained by modern-day media. In exchange, I think I can have fun discussions about Xingqiu's favorite novels; I expect him to be able to explain the novels in bite-sized chunks that don't require me to binge-read.

Xingqiu regularly looks for opportunities to do good to others as befitting his definition of chivalry. I'd like some of those experiences too...especially if it means kicking a corrupt businessman in the butt.

As an occasional fanfiction writer (of mainly Hytale crossovers), I enjoy reading others' written works, especially those of my friends. Among them are drama (Aby/BoltOLightnin), medieval fantasy (my younger brother), mystery ("Mareeta"), and romance (Nacho).

I grew up with some martial arts movies like The Karate Kid and Kung Fu Panda (I don't watch Cobra Kai regularly but I get entertained when Mom and Dad watch it during dinner) so I think I would enjoy reading Xingqiu's "A Legend of Sword" together with the author himself, complete with Albedo's art. LET US READ THAT BOOK IN-GAME OR SOMETHING, DANG IT! INAZUMA IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER--HIS BOOK IS A BESTSELLER THERE!

The dude's also a fan of martial arts, so sparring against him would be fun.

I give a 9/10.

Side Notes

I tried to do Xingqiu's "Hello" line using my normal voice and without listening to the original, though I think I sounded like a teenage boy speaking in a seminar.

Griffin Burns, the voice of Tartaglia, Tweeted a photo of him being between two Cristina Valenzuelas. The photo next to that has their faces replaced: Griffin with Tartaglia and the Cristinas with Bennett and Xingqiu. Even the Guys Want Him, anyone?

(I mean, Tartaglia is shipped with Zhongli, after all...)

Boxingqiu

Reddit post by u/azidthenawi

Another reason I love Xingqiu is this meme.

It sucks though that I don't know if Xingqiu can canonically fight with his fists. Then again, Chinese martial arts, which Liyue is heavily inspired by, covers both unarmed and armed combat.

Yeah...my former crush "Mareeta" rekt me at Tenningguang.

Nacho is a Soccerqing guy.

Xinyan

This 4-star character was featured in the Invitation to Mundane Life Event Wish.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
81	Snow-Tombed Starsilver Lv. 90/90	Bloodstained Chivalry, Gladiator's Finale	16400	1694	884	61	2

Important Notes

I do not care about the backlash against Kaeya, Xinyan, and the hilichurls being "racist".

You're welcome to debate about these in my comments sections, but I won't respond.

Combat

I spent the heck out of my Intertwined Fates in the Gentry of Hermitage Event Wish...only to get copy after copy of Chongyun and Razor. So much for "gotta catch 'em all"...

But I finally caught Xinyan in Xiao's Event Wish. I was planning to get her for free in Stand By Me...but hey, I still got her for her Constellation Lv. 1!

I got her Constellation Lv. 2 on March 3, 2021 in a single pull on Wanderlust Invocation that wasn't even on pity. It's probably the second most poggers thing I've ever pulled next to Tartaglia in 8 pulls.

I wanted Xinyan for her unique Pyro shield. In addition to protecting against certain harmful Ley Line Disorders, it inflicts damage on surrounding foes without the need for Energy like Kaeya or Xiangling or a 5-star character like Qiqi.

My main use for this would be to do a hit-and-run attack on the herd of boars at Brightcrown Canyon, the best meat farming location in the game. Animals run erratically from my experience...or maybe I just have Stormtrooper aim. And before you mention the requirement of hitting at least 2 enemies to inflict Pyro damage, there are 4 Geo Slimes near the boar farm.

Xinyan's Elemental Burst is also unique in that it's the first Elemental Burst that inflicts physical damage. (It's a little ironic, isn't it?) This lets her deal heavy damage to Pyro-immune foes when there's no other viable DPS option.

Aside from farming, my other main use for Xinyan is the Spiral Abyss where I would use her as a...budget Diluc/Klee. I know Bennett is now considered superior to Diluc even in the damage department, but the main edge Xinyan has over Bennett is her claymore weapon type which, combined with her Pyro element, lets her destroy Cryo, Dendro, and Geo foes with ease.

Her Elemental Burst doesn't deal a lot of Pyro damage, but it is effective at breaking Cryo shields because of the multi-hit effect.

