Genshin Impact offers players a wide variety of characters to choose between, but they aren't all created equal. Though players will likely be tempted to use whichever character they like based on looks or personality, it's undeniable that certain missions are much easier with a top tier Gacha character. Nowhere is this made clearer than in the case of Amber, the first additional party member that players will meet during their journey. Despite her fun, energetic personality and iconic appearance, most players will abandon Amber at the first chance they get and she is frequently ranked low in tier lists.
Of course, tier lists and optimization isn't everything when it comes to Genshin Impact, and players that put the resources into making Amber good will still probably do fine with her, but it can't be disputed that she falls behind other characters in terms of damage output. There have yet to be any balance changes made to the game, so there's currently no precedent for how miHoYo could change Amber and make her more useful, but looking at similar games can provide fans with some ideas of how the Gliding Chamption of Mondstadt may end up back in more players' parties.
Amber in Genshin Impact
As it stands, Amber is often considered one of the worst characters in Genshin Impact. She isn't capable of doing a ton of damage and there are other pyro characters that are much more capable than her. Some players even jokingly compare to an HM monkey, the term used for a Pokemon that only knows HM moves and is kept in the party for the purpose of cutting trees, moving boulders, and surfing on deep water. This is because Amber is one of five pyro characters capable of burning the thorny branches that often block players' paths in dungeons.
Until players get one of those other characters, they often keep Amber in the party, but only tend to use her in situations that require Pyro element. This is a shame as she was featured heavily in promotional material for Genshin Impact and players generally seem to like her as a character, but there are others that make more sense to have in the party. Early on it isn't a big deal as players likely have room to spare in their party and enemies aren't very difficult to defeat, but as things get more challenging Amber will quickly be sidelined.
Genshin Impact as a Free to Play
It should be said that there is good reason for her less than admirable abilities. As one of the four characters the player gets for free (with the others being the Traveller, Kaeya, and Lisa), everyone is going to have access to her. Though Genshin Impact can be played without spending money, the developer's goal is to incentivize the player to do so anyway. If Amber was as good as other five star characters that can only be obtained from the wish system, there'd be no incentive to make use of the Gacha aspects of the game and no real way for the developers to make money.
Getting five-star characters in Genshin Impact is difficult, though, so players will spend a lot more time with four-star characters unless they get very lucky early on. Even beyond that, Amber should theoretically be weaker than other four-star characters like Bennett and Xiangling, as they can only be obtained through wishes. With that in mind, players shouldn't expect any kind of patch to make Amber an S Tier character, but it would be nice to see her get some kind of buff that at least makes her comparable to other characters in the game.
Buffing Amber
Amber's flaws lie in her unimpressive elemental talents and general lack of utility in dungeons. Her Explosive Puppet technique takes a really long time to detonate and doesn't have the damage pay off to justify it, whereas other characters can quickly deal out massive damage with their abilities. The Fiery Rain only lasts for 2 seconds, making it ineffective at dealing damage or as a form of crowd control. If miHoYo wanted to make these abilities a little more competitive, increasing the duration of Fiery Rain and lowering the detonation timer for Explosive Puppet would help quite a bit.
Another route miHoYo could take with Amber is to develop her strengths instead of trying to address her weaknesses. As the Gliding Champion of Mondstadt, Amber decreases all party members' gliding stamina consumption by 20% when she is in the party. This is pretty substantial and helps with exploration a lot, and it would be cool to see Amber get more abilities that aid the player when exploring Genshin Impact's open world. If miHoYo went this route, she still wouldn't provide much in the way of damage output, but could wind up being a valuable party member nonetheless.
5-Star Amber
Another option would be to create a 5-star variant of Amber that players can get from a specific event. She could function much the same way as her current incarnation but have more powerful skills and better stats. This would allow players to use Amber and enjoy her as a character while not cheapening the value of other five-star characters obtainable through wish making. It would also be a great way of making Amber a more competitive character for those that like her, especially if the Genshin Impact's developer could make her comparable to Venti, another 5-star bow user.
This concept could also work on other four-star characters currently in Genshin Impact, though Amber seems like the most likely candidate for an upgrade of this sort. Lisa and Kaeya could also be considered, but it seems improbable that paid characters introduced as four-stars will get five-star versions. The more characters added to the list of five-stars, the more difficult it will be to get specific ones such as Diluc, Jean, or Venti. With that in mind, this kind of feature should be used sparingly, as if every character has a five-star variant, there wouldn't be much special about the existing five-star characters and it would be even harder for players to get what they want from making a wish in Genshin Impact.
Genshin Impact is available now on Mobile, PC, and PS4, and later on Switch.