In Genshin Impact, the gacha pity system guarantees a 5-star character or weapon after a certain number of wishes without obtaining one. This system ensures that players will receive a 5-star item no later than 90 wishes on the standard and event banners, with unique mechanics for featured rate-ups.
Background of Gacha Mechanics in Genshin Impact
Gacha games like Genshin Impact rely on randomized draws, or “wishes,” to award characters and weapons. These wishes are essentially lottery pulls where players spend Primogems or other in-game currency to receive items of varying rarity. Since random chance can be frustrating, miHoYo (now HoYoverse) implemented a pity system to guarantee rare items within a fixed number of attempts, preventing excessively long dry streaks.
Understanding how this pity system works is vital for players aiming to efficiently collect 5-star characters, which are the most powerful and sought-after units in the game.
How the Pity System Works with Guaranteed 5-Star Items
The core pity mechanic in Genshin Impact guarantees a 5-star item every 90 wishes on the standard and event character banners. This means if you have not received a 5-star item after 89 wishes, your 90th wish will definitely be a 5-star character or weapon.
Here are the key points:
- Soft Pity: Around 75-80 wishes, the chance of pulling a 5-star item starts to increase gradually, making it more likely to get a 5-star before hitting hard pity.
- Hard Pity: At 90 wishes without a 5-star, the next wish is guaranteed to be 5-star.
- Featured 5-Star Guarantee: On event character banners, the first 5-star you get after pity is guaranteed to be the featured character. If you don’t get the featured character, the next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured one.
This system applies both to characters and weapons, but with some differences between the standard banner and limited event banners.
Understanding the Featured 5-Star Guarantee (Rate-Up System)
The featured rate-up system is a crucial aspect of the pity mechanic. When you pull a 5-star item on an event banner, there is a 50% chance it will be the featured 5-star character or weapon for that banner.
If you do not receive the featured 5-star on your first 5-star pull, the next 5-star you obtain is guaranteed to be the featured one. This is often called the “50/50” system combined with a “guaranteed next” mechanic.
For example:
- You reach pity and pull a 5-star item. There’s a 50% chance it’s the featured character (e.g., Ayaka).
- If you get a non-featured 5-star (like a standard 5-star weapon or character), your next 5-star pull will be guaranteed to be the featured character.
This system reduces the frustration of missing out on limited-time characters, giving players a second guaranteed chance.
Differences Between Banners and Their Pity Systems
Genshin Impact has multiple banners, and pity mechanics vary slightly among them:
- Standard Banner (Wanderlust Invocation): Guarantees a 5-star every 90 wishes, but no featured characters are involved. The 5-star can be any standard 5-star character or weapon.
- Event Character Banners: Guarantee a 5-star every 90 wishes, with the 50/50 featured character system and the “guaranteed next featured” on losing the 50/50.
- Event Weapon Banners: Similar pity count to character banners but with a “weapon 50/50” system, where the featured 5-star weapon has a 75% chance to appear on the first 5-star pull, and if it fails, the next 5-star is guaranteed featured.
These differences affect how players plan their wish strategies depending on what they want.
How to Track and Choose When to Wish
Players often track their pity counts to maximize efficiency and avoid wasting resources. Because pity resets after pulling a 5-star, knowing your current count helps decide when to use wishes.
Useful tips include:
- Check your wish history in-game to see how many pulls since your last 5-star.
- Save wishes for banners with characters you want, especially during event banners with featured 5-star characters.
- Consider soft pity ranges (75-90 pulls) as the best time to expect a 5-star.
- For weapon banners, be aware of the 75% featured weapon rate on the first 5-star pull.
By understanding pity mechanics, you can better plan your resource spending.
Common Misconceptions and Problems Players Face
Despite the clear pity system, some players have misconceptions or experience frustration due to randomness:
- “Pity guarantees the character I want on the 90th pull”: Pity guarantees a 5-star item, but on event banners, the first 5-star has only a 50% chance to be the featured character.
- “Soft pity always means a 5-star soon”: Soft pity increases chances but does not guarantee a 5-star until hard pity.
- “Pity counts reset with each banner”: Pity counts are shared across banners for characters and weapons respectively, except the standard banner has its own count.
- “You can lose pity progress”: Pity does not reset unless you pull a 5-star.
Understanding these points helps manage expectations and reduces disappointment.
Comparisons with Other Gacha Games’ Pity Systems
Genshin Impact’s pity system is considered generous compared to many gacha games, which often have longer pity counts or no pity at all. For example:
- Fate/Grand Order: No hard pity, extremely low chances for 5-star servants, leading to potential long dry streaks.
- Arknights: Has a pity system but with different thresholds and no guaranteed featured units.
- Honkai Impact 3rd: Similar pity mechanics but often with different rates and guarantees.
Genshin’s pity system helps maintain player engagement by limiting frustration and ensuring regular rewards.
Costs and Resource Management Related to Pity
Each wish costs 160 Primogems, and players typically accumulate Primogems through gameplay or purchases. Understanding pity helps optimize spending:
- Knowing you have 60-70 pulls left before a guaranteed 5-star can influence whether to save or spend.
- Using the pity system, players can calculate the expected Primogem cost per 5-star pull.
- Event banners often provide bonus rewards or discounted wish bundles, so timing wishes may reduce costs.
Effective resource management based on pity can maximize value from limited Primogems.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I don’t get the featured 5-star on my first 5-star pull?
If you fail the 50/50 chance on your first 5-star pull in an event banner, the next 5-star you obtain is guaranteed to be the featured character or weapon. This ensures you will eventually get the banner’s highlighted item.
Does pity reset after switching banners?
Pity for characters is shared across event banners and the standard banner but tracked separately for weapons. Switching between banners does not reset your pity count; it continues accumulating until you pull a 5-star.
Is there a maximum number of wishes before a 5-star is guaranteed?
Yes, the hard pity is set at 90 wishes for characters and weapons on most banners. This means if you have not pulled a 5-star by your 90th wish, the game guarantees one on that pull.
What is soft pity and how does it affect my chances?
Soft pity is a range before hard pity (around 75-80 wishes) where the probability of getting a 5-star item gradually increases with each wish, making it more likely but not guaranteed until 90 pulls.
Can I use pity to guarantee a specific 5-star character?
Pity guarantees a 5-star item but not always the specific featured character on the first 5-star pull. However, if you miss the featured character once, the next 5-star pull is guaranteed to be that character on event banners.
Is the pity system the same for weapons and characters?
The pity count is the same (90 wishes for a guaranteed 5-star), but the rate-up mechanics differ. Weapon banners use a 75% chance to get the featured weapon on the first 5-star pull, versus 50% for characters.
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