(4.8) Yelan Rerun
Version 4.8 Phase 2
5-star: Yelan
4-stars: Yanfei, Xiangling, Razor
TLDR - I’m a little unsure how to feel about this banner. Yelan is a good character who is very worth having though I do feel that you having Xingqiu or not does alter the value you will get out of pulling for Yelan here, especially with Natlan around the corner. The 4-star selection isn’t exactly ideal with Xiangling being the most useful character amoungst the 3 but also suffering from the problem that she’s on so many banners and that everyone gets a free copy of her. Yanfei is quite average but if you’ve already got a decent on-field pyro DPS, she won’t add much to your account. Then Razor is Razor which isn’t really a good thing. You can play him if you really want to but his effectiveness will be questionable at best. It’s worth noting that for very new players, Yanfei and Yelan form a solid vaporise core that can get you though the vast majority of the content in the game on their own so this banner might have some value there.
All that said, you could just save for Natlan. We’ve know what we are getting in those banners for phase 1 and while the 4-star lineup isn’t amazing, I’m interested in Mualani plus Kazuha is rerunning again. If you are set on pulling for either Yelan or Emilie then I’d say Yelan is more valuble but if you already have Xingqiu or are willing to wait until September and he’s back in the Starglitter shop then I think you can justify going for Emilie instead even though Yelan is a much more flexible character.
Yelan - Hydro bow character
Role: Off-field DPS
Teams: Vaporise, hyperbloom, Bloom (Nilou), burgeon
Cons: C1 gives a second charge of her skill which has it’s uses, C2 makes her burst fire extra shots which is a good amount of extra damage, C6 allows her to be used as a quick swap on-fielder
Artifact set: 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate
Weapons: Aqua Simulacra (best), Fading Twilight (event), Favonious Warbow (4-star option), Sacrificial Bow (4-star option), Slingshot (3-star option)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Good
Ah welcome back 5-star Xingqiu. Ok, now it sounds like I jest but calling Yelan 5-star Xingqiu is pretty accurate in how she gets used but I’d also argue it’s not really an insult since Xingqiu is one of the best characters in the game and a character that new players should put effort/resources into obtaining. That said, where does all this leave Yelan? Well, it can be a little difficult to judge. Yelan was very desirable for accounts to have back when she released back in version 2.7 since the hydro off-field options that were not Xingqiu were Kokomi, Ayato and Mona (I guess Barbara too if you want to split hairs). The problem here is that none of these options were all that good and were generally not enough on their own for most teams that needed off-field hydro application so Yelan was actually really welcome and allowed players to play 2 hydro based teams in the abyss, say vaporise on one side and freeze on the other. Side note, freeze was still considered good back then though it’s issues were starting to show up occationally. Anyway, off-field hydro application became even more useful with the introduction of dendro which brought with it hyperbloom teams and Nilou teams so if anything, Yelan became even more valuable. However, if we fast forward time to the present which is nearly 2 years in the future (dear god), the scene has changed a bit. While Yelan and Xingqiu are still the premier characters for single target application, players have more options than before. Playing Neuvillette on-field is going to provide enough hydro application for these team options. Furina can be played with another one of the less-good hydro off-fielders and together, they are often enough. Now all this said, I should be clear. Yelan is still a very good character. She’s just a lot more of a luxury than she used to be. Xingqiu has slightly better hydro application (especially at C6), his damage mitigation and the small about of healing his rain swords give while Yelan does a bit more damage and has the mobility offered by her skill though how useful that it really depends on the context.
I’ve already hinted at teams you can play Yelan in but lets be explicit about it. Anywhere you can use Xingqiu, you can use Yelan and vice versa. Vaporise with an on-field pyro DPS like Arlecchino or Yoimiya? Great. A hyperbloom team with Alhaitham and Kuki? No problem. A Nilou team with Nahida and Kirara? Why not. A burgeon team with Nahida and Thoma? Sure as long as you actually want to play burgeon over other options. You can also do taser/electro-charged teams by on-fielding Sucrose though these teams are not all that in todays meta. A freeze team with Ayaka, Shenhe and Kazuha can still work like it did back when Yelan released though this is likely to struggle in the abyss due to the lack of freezable enemies on the 12th floor. It’s quite simple. All you need is an on-fielder that does some normal attacks so that Yelan’s dice (from her burst) triggers an attack on the enemy and damage happens along with the hydro application. There will be more team options than what I’ve listed here of course so feel free to mess around if you like. Yelan is very flexible in what teams she can fit into. I should also add that she is a nice addition to Furina teams since she is a HP scaler meaning she will generate more stacks for Furina when built properly. The hydro resonance is also a nice bonus.
