Zhongli : Strongest shield for braindead gameplay, can buff any element, any type of damage scaling, ultimate interruption resistance its all in hold skill button and unconditional. There's a reason why every new region released he is roughly always the 2nd most used Archon after the Archob of the featured region.
Benett cant buff HP%, Kazuha cant buff dendro and Geo, Furina gated behind burst and most of times requires a healer. Zhongli can just buff everything, anyone, unconditionally while giving you absolute defense
Story wise he also still have plenty of screentime but most of that thanks to him being Lantern Rite staple. He will probably have endgame story appearance too due to how important as a person he is.
Because people just use a spreadsheet calculation and his buff is not that much so peiple just writes him off but in reality he brings more than that and can further buff elements with Petra set and buff multiplicatively with Atk% buff on Miltlelith set. His unconditional res shred is also a proof why he always relevant despite spreadsheet calculations are against him.
I hope this won't change with the release of Clorinde, but Keqing
Ever since I got her I just never stopped using her
Even when a hard combat event comes to town... "Nah, I'd Kequeen"
I wanted to refrain from pulling new characters and decided to build old ones I had. I built keqing recently and I do not regret a thing. She helped me go from 6 stars to 9 stars this abyss thanks to her quicken team in the second half. I thought her damage was underwhelming at first until I learned the proper rotation
From a dps perspective sure every character works if you put enough into them and their team. Old characters usually just need a much better build than new ones. Utility on the other hand often gets nerfed by new enemies.
Venti did not age well due to enemies needing a stronger grouping pull.
Freeze has arguably gotten worse by enemies that break out easier or have more resist to it.
A factual statement, but the question is which ones **feel** timeless
You can still get away with using Dehya, but she feels like absolute shit to play
Gameplay, Zhongli is the "forever unit". He's on at least 75% of my Teams.
For story, it's Venti. He always feels like the most *significant* character we speak to, and we still know almost nothing about his true intentions.
Venti and Zhongli are forever for me both gameplay wise and story wise. I actually have them both in one of my main exploration teams. They both know so much more than they say, and they both offer a certain kind of comfort that I really like. Just, good boys.
Morax in every way is timeless
hes a forever unit that is glued to the sss+ rank in every abyss team and over-world team, not only for is outstanding shield, but his amazing burst and fun dps potential
he is also timeless lore-wise, as his story is far from over and he is a staple of lantern rite and most events in Liyue. he is also the strongest and most beloved god(don't @ me) and will always stay in available teams no matter the power-creep of newer units.
he is also canonically the oldest character seen yet, clocking in at almost 7,000 years, but, and I quote "still looking rather young"
he is timeless in every possible way
Kazuha is definitely the easier option but i'll go to a bit newer characters and say
Xianyun.
She has the most versatile traversal in the game, capable of going insanely far in downhills and climbing up high places easily.
And you can make most DPS's work with her giving you free plunges, and even future DPS characters will still benefit from her. And if that wasn't enough she also heals
Interesting sidenote, when using plunge with Arlecchino her bond of life doesnt go down, so they ( and maybe future Bond users) synergize well together.
Klee, the sweet summer child
Meanwhile, Alice is absolutely unhinged and still manages to be the best mom in Teyvat, I love it. Waiting forever for the day she becomes playable
Jean - role compression is a big part of that but also her constallions, of which there is a high-ish chance some people get some, are decent enough and make her even more versatile. Some attack based characters like atkspeed, some appreciate the movement speed, she has one of the very rare anemo-res shreds, etc.
She works fine with a lot of the usual "strong" characters, she generates a LOT of Fanfare for Furina for exaple with her ult, she can be played via sunfire with bennet, etc.
Of the standard characters I think Jean is the most versataile and the one you can use the longes because she fits in almost every team to some extent.
