Genshin Impact is deep into its Snezhnaya-era story content, and Patch 7.0 has reshuffled the top of the meta more than any patch in recent memory. The new Lunar-Charged reaction (paired with the ongoing Stellar Glimmer mechanics introduced alongside it) has created a genuinely new damage ceiling, and units like Flins and Skirk have pushed the Spiral Abyss meta toward faster, more reaction-hungry compositions.
Scope and methodology. This list ranks characters primarily for endgame PvE — Spiral Abyss, Imaginarium Theater and Stygian Onslaught — where investment is assumed to be reasonable (talents 6/6/6 to 9/9/9, a good but not necessarily best-in-slot weapon and artifact set). Genshin has no competitive PvP mode, so this is purely a cooperative damage-and-utility ranking. We also flag where F2P accessibility changes the picture: several S-tier and A-tier picks (Bennett, Xiangling, Nahida, Zhongli) are old enough to be widely available via reruns or the Beginner's Wish, making them realistic F2P targets even if you missed their original banners.
A note on volatility: this is one of the more contested tier lists we've written. The gap between S and A tier is thin for several entries — Navia, Xilonen and Yelan could all reasonably argue for an S-tier slot depending on your teammates and rotation, and a Kazuha or Bennett rerun buff (or nerf) could shuffle things again. Treat placements within a tier as roughly equal rather than strictly ordered.
S Tier
Mavuika, Furina and Neuvillette remain the three pillars of top-end team building: Mavuika for Pyro/Nightsoul hypercarry, Furina as the best all-purpose Hydro amplifier in the game, and Neuvillette for players who want massive personal damage without a complicated rotation. Skirk and Flins represent the two newest additions to the top tier — Skirk revived freeze comps almost single-handedly, while Flins has become the face of the Lunar-Charged reaction that defines much of the current Snezhnaya content. Kazuha and Nahida remain the two most universal supports in the game regardless of patch, and Bennett is still, remarkably, one of the best ATK buffers years after his release — cheap, flexible, and always relevant.
A Tier
This tier is packed with characters that are excellent but slightly more team-dependent or slightly behind the ceiling of S tier. Navia and Xilonen are both superb Geo picks that reward investment; Citlali and Yelan remain premium Cryo and Hydro support/sub-DPS options respectively. Xiangling continues to age gracefully as an off-field Pyro applicator, Zhongli is still the best insurance policy in the game against one-shot mechanics, and Nilou is devastating in dedicated Bloom teams but too narrow to rank higher.
B Tier
Solid, capable units that simply have better alternatives available. Cyno, Xiao and Hu Tao all still deal strong damage but ask more of their teams and rotations than top-tier picks. Kokomi and Raiden Shogun remain functional healer and support/DPS hybrids respectively, and Kamisato Ayaka is a perfectly good freeze DPS that's been crowded out at the top by Skirk and Citlali.
C Tier
The Traveler's elemental forms sit here mostly because dedicated specialists do their job better once you have the roster depth to swap them out — they're never bad, just replaceable. Yanfei, Ningguang, and Sayu are all serviceable for exploration or early-game content but fall short of clearing modern endgame damage checks efficiently.
D Tier
Amber, Lisa and Xinyan are largely relics of the game's earliest patches. None of them are unusable in the overworld, but none of them belong anywhere near a competitive Spiral Abyss team in 2026.
When this ranking might change
Watch two things over the next few patches: further Snezhnaya story releases could introduce more Lunar-Charged specialists that push Flins (or even Mavuika) down a notch, and any rerun-adjacent kit revision to Kazuha or Bennett would ripple through nearly every team on this list given how foundational they are. As always, F2P players should weight A-tier picks like Xiangling, Zhongli and Yelan more heavily than a pure power ranking suggests — they're cheap, widely available, and good enough to clear anything the game currently offers.
