only one patch away from 3, Lan Yan -> Mizuki --> Ifa
IWatchTheAbyss2026-01-09 02:41
we did also get 2 electro spears in subsequent patches (Ineffa and Flins)
Prometheus8502026-01-09 05:33
Anemo catalyst is such a cliche tho
sey_3332026-01-09 13:44
Same for pyro claymore and hydro catalyst medium girl
Zephyr_ta2026-01-08 15:51
And we’re already starting this year with columbina 🥀
jinxedandcursed2026-01-09 00:46
And Zibai! Who I'm really surprised isn't a catalyst, but I accept sword anyday.
BlueRose6442026-01-08 15:51
The cool thing about catalysts is that it can they can be used creatively to represent different weapon types.
Lan Yan: Chakrams
Ifa: Gun
Varesa: Ass
Nefer: LEGS
Physical-Command21302026-01-08 15:55
thighs or butt my guy
nantosubarashii2026-01-08 15:58
natlan actually broke the mold and allowed every character to be extremely creative despite the weapon type
BlueRose6442026-01-08 16:10
True, we also got...
Mualani: Sharky surf board
Chasca: Giant flying revolver
Kinich: 8-bit pixel cannon
Xilonen: LEGS
Citlali: Pillows
Mavuika: Motorbike
Koanos2026-01-09 08:28
> Chasca: Giant flying revolver
Hey! She also uses a Bow, sometimes.
parrotandpeacock2026-01-08 16:20
And then they went back to the same boring shit
nantosubarashii2026-01-08 16:23
yeah since the genshin community dislikes improvement and fun things (glad to be a zzz player)
Plus-Theme-32832026-01-08 16:35
NGL I lot of genshin players have this weird elitesem regards aspects for the game that just gave a weird ideology reasons for the game to not be more fun
KrimsonKurse2026-01-08 17:28
Well considering the collective meltdown everyone gave about Natlan being "too modern" and such, and *especially* hating on Xilonen's skates and DJ Table, Kinich's Gamer Vibe, Chasca's Everything, and Mavuika's motorcycle...
Yeah. You get the "same boring shit" again, since thats what the masses demanded.
Edit: Oh, and All of Varesa
More-Respond-21702026-01-08 18:16
I think there’s certainly an integrated approach they could have rajen to combine both the inventive kit design and the aesthetics of nod Krai.
Tbh no one dislikes Mualani’s character design and she’s the perfect example of an inventive kit. Whether people like her gameplay……
quizzically_quiet2026-01-08 16:25
I'd say they experimented with that even earlier in Fontaine with Arle's scythe and Navia's ax. But yeah they really only started implementing it in Natlan.
HuTaoFan_692026-01-08 18:24
>Navia's ax
Ah, so we just gonna forget gunbrella
quizzically_quiet2026-01-08 18:26
Lol I don't have her and did indeed forget. You're definitely right!
Templar2k72026-01-08 22:57
So much for Umbrella warfare.
PaulBlartLG2026-01-08 23:47
I guess.
ParkingShelter96342026-01-09 08:25
FIRE!
Acravita2026-01-09 11:59
With rocks!
Junior_Box_28002026-01-10 00:45
From the Spina with love?
General_Kenobi187522026-01-08 20:36
This is Heizou beating people to death erasure.
LettuceBenis2026-01-08 21:08
Catalyst
LokianEule2026-01-09 01:20
Yeah and clorinde has guns!
And Neuvillette has a firehose.
terlinatorwastaken2026-01-09 12:54
And chevruse also has guns!
gameboy2242026-01-08 17:06
Tbf, we've had Childe since 1.1, literally Bow user that fights with 2 dagger 99.9% of the time.
ThePoetessOfLesbos2026-01-08 17:28
Raiden Ei also fights with a sword despite being a polearm user. Hell, her polearm only shows up in non burst Normal Attacks, which won't be used in any of her rotations.
kidanokun2026-01-08 20:16
which make the whole weapon typing pointless now other than determining who could use this weapon shaped like X and the one shaped like Y...
it just forces the non-catalyst user characters to use weapon that they dont even need other than stat sticks
Ill-Candle98802026-01-08 22:20
I think it's about time they introduce a new weapon type,I think guns would be great to have
kidanokun2026-01-08 22:29
Too late for that, need to rework the weapons into "catalyst" into 5 types (light, medium, heavy, ranged and magic), with the original one would be the "magic" type... Gun user would be either "light" if pistol, "ranged" if rifle, or "heavy" if shotgun
7adzius2026-01-08 20:55
People like to hate Natlan but it was genuinely such a breath of fresh air and it really pushed the limits of the game. Shame that they went back to boring kits and designs now. I hope they find the courage for Snezhnaya though
_ironhearted_2026-01-09 05:40
Yea I thought they would incorporate exploration comfort in all their characters now since even non Natlan characters like Lanyan, Mizuki and Skirk had some built in. But they only did it with Lauma so far and it's been disappointing. The dps kits are also just rinse and repeat with Flins, Nefer and Zibai all having mechanics similar to Varesa or Skirk.
