Genshin Impact – best free weapons to forge

You don’t have to Wish to get good equipment, and some of the best weapons to forge in Genshin Impact can end up being a better choice for your characters. Some of the best weapons and characters are indeed hidden behind RNG-based Banners, which require hundreds of hours of grinding or an equivalent amount of bucks.

Can you still enjoy the game without investing half of your paycheck? Yes, you certainly can! Genshin Impact provides a multitude of solid and viable free-to-play weapons to forge. For more Genshin Impact, read our guide on active redemption codes and every playable character in the game.

Now, let’s take a look at the best weapons to forge in Genshin Impact from various weapon types like Claymore, Catalyst, Sword, Bow, and Polearm.

13 Best weapons to forge in Genshin Impact

Before we dive into our picks for the top forgeable weapons in Genshin, let’s understand how to craft a weapon. The skill of crafting weapons is known as “Forging” in the games and has several prerequisites. 

First of all, every Forging you do requires you to visit a Blacksmith. You can find different Blacksmiths at various locations in Teyvat. Secondly, you need the diagram or recipe of each item you want to forge. Thirdly, you need the required materials and Mora for each forgeable item.

Katsuragikiri Nagamasa

• Weapon: Claymore
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +510
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: Energy Recharge +45.9%
• Passive: Increases Elemental Skill DMG by 6%. After Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the character loses 3 Energy but regenerates 3 Energy every 2s for the next 6s. This effect can occur once every 10s. Can be triggered even when the character is not on the field.
• Suitable Characters: Sayu, Chongyun, Beidou, Kaveh.

The Katsuragikiri Nagamasa is a Claymore from the Inazuma region. Due to the Energy Recharge substat, it is a great weapon for characters with high-cost Bursts. It is one of the best free-to-play options for Support characters who require continuous Energy Recharge to get some decent uptime on your Burst. Aside from the ER, the passive effect of Nagamasa allows its wielder to regenerate energy with your Elemental

Prototype Crescent

• Weapon: Bow
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +510
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: ATK +41.3%
• Passive: Charged Attack hits on weak points increase Movement SPD by 10% and ATK by 36% for 10s.
• Suitable Characters: Ganyu, Amber

The Prototype Crescent is an extremely useful bow, and it can be a great weapon for Ganyu if you don’t have her personal weapon. Since Ganyu is always using charged attacks to deal damage, you will end up hitting weak points more often than not. When you do, you trigger the passive effect which gives you a 10% increase in Movement Speed with a 36% ATK DMG bonus.

Prototype Archaic

• Weapon: Claymore
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +565
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: ATK +27.6%
• Passive: On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks have a 50% chance to deal an additional 240% ATK DMG to opponents within a small AoE. Can only occur once every 15s.
• Suitable Characters: Diluc, Razor, Eula, Chongyun, Freminet

The Archaic is thought of as one of the best weapons to forge in Genshin. It has excellent ATK bonus and its passive effect lets you deal even more damage. Its base ATK Damage of 565 and bonus ATK of 27.6% rivals some of the 5* weapons like Wolf’s Gravestone (in fact, a Refinement 5 Archaic is an excellent substitute for Wolf’s Gravestone).

Hamayumi

• Weapon: Bow
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +454
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: ATK +55.1%
• Passive: Increases Normal Attack DMG by 16% and Charged Attack DMG by 12%. When the equipping character’s Energy reaches 100%, this effect is increased by 100%.
• Suitable Characters: Yoimiya, Ganyu, Tartaglia, Fischl

The Hamayumi can be an excellent replacement weapon for Yoimiya if you don’t have her signature bow or Rust, both of which are tied for her best-in-slot weapon. Generally speaking, the Hamyumi is a brilliant bow for ATK-scaling characters who don’t really rely on their Burst to do damage.

Due to how the passive effect works, you will want to save your Burst unless you really need to use it. Doing so will let you benefit from an extra ATK buff to your normal Normal and Charged attacks. On top of this, the bonus stat has a 55.1% increased ATK DMG, which is fairly high for a free-to-play bow.

