Why Chongyun is Way Too Underrated (Gameplay & Character)

Chongyun was the second character I ever pulled in this game and he’s been my favorite ever since.  I like him because I have fun playing him and I think he’s a super interesting character.  So I was really excited when I found out that he was one of four characters who would be  getting a hangout event in 1.4. But the thing is, Barbara and Noelle are loved within the  community because well, they’re waifus, and Bennett is a god tier character so a lot of  people are used to using him. That kinda just leaves Chongyun, and I feel like most people  will unlock his hangout quest last since each one requires two story keys. So today I want  to talk about why Chongyun is underrated in terms of both gameplay and character,  as well as why he deserves a little bit more love.

First I want to start off by noting how Chongyun  had little to no presence within the game before his hangout event. Despite being available since  Genshin’s release, he never showed up within the Archon quest line, in any kind of event, or any  character’s story quest. It is true that there are some other release characters who were treated the  same way, being Bennett, Beidou, and Noelle. But it didn’t take long for the community to figure  out how good Bennett was, and he was in November’s starglitter shop so pretty much anyone could pick  him up. Beidou at least has a questline dedicated to her crew and that one group of Liyue children  also mention her a lot, so it does feel like she has presence there. Also, she was in February’s  starglitter shop. 

Noelle is a guaranteed pull from the Beginner’s wish, so literally everyone  has her. Meanwhile, Chongyun has never been in the shop, and one of the two character banners he  was on was Zhongli’s pre-buff, which not that many free to play players wished on because Zhongli was  underpowered. At least he was available from the Stand by Me event, but when you have Ningguang  and Xingqiu there too, that’s pretty stiff competition. All of these things contributed  to Chongyun getting much less spotlight when compared to other four star characters. So now let’s get into why Chongyun is not known for being a strong character in the game.  It really all comes down to his split power budget. What I mean by that is the concept  of giving characters specific strengths and weaknesses to make them feel more balanced.  Most characters in the game are easily identifiable to be a main DPS, a sub DPS/support,  or a healer. It feels like these characters have their whole kits built around this role and thus,  they have their strengths focused in mainly that area. 

However, Chongyun falls into a weird gray  area between a main DPS and sub DPS. Some of his talents can benefit both him and the rest of the  team, like his elemental skill’s field giving any melee character a Cryo infusion, or his 1st  ascension passive giving characters in the field increased attack speed. But his constellations  tend to lean in one way or the other. I get that constellations shouldn’t always be a factor,  but I feel that for four stars like him they kind of need them to stay competitive. C1 gives  bonus Cryo damage to the last hit of Chongyun’s 4 hit basic attack combo, obviously a buff towards  him being a main DPS. C2 decreases cooldowns that are started inside his field, which can  benefit Chongyun by reducing the cooldown on his burst, but has much more value in being used on  his teammate’s abilities. 

C4 gives Chongyun energy when he hits enemies that are inflicted with Cryo.  Since this requires him to be the active character, this is for his use as a main DPS.  And lastly, his C6 increases his elemental burst damage, which actually is good for both main DPS  and sub DPS. Being versatile can be a positive of course, but it also means that Chogyun doesn’t  really excel at either of these roles when compared to other characters. For a main DPS,  as this video by Jinx and Tuner demonstrates, the percentages for his basic attacks are  surprisingly low, his burst can be difficult to get full damage out of, and the fact that he  uses a claymore means he shatters frozen targets, reducing the uptime of the crit rate bonus from  the blizzard strayer artifact set in exchange for minimal physical damage. 

For a sub DPS,  his elemental skill doesn’t do that much damage on activation, it doesn’t do damage independently,  and his burst has no extra utility. I’ll admit that Chongyun is objectively not that good of a  character, but I consider him underrated because there is one niche situation where he excels in. To get best use out of Chongyun, he needs to be a support for a Cryo DPS.  The best main DPS characters in the game all have one thing in common, being that they have  a way to output constant elemental damage. The main thing which holds most sub DPS characters  back from being a main DPS is the fact that their damage is gated by cooldowns. Characters that can  infuse their own element into their basic attacks completely bypass this issue. They make full  use of elemental damage bonus artifacts, since they will barely be doing any physical damage.  Furthermore, being able to constantly apply elemental statuses means that they can take full  advantage of elemental reactions, specifically melt and vaporize, which multiply damage. 

