Introduction
Ever felt the frustration of starting Genshin Impact, being handed Amber, and then feeling like you’re pulling teeth just to progress? Perhaps you’ve immediately swapped her out for a ‘better’ character, relegating her to the dusty corner of your character roster. We’ve all been there. Many players quickly dismiss Amber as one of the game’s weakest characters, a sentiment fueled by her perceived low damage output and the early availability of other, seemingly more potent units. But before you completely write her off, let’s take a closer look.
Amber, the ever-optimistic Outrider of Mondstadt, deserves a second glance. Beyond her introductory role and seemingly basic skillset, lies a surprisingly versatile character capable of excelling in niche scenarios and contributing significantly to specific team compositions. This article will delve into Amber’s kit, exploring her strengths, identifying situations where she shines, and providing practical tips on how to build and utilize her effectively. You might just find that this seemingly underpowered archer holds the key to solving puzzles, triggering powerful elemental reactions, and even surprising your opponents in combat. This article aims to show why you shouldn’t underestimate Amber.
Amber’s Skillset: More Than Meets the Eye
To understand Amber’s potential, it’s crucial to dissect her abilities. Her skillset, while appearing straightforward, offers a unique blend of Pyro application, crowd control, and ranged combat prowess.
Her Elemental Skill, Baron Bunny, is arguably her most iconic ability. This adorable, yet surprisingly resilient, plushy serves as a decoy, taunting nearby enemies and drawing their attention away from your active character. When Baron Bunny’s health depletes or after a short duration, it explodes, dealing Pyro damage to surrounding foes. The potential here is twofold. First, the taunt provides valuable breathing room, allowing you to reposition, heal, or set up elemental reactions. Second, the explosion can trigger devastating elemental reactions, especially when combined with Hydro, Cryo, or Electro. However, Baron Bunny isn’t without its drawbacks. Its relatively low health pool and the delay between deployment and explosion can make it vulnerable to quick destruction or ineffective against highly mobile enemies.
Next, we have her Elemental Burst, Fiery Rain. This ability unleashes a barrage of flaming arrows, creating an area-of-effect field that deals continuous Pyro damage. While the initial damage might seem underwhelming, Fiery Rain boasts a crucial advantage: consistent Pyro application. This allows you to reliably trigger elemental reactions over a sustained period, making it particularly effective against groups of enemies or bosses with elemental weaknesses. Of course, its damage scaling isn’t as high as some other Pyro characters, especially at lower levels, requiring careful investment in her talents to maximize its effectiveness.
Finally, we get to her passive talents. Amber’s passive talents are deceptively powerful and add subtle, but valuable boosts to her gameplay. Every Arrow Finds Its Target increases the Crit Rate of Fiery Rain within its area of effect by ten percent and widens its area by thirty percent for two seconds. This is quite a substantial boost to her burst. Precise Shot increases attack by fifteen percent for ten seconds after hitting an enemy’s weak spot, incentivizing and rewarding the player’s aim and skill. Her exploration talent, Gliding Champion, decreases gliding stamina consumption for your own party members. This might not be as flashy as the others, but it helps tremendously with world exploration.
In short, Amber’s kit presents a toolkit for Pyro application, taunting, and accurate ranged strikes.
When Does Amber Shine? Situations Where She Excels
Despite the common perception, Amber isn’t a one-trick pony. She excels in specific situations where her unique skillset truly shines.
One of her most well-known advantages lies in puzzle solving. Genshin Impact is filled with environmental puzzles that require igniting torches or activating mechanisms from a distance. Amber’s charged aimed shots make her the perfect tool for these tasks. Her ability to precisely target distant objects is unmatched by many other characters, often making her the only viable solution to certain puzzles.
Furthermore, Amber is invaluable when exploiting enemy weak points. Many enemies, particularly bosses and mechanical constructs like Ruin Guards, have specific vulnerable areas that take significantly increased damage. Amber’s aimed shots allow you to consistently target these weak points, dealing substantial damage and often stunning or disabling your opponents. The attack bonus from the Precise Shot talent rewards this skill and makes her attacks even stronger.
Her consistent Pyro application, combined with the unique utility that she possesses, allows her to be effective in the early parts of the game, especially against Cryo enemies. Furthermore, her exploration passive is a treat that makes the world a little easier to navigate.
Building Amber: Unlocking Her Potential
To truly unlock Amber’s potential, it’s essential to equip her with the right artifacts, weapons, and team compositions.
For artifacts, early game players should focus on sets that boost energy recharge or provide bonus elemental mastery, like the Exile set or the Instructor set. As you progress, consider the Crimson Witch of Flames set to further amplify her Pyro damage, and the Emblem of Severed Fate to increase the damage and energy recharge to let her spam her burst more. These sets will significantly enhance her damage output and elemental reaction capabilities.
When it comes to weapons, prioritize those with stats that complement her strengths. Early on, the Messenger and the Sharpshooter’s Oath will serve you well. Later, the Hamayumi bow is a fantastic free to play choice. If you are willing to spend Primogems, then Elegy for the End, Skyward Harp, and the Aqua Simulacra are all great choices as well.
Finally, carefully consider your team composition. Amber thrives in teams that focus on elemental reactions. Combining her with Hydro characters like Xingqiu or Yelan will enable consistent Vaporize reactions, dealing massive damage. Similarly, pairing her with Cryo characters like Kaeya or Rosaria will trigger Melt reactions, further boosting her damage output. She can also be used in Overload compositions with Electro characters like Fischl or Beidou for consistent AOE damage. Amber, Kaeya, Razor, and Barbara makes for a great exploration team, with their exploration passives and healing to make the world easier to navigate.
Constellations: Enhancing Amber’s Utility
While Amber is perfectly viable without constellations, unlocking her constellations can significantly enhance her utility and change her playstyle.
Perhaps her most impactful constellation is constellation two, which allows the manual detonation of Baron Bunny. This is invaluable, allowing her to detonate Baron Bunny whenever she wants, rather than waiting for the slow timer to go off. Her fourth constellation significantly reduces her Elemental Burst cooldown, further enabling her to spam it for consistent Pyro application.
However, it’s important to acknowledge the difficulty of obtaining constellations, particularly for free-to-play players. Fortunately, Amber remains a valuable asset even without constellations, thanks to her inherent utility and unique skill set.
Addressing the Criticisms: Reframing the Narrative
Much of the criticism directed towards Amber stems from her perceived low damage output and the availability of other, seemingly more powerful Pyro characters. While it’s true that she may not boast the raw damage potential of characters like Diluc or Hu Tao, it’s crucial to understand her strengths lie elsewhere.
Her Pyro application is reliable, her Baron Bunny provides invaluable crowd control, and her aimed shots offer unparalleled precision. By focusing on these strengths and building her accordingly, you can significantly mitigate her perceived weaknesses. Moreover, her unique utility in puzzle solving and her accessibility as a starting character make her an invaluable asset, especially for new players.
Conclusion: Reconsidering the Outrider
Ultimately, Amber is far more than just a starting character. She’s a versatile, strategic character with unique strengths that, when properly utilized, can contribute significantly to your Genshin Impact experience. While she may not be the flashiest or most powerful damage dealer, her utility, puzzle-solving capabilities, and potential for triggering elemental reactions make her a worthwhile addition to any team.
So, before you completely dismiss Amber, I encourage you to reconsider her. Experiment with her in different situations, explore her unique strengths, and discover the hidden potential within this seemingly underpowered archer. The Outrider of Mondstadt might just surprise you.
What unconventional uses have you found for Amber? Share your experiences in the comments below!
