Should you gamble on Genshin Impact's Farewell of Snezhnaya Banner?

Today is a big day in Genshin Impact because not only has the 1.1 update released, but there's also two new characters to play as. Called Tartaglia (or by his codename, Childe) and Diona, both characters are found in the Genshin Impact Farewell of Snezhnaya Banner. Like all of Genshin Impact's Banners, you're going to have to spend your precious Primogems in order to for a chance to win either of these characters. 

So is Farewell of Snezhnaya worth gambling on for its new characters? The short answer is yes.

Since Tartaglia and Diona are two new characters—and quite powerful—you'll absolutely want to have them in your party. The two other promotional characters included in the banner are Ningguang and Beidou, who aren't nearly as strong but still worth having. Overall, this is a great banner to spend your Primogems on.

Here's a more detailed overview of how Farewell of Snezhnaya works, each of the promotional characters you can earn from it, and what their drop rates are.

Is Tartalgia (Childe) worth gambling for?

As the five-star promotional character in the Farewell of Snezhnaya Banner and one of two new characters added to Genshin Impact, Tartaglia is absolutely worth gambling for. He's extremely powerful and can swap between melee and ranged attacks.

Let's break him down:

• Tartaglia is a Hydro character who uses the bow (but can switch to melee weapons).
• His Elemental Skill is called Foul Legacy: Raging Tide, and it conjures a pair of Hydro daggers that Tartaglia can use instead of his bow, effectively changing his combat style.
• His Elemental Burst is called Havoc: Obliteration and it changes based on whether Tartaglia is using his bow or his daggers. With his bow, Tartaglia fires a Hydro arrow, dealing big area-of-effect Hydro damage. With his daggers, Tartaglia slashes nearby enemies with a large area-of-effect, dealing massive damage.
• His passive ability applies a negative effect on enemies called Riptide, which causes enemies to suffer even more area-of-effect Hydro damage when Tartaglia attacks them.
• His non-combat ability increases the strength of your party's normal attacks by one.

Tartaglia is a beast—which is exactly what you should hope for considering he's so rare. His ability to switch between ranged and melee makes him exceptionally useful in pretty much every scenario, and his Riptide debuff makes it easy to deal enormous amounts of damage to enemies. Overall, Tartaglia is a perfect candidate for a main DPS role in your party.

Diona is worth grabbing too

As the second new character added in 1.1, there's every reason to try and get Diona. She's only a four-star character, so your odds are pretty good (you'll probably even get duplicates), and as a Cryo bow user she's actually quite powerful.

Here's what she's all about:

• Diona is a Cryo character who uses bows.
• Her Elemental Skill is called Icy Paws, which fires frosty little paws at enemies and gives Diona a shield when each one hits. The damage absorption of that shield scales with Diona's max HP, so boost that stat with her equipment. Pressing the button to use the skill will fire two icy paws, while holding it will fire five, each one increasing the strength of the shield.
• Her Elemental Burst is called Signature Mix. Diona throws a beverage that breaks, forming a Cryo area-of-effect on the ground that damages enemies and heals allies standing in the circle.
• Her non-combat ability gives you a 12 percent chance to receive double the product when cooking healing food.

Diona is a strong utility character thanks to her shielding effect (which transfers to whichever character you switch to) and her ability to heal you with her Elemental Burst. Just be sure to stack items that increase her max HP to get the most of her shielding effect. As a bow user, she's great at saying away from danger too, and because she's only a four-star character you should have no problem getting her.

Beidou is kinda meh

Beidou has been in Genshin Impact since launch so there's a good chance you already have her. If not, she's nothing to write home about. She can work in certain parties and is a passable DPS character, but there are so many better options you should work toward instead.

Here's a quick overview:

• Beidou is an Electro character that uses claymores.
• We gave her a C rating in our Genshin Impact characters tier list.
• Her Elemental Skill is called Tidecaller. When pressed, Beidou will unleash a savage slash that deals Electro damage. When held, Beidou will use her sword as a shield and partially absorb incoming damage. This imbues her attacks with Electro damage for a short time and scales based on how much she attacks.
• Her Elemental Burst is called Stormbreaker and it decreases how much damage she takes and how easily she can be stunned. While Stormbreaker is active, attacks are imbued with Electro energy that jumps between enemies.
• Her non-combat ability decreases all party member's stamina consumption while swimming by 20 percent.

Beidou is a passable DPS character, but her Elemental Skill is hard to recommend since it relies on taking damage in order to work. Against weaker enemies, that's no problem, but at higher levels enemies often hit so hard that even with the damage absorption you risk losing a significant chunk of health. Dodging is just so much safer. That said, Beidou's passive ability is nice to have while you're out exploring. It'll help you swim to areas you might not otherwise reach.

Ningguang is just OK

Like Beidou, Ningguang has been available since launch. She's a defensive-minded character who can create special shields, which sounds handy but the positioning of them is finnicky. Chances are you'll get her while hunting for the more valuable characters on this Banner, but she probably won't find a permanent spot in your party.

Here's a breakdown of her abilities:

• Ningguang is a Geo mage who uses Catalysts.
• We gave her a C rating in our Genshin Impact characters tier list.
• Her Elemental Skill is called Jade Screen and it creates a single barrier that blocks projectiles. Its endurance scales based off of Ningguang's max HP.
• Her Elemental Burst is called Starshatter, and it fires a bunch of homing crystals at all enemies nearby, doing big damage. If Jade Screen is active when Starshatter is cast, it'll contribute even more crystals to the effect.
• Her non-combat ability displays the location of different ore veins on the minimap.

Like a lot of Geo and defensive characters, Ningguang just isn't that viable. Her Jade Screen might help you avoid taking damaged from enemy archers, but that relies on you positioning it correctly. Because it's not an actual wall, a lot of enemies might just walk right through it and continue shooting you too. Starshatter does big damage, but not enough to help her compete with better DPS characters. Even her passive ability is pretty useless, as most players will memorize the location of certain resources.

How does the Genshin Impact Farewell of Snezhnaya Banner work, anyway? 

Genshin Impact's microtransactions are a little confusing, but a Banner is basically a time-limited lootbox that offers rewards like specific new characters or weapons. In order to participate, you have to spend either your Primogems (which you get for free just by playing) or real money to buy a Fate. Each Fate can be turned into a Wish for a specific Banner, which then reveals either one character or one item of three-star quality or higher. Yeah: it's a little confusing.

Each Banner has a set of promotional characters or items with increased odds of earning them, so there's no point in spending your Fates/Wishes on a Banner that doesn't have rewards that interest you. If a promotional character doesn't work well with the rest of your team, consider saving your Primogems for the next banner.

Genshin Impact's Farewell of Snezhnaya Banner lasts until November 9 and features a new character named Klee as its promotional five-star character, with Xingqiu, Noelle, and Sucrose serving as the promotional four-star characters.

Here's a quick run-down of how it works.

Character drop rates

• Five-star characters typically only have a 0.6 percent chance of dropping from a Wish, but you are guaranteed one after spending 90 Wishes.
• When receiving a five-star character, there is a 50 percent chance it will be the promotional character (in this case, Tartaglia). If you don't receive them, then the next five-star character you get is guaranteed to be Klee.
• Four-star characters have 5.1 percent chance of dropping from a Wish, but you are guaranteed one after spending 10 Wishes.
• When receiving a four-star character, there is a 50 percent chance it will be the promotional character (Diona, Ningguang, or Beidou). If you don't receive them the first time, you're guaranteed to get one of these three the next time you win a four-star character.