Best Free & Craftable Weapons for Every Natlan Character (No Gacha Needed) 2026

I pulled Mavuika's signature weapon on my main account and immediately regretted it. Not because it's bad — it's obviously her best weapon — but because the damage difference between her signature and the event claymore "Earth Shaker" R5 is about 12%. That's not worth 160 wishes. Here's the actual math on every free weapon for every Natlan character.

Mavuika: Earth Shaker R5 vs Redhorn vs Serpent Spine vs Wolf's Gravestone

Earth Shaker was the flagship event weapon from Version 5.0's main event. If you missed it, you're out of luck for now — event weapons don't rerun. Substat: ATK%. Passive at R5: After a party member triggers a Nightsoul-aligned reaction, the wielder gains 16% skill DMG for 12 seconds. Mavuika's entire damage profile is skill-based, so this is essentially permanent.

Calcs: Earth Shaker R5 → 88% of signature. Redhorn Stonethresher R1 → 94% (but you're pulling a weapon banner for this). Serpent Spine R5 → 95% at max stacks (Battle Pass, not free). Prototype Archaic R5 → 81% (craftable, always available, just worse).

If you missed Earth Shaker: Prototype Archaic R5 is your best completely free option. It's craftable from the Mondstadt blacksmith. The gap between Earth Shaker and Prototype Archaic is about 8%, which is noticeable but not account-breaking.

What about Mailed Flower? The 3.5 event claymore with EM substat. It's decent for Melt teams specifically — about 85% of signature in a Rosaria/Kaeya Melt setup — but worse than Prototype Archaic for general use. Use Mailed Flower if you run Melt Mavuika. Otherwise, Prototype Archaic.

Mualani: Ring of Yaxche R5 vs Sacrificial Jade vs Tome of the Eternal Flow

Ring of Yaxche is the craftable Natlan catalyst. Substat: HP%. Passive at R5: After using a skill, gain 24% Hydro DMG bonus and 16% HP for 15 seconds. Mualani's skill mode counts as skill damage, so she gets both buffs.

This weapon is genuinely competitive. Ring of Yaxche R5 → 85-88% of signature (Surf's Up). Sacrificial Jade R5 (Battle Pass) → 92% of signature. The Widsith R5 → 82-91%, but with 33% uptime because the buff only lasts 10 seconds with a 30-second cooldown. Don't use The Widsith on Mualani unless you enjoy resetting Abyss chambers for good RNG.

Ring of Yaxche is the clear winner for free-to-play. The billet is from Natlan's souvenir shop, and you need 5 Northlander Catalyst Billets to R5 it. If you're short on billets, even R1 gives you 12% Hydro DMG and 8% HP, which is about 80% of signature.

Kinich: Earth Shaker R5 vs Footprint of the Rainbow vs Aqua Simulacra

Kinich is awkward for weapons because he scales with ATK but his main damage comes from his skill's grappling hook cannon shots, which scale differently from normal attacks. Earth Shaker's passive works (skill DMG bonus), making it his best free option at about 86% of Fang of the Mountain King.

Footprint of the Rainbow (craftable Natlan bow) is for support bow users, not Kinich. Its passive gives teamwide ATK bonus after Nightsoul reactions. Kinich wants personal damage, not team buffs. Don't craft this for him.

Favonius Warbow is an interesting budget option if you struggle with his energy. Kinich's burst isn't his main damage source, but it provides Dendro application for Burning/Quicken. If you can't burst on cooldown, Favonius fixes that. You lose about 25% personal damage compared to Earth Shaker, but your team rotations become smoother. For overworld, Earth Shaker. For Abyss where rotations matter more than personal DPS, Favonius has a case.

Xilonen: Flute of Ezpitzal R5 vs Favonius Sword vs Freedom-Sworn

Flute of Ezpitzal is the Natlan craftable sword. Substat: DEF%. Passive at R5: 32% skill DMG bonus + 16% ATK after using skill. Xilonen's healing scales with DEF, and her shred is fixed at 36% regardless of stats, so she mainly wants DEF and ER.

For support Xilonen (which is 95% of Xilonen builds): Favonius Sword R5 > Flute of Ezpitzal R5. Favonius generates white particles that battery your entire team. Xilonen's skill hits twice, giving two chances to proc Favonius per rotation. Flute of Ezpitzal gives her more personal damage, but support Xilonen's personal damage is negligible.

For DPS Xilonen (C6 or meme build): Flute of Ezpitzal R5 is actually her best 4-star. The DEF and skill DMG bonuses are exactly what DPS Xilonen wants. About 82% of Peak Patrol Song.

