Genshin Impact Absolute Beginner Guide (Everything You Need To Know)

What is Genshin Impact?

Genshin Impact is an anime style, open-world RPG with an action-based combat system. The game utilizes a party system that uses different characters’ attacks and abilities.

Genshin also utilizes “gacha” mechanics, meaning players earn in-game currency (or pay) in order to earn things like characters and weapons.

The game can be run (and cross platform) on Windows, PS4, PS5, Android, and iOS.

Adventure Rank

In Genshin Impact, your Adventure Rank (AR) is the level of your account as a whole. Increasing your Adventure rank gives you access to more features, and also increases the rewards you are able to obtain from in game content.

You can gain Adventure EXP by doing almost anything in the game, from quests, to exploring the open world, and many more things.

As you increase your Adventure Rank, you can talk to the Adventurer’s Guild to gain rewards. Here is a quick rundown of all the features you will unlock as you level up your AR. Don’t worry about all of these things, this article will slowly cover all of these mechanics.

• 8 Blossom of Revelation Ley Line Outcrops
• 12 Blossom of Wealth Ley Line Outcrops
  Daily Commissions
• 14 Expeditions
• 16 Co-Op Mode
  Domains of Forgery (Weapon Ascension Materials)
• 20 Spiral Abyss
  Battle Pass
• 22 Domains of Blessing (Artifacts)
• 25 Reputation
• 26 Story Keys
• 27 Domains of Mastery (Talent Level-Up Materials)
• 28 Serenitea Pot (Housing)
• 45 Mystic Offering (Artifact Strongbox)

World Level

As you increase your AR, the World Level will also increase. There are a total of 8 World Levels, and increasing this will make enemies in the open world, bosses, and domains more difficult. This in turn increases the rewards you are able to get from these enemies.
At some Adventure Rank levels, the World Level will increase automatically. At some levels, you will need to embark on a special quest from the Adventurer’s Guild to increase the World Level.

20: World Level 1 Automatic Increase
25: World Level 2 Clear Ascension Quest 1
30: World Level 3 Automatic Increase
35: World Level 4 Clear Ascension Quest 2
40: World Level 5 Automatic Increase
45: World Level 6 Clear Ascension Quest 3
50: World Level 7 Clear Ascension Quest 4
55: World Level 8 Automatic Increase

Ascension

Lastly, your Adventure Rank will also determine the cap on your characters and weapons. As you increase your Adventure Rank, you will be able to ascend your characters and weapons to higher levels, making them stronger.

Quests

There are a plethora of quests that you can embark on in Genshin Impact. These quests correlate to things like the story as well as give you great rewards, including Adventure EXP. There are 4 main types of quests you can complete in Genshin.

Archon Quests

These quests are the main storyline of the game that involve the Traveler on their journey to find their sibling.

Story Quests

These quests go in depth into different playable characters and provide some more insight on them. In the beginning, most story quests will appear as you increase your Adventure Rank.

Once you reach Adventure Rank 26, you will be able to earn Story Keys. These will be used to unlock the most recent Story Quests.

Hangout Quests are another subsection of Story Quests that are more casual interactions with characters in the game.

World Quests

These quests are the side quests in the game. You will find many NPC’s in the world with Blue Exclamation Marks. These can be short simple quests, or even be long multi faceted quests with better rewards.

Daily Commissions

Once you reach Adventure Rank 12, you will unlock Daily Commissions. You will get 4 of these every day, and they will be short quests you can do everyday to earn Adventure EXP and Primogems. Completing all 4 and talking to the Adventurer’s Guild will also grant you more rewards.

Adventurer’s Handbook

Very early in the game, you will gain access to a quest called, “Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild.” This will give you access to the Adventurer’s Handbook.

This Book will offer the player various rewards when completing specific tasks. This aims to guide players into the many features of the game. Complete these tasks as you play through the game in order to get some free rewards.

In the other tabs of the Handbook, you can see your Daily Commissions, enemies in the open-world, bosses, and domains.

Expeditions

Once you hit AR 14, you will unlock Expeditions. These are basically gathering assignments you can send your characters out on. Talk to the Adventurer’s Guild to do these.

After a set amount of time, you will receive rewards based on the expedition you choose like Mora, ores, materials, etc.

Exploration

As you explore the world of Teyvat, you will encounter various things.

Statues of the Seven

These larger points on the map are Statues of the Seven. Interacting with these will uncover dark areas on the map, and also can be used for quick teleportation around the world. Going to these statues will also heal your party.

Teleport Waypoints

Teleport Waypoints can also be used to teleport around the map, but unlocking these will not uncover any dark areas on the map.

