Best Swords in Genshin Impact, Ranked (+Tier List)

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Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

Let’s be honest, few things are as cool and iconic as a sword-wielding hero. Swords strike the perfect balance between power and speed, letting you take advantage of lulls in the enemy’s defenses. Simply weave your elemental abilities in with each assault and finish off your foes with a decisive strike.

If you’re all about getting up close and personal with your enemies, swords are the weapon of choice for you. There’s a wide range of playstyles between sword users, making them one of the most popular weapons in Genshin Impact. Unsurprisingly, this means there’s a lot of really good swords to choose from.

This week, we’ll be going over the best swords in Genshin Impact to help you find the best option to bring your characters to their full potential. Let’s get started!

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Foreword

Our rankings largely assume you only have a single copy of each weapon. Only common three-star and free weapons obtained via events/forging are expected to have been refined with multiple copies. While not common, we will note when a weapon’s refinement level has a large impact on its ranking.

Control yourself and roll responsibly. Don’t go broke trying to get refinement Level 5 on a five-star weapon!

Honorable Mention: Cinnabar Spindle

Due to the sheer number of swords we have to cover, we can only do a deep dive on so many. However, there is one sword that stands out with its particular niche usage.

The Cinnabar Spindle from the recent 2021 Christmas event is the best weapon for Albedo due to its perfect synergy with his off-field playstyle. As the weapon scales heavily with a character’s DEF, only Albedo can take proper advantage of it currently, but this might change as new characters are added to the game down the road.

Genshin Impact Sword Tier List (2.x)

Here are our picks for the twenty-seven best swords in Genshin Impact. Keep reading for our breakdown on the best of the best swords, as well as a few strategies on how to use them effectively.

The 11 Best Swords in Genshin Impact, Ranked Good to Best

We’ve ranked our top 11 swords, hitting on what makes them great and how to make the most of each when you have them equipped. If a specific weapon is considered the best overall for a character, we’ll have (BiS) next to their name for “Best in Slot.”

11/11

Harbinger of Dawn (3* Rarity)

Source: Standard Banner | Good On: Geo Traveler, Albedo, Kaeya

The first weapon on our list is our only three-star entry. Despite having weaker base stats due to its lower rarity, the fact that it maintains its effect makes it one of the strongest budget swords for crit-focused characters.

With a base attack of 401 and a 46.9% bonus to crit DMG at max level, it’s one of the few readily available ways to boost your critical output. Additionally, this sword boosts your crit rate by 14% as long as the wielder’s health is above 90%.

Due to how well critical hits scale in Genshin, the Harbinger is considerably stronger than you might initially assume. As a bonus, you can potentially afford to build more crit DMG on your artifact sets if you can constantly stay healthy enough to trigger the weapon’s effect.

Each refinement copy you add to this weapon increases the crit rate buff by 3.5%. At max refinement, the wielder gains a 28% bonus to their crit rate while above 90% health. You’re almost guaranteed to obtain enough copies for max refinement just from occasionally wishing on banners. It helps that you get one copy of this weapon from finishing Kaeya’s story quest.  

Any character who primarily contributes while being off-field can easily take advantage of this weapon, as they don’t risk getting hurt. Albedo in particular comes to mind. Otherwise, we mainly recommend this for Geo Traveler, as they’re all about boosting their crit stats to the moon.

10/11

Prototype Rancour (4* Rarity)

Source: Forging | Good On: Bennett, Keqing (Physical), Traveler (Physical)

This is one of the first four-star weapons that most players obtain, as you obtain a copy for free upon hitting Adventure Rank 10. It’s a very solid starting sword that focuses on augmenting your basic attacks and providing survivability.

With a base attack of 565 and a 34.5% bonus to physical DMG at max level, it’s one of the harder hitting four-star weapons. Additionally, its effect boosts both your ATK and DEF by 4% each time you hit an enemy with a basic attack, stacking up to four times with a duration of six seconds. Each stack is represented by a small floating sword around the wielder.

As it’s a forgeable weapon, you can relatively easily obtain enough copies for max refinement. Getting the Sword Billets is by far the hardest part, but as long as you consistently do your weekly boss clears, you’ll eventually obtain them. Each refinement copy increases the ATK/DEF buff by 1% per stack. At max refinement, you gain an 8% bonus per stack for a total of 24% ATK/DEF buff at max stacks.

