The Lantern Rite festival has finally returned to Genshin Impact in patch 3.4. With the Lantern Rite festival returning, the gigantic festivities and events that players can participate in have also returned. Aside from these, in typical Lantern Rite fashion, HoYoverse is giving out a multitude of awards such as Intertwined Fates, Talent Level-Up Materials and just like the previous iterations of Lantern Rite, a free four star character from Liyue.

With the multitude of new and old 4 star characters from Liyue that the player can pick from, it can get a bit confusing as to who is the most valuable pick from among the available characters. Because of that, we are here to breakdown the pros and cons of each of the possible choices when it comes to selecting who the best character is. With that said, let’s get into it.

Xingqiu

When it comes to account value, among the 4 stars available to choose from, it can be said that Xingqiu provides a lot of value to the player’s account. This is because Xingqiu as a character has always seen a lot of play due to his versatility. This is mostly due to his kit being able to constantly apply a lot of Hydro to opponents as well as deal a lot of damage. Aside from the Hydro application and damage, Xingqiu is also capable of protecting the team as his kit also boasts damage reduction and healing from time to time. However, should the character be already present in the account, choosing him will enable the player to activate his constellations which add significant utility and damage to his already versatile kit.

On the other hand, the downside to choosing Xingqiu does not stem from his kit. Rather, it would feel like it would be a waste to pick Xingqiu as the free 4 star since he will be featured on the upcoming Hu Tao and Yelan banners. Because of this, players can use their primogems to pull on these banners and obtain him or his constellations.

Xiangling

Xiangling is another character that is considered very valuable. However, compared to Xingqiu, her value comes from how powerful she is as a character and how that power has held on for quite a long time. Her power stems from one particular aspect of her kit and that would be her Elemental Burst. Her Elemental Burst, Pyronado, deals a significant amount of pyro damage while also being able to constantly apply pyro status even while she is off field. Aside from this, Pyronado can also be considered one of the more reliable ways to apply the pyro status to opponents considering that no other character is able to apply as much Pyro as compared to Xiangling’s Pyronado.

When it comes to the downsides of picking Xiangling as the free character, there are a number of them. First of all, she already comes free should the player clear Floor 3, Chamber 3 of the Spiral Abyss. This is easily cleared as the enemies are typically low leveled enough to steamroll through. Once it is cleared, the game gives the player a free Xiangling character. In addition to this, another downside of picking Xiangling is that her constellations do not really do much for her account value. Her value to the player’s account highly depends on how the player builds them and how well they can balance her stats. When looking at her constellations, it can be seen that the most significant ones are the 3rd and 4th constellations as these boost her damage as well as extend the duration of her Pyronado significantly. Other than that, none of her other constellations do much for her personal damage.

Beidou

Beidou as a unit has always been a valuable character especially considering how versatile and powerful she is as a sub-dps for electro teams. This is mostly due to her chain lightning from her Elemental Burst that hits multiple opponents each time the active character uses a Normal Attack. Because of this, she is generally used in Electro teams that require a character that can apply Electro off-field. As such, just like the previous characters above, there are only a select number of constellations where her value increases. These constellations are her 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th constellations. These constellations are especially valuable as they provide a significant boost to the damage of her Elemental Burst. Aside from the damage boost, her 1st constellation provides protection for the on-field character as this constellation enables her to create a shield when she uses her Elemental Burst.

When looking at the downside of choosing Beidou as the free character, the most glaring one would be that she is also in the upcoming Hu Tao and Yelan banner just like Xingqiu. Aside from this, with the introduction of Dendro, her usage rate among the top placing teams has fallen due to her inability to consistently apply AoE Electro damage. In addition, her Elemental Burst requires a significant amount of Energy to be used.

Yan Fei

Compared to the previous characters, Yan Fei is a solid 4 star pyro on-field DPS who can dish out damage. However, because of the role she plays, she can either be a solid pick as the free character or she could barely add any value to the account. This really depends on how long the player has been playing the game. Considering her role as the main on field damage dealer, she can be quite useful to new players who are unfortunate enough not to have one. Aside from this, obtaining her constellations also enables her to become more versatile. This is because her 4th Constellation allows her to become a pyro shielder for her team. The pyro shield she generates with this constellation is very strong and is considered one of the sturdiest shields in the game.

The downside to choosing her mostly comes from how old the account of the player is. Should the player have an account with a significant amount of 5 star on field dps, she will have a hard time finding her place in the account as she finds it difficult to compete with the more top tier characters. There is also the matter of her constellation. Once she has obtained the 4th constellation, it will be difficult to justify the rest of her other constellation as they do not just add anymore value.

Ningguang

Ningguang is a 4 star Catalyst Geo on-field dps. Typically, her role is to be the main star of the team by dealing Geo damage to opponents on the field. However, with recent developments people have found other uses for her character as due to being a catalyst user, she can become a healer as well as a decent sub dps. Because of this, choosing her as the free 4 star Liyue unit can very much add value to your account should the player lack other options for a Geo on-field dps. However, should the account have 5 star characters that can fulfill that role, her value as a character goes down.

One of the most glaring problems with pulling for her is that she is greatly limited by her element. Considering that she is of the Geo element, the number of teams that can utilize her to the fullest extent is very limited. Even then, there are other characters out there that can fit those roles better. As such, it can be quite difficult to recommend her should the player’s account be more aged.

Yun Jin 

Compared to the other characters, Yun Jin as a character has a very specific niche that she is part of. Yun Jin’s role is typically a support that buffs the Normal Attacks of her allies. Because of this, she can be highly situational depending on the other characters on her team. In her niche, she is very much valuable in teams such as Double Geo Yoimiya and Hypercarry Ayato since these two teams get a lot of their damage from using normal attacks.

However, when outside her niche, Yun Jin doesn’t see much play. Because of this, her value to the player’s account is highly dependent on the characters that the player already has. Because of this downside, it is very difficult to recommend Yun Jin as the free 4 star of choice when looking at who to choose.

Chongyun

Chongyun is a character that can be considered past his prime. This is because with time, other Cryo characters have overshadowed him with their versatility and raw strength. Despite this, Chongyun is still a solid unit especially in teams that are looking to apply a lot of Cryo or in niche teams that want their on field DPS to apply Cryo damage.

However, as mentioned earlier, a downside to Chongyung is that he is unable to keep up with the other Cryo characters due to being less versatile than them. Characters such as Kaeya, Rosaria and Ganyu are able to apply as much or even more Cryo than he does and are able to help with damage as well.

Xinyan

Xinyan is a character that is very difficult to recommend at all due to her kit not really having any sort of cohesion. Even for newer players, Xinyan is a character that is very difficult to understand since she does not seem to fit any role or niche. As such, picking Xinyan is a hard recommendation unless the player really likes her as a character.

Yaoyao

When it comes to account value, Yaoyao is probably at the top of the list when compared with the other characters being offered. This is because as a support character, the support she provides is valuable in terms of utility and versatility. As the game’s only Dendro healer so far, she is able to apply just enough Dendro to have reactions go off without erasing the other element as well as give a significant amount of healing to the rest of her team. Aside from these, Yaoyao’s particle generation is also high enough that she can share this energy with other characters on the team. To top it all off, when looking at her kit and constellations, she is a fully functioning character even without any constellations.

So far, when looking at the possible downsides for Yaoyao, there does not seem to be any apparent downside to her. The most that can be said for her downside is that currently, she is available in the current character banners and players can obtain her through rolling their primogems for her.