Anemoculus (Occuli)

As you explore the major regions of Teyvat, you will encounter Occuli. In Monstadt, the first major region in the game, you will find Anemoculus around the map. You can collect these and offer them to the statue of the seven.

This is very important early on as this will increase your maximum stamina. Stamina is great for exploring faster, and also helps in combat as well.

Each major region will have their own Occuli that you can offer to their respective Statue of the Seven. The first two regions, Mondstadt and Liyue, will give you more maximum stamina in exchange for the Anemoculus and Geoculus respectively.

Materials

You will also encounter various materials on the ground, in trees, or other places as you explore. These materials will be used to upgrade characters, to cook recipes, and more. Try to pick up everything you can to be safe.

Map Markers

Lastly, the game allows you to mark your map with symbols. There is a limit of 150 markers that you can use. A common thing players will do is mark the map whenever they find an Occuli. This way, if you ever want to use a guide or map to find all of them, you can easily remember which ones you’ve already found.

Interactive Map

If you want to enjoy the game at your own pace and explore everything for yourself, you won’t need this resource.

However, for players that want to catch up to the game and find everything there is to find, use an interactive map to find and mark all of the important resources you can find around the map.

Wishes

Wishes are the gacha system of Genshin Impact and how you earn things like characters and weapons in the game. You spend Fates or Primogems in order to get a chance at receiving a character or weapon you want.

There is the permanent “standard banner” which consists of characters and weapons that were available at the start of the game and have not changed since then.

There will also be a “limited banner” which can be used to try your luck at getting the limited time character or weapon. These featured limited time characters and weapons are only available during their respective banner and it can be very long until they reappear in a rerun.

Currencies

Mora

This is the basic in-game currency, and resembles gold in other games. You will gain Mora from basically everything in the game: opening chests, doing quests, etc.

You will spend Mora on things like leveling up and ascending characters or weapons and can also use Mora to buy basic supplies from vendors in the game.

Primogems

Primogems are the equivalent of the premium in-game currency. This is what you will use to wish for things like limited characters and weapons. You will also gain Primogems from doing various things in the game, but in much smaller increments.

Fates

Fates are another type of premium currency in the game, and will be used to directly wish for characters and weapons. When you use Primogems to wish for characters or weapons, you actually convert your primogems into Fates. Or you can use Fates that you earn directly.

There are two types of Fates.

Intertwined Fates are used to wish for limited characters and weapons, while Acquaint Fates are used to wish for characters and weapons in the “standard banner”, which will always be available to players and hasn’t changed since the start of the game.

You can earn Fates through various in game methods like increasing your Adventure Rank, progressing the Battle Pass, Events, and more.

Sigils

Much like the Occuli, each region will also have Sigils that you will earn as you explore, open chests, complete quests, etc. These can be spent at the town vendor in each specific region for things like resources, Mora, or materials.

Starglitter and Stardust

As you wish for characters and weapons, you will often get duplicates of things you already have. As this happens, you will earn Starglitter and Stardust currency. These currencies can be used in the Shop Menu and under the tab “Paimon’s Bargains.”

It’s recommended to buy the Fates every month for Stardust as there is a limit of 5 per month.

Genesis Crystals

Lastly, this currency is only obtainable by spending money in game. This can be used to convert into primogems, which you can then use to wish. Genesis Crystals are also the currency you will need if you wish to purchase skins for a character.

Elements

Elements are the foundation of Genshin Impact’s combat system. Each character has a vision that grants them control of a specific element. (The Traveler will gain access to each element as you progress through the main story).

There are currently 7 Elements in the game.

Anemo	Cryo	Dendro	Electro
Geo	Hyrdo	Pyro

Elements are needed for many things like solving puzzles in the open world, dealing with enemy mechanics, and also strengthening the power of your team.

Elemental Reactions

Reactions are extremely important for combat as they are how you will scale your party’s damage further. One character can only achieve so much alone, but in a party of 4, the reactions you can achieve will multiply your damage even further.

Elemental Resonance

Elemental Resonance is another little bonus your party will get based on the elements present in your party. This is not as important as Elemental Reactions for the most part, but it’s nice to keep in mind when building teams.

You can view the Elemental Resonance bonuses in game in the Party Setup Menu.

Characters Overview

Characters are the core attraction of Genshin Impact. The playstyle and identity of a character is the main selling point of the game.

Character Combat

Every character has a normal attack, charged attack, plunging attack, an elemental skill, and an elemental burst.

Normal attacks can be done at any time and deal damage based on the character’s weapon type and elemental type.

Charged attacks are done by holding the attack button and use stamina to do a stronger attack.

Plunging attacks are done by attacking when the character is mid air or gliding.

An Elemental Skill is an ability that is unique to every character and can be done when the ability is off cooldown.

