The 5 weapon types, swords, polearms, claymores,
bows, and catalysts, make up one of the cornerstones of Genshin’s combat system. For a character, it determines their most
basic playstyle, as well as what kind of weapon stats and passives they will have access to. With elements we already know that the 7th
nature element Dendro is on the way, and there will possibly be even more to come in the
future. But with weapons, we haven’t quite gotten
hard confirmation that there will eventually be new types. But despite that, it’s hard not to believe
they will come at some point, given just how many more characters are slated to come in
the game’s future. The thing is though, is that there are a LOT
of different weapons that exist in the world, and the fact is that some of them would be
a much better fit for Genshin than others. So today I am going to be breaking down some
of the underlying logistics of adding a new weapon type, and going through some of the
most wanted ones to try and determine which would make for the best and most likely addition
to the game. Hands down the number one problem I have with
most suggestions for new weapon types is that they aren’t different enough from what we
already have. Within Genshin’s existing 5 weapon types
there is a pretty good amount of variation in gameplay. Polearms are the fastest melee and offer the
most mobility, claymores are slow but have wide, heavy swings, and swords exist as a
middle ground between the two. Bows and catalysts are ranged, with bows being
able to rapid fire or do aimed charged shots, and catalysts exist as a wild card of sorts,
featuring elemental attacks with varying properties. For it to be worth all the trouble of adding
a whole new weapon type, it really should bring something fresh to the game. To start, they’d have to create designs,
models, stats, and passives for 20 weapons ranging from 1 to 5 stars, a weapon icon,
weapon screen animations for each of the 5 body types, holster animations for each of
the 5 body types, and they’d have to ensure that it interacts correctly with other systems,
like character abilities and artifact sets. It’s not an insane amount of work, but from
a developer’s perspective, why bother when continuing to use the existing weapon types
is less work and makes it marginally easier for players to build their new characters. One of the most wanted weapon types is definitely
dual wielded melees. But cool as they are, they are just so standard
that they would play exactly like the other melees. So in comparison, other kinds of weapons seem
like much better choices. But anyways, basically the first and most
important thing I’m looking for is new and interesting gameplay. The other thing I’m looking for is if there
is potential for variety within the weapon type, both in terms of the styles in which
it is used and the weapon itself. One of my favorite parts of any new Genshin
character being released is seeing their unique attack animations. Even though Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma
characters all use the same weapons, you can clearly see a difference in the way they handle
them. Admittedly, even weapons that are used in
straightforward ways can seem to have varied usage based on the way the user moves, but
it definitely helps if there is a wide range of cultures to take inspiration from, especially
since weapon types are meant to be used by characters across all the diverse regions
of Teyvat. On the other hand there’s also visual variety
to consider. How far can you push the look of the weapon
while still keeping its weapon type easily identifiable. For example, one of my favorite things about
catalysts is that they can either be books, or uh whatever the rest of them are called. It helps make each individual one look different
and special, which I feel is pretty important given how for most characters, their weapon
is the only thing which you can actually customize about their visual appearance. So with all that in mind, our first candidate
which we will be evaluating is hands down the most suggested by the community, and that
would be the scythe. Well as a lot of you probably already know,
this thing was historically a farming tool and not a weapon. So that already sets it back quite a bit,
but other video games have implemented them with success so why would Genshin be any different? Well people naturally will look to Genshin’s
sister game, Honkai Impact 3rd as reference, but these two games are a bit more different
than I think most give them credit for. Genshin with its open world nature is a bit
more grounded in realism with regards to how its characters move. So I don’t think the ultra flashy scythe
combos of Honkai would fit as well in Genshin, and then at that point it boils down to being
just another melee weapon. It’s so physically similar to polearms as
well, and unfortunately they can’t just make a scythe weapon and sneak it in under
the polearm category the same way the Halberd counts as a polearm, because polearm characters
do stabbing moves that just would not be compatible with a scythe. On the bright side though, these properties
make it quite likely that we will eventually get a character who uses a polearm that turns
into a scythe with an ability, just simply because it is such a fan favorite weapon. The 2nd most wanted weapon type I saw was
