#though the fact that their crit dmg is 100%+ but their rate is 10% kinda concerns me but yk

[baksokon]

reject changing your team everytime to fit the enemy break weakness, embrace using your favorites as your main team and just beat the shit out of your enemies

[hematomes]

genshin impact: the neverending suffering of artifacts’ farming

hi, don’t forget to drink water, do you daily commissions in genshin and get your daily bonus on the mihoyo lab website thingy

so today, since all... idk, 12 of you seemingly asked for it, i’ll be rambling about genshin’s artifacts and how to boost your character’s performance with them. get ready for broken english and me going on and on about stats (but not too much bc i hate maths). let’s goooo

quick disclaimer before we begin: this is just the opinion of one (1) single player. i just enjoy the strategy a lot and the fact that this forsaken game forces me to think long and hard about stats. at the end of the day, if you’re satisfied with your DMG, you don’t have to listen to me.

finally, if you want personalised help in building a specific characters, i’ve been studying most of them (especially 4* since I have all of them zkzezek) so you can DM me anytime! or even go with the asks if you want to remain anon, i don’t mind. i’m happy to help anyone!!

table of contents

I. data about the different artifacts (stats when maxed out, info)

II. ideal stats for each type of character

1. main DPS

2. sub/burst DPS

3. healers and tanks

III. CRIT rate/DMG and the 1:2 ratio

I. data about the different artifacts

so, first, a little bit of info/data about the artifacts!

you’ll get an added substat at lvl 4, then substats will improve every 4 levels. one random substat improves, so you’ll have to pray and cross your fingers

the substats cannot be the same as the main stat

5* artifacts go up to lvl 20, 4* to lvl 16 and 3* to lvl 12

the percentage bonus is added on your character’s base stats

the flower and the plume’s main stats are always HP flat and ATK flat. focus on their substats to pick the best

added bonus: every set of artifact has extra lore in the archive. for example, eula’s set (pale flame) has incredible lore about the fatui harbingers and has dangerously increased my need to see scaramouche again

and now, the maxed out stats of artifacts. i’ll go over 5*, 4* and 3* for new players!! baby genshin players are literally the best idc.

flower: 3* goes up to 1,893, 4* to 3,571 and 5* to 4,780

plume: 3* goes up to 123, 4* to 232 and 5* to 311

HP%, ATK%, DEF%, elem DMG bonus%: 3* goes up to 23.1%, 4* to 34.8% and 5* to 46.6%

phys DMG bonus%: 3* goes up to 28.8%, 4* to 43.5% and 5* to 58.3%

EM: 3* goes up to 92, 4* to 139 and 5* to 187

ER%: 3* goes up to 25.8%, 4* to 38.7% and 5* to 51.8%

CRIT rate%: 3* goes up to 15.4%, 4* to 23.2% and 5* to 31.1%

CRIT DMG%: 3* goes up to 30.8%, 4* to 46.4% and 5* to 62.2%

healing bonus%: 3* goes up to 17.2%, 4* to 26.8% and 5* to 35.9%

a. sands of eon/timepiece

so the sands of eon aka the timepiece is quite decisive for the type of character you’ll be doing: either a main DPS or a support (tank/healer/sub DPS). as such, it has similar drop rates & maxed out levels on the big 3 stats: HP, ATK and DEF. however, when building a support like a sub DPS or a healer that relies on their ult (like diona for example), you’ll need energy recharge (ER), which is a lot rarer. elemental mastery (EM) isn’t generally recommanded as a main stat, it’s best to find it in sub stats. DEF% is also not a good option unless it’s for specific characters that rely on their defense, like albedo or noelle.

basically, a main DPS will most likely have a ATK% timepiece, while a support would need an ER%. that being said, supports like xiangling must also have a good chunk of elemental mastery because her ult can deal insane amount of damage with elemental reactions. you’ll need to balance both ; for example, a weapon with elemental mastery (like dragonbane) and a ER% timepiece, or good EM/ER substats etc.

b. goblet of eonothem

the goblet is where you’ll typically get your elemental/physical DMG bonus. it’s the only artifact that gives this bonus at all (it’s not found as substats). you can also drop EM, ATK%, HP% and DEF%.

there’re little characters that would need phys DMG. if you’re building a physical DPS, consider their base ATK and the stats of their normal/charged attacks. albedo, for example, would not be your typical phys DPS. the main phys DPS that exists is razor, and now there’s also eula; razor is an especially good physical DPS bc he gets a phys bonus either way so at lvl 80 + a lvl 20 goblet you go up to 105% phys DMG bonus. however, electro DPS is also a nice option! claymores tend to be very good physical DPS because their normal attacks easily go over 100% of their ATK, but i heard that fischl and xiangling are viable as well. all in all, anyone can be a physical DPS, but some of them are better off as elemental DPS. you do you, though!

c. circlet of logos/hat

the hat is crucial, because it’s where you’ll get your main CRIT rate/DMG. CRIT is super important, especially with your DPS; i’ll talk more about the best way to build CRIT in a bit, but just know that the main theory is building the 1:2 ratio: 50% CRIT rate and 100% CRIT DMG.

you might also know that there’s the healing bonus, needed for... healers. like crit rate/dmg, you’ll only find the healing bonus on the hats.

