New Player Help | Genshin Impact Wiki

Getting Started

Genshin Impact can be played on multiple platforms including PS4, PC, Switch, and also on IOS and Android mobile devices. It is advisable that you create a miHoYo account so you can access your game files on different devices. You can also engage in co-op activities (after unlocking Adventure Rank 16) with other platforms as long as you’re on the same region. At first, you will only be able to choose between 2 characters from the opening cutscene. You can choose Lumine, which is the female twin, and Aether, the male twin. Although they have their default names, players have the option to either stick to it or change the name of their chosen Traveler.

Throughout the game you will be able to unlock new characters with different elemental abilities and movesets, you can view more information about the different characters available at our Playable Characters page. You can also see our About page on Genshin Impact to familiarize yourself about the different concepts and game mechanics included in the game.

Watch your Stamina!

In Genshin Impact, there is a Stamina bar that is mainly required to execute pretty much any combat move such as attacking, activating talents, evading, sprinting, jumping, as well as swimming, gliding, and climbing. The stamina bar can be seen on the right side of your character which is in the middle of the screen, it's quite easy to manage your stamina when you're in battle since you can just take a breather and wait for your stamina to replenish before you hop back in the battle. What you want to watch out for is when you are climbing and swimming, these actions deplete your stamina, and trust me, you don't want to exploit the mechanic of swimming and climbing, especially when you've used up all of your stamina. You can drown while you are swimming and fall off a wall that you are climbing once your stamina bar is empty. So make sure to analyze the area first and check if its safe for you to swim that far or to climb a wall, a tree, or a hill that high.

Use Sense Mode

Genshin Impact features a vast open-world that can be overwhelming for new players of the game. One important tip is to use Sense Mode when you are exploring Teyvat. You can find the icon on the upper left corner on the right side of the mini-map. Activating sense mode allows you to see the paths that the spirits have taken. With sense mode, you can find secrets, clues, as well as hazardous objects such as flammable barrels - the path of the spirits are marked blue, while quests are marked yellow.

Duplicate Characters & Equipment

When it comes to acquiring equipment and characters, exploration, looting, and story/quest progression isn't the only way to obtain these, but using Wishes or Gacha Pulls is the primary way for you to unlock stronger Playable Characters, Materials, Weapons, Artifacts, and more. In the event that you acquire a duplicate character or item, have the duplicate item consumed so that you can strengthen the level of the item or property. So for example, if you get a duplicate character, you can merge it with the same primary character to rank up their Constellation - unlocking new constellation upgrades and modifies the character's Talents.

Always check your Inbox!

Sometimes, you just forget to check the messages you have in your inbox. And you might wanna always check it out when there's a red dot indicated next to the mailbox icon. Toggle to the left-hand side of the menu and click on the mailbox, you'll be pleased to find rewards given by the game's developer and publisher, miHoYo.

Cook, Cook, Cook!

As you explore Teyvat, you'll meet various NPCs, encounter hostile characters, you'll collect a lot of items, and discover secrets. One of the materials you'll find in the game is Food and Ingredients. There are various ingredients and food that you can find which you can just eat without cooking such as fruits like an Apple or Sunsettia. Consuming these will grant effects such as restoring HP to a single character. You'll find that there's a lot of cooking spots across the map, it can be inside a town, or even outside. However, when you find campsites or in towns where you can cook, you can whip up a dish that can provide stronger buffs and effects that can sometimes be consumed by a single character but are mostly applied to the active party. Some of these cooking spots are not lit yet so you might need to light them up first by using a character with pyro ability such as Amber in order for you to cook. The cooking system is pretty simple, you simply choose a recipe from the menu and then just hit the sweet spot on the cooking bar to get that "Perfect" quality. The higher the quality of food, the more benefits it holds.

Each recipe will also have a minimum number of dishes you need to cook before you could unlock auto cook. Once you've unlocked auto cook, you won't need to enter a mini-game in order to cook, you can just select how many food you want to cook for that recipe, which also saves you time. You should also consider choosing a character before starting to cook, as some of these characters have certain bonuses depending on what dish is being cooked.

Leveling/Progression

There are a number of things to level in Genshin, this includes Adventure Level which will determine some quests or dungeon trials you can do, Character Levels which will increase base stats, Combat Talents which will enhance a particular talents, Statue leveling which unlocks a number of rewards including increasing Stamina, and even Weapon leveling.

Playable Characters also don’t level as a party, you will gain items such as Wanderer’s Advice which are rewarded for completing quests or finding chests, items as such grant character experience to level the character of your choice, but apart from that, you'll also need to spend a certain amount of Mora which is the common currency of the game.