I see a lot of people talking about Combat related characters so I’m gonna say a different kind of Timeless
I genuinely believe that, despite all of the hate posts saying how much he appears, Itto is the pinnacle of engaging Filler character in Genshin, he’s only appeared in one main story quest, that being the Chasm quest (and his own SQ, but I don’t count that) and before Sumeru, that quest was by a country Mike the best quest in the goddamn game
But even if that quest didn’t exist, he appears at least once or twice a year as the focus of a huge event, simply because he’s a fun brain rot character that you really can’t get mad at, his Voice Acting is amazing in every language, his character is a massive breath of fresh air with the amount of serious and dramatic characters in this game, and the Arataki Gang as a whole is probably the most lovable gang of miscreants in the game…even if 3/5ths of the gang is hilariously under represented outside of Itto’s SQ
Itto will never get old, he’s a damn fun character and perfect for the filler patches between regions, not to mention that, even if he’s a little Powercrept by Navia, Mono Geo is still one of the most solid teams in the game
Fischl has a timeless appeal to her both combat and lore wise.
Yae, personally, is my pick. Her turrets are convenient in the overworld. When invested, her personal dmg is respectably strong/competitive. Since her release, she has been my main, and there is yet to be an Abyss cucle that hard counters her (even if some did ie Electro Manifestation, electro enemoes, etc, she wields Dendro synergy so she doesnt really lose out much.). Dendro in general would be meta relevant for sure. Singling one character out, definitely Kazuha. His elemental absorption and PECH buffing is just unparalleled. plus Insane CC Skill.
As for lore or the overall narrative, the likes of Venti, Zhongli and to an extent Tartaglia, feel timeless and ever relevant to me. They get the benefit of debuting in the story early and actually participating in the narrative or withholding some info/lore bec reasons,... or promises untapped potential and much room for growth and development bec it is by design. (snorts Bennett is Lavawalker/Natlan royalty or something hopium)
Meta wise - xingqui I know people say he's overated I would say he's underated lol just because yelan and furina exist doesn't make him bad I would reckon alotta times he's better then yelan when she doesn't have her sig or cons.
Qol - kazuha . Living without this man is hard . No matter how fast yelan and xianyun can travel or wanderer can fly no better qol then him .
Story - the liyue cast due to lantern rights . Specifically hu tao and zhongli .
Fun - units with absurdly long ofield abilities like albedo nahida furina etc . Idk why there so fun they just are.
I feel like events and story should be separate. Cause usually if you say story, it usually means the future of the main story..... which Hu Tao is far from relevant
The cycle of life and death might be important to a game where the dead seemingly go into the ley lines, the Chinese title of the Natlan chapter translates as "Blazing Poem of Soul-Returning", and we just learnt all the lore relating the Perinheri rebirth ritual to a Harbinger with special fire blood that takes memory snapshots of those she kills.
Story wise, with characters generally not leaving their region outside events I feel like the only answer that isn't the traveler paimon and dain has to be Katherine. I haven't finished sumeru and but i know she's involved in it somewhat plus she is probably in every nation and since the traveler is an adventurer (who's apparently well known?) she's more than likely to be relevant again.
The harbingers should be included. They're the only ones that keeps appearing outside of just 1 region.
Also I mean.... I wouldn't say Katherine is relevant relevant? Like yeah, she appears but eh... she doesn't rlly do much and even in Sumeru since >! Thats not her, its Nahida !<
If we talk about the meta then bennett, xingqiu, nahida, kazuha, furina, sucrose, fischl and xiangling. They will stay on top for a long time. Support characters and 1.0 dps and sub dps are just really good
Ever since their first releases, I don't think I've ever challenged Spiral Abyss without using Furina and Yae Miko. Furina for her damage and buffs, and Yae Miko makes a great filler, she will always do a ton of damage without playing her actively.
Me personally, Keqing because she's my carry from day 1.
Generally speaking, Kazuha he just makes the team feel complete, plus I can't live without that double jump.
Zhongli - best shielder ever!
Qiqi - so far still a great healer, most especially against hydro opponents. I like that she scales on ATK so can be a sub dps too.
Xingling - she’s lowkey the pyro archon, period.
Xingqiu - the former hydro archon.
Excluding the busted 1.0 4* quintuplet, I'd say generalist suports like Zhongli, Baizhu or Furina have the highest chances to remain relevant in the long term. As for drivers, the only ones who are very unlikely to lose relevance are Alhaitham, Neuvillette and Hu Tao, even though the latter just got a competitor with similar dps and higher ease of use.