Yeah...the Pyro/Claymore combo is freakin' ridiculous.

I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

The highest physical damage I've dealt with Xinyan's Elemental Burst are the following (tested in the open world with Pyro Resonance): 21k on a mitachurl, 29k on Fatui members and Treasure Hoarders, and 50k on a Treasure Hoarder which included Superconduct, Bennett's Elemental Burst, and Xinyan's shield.

Yes, I know I have Diluc, but I raised Xinyan first and all of my resources are for a potential Rosaria for now. Plus, considering Eula also deals physical damage, I think the Spiral Abyss will favor physical damage dealers after Eula comes out.

Lore

Xinyan, to me, is like a female version of an alternate Mark Manson who actually pursued his high school rock star dreams and became successful. In addition, she shares many of modern-day Mark Manson's opinions: She values rock 'n' roll and is good at it, she does good things simply because they're good (or, in her own words, "rock 'n' roll"), and of course, she gives no firetrucks about what others think of her.

Well...at least Xinyan doesn't shove mind-numbing philosophy into my head. The Mindf*ck Monday for February 15, 2021 introduces itself with the phrase "the only weekly newsletter that brings up philosophy on a first date."

I like how the "Xinyan's Instrument" part of her story suddenly breaks the fourth wall. It talks about how her instrument has an axe blade and can shoot fire...then questions the reader for thinking these features are unrelated to music.

If you look closely at Xinyan when she uses her Elemental Skill, she strikes with her guitar, not her currently equipped weapon.

Similarity

I think the closest thing I do to performing dangerous rock 'n' roll performances is practicing voice acting and kiai at my full Large Ham voice. For some reason, our neighbors never complain about my loud voice, but maybe they're just being polite and are actually annoyed. Unfortunately...our village guards sent my dad a text message about me being noisy while voicing combat voice lines.

I don't actually know how to play any musical instrument (but I have played the flute and guitar before; I just forgot how to do it now). I can whistle a little, though.

Waifu Value

Xinyan is a nice girl, but she looks too tomboyish for my taste.

Yanfei

I do not have this character.

This is based on first impressions from the Test Run. I'm still busy with my last few weeks of school work.

Combat

Yanfei's Normal Attack feels wonky to me. Sometimes, when attacking while holding the movement keys down, she interrupts her combo to move a little before attacking again, effectively slowing down her combo. This does not happen to other characters (in fact, it benefits Ningguang).

No one else complains about this, though. I guess I'm just bad.

She shares an element with Klee who I've pulled back in Version 1.0. While I still prefer Klee because of her versatility, utility, and attack speed, Yanfei's advantage comes from her taller height, larger AoE, and longer range.

Not counting her wonky Normal Attack in case it's a bug or just an error on my part, I give a Pretty Cool (7/10).

Lore

WARNING: Contains a minor spoiler about Madame Ping.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

To surprise myself, I am deliberately avoiding discussing any connections between Yanfei and Eula until I finish Eula's Story Quest.

The housing system quest is a Yanfei Story Quest in disguise. Madame Ping tells the Traveler she needs Smaragdus Jadeite, a rare material filled with immense adeptal power but is dangerous to humans.

The close-up shots of Yanfei's face while presenting evidence to Krosl were amazing virtual camera work. While not as epic as Phoenix Wright because of the lack of visual effects, listening to Yanfei in Krosl's POV made me feel like I was getting rekt in court. (See this fan art by Snivine444.)

Unity just released some new Cinemachine tutorials; I better take a look once school stops biting my butt. (Genshin Impact was made with Unity.)

Side note: The Traveler and Paimon repeatedly express how Yanfei is different from other adepti. I feel like Xiao would really hate this, given his treatment of Ganyu.

I swear though, if I see another legal plotline in Eula's Story Quest, I'm gonna smash my punching bag.

Similarity

The most glaring difference between me and Yanfei is I hate reading most legalese content like criminal cases. I typically only read what we in the Philippines refer to as Republic Acts.

I prefer reading fictional and self-help books.

If I'm not feeling lazy, I take my work very seriously. I'm pretty much a fountain of knowledge when other people ask me about my work.

