Why EVERYONE Plays: Yelan | Genshin Impact 

Yelan is the epitome of character design in Genshin and I find it very hard they'll ever release a character as perfect as her. First of all she's Hydro, arguably the best element in the game. Her kit has no split scaling, she can be built even with multiple 3* weapon options. Her DMG floor starts off where Xingqiu's ceiling ends, which is ridiculous given that Xingqiu was already considered a secret 5*. Her passives offer great utility overall, one increases the amount of resources you get from expeditions by 25%, the other can unconditionally buff any on-field character's dmg, even herself if you like seeing her take the spotlight. Speaking of which, her A4 is so ridiculous that it could've been her C6 and nobody would complain. She can easily dish out upwards to 250k+ off-field dmg from BASE levels of investment capping out around 400k at C0 (lol) all that while providing Bennett's level of buff. All her constellations work well for and add up to the team's overall DMG. C6 Yelan SOLO have outperformed 4-men meta teams in abyss speed runs by a large amount. I think Hoyoverse is in serious trouble to make the Hydro Archon be better than Yelan whilst not powercreeping too much and making a copy/paste version of Yelan.

Yelan just hits so many right spots. Easy to build, fits the meta, waifu, hydro, very comfortable in overworld, bow user (puzzles). All in all an excellent character that's one of the few "must pull" characters in Genshin. You just can't go wrong pulling her.

They really had to create a carbon copy of Xingqiu's ult like that boy really is OP as heck 💀💀💀💀

She has become a permanent member of my overworld team and one half of my abyss lineup. She is wildly fun and incredibly strong and has strong synergy with nearly every character I enjoy using.

Yelan is literally Xingqiu but mommy. You can either use each in one side of the abyss or even run both for amazing results. She is one of the best recent 5* and is really neat for exploration

Imagine if we ever get an HP buffer (like Bennett, but HP instead of ATK) So many characters would profit from that

Quick point on the Usage Rate. Yelan is a limited 5 star, which inherently gives her an edge over Xingqiu in that stat considering people who do not have Yelan do not count for her metric. Compare that to the fact that almost everyone has Xingqiu at some level, maybe at low constellation which makes them not want to use him, and even so the numbers are incredibly close. Yelan is still a luxury imo, same with Kazuha. They're amazing, and can easily carry your account but they're super easy to replace. Imo, this is a good thing, players get to choose which flavour of hydro applier or anemo VV support they want based on their playstyles and teams. Hope to see some more in the future. Edit: I am aware that Yelan is different from Xingqiu and Kazuha is different from the other anemo supports, but they're still luxury by my definition. If you have a different definition, that's fine, we're different people. Characters who weren't luxury options imo are characters who released in pretty uncompetitive fields. Xiao was not competing with anyone for anemo on field DPS when he came out, he was completely unique in that regard, but now that Heizou is released he and Wanderer are competing in that field for your primogems everytime their banners show up (if you don't have them of course). Do you want this anemo DPS or is the other 4 star option enough for you? Its not that deep.

Yelan is my overall favorite character to use in Genshin. She has the speed, the ability to hit from distance, the tankiness, the damage, the flexibility, the beauty, the brain, the sass, and the dommy mommy energy all rolled up into one. I swear she is still getting the Kazuha/Sucrose treatment to this day from a lot of haters and it just gets so tiresome. She’s been such a permanent part of my main party that it feels weird playing the game WITHOUT her.

One of the few absolutely PERFECTLY designed characters in Genshin. -Design actually fits the character as dressing like she knows she's hot shit is 100% a Yelan thing to do -Kit is versatile without being overloaded like Xingqiu, Yelan's kit is much more offense and mobility oriented rather than having a little bit of everything -Lingering Lifeline is probably one of the most fun abilities to use in the game -Every single one of her constellations is useful but none a requirement, she's a very complete unit at C0 -Signature weapon is also not a requirement and only really outperforms F2P options in low ER requirement teams -Is valuable in all content from overworld to abyss -Has probably one of, if not the best character teasers Think the only big flaws she has are her charged shots making up very little of her kit's value until C6, and her burst being too similar to Xingqiu's. But those are entirely excusable when everything else is executed so well. It'll be extremely hard for Hoyoverse to beat her with any future releases.

