The first banner matchup of Genshin Impact’s Version 4.2 update features the arrival of Fontaine’s Hydro Archon Furina alongside a rerun of the Dendro doctor Baizhu.
Every banner matchup is a tough one, but it’s usually even more difficult to choose between the two featured five-star characters when one of them is new. There’s a lot to consider with both Furina and Baizhu’s skillsets, so here’s what you’ll want to know when deciding whether to pull for Furina or Baizhu.
Should you pull for Furina in Genshin Impact?
Furina is a five-star Hydro Sword character, the Archon of Fontaine, and is definitely worth pulling for. She is an incredible, mostly support-focused unit who can heal, supply strong Hydro application, and buff the entire team. Depending on how you build her, she can also be a very impressive secondary damage dealer.
The Hydro character has an incredibly unique skillset with her three sea creature allies—Gentilhomme Usher, Surintendante Chevalmarin, and Mademoiselle Crabaletta—who are so strong they’ll oftentimes take care of the fighting for you, even while underwater. Furina excels at everything you want in a strong support or damage-dealing recruit and even goes well beyond what’s expected.
Since she’s the god of Fontaine, Furina is also the only character who can swap between and use both Pneuma and Ousia. This makes her the best character you can explore Fontaine with based on this alone, but her exploration prowess is even more powerful thanks to her other ability to walk on water.
Furina is one of the best characters you can pull for, regardless of whether you think you need a support or secondary damage-dealing unit or not. There’s no one like her, and she will always be a highly versatile and reliable unit capable of fitting into most team lineups.
Should you pull for Baizhu in Genshin Impact?
Baizhu is a five-star Dendro Catalyst character dedicated to healing, shielding, and offering general support. He’s one of Teyvat’s most powerful healing forces, and he is certainly worth pulling for if you are seeking a strong and well-rounded support unit.
Even though Baizhu is strong, there are also other playable units who possess similar skillsets and can do some of what he can better. Zhongli’s shields are far superior and make Baizhu’s look very thin, while Kokomi has overall better healing and support capacities.
I would personally rather have either character on my team over Baizhu, but he is by no means a bad character—there are just some better options out there. Whenever I want general Dendro support on my team, Nahida will always be my go-to choice since she’s far superior to all of the other Dendro characters.
There is no character who is capable of exactly what Baizhu can do, so he is an important and essential character in many team lineups. He’s not the strongest Dendro support character overall, which would be Nahida, but he is a good one regardless, and he is the only five-star Dendro healer.
Overall, Baizhu is worth pulling for if you want a strong, versatile, and reliable support unit for your team. But if you already feel like you have some amazing support units who have similar functions like Kokomi, Nahida, or Zhongli, then he might not be worth recruiting for you.
Why you should pull for Furina in Genshin Impact
Regardless of what kind of character you’re searching for, you should absolutely pull for Furina over Baizhu. Furina is an incredibly versatile and useful unit that can also supply healing, while Baizhu is mostly just a healer, which makes Furina the better choice by far.
Baizhu is one of Genshin’s strongest recruits, but when you look at his skillset in comparison to Furina’s, he seems incredibly weak. Furina is a god, so it’s not really a fair matchup at all, but she is ultimately the better choice in this one.
If you’ve never recruited an Archon to your roster before, pulling for Furina is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. The Archons are known for being a bit OP since they are the gods of Teyvat, and she certainly surpasses expectations.
Some Archons are better than others, but even the worst playable Archon, which is Venti, is still one of Genshin’s best characters overall. Zhongli is an incredibly unique support unit and ranks quite highly among all playable units. And I believe two of the Archons, which are Raiden Shogun and Nahida, are the absolute strongest characters Teyvat has to offer, so Furina is joining a mighty group of the best of the best.
Pros and Cons of Choosing Furina, according to fans
- Pros
- Better overall damage
- Good hydro damage
- Decent healing
- Can walk on water, benefiting exploration.
- More team options with her in the future
- Cons
- Drains HP from the whole party
- You will eventually need a 5-star DPS
Why you should pull for Baizhu in Genshin Impact
While Furina is the superior choice in this banner matchup, you might consider pulling for Baizhu instead if you are seeking a more specialized and dedicated healing unit. Furina does supply strong healing, but her skillset does a lot more beyond this, while Baizhu is more focused on healing and less on general support.
Even though Furina is the overall better choice, you really can’t go wrong pulling for either character, and you should absolutely pull for one of the two with any Wishes you have. We don’t see banner matchups this good very often, so this is not a banner you want to skip unless you’re determined to save for an upcoming character like Navia.
Both Furina and Baizhu’s banners also have a strong collection of four-star units, including Charlotte, Collei, and Beidou. This is also Charlotte’s debut, so if you want her, you should make sure you pull for one of the two since she will move to the massive pool of four-star characters after and become very difficult to obtain.
Pulling for Furina is the best choice you can make on the Version 4.2 phase one banner, but Baizhu is also an excellent character, so you should just make sure you pull for one of the two while you can.
Pros and Cons of Choosing Baizhu, according to fans
- Pros
- You’ll never die
- Excellent healing. His skill heals the entire party every 10 seconds
- His first constellation lets you use his heal twice
- He is more fun to play
- Cons
- Not physically strong
- There’s not a ton of endgame value or comp possibilities