Heck, I once felt an urge to correct someone's English in VRChat but resisted it. Tutoring has improved my ability to detect grammar errors.

Waifu Value

I find that Yanfei is the most scantily clad of all the playable Genshin Impact characters so far. Just look at the back, chest, midriff, and legs. Her Character Demo and "Story Quest" even have close-up shots of her legs.

Oh boy. I bet Rule 34 artists are gonna have tons of fun with Yanfei.

As for me...not gonna lie, I'm hypnotized. Her enthusiastic voice provided by Lizzie Freeman sells her even more for me.

I'm not sure how I feel about having a lawyer as a waifu, though. LegalEagle has repeatedly emphasized how difficult law school is, but hey, he enjoys his job.

What I'm worried about is how much work Yanfei does. She is yet another highly respected person at Liyue Harbor, a place where the Ministry of Civil Affairs is very meticulous about permits, taxes, and the like. Thankfully, her work is not as much as Ganyu's, but how much is it compared to a normal human?

She's an adeptus like Ganyu, but so far, I don't know if she has any super stamina or whatever.

Regardless, compared to other real-life people, I'm a huge slacker. I always somehow find time to relax even after grueling work.

Zhongli

I do not have this character.

This 5-star character is featured in the Gentry of Hermitage Event Wish.

WARNING: Contains major spoilers. Do not read until you've completed Chapter I, Act III: A New Star Approaches.

Combat

Zhongli's Normal and Charged Attacks look like nothing special to me compared to Xiangling. Both have fast Normal Attacks that excel at chipping away at a single target.

Zhongli's Charged Attack looks different in that he Flash Steps while raining spears in his path, but functionally, I think it's still similar to Xiangling's Charged Attack.

Zhongli breaks the mold of Geo being a mostly defensive element by packing his own powerful offense, especially against Geo foes which Zhongli excels at destroying.

Zhongli's Elemental Skill can be pressed or held. Unlike Lisa and Razor who deliver a stronger held Elemental Skill after some pressed Elemental Skills, or Diona and the Anemo-aligned Traveler whose held Elemental Skills are basically stronger versions with similar mechanics, Zhongli's Elemental Skill has unique effects depending on a press or a hold.

Pressing it summons a tall Stone Stele that works similar to the Geo-aligned Traveler's Starfell Sword Elemental Skill. There are many differences between the two though:

Geo-aligned Traveler	Zhongli
Deals damage once	Continuously deals damage
Shorter height	Taller height
Slower casting time (even when pressed)	Faster casting time
8-second cooldown	4-second cooldown
Up to three meteorites can exist	Only one Stone Stele can exist at a time (Two with Constellation Lv. 1)
Can be aimed	Cannot be aimed (holding down instead destroys Geo objects and creates a shield)
Larger platform	Smaller platform
Super Smash Bros. meteor smash, anyone? (See my post of me vs. Genshin Impact characters)	NSFW meme-worthy when placing his Elemental Skill on the Barbatos statue in Mondstadt City or with two Ganyu Elemental Bursts

The true power of Zhongli's Stone Steles comes from other characters' Geo Constructs, especially the aforementioned Geo-aligned Traveler. When paired up, they can cover a large area of the battlefield with up to 7 Geo Constructs (assuming Zhongli is at Constellation Lv. 0) and deal a boatload of damage.

Zhongli is similar to Noelle in that some of their Talents scale off of defensive stats; in Zhongli's case, Max HP. This improves his potential as a DPS tank...especially with his incredible No-Selling ability provided by the shield from his held Elemental Skill.

Speaking of his shield, in 1.3, it was buffed to decrease all nearby enemies' RES by 20%. Combined with its duration being longer than its cooldown, Zhongli is practically invincible.

Zhongli's Elemental Burst is just freaking ridiculous. It deals heavy damage that partially scales with Zhongli's Max HP (with his Passive Talent 2), has a wide AoE, can petrify foes without having to freeze them, AND has a surprisingly low Energy Cost of just 40 (vs. many characters' 60 and 80)!

Unlike Venti's Elemental Burst, Zhongli's is more useful for "freezing" foes because any character can still hit them. It just lasts shorter than Venti's Elemental Burst and doesn't allow elemental reactions besides Crystallize.

I give an Amazing (9/10).