For me she is fun to play and her gameplay is easy to handle.

Gearing up Yelan feels like cheating, because every time Emblem domain tries to screw you with HP startjng substats, every time your double crit pieces dodge the crit and roll into HP, you're like, "YES THANK YOU MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?"

I don't regret skipping Yelan for Ayato on his first banner, since he has become my main and got even stronger with dendro, but I am looking forward to getting Yelan in 3.4 (if the leaks are accurate). She will be the final piece to make the most flexible roster for Abyss team building for me.

Yelan is: - Great for covering distances, switching between using running stamina with her skill - Able to cover most enemies in an area with Hydro before comboing with Cryo/Electro/Dendro - Generous with her back muscles to admire upon while running forward - Filled with dommy mommy energy

For me, I just love her personality and her kit is fun

It still baffles me that some people didn't get her because she was a 5star xingqiu... Xingqiu is so freaking good that if you had 4 of him, it'd be the most broken team in the game

I always love characters that enhance the open world exploration experience, especially as somebody who has 100% exploration in three entire nations (still exploring Sumeru)

the thing is, hoyo knows how op benny is and how much other units benefit from his buff, so to balance out how yelan cant use benny boost they had to raise her numbers to the extent that they did.

I haven't even watched the video but let me say this. Once you c1 Yelan, walking will be ruined for you, her skill will live rent free in your head every time you normal walk with a character. Also if you hate those element cages her skill let's you pass through them.

I was originally going to skip Yelan for Itto, but the Chasm dweller quest made me fall in love with her so I decided to roll and I have zero regrets, she is fantastic.

Yelan is legitimately the only 5 star who's C1 I deliberately pulled for. she's so fun to play and I wanted to spam dash so hard.

Shes the Reason why I got to the Game. Just was so incredibly amazed by her trailer, design, kit and power! She took my heart with those Aqua ropes in a milli second. Im very proud to call myself a Yelan main. She is just my perfect Casino Queen Waifu 🌊💙

I play domains in coop, it's slower than doing it solo but sometimes fun stuff happens, and from what I learned: almost no one knows how to dodge and, a lot of the times, the team will survive because we killed the enemies fast enough or someone brought a healer or shielding character. A thing I notest is that in coop people bring more often non reaction based characters (characters like Itto, Xiao, other geo characters...), I also notest that people actually read the lay lines disorder and bring characters good for that domain, not always but it happens. A strange thing that I notest is that I never meet sub dps characters (Xianling, Xinqiou?, Yelan, Nahida...), I only see main dps and (sometimes) supports, I guess main dps do more dmg but sub dps also do support and not just dmg. This is my analisis of what characters people pick in coop. Last thing, when I see Hu tao-s, they rarely survive

2 thing I always use Yelan for. Combat and Overworld utilities.

One of my favorite characters! The Nahida, Yelan, Raiden ( + Zhongli) hyperbloom team i use is ridiculously overpowered!!

Yelan feels like a must pull character to me. Clearing Abyss and overall QoL feels way better after getting her. Very strong Hydro sub-dps and support. And her ramping dmg bonus passive of up to 50% is a sweet cherry on top.

She was one of the main reasons i got into genshin Never regret pulling Her English voice so good And ez artifact

I'm REALLY looking forward to see this one as well the pkm trainer too. Thanks for the videos!

shes my favorite character in all of genshin, everything about her is perfect easy to build, versatile, great in overworld, hydro so fits in a lot of teams, one of the best 5 stars at c0, and amazing character design, she has it all.

4:46 Hu Tao is really not that tanky , since if you play her below half health to get the most out of her damage she has less HP than most characters , especially if you use an EM Sands to get her optimal Vape damage . The reason she feels tanky is that she was almost always run with Xinqui's nearly 50% damage reduction or a shielder !