Yelan’s constellations are interesting. The C1 doesn’t really give any more damage, stricktly speaking since all it does is give a second charge of Yelan’s skill. This can allow for some more flexible rotations where the skill is the main part of it but it’s worth baring in mind that using 2 skills takes twice as long as using 1 skill so it might not do much for your damage per second if you use them back to back. I feel this is more of a utility con than a damage one since it’s more about the extra particle generation than anything else. The C2 adds an extra attack to her burst that triggers every 2ish seconds. This is a nice bit of extra damage and can help by applying some extra hydro though how useful it is will mostly depend on team comp as Yelan’s hydro application is pretty good at C0. The C3 increases burst damage which is good since this is where most of Yelan’s damage comes from. The C4 has interesting application to Furina teams since it can increase all party members HP by up to 40% if you tag 4 enemies with the skill. You can keep this buff up constantly as long as you have the enemies but it’s only giving 10% against bosses since there will only be one target making this constellation a bit more inconsistent. The C5 increases skill damage which makes this a pretty lame con. The C6 on the other hand allows Yelan to be somewhat of an on-fielder. After using the burst, the next 5 normal attacks Yelan uses will be breakthrough barbs (hydro infused, small AoE and extra damage). This is a pretty nice upgrade as it gives Yelan herself a good bit of extra damage though it will take a few seconds of field time and lose some up time on the burst for your real on-fielder. You could switch back to Yelan to use these attacks after her burst has ran out though how this works will be team dependant.
Yelan’s stats are quite straightforward. She scales with HP so that means you want a HP % sands, hydro damage goblet and a crit circlet with the substats focused towards crit, HP and energy recharge. Elemental mastery isn’t terrible to have either. As a character that needs to burst every rotation, ER is important so you might need to look at an ER sands if it’s not working out though it’s going to be better to get this from your weapon in most cases. 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate helps a lot with this and also rewards you for building ER so it’s really the only artifact set you would want to use. An argument could be made for Nymph’s Dream but it’s more effort than it’s worth and doesn’t help with energy so it won’t be worth it.
Aqua Simulacra is her signature and a great weapon overall that works great on Yelan so use it if you have it though it is worth keeping in mind that it’s a great weapon on a good number of other DPS-focused bow characters. Fading Twilight is an old event weapon back from when Yelan was released that works quite well as it gives ER as it’s stat while the passive gives damage bonus. It might feel a little inconsistent because of how the size of the damage bonus jumps around but on average, it works out well. Favonius Warbow is the option if you really need all the ER you can get your hands on. The bonus particles it makes will help the team as well so it’s a good choice. Sacrifical Bow is another ER bow and the passive allows you to pretend you have the C1. It’s not the best option but there’s not much else. Lastly, Slingshot is a 3-star that has a HP stat so it’ll work better than anything else since there is no 4-star bow that gives HP. It’s weird we don’t have one now that the game has 2 HP scaling bow users (Sigewinne is the other). I should also mention that End of the Line (the Sumeru fishing weapon) is another ER bow you could use but it’s passive does very little for Yelan. It also looks rediculous if you are the kind of player that cares about drip. I’m not a fan.
In conclusion, Yelan is a nice character to have but she isn’t as valuble in the current meta as she used to be. It’s not like she’s gotten worse (she hasn’t) but rather other options have appeared which make her less of a valuble pull. There’s also the Xingqiu problem. Having access to a second Xingqiu isn’t as useful as it was since there are plenty of teams you can play these days that don’t want the little Guhua Geek. This is the biggest problem for Yelan. Now, if you don’t have Xingqiu yet (he is a 4-star you can get in the shop in September), Yelan will be a lot more tempting. She is still strong and very worth having on an accoutn despite all the negative things I’ve said about her in this review.
Yanfei - Pyro catalyst character
Role: On-field DPS or shielder (C4)
Teams: Vaporise, melt or overload.
Cons: C1 gives some resistance to interuption, C4 provides a shield which can totally change how you play her.
