Genshin Impactis all about maximizing your resources. It’s important to play for fun, but it wouldn’t hurt to be efficient about who you’d want to build. Not only will these characters help you climb adventure ranks and aid you in the spiral abyss, but they’re also going to make your journey feel smoother.
Not everybody has a lot ofPrimogemssaved up, but these characters make that irrelevant because they’re great even without their constellations. These four-star characters are so broken that they make having five-star characters an unnecessary luxury, which is why most players build them: free-to-play and whales alike.
Updated on June 16, 2025, by Sanyam Jain:Apart from the first few four-star characters who are still in the meta, most of the other units from this rarity are usually either too niche or their damage multipliers are too low to be usable. However, Gaming was one of the few outliers to this since he can easily delete the enemies with his abilities.
12Heizou
Heizou is the first of his kind as a character who seems to fight without a weapon. He’s a catalyst user, but his string of attacks show him punching through and with air—long before evenWandererhas. He’s a great damage dealer who can dish out ridiculous numbers, even with no constellations.
Even with a four-star catalystlikeThe WidsithorSacrificial Fragments, his damage output can be one to reckon with. He’s also versatile to build since you can use him purely for ramping up elemental reactions by equipping him with elemental mastery pieces or as a crit-scaling anemo damage dealer.
11Noelle
Noelleis a free character, and she’ll get you through the early and later stages of the game. She does everything you can hope for: shield, heal, and fight—and even if you’re no longer using her for her shield later on, she’s still capable of great damage with a few weapon and artifact upgrades.
Some have even noticed that a constellation six Noelle can catch up and even out-damage the resident five-star Oni Itto without constellations. Regardless of whether you’re pulling the shinyRedhorn Stonethresherfor her or sticking with your refinedWhiteblind, Noelle will be able to carry you through.
10Beidou
The “Uncrowned Queen of the Ocean” is a must-build, and she’s just as strong as her lore suggests.Beidouisn’t easy to play, though, and you’ll have to master countering with her elemental skill for you to see big damage numbers pop up—and that shouldn’t be a problem for any fighting game player here.
But even if you’re not using her as a main damage dealer, her electro shield offers decent protection and electro application against enemies. This makes her a great teammate for Aggravate teams. She’s both a good support and a great source of damage as long as you play her right.
9Fischl
Fischlis unstoppable with Oz, and she’s been built to either become an Electro-support, or a physical damage dealer. She also does a good job as an Electro battery for many characters who need the energy recharge, which is why you often see her teamed up with Beidou.
She’s a highly flexible team pick for various teams and a common choice for those who need consistent Electro application but don’t exactly have the Electro Archon. She’s also often paired with a Stringless or a Mitternacht Waltz, which are both four-star bows.
8Barbara
Barbarais adorable—also scary for a meme-build, damage dealer since she’s also notorious for vaporize nukes if you build her specifically that way. But even without the ridiculous memes, she’s still a good character to build since she’s a great pick for Dendro-based teams if you don’t haveFurina.
Dendro Bloom teams often need healers since they make your active character take damage, and she’s a great alternative for Kokomi if you don’t have her. She’s a Hydro-based healer, which will be great for any other Hydro character you have that scales off of HP.
7Kuki Shinobu
Kuki is irreplaceable as an Electro healer, and her ability to trigger Aggravate and Hyperbloom makes her a staple for many Dendro teams. If you have her without constellations, just building her with HP and elemental mastery is enough for you to heal your active character while dealing reactionary damage.
She’s arguably a good option for those who need another Electro-applicator and couldn’t use Fischl. This becomes relevant in the abyss, where you can only use a character in one team. She’s also debatably a better pick than Beidou or Fischl if you’re expecting yourself to take a lot of damage.
6Yaoyao
Going from one healer to another, your account will be in a much better position just by gettingYaoyaoin it. She’s one of the few Dendro characters hailing from Liyue, and is a phenomenal healer using her little bunny. Her Skill can heal the character that’s currently active on the field if they’re below 70 percent HP.
However, her Burst allows her to run around and heal the entire party constantly while dealing decent damage to the enemies. She’s also great at applying Dendro to the surrounding enemies, which makes her perfect for Bloom or Quicken teams.
5Sucrose
If you’re in a lower adventure rank andhaven’t reached Inazuma just yet,Sucroseis also a good Swirl damage dealer and a great attack buffer. Her ascension materials are in Monstadt, which makes them accessible even in the early game.
But she’s also an investment that pays off since her ability to Swirl elements is unmatched among four-star Anemo supports. By equipping her withThrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers(a three-star catalyst), she can increase your active character’s attack for a brief period.
4Gaming
Not only isGamingan outlier when it comes to the general power level of four-star units, but he’s also one of the few Claymore characters that don’t feel clunky to use. His main damage comes from his Elemental Skill, which lets him jump to an enemy and then perform a Plunging Attack on them.
This gets further buffed during his Elemental Burst since you can consistently reset the cooldown of his skill. Gaming can already help you win every battle in the game, especially if you have his constellations unlocked, but he also gets a huge buff with characters likeXianyun.
3Xingqiu
Xingqiu’s rainswords provide one of the best hydro applications in the game, and he easily slots himself in most meta teams that need offensive Hydro application. When paired with pyro damage dealers, the vaporize reactions he can trigger can almost feel illegal.
Yelanmight have nearly the same burst that applies the same element a little faster, butXingqiudoes the same for much less. Many players often compare their abilities and supports, and a Yelan without constellations or her signature weapon doesn’t really outdo Xingqiu by a significant margin.