Whiteblind

• Weapon: Claymore
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: 510
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: DEF +51.7%
• Passive: On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks increase ATK and DEF by 6% for 6s. Max 4 stacks (24% total). Can only occur once every 0.5s.
• Suitable Characters: Noelle, Xinyan

Whiteblind is something of a niche weapon since there simply aren’t enough characters in the game to benefit from it. As it stands, only Noelle and Xinyan are defence-scaling Claymore users, making this weapon perfect for either of these. Arguably, this weapon is only meant for Noelle since Xinyan has split scaling.

Whiteblind grants a bonus stat of 51.7% DEF and its passive effect also buffs your ATK DMG and DEF stat further, granting more survivability and shield strenght. While its usage is limited, we highly recommend this weapon if you use Noelle and don’t have anything better for her.

Hakushin Ring

• Weapon: Catalyst
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +565
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: Energy Recharge 30.6%
• Passive: After the character equipped with this weapon triggers an Electro elemental reaction, nearby party members of an Elemental Type involved in the elemental reaction receive a 10% Elemental DMG Bonus for their element, lasting 6s. Elemental Bonuses gained in this way cannot be stacked.
• Suitable Characters: Lisa, Mona, Yae Miko, Baizhu

The Hakushin Ring became better after Dendro was added to the game. Dendro catalyst users like Baizhu can greatly benefit from this weapon when they are used in an Aggrevate team, as this is one of the best ways to utilise Dendro and Electro. Outside of the passive effect, it has a secondary stat of Energy Recharge, which will help keep you high-cost Burst characters happy. This Inazuma Catalyst grants a considerable buff to your party’s Electro Elemental status effect with its passive.

Amenoma Kageuchi

• Weapon: Sword
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +454
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: ATK +55.1%
• Passive: After casting an Elemental Skill, gain 1 Succession Seed. This effect can be triggered once every 5s. The Succession Seed lasts for 30s. Up to 3 Succession Seeds may exist simultaneously. After using an Elemental Burst, all Succession Seeds are consumed, and after 2s, the character regenerates 6 Energy for each seed consumed.
• Suitable Characters: Ayaka, Jean

It would be surprising if you haven’t already heard of Amenoma Kageuchi, arguably the best free-to-play sword you can acquire in the game. It emerges from the national of Inazuma, and you get its diagram as a reward upon completing The Farmer’s Treasure quest.

The base attack on Kageuchi may not seem like a lot to many people, but its bonus stat provides one of the highest attack scaling percentages in the game. We highly recommend using it on a character that gets Crit DMG, Crit Rate, or ATK to maximize its utility. Such a high-scaling attack percentage makes it a great fit for on-field DPS characters. Jean can benefit greatly from this weapon as it will bump up her healing and her considerable damage.

Mappa Mare

• Weapon: Catalyst
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +565
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: Elemental Mastery +110
• Passive: Triggering an Elemental Reaction grants a 8% Elemental DMG Bonus for 10s. Max 2 stacks.
• Suitable Characters: Klee, Lisa, Mona, Yanfei, Sucrose, Heizou

Next up, we have Mappa Mare, a 4* forgeable Catalyst. There aren’t a ton of craftable Catalyst and most of them that are focused on damage aren’t anything to write home about. Mappa Mare can be an incredibly powerful weapon, especially at R5. Thanks to its Elemental Mastery bonus stat, you want to put this on the character who is triggering the Elemental Reactions.

To this end, characters like Sucrose will love this weapon thanks to how Swirl works. Heizou will also do extremely decent damage with Mappa Mare if you opt for a full EM build. It’s not just good for Swirl reactions either, you can benefit from the passive effect of triggering any elemental reaction for a nice damage boost.

Prototype Amber

• Weapon: Catalyst
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +510
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: HP +41.3%
• Passive: Using an Elemental Burst regenerates 4 Energy every 2s for 6s. All party members will regenerate 4% HP every 2s for this duration.
• Suitable Characters: Barbara, Kokomi, Baizhu, Neuvillette

The Prototype Amber is a rare weapon in Genshin Impact in terms of its effects and bonuses. It is a 4* Catalyst that provides a high bonus in the Wielder’s HP, making it perfect on the HP scaling characters like Kokomi, Barbara, Baizhu, and Neuvillette.