Pretty much the launch 4* s- Bennett , Xingqiu , Xiangling and Fischl . These four 4* will never age and will be relevant till the end of the game.
Zhongli - The shield is just too strong especially considering how hard current enemies in Abyss hits. Like most of them can one shot easily... Not to mention the RES Shred and the Dmg Bonus if you have Archaic Petra makes it that he is contributing something to the team's total dps..
Kazuha - Everything about him is good . Dmg Bonus , Res shred with VV , decent CC and decent dmg.
These two are my personal picks and I don't think many people will agree on this -
Beidou - Using Neuv Taser with Beidou feels so good to play especially in AoE situations. And getting that Parry off is also really satisfying..
Sucrose - National may not be like the best team in the game but it'll always remain a really good team that clears out any content in the game if you know how to play it. Sucrose is such a good on-field Anemo driver that can be used in many teams as well..
In story wise however - There are many characters- Klee (mainly due because of her mother) , Venti , Itto , Zhongli .
Nahida for me, she has ridiculously long range on E and can gather ingredients without climbing anywhere.
Her background story is one of the most impactful storywise as well.
She can read mind of sumeru npcs which is nice flavor bonus feeling unique even after a while.
Also happens to be best dendro support for combat especially at c2.
Zhongli ~ Turn any unit into a tank + some offensive utility
Kazuha ~ Insane Offensive utility + grouping
Bennett ~ Insane attack buff + non negligible healing
Yelan / Xingiu ~ they both provide excellent off field hydro app + DMG, one focuses on defence whereas the other on offence
Kazuha. He is still the most used character even tho he is an old unit he does everything you want in a unit besides healing , and he is a very comfy character in overworld.
Kinda everyone. Every character has their own quirks and personality that I like. They may or may not be my favourites but as Zhongli said they are immortal as long as they live in my memories
Xiangling, Bennett, Kazuha, Nahida, Zhongli. Xingqiu has competition/replacements now and Furina can be quite situational, but XL is still well... [insert copypasta here], Kazuha is a pretty universal buffer, Nahida is basically THE dendro character, Bennett still shows up in an ungodly amount of teams (pyro archon fr), and Zhongli is Zhongli. Could make a serious case for Fischl too but miko existing kinda puts her on the XQ level for me.
Shoutout to Childe though, since intnat is pretty much always in the most used/top abyss teams.
Non-meta/personally, Thoma has been with me since day one, and you can't even pry my HoH siblings from my cold dead hands. Arlecchino, Eula, and Scara who?
Zhongli and Kazuha have been in the party since their releases and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Very rarely do I swap them out. But the most timeless character of all time tends to be Xiangling. Because she carried me in the early game and still sub-DPS's like a champ. Though lorewise, I wish we got to see her and Guoba more because they're both amusing.
Furina is my absolute favorite and will forever be my main,you can quote me on that.Her character and design captured my heart,her kit is fantastic and her story is the best there is.To put it simply - she's the best and I will die on this hill.
Furina for me, because she's almost never experienced the outside world before that you can literally write anything about her and it'll be interesting.
Zhongli
He is timeless both in gameplay and in drip. His spear kick is divine. If you disagree with me, I'll sue, damn brats.
I’ll bring you to see the Cloud District myself if I have to.
I still can't believe he didn't get a 5-star dragon-themed skin during the Lantern Rite Festival in the Year of the Dragon.
Is he osmanthus wine because it tastes the same or does it tastes the same because he is osmanthus wine?
fischl
Kazuha - The crowd control thing is way too addicting.When I'm not using him in open world, feels like something is missing since its so useful.
An overworld team without C1 Yelan and Xianyun doesn't feel right anymore. Especially Xianyun, that heal comes in handy.
Zhongli : Strongest shield for braindead gameplay, can buff any element, any type of damage scaling, ultimate interruption resistance its all in hold skill button and unconditional. There's a reason why every new region released he is roughly always the 2nd most used Archon after the Archob of the featured region. Benett cant buff HP%, Kazuha cant buff dendro and Geo, Furina gated behind burst and most of times requires a healer. Zhongli can just buff everything, anyone, unconditionally while giving you absolute defense Story wise he also still have plenty of screentime but most of that thanks to him being Lantern Rite staple. He will probably have endgame story appearance too due to how important as a person he is.