The takeaway: craft Flute of Ezpitzal if you want to use DPS Xilonen. Use Favonius Sword for support. Freedom-Sworn is her BiS but the gap from Favonius is mostly team-buff utility, not personal output.

Citlali: Thrilling Tales R5 vs Favonius Codex vs Starcaller's Watch

Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (TToDS) is a 3-star gacha weapon. You have 50 copies of it in your inventory. At R5, after switching characters, the next character gains 48% ATK for 10 seconds. Citlali is a support whose main job is Cryo application + shield + Thrilling Tales buff.

For support Citlali: TToDS R5. It's not close. The 48% ATK buff for your DPS is worth more than any 4-star or 5-star catalyst Citlali could equip for her personal damage. Even Starcaller's Watch (her signature) only pulls ahead if your DPS doesn't scale with ATK, which applies to exactly no meta Natlan DPS.

Favonius Codex if you need energy on the team and your DPS doesn't benefit much from ATK (Neuvillette teams, Yelan teams). Otherwise, TToDS always.

Kachina: Favonius Lance vs Prototype Starglitter vs Staff of Homa

Kachina is free, she exists to hold 4-piece Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City, and her weapon barely matters. Favonius Lance for team energy. Prototype Starglitter (craftable) if you somehow don't have a Favonius Lance (how?). The End (yes, the fish polearm from 2.1 event) is a meme but actually works because its ER substat + burst DMG passive is relevant for C4+ Kachina.

Don't craft a weapon for Kachina. Favonius Lance. Next question.

Chasca: Chain Breaker R5 vs Hamayumi vs Amos' Bow

Chain Breaker is the craftable Natlan bow. Wait, no it's not — that's from Fontaine. The Natlan craftable bow is Footprint of the Rainbow, which is a support bow. For DPS Chasca: Prototype Crescent R5 (Mondstadt craftable). Substat: ATK%. Passive: hitting a weak point gives 72% ATK. Chasca's aimed shots can hit weak points even in her skill mode. It's clunky to use but the numbers are real — about 84% of Astral Vulture's Crimson Plumage.

Hamayumi R5 (Inazuma craftable) gives 32% normal attack DMG and 64% charged attack DMG at full energy. Chasca's skill damage counts as charged attack damage. This is less clunky than Prototype Crescent and gives similar results — about 82% of signature. Use Hamayumi if you hate aiming for weak points mid-combat.

Ororon: Stringless R5 vs Favonius Warbow vs Elegy for the End

Ororon is a sub-DPS/Electro-charged enabler. Stringless R5 gives 48% skill and burst DMG plus 48 EM. His off-field lightning strikes scale with ATK, but his secondary Electro-charged damage appreciates the EM. Stringless R5 → about 78% of Elegy.

Favonius Warbow if your main DPS needs energy. Elegy for the End if you have it (gacha). Otherwise, Stringless. You probably have 20 copies of Stringless in your inventory. Use them.

The 4-star weapons you should NOT invest in

Don't level Rainslasher for Mavuika. The EM is fine for Vape/Melt but the passive (bonus DMG against Hydro/Electro-affected enemies) doesn't work reliably with her rotation. Prototype Archaic is better.

Don't level Eye of Perception for any Natlan catalyst. The passive ATK scaling is based on physical damage procs that don't scale with elemental DMG bonuses. It's a trap weapon that looks good on paper and hits like a wet noodle.

Don't level Compound Bow for Chasca. Physical DMG substat on a character who deals exclusively elemental damage. Craft Prototype Crescent instead.

Billet management for F2P

Northlander billets are the bottleneck. You get one guaranteed billet of each weapon type from the Natlan souvenir shop (one-time). Weekly bosses drop billets at roughly 12% rate. On average, it takes about 2 months of weekly boss farming to get 5 billets of a specific type.

Priority order for spending Northlander billets: 1) Ring of Yaxche for Mualani (if you have her), 2) Flute of Ezpitzal for DPS Xilonen or general sword support, 3) Footprint of the Rainbow for support bow users (Gorou, Sara, etc. — not Kinich), 4) Earth Shaker if you missed the event and want a free Mavuika option.

Midlander billets convert to Northlander billets at the crafting bench at a 2:1 ratio using Dream Solvent. This is almost never worth it. Dream Solvent is also used to convert weekly boss materials, which is a much more painful bottleneck. Keep your Dream Solvent for talent materials.