小保底

What does 小保底 mean?

小保底 and its big sibling 大保底 are the twin pillars of gacha life. Most Chinese gacha games (Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero) guarantee a rare 5-star within 80–90 pulls; the first guarantee — 小保底 — is a 50/50 between the featured character and a random standard one. Lose the coin flip (“我小保底歪了”, “my small pity lost”) and your next guarantee, 大保底, is the featured character for certain. The phrase is among the most lamented sentences in CN gaming, standing exactly between the luck of 欧皇 and the curse of the 非酋.

Where does 小保底 come from?

The terminology crystallized in Genshin Impact's Chinese community in 2020–2021 and spread to every gacha community; English-speaking players regularly use the Chinese loanwords via guides and streamers, making 小保底 genuinely international gamer vocabulary.

How to use 小保底

• 我小保底又歪了七七，心态崩了。
  Wǒ xiǎo bǎodǐ yòu wāi le Qīqī, xīntài bēng le.
  My 50/50 lost to Qiqi again — I'm devastated.
• 这个版本我攒够大保底了，新角色稳了。
  Zhège bǎnběn wǒ zǎn gòu dà bǎodǐ le, xīn juésè wěn le.
  I've saved up to hard pity this patch — the new character is guaranteed.