Pity system
Any mechanic that bounds bad luck in gacha draws, from hard guarantees at a fixed pull count (Genshin Impact's 90) to escalating rates (Arknights) and hidden soft pity ramps documented by players.
Contents3 sections
A pity system is any mechanic that bounds how unlucky a gacha player can get. Without one, a low base rate has a long tail: at 0.6% per pull, about 1 player in 200 would see nothing in 500 pulls. Pity systems exist to cut off that tail, and their design details drive most cross-game cost comparisons.
Forms
Hard pity guarantees a top-rarity result at a fixed count. Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail guarantee a 5-star within 90 pulls on character banners, which is why both publish a "consolidated" rate of 1.6% alongside the 0.6% base rate. [1]
Soft pity raises the rate before the hard wall. In HoYoverse games the ramp is real but unpublished: community statistical projects consistently measure a sharp increase from roughly pull 74, and those figures are community-documented estimates, not official numbers. Arknights instead publishes its escalation openly: the 2% rate rises by 2 percentage points per pull after 50 pulls without a 6-star, reaching 100% by pull 99. [2]
Exchange ceilings guarantee a chosen item after a fixed number of pulls; that family has its own name, the spark.
Carry-over
Whether the counter survives the end of a banner matters as much as its size. HoYoverse pity carries across banners of the same type indefinitely. Fate/Grand Order's 330-roll guarantee resets when a banner ends. Most sparks expire with their banner; NIKKE's mileage is a notable exception. The comparison table tracks carry-over per game.
The industry shifted decisively toward pity in the 2020s: Fate/Grand Order operated with no safety net from 2015 until January 2022, a design that would be commercially unusual to launch today.
References
- Genshin Impact in-game Wish Details rate disclosure HoYoverse. Accessed 2026-07-09. Documents the 90-wish guarantee and 1.6% consolidated rate.
- Arknights in-game Headhunting rules text Yostar / Hypergryph. Accessed 2026-07-09. Documents the +2% per pull escalation after 50 pulls.
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