LottePanda2026-01-09 06:10
Woah woah woah can't forget Nefer's crazy movement ability that ends up being slower than normal running
PH_0072026-01-09 11:50
I mean I agree with you on the kit designs but in the context of this thread... we had Fontainians with guns that didn't use catalysts, we had Mika using three different items/weapons and things like Raiden's burst changing her weapon "type" entirely all the way back in 2.X
Natlan didn't invent anything with weapon types other than making it much crazier visually.
terlinatorwastaken2026-01-09 12:56
Raiden did not come out in a 1.X patch, you're probably thinking tartaglia
PH_0072026-01-09 13:24
I goofed, I meant 2.X lol (edited to fix it)
7adzius2026-01-09 13:04
>Natlan didn't invent anything with weapon types other than making it much crazier visually.
lol let's no be absurd here please. I didn't say "Genshin didn't have unique designs in the past", I said that Natlan was very bold AND more concentrated than we've ever seen before and it really pushed the envelope of what Genshin could be. And naturally such a risky approach is not going to be immediately accepted by everyone, which is fine. But at least recognize the effort and the creativity please.
PH_0072026-01-09 13:25
Oh no yeah I agree as I said they went much crazier with the kits in Natlan. Can't say all of them landed but I'd rather they try and flop than give us reheated slop.
...that was a lot of buzzwords, sorry lol
mr_beanoz2026-01-08 22:20
i guess that's what they wanted with varka having dual swords
_ironhearted_2026-01-09 05:37
I think i really liked almost all Natlan kit designs. They really experimented with colours and motion and i love the result.
Archmagos-Helvik2026-01-08 16:13
Catalysts have basically become W engines from ZZZ. It's just a stat item alongside the character's normal weapon or fighting style.
kidanokun2026-01-08 20:35
if only everyone in Genshin can go all catalyst as the actual equipment system, instead of just "weapon"...
like what's the point of a sword to a "sword"-user if he'll just use a machine gun anyway?
is a soldier armed with an RPG would be typed as "knife" user coz he has a knife like most other soldiers?
International_Meat882026-01-08 17:10
What’s peculiar about that is you don’t have to.
Just like how some catalyst characters are melee, I don’t see why they can’t have melee weapon users that do ranged attacks, like how Flins twirls his spear in a circle while he vanishes into his lantern.
Now that one isn’t a ranged attack, but it shows the level of visual variety they’ll do for melee attacks. So maybe a future spear character could actually throw their weapon and it’ll have ranged targeting behavior.
The main thing I think that matters to catalyst is if they want a character’s normal attacks to always be elemental. But at the same time technically they can break that rule if they want.
KrimsonKurse2026-01-08 17:33
Specifically on the polearm idea:
I do like the idea of doing something similar to Childe's Bow animation. He *throws* the last arrow of his combo. Something like a full melee combo where the 2nd to last attack has a bit of knockback (might be hard to not make that game breaking), and then the last attack is a thrown one where the spear "warps back" to their hand, like it does in Idle after a combo would be really cool.
DungeonEnvy2026-01-08 17:54
I believe Thoma already does this
KrimsonKurse2026-01-08 18:19
I dont use him to attack, but I'm willing to believe it, since he throws the spear to stop Raiden from killing us in the cutscene
More-Respond-21702026-01-08 18:16
Having a spartan/gladiator like kit design would be really cool! Or they could introduce a Natlan character that uses indigenous spear throwing techniques
kidanokun2026-01-08 20:20
yeah, this proves how flawed that weapon typing based on shape to begin with.. they should had just made them use 5 types of "catalysts" (light, medium, heavy, ranged and magic) as weapons.. those weapon shape-based typing only matter if the game is like of Dark Souls or Monster Hunter where you're expected to fight like a swordsman if you use a sword.. not something like my character is suddenly swinging a big ass hammer when he is using a bow with secondary spear sidearm
mr_beanoz2026-01-08 22:22
hmm, elemental sword slashes, interesting
Gregamonster2026-01-08 19:15
Lan Yan uses Wind and Fire Wheels.