Lore

Considering he's from the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, I should've figured out that Zhongli was an expert in religious stuff since the Liyue story revolves around solving the mystery of Rex Lapis's assassination and performing the Rite of Parting.

At first, I assumed he was just knowledgeable out of nowhere about trivial matters. Constantly listening to him spewing out nerdy lore frankly hurt my brain--I prefer to read that stuff while not playing the game so I can focus on digesting the lore, not getting in-game rewards as fast as possible.

But even in my pursuit of in-game rewards, many of Zhongli's tasks involve a looot of talking to NPCs, asking them for not just any common Liyue product, but an exceptionally rare version of it with unique properties, namely the Noctilucous Jade and the Silk Flower perfume.

Alongside his random trivial knowledge, Zhongli constantly forgetting to bring Mora when purchasing products is a Running Gag that...frankly frustrates me as well, especially considering how important it is for the Traveler and the people of Liyue to learn more about what happened to Rex Lapis. Forgetting to bring Mora twice is okay considering I've forgotten to bring money before, usually in trivial purchases like buying from my mom's bakery franchise, but since he reached three strikes, he's out. (Glad he didn't forget the Mora when treating the Traveler to dinner at Third-Round Knockout.)

As if Zhongli's nerdiness and missing Mora were bad enough for my head, he's voiced by Keith Silverstein who also voiced Mr. Cloud District himself, Nazeem from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Every time Zhongli talks, I get reminded of the many Dragonborn that Nazeem claimed do not go to the Cloud District very often...even though they were officially declared heroes of Whiterun.

Last chance to back out before the big spoiler.

The epic reveal that Zhongli is Rex Lapis who faked his own death to test if the people of Liyue were ready for his retirement eased some of my headaches with the character, though.

Rex Lapis gave a Figure It Out Yourself statement to the Traveler when talking about the contract he made with the Tsaritsa in exchange for his Gnosis.

Apparently, before preparing to give up his Gnosis, Rex Lapis, a.k.a. Morax, paid for everything simply by creating Mora out of thin air like the Pokémon move Pay Day.

I thought he'd be the best businessman in all of Teyvat, given he invented business in the first place. This makes me wonder whether or not Rex Lapis understands inflation.

Regardless, I have an even stronger desire to beat up the Tsaritsa. I sympathize with Paimon panicking about Mora becoming finite.

(But hey, at least Mora is still infinite in-game! Just beat up some hilichurls and you're good to go!)

I give an Annoying but Genius (7/10).

Similarity

In casual groups, I'm often the serious genius. I have a bad habit of mentioning trivial facts during a casual conversation; for example, when someone in VRChat got confused about why Xinyan uses a claymore instead of her guitar, I explained, "She does use her guitar when she uses her Elemental Skill."

Inverted in school and work-related groups where I'm a silent and reactive person who has no idea what everyone is talking about. I know extremely little about business and digital art.

Like an elderly man, I am very prone to talking about my past experiences and knowledge in such detail that, if I were to type it out, my parents would think it's a Wall of Text.

"Mareeta" is one such example.

I have forgotten to bring money multiple times...mainly because I rarely use it when I leave the house. I always go to Gold's Gym either by family car or on foot; never through public transport.

I have high expectations whenever someone makes a promise to me. Now, I know life regularly bites people, especially students and married people, in the butt, so I can begrudgingly tolerate a broken promise or two and act like nothing bad happened.

However, breaking a promise enough times, especially for no clear reason, makes me uncontrollably angry. At this point, I will usually threaten to end a friendship or romantic relationship, if not end it outright. I'm also prone to saying more swear words. In other words, this is my version of making them suffer the Wrath of the Rock.

However, I have trouble keeping my own promises because, usually, I'm forced by authorities to make those promises.

I still have a lot of unfulfilled promises to friends due to lack of creative inspiration.

I give a 4/10.

Husbando Value

Considering Zhongli's lore and his voice actor's other notorious role have already annoyed me, I wouldn't want to experience them further by making him my husbando.

The four tall characters currently available in Genshin Impact, Diluc, Kaeya, Tartaglia, and Zhongli, were designed to be manly without being super macho, which is why they appeal so much to real-life girls. While I honestly prefer Xingqiu, if these four tall men were my only choices, I'd pick Zhongli.

