Looking for more information about the new characters coming to Genshin Impact? Since its release in 2020, the addictive anime game has seen plenty of regular updates expanding on the game’s content – and adding several new characters by way of limited time banners.
According to Mihoyo’s Genshin Impact roadmap, they aim to release new updates every six weeks – and if past experience is anything to go by, during each new patch, there will be at least one new banner with a new Genshin Impact five-star character, and possible new four-star characters included too. That said, several new Genshin Impact characters have been added outside of this schedule, like Genshin Impact Klee – so we could see new characters arrive unexpectedly, too.
The next new Genshin Impact character to arrive will be Xiao, in the Genshin Impact 1.3 update – beyond that, however, there’s no official word on who will be joining us next. There are a few fan theories regarding upcoming Genshin Impact new characters, and rumours based off possible leaks or datamined information – so we’ve gathered all our best guesses here.
The new and upcoming Genshin Impact characters are:
Hu Tao
We had our suspicions, but it’s now confirmed: Hu Tao is the next new Genshin Impact character arriving in Teyvat. The Hu Tao banner release time has been confirmed, and thanks to a Mihoyo blog post, we finally have confirmation of Hu Tao’s official abilities.
Hu Tao is a Pyro character and a polearm wielder, and she is the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. She’s notoriously fond of causing trouble, and allegedly has a very ‘punch-able face’. Oh, and her name means walnut. If you’re planning to pull Hu Tao, we’ve got a Hu Tao build guide just for you.
Genshin Impact Hu Tao abilities
Normal Attack: Secret Spear of Wangsheng
- Normal Attack: Performs up to six rapid strikes.
- Charged Attack: Consumes a certain amount of stamina to lunge forward, dealing damage to enemies along the way.
- Plunging Attack: Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE damage upon impact.
Elemental Skill: Guide to Afterlife
Hu Tao consumes a part of her health, knocking nearby enemies back and entering the Paramita Papilio state.
- Increases Hu Tao’s attack based on her max health at the time of entering this state. Attack bonus gained this way cannot exceed 400% of Hu Tao’s base attack.
- Converts attack damage to pyro damage, which cannot be overridden by any other elemental infusion.
- Increases Hu Tao’s resistance to interruption.
- Charged attacks apply the Blood Blossom effect to the enemies hit.
- Enemies affected by Blood Blossom will take Pyro damage every four seconds. This damage is considered elemental skill damage.
- Each enemy can be affected by only one Blood Blossom effect at a time, and its duration may only be refreshed by Hu Tao herself.
- Paramita Papilio ends when its duration is over, or Hu Tao has left the battlefield or fallen.
Elemental Burst: Spirit Soother
- Commands a blazing spirit to deal Pyro damage in a large AoE. Upon striking the enemy, Hu Tao regenerates a percentage of max health. This effect can be triggered up to five times, based on the number of enemies hit. If Hu Tao’s health is below or equal to 50% when the enemy is hit, both the damage and health regeneration are increased.
Hu Tao Passive Talents
- The More The Merrier
When Hu Tao cooks a dish perfectly, she has an 18% chance to receive an additional “suspicious” dish of the same type. - Flutter By
When Paramita Papilio state activated by Guide to Afterlife is over, all allies in the party (excluding Hu Tao herself) will have their crit rate increased by 12% for 15 seconds.
Hu Tao Constellations
- Crimson Bouquet
While in Paramita Papilio state activated by Guide to Afterlife, Hu Tao’s charge attacks do not consume stamina. - Ominous Rainfall
Increases the Blood Blossom damage by the amount equal to 10% of Hu Tao’s max health at the time the effect is applied. Additionally, Spirit Soother will also apply the Blood Blossom effect. - Lingering Carmine
Increases the Level of Guide to Afterlife by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15. - Garden of Eternal Rest
Upon defeating an enemy affected by Blood Blossom that Hu Tao applied herself, all nearby allies in the party (excluding Hu Tao herself) will have their crit rate increased by 12% for 15 seconds. - Floral Incense
Increases the Level of Spirit Soother by three. Maximum upgrade level is 15. - Butterfly’s Embrace
Triggers when Hu Tao’s health drops below 25%, or when she suffers a lethal strike. Hu Tao will not fall as a result of the damage sustained. Additionally, for the next ten seconds, all of her elemental and physical resistance is increased by 200%, her crit rate is increased by 100%, and her resistance to interruption is greatly increased. This effect triggers automatically when Hu Tao has one health point left. Can only occur once every 60 seconds.
Rosaria
Rosaria is currently an NPC in Monstadt, and a member of the Church of Favonius. She featured in the Genshin Impact 1.2 trailer, and has a Cryo vision hanging from her waist, leading players to believe that she may become a playable character in future.
Digistatement has reported on leaks that allegedly reveal that Rosaria will be a Polearm user and will release in update 1.4. This seems increasingly possible, as HoneyHunterWorld has discovered a Rosaria nameplate card and has datamined all her talents and abilities. By the looks of it, Rosaria could be joining us very soon.
Kamisato Ayaka
Ayaka is a Cryo Sword user, and was playable during the first closed beta test. She’s the princess of the Kamisato House, and her profile was previously briefly available on the official Genshin Impact website, under the Monstadt section, but was later removed.
The current fan theory is that the Genshin Impact Ayaka release date will coincide with the release of the Inazuma region – possibly an island nation inspired by Japan. Genshin Impact leaker NEP NEP believes Ayaka will be arriving with the Genshin Impact 1.4 update. Her abilities are also available on Honey Hunter World.
