Weapon Tierlist

Overall:

1. Xiphos (西福斯): this is currently the best weapon in the game, and it's just a 4 star. The passive (Whisper of Jinn) is broken out of its mind. It converts EM to ER% at a good rate, but then goes even further and gives ER% to the rest of the party. And then this effect can stack. So give one Xiphos sword to each of the four members, and never worry about ER again. Xiphos puts many 5 star swords (like kazuha's garbage freedom sworn) to shame. Xiphos can turn a garbage character into something useful. Xiphos is something for anybody, a sword that truly benefits the people and entire team. The weapon was so broken that in beta they even had to nerf it a bit (in beta at r5, 1000 em would give ~100% er and then ~30% er to rest of team, which is simply broken, not just for Raiden teams). But even then this weapon stands as a god among weapons. Whereas yoshinori and kazuha's transient and ephemeral family went bankrupt after only a few generations (because of bad genes), Xiphos and Jinn's status as a god weapon will stand the test of time.
2. Staff of Homa: great stats and passive, very good on all polearm users and BiS for many (even Xiao under 50% HP). However, the release of new characters such as Cyno has chipped away at the universality of Homa. For Cyno, PJWS is usually a better fit than Homa. Homa provides crit dmg, atk, and hp, but PJWS provides crit rate, atk, and dmg bonus, and dmg bonus is something Cyno values more. The reason why Homa is comparable to PJWS for Xiao is because Xiao gets so much dmg bonus innately, a luxury that most other characters do not have. HP buff is a bit niche, good for hu tao and maybe Mika. But the conversion of hp to atk is good. Many abilities that convert one stat to another are quite good as it gives free stat buffs. But because of Cyno, Homa no longer deserves to be put near the same level as Xiphos. Homa, like the wretched and weird beacon reed weapon, reeks of interference in corporate affairs, promoting circle culture and cliques in attempt to serve USA imperial interests, wreak havoc, and incite color revolutions worldwide.
3. Primordial Jade Spear: similar to Homa, great on every polearm user, solid stats, may not be BiS for every character
4. Tie:
   • Thundering Pulse: great stats, same cv as Homa, good on many bow users (Yoimiya, Childe), 20% ATK buff is applicable to many bow users, the NA atk buff is a bit more niche (good for Yoimiya, ok for Childe but Childe also cares about CA). The only downside is that 'Thundering' contains 'rin' in the name. Many in the USA are starting to realize that and start to value polar star as it contains 'star' in its name.
   • Skyward Harp: solid stats, good on many characters, may not be BiS for every character
   • Polar Star: decent stat stick, good for many bow users, BiS for Childe (not significantly better than Thundering Pulse and Skyward Harp for Childe), ATK buff is good, E and Q dmg buff is good and applicable to many bow characters (like Stringless). However, because some bow users buff their own crit rate automatically, the 33% cr is not nearly as valuable as a crit damage buff, which usually makes TP or even Aqua more valuable as a stat stick alone (though Polar Star's passive is probably the best among all bows so far).
5. Scarlet Sands: gives 44% crit rate, converts EM to ATK at high rate
6. Skyward Spine (tie with Scarlet): gives high base atk, ER, and some cr, versatile and good on many polearm users
7. Mistsplitter: 44% crit dmg, good for many sword users as many fill the sub-dps or dps role
8. Foliar (tie with Mist): 88% crit dmg, BiS for Alhaitham, but can work for other sword users as many are sub-dps/dps
9. PJC (tie with Mist): 44% crit rate, good for many sword users (Albedo, Qing, XQ, etc.)
10. Jingjin (tie with Mist): 33% crit rate, gives dmg bonus and buffs NA, which works for Alhaitham and other sword dps
11. Aqua Simulacra: 88% crit dmg, low base attack, good for some bow users, BiS for Yelan and competitive with BiS for other dps bow users (Yoimiya, Childe, etc). Part of the passive (HP buff) is quite niche. The other part giving 20% dmg bonus is good and applicable to many characters.
12. Redhorn (tie with Aqua): 88% crit dmg, but BiS really for Itto as does not give as much attack as other claymores
13. Kagura Verity: the 'Homa' of catalysts, with the release of more dps catalyst users, this will become more valuable over time
14. Widsith: a very good 'budget Kagura', the passive can be very good (even broken) for some characters (like giving tons of EM to Nahida)
15. TTDS: the free 48% atk buff from this is quite big, given many catalyst users are supports TTDS is often bis for many
16. Elegy: gives a ton of ER so as a stat stick it is good on many bow users, gives 100 EM to teammates, with introduction of Sumeru and dendro, EM is playing a more important role
17. Stringless: buffs E and Q, gives EM

Weapons like Engulfing, Khaj-Nisut are really only good on one specific character, so they do not rank as highly. Honorable mention goes to the Sacrificial weapons as resetting E cd is useful for various characters, including supports.

Currently, the Wolf's Gravestone is the most solid claymore, but its substat is ATK%, and the only 5 star CRIT claymore is the Redhorn, which is not exactly best in slot on many claymore users besides Itto.