Artifact set: 4pc Crimson Witch of Flames (for on-field DPS) or 4pc Noblesse Oblige (for shielder)
Weapons: Lost Prayers in the Sacred Winds (5-star option), The Widsith (4-star option), Flowing Purity (Craftable), Prototype Amber (Shielder option)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Ok
I’m going to get a weird sense of deja vu writing this because the last time Yanfei was on a banner was back in 4.5 phase 2 and as much as I hate to say it, not much has changed so this could be a bit repetitive since none of the characters that have came out since have changed much about Yanfei. Anyway, Yanfei is an on-field pyro DPS like most of the other pyro characters in the game though in general she is competent enough at this role to consider using which is more than I can say of some of the others. The typical team to play yanfei in is a vaporise team so something like Yanfei/Yelan/Bennet/Kazuha will get the job done. Yelan can be replaced with the other hydro off-fielders like Xingqiu or Candace (C6 only) primarily. Kazuha can be swapped for another VV user such as Sucrose, Venti or Lynette. There isn’t really a substitute for Bennet unfortunatly; his attack buff is too strong. You could consider adding a defensive option like Zhong Li if need be but Yanfei actually gets her own shield at C4 and any swaps out of the team above for defensive options will be a loss in total damage. Furina can also be used so the team might look more like Yanfei/Furina/[healer]/[VV user] with Sigewinne being the best healer choice though you could also use Barbara. You could also try a melt team by swaping the hydro character for Kaeya, Rosaria or Layla but all of these characters will have cryo application issues making it feels not great to play since Yanfei wants to be at some range to what she is fighting.
As mentioned above, at C4, Yanfei gets a shield on her burst which is actually reasonably strong. The shield scales with HP so you can’t quite get a great shield along with good damage since her damage scales with attack (and you would want crit stats too). Its unfortuante but the so-called “shieldfei” build is very much a thing you can play. This means she can be played as an alternative to Thoma, Kirara, Layla or Zhong Li if need be though she isn’t really as good in this role as any of those characters. It’s nice that it’s an option however for players with more limited character rosters.
Yanfei does have constellations besides her C4 however so we can look at those. Her C1 gives her charged attacks resistance to interuption along with a reduced stamina cost. It’s an ok quality of life buff but it’s not anything to get excited about. Her C2 gives a 20% crit rate buff to her charged attacks ifthe target has less than 50% HP. Crit rate buffs are normally great but the HP condition is what kills this since it won’t be active significant amount of the time. The C3 buffs her skill while the C5 buffs the burst. Niether are that great since a lot of Yanfei’s damage come from her charged attacks. Finally, the C6 allows her to generate an extra seal so her charged attacks can deal a bit more damage. It’s ok.
In stat terms, its going to differ if you are playing normal Yanfei or Shieldfei obviously. For an on-field DPS, an attack % sands, pyro damage goblet and crit circlet is best with attack, crit rate and crit damage as the good sub stats. Elemental mastery and energy recharge somewhat useful as well. For the Shieldfei build, most people will need to go with an ER sands so that she can burst consistently every rotation though a HP sands will be better if you can get enough ER from substats and a weapon. Both the goblet and circlet should be HP mainstats. ER and HP is what you will be looking for in substats where possible. Artifact set options are not great for Yanfei as the 4pc Crimson Witch of Flames is going to be best for either melt or Vaporise teams. 4pc Noblesse Oblige is probably prefered for Shieldfei though you could use 4pc Tenacity of the Millelith if you already have a Noblesse user on the team. Finally, 4pc Marechaussee Hunter will generally be better on a Furina team but there won’t be that much in it.
Weapon choices are the standard affair for catalyst characters, by which I mean there isn’t too much to choose from. Lost Prayers of the Sacred Winds is a decent 5-star option if you’ve got it but any of the attack or crit focused 5-star weapons will be decent enough stat sticks for Yanfei. For 4-star options, The Widsith tends to perform better than most though it is inconsistent. Since you are probably playing vaporise however, the EM boost from the 3rd hymn isn’t terrible. Flowing Purity is the best craftable option since it gives a good amount of attack unlike the other craftable catalysts. For Shieldfei, Prototype Amber is the obvious choice since it has a HP stat on it. You could also consider an ER weapon such as Favonious Codex if you would like to try running a HP sands instead but you might well have better users of those ER weapons.
In conclusion, Yanfei is a decent character. She’s nothing crazy but it’s not a bad thing seeing her on a banner since she can function in a second role once you’ve got the C4. She is far from the best on-field pyro DPS however so if you already have characters like Hu Tao, Lyney or Arlecchino, Yanfei is unlikely to add much to an account outside of the shielder angle.
Xiangling - Pyro Polearm character
Role: Off-field DPS
Teams: Vaporise, melt, mono-pyro, overload, national
Cons: C4 increases her burst duration by 40% which is insane
Artifact set: 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate (if ER needed) or 4pc Crimson Witch of Flames (if most damage is reaction-based)
Weapons: Englufing Lightning (5-star option), The Catch (Fishing), Favonius Lance (4-star option), Kitain Cross Spear (Craftable)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Good
I complained about having to write another review for Yanfei so soon after she was last on a banner but dear god. Xiangling was last on a banner in 4.6. That is literally 2 patches ago so once again, nothing has really changed. We’ve only had the release of Clorinde, Sethos, Sigewinne and Emilie (this patch) since you could last pull for Xiangling as a rate-up 4-star. The only one of those characters that is particularly relevant for Xiangling is Emilie which has been discussed in Emilie’s review so I’ll keep this shorter.
