Genshin Impact Pull Guide: Is Columbina & Zibai Good?

With the introduction of two new five-star characters, Zibai and Columbina, and a new Lunar reaction, "Lunar Crystalize", in Version Luna IV, players are considering whether to choose Columbina, Zibai, or both. This article will discuss their respective roles, how they fit into the current meta, and how they compare to similar characters. It will then make a recommendation on which character to choose.

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The Luna IV update has clearly been designed to push Lunar reactions as a core gameplay mechanic, with multiple new characters and buffs centered around this system. As a result, the value of new units is closely tied to how well they enable or capitalize on Lunar Reactions. While both Zibai and Columbina are powerful in their intended roles, their pull value varies greatly depending on a player’s existing roster and long-term plans.

Columbina Overview

Core Mechanic

Columbina’s core mechanic revolves around buffing Lunar reactions while applying consistent Hydro from off-field and even dealing decent damage from off-field. She enables Lunar Reactions while simultaneously increasing their damage output.

Her kit feels very intuitive for players to understand. You simply drop your abilities to deal damage from off-field, then swap to your main damage dealers, who gets buffed by Columbina. This is why Columbina is a perfect support for Onfield Lunar Damage-Dealers, since she does't take away their field time.

Is Columbina Worth Pulling?

Short Answer: For many accounts YES, absolutely, but let's dive in if your account wants Columbina!

Reasons to Pull for her

Columbina has great Synergy with Lunar Reaction damage dealers, such as Nefer, Flins or Zibai, as well as Ineffa, since Columbina not only buffs Lunar reactions but also applies Hydro to enable these powerful reactions.

In practice, this means that Columbina often acts as the backbone of Lunar teams. Rather than being the sole main source of damage herself, she amplifies the output of others as well, making her contribution feel larger than raw numbers might suggest. This role is especially important in content where reaction damage is prioritized over raw elemental damage.

What makes Columbina particularly valuable is that she does not require extensive on-field time to contribute meaningfully. This allows teams to maintain high damage uptime while still benefiting from her Hydro application and buffs. Characters like this tend to age well in the meta, especially when future updates introduce new reaction-focused damage dealers.

So if you do have one of the aforementioned Nod Krai characters, you should definitely go for Columbina.

Reasons to Skip her

You can likely skip Columbina if:

• You don’t play Lunar Reaction teams at all.

• You have no intention of pulling Zibai or other Lunar DPS characters.

Outside of Lunar-focused content, her value drops noticeably.

Recommended Investment

Columbina performs very well at C0, which is a huge plus for many Players.

Higher constellations increase her buffs and damage, but she does not require heavy investment to feel complete.

Her Signature Weapon also increases her personal damage while providing some Energy regeneration for Columbina.

Both Constellations and Signature Weapon are not required to make Columbina work, as she performs greatly at C0 with free-to-play weapons already. But if you decide to spend more primos on her Banner, both C2 and her Signature Weapon are worth it, going for C3 generally isn't recommended, her C4 is quite good but her C6 feels underwhelming compared to C6 of other recently released characters.

Columbina vs Other Characters

In the current meta, Columbina can be compared to either Aino or Furina. At C6 in particular, Aino provides lots of buffs for Lunar Reaction-based teams, while Furina is a great off-field Hydro applicator and Sub DPS who can also provide buffs for certain teams. For Lunar Reaction-oriented teams, however, Columbina is a better option than either Aino or Furina, since she deals more off-field damage than either of them, and her buffs are on a par with Aino's in these teams.

This makes Columbina the most efficient Hydro option specifically for Lunar content. While other Hydro characters remain strong in general use, they are not tailored to the Lunar system in the same way, giving Columbina a clear niche advantage.

In non-Lunar Reaction-oriented teams, like Vaporize or Freeze teams, Furina or other Hydro Supports/Sub DPS like Mona or Yelan, Columbina falls short since her buffs and off-field damage are tied to Lunar Reaction teams, therefore Columbina isn't the best hydro slot in Vaporize or Freeze teams. Hence if you don't have any Lunar Reaction Damage dealer, pulling Columbina has much less value.

This distinction is important, as it prevents Columbina from being a universally optimal Hydro pick. Her value increases dramatically with Lunar teams but drops outside of them.

Zibai Overview

Zibai is a five-star Geo sword wielder who functions as the main damage dealer on the field, dealing massive Lunar Crystalize damage. Her high damage multiplier enables her to compete with other meta DPS characters. However, she is very dependent on two other characters: Columbina and Illuga, the new four-star geo support character who will be available on Zibai's release banner. Playing her outside of Lunar Crystalize teams will drastically decrease her damage numbers, as she requires these two characters to work.

Zibai’s gameplay design is clearly aimed at players who enjoy highly optimized team compositions. She rewards proper setup and synergy far more than flexible team building. This makes her extremely strong in ideal conditions, but also more punishing if those conditions are not met.

She’s not designed to be flexible. She’s designed to dominate one specific archetype.

Is Zibai Worth Pulling?

Zibai is powerful, but her pull value is highly conditional.

Reasons to Pull for her

You likely want to pull her if:

• You plan to build a dedicated Lunar Crystalize team.

• You are also pulling (or already own) Columbina.

• You enjoy reaction-focused, high-investment DPS characters.

With proper support, Zibai can outdamage most current main DPS units.

Reasons to Skip her

You should skip Zibai if:

• You don’t have Columbina and don’t plan to pull her.

• You prefer flexible carries like Neuvillette.

Without her supports, Zibai’s damage falls off hard.

Recommended Investment

Zibai feels functional at C0, but she scales more noticeably with constellations than Columbina. For most players, C0 is acceptable, but C1–C2 significantly smooth out her performance if you’re willing to invest.

As for her Signature Weapon, you are not required to go for it if you have other 5 star statsticks and even the 3-Star weapon "Harbinger of Dawn" is a great alternative. Unless you really care about Zibai's maximum potential (or really like the way her signature weapon looks), it's generally more recommended in either investing in Zibai's Constellations or even invest further in your supports, such as Columbina.

Zibai vs Other Characters

Zibai outclasses other geo DPS by a huge margin, and she should be compared to other Lunar Reaction damage dealers instead, since these teams share similar supports. In theory, Zibai deals the same damage than the other damage dealers in their current teams, but since she requires both Columbina and Illuga to work, she will fall short if you don't manage to pull her supports. Obtaining Illuga shouldn't be the difficulty, but getting both Columbina and Zibai in the same banner can prove difficult for many players.

Compared to more flexible DPS characters, Zibai demands greater investment and planning. This makes her an excellent choice for players willing to commit resources, but a risky pull for those with limited Primogems.

Conclusion

Both Zibai and Columbina are meta relevant characters, however Columbina is a lot more flexible and less restrictive than Zibai. If you have a Lunar damage dealer, you definitely don't want to miss out on Columbina. If you don't have Nefer, Flins or Ineffa, and you don't plan on going for Zibai, it's not recommended to pull Columbina. If you are either not planning on pulling Columbina or you don't have enough primos to obtain Columbina, it's generally not recommended to pull Zibai.

My advice would be to go for Columbina first, so you can decide whether you want to pull for Zibai afterwards. At last, both characters are great and relevant to the meta, so it's a good decision to pull either of them, with Columbina being a higher priority in general.

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