Is Raiden Shogun rare?

As a Genshin Impact player from nearly launch day, I‘ve wished on many banners across multiple accounts trying to collect all the coolest and most powerful 5-star characters. And I can definitively say – yes, Raiden Shogun stands out as one of the absolute rarest, most coveted, and valuable 5-stars in the game‘s history.

By the Raw Gacha Rates

Simply looking at the base probability, it‘s quite unlikely to actually pull Raiden Shogun. As a featured 5-star character, she has a mere 0.3% chance to drop per wish on her exclusive event banners.

You must first reach the pity pull of 75-90 wishes to even have a 50/50 shot of getting her specifically. And if you lose that coin flip, you‘d need enough wishes to hit pity again!

Table 1: Raiden‘s Pull Chance and Pity Requirements

As you can see, getting Raiden is an incredible test of patience and resource stockpiling – or money, for us low spenders. HoYoverse makes no attempt to hide her rarity; you‘ll be working hard for the privilege of Raiden‘s company.

By Her Astounding Popularity

Now you may be thinking: "Sure the rates are low, but how popular or wanted is Raiden really compared to other characters?"

Well sit down my friend, because the metrics showing Raiden‘s popularity are downright staggering:

• Raiden‘s debut banner revenue exceeded every new character banner for a full year afterwards
• Her reruns have broken revenue records right alongside massive updates like 3.0‘s Sumeru expansion
• Raiden consistently charts among the highest for character usage rates and ownership rates

Players have made clear with their wallets – Raiden reigns supreme as queen of the Genshin meta and no shiny new toy can hope to dethrone her.

Her outstanding damage scaling, flexible team roles, and visually-striking style have cemented her place in the end game of countless players. So whether from love of the character or chasing meta dominance, everyone wants Raiden Ei on their squad.

Table 2: Raiden‘s Character Banner Revenue

By Her Availability

Now, one might argue that with multiple rerun banners, getting Raiden can‘t be that hard right?

Wrong – while Raiden has seen a few encores, we have zero indications she will ever enter the permanent wish banner like early 5-stars. Dataminers have uncovered no hard evidence through 2023 at least about her becoming available outside of the rare rerun.

And if each return nets HoYoverse eight figures in sales, best believe they will continue spacing out those appearances to preserve the FOMO and hype around our Electro Archon.

I predict based on the 3.0 and 3.3 patch livestreams that Raiden will likely rerun around the launch of major new regions or storyline chapters. So far, that‘s worked marvelously to juice total revenue.

But for new players starting today, that‘s still likely a 9-12 month wait at minimum before your next fair shot at Raiden!

By Her Lore and Meta Relevance

As referenced earlier, Raiden undoubtedly remains one of the most dominant forces in Spiral Abyss team building even in 2023. The Raiden National setup stands strong as arguably the single most powerful and investment-friendly composition.

Between her excellent personal damage and unmatched energy restoration for the team, Raiden enables previously fringe characters like Xiangling and Xingqiu to fire off their strongest attacks near-continuously.

And if that wasn‘t enough, she continues to play perfectly into new reactions and passive talents tailored around spamming Elemental Bursts as much as possible.

With the Dendro expansion introducing mechanics like Spread and Quicken that further boost Raiden‘s potential, her banner value grows ever higher. Mind you this is a character approaching her second birthday – yet still universally viewed as one of the top prizes around.

And storywise? As the ruling Archon and lynchpin of Inazuma‘s chapter, Raiden Ei is central to Genshin‘s ongoing main plot. I cannot fathom HoYoverse sidelining her relevance anytime soon.

Any way you slice it, Raiden Shogun delivers value matched by few others. And that fondness from developers and fans alike cements her scarcity in turn.

So for myself and anyone else still working towards that elusive Raiden constellation 6? I can only wish us poor mobile souls the best of luck in future. For we‘ll surely need every scrap of it!