Returning player - wth. Help.

Hi

I haven't played genshin since Inazuma dropped.
I stopped playing because all of my characters seemed weak af compared to every single mission I tried.

And now, I want to return in game, and played some hours today, and that's clearly worst.

"Quick" resume:

-Every basic enemy feels like hitting walls with a spoon. Clearly, that could be my fault, I remember "upgrading" my world level, and now every enemy is like lv 91. My characters are 70, and like 2 or 3 of them are 80, and they are absolute trash.
And, no, I don't want to downgrade this level because it drops more/better stuff and I clearly think, with more understanding of the game, I can do more damage and be more tanky or heal better

-When I tried to search "builds" for my characters, there is a ton of informations like:
.which weapon? -> Yeah this one is FTP! (Haha, it's not. And I clearly dont have it) - and alternatives I have/can craft/not have to pull through wishes are absolute dogturds
.which set? -> Ok, this character is better with that if you have [new character that I will never have] in your team! Don't have it? Well, use this one and farm like a fudging entire month to try to have it with correct stats and upgrade it with another month of your life!
.which team? -> I tried a lot of sites, I now think every character I have cannot work properly with the others. And If a team exists that I can try to use, it needs a wish weapon I dont have OR it's like D-rank on every existing tierlist.

-Back when I played, I didnt fully understood potential of elements, combinations and things like that. Consider now I forgot everything and there are more interactions. And consider me as stupid as hell too.

-Today, I remembered why I stopped playing: there is a particular mission (I think it's in Inazuma?) where you have to go through an electrified-purple arse zone and take little plants to "protect" you for like 10 seconds. I have to kill some fatuis in it while protecting a thing that have even less hp than my weakest character and while trying to make my terrible 2-legged mistakes survive. I now can slightly percieve what veterans calls ptsd.

So, I clearly need some advice from real people - not clankers tools or overwhelming forums.

What do I need to do first?

And, even if it's just a little tricky, do not hesitate to explain with basic terms and don't forget that i'm dumb.

Specifications:

EU Server
Adventurer level 54
Only 5 5* - Venti (with his bow), Zonghli, Keqing, Mona and Hu Tao (all C0)
"Strongest" 4*: Barbara C6 (why is it not meta? She can revive anybody), Benett C2, Fischl C5, Sucrose C1, Xingqiu, Xiangling

Thanks for the help if anybody can help

- and if some frenchs are passing by, please speak in french, I speak english but it will be even better with the same terms used in the french game -

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Commentaires

ArtistEscape2026-01-21 02:46

It was like that for me too, but I lowered my world level and grinded. If you don't want to do that, then you should definitely farm for artifacts and make a decent team with good synergy.
I don't play anemo so I can't say about the team comps that will be 100% viable. But there is a recent quest now about the Hexerei Buffs, so you could do the quest for venti and fischl. Then you can do zongli for the shield and Bennett for the buffs and heal, but if you still find it hard then go with Barbara instead.
But the main thing will still be Artifacts farming. So do that first, and try co-op if you need to. Hope this helps:))

Pandabsurde2026-01-21 03:01

Thanks!

Jaded-Philosophy37832026-01-21 02:49

1. you can lower your world level

2. The powercreep got steeper after Natlan. Newer units are simply stronger with only a few exceptions

3. Check out this guide for progression guide [The BEST Way to Build an Account Step By Step F2p Friendly(UPDATED) - Genshin Impact Account Guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHa_qWCWWy8&t=1976s)

Gold_Pineapple76442026-01-21 02:53

You have some good characters to play with, but you upgraded your world too fast compared to their level if the enemies are lv91 and your characters are lv70. I would consider decreasing it for some days just to make life easier. The time you take killing something with such a higher level for a chance of better drop, you could have killed that same enemy but weaker twice and got the same or better drops.

Anyway, Zhongli is an amazing shielder, his skill is all you need to be protected, and Bennett is an even more amazing buffer and healer, spam his ult and fight inside his area of effect and you'll be healed and buffed. Venti, Mona, Fischl and Sucrose were buffed recently, but to unlock their buffs you need to do the Witch Homework quest in Mondstadt. You might have it unlocked already but I'm not entirely sure. If you do those quests, pair two of these 4 in a team and their buff will activate, that might help you some more. An example of team could be Venti, Fischl, Xingqiu or Xiangling and Bennet, but I'm also not entirely sure.

What you actually need to do is level up your characters, and for that you'll have to spend some days doing leylines and fighting bosses to ascend them until you're at least lv80 with a full team. Talents should also be leveled to at least lv6, and also weapons. Since you're already adventure rank 54, you should also start farming artifact domains, but that will be hard for now since you're really underleveled. You could join some discord groups to see if there's anyone in your server available to help you farm artifacts sometimes too.

