Summary
When you first start playingGenshin Impact, you start in the land of Mondstadt, which belongs to the Anemo Archon. This element has the same reaction with every other element in the form of Swirl, which allows for some broken combination. However, not every character wielding this element is the best for your account.
While some Anemo characters are good in most situations, you’ll also find some niche characters that can only perform well in a specific scenario. This article ranks all the Anemo characters based on their usability to help you decide who you want to build.
Updated on Jul 20, 2025, by Sanyam Jain:After a long wait, another five-star Anemo character finally graced the world of Genshin Impact in the form ofXianyun, and she easily became one of the best characters from this element because of her unique kit and fun play style.
12Anemo Traveler
The first character you get to use in Genshin Impact, Traveler is a simple unit thatdeals Anemo DMG with both their Elemental Skill and Burst. They can also crowd-control smaller enemies for a little while, but their abilities have no such effect on larger enemies that constitute most of them at this point.
Even though they’re a five-star, HoYoverse tends to avoid giving the Traveler many broken abilities since they’re free. However, you may still use them as a Swirl unit until you get another Anemo character.
11Sayu
Sayuis a four-star healer who has aunique skill set that’s fun to use, but the low multipliers and split-scaling on her abilities bring her right down in the meta. Holding her Elemental Skill turns her into a wheel that can keep rotating forward until the timer runs out, and it’s one of the best ways of traversal.
Her Elemental Burst can provide both damage or healing to your party based on your active character’s HP, and they both scale on ATK. However, her passive allows her to have extra healing, which is based on Elemental Mastery. Even after all this, Sayu is one of the best characters to have when you’re exploring since she doesn’t scare off the Crystalflies.
10Lynette
Being one of the magical twins,Lynettehassome enigmatic abilitiesthat allow her to deal damage and traverse through the map faster. However, her Skill only being applied to one opponent unless they’re super close together is her downfall. Lynette’s Burst spawns a hat on the field that taunts all nearby enemies.
This can be great in Floor 11 of the Spiral Abyss since you usually have to protect a monolith here. She can also give your party an ATK boost if you have characters from multiple elements on the team. Unfortunately, you have to get a few constellations if you want to make her viable.
9Faruzan
Faruzancan be both one of the best and the worst characters to use depending on the characters you have on your account. Both her Elemental Skill and Burst providemassive buffs to your party, but these buffs are only useful for Anemo DPS characters, which makes her quite niche.
She was specifically designed to support Wanderer’s abilities, but you can also use her with Xiao if you have some constellations. If you lack Anemo characters on your account, she can be used to trigger Swirl reactions with the Viridescent Venerer set, but this is not the best use of her.
8Sucrose
Mondstadt’s resident introvert,Sucroseis aphenomenal support who easily groups up enemiesand can Swirl with multiple elements quickly. Both her Elemental Skill and Burst deal AoE damage in a big circle, and you’re able to Swirl up to three elements with these if you have her first constellation.
She also knocks up all the smaller enemies in the field, preventing them from dealing damage to you whatsoever. You can easily use an Energy Recharge weapon with the Viridescent Venerer set on her and you’ll have one of the best buffers for your party.
7Venti
The Anemo Archon was the first limited character released in Genshin Impact, and he was quite avaluable character then. However, with time, Genshin Impact has released a ton of robot-type enemies that can’t be crowd-controlled. There has also been an addition of multiple enemies immune to Anemo.
Venti’s Elemental Burst being able to control enemies for long periods was his main selling point, but it can’t be used in most endgame scenarios now. His Burst also makes the enemies fly high sometimes, which makes them harder to target for Sword, Polearm, and Claymore users.
6Shikanoin Heizou
Shikanoin Heizouwas the first character released in Genshin Impact thatused melee attacks while being a Catalyst. He was arguably one of the most fun and popular four-star characters on release, and he has maintained that status through time.
Apart from dealing a good amount of damage with his Basic Attacks, Heizou can also apply a ton of Anemo to the opponents with his Skill and Burst, while also increasing the Elemental Mastery for your party. If you want to get full value from this character, it’s recommended to use him with off-field elemental applicators.
5Jean
Ever since the release,Jeanhas had quite a rollercoaster when it comes to her position in the meta. She was a valuable character at the start since most players didn’t have their characters built andrequired a healer. However, her value went down monumentally as the game progressed.
Thankfully, she’s come back on the top with the release of Fontaine since most characters from this region require a healer, and she works especially well with Furina by giving mass healing to your entire team.
4Xianyun
Xianyuna.k.a. Cloud Retainer has been a part of Genshin Impact ever since the beginning, but her being a playable character during the Version 4.4 update was a pleasant surprise. She’s a five-star healer who alsobrings one of the forgotten mechanics in the game, Plunge Attacks, right back into the meta with her Elemental Burst.
When she uses the Burst, the active character can perform up to eight Plunge Attacks. She also provides a massive Plunge Attack DMG bonus alongside constant healing to your entire party. The best part about her is that you can simply put the Viridescent Venerer set and enjoy a massive RES shred on the enemy while using the Plunge Attacks on a character with elemental infusion.
3Wanderer
With his relation to both the Electro Archon and the Fatui, Wanderer is arguably one of thestrongest characters in the game. He deals Anemo DMG with his Basic Attacks that get buffed when you use his Skill. This Skill also lets him hover in the air, gives him an additional stamina bar, and lets him go up and down.
His constant damage and hover ability make him a great character for exploration, and you may also use him to beat difficult content of the game, making him one of the best characters to build.
