Genshin Impact: Should You Pull for Zhongli or Tartaglia in 4.0?

Phase II of Genshin Impact 4.0 is upon us, and with it comes a new set of Limited Character Banners. This time, we get to choose between Zhongli and Tartaglia. While their kits couldn’t be more different, both can have value depending on your current team composition, role needs, and progress in the game. Newer players can get some extra value from Zhongli or Tartaglia, but because they fill such contrasting niches, it can be hard to decide which is better for you. We’ll try to help you answer who you should pull for in this guide.

Related: Genshin Impact: How to Reroll

Should You Pull for Zhongli in Genshin Impact?

There’s a longstanding (and appropriate) meme in the Genshin community about Zhongli. If you have him, you press E, and then you don’t die. In gameplay terms, Zhongli can grant some of the strongest and easiest-to-use survivability in all of Genshin Impact. His damage isn’t stellar in most cases, but as a top-tier support, it doesn’t have to be. If you have a comfy healer already built but need a second support to take on the Spiral Abyss, I don’t think I can recommend Zhongli enough. Here’s a rundown of all the benefits he provides:

• His Elemental Skill is by far his greatest asset, creating a shield that is all but invincible if built well. Its strongest feature is the Jade Shield, which grants 150% damage absorption against all Elemental and Physical Damage. In other words, everything in the game. Additionally, any enemy in a small radius of the Jade Shield lose 20% of their Elemental and Physical resistance, making them that much weaker to any attack in the game. The Skill also creates a Stone Stele that resonates with and can detonate other Geo constructs, though this aspect is less immediately useful.
• His Elementa Burst is as simple as it is devastating (in theory, at least). It’s a giant meteor from the heavens that deals “massive Geo damage” and applies Petrification to affected enemies. Petrification is exactly what it sounds like. Any enemy that can be affected by the condition is turned to stone for a duration, letting you do even more damage from your main and sub-DPS characters.

The rest of Zhongli’s kit helps him deal a bit more damage, but his Talent is the other primary draw: it grants Fortify to characters when damaged, increasing the Shield Strength by up to 25% at maximum stacks. Yeah, so, if you thought the shield already seemed strong, surprise! It’s actually even stronger.

If hearing all of that makes it seem like adding Zhongli to your team would be a good idea (and it is, in most cases), then pull for him. However, if survivability is less of an issue for you than damage output, then you can probably skip him. If you have the spare Primogems, however, and there’s no character on the horizon you care about, he’s still a strong choice.

Should You Pull for Childe/Tartaglia in Genshin Impact?

The eleventh Fatui Harbinger is one of the stronger Hydro DPS choices in the game, with tons of utility in several team compositions. The first major difference you’ll notice is how much more active you need to be to make Tartaglia work. His primary gimmick is switching between melee and bow stances on the fly, giving you tons of engagement and gameplay styles to enjoy. His damage output is also quite high, making him a good choice in Melt, Hyperbloom, and other Hydro-activated elemental reaction teams.

Like any other main DPS character, Tartaglia doesn’t add as much to his other teammates as they provide for him. His character trial gives him three other status applies to help up his damage output, and with other optimal teams, I can only imagine what he’s capable of. As for his kit:

• His Normal Attack, when charged, can inflict the Riptide status, around which much of Childe/Tartaglia’s kit revolves. After defeating enemies affected by Riptide, a Riptide Burst will trigger, inflicting the status on nearby enemies as well. Depending on the attack, Riptide has different effects.

• His Elemental Skill lets him switch between melee and ranged stances. His equipped weapon is a bow, but pressing E transforms that bow into daggers made of pure water that come with a 6-hit combo by default. When he hits an enemy with his water weapons, if they’re affected by Riptide, a Riptide Slash triggers, dealing Hydro AoE damage that counts as Elemental Skill damage.
• His Elemental Burst changes depending on his stance. When ranged, it creates a rain of water arrows that apply Riptide and deal Hydro AoE. His melee Burst creates a larger AoE that deals massive Hydro damage to everything within it. It also triggers Riptide Blast, clearing their Riptide status and dealing additional Hydro AoE damage.

The rest of Childe/Tartaglia’s kit revolves around enhancing how Riptide functions or how much damage he can do with his attacks. In short, if you need a Hydro damage dealer that can do a metric crap-ton of Hydro damage in a wide area, accept no substitute. Of course, Hydro is one of the more common elements in Genshin Impact, and with other options out there like Yelan, Nilou, Kokomi, and Xingqiu, to name a few, pulling for Childe/Tartaglia is liable to be a matter of role-filling than anything else.

How Are the 4-Star Characters in Genshin Impact 4.0 Phase II

Unlike the Phase I 4-star characters (particularly Bennett and Lynette), there’s only one true standout in the Phase II 4-stars. His name is Freminet, and he’s one of the more unique Cryo DPS characters we’ve seen, with his kit revolving around states and stack buildup to maintain the state. He’s relatively untested in the meta, though he’s probably worth trying out if only for his novelty. Sayu is good to pull once thanks to her exploration-friendly Elemental Skill. Just don’t expect her to be doing much damage. Noelle is one of the first characters you probably got in Genshin Impact, and she plays a solid “Zhongli at home” role, plus some damage potential if you build her.

Final Conclusions: Zhongli

• Pull for Zhongli if you want a very comfortable support that trivializes even some of the hardest content in the game.
• Don’t pull for Zhongli if you have enough damage to deal with most threats or have one or two solid healers already built.

Final Conclusions: Childe/Tartaglia

• Pull for Childe/Tartaglia if you want a solid Hydro DPS character with neat mechanics and lots of fun gameplay.
• Don’t pull for Childe/Tartaglia if you’re already full up on Hydro characters and just can’t stand to have another one.

You can also not pull for either of them if you’re low on Primogems or don’t want C6 Sayu to roll over your hard-earned currency.