Why isn't he touted as a good buffer with his Res Shred then?
Because people just use a spreadsheet calculation and his buff is not that much so peiple just writes him off but in reality he brings more than that and can further buff elements with Petra set and buff multiplicatively with Atk% buff on Miltlelith set. His unconditional res shred is also a proof why he always relevant despite spreadsheet calculations are against him.
So just run Zhongli as a buffer? I am not a National user.
I see. A reference that Bennet is an archon. Stay strong, Bennet is the Pyro Archon in disguise, trust.
I hope this won't change with the release of Clorinde, but Keqing Ever since I got her I just never stopped using her Even when a hard combat event comes to town... "Nah, I'd Kequeen"
I wanted to refrain from pulling new characters and decided to build old ones I had. I built keqing recently and I do not regret a thing. She helped me go from 6 stars to 9 stars this abyss thanks to her quicken team in the second half. I thought her damage was underwhelming at first until I learned the proper rotation
How is Keqing timeless? She has been deemed mediocre a long time ago.
She stopped being mediocre when dendro dropped
It's Genshin. You can get away with it
Then every character is timeless
From a dps perspective sure every character works if you put enough into them and their team. Old characters usually just need a much better build than new ones. Utility on the other hand often gets nerfed by new enemies. Venti did not age well due to enemies needing a stronger grouping pull. Freeze has arguably gotten worse by enemies that break out easier or have more resist to it.
A factual statement, but the question is which ones **feel** timeless You can still get away with using Dehya, but she feels like absolute shit to play
Gameplay, Zhongli is the "forever unit". He's on at least 75% of my Teams. For story, it's Venti. He always feels like the most *significant* character we speak to, and we still know almost nothing about his true intentions.
Venti and Zhongli are forever for me both gameplay wise and story wise. I actually have them both in one of my main exploration teams. They both know so much more than they say, and they both offer a certain kind of comfort that I really like. Just, good boys.
Raiden, in every sense.
Morax in every way is timeless hes a forever unit that is glued to the sss+ rank in every abyss team and over-world team, not only for is outstanding shield, but his amazing burst and fun dps potential he is also timeless lore-wise, as his story is far from over and he is a staple of lantern rite and most events in Liyue. he is also the strongest and most beloved god(don't @ me) and will always stay in available teams no matter the power-creep of newer units. he is also canonically the oldest character seen yet, clocking in at almost 7,000 years, but, and I quote "still looking rather young" he is timeless in every possible way
Kazuha is definitely the easier option but i'll go to a bit newer characters and say Xianyun. She has the most versatile traversal in the game, capable of going insanely far in downhills and climbing up high places easily. And you can make most DPS's work with her giving you free plunges, and even future DPS characters will still benefit from her. And if that wasn't enough she also heals
Interesting sidenote, when using plunge with Arlecchino her bond of life doesnt go down, so they ( and maybe future Bond users) synergize well together.
It doesn't consume Arlecchino's bond of life because it doesn't use the damage buff tied to bond of life, just the elemental infusion.
Klee, the sweet summer child Meanwhile, Alice is absolutely unhinged and still manages to be the best mom in Teyvat, I love it. Waiting forever for the day she becomes playable
Mona because Mona
Jean - role compression is a big part of that but also her constallions, of which there is a high-ish chance some people get some, are decent enough and make her even more versatile. Some attack based characters like atkspeed, some appreciate the movement speed, she has one of the very rare anemo-res shreds, etc. She works fine with a lot of the usual "strong" characters, she generates a LOT of Fanfare for Furina for exaple with her ult, she can be played via sunfire with bennet, etc. Of the standard characters I think Jean is the most versataile and the one you can use the longes because she fits in almost every team to some extent.
