Genshin Impact, developed by HoYoverse, quickly became a global sensation. Upon its release, it drew comparisons to Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild due to its open-world mechanics, but over time, Genshin Impact has developed its own distinct identity. The game offers an expansive, vibrant world inspired by multiple countries, and its core gameplay has revolutionized the open-world genre. With stunning environments, captivating stories, and unforgettable characters, Genshin Impact continues to thrive, keeping players around the world hooked with regular content updates and meaningful quality-of-life improvements.
For anyone looking to dive into Genshin Impact, now is a great time. This guide will walk you through the basics, from increasing your Adventure Rank (AR), understanding elemental interactions, and building the best team, to more advanced tips for thriving in Teyvat.
Focus on the story at the beginning
When you first start playing, Genshin Impact can feel overwhelming. You’ll be thrown into a vast new world, juggling story progression, combat mechanics, and leveling systems all at once. To ease into the game, it’s best to focus on the main story first. The Adventure Rank (AR) is a crucial metric in Genshin Impact, as it dictates the content you can access, including multiplayer mode, events, and higher-level gear. Fortunately, progressing through the main story will naturally raise your AR, though you may need to complete side quests or explore the world to level up further between chapters of the main plot.
As you progress, you’ll be able to prioritize assembling your dream team once you’ve unlocked better weapons and Artifacts, so don’t stress too much about your party early on.
Best ways to raise your Adventure Rank
Raising your Adventure Rank early on is key to unlocking more features and content in Genshin Impact. Here are some effective ways to increase your AR:
Complete the main and side quests: Story quests are a great source of Adventure EXP, and you’ll also earn additional rewards by finishing tasks listed in your Adventure Handbook. Make sure to focus on these as they’ll provide you with valuable resources as well.
Check out the Adventure Handbook: The Adventure Handbook can be accessed from the Paimon menu, and it’s a great way to track your progress. Completing tasks in the Experience and Embattle tabs will help you level up your team. You’ll also need this guide to access Daily Commissions, Domains, and various enemies, all of which contribute to your AR growth.
Do Daily Commissions: Completing Daily Commissions should be part of your routine. These brief missions grant a significant amount of Adventure EXP and provide rewards like Primogems, which you can use to obtain new characters and weapons. They reset daily and can be completed in less than 20 minutes, making them an efficient way to progress.
Don’t max out your early weapons and gear
At the beginning of Genshin Impact, don’t worry too much about upgrading your weapons and gear to their maximum. The game provides you with several free characters, and while it’s fine to level up their gear to get through early content, avoid investing heavily in weapons or Artifacts that are less than four stars, unless there’s a specific reason. The real gear that’s worth significant resources won’t come until later in the game.
Use your Resin wisely
Resin is an important resource in Genshin Impact, as it’s needed to challenge Domains and defeat Bosses in order to obtain exclusive materials. Resin regenerates throughout the day, but keep in mind that it doesn’t carry over if you don’t use it all. If you find yourself with extra Resin, consider using Crystal Cores (which you can obtain by collecting butterflies) to craft Condensed Resin, which you can save for future use.
Understand the elements (at least a little)
One of Genshin Impact’s core features is its elemental system, with seven elements in total: Anemo (Wind), Geo (Earth), Electro (Electric), Dendro (Grass), Hydro (Water), Pyro (Fire), and Cryo (Ice). These elements interact with each other in various ways, and understanding these elemental reactions will be key to maximizing your damage output.
Here are some important elemental interactions:
- Melt/Vaporize: These reactions require a specific order of elements to maximize damage. Melt occurs when Pyro follows Cryo, dealing double damage, while Reverse Melt occurs when Cryo precedes Pyro. Vaporize works similarly, with Pyro followed by Hydro dealing double damage, and Reverse Vaporize dealing 1.5x damage.
- Dendro: This element introduces more complex reactions. Burning occurs when Dendro and Pyro interact, causing continuous Pyro damage over time. Quicken occurs when Dendro and Electro combine, triggering either Spread or Aggravate. Dendro also pairs with Hydro to create Dendro Cores that can explode for AoE damage.
- Electro: Electro interacts with other elements to cause effects like Electro-Charged (Electro + Hydro), Overload (Electro + Pyro), and Superconduct (Electro + Cryo), each dealing different types of damage or debuffs.
- Freeze/Shatter: When Cryo and Hydro meet, enemies are frozen. To deal extra damage, hit them with Geo or a Blunt attack to trigger Shatter.
- Swirl/Crystallize: Anemo and Geo can trigger Swirl and Crystallize reactions, spreading elemental effects or creating shields.
As you unlock new characters, you’ll be able to experiment with these reactions, using them to your advantage in combat.
Plan your star-studded starter team
Genshin Impact gives you several free characters early on, and while you’ll eventually get the chance to pull for four- and five-star characters from Banners, it’s important to plan your team carefully. Leveling up too many characters at once can be resource-draining, and focusing on characters that complement each other’s elemental abilities will maximize your team’s potential.
Here are some of the free characters you can expect early in the game:
- Traveler: None/Sword
- Amber: Pyro/Bow
- Kaeya: Cryo/Sword
- Lisa: Electro/Catalyst
- Barbara: Hydro/Catalyst
- Noelle: Geo/Claymore
- Xiangling: Pyro/Polearm
- Collei: Dendro/Bow
- Lynette: Anemo/Sword
Each character brings unique abilities and synergies with others. For example, if you pair characters like Barbara and Kaeya (Hydro + Cryo), you can trigger Freeze effects. Keep in mind that there are also bonuses for pairing characters from the same element or class, which can provide additional buffs or resistances.
You might not be able to level every character right away
Genshin Impact follows a gacha system where you can obtain new characters and weapons through Banners. However, the random nature of this system means you might receive characters you can’t immediately level up. Each character requires specific Ascension Materials to progress, many of which are locked behind higher Adventure Ranks or specific regions in the game world. This means some of your new characters might be unusable for a while until you unlock the necessary resources.
While this can be frustrating, remember that you have plenty of free characters to build a solid team, and Genshin Impact’s world provides ample opportunities to acquire materials over time.
Make friends
Although Genshin Impact is primarily a solo game, its multiplayer mode offers some great advantages. Once you reach Adventure Rank 16, you’ll unlock co-op mode, where you can team up with friends to explore the world, fight enemies, and farm materials. Co-op allows you to access areas and resources you might not have unlocked yet and helps speed up boss fights with a strong team. It’s also a great way to chat with friends while farming or completing challenges together.
With these tips in mind, you’re well on your way to becoming a master of Teyvat. Enjoy your journey in Genshin Impact!