Due to its effect, you’ll get the most mileage out of this weapon by equipping it to your main on-field DPS unit, especially if they’re stacking their ATK stat from artifacts. However, the weapon does nothing to boost your skill/burst damage, meaning it’ll usually fall flat in the long run compared to other choices.

Thankfully, there are some characters who can make a physical build work, such as Keqing or any physical Traveler build. If you plan to do so, make sure to grab the Pale Flame artifact set to really boost your damage output. Additionally, Bennett benefits greatly from the high base ATK of this weapon for boosting his burst’s ATK buff.

9/11

Festering Desire (4* Rarity)

Source: 2020 Christmas Event | Good On: Geo Traveler (BiS F2P), Jean, Qiqi

This is a blade made from the remnants of the shadow dragon Durin, obtained during the 2020 Christmas event. This weapon is one of the best swords for characters who mainly rely on their elemental skill. If you were playing back then, you most likely have this sword and all of its refinements. Otherwise, there is no current way to obtain it, nor any planned re-run event for a second shot at it.

With a base attack of 510 and a 45.9% bonus to Energy Recharge at max level, it’s fairly middle of the pack in terms of stats. However, its effect boosts both the DMG and crit rate of the user’s elemental skill by 16% and 6% respectively. Most folks obtained all the refinement materials, with each one boosting the skill DMG by 4% and the skill crit rate by 1.5%. At max refinement, you had a 32% boost to skill DMG and a 12% to skill crit rate.

Both lore and gameplay wise, this weapon is designed for Geo Traveler as their best F2P weapon. Their skill is their main source of damage, and the weapon provides all the stats they crave. Alternatively, characters like Qiqi or Jean (who are swapped in for their skill/burst) can also take advantage of the weapon’s effect and extra Energy Recharge.

8/11

Favonius Sword (4* Rarity)

Source: Standard Banner | Good On: Electro Traveler (BiS), Kazuha, Qiqi, Xingqiu

The Favonius Sword is the standard blade of the Knights of Favonius and one suited to ensuring the user’s burst is up as often as possible.

With a base attack of 454 and a 61.3% bonus to Energy Recharge at max level, it’s distinctly on the weaker side for pure damage. However, its secondary stat and effect turn it into one of the best batteries for charging your burst.

Each time you land a crit strike on an enemy (including multiple enemies), you have a 60% chance to gain 6 energy for the wielder. However, this effect can only occur once every twelve seconds. While it may not seem like a lot, between this and the 61.3% bonus ER, the wielder will have their burst fairly often on standby. Each refinement copy increases the proc chance by 10% and lowers the cooldown on the effect by 1.5 seconds. At max refinement, you have a 100% per crit to regen 6 energy with only a six-second cooldown.

This is one of the few times where max refining a weapon drastically boosts its usefulness and equipping it to a character with a decent crit rate and low skill cooldown will generate ludicrous amounts of energy. To that end, we strongly recommend equipping it on a character like Electro Traveler, whose entire existence is defined by their burst. Other characters who struggle with energy generation (like Qiqi) or those who spam their burst (like Kazuha and Xingqiu) also strongly benefit from it.

7/11

Sacrificial Sword (4* Rarity)

Source: Standard Banner | Good On: Qiqi (BiS), Xingqiu (BiS), Electro Traveler, Kazuha

Arguably a better version of the Favonius Sword, this weapon instead focuses on resetting the cooldown of the wielder’s skill. Given that some sword users have incredibly long skill cooldowns, this can be a complete game changer.

With a base attack of 454 and a 61.3% bonus to Energy Recharge at max level, it’s identical to the Favonius Sword stat wise. However, its effect has a 40% chance to instantly reset the wielder’s skill cooldown upon doing damage with their skill. However, it is limited by a thirty-second cooldown on the effect.

Like its counterpart, this weapon benefits tremendously from refinement. Each refinement copy increases the effect’s proc rate by 10% and lowers the effect cooldown by four seconds. At max refinement, you have a 80% chance to proc the effect on damage with your skill and only sixteen-second cooldown on the effect.

Characters like Qiqi and Xingqiu have incredibly useful skills that provide passive off-field effects but are limited by their incredibly long cooldowns. This sword can effectively negate that weakness and allow their abilities to be on standby more often without sacrificing any energy generation.

6/11

Skyward Blade (5* Rarity)

Source: Standard Banner | Good On: Kazuha, Qiqi, Electro Traveler, Bennett, Jean

As is the usual case with most of the Skyward weapons, the sword variant is considered a generic good all-around weapon that loses out to the more specialized candidates on the list. However, unlike the other Skyward weapons, this one is geared towards super boosting its wielder after using their burst.

