Day 1 player's opinion on best characters throughout Genshin's entire span (No Natlan/Nod Krai) what would you think?

Left to right matters sort of. Didn't add Natlan/Nod Krai to avoid recency bias.
This isn't my opinion on current meta but more of like how strong they were at their peak and how they feel throughout the game's lifespan so its very very very subjective. Thats why Venti is higher than characters that are objectively better than him right now.

Side note:
Zhongli should maybe be GOAT tier?

Commentaires

Lonely_Station_84352026-01-16 19:29

I personally would swap Raiden and Ayaka but otherwise solid list.

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 19:36

Now that I think of it you are right, Raiden should for sure go up. I think pre-Escoffier Ayaka had bad longevity, but since her release Ayaka is back to being in very good spot again.

Rex_Lapis_2026-01-16 19:38

I think you need another tier, ass tier from the start, bcs chongyun was fine in the first international team and can still be usefull for new players, while sayu is just ass

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 19:41

Very good point actually. Wanderer, Diluc,etc. definitely don’t belong in the same tier as Sayu or Qiqi lmao

Rex_Lapis_2026-01-16 19:42

Also you didnt count in the hex buffs ?

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 19:47

I haven't really tried Klee and Razork since the buffs, but I imagine it only moves them up one tier no?

Rex_Lapis_2026-01-16 19:48

Razor has more dps than c0 raiden, klee is also alot stronger, still good is better than lowtier

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 19:58

ah okok, btw what do you think of Zhongli, I wanted to put him in GOAT tier because of how long he was just the best shielder/healer, but in terms of character strength nowadays i think he isn't as valuable as the other 3

Rex_Lapis_2026-01-16 20:15

He stood his ground rly well for years, i droped him during fontaine where healers became better option. He is placed well.

Silent_Bluebird_8772026-01-16 19:44

where is Emilie?

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 19:51

idk why but in my brain I thought she was released during Natlan. She would for sure be in meta defining+longevity

bastianwibisana2026-01-16 19:52

this is one of the worst tier lists ive ever seen on this sub

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 19:54

lmfao which parts do you have problems with

bastianwibisana2026-01-16 20:18

many but most importantly bennett is the goat of genshin since the day we discovered how broken he is

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 20:32

I can see the argument for Bennet being in goat tier, but I feel like him and Kazuha are kinda similar in the sense they are just great in almost any team you put them in, but Kazuha does it better imo. Bennet can only buff teams that scale on attack whereas Kazuha buffs every team minus Geo. And the other two did more to the game where Nahida, very much helped by Dendro (but up until recently she was the center of Dendro teams), basically made electro an actual element. And Furina is just super broken and also elevated healing characters like Jean and etc. when they were basically useless.

Also this might be wrong, but I feel like Zhongli was always considered superior to Bennet during most of Genshin

bastianwibisana2026-01-16 20:48

goat means all time, and we know kazuha after fontaine is no longer in the meta (natlan and nod krai). bennett and sucrose are more goat than kazuha

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 20:59

Sure that’s fair, but i am also taking into account how dominant their peak was and Kazuha during that time was basically BiS for all the top teams in the game. And during Natlan he was still BiS for one of the best teams in the game with Neuvillette, Furina, Kazuha, Xilonen.

Bennet can go up i dont agree with Kazuha going down lol

bastianwibisana2026-01-16 21:07

that neuvillette team wasnt the meta, nightsoul gimmicks make bennett paired with kinich, chasca, mavuika, or varesa become the meta. kazuha was definitely broken, like for freeze before escoffier, or spread/aggravate before lunar reactions. but if hes broken then sucrose and bennett are more broken especially if we consider longevity

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 21:19

Ok i just checked the abyss usage rate and from 5.1 to 5.6 Kazuha definitely had a high usage rate, where yes Bennet had a higher usage rate after Mavuika release but Kazuha appears in more teams. 8 of the 10 most used teams from 5.1 to 5.6 had Kazuha in them.
Its after 5.7 where Skirk released that his usage rate dropped.
For the majority of Natlan he was basically still having a very large presence

bastianwibisana2026-01-16 21:34

usage rate is a misleading info, of course people who own neuvillette (whos the highest dmg dealer at the time) used kazuha with him and thats why hes got that high % usage rate. if we follow that same data, neuvillette is also a goat

im not questioning the legitimacy of him being one of the goats, but sucrose and bennett should be at the same tier if not one level above.

Lumpy_Cardiologist402026-01-16 21:54

Yeh thats fair, i just don’t buy the above part when from 1.6-4.8 Kazuha was just the best generalist buffer and grouper for 60% of the games life.