Summary
The latest changes from theGenshin Impactbeta bear some unfortunate news for Ifa fans, as the upcoming 4-star character will likely debut with an underwhelming ability kit. There has been a lot of excitement about Ifa inGenshin Impact. While Natlan has had its fair share of premium units, such as Mavuika, Citlali, and Xilonen, the community has latched onto Ifa ever since he was teased by the Archon Quest in Version 5.1. The veterinarian of the Flower-Feather Clan finally made an in-game appearance in Version 5.5, where he was the star of its Flagship Event.
The reason for Ifa’s popularity is easy to understand. Between Version 4.1 and Version 5.7,Genshin Impactwill have only released one male 5-star character. Many saw Ifa as a chance for Natlan to debut its second male 5-star, which is why fans were disappointed when his rarity was finally revealed. Since Version 4.1,Genshin Impacthas only had one Tall Male unit in Ororon, who had a fairly strong ability kit for a4-star character inGenshin Impact. These two factors established high expectations for Ifa, further boosted thanks to a memorable performance by Jonny Loquasto and by having an iconic design.
Unfortunately, manyGenshin Impactplayers were disappointed with Ifaand his ability kit when the first information from the beta made its way to the community. On paper, Ifa is intended to be an on-field character for Electro-Charged teams, having notable synergy with Ororon, while being able to provide group healing on the side. In practice, his healing is rather negligible, and therecent changes shared via Hakushincontinue to push the character away from a healer role.
Passives
Constellations
Curiously, his ascension passive makesIfa inGenshin Impactone of the best exploration characters for Natlan. Unfortunately, the passive is only effective in Natlan, which arguably makes him too niche to meaningfully contribute to a player’s roster. There is only one zone left to be added in Natlan before the game moves onto Nod-Krai. Had Ifa been released at the start of the region’s content cycle, his passive may have been better received by players. As things are, Ifa’s value simply isn’t there when compared to Iansan, Lan Yan, or even Ororon.
The change to his sixth constellation is also a significant nerf to Ifa, as his base ATK is one of the lowest in the entire game. While players can tackleendgame content inGenshin Impactwith a wide variety of teams, the community should strongly temper their expectations of Ifa. Version 5.6 is set to launch on July 23, 2025.