gauntlets, incidentally another Honkai favorite. These would definitely make for one of the
most interesting additions for a few reasons. They could, for example, play really uniquely
by having strong and fast hits, but at the cost of having very low range. Adding these would open up Genshin to the
vast world of hand to hand combat, so there would certainly be no shortage of different
styles to take inspiration from. One thing I’m a bit weary about though is
that most martial arts styles also use kicks, but Genshin characters never actually hit
enemies with any part of their body. Even at times where it looks like characters
are kicking, there is some part of their weapon making physical contact. So in that sense, gauntlets would probably
end up breaking one of Genshin’s unspoken rules. You could get around it by making the weapon
include both gauntlets and shoes, but then it would make for complications within the
other animations weapons have. Displaying them on menus, putting them away,
and holding them on your back. So these small caveats put it in a bit of
a weird position where gauntlets could be added if some creative solutions are found,
but then the question becomes is it worth it compared to other options? Especially because another gripe I have is
that gauntlets I feel are more limited in design. They obviously have to adhere to the shape
of hand, so that’s definitely a negative when compared to the freedom other weapons
would have. In terms of another purely ranged weapon type,
there’s a couple options. There’s crossbows, but you would think they’d
be very similar to the bows we already have. Guns are interesting since we definitely know
they exist in the world of Genshin because of the Fatui Pyroslinger, and they could feature
unique mechanics like linear aimed shoots or maybe some kind of reload system. My problem is that I really don’t think
more range is the direction Genshin should go, because it just doesn’t mesh as well
with the game’s combat. Either your range is effective enough to the
point where the game isn’t interactive because enemies can’t possibly touch you, or enemies
can dash, teleport, and shoot projectiles at you to make your range advantage feel irrelevant. So that’s why I’m gonna have to pass on
these two options. Given all of the weapons I’ve talked about
thus far, there really only is one broad archetype left to talk about, and that is a hybrid of
melee and ranged weapons. Hands down I think one of these would be the
best new weapon type because they are relatively basic, but still would be interesting by bridging
the gap between the game’s existing melee and ranged weapons. So for this category we have 3 solid choices:
throwable axes or hammers, chakrams, and chain whips. Axes would make for an interesting contrast,
having the shortest melee range in the game but also being able to be thrown through a
group of enemies. At the same time though, I can’t help but
feel they’d still end up feeling rather plain. Chakrams on the other hand, which are these
throwable metal rings, are really cool but also extremely niche. So that just leaves my final weapon type suggestion,
the one that I genuinely think would overall make for the best addition to Genshin Impact,
the chain whip. You may have never heard of it before, so
quick introduction, it’s a pretty old weapon with origins in Chinese martial arts, consisting
of a handle, a chain, and a metal dart at the end. It’s not the most practical weapon to use
in real life because an unskilled user can easily hurt themselves, but thankfully in
the world of video games that doesn’t really apply. The best thing about this weapon is that its
flexible nature gives it so many creative angles to approach from. If you want quick, light attacks you have
swinging motions. If you want slower, heavy attacks you have
full length stabs. Maybe they could even try to implement pulling
enemies in different directions. Genshin characters are pretty notorious for
throwing in extra flair that isn’t necessarily practical but is really cool looking, and
if you take inspiration from the rope dart you have some of the sickest, flashiest moves
in existence. In terms of visual variety you could have
all different kinds of ropes or chains, and the bit at the end can be a wide range of
things. Namely a spiked ball, which gives it a more
medieval Europe vibe, probably because of the similarity to the flail. There’s also regular whips, but I’m a
bit iffy on including it since the motion of using one is a bit different. All in all though, the chained/roped weapon
category is hands down my favorite because of its sheer potential in both gameplay and
aesthetics. Because we are still getting by just fine
on our 5 existing weapon types, I do think it’ll be quite a while before it’s decided
that it’s worth the time and effort to make another one. But when it does eventually happen, I’ll
be hoping for chain whips but will be fine with anything as long as it’s cool. I certainly don’t think it’s fair to completely
rule out the other ones I mentioned, so if you’re praying for one of them don’t worry
about it. Either way, we’ll probably end up seeing
a bunch of these as character specific skills rather than new weapon types. But anyways that’s all for my thoughts on
the topic, I hope you found this video to be interesting or insightful, and as always,
thanks for watching.