If you’re unaware, Xiangling is the only off-field pyro DPS in the game and on top of that, she’s pretty damn good. You want to play vaporise with a hydro on-fielder? You need Xiangling. You want to play melt with a cryo on-fielder? You need Xiangling. Hell, you want to play the infamous national team (Childe/Xiangling/Xingqiu/Bannet), you need Xiangling. I really hope Natlan gives us an alternative to Xiangling but I won’t be surprised if I’m writing the same thing in a review of banners in 5.8. I guess we can do nothing but hope.
Like most characters from the early years of Genshin, Xiangling has a very mixed set of ceonstellations. The C1 makes it so her skill applies a pyro res shread debuff which is nice to have though not gamechanging. The C2 sort of sucks since it needs Xiangling to be on-field and finishing a normal attack combo to do a pretty mediocre amount of AoE pyro damage. Yeah, this sort of sucks. The C3 gives more damage to her burst which is welcome. The C4 is the one you want however. It increases the duration of the burst by 40% which is massive and allows you to fit much more into a rotation. It feels much better to play with and also adds a considerable amount of extra damage since you’re on-fielder can keep vaping for example. C5 is skill damage so whatever. Lastly, the C6 gives a team wide pyro damage boost while Xiangling’s burst is active. This is at it’s best in mono-pyro teams ofcourse but its a respectable boost to Xiangling’s own damage in teams where she’s the only pyro character.
Xiangling’s most important stat tends to be energy recharge though the weapon will often do a lot of the heavy lifting. You should aim for something in the region of 180-200 ER to be safe. If you need to use a ER sands then you’ve got to do it but an attack % sands is ideal alongside a pyro damage goblet and a crit circlet. Substats to look for are the usual culprits with a focus being placed on nice ER roles. Attack, crit damage and crit rate will serve you well though some EM is also nice. 4pc Embelm of Severed Fate is the standard choice and also helps with ER needs though you can make good use of 4pc Crimson Witch of Flames if ER is less of an issue for reaction-focused teams.
Xiangling’s weapon choice tends to focus on the stat she needs most which is energy recharge since she doesn’t offer much besides her burst (sorry Guoba). If you happen to have a Engulfing Lightning lying around then you’ll find a great user for it in Xiangling. Outside of 5-stars however The Catch is the Inazuma fishing weapon and it buffs burst damage alongside giving lots of ER so it tends to be Xiangling’s best weapon. You’ll just need a lot of patience to get all the fish you need for it. It’s not a fun grind. Favonious Lance is another great ER weapon so can be used to great effect but there is often high demand for that weapon as most off-field/support polearm users want it. Kitain Cross Spear is a craftable that gives some energy alongside EM so that tends to be the best choice when you’ve got nothing else.
In conclusion, Xiangling is very good and you want to get her to C4 since many meta teams makes use of her and she is rather uniquly not replacable. Everyone gets a free copy of her from the abyss but dupes are always welcome. The one barrier to this is the fact of how often Xiangling comes up on banners. This is her 3rd appearance since 4.0. For perspective, both Heizou and Mika have not been on a banner during 4.X. These things really should be more balanced. Anyway, you should get Xiangling C4 and enjoy the team options she offers if you havn’t already done so.
Razor - Electro claymore character
Role: On-field DPS
Teams: Physical/superconduct, burgeon(or atleast a variant of)
Cons: C4 gives his skill 15% Def reduction
Artifact set: 4pc Pale Flame (if physical) or 4pc Guilded Dreams (if burgeon)
Weapons: Song of Broken Pines (best in physical), Wolfs Gravestone (5-star option), Serpents spine (battle pass), Snow-Tombed Starsilver (Craftable), Mailed Flower (best for burgeon), Makhaira Aquamarine (4-star option)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Bad
Oh boy, how can I put this nicely? Razor is just kinda bad. Like it’s not that his kit has any major design flaws in it, it’s just that his damage numbers are way too low so while there should be a couple of teams you can use him in, teams focused around building lots of elemental mastery tend to be the only ones that really get anywhere in todays relevant content and even then, they are not exactly what you would call good. Now that some expectations have been set, what teams can you play razor in? First up is a physical superconduct team. Unfortunatly, physical damage is the worst damage type in the game since it doesn’t have any reactions and many enemies have high resistance to it. The best physical teams also tend to on-field Eula but even then, they still kinda suck so Razor tends to be a downgrade. The reason Razor works in these teams (at least on a theoretical level) is because during his burst, he deals both electro damage and physical damage so you can use the electro hits to trigger superconduct buffing the physical damage. A standard physical team will look like Razor/Fischl/Rosaria/Mika where Fischl is just here to provide some more damage off-field but you could use Yae Miko Beidou if need be. Rosaria is your off-field cryo application for the superconduct reactions. Kaeya is the obvious alterative but Layla can function as a more defensive option since you won’t need that much cryo and the superconduct debuff lasts for 12s. Diona or Charlotte could be other choices here. Mika is the only character that buffs physical damage so he’s here to stay. I’ve already said as much but I feel it bares repeating. This team is bad simply because it can’t deal enough damage even if it’s consistent enough internally. Don’t play physical teams. Your sanity will thank me.
