Picking the right weapon in Genshin Impact isn’t just about slapping whatever five-star you got lucky with on your main DPS. Each weapon type plays a fundamentally different role, demands different stats, and transforms how a character performs in combat. Whether you’re a day-one player grinding Spiral Abyss or someone who just started exploring Teyvat, understanding Genshin Impact weapons will save you countless resources and actually make the game feel better to play. This guide breaks down every weapon type, the best picks for different playstyles and budgets, and the refinement strategies that separate casual players from those who optimize every last percentage point of damage.
Key Takeaways
- Understanding Genshin Impact weapons means recognizing that weapon passives often matter more than raw base stats, and a well-designed four-star weapon can outperform a five-star with misaligned passives.
- Four-star weapons typically perform within 5–10% of five-star options when their passives align with your character’s kit, making them cost-effective alternatives for new and budget-conscious players.
- Weapon refinement should prioritize refining your main DPS weapon to R2–R3, then building different weapons for other team members rather than chasing marginal refinement improvements.
- Each weapon type (Swords, Claymores, Polearms, Bows, Catalysts) scales differently with specific stats and enables distinct team synergies—match your weapon choice to your team’s reaction path and role requirements.
- Free four-star and craftable weapons like The Catch, Amenoma Kageuchi, Prototype Archaic, and Thrilling Tales can rival five-star weapons in endgame content when optimized for character kits and team compositions.
- Prioritize leveling characters and artifacts over chasing five-star weapon banners, and only pull for signature weapons if your main carry is tier-1 and struggling with current gear.
Understanding Weapon Types and Rarity Tiers
Weapon Classifications and How They Scale
Genshin Impact features six weapon types, and each scales differently with stats. Swords offer balanced scaling with ATK and Crit, making them beginner-friendly. Claymores hit harder but move slower, prioritizing raw ATK with some DEF options. Polearms split their identity between speed and charged attack damage, scaling with ATK and Crit. Bows excel at range but depend heavily on Crit Rate and Crit DMG for consistent damage. Catalysts are built for Elemental Mastery and ATK, enabling reaction-heavy gameplay. Each weapon type has a unique attack pattern and play pattern that directly affects how you should build your team.
Weapon passives matter more than base stats. A five-star weapon with a useless passive can underperform compared to a well-designed four-star. For example, The Catch, a free four-star polearm, provides Crit Rate and Burst DMG bonuses, making it better for characters like Xiangling than weapons with higher base ATK but misaligned passives.
Rarity Tiers and Power Progression
Weapons come in five rarity levels: one-star through five-star. Five-star weapons have the highest base ATK (608 base at level 90) and powerful passives, but they’re not always necessary. Four-star weapons (510 base ATK) often perform within 5–10% of five-star options if their passives align with your character’s needs.
New players should prioritize getting a solid four-star weapon for their main DPS before chasing five-stars. A character with Widsith (four-star Catalyst) equipped will deal more damage than one with a five-star sword that doesn’t match their kit. The progression path looks like:
- Levels 1–20: Use whatever drops. Focus on story progression.
- Levels 20–40: Grab a four-star from the gacha or shop if possible. Start leveling one weapon per role (DPS, sub-DPS, support).
- Levels 40+: Commit to refining four-star weapons for your team or saving for a five-star that matches your main carry.
- Endgame (70+): Mix of refined four-stars and five-stars depending on your roster.
Swords: The Versatile All-Rounder Weapon Class
Top Tier Swords for DPS and Support
Five-star swords dominate specific niches. Mistsplitter Reforged is the standard for main DPS Electro swordies like Fischl (when used as on-field carry) and Nahida teams requiring extra punch. Haran Geppaku Futsu feeds Crit DMG directly to characters like Ayaka, pushing her to astronomical multipliers. Primordial Jade Cutter flexes across any sword user needing Crit Rate and ATK scaling, making it the most universally strong option.
Four-star swords hit hard for their rarity. The Black Sword from the Battle Pass gives Crit Rate and Normal/Charged ATK bonuses, perfect for Keqing or any Physical sword carry. Iron Sting provides Elemental DMG boost, supporting Dendro applicators like Nahida in quicken teams. Favonius Sword enables energy generation for support units like Jean or Bennett, turning them into battery machines.
If you’re climbing Spiral Abyss, sword users like Ayaka and Alhaitham demand investment, and their signature weapons noticeably improve clear times. But, that doesn’t mean you need them. Best Genshin Impact Characters, Teams, and Builds in 2025 details how to make non-signature setups work.
Best Sword Progression for New Players
Start with Amenoma Kageuchi (four-star, craftable). It’s free, scales cleanly with ATK, and the passive regenerates energy, no gacha luck required. By world level 3–4, you’ll have access to enough Amenoma materials to refine it twice, giving your early carry serious staying power.