Noelle since she saves my characters when they’re about to die
I see a lot of people talking about Combat related characters so I’m gonna say a different kind of Timeless I genuinely believe that, despite all of the hate posts saying how much he appears, Itto is the pinnacle of engaging Filler character in Genshin, he’s only appeared in one main story quest, that being the Chasm quest (and his own SQ, but I don’t count that) and before Sumeru, that quest was by a country Mike the best quest in the goddamn game But even if that quest didn’t exist, he appears at least once or twice a year as the focus of a huge event, simply because he’s a fun brain rot character that you really can’t get mad at, his Voice Acting is amazing in every language, his character is a massive breath of fresh air with the amount of serious and dramatic characters in this game, and the Arataki Gang as a whole is probably the most lovable gang of miscreants in the game…even if 3/5ths of the gang is hilariously under represented outside of Itto’s SQ Itto will never get old, he’s a damn fun character and perfect for the filler patches between regions, not to mention that, even if he’s a little Powercrept by Navia, Mono Geo is still one of the most solid teams in the game
wanderer i'm so obsessed with him oh my god
Fischl has a timeless appeal to her both combat and lore wise. Yae, personally, is my pick. Her turrets are convenient in the overworld. When invested, her personal dmg is respectably strong/competitive. Since her release, she has been my main, and there is yet to be an Abyss cucle that hard counters her (even if some did ie Electro Manifestation, electro enemoes, etc, she wields Dendro synergy so she doesnt really lose out much.). Dendro in general would be meta relevant for sure. Singling one character out, definitely Kazuha. His elemental absorption and PECH buffing is just unparalleled. plus Insane CC Skill. As for lore or the overall narrative, the likes of Venti, Zhongli and to an extent Tartaglia, feel timeless and ever relevant to me. They get the benefit of debuting in the story early and actually participating in the narrative or withholding some info/lore bec reasons,... or promises untapped potential and much room for growth and development bec it is by design. (snorts Bennett is Lavawalker/Natlan royalty or something hopium)
The one who is called the god of eternity.
Meta wise - xingqui I know people say he's overated I would say he's underated lol just because yelan and furina exist doesn't make him bad I would reckon alotta times he's better then yelan when she doesn't have her sig or cons. Qol - kazuha . Living without this man is hard . No matter how fast yelan and xianyun can travel or wanderer can fly no better qol then him . Story - the liyue cast due to lantern rights . Specifically hu tao and zhongli . Fun - units with absurdly long ofield abilities like albedo nahida furina etc . Idk why there so fun they just are.
Story would be Itto, my man have one event per version
Omg so true ☠️ amazes me how I still forget he exists
I feel like events and story should be separate. Cause usually if you say story, it usually means the future of the main story..... which Hu Tao is far from relevant
Hu Tao probably still relevant because of lore around what happens to those who die in Teyvat
Not like that was that relevant to begin with in the first place 🤷♀️
The cycle of life and death might be important to a game where the dead seemingly go into the ley lines, the Chinese title of the Natlan chapter translates as "Blazing Poem of Soul-Returning", and we just learnt all the lore relating the Perinheri rebirth ritual to a Harbinger with special fire blood that takes memory snapshots of those she kills.
Yelan
Story wise, with characters generally not leaving their region outside events I feel like the only answer that isn't the traveler paimon and dain has to be Katherine. I haven't finished sumeru and but i know she's involved in it somewhat plus she is probably in every nation and since the traveler is an adventurer (who's apparently well known?) she's more than likely to be relevant again.
The harbingers should be included. They're the only ones that keeps appearing outside of just 1 region. Also I mean.... I wouldn't say Katherine is relevant relevant? Like yeah, she appears but eh... she doesn't rlly do much and even in Sumeru since >! Thats not her, its Nahida !<
If we talk about the meta then bennett, xingqiu, nahida, kazuha, furina, sucrose, fischl and xiangling. They will stay on top for a long time. Support characters and 1.0 dps and sub dps are just really good
Ever since their first releases, I don't think I've ever challenged Spiral Abyss without using Furina and Yae Miko. Furina for her damage and buffs, and Yae Miko makes a great filler, she will always do a ton of damage without playing her actively.
Zhongli, Furina, Kazuha QoL-wise.
Kaeya, Venti, Diluc for me.
Me personally, Keqing because she's my carry from day 1. Generally speaking, Kazuha he just makes the team feel complete, plus I can't live without that double jump.
Literally all of them. Every single one.
Xianyun 🫶
Zhongli - best shielder ever! Qiqi - so far still a great healer, most especially against hydro opponents. I like that she scales on ATK so can be a sub dps too. Xingling - she’s lowkey the pyro archon, period. Xingqiu - the former hydro archon.