So Razor does have one team option that isn’t terrible which I’ll discuss here and that is burgeon, or atleast that’s what I refer to it as. If you’re confused as to how an electro on-fielder fits into burgeon teams, allow me to give you the high level version. Razor’s burst applies electro to himself as well as being able to apply electro alongside a physical hit. This means that with some extra support, Razor can consistently apply two elements at once. The element in question is pyro. Pyro + electro will trigger an overload reaction which deals pyro damage in a small AoE around the target. If you can generate bloom cores from off-field then the overload reactions can be used to trigger burgeons with these bloom cores. Because it’s Razor that is triggering the burgeons with his overload, only his EM stat matters in how much damage the burgeon does. So, here’s the team: Razor/Bennet/Xingqiu/Nahida. Bennet’s C6 is mostly needed for the pyro infusion so he’s not able to be swapped out. Xingqiu can be swapped with Yelan and Nahida can be replaced with the dendro traveller or Collei if you are desperate. I won’t go as far as calling this team good but it is capable of clearing harder content which is better than any of Razor’s other teams can manage. I’ll talk about both physical teams and burgeon in the following sections but it’s worth keeping in mind that physical sucks. Hopefully that message has went in.
Razor’s C1 gives him 10% extra damage when he picks up a particle which will often happen as you tend to want to use his skill as much as possible and it’s likely Razor will pick up particles on switch in. It means nothing for the burgeon teams however. His C2 gives bonus crit rate against enemies with less than 30% HP. This sucks since it won’t be active all that often. The C3 gives more damage to his burst which isn’t that important for either build. The C4 makes it so that his skill reduces enemies defence by 15% which is actually somewhat helpful since def is applied to all damage. The C5 improves the skill so whatever. The C6 gives one normal attack every 10s an extra electro hit which means very little. Yeah his cons kinda suck.
In his physical teams, the stat priority is attack % sands, physical damage goblet and crit circlet with a focus on crit and attack in the substats. This build makes use of the physical damage artifact set, 4pc Pale Flame. Nothing else really comes close. In the burgeon teams, you want to build Razor with as much elemental mastery as possible. EM sands, EM goblet and EM circlet are what you need. Getting ER in the substats is welcome to ensure your burst is always up when you need it. You can use an ER sands if it’s that much of a problem but it’s probably better to use an ER weapon if this is the case. 4pc Guilded Dreams is the artifact set of choice here since it gives a good amount of extra EM. You can use 4pc Flower of Paradise lost if you have a good set but it’s not a significant difference.
Like stats, the weapon choice will depend on the team being used. In physical teams, Eula’s signature weapon, Song of Broken Pines, will give the best results while Wolf’s Gravestone is another 5-star option if you happen to have gotten one. Serpents Spine from the battle pass is the best 4-star option but failing that, the dragonspine craftable Snow-Tombed Starsilver is the next best thing. It’s passive even deals some cryo damage for you to trigger superconduct easier. For the burgeon teams, if you have the event weapon Mailed Flower then that’s about as good as it can get for him but Makhaira Aquamarine is an acceptable substitute. If ER is an issue then you can look towards the claymores that have that as their substat. Favonious Greatsword is nice allowing Razor to also give energy to the rest of the team. You will also trigger the passive of Forest Regalia which gives you more EM so this might be the best hybrid choice.
In conclusion, Razor is pretty bad. I think I made that point clearly. If you want to try his burgeon team then go ahead. It does work but more standard options for burgeon teams will provide better results because they will use better characters, funnily enough. I’m really not quite sure why Razor is on this banner honestly. I guess Hoyo needed something to balance it out because god forbid, they make a banner with 3 useable 4-stars on it. It has been known to happen.