Crakrams are an Indian weapon that's just a bladed frisbee you store on a silly hat.
Xerxes4572026-01-08 19:23
I feel like because of how they designed the game with the games it limited them for different weapons. Like Arlecchino having the scythe only works because she uses a polearm otherwise they would’ve just changed her weapon like Ayato to show a weapon swap.
randyoftheinternet2026-01-08 20:37
Yeah cause cyno is from the claw weapon type
AGamingGuy2026-01-08 21:36
but you can do that with ANY weapon, hell WuWa is about to release a "claymore" character that should by all accounts be a "catalyst", but they aren't because the devs don't want to work around a really good 5\* "catalyst"
a lot of the modern 5\*s there don't use their actual weapon class and instead use a custom weapon built into their model
Aegillade2026-01-08 21:44
Catalyst really is the custom option for characters. Wrio and Heizou just throw hands. Mualani has a shark surfboard.
mr_beanoz2026-01-08 22:19
ths power of catalyst is its ability to take shape...
EddyConejo2026-01-08 22:20
Other weapons can also be creative, they just don't do it as often.
They're sort of forced to get creative with catalysts because they probably don't have as many reusable assets like other weapons do.
FallenAngelII2026-01-09 11:05
Chevreuse: Polearm > Gun
Clorinde: Sword > Gun
Mavuika: Claymore > Motorcycle
Xilonen: Sword > Feet
PH_0072026-01-09 11:48
Chevreuse is also "Gun" but uses a polearm, does it even matter anymore.
And we had Mika earlier that uses Book, Crossbow and Polearm all together, really cool animation wise, shame you only really see him EQ and swap.
Koniolg2026-01-08 15:52
By far the best weapon type
ramsdit2026-01-08 18:22
Unless you’re trying to mine rocks and your name isn’t Ningguang.
Gentlemanor2026-01-08 18:23
Klee: watch what they need to mimic to gain a fraction of my power
Koniolg2026-01-08 18:25
if you're patient enough Nefer can kick ores too
acruxmars2026-01-08 18:35
Yanfei and Klee are right there
Gregamonster2026-01-08 19:17
Verassa can booty bounce the rocks into dust.
AGamingGuy2026-01-08 15:57
Bows and Claymores keep getting shafted, we really need a generic 5\* Claymore support, because non of the supportive Claymore units have a good weapon
Kakita_Kaiyo2026-01-08 21:08
Favonius is bad now? (Not saying more options wouldn't be welcome.)
AGamingGuy2026-01-08 21:31
i phrased this poorly, but besides Favge, what else do we have?
WGS has 30s cooldown and only activates when enemies are low health so you'll have it every other rotation and by the time you have it up against bosses the fight is mostly done
Forest Regalia requires a Dendro reaction and gives up to 120 EM if you pick up it's leaf making it conditional, it's buff is single-target and to actually get it's buff you have to go out of your way to pick it up
Makhaira converts EM to team-wide ATK%, but there is no claymore user i can think off that wants to build sky-high EM to make full use out of the buff
like the options are Favge, underpowered 5\* and two niche 4\*s one of which can't be used to full effect because no claymore wants mountains of EM
EddyConejo2026-01-08 22:25
Makhaira is such a tragedy. Pretty much only used in teams with transformative reactions (which by itself is a very small niche for claymores), but in those teams you don't even value ATK% that much since most hydros care about either having more HP or more ER.
AGamingGuy2026-01-08 22:48
it really should have been the other way around, turns ATK into EM as there are way more Claymores that have bunch of ATK and wouldn't mind turning it into EM
HorribleDat2026-01-09 00:04
Maybe Aino for Makhaira? She does have EM scaling in her burst and the extra atk would benefit Flins and Ineffa a lot.
FallenAngelII2026-01-09 11:04
WGS also requires the wielder to be on-field to proc so you can't even put it on someone like Aino.
AGamingGuy2026-01-09 11:12
as far as the restrictions go, it's not that bad, TTDS has a similar problem, with 30s cooldown just killing any supportive potential
they really should have cut the 30% enemy HP requirement and halved the cooldown and it would have been solid
Shahadem2026-01-08 15:57
Catalysts are the bestalysts
LetMetOucHyOURasS2026-01-08 16:05
Hoping that genshin keep the 5 weapon type and be creative with character kit. And not make new weapon type just to sell new *5 weapon.