Lastly, you can find good guides for individual characters on Keqingmains. For example, for some of your characters: [https://keqingmains.com/q/venti-quickguide/](https://keqingmains.com/q/venti-quickguide/) , [https://keqingmains.com/fischl/](https://keqingmains.com/fischl/) and [https://keqingmains.com/hu-tao/](https://keqingmains.com/hu-tao/)

Pandabsurde2026-01-21 02:59

Ok, thanks a lot!
Ok, I'll decrease it.
I have Venti since the very first banner in europe, and he never was "meta", but I always found him really helpfull with his CCs. So, I'll ise it after the Witch Homework quest along with Fischl or Mona and Zonghli + Benett.

toxicsknmn2026-01-21 04:43

Question: how is your Zhongli built? My Zhongli is wielding a 3* weapon and he carried me through a tremendous amount of this game (story wise/overworld that is— he was once a mainstay in the end game modes but I have better alternatives now). If you have a “Black Tassel” weapon, the 3*, level it up and give it to him. The higher his HP is, the stronger that shield of his will be. My lvl 90 Zhongli has 52k HP.

Anyway, what others are suggesting I also agree with. Lowering your world level will help a lot for the comfort; and as another said, the amount of time you take to kill something 20 levels higher than you you could have killed the same enemy two or three times on the lower level and you’d be getting equivalent materials.

To reference the hitting walls with a spoon point: if you see you are mostly dealing physical damage (these are white damage numbers, no other unique/elemental-specific color, that would explain that painful feeling). Physical damage is the equivalent of a wet noodle even against enemies that are the same level as you (Eula is the exception but she’s by far not meta anymore). The true name of the game is the elemental system. You gotta learn the reactions, and those reactions will make you deal way more damage. Vape (fire x water) is the tried and true reaction; you usually can’t go wrong with the kinds of characters you utilize to get that reaction. Taser (electric x water) is also a tried and true one, very strong and characters are interchangeable since the reaction is so strong. Dendro (the green/grass damage type) was added in Sumeru, the region released after Inazuma. The Dendro reactions are quite strong so they are very worth learning and building around when you can.

The 4* characters you mentioned in your post are all very very good so they are worth dropping resources into to level and build (except for, ironically, Barbara— her skills make you, the player character, wet which in some scenarios is not a good thing and her cooldowns on her skills are long…. So she’s simply put just difficult to play, especially when the game has a wide range of much better alternatives).

MAIN THING: just take your time. In the time you’ve been gone, the game’s map I’d say is more than triple its size. That’s overwhelming to think about. Other than events, nothing in the game is going anywhere so you can tackle things at your leisure. I’d really try to slow things down if you find that the game is stressing you out or giving you a headache.

I hope this information helps and makes sense. If you have any follow up questions please feel free to ask. I’m on NA server so unfortunately I can’t add you as a friend and hop into your world and help. If we were on the same game server that would’ve been my first suggestion. 🥲

Pandabsurde2026-01-21 09:32

Ok, thanks!
So, for the elemental reactions, I'll need Mona to proc them apparently
Team will be Zonghli, Mona, Fischl, Benett?
With witchs homework added on Mona and Fischl if I understood
And I think I dropped leveling Zonghli because the boss to farm to level him up was a terror (the earth dragon if I remember correctly), I'll search for some teammates

toxicsknmn2026-01-21 15:44

Nah Zhongli’s boss mat is that Geo Cube (called the Hypostasis), which is just as annoying to kill as that earth dragon. For that boss, to make it easier, you gotta use a claymore user to take those pillars down relatively easier. Noelle is a surprisingly good 4* that you can build up to help make that fight easier, otherwise you wanna try and throw in someone like Chongyun, Beidou, or Razor. Anybody with claymores depending on who you have. Zhongli, as a geo character, is also good against this boss but I’d focus on your claymores while you work to get your Zhongli stronger and stronger.

Like I mentioned I’d focus on having a vape and/or a taser team for now while you build up your character strength and then you can dabble in things like freeze, overload, or Dendro stuff. Here are some EXCELLENT team comps for characters you have:

Vape- Mona, Xiangling, Bennett, Sucrose (or Barb)
Taser (aka “electro-charged”)- Mona, Keqing, Fischl, Sucrose (or Barb since this team is missing sustain and you can never have too much hydro)

