Genshin Impact: Paimon’s Bargains for December

Genshin Impact’s resident floating gremlin, Paimon, has restocked her in-game shop, Paimon’s Bargains, for the month of December. Paimon’s Bargains is a great place to find rare weapons and unlock characters you’ve been wanting, but because the good stuff costs Starglitter, which you can only get from rolling items and characters 4-star or higher, you gotta be picky. Are this month’s offerings worth the investment?

What’s On Offer?

First, let’s cover the characters. This month’s characters are Kaeya and Barbara, both of whom I would be genuinely surprised if you didn’t already have, or at least know about. You can unlock Kaeya just by playing through Genshin Impact’s story. Most folks who have been playing since the game launched already have Barbara.

Early on, Barbara was given away for free to players who reached a certain Adventure Rank threshold. Even after that promotion ended, she’s one of the most common characters you can roll. Purchasing them again in the store can buff their constellations, which isn’t a terrible idea, especially in Kaeya’s case, but the large investment of Starglitter makes it less than worth it.

What about this month’s special weapons? For December, Paimon’s Bargains is offering the Royal series, including the Royal Longsword, the Royal Greatsword, the Royal Spear, the Royal Grimoire, and the Royal Bow.

All of the Royal series share the same passive ability, Focus. When you damage an opponent with a Royal weapon, you gain a stack that increases your CRIT rate by 8%. You can get up to five stacks for a total boost of 40%, but whenever you get a critical hit, the stacks reset. If you already have a character with a good CRIT rate, these could be beneficial for ensuring you land critical hits more often, but otherwise, the Royal series isn’t especially impressive.

So, bottom line: should you invest in Paimon’s Bargains this month? Probably not. You more than likely have the characters already, and you can find much more-interesting weapons in-game. Save your Starglitter this month.

• Read more: Xinyan Build and Zhongli Build