Who Are The Best Genshin Impact Characters?

Months after its launch, miHoYo’s Genshin Impact continues to capture the time and attention of the Siliconera staff. With all the effort it takes to build up a character, it’s tough to choose who deserves that investment! So here are our individual picks for the best Genshin Impact characters to use.

Five-star characters like Venti and Diluc are immediately powerful due to high damage output or the versatility to be on any team. However, my pick for the best Genshin Impact character, speaking only as a unit, would be Bennett. Bennett’s stat modifiers aren’t anything to write home about. But, depending on how you build him, he can work as a main DPS or as a main support. His heal and attack boost are invaluable to any team, and for those who don’t yet have a powerful Pyro unit, he works perfectly fine with the proper build. Bennett is a great unit — and comparatively easier to get compared to Diluc or Hu Tao! — for anyone willing to invest in him. — Stephanie

My Genshin Impact character of choice is the Yuheng herself, Keqing. She’s equally effective whether she’s dishing out Physical or Electro damage with her lightning-quick sword strikes, and her Elemental Burst has a long invulnerability effect, perfect to avoid unnecessary damage. She’s also sublimely mobile, with teleporting attack chains and a Naruto-style flash movement knife throw. The only way she could be faster is if miHoYo had the courage to give her the “tall” character model, which has objectively faster running speed due to its longer stride. — Josh

I own Bennett and Keqing, and both are great. Do you know who’s better? Klee.

Klee is the queen of Genshin Impact. She’s this incredible powerhouse and insanely versatile. She can help trigger wonderful elemental reactions. Need to survive the Dragonspine? She’ll keep you warm. There is also something quite satisfying about watching this kindergartener with a backpack almost as big as she is beating up all the biggest baddies in seconds. — Jenni

There’s a saying in photography: the best camera is the one you have with you. No matter how functional or capable the tech, it can’t help you if it’s not there when you need it.
The same is true with Genshin Impact characters. Are premium fighters like Venti and Diluc packed with high-power moves and generally better stats? For sure. But you can’t rely on getting them. You can’t easily upgrade abilities. And they’re inevitably situational due to their elemental affinities.

That’s why, perhaps strangely, the Traveler is my pick. They’re with you from the start. They’re adaptable. And yeah, they’re a bit weaker, but they can get the job done. Plus: you can avoid that jarring character swap whenever you hit a story moment! — Graham

miHoYo’s Genshin Impact is available now on iOS, Android, PlayStation 4 and PC. A PlayStation 5 version is set for release in spring 2021. What do you think is the best Genshin Impact character? Let us know in the comments! And read our other handy roundtables for more thoughts from the Siliconera team.