Genshin Impact recently released a trailer for Version 1.4, scheduled to release on March 17. Featuring big updates, numerous events, and new quests, players should be excited for another round of major content releases. The biggest surprise, though, is the return of both Venti and Childe on the limited character banner. As Venti and Childe have only appeared on the character banner once before, these re-runs should give Genshin Impact players a chance to obtain the characters if they missed the banner previously.
Unfortunately, since the Venti and Childe banners will likely be back-to-back, most Genshin Impact players will only be able to obtain one of them. In order to save Primogems, its important that players understand what Venti and Childe offer to different party compositions. They both have strengths and weaknesses in different roles, and the choice will depend heavily on what a player needs.
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In terms of versatility in team compositions, Venti is the clear winner given his crowd control capabilities and exploration efficiency. Despite being the first limited five star character, Venti remains one of the best characters in the game simply because he trivializes almost all of the content in Genshin Impact. Venti has the ability to crowd control, combine elemental reactions, shred elemental resistance, and recharge his own elemental burst, which makes him the perfect candidate in any team composition. Furthermore, he's useful in exploration as well due to his decreased stamina consumption while gliding and his ability to create wind currents.
Whereas most strong five star characters in Genshin Impact require some sort of investment through weapons, artifacts, or talents, Venti requires very little to shine. Since Venti's primary utility is not linked with his damage, players don't need to spend as much resin or resources as they would with other five star characters. However, it's also important to note that, while Venti is extremely flexible, he cannot function well as the main DPS, so players will need other characters that deal damage. Although Venti is unparalleled in his crowd control capabilities, there are also a few budget options available like Sucrose or Anemo Traveler.
Childe's role is the direct opposite of Venti's, as he's typically the main DPS or sub-DPS character in a party composition. Featuring a unique playstyle with melee and ranged stances, Childe alternates between a bow and water blades to deal massive damage. Although Childe doesn't reach the raw damage output of the strongest DPS characters like Hu Tao or Ganyu, he makes up for it with his versatility in team compositions. Childe's biggest advantage is that his AoE damage is unmatched, despite the downtime on his elemental skill. Genshin Impact players can clear domains with ease, as Childe's Hydro vision enables strong elemental reactions like freeze or vaporize.
The main drawback of Childe is that he requires a good supporting cast to make up for his downtime in his ranged stance. Since he has no way to gather mobs together on his own, players should look for supporting characters with good crowd control abilities. It's also a good idea for Genshin Impact players to have a single-target DPS character to fill in for Childe while his elemental skill is on cooldown. Despite these shortcomings, Childe is a great fit for players that already have a decent supporting cast to enable him. However, Genshin Impact players that don't already have strong supporting characters might want to roll for Venti instead.
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While the decision between Venti and Childe can be simplified into whether a Genshin Impact player needs a DPS or support character, there are a number of other important variables to consider. Depending on constellations, weapons, and resources that a player has, the decision might not be immediately obvious. For example, a player with the five star Skyward Harp might favor Childe more since he can make use of it much better than Venti could. On the other hand, Venti might be a better choice for players that don't have any five star bows, as he's much more flexible with builds and offers utility no matter what weapon he has.
Another important factor in choosing between Venti and Childe would be their constellation upgrades. For Genshin Impact players that already have one of them, the choice should be obvious as a new character will almost always be better than a constellation upgrade. However, if a player owns both of them already, comparing the constellations might affect their decision. For example, Childe's first constellation decreases the cooldown of his elemental skill by 20% which can be a fairly decent upgrade.
Venti's first constellation, on the other hand, gives him an extra two arrows during his charged shots, which deal 33 percent of the original arrow's damage. While it's an interesting new playstyle on paper, it's one of the more useless Genshin Impact constellations. The arrows are spread at an awkward 30 degree angle and makes it difficult for Venti to hit smaller enemies. In general, Childe constellations are typically more effective upgrades than Venti constellations so players with both characters might lean towards rolling more copies of Childe.
With the confirmation of the Venti and Childe banners, it looks like character banner re-runs are official and there will likely be more in the future. Genshin Impact players who can't decide between Venti or Childe shouldn't worry too much as it's likely that they will make another appearance somewhere down the line. For now, players should choose based on their short term needs and whether their party composition requires a new DPS or a new support character.
While Venti is much more flexible than Childe in terms of investment and party composition, Childe's ability to deal massive AoE damage should not be overlooked. With the new shortened banner duration and the fact that they will happen back to back, Genshin Impact players will likely not have enough primogems to reach the pity for both Venti and Childe. As a result, it's important that the character they choose will benefit their team until the next rerun.
Genshin Impact is available now on PC, Mobile, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5 and Switch.