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New Genshin Impact character Kokomi has gotten mixed reactions from players, echoing some concerns from a previous update about Yoimiya being clunky and underpowered.
Sangonomiya Kokomi is a five-star hydro catalyst user who’s been positioned as a healer and support character. Her role is clearly defined by a passive ability which drops her critical rate by 100% in exchange for a 25% healing bonus. Developer MiHoYo stopped just short of writing “she isn’t a main DPS” up in lights, though that hasn’t stopped some players from overcapping her critical stats to let her deal (meager) critical damage. But there’s no question that her 25% healing bonus is less valuable than the ability to land critical hits, and this trade-off has largely exemplified Kokomi’s split reception.
Many players have argued (opens in new tab) that her abilities lack synergy and feel “half-baked”. Kokomi is heavily reliant on her elemental burst but needs other characters to generate energy so that she can use it regularly, for instance, and while she’s meant to be a supporting healer, many of her talents and constellations focus on her damage output rather than her healing. Others pointed out (opens in new tab) that her inability to deal critical hits also prevents her from using the Favonius weapons, which is a bummer since they provide bonus energy that would not only increase her team utility but also improve her burst uptime. Genshin Impact’s most popular healers do much more than just heal you, and Kokomi is fighting a losing battle there.
However, while Kokomi’s damage output has quite a low cap, other players have pointed out (opens in new tab) that her high HP and consistent healing make her a “comfy” on-field character who can act as a vehicle for support damage dealers. By pairing her with characters like Xingqiu, Beidou, Raiden Shogun, Kazuha, or Xiangling, you can use Kokomi’s hydro application to trigger a storm of elemental reactions while keeping your entire team at full health, as this video from reputable theorycrafter IWinToLose Gaming (opens in new tab) shows. This makes Kokomi a tanky alternative to characters like Tartaglia and Mona. In this situation, her minimal damage is just an added bonus; she’s more of an enabler than anything. By adding in support artifact sets like Tenacity of the Millelith, which boosts Kokomi’s HP and your team’s attack, you can also lean into the support role in a way her passive talents kind of don’t.
Conversations in the dedicated Kokomi Mains Reddit (opens in new tab) and Discord communities have followed a similar pattern. Plenty of players love her aesthetic and enjoy her safe play style, while many others wish her kit focused on either healing or damage to give her a clearer purpose. Both sides seem to agree that her inability to deal critical hits and generate energy for her own, utterly essential elemental burst are incredibly limiting and contribute to her awkwardness. This is reflected in early reports of Kokomi’s (opens in new tab) day-one Chinese banner sales (Chinese users represent the vast majority of the Genshin Impact player base), which are said to be among the lowest in the game’s history based on limited data.
Kokomi has come at an awkward time in general as Genshin Impact anniversary reward contests spark community outrage.
