Debate Club

The header shows the name, rarity (★) and weapon type (Bow/Sword/Claymore/Polearm/Catalyst), plus an SS/S/A Tier badge if this weapon has been ranked. Right below sits the stats box: Base ATK (Lv1), Substat and Base ATK at Lv90, together with a full Ascension Materials table listing exact quantities. Next comes the Passive block — the effect's name and description across all 5 Refinement ranks. After that: Best on (characters that fit this weapon), Lore if available, and finally Same-type weapons for a quick side-by-side against other options of the same weapon type. Reading in that order is enough to decide whether the weapon you're looking at is worth investing in.

A weapon's real value in Genshin Impact isn't a single number — it's the SUM of three parts: Base ATK (scales from Lv1 to Lv90 through ascension) + Substat (fixed per weapon — can be CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, ATK%/HP%/DEF%, and more) + the passive effect. Judging a weapon by Base ATK alone isn't enough: a lower-ATK weapon with a Substat that fits the build (say, CRIT Rate for a crit-focused DPS) or a strong passive can outperform a higher-ATK weapon whose Substat goes unused.

The most valuable Substat is usually CRIT Rate — a weapon rolling this line takes pressure off Artifacts, since less CR needs to be stacked on discs/circlets to hit a clean 5:1 or 4:2 CRIT Rate-to-CRIT DMG ratio.

Every weapon has 5 Refinement ranks, from R1 (default, a single copy) to R5 (max). Refining doesn't unlock a new effect — it only raises the % values or duration of the existing passive, and the full R1-R5 table sits right in the Passive block above. The jump between ranks is often uneven: some weapons gain most of their power at R2 already, others scale evenly all the way to R5 — read all 5 lines, not just R1 and R5, before deciding whether refining further is worth spending Primogems on instead of something else.

<small>Limited 5-star weapons can ONLY be refined by owning duplicate copies pulled through Wishes (no crafting shortcut exists); craftable 3-4 star weapons can be forged into duplicates at the Blacksmith using ore, Mora and a Northlander Billet that rotates weekly — standard mechanics per hoyowiki/multiple independent sources, unchanged across weapons.</small>

The Tier badge next to a weapon's name (when present) is an SS/S/A rank aggregated from several community sources — NOT an official in-game stat. It compares weapons WITHIN the same weapon type (Bow against Bow, Sword against Sword, and so on), never across different types, since each type serves a different kind of character. A ± sign next to the rank means the community view is split — often because the weapon excels for a narrow set of characters but underperforms broadly, or depends heavily on reaching high Refinement. Hover or tap the badge for a short reason.

Weapon Ascension takes 4 upgrade passes, each costing Mora plus its own material set — typically: a domain material (rotates by weapon type — Bow/Sword/Claymore/Polearm/Catalyst — and only opens on fixed days of the week), a common enemy drop (farmable any day, no restriction), and sometimes a Weekly Boss material for 5-star weapons. Exact quantities and total Mora appear in full in the Ascension Materials table above — tap any material to see its exact farming source and which other weapons also need it, useful for planning one farming run that covers several weapons at once.

Check the domain's open day BEFORE planning an ascension push — weapon material domains rotate on fixed weekdays (different from Character Ascension domains and Talent Book domains); farming on the wrong day means waiting a full week.

5-star weapons mainly come from the Weapon Event Wish (Epitomized Path) — every non-featured 5-star pull adds 1 Fate Point, and 2 Fate Points let you DIRECTLY pick the exact featured weapon instead of a 50/50 between the two on banner; a 5-star weapon is guaranteed within 80 wishes, with soft pity (a steep jump in odds) starting around wish 63. 4-star weapons can appear inside Character/Weapon banners, or drop from the Weapon banner itself at a much higher 4-star rate-up than 5-star. Craftable 3-4 star weapons skip Wishing entirely — unlock the blueprint, pay Mora plus materials at the Blacksmith, and forge as many copies as you want.

Weapons outside those two paths (limited-time Story/Companion event rewards) won't return once the event ends unless HoYoverse reruns it — check a weapon's actual source before assuming it's missable forever.

The Best on list isn't a fixed hand-written pick — it's computed BACKWARDS from each character's live recommended-build data: a character only shows up here if their own weapon priority list already includes this weapon, ranked by that character's own priority order. This avoids accidentally listing a character who rarely uses this weapon (say, one with their own signature weapon instead), and it auto-updates whenever build meta shifts, with no page needing a manual edit.

A signature weapon (released alongside a specific character's banner) is always strongest on its own owner but can still work fine on other characters sharing the same role or Substat need — read the passive description above carefully to see what it scales off (Normal Attacks, Skill, Burst, or an element) and match that against the playstyle of whoever you're actually planning to equip it on.

The Same-type weapons block at the bottom lists other weapons of the SAME type (Bow/Sword/Claymore/Polearm/Catalyst) for a quick comparison — but same type doesn't mean interchangeable. Three things worth comparing before switching: (1) Base ATK — the gap between same-rarity weapons at Lv90 is usually only a few dozen points, rarely the deciding factor; (2) Substat — a weapon whose Substat actually fits the character's need (CR/CRIT DMG for a crit DPS, EM for a reaction build, ER for an energy-hungry character) usually beats a higher-ATK weapon with a mismatched Substat; (3) how easy the passive is to trigger — a weapon with a fussy condition (a Normal Attack count threshold, an HP gate, a cooldown between procs) can underperform in real fights compared to a simpler passive, even with better numbers on paper.

For anyone without the limited banner weapon yet, a standard weapon (craftable or from the Standard Wish) from this comparison group is usually a solid stand-in while saving Primogems, with no need to force a signature-weapon pull right away.