Ever since its launch in late 2020, Genshin Impact has been one of the most popular gaming titles. The RPG implements gacha mechanics, another name for loot-boxes for monetization, although you don’t necessarily need to spend money to enjoy the game or even get good at it. The vast open-world is really well made and is set around an anime fantasy land where you get to switch between characters having individual elemental skills. Developed by MiHoYo, the game is often compared to Zelda: Breath of the Wild due to its similar approach towards graphics and visuals. Genshin Impact is available on iOS and Android but one can also enjoy it on PC, PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Switch.

The game has caught the attention of gamers, especially on mobile as it managed to earn an estimated $393 million in the first two months of its launch, out of which $245 million were recorded just in the first month. A report by Sensor Tower ranked Genshin Impact as the second biggest mobile game in terms of revenue generation beating the likes of PUBG Mobile and Pokémon GO. It has been estimated that the game is earning more than $6 million a day since launch. These numbers do not include revenue from third-party app stores in China and other regions, so there's bound to be more on this end. And the game is just getting started, with a lot more content in the pipeline.

Genshin Impact is one of the biggest RPGs on mobile and honestly, it can get a little overwhelming trying to absorb everything when you start playing. To make things easier, we've rounded up some important tips and tricks to help you progress, especially if you have just started off or are planning to finally dive into the game.

Explore, and then explore some more

genshin impact gameplay

Genshin Impact is a pretty huge game and it definitely takes time to explore every inch of its expansive world. When you are out exploring, you get to fight against various types of beasts, open treasure chests, and unravel secrets. Make sure you pick up everything that comes your way- flowers, food, ores, chests, etc. There are certain flowers that require you to use elemental magic on them to be able to pick them up. Make sure you grab those as they will be important for future quests. If you see a chest or any collectible, it's usually a good idea to get it before you move ahead.

You need to increase your Adventure Rank in order to unlock new features and receive rewards. This can be done by acquiring Adventure EXP that pushes your rank when you complete quests. So make sure that apart from exploring, you get back to Archon, Story, Commission, and World quests that have been assigned to you.

Make sure you use the map as it is an excellent tool. You can drop custom markers on the map so you know where you can find certain items and materials, or in case you are leaving a chest uncollected. Dropping markers can be useful as it can potentially help you find items in the future when you need them. It can also help when you are playing co-op with your friends, as it will become easier for them to just quickly head to a marker to gather the items they need.

Keep an eye on your stamina

Apart from combat, each character uses stamina for a number of things, like sprinting, dodging, climbing, swimming, gliding, etc. The Stamina meter can be seen as a yellow bar UI-element to the right of your character when it is either depleting or recharging and automatically hides when not in use. The more stamina you have the longer you can do all of these things before having to wait and fill up the stamina meter. Since it is an important resource, take some time to increase it. This can be done by collecting Oculus (Anemoculus and Geoculus), and then visiting and worshiping the Statue of the Seven where these are used up. The Oculus are an adventure item that can be found scattered across the northern region of the map. By offering Anemoculi and Geoculus to their respective Statues of the Seven, you would also get various rewards such as Primogems or Adventure Rank EXP. If you want to save some time in collecting Anemoculus and Geoculus, you can head over to this link to see an interactable map that includes the precise location.

Pulling a Gacha (wish)

genshin impact gacha pull

Genshin Impact implements the ‘Gacha’ system to unlock new characters through an in-game system called Wish. Apart from getting new characters, you can also earn rare weapons. This can be done by using ‘Intertwined Fate’ and ‘Acquaint Fate’ and it is best to open ten at a time as it guarantees your chance for a 4-star pull. To get either of the fates, you need to level up your adventure rank or spend Primogems. Where do you get Primogems? Well, this special currency can be obtained by accomplishing simple things in the game like finishing quests, opening chests, defeating enemies, and more. Lastly, you can spend some real money to buy Genesis Crystal that can be traded for Primogems.

While spending real money is the most straightforward way to get good characters and weapons, there are going to be plenty of opportunities to earn Primogems, Intertwined Fate, and Acquaint Fate throughout the game. So if you do not intend to spend real money on the game, you can still enjoy the game to a surprisingly great extent. The grinding is also not very intensive either.

Ranking up

Adventure Rank (AR) is your account progress level which can be increased by gathering Adventure EXP. This can be done by going through the Archon Quests, Story Quests, and World Quests. Note that Adventure Rank is not the same as Character Experience or Levels, as each of them affects a different mechanic of the game. Every time you finish a quest and increase your Adventure Rank, you also get some rewards. Make sure that you return to the Adventurer's Stand every time you level up. By doing so, you can get resource rewards like Acquaint Fates at Level 5 and Level 10, and so on. Certain quests will only be available after you reach a certain level. Additionally, you can earn Adventure EXP by taking the Daily Commission tasks. These unlock at Level 12 with four different missions that offer you EXP along with some resources. You also get a bonus on top of that, if you finish all four.

