# Is Leveling to 90 in Genshin Impact Worth the Investment?

- Canonical: https://33rdsquare.com/is-leveling-to-90-in-genshin-impact-worth-the-investment/
- Published: 2023-11-04
- Author: Nelson Ayers
- Categories: [Business & Worth](https://33rdsquare.com/category/games/worth/)

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After speaking with countless players in the Genshin community and drawing from my own experiences, my verdict is that **leveling characters to 90 is only worth it for select roles**.

For most damage-dealers and supports, stopping at 80/90 offers the best return on resin investment. Level 90 is only recommended for Anemo characters, HP/DEF scalers, and your personal main DPS.

In this extensive guide, I‘ll analyze the costs, benefits, and break down which characters gain the most from reaching max level 90. I‘ve played Genshin Impact since launch, so I‘ll also provide my own insights as a veteran.

## Leveling Costs – It‘s Expensive Getting to 90!

Let‘s first examine how much grinding and resources it takes to level up from 80 to 90:

- 420,000 Mora
- 4 Wanderer‘s Advice Books (666,000 mora value)
- 113 Hero‘s Wit XP books (1.7 million mora value)
- 168 Common Ascension gems (126,000 mora value)
- 30-36 Elemental gems (60,000-72,000 mora value)

All told, the total cost is around **3 million mora and 420 books** – a massive resin investment for 10 levels. Here‘s a table summarizing the costs:

| Resource | Amount | Mora Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mora | 420,000 | 420,000 |
| Wanderer‘s Advice | 4 | 666,000 |
| Hero‘s Wit | 113 | 1.7 million |
| Common Ascension Gems | 168 | 126,000 |
| Elemental Gems | 30-36 | 60,000-72,000 |
| Total | ~3 million mora, 420 books |  |

To put that in perspective, 3 million mora is equivalent to leveling a brand new character from 1 to 80!

As endgame players know, mora and resin are incredibly scarce. You must be strategic about investing those valuable resources.

## Level 90 Rewards – Minor Stat Gains for Most Roles

Now, let‘s examine what rewards you obtain for all that steep grinding:

- Increased base HP, ATK, DEF
- Higher Swirl, Overload, Electro-Charged damage

However, for most characters, the stat increases are quite minor from 80 to 90.

For example, popular DPS units like Diluc and Keqing only gain around 6% more base ATK.

Supports like Bennett and Xingqiu get negligible buffs to their healing, buffing or damage output. Their talents and abilities do not scale with level.

Here‘s a table with some example stat gains:

| Character | Main Stat | Lvl 80 | Lvl 90 | Increase |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Diluc | ATK | 349 | 369 | 6% |
| Keqing | ATK | 323 | 343 | 6% |
| Bennett | HP | 13,670 | 14,637 | 7% |
| Xingqiu | HP | 10,724 | 11,442 | 7% |

As you can see, the bonuses are rather minimal for the massive resource cost.

## Who DOES Benefit from Level 90?

Now that we‘ve covered the costs and general stat increases, which characters actually gain meaningful strength from hitting the max level cap?

### Anemo Characters

Anemo characters that rely on Swirl damage get great value from level 90.

Swirl scales directly with the character‘s level. A level 90 Sucrose or Kazuha can Swirl for over **10k damage**, while they will only hit 7-8k Swirls at level 80.

Here is a table from KeqingMains demonstrating the level scaling:

| Character Level | Swirl DMG |
| --- | --- |
| 80 | 7,432 |
| 81 | 7,575 |
| 82 | 7,719 |
| 83 | 7,865 |
| 84 | 8,011 |
| 85 | 8,159 |
| 86 | 8,308 |
| 87 | 8,457 |
| 88 | 8,608 |
| 89 | 8,759 |
| 90 | 8,912 |

Additionally, Kazuha gains more Crowd Control strength to pull heavier enemies for longer durations.

So if you utilize characters like Venti, Kazuha, Sucrose as Swirl bots – take them all the way to 90 for big gains.

### HP and DEF Scaling Characters

Characters that scale their damage with Max HP or DEF also gain substantial offensive power from level 90 due to the increased base stats.

For example, leveling Zhongli from 80 to 90 increases his HP by over 22k. This directly buffs his burst damage by a few thousand extra points.

Other HP scalers like Hu Tao, Yelan, and DEF scalers like Itto, Noelle, and Albedo become significantly stronger at max level.

Here‘s a table showing the HP increases:

| Character | Lvl 80 HP | Lvl 90 HP | Increase |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Zhongli | 30,446 | 36,705 | 22% |
| Hu Tao | 15,552 | 18,680 | 20% |
| Yelan | 14,029 | 16,876 | 19% |

If you main these types of characters, it is very worthwhile to max them out. The payoff is big.

### Your Main DPS Carries

For your primary DPS that you use to clear all the challenging content, level 90 for the extra damage and survivability is recommended.

The increased base ATK, HP, and DEF helps them hit harder and tank more hits from tough enemies like late Spiral Abyss floors 12-3.

However, if your carry is already dominating at level 80 with good artifacts, 90 is not mandatory. But it does provide a nice boost to their output.

## Who is NOT Worth Leveling to 90?

Now let‘s discuss which roles do not need level 90:

### Most Sub DPS Characters

Off-field sub-DPS units like Fischl, Beidou, Xiangling generally do not need level 90.

Their skill and burst damage does not improve meaningfully from 80 to 90. For example, Xiangling‘s Pyronado will do similar damage at both levels.

Stop at 80/90 for these characters. Ascend them only for the last talent levels.

### Support and Buffing Characters

Supports like Bennett, Diona, Sucrose provide buffs based on their talent levels and weapons. Their healing, shield strength, etc does not increase with level.

Level 80/90 is sufficient to unlock their final talent upgrades. No need to go all the way to 90.

### Transformative Reaction Triggers

Characters like Keqing, Diluc, Ayaka who trigger Overload, Electro-charged, Melt, Vaporize also gain minimal benefits from level 90 since these reactions do not care about character level.

For them, Level 80/90 with good talents, weapons and artifacts is enough to maximize damage.

## When to Prioritize Level 90?

Here are some final tips on when you should focus on bringing characters to max level:

- Only after you have maxed out weapons, talents, and decent artifacts. Those have much bigger damage returns than levels.
- When you have spare mora and resins after finishing farms for other characters. Avoid spreading resources too thin.
- For your favorite main DPS characters that you play in endgame content. Make your top picks as strong as possible.
- When you need to hit higher DPS checks for late Spiral Abyss floors. Those enemies are HP sponges.
- For Anemo supports like Kazuha that you use frequently to amp up your team damage.

## The Verdict – Who to Level 90 First?

If I had to pick one or two characters to focus on leveling to 90 first, I would choose:

- **Kazuha** – one of the best supports that scales incredibly well with levels due to Swirl reactions. His crowd control also gets better.
- **Your main DPS carry** – maximize the potential of your top damage dealer, especially for challenging content.

After that, I would consider:

- **Zhongli** – for comfortable playing with his thick shields and meaty burst damage.
- **HP scalers like Yelan** – great damage returns from the huge HP bump.

But leave most sub-DPS at 80/90 and supports at 70-80. Spend that resin on better artifacts for them instead!

Let me know if this guide helped you understand which roles benefit the most from level 90 characters. I‘m happy to answer any other questions!

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Source: [Is Leveling to 90 in Genshin Impact Worth the Investment?](https://33rdsquare.com/is-leveling-to-90-in-genshin-impact-worth-the-investment/)