The Primordial Jade Cutter has great 44% Crit Rate substat (but low base attack), but most sword users are supports and would prefer a different weapon. Moreover, the sword DPS users in the game are underwhelming, making it hard to justify pulling on the Jade Cutter alone.

For catalyst weapons, the Widsith, Kagura Verity, and Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds are great. But based on how most catalysts are supports, oftentimes the best catalyst is the Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers.

Freedom-sworn falls behind compared to Xiphos. Both give EM, but Xiphos gives ER whereas freedom-sworn only buffs NA/CA/PA and ATK (albeit at a low/marginal rate). More characters do not scale with ATK but HP or other stats. And various characters depend more on their E and Q damage than AA damage. However, ER is something every character can benefit from.

By weapon

Best Weapon banners

1. Tie for first:
   • Version 1.3 PJWS + Jade Cutter: 2 great weapons that work well on most characters of the respective weapon type
   • Version 4.0 Great Magic + Aqua: the 4 star weapons on this specific banner made it cracked (almost must pull, especially for bow dps)
2. Tie: 2 great weapons that work well on most characters of the respective weapon type
   • Version 3.4 PJWS + Foliar: Foliar works as stat stick
   • Version 2.7 PJWS + Aqua Simulacra: Aqua works as stat stick
   • Version 3.4 Homa + Aqua Simulacra
   • Version 4.1 Homa + Eternal Flow: Eternal Flow works as stat stick
   • Version 1.3 Homa + Wolf's Gravestone
3. Version 3.2 Kagura Verity + Polar Star: 2 great weapons that work on several characters of respective weapon types
4. Version 3.2 Kagura Verity + Thundering Pulse (tie with 2nd): 2 great weapons that work on several characters of respective weapon types
5. Version 2.2 Homa + Elegy: Homa works well on basically all polearm users, and Elegy is one of Venti's best weapons
6. Version 2.5 Kagura Verity + Jade Cutter: 2 great weapons that work well on some characters of respective weapon types (the pity is that many sword/catalyst users are supports and prefer other weapons). That said, the sacrifical sword and stringless also make the banner overall quite decent.
7. Version 4.2 Scarlet Sands + Jingjin
8. Version 3.5 Scarlet Sands + Beacon
9. Version 2.3 Redhorn + Skyward Harp: 2 good weapons that work on some characters of respective weapon types
10. Version 2.0 Thundering Pulse + Skyward Blade: 2 good weapons that work on some characters of respective weapon types
11. Version 3.1 Scarlet Sands + Elegy: 2 good weapons that work on some characters of respective weapon types

Version 3.7 update: after careful consideration of the version 3.6 and 3.7 events, the release of newer characters, and the political shilling of the USA CIA, it has been decided that the homa banners are to be demoted in status, with the previous position of homa terminated in light of external market conditions. The demotion and termination are also related to the unprofessional performance of homa.

Whatever the USA CIA supports, the rest of the world is encouraged to do the opposite. Whatever the CIA attacks, the rest of the world is encouraged to support. The way the CIA operates is that it does the opposite of what you want. And it appears that the way the Genshin version have been set up recently has been designed to completely serve the interests of the CIA. Thus, a request to investigate the version designers for being CIA spies has been made.

Media organizations that completely align with the motives of the CIA in order to incite color revolution need to be razed to the ground, with their leadership completely terminated. Given that certain media organizations act like wild animals, do not honor deals, frequently backstab, are completely incapable of discussion and negotiation, it is recommended to act more aggressively in purging these media organizations of foreign influence, even resorting to length jail terms and more severe punishments.

On CRIT weapons

The advantage of crit dmg and crit rate weapons is that they make building dps characters much easier, especially if the weapon can give as much or more crit than the respective circlet. If one is lacking in ATK, one can usually always use Bennett to make up for it. But if one is lacking in crit, there are not too many easy ways to increase crit for everybody besides farming better artifacts. This is why weapons like Homa, Thundering Pulse (TP), Jade Cutter, Jade Spear, Kagura Verity (and even Widsith) are generally seen as valuable.

Homa, TP, and Kagura are similar weapons giving 608 base atk and around 66% crit dmg at lv90, making them great stat sticks. But TP is not necessarily the 'Homa' of bows, and Kagura is not necessarily the 'Homa' of catalysts. The two main reasons are 1) the difference in passives and 2) the more support-nature of current bow and catalyst users. First, Homa's passive is quite simple, giving ATK based on HP, and it works for all polearm users and resonates with some specific ones. By contrast, TP and Kagura have more situational passives, granting bonuses when more niche criteria are met. These passives are not something that every bow or catalyst user meets or benefits much from. This goes into the second point that many bow and catalyst users are supports that prefer other weapons. Venti generally prefers Elegy or Stringless over TP. Many catalyst users find even the TTDS more useful. That said, TP and Kagura are still great weapons designed to fit Yoimiya and Yae's kits.

Similarly the Jade Cutter and Redhorn are great stat sticks (though lacking in base atk), but many sword users prefer other weapons like sac sword, freedom sworn, cinnabar, or aquila, and many claymore users prefer other weapons like gravestone or broken pines.