Summary
The latest build for Version 5.3 has brought major changes to the upcomingGenshin Impactcharacters, with Citlali arguably bearing the brunt of the nerfs. While Citlali has quickly risen to become one of the most popular characters inGenshin Impact, that level of popularity comes with some notable drawbacks. Expectations for her ability kit are high, and being a 5-Star Shield Support arguably doubles those expectations. Zhongli and Baizhu are a tall standard to live up to, but there is a chance that Citlali can pull it off.
Citlali’s ability kit inGenshin Impactis designed with two main principles in mind: to provide decent off-field Cryo Damage, and to apply elemental shred for Melt and Freeze teams. As a Shield Support, Citlali also brings interruption resistance to the table, but in terms of her defensive value, she is easily outclassed by Zhongli. On paper, this is a reasonable drawback, as Citlali can carry the new Artifact Set from Natlan, which gives additional damage bonuses for Melt teams.
However,according to HomDGCat, Citlali’s ability kit has undergone some major nerfs in the latest beta build forGenshin Impact. The datamined information reveals that her personal damage is essentially halved, as most of her offensive value came from her Elemental Burst setting up a huge Melt detonation. Rather controversially, the change can be reverted via Citlali’s fourth Constellation, which now provides 50% more Elemental Mastery to compensate for her baseline kit being nerfed. Considering thatMavuika inGenshin Impacthas also been given a buff to her fourth Constellation, it would seem that HoYoverse is wondering if C4 can become the new stopping point.
An undocumented change to Citlali inGenshin Impactimplies that players will be immune to Freeze while her shield is active. Rather surprisingly, her sixth Constellation has also been changed to remove all support for the Cryo element, opting instead to buff Citlali’s personal damage. Considering thedire state of Cryo characters inGenshin Impact, this action implies that the developers aren’t willing to address the situation until at least Version 6.0 in September 2025. Given how fewGenshin Impactplayers go for C6, it’s ultimately a change that won’t affect too many people.
Therein lies the crux of the problem: by shifting power away from Mavuika and Citlali’s baseline kits, and moving it onto their higher Constellations, it makes the new characters inaccessible to the vast majority of players. Assuming no Intertwined Wishes are saved for the endeavor, getting a C4 and Signature Weapon for a 5-Star character can easily cost up to $1,500. To guarantee this outcome, players need to save 1,040 Intertwined Wishes, an incredibly hard feat to accomplish when theaverage Primogem count inGenshin Impacthovers around 80 pulls per update. While there is still a chance that Mavuika and Citlali will see changes in the next two builds of Version 5.3, the current round of changes haven’t been well-received by the community.