Leaks Update 1.4 banner:
(grain of salt)
Ayaka 5*: 17 March (Cryo)
??? 5*: 7 April (???)
Mimi 4*: (Hydro)
??? 4*: (???)#GenshinImpact #原神 pic.twitter.com/ndWhbTpWwv
— NEP NEP 💫 (@nep_impact) December 7, 2020
Mimi
Mimi is another Inazuma denizen, who is also rumored to release alongside Ayaka in the 1.4 update. She’s a Hydro Catalyst wielder, and she may turn out to be a four-star character when she finally releases.
Dainsleif
Dainsleif, the Bough Keeper, was officially announced by Mihoyo during the Tokyo Game Show – however, no release date was attached. His voice actor has been announced, but other than a potential side quest involving Dainsleif popping up in 1.3, we have no indication of when he might arrive.
Dainsleif is from Khaenri’ah, an underground realm that is not part of Teyvat itself – so perhaps one day in the future we’ll meet Dainsleif when we explore his homeland.
Yunjin
Yunjin is an NPC from Liyue; a dancer, singer, and brewer who works at the Heyu Tea House. We know very little else about her – leaks allege that she will be a Geo Polearm user, so we’re guessing she’ll be a four-star character. Our best guess is that we’ll see her in update 1.5, or even later.
Yaoyao
Yaoyao is an adorable NPC who is mentioned in several characters’ voice lines. She was previously Xiangling’s junior when they both studied under the same master chef, but has now become an assistant for Genshin Impact Ganyu.
She features in the official art above, which may also give us a few hints on when she might join us in-game. The art depicts Yaoyao with Qiqi at the Mid-Autumn Festival – so her release may coincide with a festival of some kind. She’s been datamined as a four-star Dendro Catalyst user, which is intriguing, as we don’t currently have any Dendro users available yet.
Sayu
Not much is known about Sayu at this point, but we do have a datamined character model for her – courtesy of Zeniet and Tieba. She’s an Anemo Claymore user – she looks a little small to be swinging a Claymore around, but we’re sure she’ll do a great job.
Kate is a Electro Sword Character.
Sayu, the little one. Is a Anemo Claymore character. pic.twitter.com/7t5ja3uWCk— Zeniet (@Zeniiet) October 20, 2020
Kate
The other character model showcased in the above tweet is purportedly Kate, an Electro Sword user from Mondstadt. That’s all we know about her for now, but we’ll let you know if we acquire more information.
Tohama
Tohama’s datamined character model was revealed in a tweet by NEP NEP; we think he could be a five-star Pyro Polearm wielder from Inazuma, but information is scarce at this point.
Here is one of the future character:
Name: Tohama
He is a 5 * character (a grain of salt)#GenshinImpact #原神 pic.twitter.com/pb6PmG2a33
— NEP NEP 💫 (@nep_impact) December 3, 2020
Shenhe
Players initially believed this character was called Shenli, which is actually the Chinese reading of Ayaka’s name. However, Shenhe means god crane – so some players believe that Shenhe may be the human form of Cloud Retainer, an Adeptus NPC who lives on Mt. Aozang in Liyue. Allegedly, she’ll be a Cryo Claymore user.
Baizhu
Baizhu is a Genshin Impact NPC, and is the owner of Bubu Pharmacy in Liyue. He possesses a Dendro vision, which has led fans to believe that he may one day be a playable character – though we’ll have to wait for the full implementation of Dendro into the elemental reactions chart.
Cyno
Cyno was revealed in the Teyvat chapter storyline preview video – he’s a Polearm wielder from Sumeru, one of the future Genshin Impact regions we’ll be visiting in later updates.
Collei
Collei is a character from Sumeru in the Genshin Impact official manga. She was imbued with Archon residue by the seer Barnabus, but was aided by Cyno and Amber to suppress it.
Lyney and Lynette
Lyney and Lynette were revealed in the same storyline preview video – they’re a pair of twins, presumably, who are dressed like magicians – they hail from Fontaine, a region inspired by France. There’s speculation that they could be recruited as a pair and can switch places with one another in battle – though that may be nothing more than a cool idea.
Iansan
Iansan was also revealed in the Teyvat Chapter Storyline video, in the Natlan section. We believe she’s a Pyro user, but we’ll have to wait until we visit Natlan to find out more about her.
Signora
La Signora is No. 8 of the Eleven Harbingers of the Fatui, a military force from the Russia-inspired Snezhnaya region. We meet her at the end of Act 3 of the Prologue, and she’s particularly villainous – fans are hoping that, since we’ve seen her carrying a Catalyst, she may become a playable character some time in the future.
Scaramouche
Scaramouche is No. 6 of the Fatui’s Eleven Harbingers; he introduces himself as a ‘vagrant from Inazuma’ who attempts to betray and kill the Traveller during the Unreconciled Stars event: Star of Destiny. Players believe that he will eventually be a playable character, and speculate that he may be a Electro Catalyst user.
Dottore
Il Dottore is another of the Eleven Harbingers.. His name means ‘The Doctor’, but based on his appearance in the official manga, he’s more interested in using people for research and experimentation.
Pulcinella
Pulcinella is the 5th of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers – all that is known about them is that they conscripted Tartaglia into the Fatui after he re-emerged from the Abyss.
These are all the new Genshin Impact characters that we believe have a reasonable chance of turning up in game, but as we learn more about the Genshin Impact lore, we’ll add new candidates as we discover them. Enough wishful thinking – time to focus on the characters you’ve already got; here are the best Genshin Impact characters for beginners, and the best Genshin Impact weapons to kit them out with.
