Genshin Impact Wish System and Pity Explained: How the Gacha Odds Really Work

Pulling on a banner is the moment every Traveler obsesses over, and it is also the part of Genshin Impact that gets explained the least clearly in-game. The system that governs who you get — and how long you have to wait to get them — is called the Wish system, and it runs on a published set of probabilities, pity counters and guarantees that HoYoverse has kept largely stable since launch. This guide breaks down exactly how Wishing works on every banner type, what "soft pity" and "hard pity" actually mean, how the 50/50 and its guarantee function, and how the newer Capturing Radiance mechanic changes the odds in your favor.

None of this is guesswork or a community myth — these are the disclosed mechanics built into the game's own Wish details screen, and they apply right now on the live Version 7.1 "A Rekviem for the Underworld" banners featuring Vesna and Vodyanitsa.

1. Fates, Primogems and the Four Banner Types

Every Wish costs 160 Primogems, or one Fate item earned from events, the Battle Pass or purchased directly. There are two kinds of Fates, and they are not interchangeable:

• Intertwined Fate — used on Character Event Wishes and Weapon Event Wishes (the limited-time banners).
• Acquaint Fate — used only on the permanent Standard Wish ("Wanderlust Invocation").

That split matters because pity and Fates are tracked separately for each banner category. Spending Intertwined Fates on the Character Event Wish does nothing for your Standard Wish pity, and vice versa. The four banner types you will see in the Wish menu are:

• Character Event Wish — the rotating banner with a rate-up 5-star character (currently Vesna, then Vodyanitsa's rerun in Phase 1 through October 13).
• Character Event Wish-2 — a second, simultaneous rate-up banner HoYoverse runs alongside some patches.
• Weapon Event Wish — rate-up 5-star weapons, using the Epitomized Path system covered below.
• Standard Wish — a permanent pool of older 5-star and 4-star characters and weapons, with no rate-up.

2. The Base Drop Rates

On the Character Event Wish and the Standard Wish, every single pull has the same starting odds before pity is factored in:

• 5-star item: 0.6%
• 4-star item: 5.1%
• 3-star item: 94.3%

Those numbers look brutal in isolation, but they are only half the picture — HoYoverse builds in guarantees that push the realistic average chance of a 5-star up to roughly 1.6% per pull once pity is included across a full cycle, and guarantee a 4-star or better at least once every 10 pulls.

3. Soft Pity and Hard Pity Explained

"Pity" is simply a hidden counter that tracks how many pulls you have made since your last 5-star. Two thresholds matter:

• Soft pity begins around your 74th pull without a 5-star. From that point on, the probability of pulling a 5-star climbs sharply with every additional wish instead of staying flat at 0.6%.
• Hard pity is the absolute ceiling: your 90th wish on a Character Event Wish or Standard Wish is guaranteed to be a 5-star if you haven't already received one. The counter resets to zero the moment you get a 5-star, no matter which pull number it happened on.

In practice, this means a 5-star is never more than 90 pulls away, and most players who push into soft pity will see one well before the hard cap. The same soft/hard pity shape applies to 4-stars too, just on a much shorter cycle — a 4-star or better is guaranteed within every 10 pulls.

4. The 50/50 and the Guarantee

Hitting a 5-star on a Character Event Wish doesn't automatically mean you get the rate-up character. Instead, it triggers a coin flip generally referred to as "the 50/50":

• 50% chance the 5-star is the current featured character.
• 50% chance it's a random 5-star from the separate, older Standard Wish pool instead.

If you lose that coin flip, you are not left to chance twice in a row. HoYoverse applies a guarantee: the very next 5-star you pull on any future Character Event Wish is locked in as the featured character, no coin flip involved. Losing the 50/50 is frustrating in the moment, but it is never compounded — you can only ever lose it twice back to back if the guarantee itself somehow fails, which it is designed not to do.

5. Capturing Radiance: The Newer Safety Net

Since Version 5.0, HoYoverse has layered an additional mechanic called Capturing Radiance on top of the 50/50. It only applies on a Character Event Wish pull where you do not already have the guarantee active. When you lose the coin flip and would normally receive the off-banner Standard 5-star, there is a 10% chance that Capturing Radiance triggers instead, overriding the loss and handing you the featured character anyway. HoYoverse has also stated that if a player loses the 50/50 three times in a row, Capturing Radiance is guaranteed to trigger on the next loss, preventing extended unlucky streaks. It does not cost extra Primogems or pulls to benefit from — it is purely an added chance layered on your existing wishes, and it has no effect on the Weapon Event Wish or Standard Wish.

6. Weapon Banner Wishes and the Epitomized Path

The Weapon Event Wish runs on its own separate economy:

• Base 5-star weapon rate: 0.7%, 4-star: 6.0%, 3-star: 93.3%.
• Soft pity starts noticeably earlier, around pull 65.
• Hard pity is 80 pulls, lower than the 90-pull character hard pity.

Weapon banners typically feature two rate-up 5-star weapons at once, and you choose between them using the Epitomized Path: pick the weapon you want before pulling. Every time you land a 5-star weapon that isn't your chosen one, you earn one Fate Point. At two Fate Points, your very next 5-star weapon pull is guaranteed to be the one you picked. Fate Points do not carry over once a specific Epitome Invocation banner ends, so it's worth finishing a path you've started rather than switching targets mid-banner.

Looking ahead, Version 7.1 Phase 2 begins October 13, 2026 and brings Skirk and Escoffier onto the Character Event Wish — worth factoring into your pull planning now if you're sitting on pity.

7. Smart Wishing: How to Spend Primogems Without Regret

A few practical habits make the system work in your favor instead of against you:

• Track your pity count in the Wish Details screen before committing to a 10-pull — if you're already near 74, finishing the push to a 5-star is usually worth it rather than banking a near-complete pity cycle into the Standard Wish.
• Never spend Intertwined Fates on the Standard Wish unless you specifically mean to — Acquaint Fates exist for exactly that banner and don't touch your Character Event pity.
• Save for banners you actually want. Because the guarantee persists indefinitely across Character Event Wishes, losing a 50/50 now isn't wasted — it pays off automatically on whichever future banner you pull on next.
• Check the current Phase before buying Fates. Version 7.1's Phase 1 (Vesna and Vodyanitsa) runs through October 13, 2026, with Phase 2 — featuring Skirk and Escoffier — beginning immediately after.

Quick Recap

• 5-star base rate is 0.6%, rising sharply after soft pity around pull 74, guaranteed by pull 90.
• 4-star or better is guaranteed at least once every 10 pulls.
• Losing the Character Event Wish 50/50 guarantees your next 5-star is the featured one.
• Capturing Radiance gives a 10% chance to win the 50/50 anyway after a loss, guaranteed after three consecutive losses.
• Weapon banners use an 80-pull hard pity and the Epitomized Path, which guarantees your chosen weapon after two off-path 5-stars.

Official Resources

• Genshin Impact official site
• HoYoverse official site
• Genshin Impact on PlayStation
• Genshin Impact on Xbox
• Genshin Impact on Wikipedia

For more on what's currently live in Teyvat, check our breakdown of everything new in the Version 7.1 "A Rekviem for the Underworld" update, our guide to Vesna's Patrol Mission event and active redeem codes, and our full elemental reactions breakdown for building your ideal wishing team. You can also browse our complete library of game guides on the walkthroughs archive.