II. ideal stats for each type of character

now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the ideal stats for each type (main DPS, sub/burst DPS, healers, tanks).

1. main DPS

there’re a lot of good main DPS characters in genshin. mine are xiao, yanfei, razor and hu tao, for example. there’s also childe, ganyu, ningguang... and usually you’ll build them the same way (with exceptions). as such, your goal would be at least 1.5k ATK% (unless your DMG depends on something else, like hu tao and how it relies on her HP%), 50% CRIT rate and at least 100% CRIT DMG.

your substats priorities would be: CRIT rate/DMG > ATK% > EM (unless it’s a physical DPS) > ER%. there’s always exceptions, like hu tao once again (i talk a lot about her but im pissed bc i can’t drop a good HP% timepiece).

as such, your timepiece will generally be on ATK%, with CRIT rate/DMG subs. elemental mastery is an added bonus on characters like hu tao, yanfei, etc. DEF% and HP% are generally secondary (except for hu tao because, as i said, her DMG relies on her max HP & her burst on her health bar status), so focus on the big 3. flat stats (no percentage) aren’t very good either, but better than nothing.

your goblet will be either on ATK% or on elemental/phys DMG bonus%. the easiest way when you’re building a set is to leave the goblet as your broken set (aka the 5th piece with no set bonus), since the drop rates on elem/phys goblets are very low.

your hat will be on CRIT rate/DMG, depending on which one you need. ATK% is a viable alternative, but crit is really good. however, if you’re just starting to build, you can use a temporary ATK% hat.

2. sub/burst DPS

support DPS are very interesting characters to build and play. unlike DPS who focus on DMG/ATK/etc, this time you’ll have to balance energy recharge% and elemental mastery. the substats are also very important and should be focusing on ATK%, EM and ER%.

when building a support, you need to keep in mind that they’ll be buffing your main DPS’ damages, so they rely a lot on elemental reactions. which is why your substats priority becomes ER% > EM > ATK%. CRIT is always good but not as important, especially if you have around 200 EM and your main DPS is already past 50% rate/100% DMG.

your timepiece should be on ER%. with a sub DPS that relies on their burst, the ideal ER% is around 150%, especially if they need a lot of energy to build their burst. xingqiu, for example, is better around 170%, but chongyun would be fine at 150%. since the timepiece is the only artifact with the ER% bonus, it’s kinda crucial.

your goblet needs to be either on elemental DMG bonus% (not physical!) or ATK%. EM can be an alternative, especially if it helps you reach +50% on elemental reaction DMG. otherwise, elemental DMG bonus% is the safest option.

your hat should be on EM or ATK%. EM is better because it’s super rare and really helpful for elemental reactions so, if you drop one with good substats go for it.

3. healers and tanks

they are absolutely vital in dungeons like the abyss thingy, because you can’t use food so you’ll need to heal with characters. currently we have qiqi, jean, zhongli if you have his c6 (god), diona, bennett, barbara (free) and noelle (free). there is two type of healers: those who only heal on their ult, like jean, bennett and diona (moreover, bennett only heals 75% but he gives an ATK% bonus so he’s still incredible), and those who heal with their elemental skill like barbara, c6 zhongli, qiqi and noelle. the first type will need a focus on their ER% while the second on HP% (except qiqi, it’s on her ATK%). zhongli in particular needs as much HP% as you can because at c0 he’s a tank & his shield is the best of the game. it relies on his HP%, so aim for around 30k at lvl 80. if you can go higher, even better! and if you want a run-down of my stuff for zhongli i can too, mine is at 49k HP and his shield is at lvl 10, so he can basically shield me from anything. anyway.

healers that rely on their ult

your timepiece will need to be on ER%. aim for at least around 150% energy recharge, maybe more depending on how much energy their ult needs. ideal substats would be HP%, the rest isn’t that important.

your goblet has to be on HP%. if you can get an ER% sub it’s even better.

your hat, in healing bonus%. same thing, if you can get an HP% and/or ER%, even better.