Once you hit Adventure Rank 20 and unlock the Battle Pass, grab The Black Sword if you’re running a Physical-focused carry like Keqing. It directly boosts Normal and Charged attack damage by 20% at rank 1, scaling to 40% at refinement 5.
For support roles, Favonius Sword (farmable from gacha) solves energy problems faster than almost any other weapon. A 40% Energy Recharge roll on artifacts plus Favonius makes your healer or buffer generate enough particles to have their Burst up every rotation.
Claymores: Heavy Hitters and Break Specialists
Premium Claymores and F2P Alternatives
Wolf’s Gravestone has held the title of “best ATK weapon” since 2020. The passive grants 40% ATK at refinement 1, plus an additional 40% buff to teammates hit by the weapon holder’s attacks. It’s absurdly good on any heavy ATK scaler like Alhaitham or Hu Tao, but it’s also the most expensive claymore weapon-wise due to banner sharing.
Song of Broken Pines is Eula’s signature and arguably her best-in-slot, but it’s niche, Eula only. If you don’t own Eula or Claymores aren’t your main focus, skip it. The Unforged is a pure ATK stick with a shield-scaling passive, making it situationally better than Wolf’s if you’re running a shielder.
For F2P players, Prototype Archaic (craftable) provides a reasonable ATK boost and a passive that deals extra AoE damage. It’s not flashy, but it works on almost any Claymore carry. Whiteblind (craftable) is specifically designed for Noelle, providing DEF scaling and ATK bonuses on hit, making her self-sufficient as both DPS and healer.
Luxurious Sea-Lord (Teyvatian gacha) is criminally underrated. It grants ATK and burst damage directly, with a passive that deals extra damage on Burst hit. On Alhaitham, it competes with five-stars in raw damage output even though being a four-star.
Claymore Synergies and Team Compositions
Claymore users excel in Physical teams and Mono-Elemental setups. Noelle thrives in geo-heavy teams with Zhongli and Albedo, where she can rely on shields while spamming Burst. Alhaitham (Dendro) wants Claymore characters to break shields and enable dendro reactions simultaneously.
Team example: Alhaitham + Fischl + Zhongli + Kazuha. Here, Alhaitham handles Dendro application and Catalyst DPS, while Fischl applies Electro for quicken reactions. The shield-bot Zhongli frees Alhaitham from dodging, and Kazuha boosts Elemental DMG. Swapping Kazuha for a Claymore carry like Alhaitham wouldn’t work because you’d lose Dendro application. This is where Genshin Impact Strategies: Essential Tips to Dominate the Game comes in, team synergy matters more than individual power.
For newer players, pairing a Claymore main DPS with a healer (Barbara, Kokomi) and two sub-DPS (Fischl, Xingqiu) creates a stable clearing team that survives mistakes.
Polearms: Speed and Elemental Damage
Meta Polearm Characters and Optimal Weapons
Staff of Homa remains the gold standard for any ATK/Crit-scaling polearm carry. The passive grants Crit DMG and converts HP into ATK, making it insanely strong on Hu Tao (who naturally scales with HP). It’s also viable on Zhongli for shielder builds, though overkill for pure support.
Primordial Jade Winged-Spear is the universal polearm five-star, it works on carry and support alike, with Crit Rate and ATK stacking passive. Calamity Queller is newer (2.5 patch era) and supports burst-focused carries like Xiangling, feeding pure ATK to on-field DPS.
The meta around polearms shifted with dendro’s introduction. Characters like Xiangling became top-tier because her Pyro application off-field turns her into a 4-star teammate that rivals 5-star characters in terms of team value. Equip her with The Catch (free from Inazuma), and she competes with five-star carries in Spiral Abyss. Genshin Impact Tools: Essential Resources for Every Player has calculator utilities where you can compare Xiangling’s damage across weapons in seconds.
Dragon’s Bane (four-star gacha) is Hu Tao’s best non-signature option and remains competitive even against five-stars because of her unique HP scaling. Hydro and Pyro DMG bonuses stack multiplicatively with her personal scaling, creating genuine value.
Bows: Precision and Ranged Advantage
Bow Weapons for Different Playstyles
Aqua Simulacra (Neuvillette’s signature bow… wait, he uses Catalyst) is actually not a thing, but Thundering Pulse is the gold-standard Crit DMG bow, enabling main DPS Fischl in quicken teams. The passive grants Crit DMG and stacks bonus damage on hit, making it aggressive and rewarding.