Yelan is a crazy good unit in overworld. I love her. Her E is soooooo useful

Discovered your channel on my commute. Great take with a relaxing commentary. Will definitely stay tuned for future videos while checking your past ones

Yelan's my first five star and getting her was the first thing that ever happened to me. I cried when I first got her since I was just building pity and didn't want her, bitter at first but her design and gameplay charmed me 😍.

I got C1 Yelan on accident while trying to go for C4 Tankfei, and since I didn’t have XQ at the time (I had only started playing during the tail end of the 2.6 Ayaka banner), Yelan became my most used character for just about everything. Speed? Check. Damage? Check. Fits on just about every team? Check. Easy to build? Check! The sad part is that her next rerun is going to coincide with Hu Tao. I’m in need of a Pyro DPS but a C2 Yelan also sounds very tantalizing… 😅

Since I got yoimiya on her second rerun and I played some Vaporize yoi with xq I knew I need Yelan. The fact that she is hydro (for me best element), her E is one of the most fun abilities in game convinced me to pull for her on next rerun which is hopefuly coming soon

Been waiting for this, thanks man

I remember I was so excited when I got my first Xingqiu. I loved him as a character initially, and not really for meta purposes but I soon ended up using him for more challenging fights that kicked my early/mid-game ass. Then Yelan came out and I decided to roll on her banner. She was really, really powerful; great for exploration; and was easy to build. I found myself using Xingqiu less and less and now whenever I go into the abyss or domains, I always bring Yelan, and only occasionally Xingqiu (I do run double hydro with Yanfei sometimes and it’s pretty fun). I feel kinda bad that I somewhat boxed a character I once had on my main team…

"You play her because she's meta, I play her because she shows armpits. We are not the same" -Me

i had to skip yelan bc i started right before her banner came out, so i tried for xiao since there was already so much info on his performance vs her. i always knew i wanted to get her eventually, since i fell in love with her design, role in the chasm quest, and personality, but actually understanding her kit & value makes me so excited to one day build her. good luck to everyone pullin :D

My most used character since the release. Her damage alone aca beat most enemies, but if you equate reactions, mobility, damage buff... She is a monster

Yelan is the only reason I still log in, I have her so well built, her play style is actually fun, and not only that she's my favorite character in the whole game. Yelan is perfect.

So two things I always, ALWAYS see people gloss over when talking about Yelan are her NAs and her unique charge attack, because they're very sub-optimal in terms of spreadsheet damage. And that's completely true...but they actually end up being incredibly practical in one specific yet common situation,due to yet another advantage Yelan has over XQ: She can use her own NAs to target enemies at range with her burst and any NA-based coordinated attack skills/Bursts. Combine this with her Breakthrough Barb's mediocre amount of damage, and she's excellent at finishing off small enemies and damaging ranged enemies like Specters without needing to spend your main damage dealer's resources. Sure, this isn't something unique to her, (well, the Barb shot is), any ranged unit can do this. But a lot of teams that use her have her as their longest or even only ranged unit, aside from maybe Nahida whose range is strange. It's situational, and completely pointless in some teams, but it's invaluable in others by allowing you to save your resources for later enemies/floors in Spiral. So yeah, if she wasn't good enough with just her skill, burst, and A4, even her normal attacks and charged attacks have some situational utility. Because she really needs even more utility than she already has. She's one of the few support characters where, when I do Spiral, I make use of every part of her kit. (Well, excluding plunge)

I was a Yoimiya main before Yelan, now with Yelan I no longer have shame!

I know it's not the most efficient way to play her, but I've built her, and a whole team, entirely around her elemental skill, instead of her burst. I just find it so fun popping 100k+ vapes with it.

Yelan is such a godly character in both looks and kit design. Who wouldn't wanna play thay lmao

I decided early on to roll on her because having access to a second Xingqiu is just awesome. Not to mention her elemental skill is useful or exploration as well and she is very pleasing on the eyes.

