Gacha games are on a neverending treadmill of new and returning content, leading to much speculation about what’s coming next. The 4.3 patch in Genshin Impact is the next big update, so here’s everything we know about the new banner and beyond.
Related: Best Genshin Impact Artifacts Ranked: Most Powerful Universal Sets
Genshin Impact 4.3 Character Banner Rumors
We won’t know anything official about the 4.3 Character and Weapon banners until the 4.3 live stream from HoYoverse, likely on December 6 or 8. However, there have been some reliable leaks over the past few weeks that give us a good, but not guaranteed, look at the characters and weapons coming with the new patch. The leaks come from WaffelGM on X (formerly Twitter).
I wouldn’t put as much credence on leaker information, as the 5-star character Albedo was long rumored to be coming in 4.3, but HoYoverse started marketing for the new Fontaine character Navia, adding credibility to the claims.
Genshin Impact 4.3 Phase I Banners
Should the rumors prove correct, the two 5-star characters we’ll get in Phase I of patch 4.3 are the new Geo character from Fontaine, Navia, and the Cryo swordswoman of Inazuma, Kamisato Ayaka.
Navia looks to be a GEO main DPS character focusing on explosions. She will also come with some off-field capabilities that allow her to synergize with other Geo characters like Noelle and Zhongli, though the full effect of her abilities is still a bit unclear. From what I could gather, her Skill functions similarly to Kamisato Ayato’s, allowing her to track enemies. Her Burst creates a field of Geo explosions in a radius around her, setting up plenty of opportunities for elemental reactions.
Kamisato Ayaka is one of the best main DPS units in the game, with high potential Crit damage, tons of Cryo application for Freeze-centric teams, and is relatively easy to build. Any character that applies solid Hydro, like Yelan, Xingqiu, Mona, or Kokomi, works incredibly well with Ayaka. However, if your team lacks damage, she can also help carry less optimal setups.
Genshin Impact 4.3 Phase II Banners
Update 4.3 Phase II doesn’t bring any new characters to the table; it does bring a pair of powerhouses in their place. The two five stars we’ll all be pulling for are Raiden Shogun, the Archon of Electro, and Yoimiya, the fireworks-loving bow user, both from Inazuma.
Raiden Shogun is a stellar Electro sub-DPS/support character who can also act as your main DPS with enough investment and can act as the driver for almost any Hyperbloom team. She’s not too hard to build, and one of her best weapons — The Catch — is completely free, not being tied to any Battle Pass or other paid content.
Yoimiya is a bow-using Pyro main DPS with solid damage output and a reasonably easy-to-use playstyle. She has to compete with other top-tier Pyro DPS units like Lyney, who also use bows, but Yoimiya is a bit less technical than Lyney, asking only that you’re relatively accurate with her bow and use her Burst and Skill liberally.
Genshin 4.3 Weapon Banners
We have a little less information on Genshin Impact 4.3’s limited Weapon banners, but we know that the one coming with Navia is a Halberd-shaped Claymore weapon called the Considered Judgement. The Considered Judgement provides a flat Crit Rate buff, and its effect synergizes around creating Elemental Shards with Geo Crystalize reactions. Picking up a shard grants one of a maximum of two Seals, which provide a stacking, one-use 18% Elemental Skill damage buff.
Should Ayaka be the other 5-star coming in 4.3 Phase I, her signature weapon, Mistsplitter Reforged, should be the second weapon of the banner. The same is true for Raiden and Yoimiya; if they are to be the 5-stars in Phase II — their signature weapons, Engulfing Lightning and Thundering Pulse will be the respective weapons on offer.
Genshin 4.4 Banners and Beyond
The Genshin Impact 4.4 update is over two months out, but there have been rumblings on Reddit as far out as 4.7. Better yet, almost all of these patches come with brand-new characters introduced during the Fontaine Archon Quest storyline. Take the following list with a massive pile of salt, as there’s no way to guarantee any of it will remain true.
Update 4.4 will bring Cloud Retainer, previously seen in the Liyue Archon Quest as the persnickety crane Adeptus demigod. She’s likely to be a support of some kind.
Update 4.5 is still unknown, which means (besides us not knowing who’s coming) that there will probably be two rerun characters. The remaining updates bring the 5-star heroes we’ve already met, so unless there’s more story content for Fontaine that introduces a new 5-star, we’ll probably be getting two older characters here.
Update 4.6 brings us Arlecchino, 4th Fatui Harbinger, the Knave of the House of the Hearth, and a Pyro-wielder. As for what her kit will be, my guess is sub-DPS, as Fontaine already has its main Pyro DPS in Lyney. A Pyro support would be interesting, as well.
Finally, Update 4.7 finally brings Clorinde, the Electro-wielding Champion Duelist of Fontaine. Based only on her performance in cutscenes during the Fontaine Archon Quest, she’s likely to be a main DPS character rather than an Electro-reaction driver.
