Four and five-star weapons are the best weapons in Genshin Impact, even though you’re at the mercy of the game’s gacha system when it comes to obtaining them. Our weapons list guide details each of these weapons, what their special skills are, and how you can make them even stronger.
Understanding Genshin Impact weapons
Each weapon has a base attack stat, a secondary stat of some kind, and a special “Refinement skill,” and naturally, each category is full of its own jargon. Here’s what each secondary stat term means:
Attack: a permanent attack boost Critical damage: a permanent increase to critical hit damage Critical hit: a permanent increase to the weapon’s likelihood of landing a critical hit Elemental recharge: How fast your Elemental Burst meter refills during combat Elemental Mastery: A number determining how much damage your Elemental Reactions deal (when two elements combine on an enemy). The higher the number, the better
Refinement skills are unique effects each weapon has. You can enhance these further through refining the weapon, but don’t confuse that with taking it to the smithy. Refining weapons in Genshin Impact requires you to use a duplicate of that weapon and spend some Mora. It’s easier to do with three-star weapons and under, since you’ll find those in abundance. Four and five-star weapons are rare as it is, so unless you plan on spending lots of money and testing your luck (which we don’t recommend doing), you’ll probably be working with the base refinement skill for a while. Fortunately, four- and five-star weapons are strong enough where sticking with the base skill is viable for the entire game.
How to enhance weapons in Genshin Impact
You enhance Genshin Impact weapons similar to how you enhance characters, though obviously with different materials. Weapon levels cap out every 10-20 levels and require an Ascension using materials found mostly in Domains (also a good place for earning Adventure Rank XP). Once you choose “enhance” from the weapon selection screen, you’ll use Enhancement Ore or other low-ranking weapons to level up weapons in between Ascension phases. Just make sure you don’t accidentally mulch another weapon you want in the process.
Enhancement Ore is plentiful, but you can make more by taking Iron Ore and other minerals to the smithy in Liyue Harbor or Mondstadt. This screen is also where you’ll refine a weapon, assuming you’ve got a duplicate to use for the process.
Genshin Impact weapons list
We’ve divided our weapon list by weapon type and star rank. Since three-star weapons and under are common and not worth keeping once you get something better. Note that the values listed here are from each weapon at level 20. They’ll be lower when you first acquire the weapon and, of course, higher when you Ascend them.
Genshin Impact swords Genshin Impact claymores Genshin Impact polearms Genshin Impact bows Genshin Impact catalysts
Genshin Impact swords
The Skyward Sword is easily the best five-star sword, since its secondary stat feeds into the refinement skill and makes it easier to boost your abilities and fire off Elemental Bursts faster than normal.
Iron Sting and the Black Sword tie as the best four-star swords. Anything increasing Elemental damage is a good thing, while Black Sword turns your DPS character into a healer if you score a critical hit, which you probably will thanks to its secondary stat.
Genshin Impact claymores
Five-star claymores are a bit trickier than other Genshin Impact weapons since it depends on which character you’re using. For tanks such as Noelle, The Unforged and its attack boost every time a shield activates is ideal. DPS wielders would benefit from Skyward Pride and its extra damage.
The same considerations apply here. Tanks would get the most from The Bell since it increases their ability to withstand damage. Snow-Tombed Starsliver is a good four-star alternative to Skyward Pride, though DPS and tanks would benefit from Prototype Archaic’s random attack boost.
Genshin Impact polearms
The Primordial Jade Winged-Spear is simple and effective. In place of fancy gimmicks, you get a reliable attack boost to clear the field.
The Blackcliff Pole is a good standard polearm for any character, though the Dragonspine Spear has a better chance of dealing higher damage. Prototype Starglitter is best if your polearm user relies on Elemental abilities a lot.
Genshin Impact bows
There’s not much to choose from here, but the Elegy for the End stands out as the best five-star bow. Its base attack and secondary complement physical and Elemental characters, and the skill boosts damage output even further, despite taking a while to activate.
The Blackcliff Bow and Compound Bow are excellent for DPS characters, especially if you don’t rely on aimed shots often. Windblume Ode is designed for Venti, but works very well with any Elemental-oriented bow user, such as Fischl or Diona.
Genshin Impact catalysts
Like with bows, there’s not much to choose from here. Skyward Atlas is the best of the bunch, with a double bonus of dealing extra damage and making clouds attack your enemies.
Eye of Perception and Frostbearer are good four-star alternatives to Skyward Atlas. Ending up with Solar Pearl or Mappa Mare is a nice situation as well, though. Both increase your Elemental damage, which is the primary kind of damage catalyst-users inflict. Of course, getting a weapon is only the start. You need the right character to wield it and maybe even a place to relax and take a break for a while.