healers that don’t rely on their ult

this time, the focus would be on HP%, but ER% is always important so look for it in substats. same hat.

exceptions: qiqi, noelle

qiqi’s heal is based on ATK. her e is based on her ATK but the ult is based on the character that deals the DMG. meaning if qiqi has ult and the opponent is marked with a talisman, and if your character deals like a 1k DMG, they’ll get 1k HP. so switch your timepiece and goblet to ATK%, and keep your hat on healing bonus%.

noelle, however, relies on her DEF. same thing than qiqi, switch timepiece and goblet to DEF%. noelle as a healer/tank doesn’t have a very useful ult, but if you got lucky and have ATK% ou CRIT rate/DMG% substats, see if you can up her ER%!

III. CRIT rate/DMG and the 1:2 ratio

if you’ve done some research on the ideal crit rate/dmg, you might have heard of something called the 1:2 ratio. it basically means that you need to have half as much CRIT rate% as you have CRIT DMG%. the starter would be 50% rate & 100% DMG but, in my opinion it’s not really enough if you’re around AR 45 or aiming to clear the last stages of the abyss spirals. 50% CRIT rate is enough but if you can up your CRIT DMG% to like 125/150% it’d probably be the best. i got super lucky with my xiao and went up to 200% CRIT DMG, but it’s because he already has a CRIT rate bonus as you level him up so it wasn’t my priority.

anyway, i’ve been playing with around 50% CRIT rate on my DPS (except xiao bc he also has the CRIT rate polearm + his lvl bonus) and frankly it’s been enough for now. dealt a 98k with the hutao & mona ults combo, hu tao around 50% rate & 150% DMG while mona was at 30%/150%. naturally, the higher your CRIT rate, the better, but the 1:2 ratio is just a good start. don’t obsess over it!

conclusion

well, this was fun. now, it’s your turn: if you have questions or you disagree with something i said (very plausible, i might have said a lot of dumb stuff and i could be a terrible player lol), do tell! keep it polite though, i don’t want to start a fight but i’m always interested in other players’ experience. i’ll say it again: drink water. mwah

[dourpeep]

Seeing people complaining about the lack of anniversary rewards is getting so tiring. The game's ratings dropped to like 2 on Google play, all comment sections of official accounts are full of complaints. I know and understand that people are upset but it's just so so tiring to the point where I unfollowed most accounts that aren't related to fanart or fanfiction because of all that negativity

I personally spent (a little) money on the game so I get where p2w players come from but idk. I saw that we didn't get anything and moved on pretty quickly. Maybe that's just me, idk

Maybe you have a different view on this and if so, I'd like to hear it

Sorry for ranting in your inbox

hehe no need to apologize because I have quite a bit to say myself nodnod

Read if you like, don't if you don't--this is just my opinions and stuff based off my experience knowing Eastern gatcha games as well as talking about using a 5* vs 4* of the same build + slot

This got kinda long ehe-

Like really long.

Anyway

My turn for a Hot Take (tm)

Yeah I understand this--I've been feeling so drained and my enjoyment of the game and writing has diminished immensely because all I see everywhere is just that.

I understand that the event rewards suck but at the same time? I realize how gacha aren't really popular here in the West--and I have seen a lot of comparison between Genshin and Cookie Run but they're also two entirely different genres despite both being gacha. Not to mention that Cookie Run is fast at first until you get to around uhh Kingdom lvl 37~~ and you're stuck and can't go forward because things cost too many materials or your cookies aren't strong enough even though you have several stars on your team consisting of epics built as optimally as possible-

So the maintenance rewards for Cookie Run have been the only significant amount of gems I've been getting for a few weeks now compared to when I first started and could do 10 roll after 10 roll.

Also also, Cookie Run is PvP (arena, guilds, etc). Being able to get more rolls is absolutely a gamechanger. If you can't get a good defense cookie or healer cookie, you're fucked.

So!! That's why Cookie Run is more generous with rolls. You're not going to want to keep fighting other people in the Arena or doing Guild stuff if they don't add in those generous rewards.

On the other hand, Genshin Impact is an open world rpg w/ co-op (note, co-op doesn't count as pvp because you're collaborating) where you can build pretty much any of the characters to be viable (dps/vampire Barbara is one major example, Noelle is a guarantee roll character for that beginner's banner and she can easily be built to be a tank/healer/dps to fill whatever slot you desire)

So they're not going to be incredibly generous w/ rewards because the characters you have--meta or not--don't really effect your ability to play the game (unless we're talking spiral abyss which really is considered endgame anyway) when you're able to get at least one character of each element for free I mean, you start out with traveler who can be anemo, geo, or electro once you get to the respective places, Amber, Kaeya, Lisa, Barbara (iirc, you need to get to rank 20?), Xiangling (complete spiral abyss floor 3), and Noelle (reduced cost 10roll w/ guaranteed Noelle).