Amos’ Bow is a pure ATK weapon that also boosts Normal and Charged attack damage, perfect for ranged carries like Ganyu who spam charged shots. In a freeze team with Ganyu, Amos’ Bow hits harder than alternatives because of the attack speed buff synergy with her weapon kit.
For F2P bows, Prototype Crescent (craftable) provides ATK and aims for precision, hitting weak points grants 36% ATK at rank 1. On Ganyu, this becomes a precision reward weapon that feels satisfying to use. Stringless (four-star gacha) is the off-field applicator bow, boosting Elemental Skill and Burst damage by up to 48%. Characters like Fischl (in off-field roles) and Diona (sub-DPS support) shine with this weapon.
Windblume Ode (event weapon) is underrated as a pure stat stick with Elemental DMG boost. On Ganyu or Fischl, it provides clean scaling without complex passives.
Bow users demand precision or burst windows. Ganyu wants freeze teams to lock enemies in place, making her charged shots land consistently. Fischl (off-field) wants teammates applying elements fast so she can weave in auto-attacks and skill procs. Positioning and timing matter more than raw stats, Ganyu with Windblume Ode + good teammates outperforms mediocre bow users with five-stars.
Catalysts: Elemental Mastery and Support
Catalyst Choices for Healers and DPS Mages
Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds is the universal Crit Catalyst, boosting Crit Rate and Elemental DMG stacking. It’s amazing on any Catalyst carry but overkill for pure healers.
Widsith (four-star gacha) is the budget five-star killer. Every 10 seconds, it grants a random buff: 60% Crit DMG, 48% Elemental DMG, or 48% ATK. On reaction-based Catalyst carries like Nahida, the Elemental DMG proc alone matches five-stars in sustained damage while costing zero gacha luck for refinement.
The Wicked Swordsong (summonables from Scaramouche’s banner) specializes in on-field reaction DPS, granting Crit Rate and normal attack bonuses. It’s niche but genuinely strong on Nahida when you’re frontloading Dendro application.
For healers, Prototype Amber (craftable) grants HP and Burst Regeneration, pure support stats. Kokomi with Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (three-star gacha) provides ATK buff to teammates plus healing, making her a pure support Catalyst even though she uses Healing Bonus scaling.
Thrilling Tales is the sneaky meta pick for support. It has zero damage stats, but the passive grants 24–48% ATK to the next character switched in. Stack it with Kazuha buffing Elemental DMG, and your carry suddenly gains 50%+ effective ATK boost from a pure support weapon.
Catalyst carries are elemental-dependent. Nahida (Dendro) triggers dendro reaction amplification, making Elemental Mastery her true scaling stat. Genshin Impact Examples: Exploring Gameplay, Characters, and Mechanics walks through reaction setups where Catalyst DPS shine in ways swords simply can’t.
Weapon Refinement and Leveling Strategy
When to Refine vs. When to Build New Weapons
Refinement (upgrading a weapon by fusing duplicates) is the resource sink that separates experienced players from overwhelmed ones. Refining a four-star from R1 to R5 might improve DPS by 15–25%, while building a second four-star for a different character also improves your roster’s overall damage.
The rule: Refine your main DPS weapon to R2 or R3, then build different weapons for other team members. Once you have one solid weapon per role (Physical DPS, Elemental DPS, Support, Healer), then consider refining for marginal improvements.
The Catch is an exception. Refinement is mandatory because it only comes from Inazuma fishing, and you can get three copies free. Refining it to R3 minimum is worth it for Xiangling or Zhongli. Free five-star weapons (Anemona Kageuchi, Prototype weapons) should be built fresh rather than refined unless you have five copies lying around.
Saving primogems for weapon banners is risky. A single weapon rate-up only appears every 6–8 weeks, and the 50/50 luck can betray you. Unless your main carry is struggling hard, focus on four-star weapons and gacha luck. Weapon banners reward consistency with duplicates for refinement, so only pull them when you’re committed.
Optimizing Your Material Farm Routes
Weapon leveling demands two resources: Enhancement Ore (the material) and Mora (currency). New players waste Mora early because they level four weapons simultaneously. Pick one main weapon and focus it to level 40, then move to the next.
Enhancement Ore comes from:
- Daily missions (guaranteed 10 ore/day).
- Domains with weapon material drops (Tue/Fri/Sun).
- Spending Resin on said domains (20 resin = 2–3 ore per run, depending on world level).
Plan your farm: On Tue/Fri/Sun, spam the weapon domain in your timezone (the domain resets at a specific time, not at midnight everywhere). On other days, gather one-time ore from chests and Abyss rewards.
Refined weapons level faster because dupes automatically boost level cap. A level 90 Favonius Sword with R5 takes 300k Mora and 900+ ore total. A level 50 Favonius Sword takes 100k Mora and 300+ ore. New weapons take the same total investment, so early players should build multiple R1 weapons rather than chasing one R5.
