With Genshin Impact's extensive line-up of playable characters, some are bound to be stronger than others in terms of gameplay. However, classifying a character as weak or strong isn't necessarily a black-and-white concept as each one has its role in certain teams-comps or play styles. That said, a few characters lie in the middle of the spectrum that are nowhere near weak, yet they aren't necessarily the strongest either as they are held back by one debilitating weakness.
With HoYoverse's efforts at balancing out characters, some tend to take the brunt of these gratuitous measures resulting in strong characters that are held back by just one weakness. Be it insufficient DPS, lack of synergy, or just an incoherent kit, some characters truly get the short end of the stick, making their gameplay experience slightly less enjoyable. While these characters are certainly far from being categorized as weak, their true potential is locked behind a grueling weakness with little to no workaround.
6 Tartaglia — Long Cooldown On His Elemental Skill
Tartaglia, also known as Childe, is one of Genshin's most diverse main-dps characters with a versatile play style comprising both melee and ranged normal attacks. That said, most of his damage lies in his hydro-infused normal attacks activated by his elemental skill Foul Legacy: Raging Tide. Aoe hydro damage coupled with Tartaglia's passive Riptide blasts is truly a force to be reckoned with, making quick work of grouped up opponents.
However, his elemental skill is exactly where his biggest weakness lies – a long-winded cooldown. His elemental skill's cooldown depends on how long the ability was active, with a maximum cooldown of 45 seconds. This can be worked around by managing the active duration of the skill, though anyone unfortunate enough to keep it active for more than 15 seconds will have to bear the brunt of a massive cooldown punishment.
5 Cyno — Elemental Burst Duration Is Unnecessarily Long
Being one of Sumeru's most-awaited characters, Cyno's popularity was booming long before he was even released. His actual release, however, saw an equally opposite reaction from players as his lack of synergy and clunky kit disappointed many. There's no denying that Cyno's damage numbers are through the roof even now, yet It's disappointing to see that his full potential can't be tapped into with his elemental burst severely holding him back.
With a duration of 18 seconds, Cyno's elemental burst imbues his attacks with electro, giving him a massive attack boost. The problem, however, lies with the duration of his burst as it outlives most supporting utility. Without supporting utility, Cyno's burst offers diminishing results, forcing players to switch to another character and losing the rest of his burst duration.
4 Hu Tao — Highly Dependent On Stamina
Hu Tao, Liyue's favorite prankster, has a special place in every Genshin Impact player's heart with her playful antics and cheerful persona. Her popularity is further supplemented by her insane damage numbers, making her arguably one of the strongest dps characters in the entire game.
However, being highly dependent on charged attacks forces Hu Tao's play style to revolve around animation cancelation and spamming charged attacks. Without proper stamina management, Hu Tao loses considerable damage, leaving her constellation 1 as the only viable solution to counter her stamina issues.
3 Nilou — Bloom Damage Compromises Survivability
Nilou isn't simply known for her mesmerizing dances and symbolic choregraphy as this hydro character can pack a punch with her explosive dendro blooms. Only a few characters have such excellent synergy with the dendro element as Nilou's high EM scaling gives way to a volley of high-dps blooms.
The only drawback of dendro blooms is that they also damage the on-field character, and with Nilou's absurdly high bloom damage, survivability becomes an issue. This forces players to run a healer or a shield character alongside Nilou to counter the friendly-fire.
2 Alhaitham — Extremely Complicated Kit
Alhaitham's role in the game's lore had already made him a much-awaited character, though his place as one of the few dendro dps characters in the game furthered his popularity. His unmatched damage numbers place him quite high in most tier lists, yet he's still held back by several intricacies of his own kit.
With a play style revolving around Chisel-Light Mirrors, Alhaitham is forced to constantly keep the mirrors up to gain maximum damage. Having three mirrors on-field is necessary for the most damage, yet attaining so requires meticulous effort and perfect timing. With such a timing-focused gameplay, Alhaitham can be quite punishing for those that fail at maintaining his mirrors' uptime.
1 Wanderer — Prone To Interruption While Hovering
Being one of the most sought-after characters since the game's launch, the Wanderer's release was well-received by the game's player base. With the hovering mechanic, his popularity further spiked for those wanting a more distinctive and enjoyable exploration experience.
Overall, the Wanderer has a relatively balanced kit and a distinctive play style. However, his weakness lies in the Windfavored state that allows him to soar towards the sky. In this state, the Wanderer is extremely susceptible to interruption, forcing players to forego a spot on his team-comp for a healer or shielder to supplement his vulnerable hovering state.