Which would be one of each element and a variety of one of the 5 weapon types nodnod.

Time to talk about builds and why it's not necessary to have a 5* unlike in other gatcha games like Cookie Run (again, a kingdoms builder) before going back to the anniversary stuff

But continuing, like Eula is considered a fantastic 5* character who features a kit that is based around her being a physical damage character. My sibling, C, has her built and she does some insane damage.

On the other hand, I have Xinyan built as a physical dps and if you were to compare their damage?

With crit, C's Eula deals 9k to 14k with Skyward Pride (5* claymore w/ energy recharge substat). With crit, my Xinyan deals 8k to 13k with Song of Broken Pines (5* claymore w/ phys substat) OR 7k to 10k with Prototype Archaic (4* craftable claymore w/ attack substat).

Both C and I agree that they're pretty evenly-matched in the sense of damage output.

We have similar builds focusing on physical damage, however, C's Eula uses 4pc Pale Flame and my Xinyan uses 2pc Bloodstained, 2pc Pale Flame (both have the 25% phys damage bonus for the 2pc). It's also good to note that both their Eula and my Xinyan have a physical dmg % cup.

So just by stacking up more phys on Xinyan, you get a physical dps (with some elemental support capabilities due to her E and Q) you can easily make her deal consistent, reliable damage that is comparable to a fully built Eula. Ofc, I'm sacrificing Xinyan's shield, but since she's built to be a physical dps, it doesn't matter anyway.

Another thing is Zhongli is an incredible shield support. His shield?? Absolutely insane because it's based off his hps. Guess who else has a hp-based shield and heals??? Diona. Another incredibly good support 4* with a shield and healing would be Noelle!

But with Diona, specifically since I did kinda cover over Noelle already, she can easily be built along with her shield having over 100% uptime (like how Zhongli has over 100% uptime). The fact that Diona is also a healer definitely is a perk too.

Ofc the difference with this is that Zhongli can be built as a burst support/dps while Diona is not. But the point isn't that--the point is that you don't need a 5* shield support to have a good, reliable shield support.

But regardless of 4* or 5*, to get a viable character, you need to build them well. So if your character isn't doing satisfactory damage, you just have to take a quick peek at what artifacts they're running and fix as needed!

Another thing--

Talking about the rewards and stuff for the anniversary-

Generally, gatcha games aren't really that generous with rewards and instead usually have some sort of event. In this case, I'm pretty sure that Moonchase is considered a part of the anniversary which is why it's giving so many rewards- just the primos from the first day alone with the chests and quest was enough for two rolls (40 chests * 5 primos each + 60 from the quest and a few that I forgot where they come from but are from the event) as well as the 4* Luxurious Sea Lord claymore.

Before you say that it's shitty for them to make a festival into the anniversary event, I'm certain that people would complain if the anniversary rewards were just a little more than the 10x fates and stuff and that's it because it'd feel like they're skipping over the anniversary entirely. (keep in mind, festivals don't normally give this much stuff in terms of primogems from what we've experienced so far--they're mainly focused on the free event weapon you can get and build like with Festering Desire, Windborne Ode, Dodoco Tales)

Also companies love taking advantage of festivals to make an event bigger + more fleshed out. It'd be otherwise kinda boring to have to just log in every day for a week (not to mention, not everyone does that) and encourages players to play to get rewards.

yeah, that's supposed to work in their favor because they want to keep interest.

So the fact that there's a lot of backlash on everything going on is tiring and also?? I want to make the point that they'll only listen to so much. Getting heard is important, but there will be a point where Mihoyo will just stop listening to the players entirely because all they're getting is a constant barrage of "this event is the worst" "no one likes that character" "(insert character) when???" "okay but where's (blank) rerun?" pasted over the forums, discord, twitter, facebook, instagram--

You can't keep demanding more while also talking shit constantly about the new stuff added because then they'll just not add those new stuff because we (general) seem to never be satisfied.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up just cutting Genshin Impact as a loss entirely if this continues as it has and gets even worse.

But I digress.

Anyway, I agree that it sucks that the daily login rewards for the anniversary are just cut and pasted from the Lantern Rite, but as someone who's played a lot of gatcha games, it's pretty much the standard.

Have a daily sign in for rewards and a big event featuring a ton of stuff you can get instead of having an 'official' anniversary event.

I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing because it's not coming to mind, but yeah. These are my general thoughts on what's happening with the discourse.