Ascension

Have you reached the max level of your character or a weapon? Well, it doesn't stop there, you can keep leveling up your character to a (current) max character Lv. 90. What you need to do is to ascend your playable character or equipment to its next phase. Take note that you can only ascend a character or equipment once you reach the max level of the current phase. It will also not be that easy since you will need to farm and find certain items required for ascending - you can ascend your character or weapon up to 6 times.

• Base - Max Lv. 20
• Ascension Phase 1 - Max Lv. 40
• Ascension Phase 2 - Max Lv. 50
• Ascension Phase 3 - Max Lv. 60
• Ascension Phase 4 - Max Lv. 70
• Ascension Phase 5 - Max Lv. 80
• Ascension Phase 6 - Max Lv. 90

Apart from increasing the stats and obtaining new bonuses from ascending, you can also unlock other features, such as unlocking the first Passive Talent of a character if you ascend to phase 1 and many more.

Adventure Rewards

This is pretty easy to miss and sometimes you may forget, but when you are in Mondstadt, make it a habit to speak to Katheryne who is the receptionist of the Adventurer's Guild. You can claim your rewards depending on the level of your Adventure Rank.

Artifacts

Artifacts are used to increase a character's stats. A set of 5 artifacts can be used for each character. There are different artifact sets that provide 2 and 4 bonuses. You would have to pay attention to these bonuses as they would really boost the effectiveness of your character. Artifacts can also be duplicated, and while you pile up on artifacts on your inventory, use them to upgrade your current artifacts for each character and don't destroy and sell them until you've fully upgraded your current or best artifact.

Combat Mechanics

Genshin Impact features a real time action-based combat system where the player's party includes 4 Characters, you can switch-up the party members from time to time but you cannot switch out your party members during combat or when entering Dungeons, that's why you should plan out first before heading into battle. Each character also has a specific weapon type and element. The weapon types fall into 5 categories, and these are Swords, Bows, Claymores, Catalysts, and Polearms. The elemental abilities also vary per character, and you can combine your elemental abilities to your normal string of attacks to initiate devastating combos.

 

Constellations

Constellations are upgrades to characters which is also considered as passive skills. You can unlock or obtain these by acquiring duplicate characters. Your main character is slightly different as you would need to acquire these items from main quests, rewards, or you can purchase it from the Souvenir Shop in Mondstadt. Each Character has 6 Constellations which helps increase their elemental skill or elemental burst abilities.

Weapons

There different weapons in the game that each character uses and are divided into 5 categories, these are Swords, Bows, Claymores, Catalysts, and Polearms. Each character has a permanent type of weapon that you can only change if it falls under that specific category. For example, your Jean has the Dull Blade equipped, you can change it to any weapon as long as it falls under the Swords category.

The weapon system is also somehow similar to Artifacts but you have the option to Enhance or Refine your weapons. Duplicate weapons can be used to Refine the same weapon where it increases its bonus. Enhancing a weapon however uses up Enhancement Ores that you will find throughout the game and will boost the damage of your weapon.

The best way to increase damage is to enhance your weapons that have 4 or 5 stars to as high as you can and equip it to a character that matches the stats of that specific weapon.

Loot Everything

Whenever you come across an item, ingredient, food, weapon, etc., pick it up. Genshin Impact is very generous with inventory giving you 30,000 slots for all these items. You would eventually have to use everything that you've picked up, like duplicating weapons, ingredients, materials, artifacts, and more upgrades. So don't worry about storing everything for now as you will you use it over time and it will help you in the long run.

Characters and Wish System

Before you start exploring the vast open world of Genshin Impact, it is advisable that you start doing the main quests first as you will gain a few base characters with great abilities in doing so. If you follow the first few main quests, you'd be able to unlock Amber, Kaeya, and Lisa. You can also participate in limited time events to unlock a character for free, but there are pre-requisite to some of these events, but this is still a way to unlock characters for free, but with a little grind.

Another way to unlock characters is through the Wish system. Even though Genshin Impact is a F2P (free-to-play) game, microtransactions are still in place, and in this case, you would need a currency called Primogems, and these can be earned in a number of ways. You can explore, complete achievements, do your daily quests, rewards, and so on. Another way to gain Primogems is to use real money to purchase a monthly pass.

The Wish system does not guarantee you will get the character you want, there are a number of banner promotions which details what characters, weapons, and items you could gain from wishing. These banners rotate periodically, so it may take some time for you to get the character you really want.

