Genshin Impact

Genshin 5.8 Loadouts: My Honest Test of the New Tool

Is the new Genshin 5.8 Loadout Tool a game-changer? We put it to the test, sharing our honest review, pro tips, and whether it's worth your time. Read on!

Leo Carter

A day-one Genshin player and theorycrafter dedicated to optimizing your Teyvat adventures.

September 12, 20257 min read11 views

Let's be honest, we've all been there. Staring at our character screen, dreading the tedious 3-minute dance of swapping artifacts piece by piece just to try a new team comp. Well, Travelers, it seems Hoyoverse has finally answered our collective prayers. The new Loadout tool in Version 5.8 is here, and I’ve spent the last few days putting it through its paces. Is it the game-changing Quality of Life update we’ve been dreaming of? Let's dive in.

What Exactly is the New Loadout Tool?

In a nutshell, the Loadout tool is a system that allows you to save a specific combination of a weapon and a full 5-piece artifact set for any character. Think of it as a pre-set equipment template. Once you create a loadout, you can apply it to a character in seconds, automatically equipping the saved weapon and all five artifacts.

You can find this new feature directly on the character screen. A new button labeled “Loadouts” now sits beside the “Level Up” and “Attributes” buttons. It’s unobtrusive but immediately accessible, which is a great piece of UI design from the get-go.

Putting It to the Test: My First Impressions

Reading about a feature is one thing; using it is another. I decided to start with one of my most frequently re-geared characters: Kuki Shinobu. She's my go-to Hyperbloom trigger, but sometimes I need her as a pure healer in a different team. This was the perfect test case.

Creating My First Loadout: “Hyperbloom Kuki”

The process was surprisingly intuitive:

I navigated to Kuki’s character screen and tapped the new “Loadouts” button.
This opened a clean interface showing a list of my available loadout slots (you start with 20, with more unlockable via the Realm Depot).
I clicked “Create Loadout.” The game prompted me to give it a name. I went with “HB Kuki - Gilded.” Clear naming is going to be crucial here, folks.
Next, it showed me Kuki’s currently equipped weapon and artifacts. I had her Hyperbloom set on already: an R5 Iron Sting and a 4-piece Gilded Dreams set focused entirely on Elemental Mastery.
A simple “Save Current Setup” button was all it took. Done. My first loadout was created in less than 30 seconds.

The system works by “remembering” the specific items. It doesn't duplicate them. If an artifact from a saved loadout is equipped on another character, applying the loadout will automatically unequip it from that character and place it on your target. This is the magic.

The Magic of One-Click Swapping

Now for the real test. I manually equipped Kuki with her old healing build (Tenacity of the Millelith and a Favonius Sword). Then, I went back into the Loadout menu, selected my newly created “HB Kuki - Gilded” loadout, and hit “Equip.”

Wow.

In the time it takes for the character model to do a little spin, she was fully kitted out. Iron Sting, Gilded Dreams flower, feather, sands, goblet, and circlet—all in place. It was seamless. The artifacts were stripped from my off-build Fischl who was borrowing them, and Kuki was ready for Dendro-infused combat.

The Good, The Bad, and The QoL

After several days of creating loadouts for Raiden, Yelan, Nahida, and more, I have a pretty clear picture of the system's strengths and weaknesses.

The Good: It's a phenomenal time-saver. It actively encourages build experimentation, something previously hampered by the sheer tedium of swapping gear. Characters with multiple viable roles (like DPS Bennett vs. Support Bennett) are now incredibly flexible.
The Bad: Currently, there are no team-wide loadouts. You still have to go character by character. Also, and this is a big one, artifacts saved in a loadout are not locked from being used as enhancement fodder. I nearly fed a crucial EM goblet to another piece before a pop-up warning (thankfully!) saved me. Be careful!
The QoL: This is, without a doubt, one of the top 3 quality-of-life updates in Genshin's history, right up there with Condensed Resin and the Artifact Strongbox. It fundamentally changes inventory management for the better.

Loadouts vs. The Old Way: A Quick Comparison

For a visual breakdown, here’s how the new system stacks up against the old manual method of gearing a single character.

Feature	The Old Way (Manual Swapping)	The New Way (Loadouts)
Time to Equip	1-3 minutes (depending on filters)	~5 seconds
Clicks Required	25-40+ (Open menu, select piece, filter, confirm x6)	3-4 (Open menu, select loadout, equip)
Error Potential	High (easy to select the wrong piece or break a 4-pc set)	Very Low
Encourages Build Swapping?	No, it's a chore that punishes experimentation.	Absolutely! It makes trying new builds fun and easy.

Pro Tips for Maximizing Your Loadouts

Here are a few strategies I’ve already adopted to get the most out of this tool:

Standardized Naming Convention: This is my biggest tip. Use a clear and consistent naming system. My format is: [Character] - [Build] - [Set]. For example: Raiden - Hyper - Gilded and Raiden - National - Emblem. This saves you from guessing which is which.
The “Mule” Loadout: Create a loadout on a rarely-used character (sorry, Aloy) with no weapon and no artifacts. When you want to strip a character completely bare to pass their gear to someone new, just apply this empty loadout to them.
Abyss-Specific Setups: Have a loadout for your Spiral Abyss builds. You can min-max your ER or Crit for a specific floor, save it, and swap back to your comfortable overworld build with one click after you're done.
Transferring Your Best Set: We all have that one god-tier Emblem of Severed Fate set. Now you can create a loadout for it and effortlessly pass it between Yelan, Xingqiu, and Raiden without a headache.

My Final Verdict: Is It a Game-Changer?

Yes. Unquestionably. Despite its minor imperfections, like the lack of an artifact lock and no team-wide presets, the Genshin 5.8 Loadout tool is a monumental improvement to the daily gameplay loop. It respects our time, rewards our farming efforts by making our hard-earned artifacts more accessible, and injects a new layer of flexibility into gameplay.

Key Takeaways:

The Loadout tool is a massive time-saver and one of the best QoL updates to date.
It's perfect for characters with multiple build paths (e.g., Raiden, Kuki, Kokomi).
Warning: Artifacts in a loadout are not automatically locked. Be careful when enhancing!
A clear naming strategy is essential for managing your loadouts effectively.

This is a feature that will fundamentally change how I—and likely you—manage characters and prepare for challenges like the Spiral Abyss. Hoyoverse, you did good. Now, about those team-wide loadouts for version 6.0... a player can dream, right?