The newly released Genshin Impact character, Dehya, has split the fanbase with her disappointing skill kit.
Dehya was recently introduced to the game as a premium five-star character, wielding the element of fire as a mercenary captain the player has previously encountered. With so much detail added to her character fans were excited to finally get a chance to play as her. But before her gameplay reveal, information about her kit had been leaked, with many lamenting that Mihoyo was ruining a highly anticipated character.
This stemmed from the info that Dehya would be in the standard banner pool, which is usually weaker than the limited pool, meaning her power level was weaker compared to the other five stars. It was also leaked that she was going to fit into the off-tank role, absorbing team damage, so others can continue fighting. This was disappointing as this role is not favored in the Genshin meta as enemies don't usually deal enough damage for the role, with the combat being mostly focused on speed.
Things continued to get worse for fans when the gameplay reveal showed the character doing very little damage, with Dehya having trouble killing slimes. Her kit puts a barrier around the current character that has two passive actions. First, if an enemy is damaged inside the field then they take additional fire damage.
Secondly, the field also takes some of the damage the player would receive and gives it to Dehya to charge her ultimate ability, which puts her into a lion mode and auto-targets enemies for an attack. One crippling factor for her is her damage is scaled off both her attack and health. With her serving double duty absorbing damage her health will never be full, and her damage will always be fluctuating.
The final straw was a gameplay quirk that came from both her damage absorption and ultimate attack. It was found that Dehya could die if she takes certain kinds of damage. Corrosion damage can chip away at her health when she absorbs it, leading to her health constantly draining and ultimately killing her. The quirks with her ultimate fare no better.
Once activated Dehya goes into autopilot meaning players lose control of her actions. She also doesn't gain any invulnerability during this time, so enemies can hit her, and she is unable to dodge. Her forward dash for the move can also be canceled if she is in the air when the ultimate is activated. Players had initially thought this was a bug, but Mihoyo later clarified that it was intentional.
While disappointing for fans, it is not too late for this character to become viable. With some balance patches, buffs to her health, and removing effects from the damage she absorbs Dehya can still become a useful character. By also allowing her ability to synergize with water and ice abilities, which allow for some of the strongest damage in the meta, she can be a powerhouse that has more reason to be on team composition.