The best Genshin Impact characters for beginners

Who do you really want on your team?

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With 49 different characters to play, finding the very best Genshin Impact characters by yourself is going to take some time. So, we’ve put together a guide of the ten greatest playable characters, along with the reasons why you should want them in your party.

Some of the characters are great damage dealers, others are amazing healers, versatile supports, or very useful in exploration. Remember that they all have their different playstyles and can be enhanced using Genshin Impact artifacts to capitalise on their abilities and skills. You should also take a look at their constellations upon unlocking, as many of them will get far better range and attack power when they level up.

Whatever their style, weapon, or elemental type is, any of these top 11 Genshin Impact characters is worth investing Experience and Ascension materials in – or maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get them as the result of a Wish. So, if you’re just starting out in this open-world game, here are the best Genshin Impact characters for beginners.

The best Genshin Impact characters are:

  • Diluc
  • Keqing
  • Qiqi
  • Venti
  • Jean
  • Mona
  • Xiangling
  • Fischl
  • Barbara
  • Traveler
  • Ningguang

Diluc

Diluc is so much more than just the richest man in Mondstadt; he is also the game’s best damage dealer. Charging his normal attack will result in a series of rapid slashes which will completely overpower most enemies. On top of that, Diluc’s Pyro Elemental Skill can easily destroy wooden shields.

And we haven’t even started on his Elemental Burst yet, which covers a huge surrounding area in flames. Not only does it look cool; it also sets his sword on fire for a while, doing additional Pyro damage for every new attack. Diluc undeniably deserves some extra points for style (not that he needs it, though).

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Keqing

Keqing is a swift Electro damage dealer who can easily move across the battlefield and change between short and long ranged attacks. She also does massive AoE damage with her Elemental Burst. Using her abilities, Keqing can quickly jump in, hit the victim, and be gone before she gets hit herself.

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Outside of battle, Keqing’s speed and Elemental Skill make her a great exploration character to have. By using the latter, Keqing can teleport to places that are otherwise difficult to reach.

Qiqi

Qiqi is a great damage dealer and an even greater healer. What more could you possibly want? Qiqi’s Elemental Skill not only damages enemies with Cryo, it also heals all party members upon every hit. The amount of health regeneration is scaled according to Qiqi’s attack power, thus enabling the player to use her for both damage and healing.

Qiqi also heals herself while in combat, making her very tanky. Finally, her Elemental Burst deals massive Cryo damage with a great AoE.

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Venti

Venti, who uses Anemo and a bow, has undoubtedly the best elemental powers. His Elemental Skill makes it easy to control enemies by launching himself or them into the air. However, it’s his Elemental Burst that takes the crown; by using it, Venti can draw all enemies towards a vortex which stuns and greatly damages them.

At the same time, the Elemental Burst will absorb Elemental powers from other characters, which will deal even more damage to the trapped enemies. This alone can pit most battles in your favour and makes Venti the ultimate team character.

Jean

Jean doesn’t excel at one thing, but has a great combination of decent attack damage, crowd control abilities, and above average healing. Her passive talent, Wind Companion, is one of her greatest assets; it grants a 50% chance to heal party members by 15% of Jean’s attack power upon a Normal Attack hit.

Her Elemental Burst healing ability is also scaled according to her attack power, which allows for great HP restoration with the right build. Furthermore, Jean can quickly round up all weaker enemies by using her Elemental Skill to draw them near.

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Mona

Hydro character Mona has the best movement and evasion abilities in the game. If you want to set up elemental reactions using water, Mona is the best Genshin Impact character to have. She can cover large areas in water using her Elemental Skill and Burst. However, Mona is not just great for combat; she can dash through water, which is incredibly handy for exploring (running out of stamina will still result in drowning though, so be careful!).

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Another great non-combat asset is her ‘Principium of Astrology’ skill, which has a 25% chance to refund some crafting materials. Even if you don’t want her for fighting, she will always be a useful character to have.

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Xiangling

Apart from being a great cook, Xiangling stands out because she’s very easy to handle and useful in almost any situation. As a DPS character, Xiangling has a fast, high damage Normal Attack. She is also a great Pyro damage dealer with a very decent AoE. Although it’s best to give some thought to where you cast it, her Elemental Skill will automatically find enemies in its range to set on fire, making it easy to use in combat. Finally, Xiangling’s Elemental Burst will create a fiery ring circling around her. It has a 10 second duration and stays with Xiangling as she moves around. If you’re surrounded by enemies, it’s almost overpowered.

Fischl

Prinzessin Fischl is the ultimate master of Electro in Genshin Impact. She does great damage with her charged bow and her Elemental Skill. The latter summons an Electro night raven (extra points for style, remember) that deals damage to all nearby enemies and will continue to do so after swapping to another character. Her greatest asset is her Elemental Burst, though, which she can use at the opportune moment to better position herself across the battlefield. All while avoiding all incoming attacks and dealing damage to all those that stand in her way. The only drawback is that it can be difficult to stir Fischl in the right direction.

One of the best Genshin Impact beginner characters is Barbara. Here she is smiling.

Barbara

Although idol Barbara does decent attack damage, you really want this Hydro character as a healer and elemental support. Her healing abilities are scaled according to her HP. Apart from healing party members with her Elemental Skill, Barbara can use it to cover her enemies in water, which makes her extremely useful if you want to set up Elemental Reactions. Finally, Barbara’s Elemental Burst will restore a great amount of life for all party members and can therefore be a true lifesaver.

If you don’t get Barbara earlier in your playthrough, once you’ve reached Adventure Rank 18 or above, you can complete a quest called “A Long Shot” to unlock her as a reward, and complete the Barbara hangout to learn more about her.

Traveler

If Traveler would remain the same as we find him (or her) at the beginning of the game, Traveler might not make it on the list. However, Traveler has a great advantage over all the others; he can change his Element.

While starting out with Anemo, Traveler can switch to Geo later on (and back, as often as you like). There will likely be more elements available to Traveler as well in the future. This will always provide opportunities to make Traveler the perfect fit for your team.

Ningguang

Ningguang had her Wish drop-rates greatly increased with Patch 1.1, so it is now far easier to obtain her. She is proficient at taking down single targets with her Geo elemental skill and burst attack.

Her Jade Screen skill stops her from being damaged by ranged attacks and allows her to concentrate on taking down any close-range targets, while also performing the occasional ranged attack for some added damage output. Ningguang is also handy to use outside of battle, as her passive skill allows you to view nearby ore deposits on the minimap.

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Whichever Genshin Impact characters you get, though, the main thing is to enjoy playing with them! Although it doesn’t hurt if your Genshin Impact builds are optimised to the eyeballs for maximum damage output. You’ll probably want to accessorise with the best Genshin Impact weapons you can get without using up those all-important Wishes, and if you desperately need more Adventure Rank to unlock more content, here’s our Genshin Impact leveling guide.