An Elemental Burst is a more powerful ability that each character has. This Burst requires energy to do which characters can gain by defeating enemies and also hitting enemies with attacks or elemental skills.

Leveling Characters and Ascension

Characters can be leveled up by defeating enemies in the open world, but this will take an EXTREMELY long time. You might as well not consider any experience gained this way.

As you play through the game, you will gain Character Experience Books. You will earn these books from opening chests, completing quests, and doing various things in the game. This will be your main source to level up characters.

Once your character reaches a level cap, you will be able to ascend them. This requires materials specific to the character and some Mora in order to do. This will increase the level cap of the character, and also increase some of their stats.

Talents

Talents refer to the level of your character’s attacks and abilities. By using Talent Books, you can increase the level of your talents, further strengthening them.

This is also where you will be able to see the passive abilities of each character.

Constellations

Constellations are how the game rewards you if you wish for duplicate characters. As you obtain duplicates of a character, you will be able to unlock a constellation, which further empowers the character.

Each character has 6 constellations, meaning that to fully max out any character, you will need to obtain them 7 times from the wishing system.

Some 4-star characters you will slowly obtain constellations for, while 5-star character constellations are very difficult to obtain.

Combat Basics

Other than the attacks and abilities of characters, there are some other mechanics that you should keep in mind while in combat.

Stamina

Stamina is the yellow bar next to your character that depletes as you run or do charged attacks. Stamina is important for dodging enemy attacks, and some characters also use charged attacks to deal optimal damage.

Dodging / Iframe

You can hold the run button in order to run, but you can also tap the button in order to dash or sprint for a short duration. When you do this, there is a small window of invulnerability that your character has. If you time it right, you can dodge certain enemy attacks by timing a dash to when you would get hit.

Character Roles

For the most part, the characters in the game are divided into 3 main categories. Some characters can fulfill multiple roles on a team, or they might be a mix of two different roles.

Main DPS

This refers to the character who will spend the most time on the field in your party. This character will be the one who will likely do basic attacks and also have the most investment on your team.

Sub DPS

These units are often utilized for their abilities that can be used while they are off the field. They can also be used to provide certain elements to your team. This can allow the rest of your team to activate elemental reactions.

Support

Supports are characters that are used for reasons other than damage. This can be a healer for example or a character that provides shielding, or a character that provides quality of life. Many supports are a mix of Sub DPS and support.

Team Composition

Teams will often consist of 1 Main DPS, and a mixture of 3 supports and sub DPS.

Teams only need 1 Main DPS as you can only have 1 character on the field at one time.

The other units are there to further buff up and support your main character.

To help optimize your team comp, be sure to consult our Genshin characters tier list.

Example Team

Here is an example of a team composition.

Kamisato Ayaka is the main DPS of the team and is a Cryo character.
Venti is a sub DPS / support who provides CC for light enemies, and helps deal damage with his elemental burst.
Kaeya is another support / sub DPS for the team. Since he is a Cryo user, he will generate energy with his skill that you can funnel to Ayaka to rapidly regenerate energy for her Burst.
Mona is a Hydro support on this team whose main role is to freeze enemies with the combination of Cryo and Hydro.

Gear

In Genshin, there are two sources of gear or equipment that your character can use. Those being Weapons and Artifacts.

Weapons

There are currently 5 different weapon types in Genshin: Bow, 1-Handed Sword, 2-H Claymore, Polearm, Catalyst. Each character in the game can equip a specific weapon type.

You will get these weapons through the wish mechanic in the game and there are also limited weapons on banners as well. These often correspond and synergize well with the character on the limited banner.

Weapons can be leveled up and ascended just like characters can, and they will require their own resources and materials to do so.

Artifacts

Artifacts are more like the equipment that a character can wear. Every character can equip 5 Artifacts, and there are 5 unique Artifact slots: Flower, Plume (or Feather), Sands, Goblet, and Circlet.

Artifacts can be leveled up to gain more bonus stats, and you can level them up by feeding other artifacts into it. Artifacts are quite powerful as they can increase your character’s stats by a lot, but it can be quite difficult to obtain good artifacts.

Artifact Stats

Main Stat – Each Artifact will have a main stat that increases every time you level up an Artifact. For example, the Plume, or Feather, will always have ATK as the main stat. However, other pieces like the Circlet or Goblet can have different main stats.

Sub Stats – Artifacts will have a maximum of 4 substats. One random substat will increase every time you level up the artifact in an increment of 4. If the Artifact has less than 4 substats, leveling up to an interval of 4 will add a substat instead of increasing a substat.

Set Bonus – Artifacts also are part of a set. Equipping multiple artifacts of the same set will grant your character a bonus. As of right now, most artifacts have a 2-piece and 4-piece bonus. These often provide very powerful effects for characters.

