Razor was the first character I ever pulled from a Wish in Genshin Impact. For those less acquainted with gacha mechanics, tꦛhis means he was the first person I got from using in-game currency to purchase random drops. It’s sort of like how loot boxes work, except somehow e🔜ven more nefarious. Or maybe they’re the same - all I know is that performance-altering microtransactions are the devil incarnate.
Anyway, Razor was the most powerful character on my team for dozens of hours back in October until I finally pulled Diluc from the standard Genshin banner. Since then I’ve got some other decent characters, too - I managed to snag Albedo back when 1.3 launched, and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to pul🍨l Hu Tao in the next few days due to pity being heavily in my favour. I’ve also got some of the better four-star characters that are currently available, like Fischl, Ningguang, and Xingqiu. Basically, I’ve got enough decent fighters for two or three full squads.
Still, though, Razor is my absolute favourite character in Genshin Impact, so it’s sad to watch his slow and wistful fall from grace as newer, better, and rarer DPS fighters come into🌺 the fold at an 🌺alarmingly fast rate.
Diluc was the irrefutable all-star back in the beginning of Genshin Impact. He’s since been usurped by the likes of Xiao and Hu Tao, but he’s still one of the most powerful characters in the game and consistently hovers around the top of every tier list. Back when Diluc was king, though, Razor was next in line for the throne. Razor is a four-star character, meaning he is far easier to ✃get than any of the constantly-available five-stars like Diluc, Jean, or Mona. As a result, his potential was warmly welcomed by the free-to-play community - pull Razor and you can reckon with the worst of ‘em, using your electro-ghost werewolf claws to punch Oceanids in their stupid watery faces. Man, Razor is cool.
The base game hasn’t changed anything to combat this, meaning that Raz𝄹or is still a perfectly viable member of any balanced team. In general, lots of people who play gacha games don’t really give a shit about the meta, and tend to just use characters they like, so even if he were to spectacularly fall out of favour, Razor’s usage wouldn’t just plummet to zero. I’ve personally always got him mapped to number one on my squad because he’s by far my favourite of the lot, and no matter who I unlock down the line, I’ll never give my wolfy boy the boot. Still, it’s been disappointing to see him fade away into the obscurity of lower A-tier, barely hovering above the band of B-tiers who are only ever included on squads purely because of favouritism. Again꧙, I choose Razor because he’s the one I like the most, but it was pretty convenient that he had the bite to back up the bark - as in, this lad is quite literally related to a pack of wolves.
That’s another thing I wanted to touch on. I don’t think I’m alone in preferring Razor over the other characters in Genshin Impact. While the game has a stacked cast of compelling charactꦯers - I mean, they have to be compelling, or else nobody would spend money on them - Razor is able to stand head and wolfy shoulders above the rest because of how early his first main🦄 story chapter takes place. It transpires in Mondstadt, and you’ll likely see it before you even go to Liyue, down in the mysterious woods of Wolvendom. Orphaned as a child and raised by wolves, Razor is a bit of an oddball, but he’s one of those oddballs that you can’t help but love. He’s loyal, he has a good heart, and it’s hilarious to hear how weird some of the shit he comes out with is. Remember, if you’re currently using Razor and go idle for a minute, he’ll say, “I keep watch, you leave, you call me.” What a sweetheart.
His voice lines in general are brilliant. “I hav👍e iron claws and teeth of thunder” - how good is that?! I also love how he describes his diet: “Greens are bad. Animal eats green things. Then I eat animal.” Razor is a very basic boy, but he’s also the best boy in Genshin Impact because of how pure he is. Yes, he can swing a claymore emblazoned with claws of ferocious lightning, but he’s also just a guy who wants to hang out with his wolf cousins and - once you’ve befriended him - you. “You are strong,” Razor tells you. “Like a wolf. I like to hunt with you. We catch a lot.”
Again, I don’t necessarily think Razor will ever ⭕be unusable in Genshin Impact. I still use him as my ace in the hole despite having technically better characters at my disposal. That being said, I ju♓st don’t want to see him fall so far down the tier list as new and expensive characters are continuously added that people start to see him as an inconsequential character. Sure, loads of people already play Genshin Impact, but this game is going nowhere - new players join every day and the number will only increase as time goes on, especially given how well it runs on the mostly gameless current-gen consoles.
When I think of a new player starting Genshin Impact, I think of saying, “Don’t worry about the Wishes too much, if you get Razor, you’re all set.” Even if they don’t pull him, though, getting to meet him in Wolvendom for the first time at level 21 - which is immensely low compared to loads of the other characters - is a real treat. ▨He’s the most fun character in the game to play as - with ☂the exception of maybe Xiao - and absolutely the most enjoyable one to listen to and learn about. Even if Mihoyo does slowly push him down the ranks, he’ll always be Genshin’s best boy for me and so many others.