Best and Worst Genshin Impact Character of Every Element (Version 7.1)

In Genshin Impact 7.1 the best character of each element, by IWinToLose Gaming’s count, is Sucrose (Anemo), Zibai (Geo), Yae Miko (Electro), Lauma (Dendro), Columbina (Hydro), Mavuika (Pyro) and Odette (Cryo); the worst are Sayu, Yun Jin, the Electro Traveler, Kaveh, the Hydro Traveler, Xinyan and Aloy. The criteria are stated at the top of the video: the meta and the endgame, at a reasonable cost, “not a giga whale Leviathan list”.

That last part explains the two calls that surprise most. A 4-star Anemo support beats every 5-star of the element, and the Pyro slot gets a second answer, Nicole, for players who are not going to master Mavuika’s combos. The table puts each pick next to its placement on the site’s tier list, which uses prydwen.gg’s 7.1 placements; where the two disagree, the sections below say why.

Sucrose is the best Anemo character in Genshin Impact 7.1, according to IWinToLose Gaming, and Sayu is the worst. The video looks at Vesna first, “one of the strongest DPS characters in the game”, with an honourable mention for Yumemizuki Mizuki, and then hands the title to a 4-star from version 1.0.

The argument is coverage. Sucrose supports Lunar-Charged, the Stellar teams, Vaporize and even Lunar-Bloom, and the video’s own ranking of the strongest teams makes the point without a word: in all six of the top six, the fourth slot is a C6 Sucrose.

The six teams, as printed: Sandrone, Odette and Alyosha at 272,515 DPS; Mavuika, Mona and Iansan at 248,082; Nefer, Lauma and Columbina at 212,000; the Traveler, Odette and Alyosha at 210,073; Wriothesley, Yae Miko and Odette at 208,628; and Wriothesley, Odette and Fischl at 195,000. Venti and Kazuha, the 5-stars that were supposed to replace Sucrose, are in none of them.

What makes it work is a passive. The game’s own text for Mollis Favonius: when Sucrose’s Skill or Burst hits, it “increases all party members’ (excluding Sucrose) Elemental Mastery by an amount equal to 20% of Sucrose’s Elemental Mastery for 8s”. A Sucrose built to 1,000 Elemental Mastery therefore hands 200 to the rest of the team, on top of Viridescent Venerer’s resistance shred and the Thrilling Tales or catalyst buff, with very little field time. Sucrose’s build page has the gear.

The worst Anemo pick was a three-way choice. The Anemo Traveler survives it: the video credits a Skill that pulls several elemental shields at once, Freedom-Sworn, and resistance shred that whale speedrunners once used. Heizou’s own damage is “negligible” today, which leaves a smaller Sucrose: less Elemental Mastery, the same Thrilling Tales and Viridescent Venerer.

Sayu ends up last, “but only by a bit over Heizou”: healing and resistance shred, and nothing a current team needs that someone else does not do better. The video keeps one kind word: Sayu is still excellent for overworld exploration, which is not what this list measures.

Zibai is the best Geo character in Genshin Impact 7.1, and Yun Jin is the worst. The Geo call was the easy one in the video: Zibai carries the Lunar-Crystallize archetype, one of the strongest team types of the version, and the site’s tier list agrees with a T0 on-field placement.

The site’s best Zibai teams show the line-ups that make it work, with Linnea, the other half of the Lunar-Crystallize package, as the usual partner.

Yun Jin is last because the meta no longer runs on what Yun Jin buffs. Cliffbreaker’s Banner adds damage to Normal Attacks based on Yun Jin’s DEF, and almost no current carry relies on elemental Normal Attack damage. The talent screen in the video, at level 12, shows 488% Skill DMG, a bonus of 64% of DEF, 12 seconds, 30 triggers, a 15-second cooldown and an Energy Cost of 60; the video calls the energy needs “horrific”.

The Geo Traveler was in the running and escapes on humour alone. The video’s verdict between the two: “I will gladly choose the more humorous option”, which spares the Traveler.

Yae Miko is the best Electro character in Genshin Impact 7.1 for IWinToLose Gaming, and the Electro Traveler is the worst, by a distance. Electro had several candidates, and the video works through them before choosing.

Ineffa is a strong Lunar-Charged enabler, with a passive the game words as an extra attack “equal to 65% of Ineffa’s ATK”, considered Lunar-Charged damage. Iansan is the best option for Mavuika’s Overload and Melt teams, and a C6 Alyosha is an even stronger Stellar Conduct support, set aside because few accounts own six copies.

Yae Miko wins on the strength of the team type of the moment. The video calls Yae the best-in-slot Electro unit for Stellar Conduct, the reaction that has been “absolutely dominating the meta”, and the site’s tier list places Yae at T0 among damage supports, at C1.

The Electro Traveler gets the harshest paragraph of the video: a battery that needs a battery to charge anyone. The clip makes it measurable: the same fight, run with three Traveler forms, takes 41.1 seconds with the Anemo Traveler, 29.2 with the Geo Traveler and 46.6 with the Electro Traveler, the slowest of the three. The site’s tier list has it at T5, the bottom band.