Resin

Resin is a resource in the game that is automatically generated over time. There is a cap of 160 resin that you can have at one time. Specific content in the game requires resin in order to gain rewards.

Spending your Resin will also grant Adventure EXP and is one of the most important resources to use on time if you want to progress quickly in the game.

Domains

Domains are like little Dungeons that you can tackle in order to obtain materials and other things. There are 3 types of Domains:

Domain of Forgery: These are used to gain Weapon Ascension Materials.
Domain of Blessing: These Domains will grant Artifacts.
Domain of Mastery: These Domains will grant Talent Level-Up Materials.

Domains are essential to powering up your characters and weapons. As you increase your Adventure Rank and increase your World Level, you will also get better rewards from Domains.

Note: Domains of Forgery and Mastery are not available every day. Specific ones are open on specific days, so make sure to check which ones you need to complete to upgrade your characters or weapons.

World Bosses

World Bosses are areas in the world where you can fight a boss. These bosses respawn fairly quickly and are used to gain Character Ascension Material. They also drop some Artifacts and other loot, but you will mainly be fighting these bosses for the Ascension Materials.

Just like Domains, World Bosses will get harder as you increase the World Level, but they will also drop better rewards.

Ley Line Outcrops

Outcrops are small battles that you can attempt in order to gain some rewards. These will appear on your map and appear as a colorful mist that you can interact with.

Blue Outcrops will grant Level-Up Material for Characters, while the Yellow Outcrops will grant Mora.

And as usual, increasing your World Level will increase the rewards from these Outcrops.

Note: You can still do the Outcrops without spending your Resin, but you will not gain any rewards if so.

Weekly Bosses / Trounce Domains

As you progress through the main story (Archon Quests), you will encounter and unlock Trounce Domains which are basically Weekly Bosses. These Bosses can be fought once per week and reward players with Experience, Artifacts, Ascension Materials, and Talent Level-Up Materials.

Crafting and Consumables

Once you unlock weapon crafting, you will be able to craft a select number of 4-star Weapons. These weapons are not the best in the game, but they are very serviceable for many characters. You will need things like Ores, Mora, and a Billet.

Billets are materials specific to crafting that you can earn through quests, buying from vendors, or from Weekly Boss drops.

Food

Food is the other system in the game that allows you to cook recipes in order to make consumables. These dishes have various effects that include: Healing a character, reviving a character, replenishing stamina, increasing stats, and more.

In order to cook, simply find a place in the world that allows you to. This includes campfires and places in town where there is a restaurant.

Battle Pass

Once you unlock the Battle Pass, you will unlock missions that give you Battle Pass points. As with many games and Battle Passes, as you progress through it, you will gain rewards.

You can purchase a premium battle pass, or Gnostic Hymn, to gain better rewards as you progress through it.

There are plenty of rewards in the battle pass like Mora, Character EXP, Resin, Fates, Weapon Level-Up Materials, Weapons, and more.

Spiral Abyss

The Spiral Abyss is the current end game content of Genshin Impact. Players will encounter rooms of enemies that they will need to defeat within a certain time frame to receive rewards. There are two parts of the Abyss:

Abyss Corridor

The first 8 floors make up the Abyss Corridor. These levels are always available and the rewards can only be claimed once. These floors will also never change.

Beginning on Floor 5, players will need to bring two teams to fight the enemies in the Abyss. As such, in the end game, players often build around 2 main teams for the Abyss.

Abyssal Moon Spire

The Abyssal Moon Spire contains floors 9-12. These floors are much more challenging and the rewards reset on the 1st and 16th of every month.

Additional Tips

Don’t Invest in too many Characters Early on

Early on in the game, you will have very limited resources. As such, you shouldn’t try to spread yourself too thin and try to level up every character that you own. Try to build a team first, and focus on those 4 characters first.

New Character Drawback

If you are a new player to the game, you may be intrigued to wish on the newest banner for the newest character. However, there is a large issue with this.

The materials needed to ascend new characters are often tied to the newest region. Because of this, even if you wish for a new character, it might take some time until you are able to upgrade them.

This can be a big drawback, but for the most part, the main story shouldn’t be too difficult to do even with older characters or low level characters.

Should you Rush the Story?

Genshin Impact is a game with a lot of content. Trying to catch up to the latest content can be very difficult. Some people will recommend that you take your time and experience the game at your own pace.

However, there is one glaring issue with this. Events that take place in Genshin often revolve around the newest areas in the game. New players often will not have access to these areas and as such, cannot participate in these events.

If you want to min-max and try to obtain everything possible, catching up as fast as possible is in your best interest. But, if you want to just enjoy the game and play at your own pace, there’s nothing wrong with that either.