Genshin Impact 5.4 Update – Banners, Events, Changes

Current Banners (March 4 – March 25)

5.4 Character Banners (Phase One)

• Furina (5-Star Hydro Sword)
• Wriothesley (5-Star Cryo Catalyst)

With Phase 2 of Version 5.4 of Genshin Impact, we see the return of Furina and Wriothesley (finally he’s been released from the Cryo fridge). Both characters are incredibly strong at their respective niche and work well together.

Furina is arguably the strongest support character in the game, providing massive DMG buffs with her Burst, assuming you pair her with another healer. Additionally, her Skill lets her function as a strong off-field Hydro applicator and DMG dealer. Simply build Furina with as much HP as humanely possible, and watch the numbers surge.

As for Wriothesley, he’s on par with Ganyu and Ayaka for the strongest Cryo DPS. However, to get the full value out of his kit, you need to manage his HP and alternate between Normal/Charged attacks to take advantage of his passives. Do so properly, and you can get some sizeable buffs to his ATK and DMG.

As far as Wishing for these characters, we would personally recommend focusing on Furina. She literally opens up an entire new team-building option around HP fluctuation and is a staple in a lot of teams. However, she’s also very likely to get another rerun in a timely manner.

In contrast, Wriothesley is much more likely to be vaulted for a while (the Cryo curse). However, with Snezhnaya coming out relatively soon, we’ll probably end up with an even stronger Cryo option down the road. Additionally, you can probably get by with Ayaka or Ganyu if you already have them.

5.4 Weapon Banner (Phase Two)

• Cashflow Supervision (5-Star Catalyst)
• Splendor of Tranquil Waters (5-Star Sword)
  • Fa­vo­ni­us Sword (4-Star Sword)
  • Sac­ri­fi­cial Great­sword (4-Star Claymore)
  • Drag­on’s Bane (4-Star Polearm)
  • Sac­ri­fi­cial Frag­ments (4-Star Catalyst)
  • Rust (4-Star Bow)

Cashflow Supervision is the signature weapon of Wriothesley and perfectly fits his playstyle. Whenever the wielder’s HP changes, you gain an ATK buff to your Normal/Charged attacks, and you’ll get faster attack speed after triggering it 3 times.

Naturally this makes it a solid option for other Catalyst users like Wanderer and Heizou if you pair them with any healer or HP fluctuation mechanic (like Furina).

Splendor of Tranquil Waters is Furina’s signature weapon. It boosts the wielder’s Skill DMG whenever their HP fluctuates, and whenever other party members’ HP fluctuates, it increases the wielder’s max HP by a sizeable chunk.

Currently, only Furina can take full advantage of the weapon’s effects, but it does provide a considerable buff to her playstyle. That being said, you’re probably better off pulling additional copies of Furina for her Constellations before going for the weapon.

As for the 4-Star weapons, none of them particularly standout. The Sacrificial Weapons are decent options for some characters, and the Favonius Sword is a decent pick for providing Energy to your supports.

The rest aren’t really worth talking about in most cases.

Upcoming Banners & Leaked Characters

Iansan

• Element: Electro
• Weapon: Polearm (4-Star) [Unconfirmed, but likely]

Despite her diminutive stature, Iansan is actually a well-known physical fitness trainer in Natlan. She plays a rather large role in Natlan’s story as one of the pivotal figures in Mavuika’s plan and aids us early on.

Leaks suggest that Iansan will be available in Version 5.5 of Genshin Impact and that she’ll surprisingly be a 4-Star instead of a 5-Star.

Supposedly, Iansan’s kit will revolve around providing an ATK buff to the party and enabling herself to constantly launch Electro AoE plunging attacks.

If rumors/leaks are true, Iansan is slated to be the equivalent of Bennet in terms of team buffs. Assuming that remains the case upon release, Iansan will be a must-have character.

Varesa

• Element: Electro
• Weapon: Catalyst (5-Star) [Unconfirmed]

Although only a couple NPCs have mentioned Varesa in passing, she’s known for having a voracious appetite and has ox-like features (namely horns and tail).

Leaks suggest that Varesa will be available in Version 5.5 of Genshin Impact alongside Iansan.

Similarly to Iansan, leaks suggest that Varesa’s kit will be centered around plunging attacks but with an even greater damage multiplier, making her a very strong Main DPS.

Other Upcoming Characters

We were relatively recently given a silhouette lineup of upcoming characters. Some of them are super obvious, while others are characters that we haven’t met in game yet.

Based on some obvious choices and leaks, here is what we know of the lineup (from left to right).

• Iansan
• Dahlia – supposedly a deacon from Mondstadt
• Ifa – a friendly fellow mentioned by multiple Natlan characters
• Skirk – Childe’s mentor
• Yumemizuki Mizuki
• Varesa
• Effie – supposedly a chef from Fontaine

Events in Genshin Impact 5.4

For this section, we’ll be focusing exclusively on Genshin Impact events that take place in-game.

There are often some small web-browser based events that can be accessed via Hoyolab’s main page, but they’re often mentioned in the game’s launch browser. They’re all incredibly easy and usually only take about 5 minutes to claim all the rewards, so we won’t be covering those.

Travelers’ Tales: Anthology Chapter (Feb 12 – March 25)

IMPORTANT: It’s a bit unclear if there is a daily limit to the number of interactions you can do. To err on the side of caution, we strongly suggest doing this event immediately to avoid missing out on anything.

Time to go meet and catch up with some of your friends throughout Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma. Simply head to their location marked on the world map and interact with them to record an anecdote with them.

Up to 3 interactions will be displayed on the map at a time. Each interaction is a one-time unique event with voiced dialogue (unless you’re playing in English due to the ongoing Voice Actor strike). Some characters have multiple unique events that can only be triggered after doing the previous one.