So where  Chongyun comes in is his ability to level the playing field by giving sub-par Cryo characters  access to the Cryo infusion. This means full Cryo boosted damage and access to permanent freeze for  a permanent 55 % crit rate increase through the blizzard strayer four piece bonus and the  shattering ice elemental resonance. In turn, you can invest much more into crit damage, increasing  overall DPS. As a bonus, the last hit of his elemental skill reduces Cryo resistance, and at  C2, Chongyun’s field reduces skill cooldowns.The only character as of now that has this  synergy with Chongyun is Kaeya, but not for long. We know Rosaria is coming later in 1.4,  and the reveal stream mentioned she can be played in the style of a main DPS.  We also know that she does not have her own way to get a Cryo infusion, so Chongyun might just be her  best partner. 

Furthermore, more Cryo characters built for the main DPS role will eventually come  out in the future, and for that reason I think Chongyun’s value as a support will only go up. But there’s also a lot more that goes into a character than just their gameplay,  so here’s why Chongyun is also interesting from a character design perspective.  I really like how his clothes seem to be a combination of modern details and traditional  Chinese elements. For example, his jacket has horizontal knots on it, but it also has a hood.  His belt is pretty modern looking, but hanging from it is a traditional Chinese tassel. He also  has features in reference to the fact that he is a martial artist, like his shoes and bandages. To sum up Chongyun’s personality, he’s a good, honest boy. I won’t read his whole lore,  so here are some highlights. Chongyun was born with excessive yang, or positive energy. 

Because  of this, his presence alone is enough to dispel evil spirits. Seeing that Chongyun belongs to  a renowned family of exorcists, it seems perfect, but Chongyun believes exorcism should be done the  old fashioned way, with charms and swordsmanship. So even though he doesn’t need to be, he is very  dedicated to studying exorcism techniques and martial arts. Chongyun’s yang energy is also  a bit of a curse in that he has a naturally high body temperature, and anything that increases it  further causes his emotions to go out of control. Too much sun, getting angry in an argument,  and even spicy food can cause him to enter a rage state of sorts where he acts wildly  and cannot remember it later. In one particular instance where he ate a bit of Jueyun Chili, he  ended up causing a disaster in Wanmin Restaurant. Xiangling feels like this version is the real  Chongyun though, with absolutely no barriers up. Chongyun has a great friendship with Xingqiu,  and I especially find it charming how gullible Chongyun is when it comes to Xingqiu’s antics.  

And lastly, although Chongyun has a Vision, he doesn’t rely on it’s power. He believes that you  should still train yourself into peak condition since your own power is the most reliable one.  Furthermore, his dream is to become the greatest exorcist in Liyue. I definitely think he’s very  likable for how honest and hardworking he is. I was originally going to include some stuff  from his hangout event, but I think it’s probably better for you to experience that blind yourself.  But I will say that it does show off his charm very well, just like how all the hangout  events do for their respective characters.I know today’s video was a bit different  than what I typically do since I generally never mention actual gameplay stuff, but I think it was  interesting to analyze it from a conceptual design perspective, especially with the distribution of  power. 

And well, I also made sure to throw in some character design stuff in the end anyway. I really  just wanted to highlight how even characters that are seen as weak have their own unique  strengths when set up properly. I do feel there are a few other characters that I would consider  to be underrated, so maybe I’ll do another video in this kind of style if the reception is good.  This was kind of a filler video though since I’m still currently working on both the Q&A and all  Liyue lores videos, which I can confidently say will both be coming at some point within the week.  So stay tuned for that, thank you for your patience, and as always, thank you for watching.