RevolutionaryFall1022026-01-08 16:14
They won't make a new weapon type
parrotandpeacock2026-01-08 16:22
Why would they even make a new weapon type
Stardust-Sparkles2026-01-08 16:45
It’s far too late to make new weapon type
LiDragonLo2026-01-08 19:48
And if they make a new weapon type, it'd be ass to get for anyone outside of ppl who spends pulls on weapon banners
zephyrseija22026-01-08 17:07
Catalyst = Guns, headbutts, kickboxing...
depredator562026-01-08 22:31
butts
ThePoetessOfLesbos2026-01-08 17:27
Bow users dead in the dirt
Aaand my only five star weapon is Amos Bow from Standard Banner. Out of all of them, I got Amos Bow.
Comprehensive-Map2742026-01-09 02:13
It only looks that way but the version right before this one had 2 bow characters
Pink_Manokit2026-01-08 17:37
crazy, in order from highest count to lowest, it matches up with favourite to least favourite weapon types personally.
kankri-is-triggered2026-01-08 21:03
This made me notice that it's the exact opposite order for me
Kingpimpy2026-01-08 18:27
i mean.. it took them only 1 bow user to peak
they still dont know what to do with catalyst after 7 trys
Xirtie2026-01-08 18:33
And this year starts with a catalyst too.
SergViBritannia2026-01-08 19:38
I only have five of these characters!
ItaLOLXD2026-01-08 19:58
I understand the reason for this, that being that it allows the devs to be more creative with a kit. It's somewhat a self made problem because they need to make the character a Catalyst if they don't want them to just use the usual weapon.
I really wish they would also create more unique fighting styles for other weapons. Like Arlecchino using her spear like a scythe, Chiori dualwielding two swords, with one of them being the one you equip on her and Varka apparently going dual as well (with a claymore and normal sword)
Eclipse-Lily2026-01-08 21:12
They could totally go crazy with the other kinds of weapons of they wanted to. Lyney for example throws cards at the enemy in his NAs, which normally you'd barely see bc of his playstyle
I believe that at least Ifa should've been a bow user then
PapaGrinch2026-01-08 20:01
Still wish Iansan was a catalyst user instead of a polearm one.
I was soo ready see her throw hands after not seeing her use a weapon during the whole AQ(+Mavuika's demo trailer), only for that spear to come out of nowhere.
kidanokun2026-01-08 20:13
at this point, everyone is using catalysts like how ZZZ characters have W-Engine...
Columbina is obviously catalyst user, and Zibai while not one, is very catalyst-user coded, like the likes of Layla, Faruzan and maybe Furina
Nevanada2026-01-08 21:19
I think they're learning the flaws with the 5 weapon system, which is how limiting it is. For example, if they want a character to wield something that isn't one of the 4 weapon archetypes, they either pull an Arle/Skirk, Childe or an Ifa. Either you give them a weapon like a scythe or twinsword, which sells the sig better, you make their gimmick be a second form, or you give them a catalyst which frees up any type of weapon.
It's one of the reasons I like ZZZ's system better. The sig's are the BiS, and add a neat animation, but the character will always have a weapon that looks good on them.
HallyMiao2026-01-08 21:55
Sword - you can slash things with a sharp stick. Frequency of use is not a factor.
Claymore - you can smack things with an (oversized) sharp stick. Weapon size is relative to the character.
Bow - you can shoot arrows. How often you do it is irrelevant.
Polearm - your weapon has a long reach. Whether you use said weapon for anything is irrelevant.
Catalyst - Everything else
Neospanner2026-01-08 22:14
Hoyo seems a little too quick to jump on Catalyst whenever they want to feature a weapon type apart from the five they have. I'd rather they do more stuff like Mika's crossbow or Dehya's mixing in punches with her Claymore attacks.
depredator562026-01-08 22:30
Catalysts are the best weapons because they can be anything
midnight4482026-01-08 22:51
And your point is...?
Weeneem2026-01-11 07:50
They were just statistics I found interesting.
nomotyed2026-01-08 23:11
This sucked for me. Most of my 5\* weapons are bow.
While my sole R5 Widsith is working overtime and shared between multiple characters.
Commentaires
Lan Yan: Chakrams
Ifa: Gun
Varesa: Ass
Nefer: LEGS
Mualani: Sharky surf board
Chasca: Giant flying revolver
Kinich: 8-bit pixel cannon
Xilonen: LEGS
Citlali: Pillows
Mavuika: Motorbike
Hey! She also uses a Bow, sometimes.
