5 Genshin Impact mistakes beginners must avoid while wishing on banners

Genshin Impact is a game that has a vast and beautiful world filled with amazing stories, exotic locations, and interesting characters. However, it is still a gacha game at heart, and pulling for characters in various banners is a key aspect of its gameplay.

Unfortunately, there are several players who are not that familiar with the concept of gacha and end up making too many mistakes, losing their precious resources in the process.

Pulling for a character in Genshin Impact requires a lot of primogems. Unfortunately, these are quite tough to acquire unless newer players are willing to invest hundreds of dollars into the game. Hence, being reckless will lead to losing out on good characters, ultimately hampering the overall experience.

Here are five common mistakes while wishing that every beginner should try avoiding.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinion.

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Understanding the gacha mechanics and minimizing mistakes when wishing in Genshin Impact

1) Wishing for 4 stars

Wishing on banners for the sake of 4 stars should be avoided (Image via Genshin Impact)

Genshin Impact's character rarity comprises 4 star and 5 star characters. Every ten pulls guarantees a 4 star character, and every 90 pulls guarantees a 5 star character. However, banners often consist of an old and outdated 5 star but a new and intriguing 4 star.

In such a situation, several players, out of sheer greed, would end up pulling the banner expecting to obtain the new 4 star, even if the 5 star is not worth obtaining. Now, it is important to realize that a single banner always consists of three 4 star characters.

Therefore, there is no guarantee that the 4 star that players obtain will be the one that they want. They could potentially get other 4 stars that are not part of the banner as well. Therefore, it is highly possible that players will get all the other characters, including the 5 star, but not the 4 star that they want.

In most cases, this is an absolute disaster. This is not only a waste of primogems, but if players end up obtaining the 5 star, which they never wanted to begin with, then it damages the character pity, which the player might have been saving for someone new.

Apart from that, every 4 star character is added to the pool after release. Therefore, there is a high chance of obtaining those in the future. Hence, wishing on a banner just to obtain a 4 star should be avoided at all costs.

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2) Wasting primogems on a standard banner

Players should never waste primogems on the Standard banner (Image via Genshin Impact)

Genshin Impact is usually comprised of two banners at a time. The character banner has the featured 5 star character and requires Intertwined fates to wish. Apart from that, there is also a standard banner that has the normal 5 stars and requires Acquaint fate to wish upon.

Using primogems on the standard banner is considered an absolute waste. This is because the 5 star characters that are present in that banner can also be obtained from the character banner whenever players lose a 50-50.

Secondly, the standard banner also consists of all the weapons, which makes obtaining any of the characters a lot more difficult. Players will most likely obtain a weapon instead of someone like Diluc or Jean.

Lastly, Acquaint fates in Genshin Impact can be obtained for free from the Battle Pass as well as through leveling up characters. Therefore, using hard-earned primogems on the standard banner is an absolute waste as it can practically ruin the chances of obtaining a future featured 5 star from the character banner.

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3) Wishing for the sake of Building Pity

Wishing randomly to build pity is a poor choice (Image via Genshin Impact)

One major mistake that new Genshin Impact players often make is wishing on random banners for the sake of building pity.

It often happens that players might have obtained a 5 star very recently. Thus, they end up going for a few 10-pulls in order to get the pity counter closer to 90. Now, it is important to remember that the game specifically mentions that a 5 star unit is guaranteed within 90 pulls.

However, nowhere is it mentioned that players cannot obtain the 5 star early. In fact, theoretically, players only need one pull to get a 5 star if they are lucky. It often happens that players end up getting two or more 5 star characters within only a few pulls.

In such a scenario, if players obtain the 5 stars they do not want by mistake, then it will damage the pity counter. Using hard-earned primogems on random banners just for the sake of building pity is a poor choice and something that new players should definitely avoid.

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4) Stop running after every 5 star character

Trying to run after 5 star is a grave mistake (Image via Genshin Impact)

Genshin Impact releases 5 star characters every three weeks. However, for an average free-to-play user or even a light spender, it is not possible to acquire enough wishes to pull for the same every three weeks.

Unfortunately, new players often give in to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and end up wishing on every banner that the game introduces. This is one of the worst mistakes that they can make.

If players keep wishing for everything that comes out, they will never be able to obtain the character they want. Players will randomly lose character pity, and when a good character is released, they will have neither the primogems nor the pity to obtain them.

This will lead to further frustration and eventually disgust for the game. It is vital that free-to-play players plan things out and save as many primogems as possible. When a new character comes out, several YouTubers make videos on them, and the game also gives the option to try out the character for free. This allows players to gauge whether the character is worth investing in.

Players should spend some time on the trial and decide if they truly want that 5 star. Apart from that, they should also look at the design and lore of the characters to see if they will enjoy playing with that character or not.

If players mismanage their resources and drain the fun from the gacha aspect, Genshin Impact becomes a nightmare.

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5) Do not make decisions based on other's builds or opinions

Do not make decisions based on what others say (Image via Genshin Impact)

One of the best things about Genshin Impact is that the developers usually announce when a new 5 star character is set to come out in a future patch.

This gives the option for players to plan things beforehand. Now, every character that comes out is unique, and there are times when a player might not need a character that everyone else does. However, they might end up wishing for the character since the community labels that 5 star as meta.

This is something that everyone should avoid. Ayaka, for instance, is a meta character, but it is possible that a player might have taken an interest in, say, Yelan, who might be coming out in the next patch. However, since Ayaka is meta at the moment, players may end up pulling in that banner.

This means that the player will have no character pity and will likely not have enough primogems for Yelan or will lose the 50-50 and end someone like Mona or Qiqi. This, in turn, will create frustration as Yelan might get a rerun only after six months, which means it is a long wait before the player gets to pull for her again.

It's crucial to remember that collecting characters is not a competition, and the meta isn't the most crucial aspect of gameplay. While veteran gacha players might know how to handle it, newcomers may lose their minds at the ruthless gacha mechanics.