On December 1, Zhongli was released in Genshin Impact. However, the new character is not well received in the community. The developers have now made a statement and explained why Zhongli is better than many think.
What is the problem? Zhongli is the newest 5-star character and is only available through a special wish. While the chances are increased there, you still have to expect to pay up to 440 euros if you want to guarantee pulling him. That’s a lot of money.
Accordingly, players had high hopes for him. However, Zhongli does not meet those expectations. He belongs to the Geo element and deals little damage. Many players have expressed their frustration in forums and on reddit.
In the meantime, even the developers have commented on Zhongli. They say that many underestimate the new character. He is not meant to deal a lot of damage, but rather takes on the role of a supporter.
Support and CC are his strengths, a bug fix is coming
What do the developers say? In a message to the community, miHoYo explains what lies behind Zhongli. His strengths are supposed to lie primarily in support, which he can even provide without elemental combos or gear:
Zhongli is seen more as a support character, and the core of the supporter is the task of protecting other characters in the group. Based on this, we have defined his two core abilities, namely the creation of shields and control over enemies.
The Jade Shield provides effective absorption and good protection without relying on other gear.
Planet Befall effectively controls enemy groups without relying on elemental reactions or gear bonuses.
From a design standpoint, these two features allow him to fulfill his role as a supporter. Upon reviewing the gameplay data, we found that Zhongli has indeed improved the survivability of travelers.
Furthermore, it is stated that no major changes to Zhongli are planned for the time being.
Only a bug related to the ability “Stone, the Cradle of Jade” that prevents the damage boost from elemental combos from activating will be fixed. The fix is scheduled to be released on December 10.
Along with this, there will be a “compensation”, likely in the form of Primogems. This compensation is often given to players who do not even own the character.
Players complain about marketing statements
How do players react? In a new reddit thread, the statement from miHoYo is discussed. Most reactions that received a lot of upvotes respond negatively to the statement. For them, there is too much marketing and too little admission in the statement:
- The user Sufficient_Ad_8600 writes: “It’s another typical safety statement. Hey, we’re fine here. It’s all your fault.”
- The user G3minus even sees a fault for the “misunderstanding” about Zhongli at miHoYo itself: “The sad thing is, they chose his stat Geo, but his weapon is a DPS staff that is useless for a supporter. They are either forgetful or deliberately deceiving the players into thinking he is a DPS character or at least not a pure shield bot. Also, the trailer is really misleading.”
Many other players agree with the criticism and are also surprised. After all, there are support characters like Qiqi or Jean, who are much more useful in battles. Both stand in our tier list in the S-tier.
What do you think of the new character Zhongli? Do you use him often or have you also been disappointed? Let us know in the comments!
Zhongli was certainly not the last new character for Genshin Impact. A leak may have already shown the next character:
New leak in Genshin Impact: Will this be the next 5-star character?