Diluc, as I said, is a Fuck No.

Kaeya is too trolly.

Tartaglia is too risky.

Unless you're talking about Mora, Zhongli is a very reliable man. He keeps his promises and expects others to do the same. He's also extremely knowledgeable about history, religion, and the physical and magical properties of various objects. That said, if you wanna make him your husbando, you need to plan VERY carefully--one wrong move and you too will suffer the Wrath of the Rock.

I give a 4/10.

Side Notes

Marth and Chrom

The two playable Archons, Venti and Zhongli, remind me of Marth and Chrom from the Fire Emblem series in terms of physical appearance.

Both Venti and Marth are the feminine kind of handsome.

Zhongli and Chrom, on the other hand, are the manly kind of handsome. Their respective voice actors (Matthew Mercer for Chrom) sell their manliness even further.

Other Playable Archons

The Archons typically exhibit the best of what their elements are designed to do. Venti is a master of sucking in enemies and dealing massive Anemo damage with his Elemental Burst, while Zhongli is a master of Geo Constructs, shield creation, and anti-Geo attacks.

All Electro characters so far are viable main DPS options. Yes, including Lisa.

The High Voltage Elemental Resonance causes Electro-related elemental reactions to regenerate Energy.

All Electro-related elemental reactions can potentially deal damage to more than one foe, even if only one gets inflicted with such a reaction. Overloaded and Superconduct inflict AoE damage while Electro-Charged damages nearby Hydro-inflicted enemies.

Therefore, I imagine the Raiden Shōgun to be a main DPS character that regenerates Energy fast and deals a lot of AoE damage.

The Hydro Archon may be a master of healing. I imagine he will power-creep Barbara.

The Pyro Archon may be a main DPS. Most Pyro characters are heavy hitters like Diluc and Klee. She is also the God of War so I expect her to wield a claymore.

The Tsaritsa may be a master of freezing, possibly with an ability to petrify foes without an elemental reaction like Zhongli can. Maybe she can even inflict continuous Cryo damage with a Sheer Cold-like ability. Being the leader of the Fatui, her Elemental Skill may be designed for controlling the battlefield and confounding enemies (diplomacy) while her Elemental Burst may be for pure damage (force).

Voice Acting

I have trouble doing Zhongli's distinctively deep voice, even though I can do Nazeem just fine.

However, people in VRChat love it when I shout "I WILL HAVE ORDER!", among other combat lines.

The Best and Worst of Each Category

Combat

Lisa is easily the worst thanks to her painfully slow Elemental Skill and unreliable Elemental Burst. Other Electro characters--even the free Fischl from Unreconciled Stars--can do her job of either spreading Electro or dealing heavy damage better.

(I didn't count Paimon because she cannot fight in-game. However, I feel like Paimon's combat would be broken in the future.)

Barbara is the second-worst. She gets overshadowed by most other healers with effects in addition to healing like Bennett's ATK boost and Qiqi's continuous Cryo damage. Another 4-star character who can do one of Barbara's only offensive abilities, spreading Hydro, is Xingqiu who does so with his Rain Swords. Also, Xingqiu only applies Hydro to the active character once while Barbara does so continuously, making Barbara a risky choice when fighting Cryo or Electro foes.

That said, her Elemental Burst is an instant heal that is very useful when your team is low on both HP and Stamina and you're about to be hit at the last split-second.

Klee is the best fighter, mainly thanks to my play style of exploiting weaknesses. Unlike Diluc and Xinyan, Klee is almost always effective against 3 elements simultaneously: Cryo, Dendro, and Geo. (The only attack that isn't effective against all 3 is her Plunging Attack which has little effect against Geo.) This makes Klee very easy to fit in many Spiral Abyss teams and helps save space for other support characters. Her unique Charged Attack has a lot of value because it's not an Elemental Skill/Burst and it's possible to make it cost no Stamina, on top of its ridiculously high damage. Jumpy Dumpty's deceptively large AoE makes it easy to spread Pyro without Anemo support, on top of having 2 charges.

