Why Genshin Impact Needs to Adopt Honkai's Character Categorization

Honkai: Star Rail, the latest release from HoYoverse, has received high praise for its engaging gameplay, captivating story, and lovable characters. Despite having different gameplay styles, some Hoyoverse fans have compared Honkai: Star Rail to its predecessor, Genshin Impact, due to their shared elements of exploration, material farming, and gacha mechanics. However, Honkai: Star Rail introduces many new features and quality-of-life improvements that should have been implemented in Genshin Impact. It appears that HoYoverse has learned from the flaws in its previous title.

Honkai: Star Rail surpasses Genshin Impact in multiple aspects, prompting players to question why Genshin Impact has not received the necessary quality-of-life updates. If HoYoverse were to dedicate an update to improving Genshin Impact's QoL, there are numerous features that could be enhanced. One particular feature that Genshin Impact should adopt from Honkai: Star Rail is the categorization of characters. With Genshin Impact's increasing roster of playable characters, character categories would assist new players in familiarizing themselves with the existing cast, while longtime players would be able to determine if they should obtain new characters based on their role.

Honkai: Star Rail's Paths Make Character Archetypes Clear for Players

In Honkai: Star Rail's lore, Paths are powerful sources of energy that are tied to specific ideals. These energies are utilized by the Aeons - the gods of the galaxy - for their own purposes. Currently, there are 18 known Paths in Honkai: Star Rail, but only seven of them are associated with playable characters: Destruction, The Hunt, Erudition, Harmony, Nihility, Preservation, and Abundance.

From a gameplay perspective, each character in Honkai: Star Rail fulfills a specific class, known as a Path. This gives players clear distinctions on each character's specialization. For example, characters belonging to the Destruction Path are adept at dealing and enduring large amounts of damage, while those belonging to The Hunt Path excel at dealing incredible amounts of single-target damage.

However, unlike The Hunt, the Erudition Path characters are more effective in dealing damage to groups of enemies. While the Harmony characters provide buffs to allies, the Nihility characters debuff their enemies. On the other hand, the Preservation Path characters offer defensive skills to protect allies, while the Abundance characters focus on healing their allies.

In addition to determining the characters' roles in turn-based combat, the Paths also determine which Light Cones belong to each class. Unlike Genshin Impact's five weapon types, Honkai: Star Rail only has Light Cones, each of which is associated with one of the seven Paths. Consequently, characters can only use Light Cones that belong to the same Path as them.

Genshin Impact Could Implement a Similar System to Categorize Characters

With Genshin Impact's ever-expanding roster of characters, it's understandable that newer or more casual players may feel overwhelmed when it comes to team-building. It would be helpful for players to have access to an in-game categorization system that suggests optimal archetypes for each character. However, the issue arises when certain characters in Genshin Impact can fulfill multiple roles.

For instance, Bennett can act as both a healer and a buffer, Baizhu can provide healing as well as shielding, and the Raiden Shogun can serve as a buffer and sub-DPS. While Genshin Impact doesn't necessarily have to adhere to the same character categorization system as Honkai: Star Rail, it would be useful for the game's roster to be divided into broader categories rather than having seven distinct character classes.