With a base attack 608 and a 55.1% bonus to Energy Recharge at max level, it’s sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack amongst the five-star swords. However, its effect perpetually grants a 4% bonus to crit rate as well. In addition, upon using your burst, the wielder is charged for twelve seconds with 10% move speed, 10% attack speed, and increases their normal/charged attack damage by 20%. You’ll have a blue glow around the wielder while the buff is active.

Each refinement copy increases the passive crit rate by 1% and the damage boost while buffed by 5%. At max refinement, you gain an additional 8% crit rate and your damage is increased by 40% while empowered.

Since it comes with a substantial boost to your Energy Recharge, you shouldn’t have too much trouble activating the buff from the effect. Just make sure to equip it to someone you’re willing to use as your main on-field DPS (at least for twelve seconds) to gain the most from this weapon and its effect.

5/11

Aquila Favonia (5* Rarity)

Source: Standard Banner | Good On: Keqing (BiS – Physical), Bennett

Effectively one step up from the Skyward Blade, this weapon is widely considered the fourth-best weapon for nearly every DPS sword wielder. It’s very much geared towards boosting your basic attacks into the stratosphere, and is by far the best sword for physical builds.

With a base attack of 674 and a 41.3% bonus to physical DMG at max level, it shares the top spot of highest base attack on a sword. Its effect compounds this by perpetually providing a 20% boost to the wielder’s ATK.

It’s also one of the few weapons in the game to encourage getting hit occasionally, as it will restore 100% of your ATK as health and deal 200% of your ATK as a small AOE shockwave. While this can only occur once every fifteen seconds, it’s a rather substantial burst of damage and self-sustain if you build large amounts of ATK on your artifact set.

Each refinement copy increases the passive ATK bonus by 5%, the self-healing by 15% of your ATK, and the AOE shockwave by 30% of your ATK. At max refinement, you have a perpetual 40% bonus to ATK, heal for 160% of your ATK, and your shockwave will deal 320% of your ATK as damage.

Due to its secondary stat and sheer ATK bonus, it can turn nearly any sword user into a physical monster. However, only Keqing can currently make a physical build shine amongst sword wielders. Once again, we strongly recommend using the Pale Flame artifact set with it. Bennett also can make use of this weapon for its sheer base ATK stat to bolster his burst’s damage amplification.

4/11

Freedom-Sworn (5* Rarity)

Source: Limited-Time Weapon Banner| Good On: Kazuha (BiS), Anemo Traveler (BiS), Bennett, Albedo

The signature blade of Kazuha and fittingly designed to match his combat style of plunging attacks and triggering elemental reactions. It also holds the unique distinction of being the only sword that can provide a team-wide buff.

With a base attack of 608 and a 198 bonus to Elemental Mastery at max level, it’s designed to be the best sword for elemental reactions while providing consistent damage. Its effect perpetually increases all damage dealt by 10%.

Additionally, triggering an elemental reaction will cause the user to gain a sigil. Upon gathering two sigils, the entire party will gain a 16% boost to all normal/charged/plunging damage done and further boost ATK by 20% for twelve seconds. You won’t be able to gain any more sigils for twenty seconds after triggering the effect (effectively eight seconds of downtime).

Each refinement copy increases the persistent DMG buff by 2.5%, the basic attack DMG while buffed by 4%, and the extra ATK buff by 5%. At max refinement, you have a persistent 20% DMG buff, and the buff grants 32% extra DMG on basic attacks and a 40% ATK buff to the entire party.

Anyone who can trigger elemental reactions constantly can make great use of this weapon. However, we’re going to have suggest sticking with Kazuha and Anemo Traveler, mainly due to how powerful and easily triggered Swirl reactions are. Albedo can also easily activate the effect with his off-field abilities, but benefits more from other weapons. Regardless, make sure to take advantage of the buff’s window with your strongest team combos!

3/11

Summit Shaper (5* Rarity)

Source: Limited-Time Weapon Banner | Good On: Kaeya, Keqing, Ayaka, Jean, Geo Traveler

This weapon requires having someone on the team capable of constantly generating a shield to bring out its full value. As an incredibly powerful ramp up weapon, the Summit Shaper’s performance is largely dependent on how many stacks of its buff you can maintain.

With a base attack of 608 and a 49.6% bonus to ATK at max level, it’s already quite a meaty weapon. Making it even better is that every time you hit an enemy, you’ll gain a stack increasing your ATK by an extra 4% for eight seconds. You can have a total of five stacks.

