GamesRPGGenshin ImpactIn a stunning commitment to playing RPGs your way, Genshin Impact player spends 3 years min-maxing the worst character: “I usually advise others not to build her"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRPGGenshin ImpactIn a stunning commitment to playing RPGs your way, Genshin Impact player spends 3 years min-maxing the worst character: “I usually advise others not to build her"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: HoYoverse)
I know I’m not the only person who regularly struggles to choose between game strategies that are considered mathematically superior and strategies that just seem fun to me. So it’s heartening to see a true demonstration of playing games your own way from Genshin Impact playerpcr001, who’s spent nearly four years maxing out the damage of a character competing for the lowest spot on the RPG’s tier list. All bow before the true Amber main.
OnNovember 25, 2020, pcr began a journey to deal as much damage as possible with a single charged shot from Amber, a Pyro bow user. Amber is the first character you unlock after Genshin Impact’s protagonist, the Traveler, and is widely considered to be among the worst characters in the game, to the point that bad characters are often dumped in “Amber tier.” Her damage numbers are poor and her abilities have low uptime, so she’s generally been relegated to a utility slot for igniting objects in the open world. In an interview, even pcr agrees “her skills and stats are far from good.”
“To be honest I usually advise others not to build her whenever somebody asks me in my posts because there’s a lot of investment needed, and even then she still won’t be on par with the other characters,” they say. “But if they like Amber a lot just like I do, then welcome to the club! Going back to the question, yeah I agree [she’s weak] because stats don’t lie, but it won’t stop me from liking Amber.”
“I really like her characterization in-game,” pcr adds. “I actually call her my ‘little ray of sunshine.’ I like how she’s really optimistic and how she’s always there for her friends and the people who need her. Her influence on Collei is also lovely.”
Committed to Amber, pcr started at just 20,000 damage. In the following months and years, stat upgrades, new characters, and better equipment – including better equipable artifacts and stronger five-star weapons – steadily raised the damage ceiling. First came 30,000, then 50,000, and finally 100,000 in May 2021. But pcr wanted more, all while sticking to their rule of only using four-star characters, and all while staying centrally devoted to Amber.
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“I think for the moment 250k is my end goal for now,” pcr said at the time. “I know it can be pushed further if I get to roll copies of the weapons I use in the party or if there will be a new artifact set that will be able to push the damage further. Both factors require a certain degree of luck though, but yeah, we’ll see.”
For now, that’s the summit. Pcr could obviously push Amber’s damage higher with heavily invested five-star units and weapons. Genshin Impact is a gacha game, after all, so a credit card is the strongest option. But if anything, this makes their journey stand out even more. In a game built on FOMO and real financial opportunity costs – or at least resource costs, even for free-to-play players – they’ve stuck with Amber for years purely because they like her. You’ve just got to respect it.
Genshin Impact studio’s new roguelike RPG joins Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail in setting early July release date to avoid Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
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2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
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4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
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5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
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