Due to the HP increase and the Energy Recharge passive, this weapon can be perfect for healers or your DPS characters. These two things make it an incredibly versatile weapon, and one of the best weapons to forge.

Moonpiercer

• Weapon: Polearm
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: 565
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: Elemental Mastery +110
• Passive: After triggering Burning, Quicken, Aggravate, Spread, Bloom, Hyperbloom, or Burgeon, a Leaf of Revival will be created around the character for a maximum of 10s. When picked up, the Leaf will grant the character 16% ATK for 12s. Only 1 Leaf can be generated this way every 20s. This effect can still be triggered if the character is not on the field.
• Suitable Characters: Xiangling, Thoma

The Moonpiercer is one of the better Polearms you can make in Genshin, but it only works for Dendro-focused teams. With that limitation in mind, the weapon itself is still fantastic thanks to the EM stat boost in conjunction with the passive effect specifically bolstering Dendro-related reactions.

The Leaf that appears can be picked up by anyone, so make sure you use the character with this weapon equipped to start off with a Dendro reaction and then pick up the Leaf with your main DPS.

Sapwood Blade

• Weapon: Sword
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +565
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: Energy Recharge +30.6%
• Passive: After triggering Burning, Quicken, Aggravate, Spread, Bloom, Hyperbloom, or Burgeon, a Leaf of Consciousness will be created around the character for a maximum of 10s. When picked up, the Leaf will grant the character 60 Elemental Mastery for 12s. Only 1 Leaf can be generated this way every 20s. This effect can still be triggered if the character is not on the field. The Leaf of Consciousness effect cannot stack.
• Suitable Characters: Kuki Shinobu, Dendro Traveler, Bennett

The Sapwood Blade is another great weapon for Dendro-focused teams, especially for your support characters. The ER substat is brilliant and the Leaf that drops on the ground when you trigger a reaction will increase the EM of whoever picked it up. The ATK stat is high – which is especially good for Bennett – and the effects can stack between other weapons like the Moonpiercer spear.

Flowing Purity

• Weapon: Catalyst
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +565
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: ATK +27.6
• Passive: When using an Elemental Skill, All Elemental DMG Bonus will be increased by 8% for 15s, and a Bond of Life worth 24% of Max HP will be granted. This effect can be triggered once every 10s. When the Bond Of Life is cleared, every 1,000 HP cleared in the process will provide a 2% All Elemental DMG Bonus, up to a maximum of 12%. This effect lasts 15s.
• Suitable Characters: Heizou, Mona, Klee, Wriothesely, Yanfei, Wanderer, Yae Miko

The Flowing Purity was added with the Fontaine region, and it is arguably one of the best free-to-play catalysts you can get for your Elemental Reaction-focused damage dealers. It can work super well with any of the characters we listed above, making is an exceptionally versatile weapon.

The passive increases elemental DMG after using your Skill, but you need to make sure you have a healer who can remove the Bond of Life it places on you, so you get the most out of the ATK buff.

Iron Sting

• Weapon: Sword
• Lvl. 90 Base ATK: Attack +510
• Lvl. 90 Bonus Stat: Elemental Mastery +165
• Passive: Dealing Elemental DMG increases all DMG by 6% for 6s. Max 2 stacks. Can only occur once every 1s.
• Suitable Characters: Kazuha, Kuki Shinobu, Dendro Traveler

The Iron Sting might not seem like much, but it is arguably the best weapon to forge in Genshin Impact. It is only useful for Anemo characters or Electro units who need the EM stat. Outside of Freedom Sworn, this is one of the best weapons to use for Kazuha since his Swirl is enhanced thanks to the DMG increase and the EM substat. Kuki benefits from this weapon as well, being a key trigger in Aggrevate teams with Dendro characters.

✓ Good to know

Are these the best weapons?

You should bear in mind that forgeable weapons aren’t as good as weapons you can get through wishes. Even the four-star wish weapons mostly out-class these F2P ones, but you should use these if you have no other choice. The best weapon for your characters will also depend on the team comps you use.

That’s all there is to know about the best weapons to forge in Genshin Impact. For more Genshin, make sure you read our guides covering