At Refinement Rank 1 (R1) Level 90, they have the following stats and passive: They’re both great universal weapons that work with every ATK-scaling DPS catalyst user. So it’s often recommended to just use whichever one you have. You have equal chances of getting them in the standard banner, so you can’t really pick which one you get – unless they’re featured in the limited weapon banner. Still, one can outperform the other depending on the wielder. Here’s a more detailed comparison of the two weapons for each catalyst DPS.
For Klee
Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds slightly outperforms Skyward Atlas for Klee – they’re very close and almost equal. Lost Prayer only pulls ahead because of its CRIT rate secondary stat. Although Atlas has a much higher Base ATK, Klee already has numerous sources of attack buffs (like Bennett’s burst and Pyro Resonance). This makes the ATK stat much more saturated – and CRIT stats more valuable. Still, Klee can’t fully take advantage of Lost Prayer’s passive like she can with Atlas. Klee does spend enough field time to get nearly max passive stacks, but this takes some time to take effect. It gradually ramps up while she’s on-field, so she won’t fully benefit from the 4 stacks buff. And because you have to switch characters between rotations, Klee loses all stacks every rotation. In contrast, she’ll always benefit from Skyward Atlas’ passive. Even when Klee is off-field, its extra damage will continue to attack opponents.
For Lisa
Skyward Atlas is the better option for Lisa. This is mostly because Lost Prayer doesn’t synergize well with Lisa in the first place. She doesn’t spend enough field time to get more than 2 stacks of its passive, so she’ll never fully benefit from this weapon. In contrast, Lisa can easily use Skyward Atlas’ high Base ATK and damage bonus. But Lost Prayer is still a 5-star weapon – it will outperform all her other 4-star options.
For Ningguang
Skyward Atlas and Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds are both great weapons for Ningguang. One can situationally be better – very often because of your artifacts. Here’s a more detailed list of when one outperforms the other. Or just use whichever weapon you have available. They’re Ningguang’s two strongest weapon options, so either will work great.
For Yae Miko
Skyward Atlas is easily Yae’s better weapon option. Yae is an off-field DPS, so she doesn’t benefit from ATK buffs that require her to be on-field (like Bennett’s burst). So ATK isn’t a saturated stat for her. This lets her greatly benefit from the abundance of ATK that Atlas offers. Plus she has little to no synergy with Lost Prayer’s passive. She doesn’t spend enough field time to stack its passive, and she losses the stacks when she goes off-field anyway. Still, Lost Prayer’s CRIT rate stat is always useful, so it’s still a great option – just worse than Atlas.
For Yanfei
Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds is Yanfei’s best-in-slot weapon. Since she already gains a lot of external ATK buffs (like from Bennett’s burst and Pyro Resonance), ATK becomes a very saturated stat – and CRIT stats become more valuable. Additionally, Yanfei doesn’t ascend with CRIT stats. Her only sources of CRIT are artifacts, weapons, and external buffs. So although she doesn’t fully benefit from Lost Prayer’s passive, its CRIT rate is more important. Skyward Atlas is still a good option, but it is outperformed by The Widsith R5 – a 4-star weapon.
