Genshin Impact: Shikanoin Heizou is the best Inazuma 4-star character

Now that Genshin Impact has finally released Tenryou Commission star detective and 4-star Anemo catalyst wielder Shikanoin Heizou, Inazuma's 4-star character roster for the 2.0 series of game versions is now complete.

I have to admit my personal opinion here; compared to Mondstadt and Liyue’s stellar cast of 4-star characters, Inazuma's roster has fallen off the hypothetical ranking list in terms of overall utility.

It makes sense because Mondstadt and Liyue were the first regions we were introduced to, and we needed good 4-stars to help us explore the initial map, build up our strength, and support our first 5-stars.

This is why the core members of the famed 'National' team, Xiangling, Bennett, and Xingqiu, are all still widely used today — these characters were meant to be very strong and were built to last in your team.

With the release of Inazuma in version 2.0, HoYoverse now had the legroom to experiment with different kinds of 4-star kits. Admittedly, they've been either hit or miss.

The Inazuma 4-star roster was mostly comprised of niche support characters which focused on solely supporting certain elements, like Kujou Sara for Electro and Gorou for Geo.

While Sayu's utility is great in the overworld (gotta catch them all), she's not the first option most would go for in endgame content like the Spiral Abyss.

Thoma seemed promising at first, but his kit was lacklustre at best, while Kuki Shinobu unfortunately lacked that oomph we wanted.

But Heizou shocked me — and other players — because he wasn’t meh… he was actually great!

He was a breath of fresh air (no pun intended) from my perceived mediocrity of the Inazuma 4-star roster.

So what made Heizou shine above the rest? Well, here’s what I believe: he’s great because he isn’t a support character.

We all know that the Inazuma DPS characters have overthrown most of the Liyue and Mondstadt 5-stars in the metagame, so there’s room to believe that HoYoverse would want to continue this trend with this 4-star Anemo Catalyst DPS.

And they delivered.

After 63(!) agonizing pulls, I finally got Heizou in my character roster, with a pretty standard build.

I’m running him with an R5 The Widsith, using a 2-piece Viridescent Venerer and 2-piece Gladiator’s Finale artifact combo, and have yet to ascend him up to level 90 (because farming Onikabuto is such a pain).

Yet I am already genuinely surprised with his damage output.

In the Hilichurl camps in the overworld I use as punching bags for my new characters, my level 60 Heizou with all Talents just at level 4 was able to deal around 30,000 damage with his skill.

Those are numbers I'd expect from an already built character. If that's how strong Heizou is while still being underbuilt, you can just imagine my excitement for when I've finally levelled him and his talents up and given him a proper build.

I admit that, before I got him, I was ready to be disappointed. I was ready to have my excitement die down and relegate Heizou to my teapot like how I’ve done with Thoma, Sayu, and Kuki, but he exceeded my expectations and then some.

Who knew a hotshot detective would make it to S-rank among the meta tier lists out there a week or so after his release?

Heizou's skill, Heartstopper Strike, is an amazing force of nature, and similar to Childe or Hu Tao’s burst, increases his damage once full stacks of Declension are achieved.

Getting the four max Declension stacks also allows for Conviction to happen, which increases the area-of-effect of his punch and allows for more damage.

His burst, Windmuster Kick, gathers small enemies in a small area and is a great opener for your skill and normal attack combos.

It also deals a powerful Anemo explosion that can land another delayed elemental infused explosion when swirled with a different element.

The mere fact that he’s a DPS that works well with off-field characters already makes him a joy to play for me, who finds it tedious to quickswap characters (but that’s just due to my laziness).

Heizou's kit makes him a suitable driver for a Taser, or Electro-Charged, composition alongside the likes of Xingqiu, Beidou, and Fischl.

While Heizou won't buff his teammates' damage as much as Sucrose, he deals more personal damage while taking advantage of the off-field attacks from the other party members.

Of course, Heizou can headline his own team as the main Anemo DPS, much like how his fellow Anemo short king Xiao does.

Although Heizou does have some shortcomings, it’s not at all detrimental to playing him.

Most of what he lacks is locked away behind constellations (like better crowd control in his C2, for example).

It’s also easy enough to get him to C6 when he gets his future reruns or when you’re lucky to get enough copies of him when pulling for Kaedehara Kazuha or Klee (and for that, I am so jealous of you).

In short, Heizou is the 4-star Inazuman character we deserve, and it’s finally time that HoYoverse gave him to us to enjoy.

My verdict? He’s the best send-off before we finally enter Sumeru in version 3.0.

Shikanoin Heizou is one of the rate-up banner 4-star characters featured in the first half of Genshin Impact version 2.8, which will run from 13 July to 1 August.

Heizou will be still be available to wish, albeit with the same chance as all other 4-stars, in the event and standard banners after the first half of version 2.8.

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

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