The weapon also passively increases your shield strength by 20% and, while shielded, the ATK bonus from stacks is doubled. If you have someone like Zhongli who can maintain shields 24/7, your damage output will skyrocket with this weapon. Each refinement copy increases the shield strength bonus by 5% and the stacking buff ATK bonus by 1%. At max refinement, you have a 40% shield strength bonus and gain 8% ATK per stack.

Due to how this weapon works with maintaining stacks, it’s strongly recommended to equip this to your main DPS unit. If you can constantly maintain all five stacks and a shield, it can arguably outperform the remaining options on our list, but this is only really viable with Zhongli on the team.

2/11

Primordial Jade Cutter (5* Rarity)

Source: Limited-Time Weapon Banner | Good On: Jean (BiS), Albedo, Keqing, Xingqiu, Anemo/Geo Traveler, Kaeya, Ayaka

The last two weapons on our list are largely neck and neck in performance. However, this one is considerably lower maintenance and makes the wielder considerably meatier with bonus health.

With a base attack of 542 and a 44.1% bonus to crit rate at max level, this sword may seem a bit on the weaker side. However, its effect more than makes up for its low attack stat. Besides increasing the wielder’s health by 20%, it also provides an ATK bonus based off 1.2% of the wielder’s max HP. Considering how high some characters health can reach at max level, the bonus attack can easily reach 200, and that’s before factoring in the extra 20% health!

Each refinement copy increases the health bonus by 5% and the ATK bonus scaling off health by 0.3%. At max refinement, you have an extra 40% health and the ATK bonus scales off 2.4% of your max HP.

Given this weapon is just a really strong stat stick, it can work on pretty much everyone as long as they’re high level (equals more health). If you need someone to have a higher crit chance, the secondary stat on this sword can drastically help with that. Jean in particular scales extremely well as a healer and DPS with the sheer ATK bonus from this weapon.

1/11

Mistsplitter Reforged (5* Rarity)

Source: Limited-Time Weapon Banner| Good On: Keqing (BiS – Electro), Geo Traveler (BiS), Ayaka (BiS), Bennett (BiS), Kaeya (BiS),  Anemo Traveler, Jean, Albedo

We’ve reached our number one entry for the best sword in Genshin Impact. With a fantastic stat line and an incredibly strong boost to elemental damage, the Mistsplitter Reforged is our definitive top choice.

With a base attack of 674 and a 44.1% bonus to crit damage, it already possesses the highest attack stat and the ever coveted crit damage modifier. As stated earlier, crit is king in Genshin. On top of those amazing stats, you perpetually have a 12% increase to all elemental DMG. The weapon’s effect also allows you to gain up to 3 Emblems, which boost your elemental damage by an extra 8/16/28%. Each emblem has its own separate timer and different conditions to trigger.

The first emblem is gained by dealing elemental damage with a normal attack (lasts five seconds), so you’ll need to rely on characters who can infuse their attacks with an element. Keqing and Ayaka are the premiere candidates for this with their skill and dash, respectively. Geo/Anemo Traveler also can do this on their final hit of their normal attack combo. Otherwise, you’ll need Chongyun or Bennett C6 (which is undesirable in most cases) to infuse a character’s normal attack.

The second and third emblem are much easier to obtain. Simply use your burst to gain the second emblem for ten seconds and have your burst bar not be full to gain the third emblem until it’s full again. Seeing as using your burst will fulfill both criteria, you can easily maintain two emblems constantly.

Each refinement copy increases the base elemental DMG bonus by 3% and increases the emblems’ effects by 2/4/7% respectively. At max refinement, you deal 24% extra elemental DMG and the emblems grant 16/32/56%.

Even if the sword’s wielder isn’t able to trigger the first emblem, the two remaining emblems are more than enough with the sword’s amazing stats to be their top choice. As mentioned above, Keqing and Ayaka can easily maintain all three emblems to get the full bonus and deal devastating damage.

Geo Traveler can also maintain all three emblems and deeply appreciates the bonus crit DMG. Bennett just loves the raw stat line to super juice his burst, while Kaeya can synergize with Chongyun to get maximum usage from it.

Join the High Ground

And that’s it for our guide on the best swords in Genshin Impact. We hope it’s helped you decide on which weapons to aim for. Please comment below if you have any thoughts about our ranking, and subscribe for more content like this.

Happy gaming!