As a regular player who tracks every Primogem, I still look back at Genshin Impact Version 6.1 as one of the most resource-hungry patches of the post-Natlan bridge era. The update went live on October 22, 2025, and its six-week banner window squeezed a fresh Dendro hypercarry, a Hydro Archon rerun, a Fatui favorite, and the Geo Archon into a single patch with no new map expansion. That combination made every wish feel heavier, especially for free-to-play accounts like mine. Here is my news-style breakdown of what mattered then—and what still matters for anyone checking old banners or planning around similar rerun patterns in 2026.

Banner Phases at a Glance

Phase	Period	Featured 5-Stars	Key 4-Star Units
Phase 1	October 22 – ~November 12	Nefer (Dendro Catalyst), Furina (Hydro Sword)	Xingqiu, Collei, Yao Yao
Phase 2	~November 12 – December 3	Arlecchino (Pyro Polearm), Zhongli (Geo Polearm)	Lan Yan, Yun Jin, Rosaria

The weapon banner featured both Nefer’s and Furina’s signature weapons alongside debut Nod-Krai weapons, though those were largely untested at the time. Server reset for phase changes was 04:00 UTC+8, and the in-game countdown remained the most reliable way to avoid missed pulls.

Phase 1: The Dendro Gamble and the Hydro Anchor

Nefer arrived as the next major Dendro hypercarry, but her kit was explicitly tuned for synergy with Lauma, a character who was not scheduled to release until later. Even after post-beta nerfs, calcs placed Nefer above most non-"Big Three" Dendro units like Varesa, yet well short of Skirk-tier dominance. For me, the real catch was her investment ceiling: she wanted strong core support, character-lock gear, and full EM/Crit balance teams. That made her a high-upside but expensive pick for a patch with reduced Primogem income.

Furina, by contrast, remained a defining support/DPS hybrid. Her persistent value in Bloom, Hyperbloom, and damage-share comps made this the friendliest rerun for new accounts missing a Hydro Archon. If I had to choose one Phase 1 character for long-term account strength, Furina was the safer anchor—especially alongside Dendro-centric archetypes that were continuing to evolve.

The four-star cast reinforced that impression. Xingqiu stayed pivotal for vaporize and quickswap rotations, while Collei and Yao Yao offered budget Dendro engine access. For F2P players lacking both Nefer and Furina, the advice was clear: prioritize Furina for consistent roster flexibility and skip weapon banners unless you already owned both signature characters.

Phase 2: Pyro Aggression and Geo Comfort

Arlecchino returned as a Fatui community favorite, notable for single-target Pyro burst potential and supportive debuff roles. Her playstyle rewarded aggressive, high-uptime rotations, and she benefited enormously from Bennett and Xiangling cores. Mono-Pyro and Vape-Pyro setups were the most common ways to unlock her damage, though she still demanded careful energy and timing management.

Zhongli, meanwhile, remained the premier universal shielder and petrification enabler. His value spiked on high-pressure Abyss floors and in domains where interruption resistance translated directly into faster clears. If you lacked a strong shield option or wanted consistency in no-healer speed-clear teams, he was still worth chasing even in a tight patch.

The Phase 2 four-stars were equally meta-relevant. Lan Yan brought rare Anemo shield utility that confirmed earlier theorycrafting chatter, while Yun Jin and Rosaria opened flexible rotations for normal-attack and Cryo/Pyro cores. From a pure pull-value perspective, Phase 2 was the more defensive and comfort-oriented half of the update.

Resource Pressure and Miliastra Wonderland

Because 6.1 had no map expansion, Primogem yield dropped by roughly 10–15% compared with Versions 6.0 and 5.8. There were also no special rerun events to pad limited-quest bonuses, which meant dailies, Spiral Abyss, and Miliastra Wonderland event rewards carried extra weight. The debut of the Miliastra Wonderland sandbox was the patch’s biggest structural experiment: player-generated content that promised to shift endgame and community challenges in ways reminiscent of the early Serenitea Pot expansion, but with far higher engagement ceilings.

For low-spend and F2P players, that resource squeeze made skipping weapon banners the default choice. Unless you mained both Nefer and Furina, the Signature Banner should not have overridden character priorities, especially with Nod-Krai weapons still untested in the meta.

Community Pulse and Future Outlook

Even during 6.1, the community was split over pull savings for Columbina hype in 6.3. Some veterans pointed to historic cases like Yae Miko pre-2.5 and Alhaitham pre-3.4 to argue that Nefer’s beta nerfs would not doom her post-release performance. Others insisted that Dendro team theory would change again before Lauma arrived. Leaks also hinted at Durin and Jahoda as possible 6.2 newcomers, though those remained unconfirmed and subject to change.

Final Pull Takeaways

Genshin Impact 6.1 was pivotal but resource-constrained. Between Nefer’s high-investment Dendro ceiling, Furina’s long-term Hydro value, Arlecchino’s Pyro aggression, and Zhongli’s universal shielding, nearly every account had a strong reason to pull—but not enough Primogems to chase them all. My main lessons were simple: prioritize core roster needs over novelty, weigh upcoming character drops carefully, and farm every event reward available. For meta chasers, the real prize was understanding how Dendro team theory would evolve after 6.1 and into the next region patch.