When I came back from a 3 month break from Genshin, her banner was going on. I did a single 10 pull and got her. After I got her, she had never left my team. Her Mobility with her elemental skill was a fun thing to play around with. And thanks to her burst being similar to Xinqiu i have never had them seperate from my teams. She is great at rounding up lighter enemies for my team to unload upon, and her skill helps exploring the overworld much faster. Glad I got her when I came back to Genshin

My main team Is Nilou, Nahida, Kokomi and Yelan. I'm happy I have her because she has superior off-field damage and really ties my team together. (No pun intended lol) The team destroys abyss 12 floors within seconds as well. Yelan with the team is really something. I plan to pull for her weapon when I have the chance or Elegy For The End :)

A bit unrelated but do you think with the addition of dendro that maybe “no one plays Kokomi” might be an outdated statement ?

even if you dont need hydro her fast playstyle, movement and her damage increase passive makes her so easy to slot in your team

5:05 "Hydro is arguably the most fluid element..." Ah yes, because the power of water is its ability to take any shape.

Thanks for the info, i'm now invested in getting yelan on her next rerun.

One thing not mentioned is the fact that she has one of the fastest charged shots in the game with her Breakthrough Barbs, which also HP scale, and take like only half a second to get out on the field, plus can get recharged with her skill. Itemized effectively - and assuming C1, 8/8/8 talents, 150% Crit damage, a hydro cup, and 35k HP on 4P Emblem - she can pump out nearly half a million in raw personal damage from just a C E C E C Q combo. This is because of the nearly 20% max HP scaling from each barb, amounting to around 55.56% Max HP from the noted combo, a third of the overall DPS. She basically has a melee charge attack while being ranged, and with an AoE the size of Kazuha's skill.

Yelan is to me also a signal that amazing 4* character can potentially get a 'glow up' 5* or at least, an alternative ! Though it's unlikely we get an even better Benett, it's still pleasant to see that certain playstyle gets explored through different forms !

I accidentally got her and I am so happy I did, I use her in the abyss every time and get great results. Thank you yelan 🙏

I've been pre-farming so I can pull her on her rerun. She's such an amazing unit

Got to say great timing as Yelan is coming out in a couple updates and everyone is going to pull for her She really is a great character

When she first came out I feared her sales would be on the low end because of the same old argument "she is just 5 star X character". Well that banner was a banger amd I got her C1. Looking forward for a rerun for her C2 and hopefully C3

Outside of Dendro 3.0 gave some pretty nice buffs to Yelan through Hydro resonance and with a buff on alternate sprints so they don't get stuck on some odd surfaces. Got her mostly for looks but it's been fun using Yelan/Xinqiu machine gun combo.

Thanks for this. I'm a little bit tempted to pull for Ayato rn, and I'm patiently waiting for Yelan rerun. I need to keep my patience, until her banner comes.

I already have Yelan but I’m saving for her C6. She’s so good 😍 she literally outshines my DPS characters. I hope her rerun comes in 3.6 as I don’t have enough primos. Also if Dehya is off-field pyro applier then I’ll pull for one copy of her.

A lot of people skipped her because they thought she was just waifu Xinqiu, but I skipped cuz I am a husbando collector who was still recovering from Ayato's banner. 🤧

damn 3 vars videos at the same time, guess ill have something to watch for a while

just pulled on her banner on a whim and wasnt really trying to get her but after using her she was really fun to play to the point where she replaced eula as my main especially after nahida I was able to build a comp with raiden and actually have a team comp that goes well with each other

i think it’s really funny that in the beginning people were like “she is just a xingqiu copy” as if that’s a negative. xingqiu’s kit is amazing and being a 5 star version is honestly a compliment. using them in different teams eliminates the decision which team needs the amazing hydro applier more and using them both in a team gives hydro resonance which both profit of and provides good damage. i will be pulling for yelan on her rerun so i can use both her and xingqiu ( teams: yanfei, bennet, yelan, zhongli & scaramouche, faruzan, xingqiu and layla )

I can safely say that Yelan is the best character in the game. Easy to build, tons of damage even at C0, overworld exploration becomes much nicer (especially since they fixed the alternative run and now she doesn't get stuck anywhere), can use even what would otherwise be considered a bad weapon, can fit basically any role in the team except healer. Those who say she's a glorified Xingqiu have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. I have C6 Xingqiu btw, and it's not even remotely close. And I pulled on her banner by mistake, but it's the best mistake I've ever done. Currently saving for her rerun and hopefully I get that C1.

