Genshin Impact 4.1: Should you pull for Neuvillette, Hu Tao, and their weapons?

Genshin Impact version 4.1 is almost upon us and its first half banner is one you shouldn't miss.

Headlining the upcoming update will be the debut of Neuvillette, the imposing Chief Justice of Fontaine and a Hydro Catalyst user.

Joining him will be the lovable Pyro Polearm user Hu Tao, who will be getting her third rerun.

Neuvillette is looking to be the premier DPS character among Fontaine's roster while Hu Tao is already considered to be one of the strongest carries in the game. If you're in need of more firepower in your teams, then this banner is looking to be well worth the Primogems.

So, read on as we break down the reasons why you should pull for Neuvillette, Hu Tao, and their signature weapons!

Need a Hydro DPS? Get Neuvillette

Neuvillette boasts a powerful kit centred on his Charged Attack, which lets him unleash a powerful torrent of water in front of him to wipe the battlefield clean at the cost of his own HP. His skill, burst, and passive talents help him maintain a constant barrage while giving him additional sources of damage.

Neuvillette's primary source of damage is his enhanced Charged Attack, which deals continuous area-of-effect Hydro DMG in a straight-line area in front of him for 3 seconds. If Neuvillette's current HP is above 50% of his maximum, then he will continuously lose HP while using his Charged Attack.

It will take some time for Neuvillette to charge up, but absorbing Sourcewater Droplets created by his skill and ultimate will let him charge it up quickly while also healing him. While charging up and using his Charged Attack, Neuvillette can freely move and change the direction he is facing so you can focus on the right targets.

Neuvillette's skill lets him deal area-of-effect Hydro DMG based on his Max HP to enemies in front of him. If the skill hits an opponent, then it will also create 3 Sourcewater Droplets so he can use his Charged Attack faster.

Neuvillette's burst lets him unleash three powerful waves that deal Hydro DMG in a large area. This ability will unleash one huge initial wave and then two smaller ones after a short interval that affect a smaller area. In addition, it will also create 6 Sourcewater Droplets to let Neuvillette use his Charged Attack.

Neuvillette's A1 passive empowers his Charged Attack by giving him stacks of Past Draconic Glories whenever a party member triggers a Hydro-related elemental reaction, up to a maximum of 3 stacks. At max stacks, Past Draconic Glories boosts the damage of his Charged Attack by a whopping 160% of its original damage.

Meanwhile, Neuvillette's A4 passive provides another boost in his damage output by giving him 0.6% Hydro DMG Bonus for each 1% of his current HP greater than 30% of his maximum HP. The Hydro DMG Bonus from this passive is capped at 30%.

Since Neuvillette's damage scales with his HP, it makes him relatively easier to build compared to other DPS characters. While his best-in-slot artifact set is the undoubtedly the 4-piece Marechaussee Hunter, you can get a 4-piece Heart of Depth set from the Artifact Strongbox while you farm.

While Neuvillette's artifact main stat setup is similar to other DPS characters, with a HP% Sands, Hydro DMG Bonus Goblet, and a Crit Rate/DMG Circlet, getting HP substat rolls aren't a waste with him and are instead very much welcome.

He also has plenty of good weapon options if you aren't planning on getting his signature, though he still needs it to reach full potential. If you've ever lost the 50/50 in the weapon banner to, say, the Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds or the Skyward Atlas, then Neuvillette can make good use of those.

Finally, Neuvillette being a Hydro character lets you mix-and-match different teams and elemental combos depending on which enemies you're facing.

Up against fast-moving enemies? Pair Neuvillette with a Cryo character to freeze them in place while he devastates them with his Charged Attack. Need more firepower? Put Pyro or Electro characters in Neuvillette's team to make use of the powerful Vaporize and Electro-Charged reactions. Need tons of single-target damage? Neuvillette is a good driver for Hyperbloom lineup.

As if Neuvillette's versatile teambuilding options aren't already good enough, you're further incentivised to trigger multiple elemental reactions by his A1 passive to boost the damage of his Charged Attack.

Need (literally) more firepower? Get Hu Tao

Much like Neuvillette, Hu Tao's kit is centered on her powerful Charged Attacks that get empowered at the cost of her own HP. While her playstyle is very high-risk, the absurd damage output Hu Tao is capable of is well worth trying to toe the line between life and death.

