It has been nine months since Zhongli’s last rerun, and players have been waiting for the Geo Archon to arrive again. His strength as a dedicated shielder has been unparalleled since his release, making him possibly the best ‘quality-of-life’-improving character in Genshin Impact. Starting on January 25, Zhongli’s second rerun banner, “Gentry of Hermitage”, will appear along with the second phase of version 2.4. This begs the question, is Zhongli worth your Primogems? This article will guide you through the strengths and weaknesses of the Geo Archon, and help you decide if he really is worth pulling for.
Reasons why you should pull for Zhongli in his version 2.4 re-run banner
Should you pull for Zhongli? Zhongli is a 5-star Geo polearm character, known for providing the most durable shield in the game. At the same time, he can also create a Geo construct to deal periodic damage to nearby enemies and has an Elemental Burst which can petrify foes for a short period of time. In most situations, Zhongli’s abilities can remove the need for healers in a team, while also having the effect of reducing enemy resistances with his shield.
Because of Zhongli’s shield being able to shred enemy resistances, he can fit within so many teams, aside from being just a dedicated shielder. Top meta teams like Hu Tao, Ganyu, and Xiao, all benefit a lot from Zhongli’s abilities. Zhongli can also generate a good bit of Geo energy, making him fit well in mono Geo teams including Arataki Itto or Noelle.
To summarize, here is a list of reasons why pulling for Zhongli is worthwhile:
- You like Zhongli’s design and/or gameplay
- You want the convenience of having Zhongli’s shield for protection
- You have teams that can benefit greatly from Zhongli’s abilities
- You want to try dealing huge burst damage with Zhongli’s Elemental Burst
- You are trying to collect Teyvat’s seven Archons
Reasons to Skip Zhongli re-run banner in version 2.4
Zhongli might be amazing in a lot of regards, but it doesn’t mean he’s ultimately essential for everyone. There are a couple of relevant situations where having Zhongli in your team is a drawback by itself. If you’ve explored certain areas of Inazuma or battled the higher levels of the Spiral Abyss, you’ve likely already encountered the Corrosion debuff. This debuff slowly drains the HP of your whole party, which completely goes through shields, making Zhongli’s abilities utterly useless. In these situations, having a healer is more helpful and can keep the vitality of your team going. Combatting Corrosion goes one of two ways: quickly damaging opponents to make battles short, or outlasting opponents by healing yourself and winning the war of attrition. Zhongli, sadly, can only help in the first case. However, for Zhongli to go completely online, he'll require very specific supports so he can really dish out a lot of damage. And, as you might have already guessed, Zhongli cannot help you in the war of attrition, as his shields cannot heal you in battle.
Zhongli’s massive shield also requires a ton of investment if you want to make the most out of it. This means having to max out his level to 90, max his Elemental Skill to level 10, and finding optimal artifacts to scale his HP. Accomplishing all of this requires a gigantic amount of resources, which might take a month or more of grinding. If you are someone who doesn’t have that much time to invest in the game, Zhongli might not be for you.
Overall, here are a couple of reasons why Zhongli can be skipped instead:
- You do not like Zhongli’s design and/or playstyle.
- You don’t want to commit too many resources into one defensive character.
- You want to pull for more offensive characters instead.
- You want to save for more interesting characters in the future.
In conclusion, Zhongli is a great character to have, if you have primogems to spare. Now that there's a lot of support for Geo Characters, building a Geo-only team is as easy as it could be today than ever before. The God of Contracts is definitely someone you'd like to have in your team if you're running a Geo Party. He'll become the core of the party in that case. However, you could definitely want Zhongli, but at the same time not have enough to support and enable him. Hence, even if you did get Zhongli in this banner, it might be difficult for you to make complete use of his abilities with the proper characters and weapons.
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