Genshin Impact: Should You Pull for Lyney or Yelan in the 4.0 Banners

As with all Genshin Impact updates, patch 4.0 comes with a set of limited banners, this time for the new character Lyney and the rerun character Yelan. Veteran Genshin players already know pulling for Yelan is one of the best choices you can make if you don’t already have a powerful Hydro character, but pulling for Lyney, the Pyro-element magician of Fontaine, is tempting if you don’t already have a Pyro main DPS. But who’s more worth your time, and do the four stars both characters come with make things even more enticing? We’ll discuss both topics in this guide.

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Should You Pull for Lyney in Genshin Impact 4.0?

Lyney is a higher-skill character than some of the comfier options in Genshin Impact, and as such, only pull for him if you need a high-power Pyro on-field DPS. Lyney may excel at his role, but he offers little in the way of team support.

Additionally:

• Using Lyney’s Normal Attack at more than 60% Health drains some of his HP to build stacks of Prop Surplus, which he can use to power his Prop Arrow Normals. His Normal can also summon a prop to distract enemies and occasionally causes Pyro-damage detonations.
• His Elemental Skill consumes his Prop Surplus stacks to deal AoE Pyro damage based on the number of stacks consumed.
• His Elemental Burst turns him into the cat in his hat that hops around the battlefield applying Pyro to opponents and summoning a distraction cat and granting a stack of Pyro Surplus when it ends.

Put another way, playing Lyney is about resource management and requires you to build a team that enables him while he’s active. He can’t do much when he’s not on-field. If a character that requires quick thinking and split-second decision-making is up your alley, and you already have Yelan (or Xingqiu, or both) then pulling for Lyney could be a good decision. He might also receive minor adjustments in future patches, increasing his effectiveness across the board.

Should You Pull for Yelan in Genshin Impact 4.0?

The answer to whether you should pull for Yelan might well depend on how long you’ve been playing. Her banner last ran in version 3.4 back in February 2023, and she was introduced back in 2.7, in June of 2022. If you were around for either Banner and already have her, then the only reason to continue pulling is to acquire additional Constellations, though she’s perfectly usable at C0.

Like Lyney, Yelan is a bow character that specializes in off-field DPS. As a Hydro character, Yelan doesn’t need to be active to be useful, as the effect lasts more than long enough to activate reactions like Bloom, Hyperbloom, Vaporize, Freeze, and any other that Hydro allows.

• Yelan’s Normal Attack, when fully charged, applies Hydro and becomes a Breakthrough Barb that deals AoE Hydro damage based on her HP after she’s been out of combat for five seconds.
• Yelan’s Elemental Skill, Lingering Lifeline, can connect multiple enemies by marking them by Holding the use button, and when the created Lifeline explodes at the end of the ability, it deals Hydro damage and has a 34% chance to reset the Breakthrough state.
• Yelan’s Elemental Burst is where some of her greatest value lies. It creates a die made of Hydro energy that circles any active character after Burst is used, either every second while another character is on-field or every time Yelan’s LIfeline explodes and hits.

Put another way, while Yelan has some resources to manage, she’s much more forgiving and easy to parse moment-to-moment. She also provides tons of additional value to almost any team that uses Hydro for its elemental reactions, can do work on or off-field, and is a bit easier to build for. If you don’t already have her in your roster, pulling for her might be the final piece of the puzzle.

How are the Four-Star Characters in Genshin Impact 4.0?

Here’s where things get tricky. All three four-star characters that you can earn by pulling on Lyney and Yelan’s banners are free. And I mean free. Barbara you get during the main story campaign, Lynette is free for anyone who plays the Fontaine story, and the 4.0 special flagship event give you Bennett outright. In other words, unless you pull Yelan or Lyney immediately, there’s a non-zero chance you might get all six of Barbara’s Constellations, and that would be the height of disappointment.

Bennett is, of course, the five-star among four stars, and having C6 of him would be great, but not entirely necessary. Lynette is a bit of a question mark, as she’s new in 4.0 alongside her brother Lyney. Regardless, there are no “must have immediately or get wrecked” four-star options in Genshin Impact’s 4.0 Phase 1 banners.

Final Conclusions: Lyney

• Pull for Lyney if you really enjoy his Pyro on-field DPS playstyle and mechanical complexity
• Don’t pull for Lyney if you like the Pyro DPS you already have and want comfier options later down the line (Zhongli, for instance).

Final Conclusions: Yelan

• Pull for Yelan if you don’t have her and want a time-tested all-around strong character
• Don’t pull for Yelan if you already have a strong Hydro character like Xingqiu or already have her from a previous banner.

Don’t pull for either if they don’t capture your imagination or you don’t want to risk C6 Barbara to essentially pay for free stuff.