Understanding the Pity System: A Comprehensive Guide

Genshin Impact truly captures players’ attention with its diverse characters and thoughtful weapon designs, though acquiring them isn’t always straightforward. The game’s gacha system presents players with several banners, each offering different characters and weapons, which can make deciding where to invest your Wishes a bit puzzling.

Fortunately, the game’s pity system enhances the likelihood of obtaining coveted 4-star and 5-star items, even though some players might find this system a tad perplexing. For those seeking clarity, this guide unveils the intricacies of Genshin Impact’s pity mechanics.

Understanding Genshin Impact’s Pity System

To simplify, Genshin Impact’s pity system ensures players eventually obtain high-rarity items after a set number of Wishes. For instance, if a player makes nine Wishes without scoring a 4-star or higher item, their tenth Wish is guaranteed to yield a 4-star character or weapon. For 5-star items, the system activates later.

In essence, every 10 Wishes assures a 4-star, while character Banners guarantee a 5-star after 90 Wishes, and the weapon Banner ensures a 5-star weapon after 80 Wishes.

This means the effective pull rates are slightly higher than stated; the 4-star rate increases to about 13-14.5%, and the 5-star rate to around 1.6-1.85%, providing a glimmer of hope for those eyeing a specific character or weapon.

The 50/50 System

Genshin Impact also features what players call the 50/50 system, which pertains to pulling a featured character under certain conditions. During Character Event Wishes, players may encounter a limited, event-exclusive 5-star character. Upon pulling a 5-star, there’s a 50% chance of this being the featured character.

If you "lose" the 50/50 and don’t obtain the featured character, you’ll next pull one of the standard characters like Jean or Diluc. However, if this happens, the next 5-star pull is guaranteed to be the featured character, ensuring players eventually get the character they desire across multiple banners.

Introducing ‘Capturing Radiance’

In 2024, Hoyoverse tweaked the 50/50 system with "Capturing Radiance." Now, when you "lose" the initial 50/50, there’s a 5% chance you’ll still obtain the featured character, with a special animation marking the occasion. Conceptually, this slightly shifts the odds to a 55/45 in favor of getting the featured character.

Weapon Banner’s Soulbound System

The weapon banner operates similarly to character banners, ensuring a five-star weapon every 80 wishes. But due to the presence of two featured weapons, players could draw the "wrong" one. To address this, the Epitomized Path was introduced. Players select a preferred weapon, and if they receive the alternate, a Fate Point is earned. Accumulating Fate Points eventually guarantees your chosen weapon.

The Epitomized Path essentially mitigates the risk of drawing an unwanted five-star on the Weapon Banner, unlike Character Banners where players simply need to win at some point.

Notable Details Regarding Pity Points

While the pity system for characters carries over, regardless of banner changes, Fate Points reset with each new weapon banner.

Exploring Featured Four-Stars

Alongside the 5-star pity, 4-star items also follow a pattern. Each banner has its rate-up four-star characters and weapons, increasing their likelihood of appearing. A four-star character on a character banner has a 50% chance of being a featured one, while weapons boast a 75% chance.

This similar 50/50 mechanic applies, where drawing a non-featured four-star means your next pull is guaranteed to be one of the featured ones, though you can’t select which.

Pity Mechanics Per Banner

Pity is strictly per-banner in Genshin Impact. Progress doesn’t spill over between Character and Weapon Banners, though it carries within character promotions. This ensures any unfinished wish count on one banner resumes on the next related one, ensuring a countdown to guaranteed rare pulls.

Soft Pity Adds Assurance

Beyond hard pity, there’s "soft pity," which significantly boosts the chance of drawing a 5-star item before reaching 90 Wishes, starting after about 75 Wishes. Although these soft-pity odds aren’t public, players widely observe increased rates at this stage.

Chronicled Wish Banners

Launched in 2024, Chronicled Wish Banners feature recurring limited 5-star characters and weapons with a unique Chronicled Path system. Like the Weapon Banner’s Epitomized Path, players chart a course for desired pulls, with each 50/50 determines either their choice or another featured option. This promise spans both characters and weapons and maintains its course annually.

In all, Genshin Impact’s pity systems, while complex, provide reassuring structures for players aspiring to acquire specific characters or weapons from their varied banners.