Hu Tao's ATK increases when her HP is below 50%, and your primary way of getting her below that threshold is by using her skill to consume a portion of her HP and give her attacks a Pyro infusion. Players will have to find the perfect balance of taking damage, as well as be great at dodging enemy attacks to not prematurely send Hu Tao off to the afterlife.

With that said, using Hu Tao's empowered Charged Attacks also cost stamina, so you need to be decisive when it comes to keeping up the aggression or dodging certain enemy attacks. Of course, you can get around this problem by having a strong shield or getting her C1.

But if ever Hu Tao's risky playstyle does get her in danger of dying, she can use her burst to heal herself while dealing damage to enemies around her. Her burst's damage also gets higher the more HP she is missing, so it can work as a nice finishing move!

Mastering Hu Tao's high-risk, high-reward playstyle can be quite the hurdle, but it is pretty easy to get over once you get a hang of her attack patterns. As such, Hu Tao can carry you through most of the tough battles you can encounter, and she’s great even with little investment!

Her best artifact set is the 4-piece Crimson Witch of Flames, though the 4-piece Shimenawa's Reminiscence is also a very good alternative. Both can be acquired through the Artifact Strongbox too, so farming Hu Tao's artifacts aren't as big of a hassle as they were before.

Your artifact main stats for Hu Tao should be HP% for her Sands, Pyro DMG Bonus for her Goblet, and Crit Rate/DMG for her Circlet. Stack up as much Crit Rate/DMG, HP, and ATK on her substats as possible to optimise your build.

When it comes to building a team for Hu Tao, a lot of her best supports are 4-star characters you may already have in your team, like Xingqiu, Xiangling, and Sucrose. You can also even settle for 4-star weapons like Dragon’s Bane or Deathmatch if you're not getting her signature.

Eitherway, Hu Tao can only get better and better when you choose to dedicate some hard-earned Primogems to her ultimate team and build.

With her best-in-slot weapon Staff of Homa, Xingqiu and Yelan providing off-field Hydro application, as well as a shielder like Zhongli, Hu Tao is basically almost unstoppable.

This weapon banner is a rare win-win

While it's often hard to justify pulling on the game's weapon banner, this is one of the rare ones where players are guaranteed to get a good weapon whether they end up pulling the one they want or not.

Neuvillette's signature, the Tome of the Eternal Flow, boasts a solid Base ATK of 541 and a whopping 88% Crit DMG substat at max level.

It passively increases its wielder's HP by 16% and grants them a stacking 14% DMG bonus to their Charged Attack whenever their current HP increases or decreases. In addition, getting a third stack or getting that third stack's duration refreshed restores 8 energy for the wielder.

It's clear to see why this weapon is Neuvillette's signature, but it can still be a worthwhile alternative for other Catalyst DPS characters. The massive Crit DMG substat is very tempting and the Charged Attack bonus can still be exploited by pairing them with certain Fontaine characters.

Hu Tao's signature, the Staff of Homa, is in a similar boat. It has a solid Base ATK of 608 and gives a huge 66% Crit DMG Bonus on its substat. It passively increases its wielder's Max HP by 20% and gives them an ATK bonus based on 0.8% of their Max HP. The ATK bonus is further increased by an additional 1% of the wielder's Max HP when their current HP is less than 50% of their maximum.

Even if most characters can't make good use of the Staff of Homa's passive effects, its stats are good enough to make it a worthy alternative for just about any Polearm DPS character.

So, whether you get the Tome of the Eternal Flow or the Staff of Homa on this banner, then you're very likely to be happy with what you got even if it wasn't what you wanted in the first place.

As for the 4-star weapons on this banner, they're pretty good too. Favonius-series weapons, like the Favonius Lance and the Favonius Codex in this banner, are always good to have for your supports to supplement the team's energy needs.

This will also be the first chance for players to get the new Fontaine gacha 4-star weapon series, namely the Dockhand's Assistant sword and the Portable Power Saw claymore. Both weapons have HP% substats and increases their wielder's Elemental Mastery upon using their skill or burst after they received healing or healed party members.

While the Mitternachts Waltz is very niche, it will be good to have if you're running Fischl as an on-field DPS.

Genshin Impact version 4.1 will be released on 27 September and brings with it two new 5-star characters in Neuvillette and Wriothesley, new gear to collect, new areas to explore, new enemies to fight, and more.

This upcoming version will also host the celebratory event for Genshin Impact's third anniversary on 28 September, so there's lots to be excited about!

For more information on what's to come in Genshin Impact version 4.1, check here.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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