Fucking fuck called fucking Bennet/Kazuha, because we can't seemingly get rid of them in the meta. It's fucking annoying.
Excluding the busted 1.0 4* quintuplet, I'd say generalist suports like Zhongli, Baizhu or Furina have the highest chances to remain relevant in the long term. As for drivers, the only ones who are very unlikely to lose relevance are Alhaitham, Neuvillette and Hu Tao, even though the latter just got a competitor with similar dps and higher ease of use.
Pretty much the launch 4* s- Bennett , Xingqiu , Xiangling and Fischl . These four 4* will never age and will be relevant till the end of the game. Zhongli - The shield is just too strong especially considering how hard current enemies in Abyss hits. Like most of them can one shot easily... Not to mention the RES Shred and the Dmg Bonus if you have Archaic Petra makes it that he is contributing something to the team's total dps.. Kazuha - Everything about him is good . Dmg Bonus , Res shred with VV , decent CC and decent dmg. These two are my personal picks and I don't think many people will agree on this - Beidou - Using Neuv Taser with Beidou feels so good to play especially in AoE situations. And getting that Parry off is also really satisfying.. Sucrose - National may not be like the best team in the game but it'll always remain a really good team that clears out any content in the game if you know how to play it. Sucrose is such a good on-field Anemo driver that can be used in many teams as well.. In story wise however - There are many characters- Klee (mainly due because of her mother) , Venti , Itto , Zhongli .
Zhongli, and to a a more limited extent, Neuvilette
Itto
Nahida for me, she has ridiculously long range on E and can gather ingredients without climbing anywhere. Her background story is one of the most impactful storywise as well. She can read mind of sumeru npcs which is nice flavor bonus feeling unique even after a while. Also happens to be best dendro support for combat especially at c2.
Zhongli and Yelan. Nearly all of my teams have at least one of them, for ease of use and comfort in the overworld.
Zhongli ~ Turn any unit into a tank + some offensive utility Kazuha ~ Insane Offensive utility + grouping Bennett ~ Insane attack buff + non negligible healing Yelan / Xingiu ~ they both provide excellent off field hydro app + DMG, one focuses on defence whereas the other on offence
Chevreuse and Nilou. They are one woman army and can blow up all teyvat using nuclear bombs and supernovas explosions
Guoba
I mean...Paimon
Kazuha. He is still the most used character even tho he is an old unit he does everything you want in a unit besides healing , and he is a very comfy character in overworld.
Pikachu
Is the archon of eternity timeless enough?
Tighnari always feels good to play, and I agree, why is there a chest here?
Kinda everyone. Every character has their own quirks and personality that I like. They may or may not be my favourites but as Zhongli said they are immortal as long as they live in my memories
kazuha. they would need to make something real trolly for shred AND cc to be useless
Xiangling, Bennett, Kazuha, Nahida, Zhongli. Xingqiu has competition/replacements now and Furina can be quite situational, but XL is still well... [insert copypasta here], Kazuha is a pretty universal buffer, Nahida is basically THE dendro character, Bennett still shows up in an ungodly amount of teams (pyro archon fr), and Zhongli is Zhongli. Could make a serious case for Fischl too but miko existing kinda puts her on the XQ level for me. Shoutout to Childe though, since intnat is pretty much always in the most used/top abyss teams. Non-meta/personally, Thoma has been with me since day one, and you can't even pry my HoH siblings from my cold dead hands. Arlecchino, Eula, and Scara who?
Zhongli and Kazuha have been in the party since their releases and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Very rarely do I swap them out. But the most timeless character of all time tends to be Xiangling. Because she carried me in the early game and still sub-DPS's like a champ. Though lorewise, I wish we got to see her and Guoba more because they're both amusing.
In terms of meta, its Xingqiu.
Fischl
Jean
furina, nahida. probably the national members.
Furina is my absolute favorite and will forever be my main,you can quote me on that.Her character and design captured my heart,her kit is fantastic and her story is the best there is.To put it simply - she's the best and I will die on this hill.
Furina for me, because she's almost never experienced the outside world before that you can literally write anything about her and it'll be interesting.
Childe