With the release of Heizou in Genshin Impact 2.8 Summer Odyssey, players have been curious as to who the best 4-star catalyst DPS is in the current game. Thankfully after enough time with Heizou, Genshin veterans have determined how each of these following characters are the best in their own right and fill different roles on the battlefield even though they are all on-field DPS units.
Best 4-star Catalyst DPS in Genshin Impact
Catalyst users are rare and are often used more to fill support roles than main-DPS roles. But they make for some of the best DPS units in the game due to their consistent elemental damage which automatically triggers elemental reactions with other elements. Genshin Impact’s elements form a key part in its gameplay experience so a majority of the game benefits from elemental reactions including dealing with enemies.
Catalyst users, and especially catalyst DPS units fill that role of high, pure elemental damage while also simultaneously enabling and encouraging elemental reactions for more damage. Below are the 3 DPS catalyst users who’ve been favored by many early-game players as their main carries.
Ningguang
Ningguang is a 4-star Geo unit who’s from Liyue’s roster of characters. Her mechanics are similar to that of Yanfei in the sense her normal attacks have a sigil stacking system which when full can land a powerful charged attack to deal a ton of damage. Her best artifact is the Archaic Petra and she fits well with any of the DPS catalyst weapons like Dodoco Tales, The Widsith, and the Solar Pearl.
Her E is a screen that protects her from incoming projectiles and also buffs her attack every time she passes through it. Her Q attacks multiple opponents on the field dealing Geo DMG. Ningguang is still the best single-target DPS catalyst 4-star unit in the game. Her attacks don’t have an AoE effect and stay focused on the enemies that are directly hit.
Heizou
Heizou’s anemo makes him much more versatile as a character than Ningguang and while his damage is only a tad lesser than Ningguang, it’s almost negligible on the field. His E is his main source of damage and he works best on the Viridescent Venerer build but he can also be built with more versatile DPS sets. His best weapons are the crit based weapons which give him a huge damage boost.
As an anemo character, Heizou is not only a great DPS but also great support and a sub-DPS. His anemo attacks have an AoE effect and are useful when dealing with small crowds. Not to say he can also swirl other elements so overall he’s the best character to have if you haven’t built the other two and have him on your roster.
Yanfei
Yanfei is another Liyue character who’s a 4-star Pyro catalyst DPS. Her mechanics are similar to that og Ningguang’s as she relies on her normal and charged attacks to deal damage. Her best weapons are any of the DPS catalyst weapons and her best artifact is the Crimson Witch of Flames. Her E gives her a free, full-stack charge attack and her Q continuously gives her sigils to stack and spam charged attacks. Her Q also equips her with a shield to increase her survivability on-field.
Yanfei is the most lacking of these 3 on a single-target basis DPS test but she shines with multiples enemies as her Pyro attacks do have a small AoE effect and when it’s allowed to react with Hydro or Cryo for those Melt and Vaporise reactions, Yanfei’s value bumps up to rival the two characters above. With multiple enemies, elemental reactions, and a time limit, Yanfei succeeds by beating Heizou only by a hair.
Heizou is still our go-to pick as he does it all extremely well. He’s more balanced and more versatile than the other two characters with only one glaring downside which is his range. Heizou is a melee unit despite being a catalyst user and one of the main pros of a catalyst user is their ranged attacks which might understandably be a deal-breaker for many.