Best 4-Star Characters in Genshin Impact: Full C0-to-C6 Tier Ranking

The community's standard benchmark: 5-stars are judged at C0 (no constellations), while 4-stars are judged at C6 (fully constellated) — because 4-stars are simply much easier to duplicate. They carry rate-up odds on every limited banner and also show up on the standard banner, so on average it takes far fewer total pulls to gather 6 copies than to win 6 separate 50/50s for a limited 5-star.

The upshot: several 4-stars at C6, like Gaming or Fischl, can sit at the same table as 5-stars within their specific role, even though they rarely replace a top SS-tier 5-star's flexible Main DPS slot. For the full SS-to-D ranking including 5-stars, check our Genshin tier list; if you're unsure whether a specific character's constellation is worth chasing or you'd rather save resources, read the constellation-worth breakdown first.

These four have survived years of powercreep because they fill roles that new 5-stars rarely replace outright:

• Bennett — a rare 2-in-1 support: if the active character's HP is at or below 70%, they get continuous healing scaled off Bennett's Max HP; above 70% HP, they instead get an ATK bonus scaled off Bennett's BASE ATK only (artifacts don't count). At C1, the 70% HP threshold for the ATK bonus is removed and the bonus gains an extra 20% of his base ATK — meaning everyone inside the field gets the ATK buff regardless of current HP. At C6, sword/claymore/polearm characters standing inside the Burst's field (Fantastic Voyage) additionally gain a 15% Pyro DMG bonus and have their weapons infused with Pyro.
• Xingqiu — 3 orbiting rain swords cut incoming damage from 20% at talent level 1 up to 29% at level 10, plus a further cut scaled off his own Hydro DMG bonus; the swords apply Hydro on a steady interval, and his normal attacks apply Hydro every 3 hits.
• Xiangling — an off-field Pyro sub-DPS via her Guoba companion, which deals AoE damage without needing her on the active team; the load-bearing member of the National team, Genshin's most classic F2P comp.
• Fischl — summons Oz, who stays on the field applying Electro even after you switch characters. At C6, Oz's uptime goes from 10 to 12 seconds (roughly 67% to 83% presence when alternating Skill/Burst), and every normal attack from your active character triggers a coordinated attack dealing 30% of Fischl's ATK as Electro damage — turning her into an off-field sub-DPS that genuinely competes with several 5-stars.

All four have easy F2P builds that don't need limited weapons — see recommended sets on our artifact guide page.

If your account is missing a Pyro Main DPS and doesn't have a suitable 5-star yet, Gaming is the clearest 4-star answer — especially strong in Melt teams paired with a Cryo applicator like Rosaria. Per a commonly cited build guide (a community source, not cross-checked against a second): at least 150% Energy Recharge, roughly 45-55% CRIT Rate (or 70-80% depending on artifact set), 160%+ CRIT DMG, around 1,800 ATK, and roughly 100-200 Elemental Mastery for an optimized Melt build. At C6, Gaming's Plunging Attack gains both CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG, plus a wider hit area.

The catch: Gaming is still heavily constellation-dependent — he's worth building even at C0 if you need a Pyro DPS, but he only truly "changes tier" once he reaches C6.

Kuki Shinobu — the healing from her Elemental Skill scales with 75% Elemental Mastery, and her damage scales with 25% Elemental Mastery — so an optimized Hyperbloom build dumps everything into EM instead of HP, turning Shinobu into a rare support-slash-sub-DPS who heals and deals reaction damage at once.

Chevreuse — purpose-built for all-Pyro-and-Electro Overloaded teams: her charged Skill grants Pyro/Electro teammates an ATK% bonus at a rate of 1% per 1,000 of her Max HP, capping at 40% ATK at 40,000 HP; once someone triggers Overloaded, the enemy's Pyro/Electro RES in the area drops by an extra 40% for 6 seconds. C6 adds a 20% Pyro/Electro DMG bonus to the active character each time they're healed by Chevreuse, stacking up to 3 times for a maximum of 60%.

Sucrose — a grouper that also mass-produces Elemental Mastery: every time she Swirls an element, all same-element teammates gain 50 EM for 8 seconds; her Skill/Burst landing a hit also grants the rest of the team (excluding herself) EM equal to 20% of her own EM. Paired with the 4-piece Viridescent Venerer set, she cuts enemy elemental RES by 40% and boosts Swirl damage by 60%.

Rosaria is the tightest teamwide CRIT Rate buffer among 4-stars: her A4 passive grants up to 15% CRIT Rate to the whole team (except herself) right after her burst, and to hit that maximum she only needs 88% CRIT Rate herself (or 73% with Cryo Resonance) — not the 100% many players assume.

Beyond the core four, the A-tier names worth knowing are Yaoyao (healing plus off-field Bloom Dendro damage), Layla (a cheap, easy-to-run shield for night-heavy content), Faruzan (a CRIT DMG buffer for Anemo carries), and Kaeya (free from the story, a solid off-field Cryo battery even if he covers less area than Rosaria). To slot these into full comps, check our Genshin teams page.

With limited resources, here's the community-agreed C6 priority order, ranked by how clearly each jump changes the character's tier:

1. Fischl — C6 turns Oz into a massive off-field damage source, especially rewarding with fast normal-attackers (Yoimiya, Ayato...).
2. Xingqiu — his C6 is the community benchmark for the sustain/Hydro-application role, close to mandatory for deep Abyss pushes.
3. Gaming — only truly becomes a 5-star-competitive Main DPS at C6; at C0-C5 he's still just a serviceable secondary DPS.
4. Bennett — the opposite case: C6 Bennett is generally seen as "not worth it" unless you have a specific melee carry that benefits from the extra 15% Pyro DMG, since C0-C1 Bennett already covers most teams.

Dig into the full formula for "when is a constellation worth more than a new character" on our constellation-worth page before spending resources.

Genshin hands out several 4-stars for free through story/PvE content, no Wishing required:

• Amber, Kaeya, Lisa — obtained automatically by completing Prologue Act I: The Outlander Who Caught the Wind.
• Xiangling — obtained by clearing Spiral Abyss Floor 3, Chamber 3 via the People's Choice; per the ranking above, she's also the single best free 4-star worth building.
• Barbara — obtained by completing the Archon Quest Song of the Dragon and Freedom (Prologue Act III).
• Noelle — guaranteed within your very first 10-pull Beginners' Wish.
• Collei — obtained by clearing Spiral Abyss Floor 4, Chamber 3 (unlocks once you're in Sumeru).

Since Xiangling and Kaeya both land in the S/A tiers above, a completely fresh F2P account already has the raw material for a decent team before pulling a single wish — see the full build order on our F2P guide page.