Ngl you messed my clock posting this. As you usually post on Saturday, I thought yesterday was Saturday when you post it :')

Since I got going in 2.8, I _just_ missed Yelan's debut, and probably for the better. Xingqiu was among my beginner banner gaggle of units, whom I...think I teamed with Chongyun (the two character gets off standard in my first month) without knowing them (and still don't know much, heh), but anyway, Kazuha ended up as my first five-star. All this time later, Yelan and Hu Tao's reruns come up, and the chatter I pick up on has me thinking toward Hu Tao, but in conversation I'm guided toward Yelan instead. Won both, but anyway-- Might recall it was before their banners that I finally been dug into The Chasm when I caught glimpse of a fleeting actor in the mines. Thought it was her, but doubted my lying eyes when my questing veered toward Tuxedo Mask, until seeing her at the underwhelming end of those depths. My account has quite a bit going for it, and I'm just still playing catchup on getting enough context to be interested in the characters and _characters._

Usage rate is a terrible metric to quote here. It's USERS/OWNERS, so it only says how many people that have her also used her. It's already a shaky proposition when comparing 5-star characters, but it completely falls apart when comparing across rarities, especially with an OG 4-star like Xinqiu. Most players that have a chance of even getting close to clearing Abyss will have at least one copy of Xingqiu at this point, irrespective of whether or not they use him at all. OTOH, most people don't get 5-stars on accident but rather pull for them intentionally, so the chance that you'd be inclined to use a limited 5-star character after specifically pulling for them is a lot higher than some 4-star character you might have gotten randomly, even if they're as good as Xinqiu. My point is, I don't think Yelan has a high enough ownership rate (as in, OWNERS/PLAYERS) to be even remotely comparable with Xinqiu in terms of usage rate (at least without a huge caveat mentioning the ownership discrepancies). All that said, I quite like her myself and might go for her on the re-run. Just be careful with quoting usage rates

I think another big part why she is so strong is that u can use her and the 4 star at the same time because there are both a sup dps. If u play ayaka and ganyu in the same team u are not using them to the full potential

This Pokémon Ranger 2 under water Intro at the start is so calming. Ranger 2 truly has the best Pokémon spin off music

Right now (if the enemies have no resist against Hydro), I'll always bring XingQiu, Yelan and ZhongLi wherever... The 4th member either Raiden, HuTao or Nahida ZhongLi shield, Xing Qiu burst, Yelan burst, then swap to the 4th member as main atker (Raiden skill then burst or HuTao skill or just nahida skill then normal atk) And all being C0 for 5* and C6 for XingQiu It's really such a big help for F2P or low spender (My ZhongLi even only use Black Tassel and Raiden with free C5 'The Catch')

What is better than a Xinque? 2 Xinqiue that you can use on two different teams or stack them to maximise hydro application and single target damage I still think Xinqiu is more useful than Yelan in most of my team building because of his massive 44% dmg reduction (basically half the incoming damage aka double the effective hp of a character) which is massive and usually enough to avoid using healer in abyss while Yelan 25% damage bonus (on average, start at 0 cap at 50% in 15 seconds) is better in a team with a healer or shielder with strong main DPS carry like Hu Tao instead of multy dps like Taser. Oh and Xinqiu have more consistent hydro application at C6 while yelan need C2 if used alone in vape team but still good enough usually. Hydro is one of the best enabler element that is necessary in many teams be it freeze, bloom, vape or taser etc so any character that can freely apply plenty of hydro will always be useful so she is still very sought after. The same could be said for any hydro character that we have, honestly I feel so bad losing 50/50 on Ayato, Yelan and Nilou smh, I feel like I'm not fated with this element cuz I have all Anemo, Geo and most of electro, cryo and pyro (except for 1-2 characters) while on hydro I only have XQ and Mona smh Edit: The clear advantage of Yelan over XQ is that she is much more powerful with each cons and 5 star weapon while Xinqiu maximum potential is limited by her C6 that most F2P can get but won't over much more than that for whale, dolphin or old veteran. C1 Yelan with her BIS is broken but C0 with 4 star she is barely stronger than C6 XQ if at all

I skipped her for kazuha. I can’t wait any longer for her return 😊

Nice video, i really didnì't realise she was this strong, i want to pair her with hu tao xungqiu and thoma now, double puyro and double hydro should be fun

Amazing. I only watch your LoL videos. I had no idea you had two other channels. Just dropped by to say how much more respect I've got for you knowing you work so hard on three channels. I can't even imagine!