A team of Mona, fischl, Bennett, and Zhongli (the team you mentioned) for elemental reactions is going to be inconsistent because you are going to proc different reactions randomly and it may or may not be convenient over the course of a fight. You will get a mixture of overload (electric x fire), crystallize (geo x fire/water/electric), vape (water x fire), and taser (water x electric). Because that one team can generate any one of those reactions, the consistency is non existent because the way you rotate your characters will proc those different reactions randomly and it’s not great not knowing what reaction will be proc’ing. I’d select a singular reaction and build a team around it like those two suggestions above. Mona, Bennett, xiangling, sucrose (or Barbara for extra comfort from the additional healing) for a vape team is going to get you a lot of mileage. It’s a F2P comp that is still viable today. 😊

Until I started getting more premium characters Mona carried me through so so so much of this game. And that was long before I ever had a copy of Zhongli which you luckily have. 😊

Pandabsurde2026-01-21 16:48

Ok! So, 1 reaction is better than multiple ones. Really good to know.
But, Zonghli will destroy this, no? Or he is just there for the shield?

toxicsknmn2026-01-21 17:16

It’s complicated tbh. So, yes, any Geo character will cause Cystallize to happen and any Anemo character (Venti, Sucrose, etc) will cause “Swirl”. Although these are additional reactions, they don’t mess up the primary reaction you are trying to achieve. I apologize for being vague there. Anemo characters like Sucrose, with their designated artifact set, exist to res shred the enemy with the element that a Swirl reaction comes in contact with… so if you are aiming to vape (water x fire) and Sucrose’s swirl touches either the fire or the water, the enemy will take increased damage from whichever element got Swirled. Side note: the artifact system is an entirely different beast of a topic to tackle so I won’t write out a whole college essay on that topic… just know that they play as important of a role as your characters and respective talents simply being leveled up, if not more so.

Crystallize, on the other hand, gives you a momentary elemental shield with whatever element Geo comes in contact with. If that touches Electro, you’ll see a little purple shard drop on the field and if you scoop it up you have a small electro shield which is great if you happen to be up against electro enemies.

In other words, things like Crystallize and Swirl are, for lack of a better term, supplemental kinds of reactions. They help, but aren’t really the *main* damage-dealing reaction. Swirl and Crystallize DPS units exist in the game but that can be its own separate topic of conversation. It’s the *overload* (electric x fire = think literal explosion) reaction in your previously suggested team that would proc and throw off what you would otherwise be vaping or tasing instead.

At your level, I may personally be overthinking it and your suggested team could still be fine. A lot of what I’m talking about also comes from a lense of one day getting to the end game kind of content which is never ever a requirement, totally optional. At the end of the day as long as you aren’t primarily dealing physical damage (the white numbers), you’re PROBABLY killing things faster than you were before. Like I mentioned, those white physical damage numbers are wet noodles 🥲

Pandabsurde2026-01-21 17:22

Ok, good to know.
I'll use the team you suggested to upgrade Zonghli: Mona, Keqing, Fischl, Sucrose
Then I'll replace Keqing or Fischl with Zonghli. (idk which one but it surely will depend on who is better at the moment)
Thanks

For the artifacts, I'll just follow game8 recommendations I think

toxicsknmn2026-01-21 17:41

No worries! Remember against Zhongli’s boss you’ll want a claymore user to break those pillars to weaken it and have a window to really go HAM on it with damage. The brute force of claymore is what helps you against that boss the most. My account is cursed with the equivalent of a C20 Diluc so when I needed to upgrade my Zhongli fighting that boss, Diluc was who I used the most there

Game8 is a solid resource. I use to a lot. But there is also a site called keqingmains.com that most would argue is significantly better. It’s a lot more in depth, but I find the issue with that site (KQM) is that it can sometimes be slow updating with the most recent game data. I remember once I had to wait a couple of months for it to update with a particular character I pulled

ejsks2026-01-21 12:54

Lower your World-Level, reading through your post you increased it WAY too fast where you couldn't keep up with the curve anymore (and basically ruined the game for yourself, by your own fault...).

Most builds include F2P-weapons, they VERY MUCH are, the reason you don't own them is because a lot of them are either:

\- event-exclusive (most of which you'll have missed for obvious reasons)

\- forging-weapons (duh)

\- fishing weapons (The Catch for example)

You might want to check how to obtain those weapons first before judging "clearly this guide is wrong because I don't own those weapons".

So what you should do right now, is lower your World Level at least once (or twice) so that it matches your characters' average level (probably 70-80). Genshin Impact does a sneaky thing where damage dealt / received increases / decreases depending on the level difference between your character and the enemy.

Then, you can put together a fairly simple team to clear main story (my recommendation is : Hu Tao, Xingqiu, Zhongli, and Sucrose), make sure at least Hu Tao has a somewhat fitting build (it doesn't have to be perfect).

Go through main story and slowly upgrade your main roster till they're at least Lv. 80-90 (prioritize your main team).