Budget players: Focus on free weapons (Prototype Archaic, Amenoma Kageuchi, The Catch, Thrilling Tales). These cover every role and cost zero primogems. Only pull weapon banners after clearing story content and world levels, by then, you’ll understand which carries actually need five-stars.
Building the Perfect Weapon for Your Character
Matching Weapons to Elemental Teams
Weapon choice depends on your team’s reaction path, not just your main carry. A Nahida-led dendro team needs Widsith or Lost Prayer for Elemental DMG scaling because dendro reactions (Bloom, Spread, Hyperbloom) reward EM stacking. But a Mappa Mare (four-star Catalyst, gacha) could work if your Nahida has 800+ EM from artifacts.
Freeze teams (Ayaka, Ganyu, Shenhe) want Crit-focused weapons because enemies are permanently immobilized. Ayaka needs Mistsplitter or Haran to hit hard on her charged attacks. Ganyu with Amos’ Bow in freeze is overkill, Prototype Crescent works fine because enemies won’t be moving anyway.
Melt teams reward ATK stacking because every hit is amplified by melt’s 2x multiplier. Hu Tao with Staff of Homa melts endlessly because her high ATK and HP scaling stack multiplicatively. A healer running Thrilling Tales buffs that ATK even further.
Team example: Fischl (off-field Electro) + Kokomi (healer) + Kazuha (buffer) + Nahida (Dendro DPS). Here:
- Fischl wants Stringless (boosts Burst damage, triggers off-field).
- Kokomi wants Thrilling Tales (pure support, ATK buff to next char).
- Kazuha wants Iron Sting (Elemental DMG buff).
- Nahida wants Widsith (Elemental DMG bonus aligns with dendro reactions).
None of these are five-stars, yet the team works in endgame because roles are optimized and passives align.
Budget-Friendly vs. Gacha Weapon Decisions
A “budget” doesn’t mean F2P. It means prioritizing resources where they give real value. If your main DPS is struggling and using a three-star, one five-star weapon banner pull is worth it. If your team is clearing Spiral Abyss 8–9 stars and you’re chasing 36 stars, that weapon pull probably won’t change the outcome, your skill and rotations matter more.
Top Genshin Impact Characters To Build In 2025 outlines which carries dominate this year. If your main is listed in the top tier, investing in their signature weapon or a strong four-star alternative is justified. If your main is mid-tier, a four-star will perform 95% as well.
Gacha weapons to chase:
- Thundering Pulse (if you main Fischl or Ganyu).
- Staff of Homa (if you main Hu Tao).
- Mistsplitter Reforged (if you main Ayaka or Alhaitham).
- Wolf’s Gravestone (if you want a universal ATK stick).
Gacha weapons to skip:
- Signature weapons for characters you don’t own.
- Niche five-stars (Calamity Queller, The Unforged) unless you have the exact team to abuse them.
- Weapons that simply improve DPS by 10–15% when alternatives exist.
Four-star weapons to always pull for:
- The Black Sword (Battle Pass, hard skip if you only spend welkin).
- Favonius series (Sword, Greatsword, Lance, Codex, Warbow) depending on your supports.
- Dragon’s Bane (F2P-friendly Polearm for reaction scaling).
- Thrilling Tales (best support passive in the game).
Genshin Impact Tips: Essential Strategies for New and Returning Players mentions that newer players shouldn’t feel pressured to optimize every percentage point. A level 80 character with a level 50 four-star weapon beats a level 20 character with a five-star. Levels first, weapons second, artifacts third.
Conclusion
Genshin Impact weapons define how you play, not just how much damage you deal. A perfectly refined Favonius Sword on your healer generates energy that enables your carry’s burst cycles. A Widsith on Nahida turns her into a reaction machine that deletes abyss chambers. Even free weapons like The Catch and Amenoma Kageuchi can rival five-stars when matched correctly to character kits and team needs.
The fundamental takeaway: Don’t chase five-star weapons out of FOMO. Invest in four-stars that align with your roster, master your team rotations, and understand why each weapon passive matters for your specific setup. Once you’ve optimized your main team’s weapons and reached comfortable abyss clears, then consider chasing signature five-stars as quality-of-life improvements rather than requirements.
The meta shifts with patches, new characters demand new team comps, and old weapons get outdated. Genshin Impact Trends 2026: What to Expect This Year and community tier lists on Game8 update constantly as HoYoverse releases balance changes. Check those resources when planning major pulls, and don’t lock yourself into yesterday’s meta. The best weapon is one that matches your current carry and lets you clear content without stress. Everything else is optimization.
