TOP 5 Best DPS Characters in Genshin Impact (2023)

Since Version 3 has been out for a while and we're now aware of Dendro's place in the meta, I figured it would be worth updating the Top Five Best DPS Characters video from last year. So here's an updated version!

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#GenshinImpact #Genshin #Top

[VarsII]

Okay so few things I want to address:

First, there seems to be this narrative that I have a personal bias against Alhaitham. That is not true. I don't hate or like him. I don't have a personal attachment to any character in this game to influence my decision making for videos like these. I see these characters as nothing more than characters in a video game. Any instance of "favoritism" is purely coincidental and not my intention whatsoever.

Second, that being said, I want to apologize for the whole Nahida/Alhaitham thing and fully admit that I messed up in this video. For those who saw the support video that came out after this one, you'll know that I included Nahida in both the DPS and Support video, which comes off as redundant for obvious reasons. In this video I didn't include Alhaitham in this list. My original thought process was that by having Nilou, Nahida and Yelan already here, adding Alhaitham would cause 4 out of 5 character slots to be occupied by Hydro/Dendro, giving off the impression that bloom teams are so much stronger than every other team, which had me worried about people interpreting the video in a way that will pressure them into thinking no other teams are viable except dendro given that top five videos are frequently construed as "these are the best, everyone else sucks", which is not true at all. Ultimately I decided to add Raiden Shogun as the 5th slot in place of Alhaitham because while in terms of sheer numbers, hers is lower than Al's, she's still an extremely powerful unit in her own right. So I felt like this would be the least offensive replacement to make. It's not that I think Alhaitham is bad, it's that I didn't want to lead viewers into drawing the conclusion that since dendro/hydro dominate the list, all other elements are bad.

The script was written, recorded and edited. Afterwards I went to making the supports video. Obviously it would've been in poor taste to not include Nahida in the supports video on account of her supportive nature. But at the same time I felt like her personal damage output was so high that she honestly deserved to be considered a DPS character to begin with. However, many comments in the support video pointed out that I could've easily just put Alhaitham in place of Nahida in the DPS video while explaining in the supports video that nahida does a lot of damage, which I agree with. In that case, I could've put Alhaitham AND Shogun in the DPS video and achieve a win win. In hindsight that was a result of me not thinking things through.

I'd like to repeat that contrary to what some may think, I didn't include Alhaitham because I was biased towards Shogun or Nahida. It was just a lapse in thinking things through that caused me to write myself into a corner. Going forward, the next time I inevitably make a Top Five DPS video again for version 4. I will separate it into two episodes: one for on field damage and one for off field to eliminate any ambiguity or placements. Alhaitham is an extremely powerful character and well deserving of a spot on this list. I decided against it not because I dislike him, but because I didn't want to make the list entirely dendro/hydro out of concern for players feeling bad for not running dendro teams. But in retrospect, that concern was entirely meaningless since I could've added Alhaitham in place of Nahida anyway. And for that I acknowledge my mistake. I'll make an effort to think things more thoroughly next time I do a multi parter like this.

[devam]

I think turning this list into a top 10 list would had been better considering how many dps characters we have now.

[LcalLEGEND]

Convient timestamps. -To skim & comment/argue.-
1:55 Hu Tao 3:48 Yelan
5:52 Nilou 8:05 Nahida
10:11 Raiden Shogun (Like to help others.)

[AstuteModding]

You should do it as 5 best onfield dps and 5 best offield dps to make it clearer

[devam]

"Hyperbloom is at number 1 for sure"
"But isn't hyperbloom a reaction?"
*"DID I STUTTER"*

[Chub]

I feel like you should just make a video dedicated to the top on field dps and one for the top off field dps. that way more characters like alhaitham get a chance to be in the spotlight.

[lewsee]

Hu Tao being Ease of Use: Easy? I mean yes, if you have her C1.
Having to jump cancel at C0 is god awful and you might find yourself running out of stamina for necessary dodging.

[darkdudeify]

As Zajef has said in the past, the term "DPS" is incredibly misleading in a game where damage is essentially a team effort based around reactions.

Hyperbloom can output insane amounts of damage, but who dealt that damage? The character who enabled you to create more seeds, like Nahida or Xingqiu? Or the character who triggered them, like Raiden/Kuki or Thoma, or even Kokomi in Nilou teams? Or maybe the character who buffed the seeds, like Nilou, Nahida or Kaveh? It's all so vague.

[meowraiu]

should've put alhaitham instead of nahida, then put nahida in the top supports video

[Ananta]

Reminder DPS does not necessarily mean onfield hypercarries.

Also, where is Haitham?

[ancalyme]

"TOP 5 Best DPS Characters in Genshin Impact"
Alhaitham somehow didn't make the list, this is beyond biased lmao and you add Nahida higher on a DPS list, of all things. Yes, Nahida is a better unit than him because she is a SUPPORT but you can't honestly sit there and call her a better DPS than Alhaitham.