Venti is the second-best fighter. He needs very little resource investment to execute his famous crowd control abilities, especially against infantry units. His Elemental Burst also lasts longer than Zhongli's petrification effect but at the cost of preventing some characters from reaching the enemy. (As soon as your enemies get sucked in, all you'll see is a wall of text made of numbers and elemental reaction names.)

Best True F2P Characters

"True F2P" characters are characters that can be obtained for free by anyone regardless of when they started playing Genshin Impact. (Basically the characters that the F2P Archon Enviosity raised.) These are Amber, Barbara, Kaeya, Lisa, Noelle, the Traveler, and Xiangling.

Kaeya is the best. He is simple to use, he can continuously spread Cryo with his Elemental Burst, he's tall and reduces sprinting Stamina consumption, and has very high Normal Attack multipliers for a sword character. The Blizzard Strayer artifact set makes Kaeya an effective main DPS.

The Traveler is the second-best. I enjoy watching big numbers fly when using their Anemo Elemental Skill; Aether was my best sub-DPS in the early- and mid-game. Their Geo Elemental Skill can be used for smart plays as shown by Zelle. Also, considering the natural power-creep of gacha games (it already happened with Ganyu and Zhongli), I think it's likely the Traveler's future elements will be more powerful than previous characters/elements, making the Traveler future-proof, on top of them being very easy to raise because you only need to increase your Adventure Rank and spend the same number of EXP materials for what is basically 2 characters (eventually 7). This is why the Traveler was my very first Ascension Phase 6 character. (Just think of how powerful a Pyro main DPS Traveler would be, considering most Pyro characters are designed to be main DPSs. The Pyro region is the 6th region out of the 8 in Teyvat.)

Lore

(Venti is the best for now, but since it may be boring to see one character win two categories, give 2nd place to Xingqiu)

(Look for annoying or meh stories for the worst)

Similarity

When I think about the Genshin Impact characters I embody the most in real life, five names immediately come to mind: Fischl because I've been heavily influenced by gaming and I want to be like my favorite game characters, Noelle because I'm skilled in manual labor which I regularly do, Sucrose because of my curiosity and the fact I enjoy researching, Tartaglia because I enjoy fighting, and Xingqiu because I enjoy being heroic.

Xingqiu has the edge here. When I was younger, I wanted to be a water-controlling sword-wielding hero. I enjoy reading about the lore of my favorite games. I practice a variety of weapons in addition to boxing. I think I'm generally nice to people who approach me--I even pretend to be Japanese and bow whenever they do something nice to me.

Husbando Value

Xiao is easily the worst husbando. He's a jerk to almost everyone, including the half-adeptus Ganyu and the Traveler who literally helped save Liyue from the Overlord of the Vortex and defeated a freakin' Fatui Harbinger. He does have redeeming qualities like his wisdom, but he's so busy fighting that I might as well get advice from someone who's less busy and jerk-y like Ganyu or Daddy Zhongli.

Bennett is without a doubt a nice guy and a hard worker, but his contagious unluckiness, I imagine, would be an intolerable problem in a romantic relationship. While I rated both Xiao and Bennett 0/10, Bennett's redeeming qualities neutralize his flaws more than Xiao's, which is why Bennett is only the second-worst.

Xingqiu is the best husbando. I love heroes, lore, and martial arts about as much as he does. Being a member of the Feiyun Commerce Guild, I think he also knows how to handle money properly. His preference of reading a book over other important things is a little annoying, admittedly, but being the manipulative lunatic tactician I am, I think I can convince him that the other important things are heroic. After all, for Xingqiu, chivalry is basically doing good.

(No Wet jokes, please. lololol jk)

Waifu Value

Kujou Sara is the worst waifu. She is a general of the Tenryou Commission, the law enforcement and military part of the Shogunate which is in charge of the Vision Hunt Decree that has ruined people's lives. She also looks strict yet somehow inconsistent in character at the same time. Unlike Keqing and Rosaria who want the best for their nations despite their unappealing character traits, Kujou Sara doesn't seem to mind the negative consequences of the Vision Hunt Decree.

Rosaria is the second-worst waifu. Although she's not The Tease, I hate her outfit; it looks more Stripperiffic than even the actual tease, Lisa. She's a nun and I'm a Nay-Theist. Like Diluc and Xiao, I imagine she's always in the field doing dangerous, sometimes top-secret work. She's a jerk to the Honorary Knight, although not as much as Xiao is to the savior of Liyue. Lastly, she's an alcoholic.

