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Hoyoverse
During the version 2.1 livestream it was revealed that the four 5-star characters who will be featured on the character banners are Acheron, Jingliu, Luocha and Aventurine. If you have limited resources and are wondering if you should pull for Acheron or Jingliu as a free-to-play player or low spender, here are some pointers to help you out.
Jingliu Yields Better Investment-to-Performance
IMPORTANT: Pull for whichever character you want. All limited 5-star DPS characters perform well and have no trouble clearing content. If you are already leaning towards Jingliu or Acheron, you should go for the one you like more.
If you are undecided and want to know which character can grant you the best returns on your Stellar Jade investment it is Jingliu right now. Here's why:
Jingliu is the more flexible unit of the two
Jingliu works well with both Nihility debuffers like Pela and Silver Wolf, as well as Harmony units like Bronya, Sparkle and Tingyun. You can even run her with Blade in a double DPS setup and the team can be viable for endgame content.
She has more diverse teambuilding options. Right now, one of the strongest teams you can run with Jingliu is with Bronya and Ruan Mei. Jingliu also has a ton of self-buffs and her ability to grant herself 50% increased Crit Rate can bring out a ton of consistency in your damage.
Even if you have mediocre relics, her Crescent Transmigration talent can grant you consistent crits. When paired with Harmony units like Bronya and Sparkle, you can dish out a ton of damage.
Acheron has limited teambuilding options
One of Acheron's biggest caveats is that she has to use two Nihility units to maximize her damage, which limits which units you can have on your team. It does not mean that Acheron is significantly weaker than Jingliu, you just end up having less options when it comes to teammates. The Silver Wolf-Pela combo is the best way to maximize your damage if you want to use your Acheron as a hypercarry.
Do note that we have Bronya, who is an exceptional standard banner character as well as two post-release 5-star Harmony units (Sparkle and Ruan Mei). We don't have great debuffer options in an Acheron hypercarry team outside of Pela and Silver Wolf. In a free-to-play team with no other 5-stars, you are essentially limited to using Guinaifen and Pela.
We are likely to get strong debuffers in the future which will push up Acheron's damage output a lot higher.
Light cone considerations
Acheron also has limited light cone options for not just herself but also teammates. Good Night and Sleep Well is one of her only good 4-star options. Fortunately, the light cone will be available on her light cone banner so if you don't have even a single copy of the 4-star you can try to snag one.
Before the Tutorial Mission Starts and Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat are also two light cones that you ideally want. Resolution can grant you additional defence shred while Tutorial is an event light cone that is no longer available, so if you started after Silver Wolf's first banner, you do not have access to it.
There is also the fact that Preservation characters with Trend of the Universal Market can function very well in Acheron teams. The Burn effect applied by Trend of the Universal Market counts as a debuff for Acheron's Ultimate stacks and the light cone can greatly ramp up how fast you get your Ultimates. Instead of using a Preservation unit, you can also use Gallagher as he has two debuffs built into his kit which can benefit Acheron.
If you can afford to go for Acheron's light cone, she is significantly stronger and considering that we are getting a ton of free pulls next patch, you should try and grab her signature if you can spare the Stellar Jade.
Acheron is still worth your consideration despite her "flaws"
We personally recommend Jingliu to newer players as you are less likely to be restricted by light cones or characters. Jingliu also has access to great free-to-play light cone options.
Even though these talking points might paint a picture that Acheron has several "problems" you have to consider that even if you do not have access to some of the light cones or characters right now, you can still get them in the future. When you do reach the full investment needed, both of them perform similarly.
If you like Acheron, do not be dissuaded from pulling for her as her performance even with full free-to-play gear is more than adequate. If you want immediate payoff however, Jingliu is by far the more flexible option for a new player. At the end of the day, you can just pull for whichever one of the two you like more and you will have no regrets.