Yeah. You get the "same boring shit" again, since thats what the masses demanded.
Edit: Oh, and All of Varesa
Tbh no one dislikes Mualani’s character design and she’s the perfect example of an inventive kit. Whether people like her gameplay……
Ah, so we just gonna forget gunbrella
And Neuvillette has a firehose.
it just forces the non-catalyst user characters to use weapon that they dont even need other than stat sticks
Natlan didn't invent anything with weapon types other than making it much crazier visually.
Meanwhile Chasca: huge flying mountable gun
Mavuika: A MOTORCYCLE
Kinich: GRAPPLE + CANNON
Mualani: SHARK
lol let's no be absurd here please. I didn't say "Genshin didn't have unique designs in the past", I said that Natlan was very bold AND more concentrated than we've ever seen before and it really pushed the envelope of what Genshin could be. And naturally such a risky approach is not going to be immediately accepted by everyone, which is fine. But at least recognize the effort and the creativity please.
...that was a lot of buzzwords, sorry lol
like what's the point of a sword to a "sword"-user if he'll just use a machine gun anyway?
is a soldier armed with an RPG would be typed as "knife" user coz he has a knife like most other soldiers?
Just like how some catalyst characters are melee, I don’t see why they can’t have melee weapon users that do ranged attacks, like how Flins twirls his spear in a circle while he vanishes into his lantern.
Now that one isn’t a ranged attack, but it shows the level of visual variety they’ll do for melee attacks. So maybe a future spear character could actually throw their weapon and it’ll have ranged targeting behavior.
The main thing I think that matters to catalyst is if they want a character’s normal attacks to always be elemental. But at the same time technically they can break that rule if they want.
I do like the idea of doing something similar to Childe's Bow animation. He *throws* the last arrow of his combo. Something like a full melee combo where the 2nd to last attack has a bit of knockback (might be hard to not make that game breaking), and then the last attack is a thrown one where the spear "warps back" to their hand, like it does in Idle after a combo would be really cool.
Crakrams are an Indian weapon that's just a bladed frisbee you store on a silly hat.
a lot of the modern 5\*s there don't use their actual weapon class and instead use a custom weapon built into their model
Arlecchino's scythe
Xilonen's roller skates
Cyno and Razor's claws
Dehya's fists
They're sort of forced to get creative with catalysts because they probably don't have as many reusable assets like other weapons do.
Clorinde: Sword > Gun
Mavuika: Claymore > Motorcycle
Xilonen: Sword > Feet
And we had Mika earlier that uses Book, Crossbow and Polearm all together, really cool animation wise, shame you only really see him EQ and swap.
WGS has 30s cooldown and only activates when enemies are low health so you'll have it every other rotation and by the time you have it up against bosses the fight is mostly done
Forest Regalia requires a Dendro reaction and gives up to 120 EM if you pick up it's leaf making it conditional, it's buff is single-target and to actually get it's buff you have to go out of your way to pick it up
Makhaira converts EM to team-wide ATK%, but there is no claymore user i can think off that wants to build sky-high EM to make full use out of the buff
like the options are Favge, underpowered 5\* and two niche 4\*s one of which can't be used to full effect because no claymore wants mountains of EM
they really should have cut the 30% enemy HP requirement and halved the cooldown and it would have been solid
Aaand my only five star weapon is Amos Bow from Standard Banner. Out of all of them, I got Amos Bow.
they still dont know what to do with catalyst after 7 trys
I really wish they would also create more unique fighting styles for other weapons. Like Arlecchino using her spear like a scythe, Chiori dualwielding two swords, with one of them being the one you equip on her and Varka apparently going dual as well (with a claymore and normal sword)
I believe that at least Ifa should've been a bow user then
I was soo ready see her throw hands after not seeing her use a weapon during the whole AQ(+Mavuika's demo trailer), only for that spear to come out of nowhere.
Columbina is obviously catalyst user, and Zibai while not one, is very catalyst-user coded, like the likes of Layla, Faruzan and maybe Furina
It's one of the reasons I like ZZZ's system better. The sig's are the BiS, and add a neat animation, but the character will always have a weapon that looks good on them.
Claymore - you can smack things with an (oversized) sharp stick. Weapon size is relative to the character.
Bow - you can shoot arrows. How often you do it is irrelevant.
Polearm - your weapon has a long reach. Whether you use said weapon for anything is irrelevant.
Catalyst - Everything else
While my sole R5 Widsith is working overtime and shared between multiple characters.