Curiosity is Rewarded

As you travel around the vast open world of Genshin Impact, you'll find yourself discovering different types of flowers, trees, ingredients, treasure chests, and more. As this game tends to reward curiosity, you should always be on the lookout for things that catches your eye.

There are also tons of hidden puzzles scattered across the map, you see something sparkle, or you found a strange pattern of rock piles, and some are just idly sitting there right before your eyes. 

Elemental Combos

There are 7 elements in the game and each Playable Character harnesses a unique element. These elements are:

• Anemo (Wind)
• Geo (Earth)
• Electro (Lightning)
• Dendro (Nature)
• Hydro (Water)
• Pyro (Fire)
• Cryo (Frost)

You can refer to the image above that is created by /sunmilk/ which indicates the effects of combining elemental attacks. So for example, if you have a character use an ability that focuses on Anemo, you can quickly switch to a character such as Amber who has the vision of Pyro. This creates a whirlwind of flames around the enemy. Another example is combining Hydro with Electro, enemies that are "Wet" takes even more damage if you follow up with an Electro based attack - so always experiment to see the various elemental combos that you can execute.

Party Passive Bonuses

Once you reach Mondstadt, you'll be able to use your first Wish, and if you're lucky, apart from Amber being your first free party member, you might get 2 or 3 new playable characters that you can add to your active party. In Genshin Impact, you can select 4 playable characters to your team which you can then freely use and switch at all times during exploration and battle. Whenever you form a team, make sure to go to the Party Setup menu and check Elemental Resonance. You will find details on Party Passive Bonuses you can acquire depending on the members you've added to the party.

• Protective Canopy
  • Have 4 different Elements active in your party.
  • All Elemental RES +15%
• Impetuous Winds
  • x2 Anemo elemental characters must be in the party.
  • Decreases Stamina Consumption by 15%. Increases Movement SPD by 10%. Shortens Skill CD by 5%.
• Fervent Flames
  • x2 Pyro elemental characters must be in the party
  • Affected by Cryo for 40% less time. Increases ATK by 25%.
• Soothing Water
  • x2 Hydro elemental characters must be in your party.
  • Affected by Pyro for 40% less time. Increases incoming healing by 30%
• High Voltage
  • x2 Electro elemental characters must be in your party.
  • Affected by Hydro for 40% less time. Superconduct, Overloaded, and Electro-Charged have a 100% chance to generate an Electro Elemental Particle (CD: 5s)
• Shattering Ice
  • x2 Cryo elemental characters must be in your party.
  • Affected by Electro for 40% less time. Increases CRIT Rate against enemies that are Frozen or affected by Cryo by 15%.
• Enduring Rock
  • x2 Geo elemental characters must be in your party.
  • Increases resistance to interruption. When protected by a shield, increases Attack DMG by 15%.

Find Statues of the Seven

When you start to explore the open-world, you will find statues that are beaming with a red light that shoots up to the sky, these are the Statues of the Seven. However, it isn't that easy to find these statues since these usually come with a challenge you'll need to pass in order to reach it, challenges such as hiking, platforming, and defeating a boss. Once you have found and unlocked the statue, you can use it to fast travel and to obtain rewards by offering Anemoculus which is an elemental material that corresponds to the statue. You'll find various rewards here such as Adventure EXP, an increase of Stamina, Primogems, and many more.

Seek out the Seelies

Apart from using Sense, there are environmental guides in the game which are called Seelies. These are blue wisps that are scattered and sometimes hidden around the open-world.  Following the Seeleies will lead you to chests containing valuable loot.

Activate Teleport Waypoints

Yes, it can sometimes be tiring to just run around the vast land of Teyvat, but luckily, there are Teleport Waypoints scattered around the world. This allows you to fast travel anywhere around the map, as long as you've discovered and activated it. Teleport Waypoints that are activated are marked blue on the map, while undiscovered ones are blank. Not only will you be able to use these waypoints for fast travel, but activating it for the first time will reward you with items such as Primogems.

Expeditions

If you have unused characters in your party, you can send them out to an expedition to collect materials and earn rewards. Speak to Katheryne who is the receptionist of the Adventurer's Guild to start an expedition. She can be found at Mondstadt. When this feature is available, choose the duration of the expedition, the longer it is, the better the rewards, and then deploy the selected character. Take note that while a character is deployed, you cannot add them to your active party - take note that some Playable Characters have passive bonuses when they are deployed, characters such as Bennet has a passive bonus that reduces the time consumed by 25% of the expedition once he is deployed within Mondstadt.