Genshin Impact second 2.5 Weapon Banner review: It’s worth it

The second Genshin Impact 2.5 weapon banner brings the signature five-star weapons of Raiden Shogun and Kokomi, but the real stars of the show are the four-star weapons along for the ride. Here’s what you need to know about this Weapon Banner.

Five-stars: Engulfing Lightning or Everlasting Moonglow?

The two five-star headliners are reruns of Raiden and Kokomi’s weapons to coincide with their Character event banner. Both are exclusive to the Event Wish.

I always recommend Wishing on the Weapon Banner if and only if you can use or want both weapons. Usually, one is a little more versatile than the other.

Engulfing Lightning is the better weapon of the two. It’s an unparalleled Support Polearm, giving massive Energy Recharge and another attack buff based on the total Energy Recharge. Engulfing Lightning is similar to Staff of Homa: it’s a big stat stick that any character can use well.

Everlasting Moonglow is a weird niche weapon that increases the wielder’s healing ability. It also provides a Normal Attack damage buff that scales from the character’s max HP. There are only two catalyst healers in the game: Barabra and Kokomi. This weapon enables hybrid healing/DPS builds for them. As a stat stick it’s lacking, due to its HP% sub-stat.

Four-star: No duds

If you’re gunning for either of the five-stars, you’ll be sure to accumulate several copies of the four-star weapons while you’re at it. I’m happy to see that every single four-star weapon on this Banner is a hit and gets better with Refinement.

Lion’s Roar (Sword)

This is a strong Attack% Sword that gives a damage bonus against enemies afflicted by Pyro or Electro. It works best when the wielder can supply the Element to trigger damage.  Currently, Keqing is the only Sword character who can consistently apply Electro or Pyro. If you don’t have her, Lion’s Roar is more of an investment for future updates and types of characters we don’t have yet.

Favonius Lance (Polearm)

Engulfing Lightning may be the best Support Polearm, but Favonius Lance comes pretty darn close especially at high refinements. It has high base Attack and Energy Recharge as a sub-stat.

Landing Crits with Favonius Lance triggers a chance to create particles. It’s a weapon that goes from great to amazing the more copies you collect. At Refinement 5, the particle generation triggers 100% of the time on Crit.

Sacrificial Fragments (Catalyst)

Unlike the other weapons in the Sacrificial series, Fragments has Elemental Mastery as its sub-stat. Upon landing a hit with an Elemental Skill, Sacrificial Fragments has a chance to recover that skill’s cool down.

Combined with the Elemental Mastery stat, this weapon is decidedly more aggressive, working great with Klee and Yanfei in Vaporize teams. It also creates more particles by giving you more Elemental Skill hits.

It’s a great choice for Sucrose, as she has abilities that pass on her Elemental Mastery.

Mouun’s Moon (Bow) and Akoumaru (Claymore)

These both have the same effect and Attack sub-stat. For each point of the party’s total Energy capacity (the cost to use your Bursts), the Elemental Burst damage of the user is increased. This increases dramatically with Refinement.

Both are generically powerful weapons that go well on any DPS or Burst Support character you can use them on. Akoumaru is particularly powerful on Beidou, whose Elemental Burst hits multiple times.

Every four-star weapon on this banner is a powerful option for the characters that can wield them. There aren’t any real misses on this Banner, and every one benefits greatly from Refining multiple copies.