Player Mistakes
Back to All Characters
Lan Yan joins theGenshin Impactroster as a 4-star Anemo character during the highly anticipated Lantern Rite event. With a straightforward kit, she is relatively easy to learn and integrate into various teams. However, despite the simplicity of her abilities, certain nuances can easily be overlooked, particularly regarding her optimal team roles and synergies. While Lan Yan is primarily designed to function as a support or sub-DPS, her flexibility allows her to serve as a main DPS in specific setups, which can confuse players unfamiliar with her potential.
To maximize Lan Yan’s effectiveness, players need to be mindful of common pitfalls in her usage. These include misjudging her team role, neglecting critical aspects of her rotation, and overlooking team synergies that can bring out the best in her abilities. Whether you plan to build Lan Yan as a reliable support or as a damage dealer, here are some beginner mistakes to avoid when incorporating her into your team.
5Underestimating or Overestimating Lan Yan’s Shield
Lan Yan has the potential to beone of the strongest shieldersinGenshin Impact, especially when players unlock her second and sixth constellations. While neither of these constellations directly increases her shield’s absorption cap, they significantly improve her shielding utility by allowing players to refresh the shield’s absorption value during rotations or reapply the shield under specific circumstances. This makes her an exceptional choice for teams that require robust defensive capabilities, as long as players pay close attention to her shield’s 12-second duration and manage rotations effectively.
However, it’s important to also avoid overestimating Lan Yan’s shielding abilities. While her shield can theoretically rivalZhongli’s in strength, achieving this level of performance depends on several factors, including optimal rotations, a proper build emphasizing her defensive stats, and access to key constellations. Without these considerations, her shield may fall short of expectations in high-damage scenarios. Therefore, while she can be an excellent addition for teams needing heavy protection, players should approach her shielding potential with realistic expectations, especially at lower constellation levels.
4Not Paying Attention to Dash’s Elemental Absorption
Lan Yan’s Elemental Skill allows her to leap forward, striking a target along her path. With her first passive ability unlocked, her shield gains an additional layer of utility by converting to the element already applied to the target (Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, or Electro). This elemental conversion enhances the shield’s absorption efficiency against the respective element by 250%, effectively making her shield much stronger in mitigating specific elemental damage. This mechanic is particularly valuable when facing enemies that naturally apply elemental statuses. Alternatively, players can strategically manipulate the shield’s conversion by applying a specific element to enemies before swapping to Lan Yan.
In addition to enhancing the shield’s defensive utility, the elemental absorption also allows Lan Yan to deal additional converted Feathermoon Ring Elemental DMG, enabling her to swirl elements more effectively. This synergy is especially crucial for teams utilizing theViridescent Venerer artifact set, as it allows Lan Yan to amplify a specific element’s damage while debuffing enemies' resistance to that element. To maximize her support potential, players should carefully coordinate their team’s elemental applications before activating Lan Yan’s Elemental Skill. This ensures optimal shield performance and effective utility in buffing or debuffing as part of her role within the team.
3Comparing Lan Yan to Sucrose
Both Sucrose and Lan Yan may be 4-star Anemo Catalyst users with access to crowd control via their Elemental Bursts, but their overall utility and roles in a team diverge significantly.Sucrose is a dedicated offensive support, particularly suited for teams that thrive on Elemental Reactions. Her ability to share Elemental Mastery with her teammates through her passive abilities makes her invaluable in reaction-heavy teams.Moreover, with her sixth constellation, Sucrose takes her support utility a step further by providing an Elemental DMG Bonus to the entire team depending on the absorbed element, cementing her role as a reaction amplifier.
Lan Yan, on the other hand, offers a more diverse utility profile. While her buffing capabilities are more limited—providing Elemental Mastery to nearby allies only upon unlocking her 4th constellation—her kit shines in areas where Sucrose lacks. Lan Yan’s primary strengths lie in her potential as a main DPS, albeit situational, and her ability to provide strong shields, which add a layer of survivability to her team. This makes her an excellent choice for teams that need both crowd control and sustain, particularly when space is tight for support roles.
All things considered, Lan Yan and Sucrose cater to different playstyles and team needs. If players are aiming for team compression, where they want to combine the benefits of the Viridescent Venerer set with the survivability of a shielder, Lan Yan can replace Sucrose in certain team compositions. However, for teams built around maximizing reaction damage, Sucrose remains the better choice.
2Building Lan Yan Wrong
Building a character incorrectly is one of the most common pitfalls players face when forming team compositions, especially when they struggle to decide which build best complements the team synergy. For players looking to utilize Lan Yan as a versatile off-field support focused on Swirl reactions and Elemental Resistance shred, the Viridescent Venerer artifact set is the optimal choice. This setup enhances her ability to amplify reaction-based team damage and provides significant utility if no other Anemo support units are present. However, if the primary goal is to maximize her shield absorption for a more defensive playstyle, players are better off using artifact sets that prioritize ATK%, such as combining two sets like Gladiator’s Finale and Shimenawa’s Reminiscence for their ATK bonuses. This approach sacrifices reaction utility in favor of durability and sustain.
The same logic applies to her weapon choices. If players want to enhance her ability to buff the team and prioritize Elemental Mastery for increased Swirl effectiveness, options likeStarcaller’s Watchis ideal, offering synergy with her support capabilities. Conversely, if the focus is on shielding strength and scaling her damage output through ATK, weapons likeMemory of Dustis more suitable, as they provide a direct boost to her defensive and self-offensive capabilities. Artifact main and sub-stats also require thoughtful consideration. An ATK%-oriented build is ideal for shield strength and durability, while an Elemental Mastery build leans more into offensive capabilities by maximizing reaction-based damage. Players can also balance Energy Recharge for smoother rotations and consistent Elemental Burst uptime, depending on the team composition.
Ultimately, to get the most out of Lan Yan, players should determine her role within the team—whether it’s as a support focusing on utility, a defensive specialist with a strong shield, or even a hybrid option—and build her consistently to align with the prioritized utility. A clear strategy will prevent confusion and ensure she contributes meaningfully to the team’s overall performance.
1Not Pressing Elemental Skill or Normal Attack after Pressing Elemental Skill Once
While Lan Yan’s on-field time is relatively limited as a support, it is still crucial for players to properly utilize her Elemental Skill, Swallow-Wisp Pinion Dance to maximize her effectiveness. When activating the skill, Lan Yan leaps forward and hits a target, launching herself into the air. At this point, players should ensure they either press her Elemental Skill again or perform a Normal Attack. Doing so triggers her Feathermoon Rings, which deal additional Anemo DMG to nearby opponents.
This mechanic can be particularly useful in multi-target scenarios, as it enhances her ability to Swirl multiple elements simultaneously, increasing team-wide damage potential through Elemental Resistance reduction with the Viridescent Venerer artifact set. Furthermore, the additional hits from her Feathermoon Rings boost her sub-DPS output to some extent, even though Lan Yan lacks significant off-field damage capabilities.