Raiden and *maybe* Hu Tao are somewhat justified if you compare them at C2+BiS with Alhaitham, but if you take them all at C0 with 4 star weapons he is a lot stronger. Him not getting a spot on this list and right before his rerun just sounds like one hell of a bias.

[kingdomarts]

Al Haitham is actually carrying my account so he is #1 in my heart lmao.

[TwinkleStar]

I’m surprised Alhaitham isn’t on this list considering how absurd his damage can get, with minimal investment. He’s not exactly the easiest character to use maybe due to his mirror mechanics, but even just having his rotations be suboptimal will still usually get the job done.

[jeremiahpaul]

childe not being here is criminal
edit: Al haitham too

[butterfer]

1. No, Nahida is not the one dealing hyperbloom damage, that would be the electro unit. Nilou does not have high bloom ownership, and her hydro damage when built for bloom is nearly negligible. Both Nahida and Nilou are in fact high-tier units, but should by all means be considered supports/enablers. Placing them this high on a list of main damage dealers especially with the reasons given is simply illogical.

2. I'm fine with having Raiden in the top 5 assuming she has access to cons C2+, but the reasons given is somewhat incorrect. No, she does not necessarily have exquisite damage. If you do the math, a C3R1 Raiden technically does less dps than a C1R1 Hu Tao with the same dolphin setup. The reason why she is amazing at speedrunning is that her damage can be massively frontloaded, thus allowing for exquisite clear times when she meets the one-rotate damage threshold. Also no, her burst applying fast electro hits has nothing to do with hyperbloom. She's exclusively an E bot in that team.

This is my personal top 5 list of damage dealers based on calculations and a stricter definition of "DPS unit" that I decided upon.

DPS unit: a character used mainly on-field who also contributes significant (not necessarily >50% team dps) personal damage alongside whatever other utility they may or may not grant. Their proficiency is evaluated only the on the performance of their optimal team at dolphin investment. If they have multiple "optimal teams, " all of which are considered.


In no particular order:
- Hu Tao: highest DPS ceiling in the game with vv vape; extremely competitive damage + great QoL with double hydro.
- Al Haitham: massive dps in both spread and quickbloom; extreme rotation flexibility + multiwave performance.
- Childe: international goes brr; fastest speedruns + eternal matchup flexibility.
- Ayaka & Raiden: scales well with investment due to frontloaded dmg profile; fastest speedruns when one-rotation damage threshold is met.

[Lily-cdgu]

Damn i thought alhaitham would be here... He's really good at c0 and cam easily use f2p qeapons and still do a shit ton of damage. Childe too

[neoinfinity]

I don’t think Tao is that easy to use with her leaning curve and hp management and as mobile player I only thought of Yelan as support even with her hp scale, I’m happy for Nilou to be in this list despite her limited use and I’m personally planning on trying her with Sucrose, Nahida and Kokomi to see how casually comfortable her playstyle can be.

[duwan]

Wow, reading the comments here makes me so glad so many people now appreciates Alhaitham's worth! I remember when he got leaked and released people were bashing his kit, but I stayed true to him - I took a break from Genshin and came back because of him. I just missed using him and his coolness.

[russellg]

Another thing about Hu Tao, I think she has another thing called “hit lag extension” when she does 2 normals and a charge attack, she will extend her skill duration to end at 5 seconds.

[FableP]

If you wanted diversity then imo it could've easily been Alhaitham instead of Nahida. And looking at the other comments I think people are just getting tired of Nahida being oversold in terms of DPS in comparison to Alhaitham at this point. Since his release people act like if they admit he's better than her in any capacity, the TC Gods will come down from their golden pedestals on Gacha-Olympus and smite your account out of existence for your crimes against the radish lol Now I agree that off-field DPS's shouldn't be left out of these lists but even THEN Nahida is still more of a support or enabler. When Nahida is in a team, it's almost always about her dendro application and the buffs she can provide and hardly ever about her personal damage.

Personally, I look at it like this. Assuming all characters are equally built and are in appropriate non-meme teams, what happens if you take one character out or the other and replace them with saaay Collei? Replace Alhaitham and suddenly I've lost the bulk of if not all of my damage. Replace Nahida and while numbers have gone down due to lack of buffs I still have characters on the team like Ayato or even Lisa that are going to continue doing numbers. If your qualm is that all Alhaitham does is damage and provides nothing else to the team....well...it IS a DPS list with Hu Tao on it. As an easy to use character of all things. The waters aren't THAT muddy.

But this is all MY opinion. I shouldn't have to say this but I am just respectfully as possible disagreeing with Vars and am taking him up on the offer to engage in discussion and leave a comment lol I really think Alhaitham should've taken Nahida's spot on this one but at the end of the day its Vars' list, not mine.