Lauma is the best Dendro character in Genshin Impact 7.1, and Kaveh is the worst. The strongest Dendro team, Nefer’s Lunar-Bloom, depends on Lauma, and unlike Nefer, Lauma also improves other Dendro characters’ teams. Nahida gets an honourable mention for holding the title for a long time, “but, you know, Lauma came out”.

The tier list agrees: Lauma and Nefer are both T0, Nahida T1. For the teams themselves, the best Nefer teams page lists the Lunar-Bloom line-ups with Lauma.

The worst pick came down to Kaveh or Tighnari. Kaveh’s Skill, on the card the video shows, has a 6-second cooldown and explodes the Dendro cores in its radius, but the exploded cores use their creator’s stats, not Kaveh’s, and Hyperbloom and Burgeon do not work with it.

Tighnari is the more uncomfortable entry. The kit is not as weak as Kaveh’s, but Tighnari is a Quicken character, and Quicken, the Dendro plus Electro reaction behind Aggravate and Spread, “just doesn’t have a Lauma for it” and has had no relevant buff in years. Kaveh still takes last place.

Columbina is the best Hydro character in Genshin Impact 7.1 for IWinToLose Gaming, narrowly over Vodyanitsa, and the Hydro Traveler is the worst. Furina would have won on history, and still has a very solid team with Skirk, but the title goes to one of the two newer units.

Vodyanitsa is part of Vesna’s and Mizuki’s best teams, the two carries the video says dominate DPS rankings and Stygian clears, and can even take Furina’s slot in a Skirk team. The clip shows a C0 Vesna with a C0 Vodyanitsa.

Columbina wins on one argument: Columbina is “more essential for the lunar teams than even Vodyanitsa is for Stellar Swirl teams”. This is the main disagreement with the site’s tier list, which puts Vodyanitsa at T0.5 and Columbina at T1.5. The two measure different things: the video asks how hard a team type collapses without the character, the tier list how much damage the character’s best team does. The best Columbina teams and best Vesna teams pages show both sides.

The Hydro Traveler is last, compared at length to a water pistol, despite the recent buffs from Vodyanitsa’s release. The tier list agrees, at T5.

Mavuika is the best Pyro character in Genshin Impact in theory, Nicole is the best for most players, and Xinyan is the worst. It is the only element where the video gives two answers, and the reason is execution: Mavuika’s damage keeps rising as players find new motorbike combos every month, but only for those who can perform them.

For everyone else, “undoubtedly” the answer is Nicole or Bennett, and the video picks Nicole: “debatably the simplest character in Genshin Impact to use”, with a team-wide ATK buff and a strong shield. The site’s tier list has Nicole at T0 among supports and Mavuika at T1 among damage supports, so for the tier list, too, Nicole is the stronger Pyro pick today. Bennett sits at T0.5.

Xinyan is last, and the video argues it from the design: a Physical attacker with the Pyro element, so unable to trigger Superconduct, damage split between DEF and ATK, a shield that breaks at the first hit, low multipliers, and a Burst that needs a lot of Energy Recharge. Riff Revolution costs 60 Energy on a 15-second cooldown, per the game’s own data.

Odette is the best Cryo character in Genshin Impact 7.1, and Aloy is the worst. Cryo has had a renaissance in Snezhnaya, and Sandrone and the Cryo Traveler were both in contention, but Odette is in all the Stellar teams, including theirs.

The reasons the video gives: Odette buffs Stellar damage “by too much”, enables the Cryo Traveler’s Stellar Conduct DPS play, is the best sub-DPS and support for both Stellar Conduct and Stellar Swirl, and even lets Wriothesley and Cyno play in Stellar Conduct. The team ranking in the Anemo section bears it out: Odette is in four of the top six teams. The tier list places Odette at T0, and Odette’s build has the gear.

The worst Cryo pick was split between Aloy and Mika. Aloy deals almost no damage with a cumbersome kit, slightly improved by Vodyanitsa’s release; the clip shows Aloy with R5 Thundering Pulse and Shimenawa’s set and the damage numbers that result.

Mika gives an attack-speed buff, Physical damage buffs and team-wide healing, which the video concludes is potential waiting for a Physical revival, so Aloy takes the title. The tier list agrees: Aloy is T5, Mika T4.

Ten of the fourteen picks match the site’s tier list closely; the disagreements are Hydro and Pyro, and both come from the video’s criteria, not from bad data. All seven worst picks sit in T4 or T5 on the tier list. Five of the seven best are T0.

Hydro is the clearest split: the tier list ranks Vodyanitsa (T0.5) above Columbina (T1.5) on the damage of each character’s best team, while the video ranks Columbina higher because the Lunar teams cannot do without Columbina. Pyro is the other: the video’s theoretical best, Mavuika, is T1, and its practical best, Nicole, is T0, which is the order the tier list would give.

The one call no ranking can dispute is Sucrose. A 4-star from version 1.0 is a T0 support in 7.1 and sits in every one of the six best teams the video shows. If you are building an account on a budget, Sucrose at C6 is the first character to invest in, and the best teams page shows where to put Sucrose next.