Jean is the best waifu. Aside from Lisa, Jean is the only character I'm aware of who canonically says Fuck Yes to romance. Putting the outfit and physique aside, Jean is very heroic and kind to others, sometimes to the point of exhausting herself. Though I'm far from having Jean's strong sense of justice because of my chaotic neutral alignment, I still respect her for that and I think I'll be able to adjust to it eventually. Plus, being personally related to the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius gives me more opportunities to do the following to Mondstadt's enemies: KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!

I feel inclined to call Sucrose the second-best, but I rated her a mere 2/10 because I imagine her to be too scared to be with me; I am often brutally honest and prone to making people suffer the Wrath of the Rock. I get curious very easily and I am clingy to girls I like, which I think Sucrose would interpret as intruding on her personal space.

But I like Sucrose anyway. Her title is "Harmless Sweetie". Her overall outfit, for me, is very attractive given the color combination and placement. She respects others' personal spaces but is willing to listen to the Traveler's adventuring stories.

Overall

Unfortunately, it's really hard to say who's the overall worst character because, for me, EVERY Genshin Impact character is great in one way or another, even if I personally hate them. I hate Keqing but she's a great fighter and a strong leader, for example.

After a long thought process, I concluded that Barbara is the worst character. Don't get me wrong, though--her healing is VERY useful in the early- to mid-game and she's a Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot according to TV Tropes.

It's just that I don't think Barbara's dedicated healing play style is fun, especially with Bennett and Qiqi existing.

I don't feel much of a connection with Barbara's lore as I do with other characters.

(Note that this has nothing to do with Barbara's 1.3 English voice, although I see room for improvement.)

Xingqiu takes the crown as my #1 favorite character in Genshin Impact, being a character who is great in every single category. He is fun to spam Frozen and Vaporize with, he is a martial arts-loving bookworm with a heroic but sometimes crazy attitude which I aspire to have, I act very much like him with my fascination with lore and heroic tendencies, and I imagine we'd have a great time together as a married couple through our combined interests, assuming I'm a straight girl.

I should consider raising Xingqiu to Lv. 90 and make him a main DPS just for funzies. By the way, using a character you like is not a pitfall.

LT, what if you were a character in Genshin Impact?

This is under construction. I'm changing myself to a Pyro polearm user. 

Normal Attack

Normal Attack

Perform up to 6 rapid spear strikes.

Charged Attack

Consumes Stamina to punch the ground, dealing AoE DMG. Effective against Geo foes.

Plunging Attack

Elbow-drops from mid-air to strike the ground below, dealing AoE DMG upon impact.

Elemental Skill

Eyeing a foe's weak point, LT slows down time for himself, increasing his CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG and infusing his weapon with Pyro. This cannot be overridden by any other elemental infusion.

Elemental Burst

LT flies into a sudden psychotic rage, inflicting Pyro DMG on nearby foes for the duration. Enemies that LT attacks will also continuously emit fire bolts that deal Pyro DMG.

Passive Talent 1

While Stamina is below 70%, decreases Stamina consumption by 5% and increases LT's ATK by 10%.

Passive Talent 2

At the end of LT's Elemental Burst, he explodes, dealing Pyro DMG equal to 60% of his ATK plus 15% of his Max HP. Effective against Geo foes. (This effect does not deal DMG to LT.)

Passive Talent 3

Increases your party's evasion distance by 10%.

Constellations

C1: Shieldripper

When LT's attack results in a CRIT, decreases the target's DEF by 23% for 8s.

C2: Gang Up

When LT's attack results in a CRIT, increases all party members' ATK by 12% for 12s.

C3: Unyielding Grudge

Increases the level of LT's Elemental Burst by 3.

C4: Make Sure They Get The Point

If an enemy affected by LT's Elemental Burst dies or its duration expires, it explodes, dealing AoE Pyro DMG equal to 40% of LT's ATK. Effective against Geo foes.

C5: Supersonic Blaze

Increases the level of LT's Elemental Skill by 3.

