Genshin Impact: Should you level your characters to 90?

Among the many discussion topics in Genshin Impact, one that’s always brought up is whether you should level any character to 90. While having extra levels is always helpful, many argue that with the number of resources spent, it might not be worth it in the end.

Here, we’ll show both sides of the arguments for leveling (or not) to the maximum. This article does not intend to force onto you a specific way of raising your characters, but to bring you information on this controversial topic.

Without much ado, let’s hop onto the discussion!

Why is this discussion a thing?

One thing all players (especially new ones) can agree to is that leveling a new character in Genshin is not easy. The amount of Mora, Experience Books, and Ascension Materials required is astonishingly big for each character ascended to, at least, 80.

While more experienced players can get those resources faster, sometimes the resources are time-gated (such as Ascension Materials) or resin gated (boss drops). Also, sometimes the resources are not even available for farming in the game before the said character is released.

The 5th ascension (Level 70 > 80) is considered the best power spike for characters. You can level your talents to 8, your base stats get pretty high and while it is tedious, it’s not that big of a chore.

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Comparing it to the 6th ascension (80 > 90), it feels like you’re being punched right at your guts. You’ll need almost double of everything in order to get to the final 10 levels. The amount is so high that makes people question if it’s really worth it.

The good and the bad

To decide if you should level to 90, you need to know exactly what you’re getting for it. If you feel like it, simply pretend 80 is the final level for that character. It’s your account after all.

By getting someone to 90, their base stats are now at their maximum. You’ll also get the chance to level their talents to 10, or simply 9 if you don’t feel like crowning that character. But there’s also something that people usually miss.

The defense formula used in the game, as represented in the Genshin Impact Wiki, takes the levels of both attacker and defender in consideration.

What does that mean? That having a higher level will make you deal more damage and take less damage!

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That seems kinda obvious, because your lv 90 Diluc surely deals more damage than your old lv 80 Diluc, but the level is more meaningful than it appears to be.

So what’s the bad side? Well, that extra damage is not that big, in the end.

While it’s surely helpful, in particular when trying to 9* all of the rooms in the Spiral Abyss, all of the resin spent in leveling a single character from 80 to 90 could be used to get more talents, artifacts, or even leveling a brand new character from 1 to 80.

You’ll need to fight the boss for its drops at least 7 times, considering you’ll always get 3 drops. Otherwise, you’ll fight it up to 10 times. And don’t let me get started about all of the Ley Lines for that extra Mora or Hero’s Wit.

All of that for a not that big of a change. If you still need to get better artifacts for a character, that resin would be best spent going for them instead.

So what should I do?

If you still want to keep getting that character stronger but don’t feel like lv 90 is worth it and can’t stand any other second trying to get good artifacts, there’s always another way: Ascending the character, but not leveling it.

The 80 > 90 ascension is not easy and still requires 7 ~ 10 boss fights, but you’ll not spend almost a million Mora to simply go through 10 levels. That money can be used to do the same to other characters, or leveling talents.

Talents are always a good choice since you’re guaranteed to receive extra value from your skills after spending your resources. The ascension will not only give you more of your ascension stat but also allow you to get a specific talent to 10.

Bennett, for example, is a great unit to ascend, since his Burst is amazing at lv 10 and he gets even more energy recharge. Main Dps characters, such as Tartaglia, are also good choices since they’ll usually receive more critical or extra elemental damage.

TLDR; should you level your characters to 90?

Leveling is awesome, but with the number of resources needed, consider going only for the ascension. Level 90 characters deal more damage and take less of it, but it’s almost the same as 80. Ascend them and focus on leveling their talents.

For your main DPS, who stays longer on the field, it may be worth it to get them to 90 if you can afford the resources. Eventually, you may end up leveling everyone, but give priority to the right characters first.

Subdps characters such as Xingqiu or Xiangling are great to ascend but don’t worry about actual levels. Talent levels are enough. The same goes for healers since they usually don’t need to deal damage.

And there’s always the golden rule: If you like that character a lot, get him to 90 and triple crown him! Your resources are yours alone, and you decide how to use them in the end. Just try to be effective in how you’ll do it.

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Genshin Impact is currently on its 2.2 version, “Into the Perilous Labyrinth of Fog”, which introduces a whole new area to explore, as well as new enemies, weapons, events, and the return of previously limited characters and gadgets.

You can play the game for free on mobile devices including Android, iOS, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and Pc on both miHoYo’s official launcher and Epic Games Store. A Nintendo Switch version is stated to be in development.