Unlocking the Arsenal: A Comprehensive Guide to the Genshin Impact Weapon Banner Pity System
Venturing into the world of Teyvat is an adventure filled with breathtaking vistas and challenging battles. To conquer these challenges, every Traveler dreams of equipping their favorite characters with powerful, signature weapons. This pursuit often leads us to the Epitome Invocation, more commonly known as the Weapon Banner. For many, this banner is shrouded in mystery and perceived as a perilous gamble. But what if you could approach it with confidence and clarity? This guide is designed to demystify the entire process, breaking down the Genshin Impact weapon banner pity system into easy-to-understand concepts. By the end, you'll know exactly how to plan your pulls and maximize your chances of securing that coveted five-star armament.
Let's start with the foundational concept: Pity. The pity system is HoYoverse's built-in mechanism to ensure that your bad luck doesn't last forever. It's a counter that tracks how many wishes you've made without receiving a five-star item. The moment you pull a five-star, this counter resets to zero.
For the Weapon Banner, the base pity system for a five-star weapon begins at a slightly lower threshold than the character banner. While the "soft pity" for characters starts around wish 74, for weapons, it starts significantly earlier, around wish 65. Soft pity is a hidden mechanic where the probability of pulling a five-star item dramatically increases with each subsequent wish after this point. The "hard pity" for the Weapon Banner—the absolute guarantee—is 80 wishes. This means you are 100% certain to get a five-star weapon by your 80th pull if you haven't received one already.
However, the journey doesn't end with just getting any five-star weapon. This is where the Weapon Banner's unique and most critical mechanic comes into play: the Epitomized Path.
Understanding the Epitomized Path: Your Targeted Guarantee
The Epitomized Path is the game-changer for the Weapon Banner. Before you even make your first wish on a banner, you can and must select one of the two featured promotional five-star weapons. This selection sets your "Epitomized Path." This system directly addresses the previous pain point of randomly receiving one of the two featured weapons without any recourse.
Here’s how the Epitomized Path works in practice:
- You activate the Epitomized Path and choose your desired weapon (e.g., the Staff of Homa).
- You start wishing. When you pull a five-star weapon, one of three things can happen:
- Best-case scenario: It's your chosen weapon! Congratulations! Your Fate Points reset to zero, and your Epitomized Path ends.
- Scenario two: It's the other featured promotional weapon (e.g., the Wolf's Gravestone instead of the Staff of Homa).
- Scenario three: It's a standard banner five-star weapon (a "weapon banner loser") like a Skyward Harp or Amos' Bow.
In both scenarios two and three, you did not get your chosen weapon. Therefore, you gain 1 Fate Point.
Fate Points are the key to your ultimate guarantee. Once you accumulate 2 Fate Points, your next five-star weapon pull is 100% guaranteed to be your chosen weapon from the Epitomized Path.
This leads us to the most crucial question: What is the maximum number of pulls needed to guarantee a specific weapon?
To calculate the worst-case scenario, we combine the hard pity for a five-star with the Fate Point system:
- You hit hard pity for your first five-star (80 wishes) and lose.
- You hit hard pity for your second five-star (another 80 wishes) and lose again. You now have 2 Fate Points.
- Your next five-star is guaranteed to be your chosen one, which could take another 80 wishes.
So, the absolute maximum, worst-case scenario is 80 + 80 + 80 = 240 Intertwined Fates to guarantee your desired weapon.
Now, a vital detail: Fate Points do not carry over between banners. When the current Epitomized Invocation ends, your Epitomized Path selection and all accumulated Fate Points are wiped clean. They do not transfer to the next weapon banner. This is the single most important factor to consider before committing your Primogems. You should never begin pulling on a Weapon Banner with the Epitomized Path unless you are prepared to go all the way to 240 pulls if necessary.
Navigating the Four-Star Odds and Pity
While the five-star weapons are the main attraction, the four-star offerings are also valuable. The Weapon Banner features three featured four-star weapons, which have a significantly boosted drop rate. The pity system for four-stars is similar to other banners:
- The base probability for a four-star item is 6.6%.
- You are guaranteed a four-star item at least every 10 wishes.
- When you get a four-star item, there is a 75% chance it will be one of the three featured weapons and a 25% chance it will be a non-featured four-star weapon.
This "4-star pity" counter is separate from the five-star pity counter and resets whenever you get any four-star item or weapon.
Strategic Advice for the Wise Traveler
Given the high cost and the non-transferable nature of Fate Points, a strategic approach is essential. Here are some key strategies for weapon banner pulls:
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Only Pull if You Want Both Featured Weapons: The safest and most recommended strategy is to wish on a banner where you would be happy with either of the two promotional five-star weapons. This way, any five-star pull is a win, and the Epitomized Path acts as a safety net for your absolute favorite.
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Plan Your Primogem Budget: Always calculate based on the worst-case scenario of 240 wishes (38,400 Primogems). If you do not have this amount saved, you are taking a significant risk. Ask yourself: "Am I willing to spend 240 Intertwined Fates for this one weapon?"
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Leverage Weapon Banner History: Use external tools or your own in-game history (found in the Wish screen) to track your pity counter. Knowing how many wishes have passed since your last five-star is crucial for planning.
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Understand "Weapon Banner Value" and When to Skip: Some banners are objectively better than others. A banner with two top-tier, universally good weapons (like the Staff of Homa and the Elegy for the End banner) offers much higher value than a banner with one great weapon and one niche one. Be patient and wait for a high-value banner to maximize your investment.
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Weapon Banner vs. Character Banner: Remember that the character banner's hard pity is 90, and the guarantee system is much simpler (losing a 50/50 once guarantees the featured character next). For Free-to-Play or low-spending players, new characters often provide more gameplay variety and fun than a weapon, which is primarily a stat boost. Prioritize characters unless you have a well-established roster.
By understanding the intricacies of the weapon banner pity, the power and limitations of the Epitomized Path, and the importance of strategic saving, you can transform the Weapon Banner from a terrifying gamble into a calculated investment. Arm yourself with knowledge, manage your resources wisely, and may your next pull bring you the legendary weapon that will empower your journey across Teyvat.