C6: For Everyone, Not Just Myself

When LT activates his Elemental Burst, restores HP to all party members equal to 45% of his Max HP and grants them a shield that absorbs damage equal to 1150% of his DEF for 20s.

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
32	White Tassel Lv. 32	Berserker, The Exile	?	?	?	?	0

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
67	Royal Spear Lv. 67	Martial Artist (4)	?	?	?	?	0

Level	Weapon	Artifact Sets	Max HP	ATK	DEF	Elemental Mastery	Constellation Level
90	Skyward Spine Lv. 90	Crimson Witch of Flames, Gladiator's Finale	17568	1505	771	0	6

Bonus: Dainsleif

This is outdated.

I won't use my usual four categories for Dainsleif 'cause there are other fun things I wanna talk about.

The guy looks strikingly similar to post-timeskip Dimitri from Fire Emblem: Three Houses but voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, who you may know as 16-year-old Ben Tennyson from Ben 10 Alien Force, Eliwood, Marth, and Merric in Fire Emblem Heroes, Radar in Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two, and Spider-Man in Marvel's Spider-Man for the PS4.

Just look at him. Somewhat long blonde hair, eyepatch, mostly black clothing with blue areas, deep voice... He makes me wanna KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM! (What if Dainsleif was voiced by Chris Hackney, the voice of Dimitri? Can he say "dealing AoE Pyro damage"?)

Check out Faerghast's Dainsleif story video. He cracked a lot of Dimitri jokes. (He's a Fire Emblem YouTuber, by the way.)

Yes, I also know Dainsleif is compared by the community to Jin Kisaragi, and yes, they have similar hairstyles and faces...except Jin doesn't wear an eyepatch, I think. Who knows? Dainsleif could be a mash-up of Dimitri and Jin.

Dainsleif's voice has a curious yet epic air to it, even while he explains concepts that only real-world gamers can understand like "dealing AoE Pyro damage."

Heck, despite me constantly hearing Merric's voice since he's my best FEH nuke, as well as being familiar with the other voices above, I had no idea Yuri Lowenthal was behind it all.

Coincidentally, Yuri Lowenthal is the husband of Tara Platt, the voice of Edelgard who is also from Three Houses. Dimitri was Edelgard's first love and both house leaders are often shipped together, so will this Dimitri lookalike strengthen the Fire Emblem community's Dimitri x Edelgard shipping?

I'm gonna take a guess considering the new Story Quest:

Dainsleif is an alternate-timeline Paimon who traveled with the Traveler's sibling.

He may also be in charge of the Ley Lines. The loading screens say that the Ley Lines remember everything in the world, suggesting Dainsleif knows almost everything that goes on in Teyvat.

Bonus: Tectone

Combat

Hypixel Studios and ThirtyVirus, don't you dare take notes from this.

Tectone can freakin' do the Spiral Abyss...blindfolded.

He REALLY loves Tartaglia, so I respect him for that. 

Tectone's While It's Warm skit is my favorite Tectone skit so far. I love how it pokes fun at how absurdly easy it is to fail this event, such as having food literally explode when a hilichurl sneezes at you.

Tectone supposedly knows wrestling, judging by his own statements in his "GENSHIN IMPACT CHARACTERS I COULD BEAT IN A FIGHT" video. Someone help me prove this because I'm lazy--I can tell the video is not 100% serious considering Mona, who Tectone is attracted to, is in the "I DIEDED" tier, even though Mona can't properly pull a bowstring.

Many of Tectone's claims are valid, especially for the claymore characters. However, there are many I disagree with thanks to recent lore, such as Klee who should be "PHYSICALLY DOMINATED" (or YIKES if the cops get involved; same with Qiqi), Venti (CALL AN AMBULANCE), Keqing (FAIR MATCH), Xiangling (FAIR MATCH), Kaeya (FAIR MATCH), the Traveler (I DIEDED), and Xingqiu (FAIR MATCH).

Lore

Similarity

So far, the only similarity I have with Tectone is that I'm a Large Ham. His ham is much bigger, though.

Husbando Value

No thanks. He's married. I don't think my gender-flipped self will like him either. 0/10.

Voice Acting

I've never tried voicing Tectone before, but holy wow, his voice is so iconically deep and loud.