At Refinement Rank 1 Level 90, they have the following stats and passive: Both weapons share the same secondary stat of CRIT damage – which is generally a really good stat. At stack levels 1/2/3, the Thunder Emblem increases normal attack damage by 12/24/40%. The wielder will obtain 1 stack of Thunder Emblem in each of the following scenarios:
Normal attack deals damage (stack lasts 5s). Casting elemental skill (stack lasts 10s). Energy is less than 100% (stack disappears when Energy is full).
When there are opponents nearby, the damage dealt by the wielder is increased by 20%. This will take effect both when the wielder is on-field and off-field. But they do greatly differ in their passives. Since Aqua Simulacra’s passive is much easier to trigger, it very often outperforms Thundering Pulse. Pulse is still a really great weapon thanks to its high ATK and CRIT stats, but its passive is very niche. Only one character can fully benefit from it, Yoimiya. For other bow users, Thundering Pulse is considered more of just a stat stick. Here’s a more detailed comparison of the two for every DPS bow unit.
For Fischl
For an off-field DPS build, Aqua Simulacra is better than Thundering Pulse on Fischl. This is simply because of its universal passive that’s much easier to proc than Pulse. Plus, Fischl doesn’t perform normal attacks anyway. Thundering Pulse is still a good option – its ATK and CRIT stats are just always useful.
For Ganyu
With its passive on (which is very likely), Aqua Simulacra is Ganyu’s best-in-slot weapon. She simply benefits from its passive and high CRIT damage more than Thundering Pulse. Ganyu doesn’t perform normal attacks, so Pulse’s normal attack buffs are useless. Still, Thundering Pulse is a great option thanks to its abundance of ATK – especially in freeze teams where Ganyu already gets a lot of CRIT stats from artifact sets and external buffs. And without Aqua’s passive, Pulse pulls ahead by a small margin.
For Tartaglia/Childe
Aqua Simulacra is Tartaglia’s current 2nd best weapon – and Thundering Pulse is 3rd place. This is simply because he benefits more from Aqua’s passive. Since his damage is spread around every aspect of his kit, Aqua’s damage increase passive effectively buffs all of them equally. Thundering Pulse follows closely after Aqua Simulacra, so it’s also a very strong option. Its normal attack buffs also benefit Tartaglia – especially in lengthier rotations where he performs more normal attacks. Their gap is only around <1%, so these two are really interchangeable. Just use whichever one you have.
For Yelan
Aqua Simulacra is Yelan’s signature weapon. Its stats are tailor-made for her, and it’s her best weapon for personal damage. She basically just benefits from every aspect of the weapon – aside from just aesthetics. Yelan’s skill and burst scale entirely on HP, so Aqua’s HP increase is greatly appreciated – especially since it’s hard to get external HP buffs. Aqua’s lower base ATK and extremely high CRIT damage also take this into account. Yelan doesn’t benefit from ATK, so Aqua maximizes CRIT stats instead. Lastly, Yelan will always benefit from its damage increase passive whether she’s on-field or not. In contrast, Thundering Pulse is not a recommended weapon on Yelan. She doesn’t benefit from its abundance of ATK and normal attack damage buffs at all. It’s far better to just run a 4-star weapon (like Favonius Warbow) instead of Pulse.
For Yoimiya
Thundering Pulse is Yoimiya’s signature weapon. She is currently the only character that can fully benefit from its passive. It’s basically very easy for her to get the maximum of 3 stacks every rotation. This is effectively a 40% normal attack bonus with significant uptime. Aqua Simulacra is also a great weapon option, but it is outperformed by an R5 Rust – a 4-star weapon. So if you’re considering pulling Aqua for Yoimiya, just wait for Thundering Pulse or until you get Rust refinements. These two pull ahead of Aqua by a decent margin.