While you only need to do a total of 20 to claim all the event rewards, there are a lot more anecdotes available. If you don’t want to miss out on unique moments with your companions, you’ll definitely want to hunt all of them down. If you want to check if you’ve missed one, this link should cover all the available anecdotes.

Tapirus Somniator Chapter (Feb 12 – March 4)

This is basically just an incentive to get Mizuki’s Story Quest done sooner, granting you a couple materials used for leveling and ascending her.

Given that Mizuki’s Story Quest is automatically unlocked for free for players that have completed Inazuma’s story and Raiden Shogun’s second Story Quest, most players now a days should immediately have access to it.

We strongly encourage you to do this quest before starting the flagship event to familiarize yourself with Mizuki.

Enchanted Tales of the Mikawa Festival (Feb 14 – March 3)

The flagship event for Version 5.4 of Genshin Impact. We’ve received a letter from Yae Miko to come visit Inazuma for the Mikawa Flower Festival. It’s been 2 years since the last one, and the festival this time is a joint one between youkai and humans. Even the Raiden Shogun is showing up to attend the festival… but it appears that she’s investigating something to do with her oni friend, Mikoshi Chiyo, from hundreds of years ago.

Naturally, the flagship event has 3 different mini-games to participate in as well to earn rewards:

1. A Little Fox’s Daydream – a side-scrolling 2D platformer to help a small fox collect pieces of Fried Tofu and reach the Ramen Stand at the end of each stage.
2. Bunshin Phantasm – Solve various puzzles by utilizing various Mujina Body Doubles that mimic your movements. You’ll need to plan out your steps to ensure the bridges and platforms leading to your goal don’t disappear.
3. Akitsu Harpastum – a new improved version of the mini-game from 2 years ago. Bat attacks back at the boss while dodging various bricks, either in solo or co-op mode.

Aside from the usual rewards from a flagship event, you can also earn a free unique 4-Star Polearm (Tamayuratei no Ohanashi). This weapon boosts the wielder’s ATK and Movement SPD after using a Skill and comes with an ER secondary stat. It’s a very straightforward and simple weapon, but that just means it can be effectively used on a wide range of characters.

Realm of Tempered Valor (Feb 24 – March 10)

In this combat event, you’ll attempt to climb and conquer 25 floors in each challenge. You will only have 30 seconds per floor to clear each one, with the enemies’ level and HP increasing each time. This event will really test how effective you are at building teams around the challenge’s buff effect.

Notably, players that reach floor 20 can grant a buff to other players on their friends’ list and vice versa. You can also group up with 1 other player in co-op to tackle the floors.

In addition to the usual event rewards, if you clear a total of 100 floors in single player mode, you can earn a unique event namecard! However, pulling this off is rather difficult for most players.

Notably, you can use potions and food buffs. You can only get 1 friend buff, which helps but isn’t likely to make too much of a difference unless you’re at the cusp.

Invasive Fish Wrangler (March 5 – March 17)

In this fishing event, we help prevent a massive ecological crisis in Fontaine. However, as opposed to the standard fishing mechanics, players will be rapidly firing AoE nets to catch groups of fish.

Each fish is worth a different amount of points and you can either work together with other players or compete against one another to see who’s the fishing master.

You’re not guaranteed to catch the fish upon hitting it with a net. Matching the correct net to the fish’s size will increase your chance of success. There are also occasionally a couple different buff fish that give varying effects for catching them.

Reel Ad-Venture (March 12 – March 24)

Once again, we encounter our film-making friend Xavier continuing his work in Fontaine. He once again needs our help with his films (technically commercials), but this time in an editing position.

Xavier has already shot all the footage and wants our input on what order they should be displayed in. Pick and choose how to order the scenes and create something interesting.

Ley Line Overflow (March 17 – March 24)

You know the drill by now. Every real life day, you can get double rewards from the Ley Line Outcrops. You can do this 3 times per day and must use Normal Resin. A great time to stock up on EXP books and Mora.

5.4 Changes, Updates, and New Content

Here’s all the other news and major changes/updates that came with version 5.4 of Genshin Impact. This version’s update is mostly focused on various small Quality of Life changes.

Important Preparation for Version 5.5

• We strongly recommend catching up on activities in Natlan. Leaks suggest that a major change will be coming to the region in Version 5.5 that might affect your exploration experience. This isn’t confirmed with absolute certainty with the degree of change being unknown, but it’s something to keep in mind.

• Additionally, hold off on crafting artifacts for now. Version 5.5 is slated to add a major improvement that guarantees that 2 of the substat level ups will be the ones you selected during the crafting process. It’s not a perfect fix to artifact RNG, but anything that mitigates bad rolls is a good thing.

Story Quests Accessibility

With this update, players no longer need to spend Story Keys to unlock Story Quests. However, you still need to spend 2 Story Keys to unlock Hangout Events.

Other Quality of Life Changes

• You can now add level up plans in your Training Guide to help you find the materials needed for your characters. The necessary materials will be marked on your world map to help make gathering easier and various interfaces will show how close you are to your goal.
• More interfaces will show how much Resin you have on-hand, so you don’t have to exit so often to check.
• Various improvements to the Character and Weapon interfaces.
  • Can now quickly sort characters by element.
  • Smoother transition between various menus.
  • Auto add button for weapon refinement.
  • Weapon filtering now includes an option for secondary attributes.
  • Characters now have recommended weapon attributes.
• You can now access Tubby’s menu from anywhere in the Serenitea Pot to make it easier to craft furniture.

New TCG Cards

To no one’s surprise, we have more TCG cards! Unsurprisingly, the most notable ones are the new character cards:

• Arlecchino
• Kinich