Mix up those elements

Your main character can either have wind (Anemo) or earth (Geo) powers, depending on which one you choose (and you can swap between the two once you have access to Liyue region). As you progress into the game, you come across characters that have various elemental powers. Amber has the power of fire (Pyro), Kaeya has the power of frost (Cryo) and Lisa can summon lightning (Electro). There are many more characters that come your way and it seems like a sound option to have different characters with different elemental powers on your roster. By doing so you can understand each character better along with their attacks by switching between them.

genshin impact elemental reaction chart

Switching between characters during a battle can help you master your attacks and elemental combinations better. Combining different elemental characters yields various reactions, which can often turn an unwinnable battle back in your favor. For instance, combining wind with fire, water, frost or lightning increases the spread of the attack and damage dealt with that element, making it excellent for crowd control. Having similar-element characters can also yield some advantages. For example, two wind characters boost stamina, while two fire elemental characters boost attack damage by 25%. So your exploring party can have two wind characters, even if they both remain largely unused, just to make it easier to explore around.

Check the Elemental Resonance chart present at Paimon Menu (top left corner) > Party Setup > Elemental Resonance.

Get talking!

If you are an RPG fan, then you know how most NPCs (non-player characters) are just there in the game for no good reason, apart from some useless dialogues. Genshin Impact, however, is not entirely the same. Some of the characters have secret quests that you can accept and some might even sell you rare items. It is advisable that you talk to everyone that you meet on your way, especially when you are roaming in the wild. It does seem like a task and time-consuming activity, but it can produce some bonus for your characters that you may otherwise miss out.

Earn and equip relevant artifacts

You can earn artifacts by doing just about anything in the game like opening chests, finishing quests, earning special experiences in your Adventurer's Handbook, winning battles, and so on. These are special accessories or items that you can attach to your characters to provide special healing bonuses, damage output, HP, and critical hits. Each character can equip up to five artifacts. Once you place a particular artifact in an empty character slot, you can see the changes in 2-piece and 4-piece set stat bonuses on the right. Ideally, you should try and make sure the artifacts that you equip each character with activates these additional stat benefits (though some late-game artifacts do better as 2-piece and 1-piece set combinations). Do note that artifacts can be enhanced, which means you can break down weaker artifacts to gain enhancing materials or just use the same weaker artifacts as enhancement materials. When you get even better artifacts in the game, later on, you can break down your upgraded artifacts too to get a good portion of your investment back again. There are different upper limits to how far different levels of artifacts can be upgraded. But for the early game, you don't need to bother too much about maxing any artifact out.

Arm your weapons!

genshin impact weapon warbow

The weapon system is somewhat similar to Artifacts with options to either Enhance or Refine. In case you have duplicate weapons, then you can use those to Refine the same weapon and increase its bonus. Refining a weapon does not help in increasing its base damage, but increases the additional stat or buff that it provides. To increase the base damage of your weapon, you need to Enhance them using Enhancement Ores that are made using metal resources.

The Blacksmith who goes by the name of Wagner in Monstadt can create Enhancement Ores for you if you’re lacking weapon upgrades. Just offer Iron Chunks that you have mined by crushing rocks. It is best to use a character with a two-handed weapon or use a Geo element character’s ability to break rocks faster.

Keep in mind that some of the better weapons (but not all of them!) are receivable through the Gacha mechanic. So for your early game, do not worry if you do not have a killer weapon -- you'll eventually get one, trust us on it.

Learn some recipes

genshin impact cooking

Genshin Impact allows you to cook food (and then consume it later), which helps in boosting certain stats of your characters. To become a master chef in the game, you need to make sure that you pick up various meal ingredients that are required to create some delicious treats. You get to unlock new recipes as you increase your Adventure Rank and you can also learn a few by talking to people that you meet on your adventures. You should aim to hit the maximum proficiency level for every recipe that you have unlocked. Master them and you should be able to quickly unlock the ability to auto cook some of the dishes.

Make sure you also note down the character cooking a particular dish so you can assign the right one that offers a character bonus. Apart from the regular dishes, make sure you learn these three - Barbatos Ratatouille, Lotus Seed and Bird Egg Soup and Zhongyuan Chop Suey -- as they help by decreasing climbing and sprinting stamina consumption for a cool 15 minutes, making exploring that much easier.

Constellations

Each character has a constellation and if you happen to get the same character via a Wish, then you can unlock and gain passive abilities on this constellation. This is great and recommended for players who are not going to use actual money to max out their characters (but you should still consider paying up if you enjoy the game). The passive abilities gained on these constellations, which is like a skill tree, might not be great all the time, but some of these can be game-changers. For instance, if you have maxed out the constellation for Barbara, then it automatically revives a fallen character on the team along with full HP, which is quite insane if you ask any late-game player.

Co-Op Mode can get you out of a tight spot

If you get stuck at some level or monster, you can turn to the co-op mode in the game (unlocked once you reach Adventure Rank 16). With Co-Op mode, you can invite other players to your map, or visit them in their worlds. You'll find co-op mode very helpful in dealing with certain bosses, and having a higher-level player helping you out can allow you to kill some nasty bosses in under 30 seconds! But as is the general rule on the internet, be nice to everyone in Co-Op and people will be nice to you.


There is a lot, and we really mean a lot, to explore in Genshin Impact, so don't hesitate to try out new things. Focus on enjoying the game, and you'll find that you will end up in a decently competitive spot anyway, even as a free-to-play player.

Developer miHoYo also recently released a new update for users on iOS, Android, PC, and PS4. The update brings two new characters- Albedo and Ganyu, the new snowy region of Dragonspine, new storylines, and a fair amount of balancing changes. Genshin Impact 1.2 is available for download and if you are interested, the full changelog can be accessed over here.

Genshin Impact Developer: COGNOSPHERE PTE. LTD.
Price: Free
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