It has taken two years for Genshin Impact to give us a sword that’s main stat is HP, and it’s a five-star. Its passive is also pretty exclusive, while it does add a bit more HP once equipped to the character, it also increases the character’s elemental mastery based on their Max HP. It’s a great weapon for Nilou and Shinobu but it’s not for everyone yet remains the only weapon in the game that is based on HP, and that has got to change.
Related: All Materials Required for Ascending Layla in Genshin Impact
The Types of Swords That Exist in Genshin
There are many kinds of swords that are on the roster for you to pick up, whether it’s by crafting them at your weapon smith, gaining them for free during events, or wishing and getting them clustered in your inventory. But it’s funny that despite the game being around for so long and the swords being very diverse, they do not have a free-to-play sword that is based on HP. Free-to-play is used loosely because while Primordial Jade Cutter and the Key of Khaj-Nisut can be wished through the gacha system, it’s still up to a game of chance. This makes them quite difficult unless you’ve saved a lot of primogems or planned around the banners in order to wish for them.
The swords of Genshin Impact have many different effects, the majority of which being of Energy Recharge and Elemental Mastery. Often enough, their passives make them tailored for certain characters such as how Sacrificial is excellent on Xingqui, allowing for him to use his skill twice and constantly deal Hydro damage to enemies. Until Yelan arrived on the scene, Xingqui was and continues to be a powerful Sub-DPS and Support. Albedo, a five-star, has a variety of weapons that are all free-to-play and provided by the game being some of the ones that are his best-in-slot. Cinnabar Spindle is an excellent weapon that’s main stat is based on what Albedo excels at, Defense. This boosts his damage and durability alone on its main stat while providing increased Skill Damage based on that defense. Even the three-star weapon Harbinger of Dawn has proved to be an excellent weapon for Albedo, Keqing, and has been a good weapon for Layla too. It’s based on Crit damage while increasing Crit Rate as long as the character’s HP remains above 90 percent, an excellent trait for Layla at the least given that her stats should be focused on HP and will always be quite high.
So on one hand, we have a four-star weapon for a five-star character that can excel in his damage because it’s made for him. And a half-decent weapon for Layla, that has actually been the staple for Albedo and Keqing before Mistsplitter and Cinnabar was released. But that weapon is a three-star. It’d be far easier to just release an HP sword that’s free-to-play or perhaps Layla shouldn’t have been a sword user at all.
Related: Why Layla Should Have Been Our First Cryo Catalyst in Genshin Impact
Who Would it Benefit? Who Would it Break?
If Hoyoverse were to release an HP four-star sword, it wouldn’t be beneficial to only Layla. So to implement it, they would need to be careful about how much HP it would give to the character as well as the passives that went along with it.
- Bennett: It should come as no surprise that healer Bennett requires HP. An HP sword would only increase the ability of his healing. But Bennett isn’t the best healer for nothing, he also increases the attack of his teammates as long as they are in his Burst Radius. But even if the sword has a passive that increases attack percentage, this would not affect how Bennett boosts his teammates since it exclusively works off of his Base Attack. Meaning that whatever sword you put on Bennett, it’ll take the Base Attack rather than any Attack Percentage. Though Attack percentage can still be good on Bennett because it still does increase the damage of his attacks.
- Xingqui: Also a healer, Xingqui’s only benefit off of an HP sword would be better healing since the three-four swords that take on damage absorption will heal six percent based on Xingqui’s max HP. But you’re more likely to build your Xingqui as a Sub-DPS rather than as a healer.
- Shinobu: Shinobu’s kit is pretty unique and definitely threw players for a loop when she first arrived. Did she do better if you focused on Elemental Mastery or HP or both? Gearing in on all Elemental Mastery ends up helping both her damage as well as her healing once she’s high enough level and has achieved both of her passives. But HP would also balance out her healing since it is based on her Max HP whenever she uses her skill and other players are inside the Santicfying Ring. She is just another character who would benefit from an HP sword where perhaps the passive involves Elemental Mastery. Sound familiar? The Key of Khab-Nisut is great on Shinobu just as much as it is on Nilou, but is still not the easiest of weapons to acquire.
- Ayato: Did you know that Ayato depends on some HP to do damage? While minute in comparison to how Layla or Nilou deal damage based on their HP and Elemental Mastery, Ayato gets a small boost of damage from having his HP higher. Though not necessary to his build, it’s a good sub-stat to have, but an HP sword wouldn’t amplify it any more than a Crit weapon would.
- Nilou: We already know that Nilou would do great with an HP sword weapon, even if a new weapon that is introduced is based on Elemental Mastery with an increase or boost to HP percentage, this would still be an excellent free-to-play weapon for Nilou since HP does best for her rather than any other weapon that is available for easy access and not on the weapon gacha. While free-to-play players could probably make do without it, not having a suitable weapon as a close second is a joke and an insult to those who really wanted her.
Related: Best Build Theories for Layla in Genshin Impact: Weapons, Artifacts & Team Comps
Genshin Impact could do with a sword that is based on HP, it doesn’t need to be overpowered or a five-star. Not only for players who can’t afford to get a five-star character and have little option but to try for her signature but for characters that are releasing like Layla that benefit from HP and yet are still requiring five-star weapons to be her best-in-slot. For a four-star, this is unexpectable while to expect this from a five-star is to be expected. It isn’t ticking off the boxes of what Genshin Impact still has yet to do like give us a Cryo Catalyst or a Hydro Claymore, but providing players the proper equipment to make the most of the joy that results in a good build.
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts, asking for better gameplay is never a bad thing when you are the consumer.