Great video! What’s the background music?

i actually sorta got her by accident. i love yanfei (she's wonderful and talented and lovely in every way), and when yelan's banner came out i pulled on it because i wanted yanfei's c6. lost a 50/50, finally got c6, and then i was like "hey, maybe i'll pull a bit more" and i got her early. she's one of my favorites, and her skill is my absolute favorite. also, i like her style.

for me every time yelan or wanderer is not on the team every thing feel very sluggish

excuse my language but i fucking LOVE yelans teaser web event art (the one you used as the thumbnail) i always see people use it i love it so much

Got her on her first banner, haven't regretted pulling her since. Great character.

Man, hydro is stacked, between Xingqiu, Kokomi and Yelan herself. The hydro archon's got a lot of competition already (she's gonna be a max hp buffer, isn't it?) Tho I don't think they'll dare to powercreep the game significantly faster, the spotlight is just too big. Tho they could buff old characters (that were already mediocre back in version 1, for the most part) to make up for it

Everyone needs two xingquis

I didnt really wanna pull her, but i got lucky with the rolls and ended up getting her to C3 R1 and found out she slaps hard.

Currently saving for Yelan(maybe hu tao) right now, Hope to win the 50/50. I already got her weapon on her release purely for the crit stat. And I purely need her for her mobility since having sayu take a spot on an exploration team sucks

I remember when Yelan first came to the game, people would say things like "Why are you trying to get her? she's the same as Xingqiu" and I was like "That's... why I am here"

yelan top tbh

I play Yelan because she's really fun, does geat damage, makes great use of Elegy for the team, and is also by far the hottest waifu in history.

I was Waiting for this video

When i got her i was like "i dont really need her or see her as waifu but i won the 50/50 so... whatever". Then i got her bow with just 10 wishes in the weapon banner when i was looking for the other 4* there... needless to say, the world was telling me "Build the armpit waifu you fool" and was worth it.

got her & xiao in singles when they were available I was shocked but yelan is probably the only 5 star i’d say worth c6 since every constellation makes her a better character n not a complete waste of money

also the fact that Elegy of the End is perfect for her as it helps with her ER and buffs the whole team some more with the ATK and EM gains making her even better than bennett for damage increases

2:05 off topic but that xingqiu was relatable lmao

A lot of people seem to hate new units that have similar kits to existing characters. I disagree, having characters with similar kits but be aesthetically different is good. Genshin's player base is very diverse, some want waifus, some want husbandos, so having options is great. I personally like Wanderer's kit but I don't like him as a character, but if they do release a tall female character with a similar kit then I'd most likely pull for that character.

Yelan legit surprised me. She already passed the vibe check with her character design. And then I tested her and pull her, her weapon and I knew she would be great, but she surpassed my expectations by far. And just like that she's in top 3 characters in the game atm

12:22 back fighting ruin guard you could animation cancel xinqius skill to hit one more normal hit and feel more comfy

Got Yelan on my last available wish on her banner right before it changed; she’s been a ton of fun, and she stole the Recurve Bow that I had on Shield/Healer Diona. My only 5* with a 3* weapon! 😅

I’m glad I pulled yelan instead of Xiao during her first release.She is very well in combat even in C0 and overall her gameplay is flexible.

Not gonna lie I’m wondering if I should pull for Yelan or c1 Hu Tao…. and this video makes me hesitating even more

Ok, with the starting of "Pokémon Ranger Underwater OST" you caught my attention...

last abyss i was crying cuz i wanted xinqiu on both of my teams but couldnt so im giving yeland my sould on her rerun thank you so much