Released in 2020 by Chinese developer HoYoverse , Genshin Impact quickly became one of the most popular games in the world. The RPG combines exploration, dynamic combat, and a compelling narrative. Featuring a gacha system for obtaining characters and equipment, the game challenges players to build strategic teams while exploring the vast continent of Teyvat .
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If you're just starting out, this guide will help you understand the story, main characters, and essential mechanics to begin your journey.
The Story of Genshin Impact
The plot of Genshin Impact revolves around the Traveler , a protagonist whose gender can be chosen by the player. At the beginning of the game, he and his twin brother are separated by a mysterious entity called the Upholder of the Celestial Principles . Sealed and cast into an unknown world, the Traveler awakens in Teyvat , a continent divided into seven nations, each ruled by an Archon , a deity associated with one of the seven elements.
Alongside the charismatic and enigmatic Paimon , who becomes his guide and traveling companion, the Traveler sets out in search of his missing brother. However, along the way, he becomes entangled in the conflicts and mysteries of each nation, uncovering secrets about the Archons and the true nature of the world of Teyvat.
The Seven Nations of Teyvat
Each region in the game has a unique aesthetic, culture inspired by real-world civilizations, and a core mechanic based on its corresponding element:
- Mondstadt (Wind/Anemo) – Inspired by medieval Europe, it is the city of freedom and ruled by the Anemo Archon, Barbatos .
- Liyue (Earth/Geo) – Based on Chinese culture, it is a thriving trading center led by the Geo Archon, Morax .
- Inazuma (Lightning/Electro) – With a strong Japanese influence, it is an isolated archipelago under the rule of the Electro Archon, Raiden Ei .
- Sumeru (Dendro/Nature) – Inspired by the Middle East and India, it houses the largest library in the world and is ruled by the Archon Dendro, Nahida .
- Fontaine (Water/Hydro) – A technologically advanced nation, influenced by 19th century France and ruled by the Hydro Archon, Focalors .
- Natlan (Fire/Pyro) – Not yet released, it should have a strong influence on Mesoamerican and African cultures.
- Snezhnaya (Ice/Cryo) – Land of the enigmatic Fatui , is led by the Cryo Archon, Tsaritsa .
As new updates are released, players can explore more about each nation and unravel the mysteries of Teyvat.
How to Level Up Adventure Rank Fast
Early on, your Adventure Rank (AR) is one of the most important aspects of the game. It determines access to quests, events, rewards, and new challenges. Additionally, as you reach certain levels, your World Tier increases, making enemies stronger and granting better rewards.
If you want to level up quickly, check out the main ways to earn Adventure Experience (Adventure EXP) and increase your Rank efficiently.
1. Complete the game's missions
Quests are the main source of XP at the beginning of your journey. There are different types of quests:
- Archon Quests – Related to the main story, these quests grant large amounts of EXP.
- Story Missions – Focused on specific characters, they also offer good rewards.
- World Quests – These are secondary quests that appear as you explore Teyvat. Some yield significant amounts of XP.
Always prioritize the quests available in your Adventurer's Guide , as they help you level up quickly.
2. Make Daily Commissions
After reaching Adventure Rank 12 , you unlock Daily Commissions , one of the quickest and easiest ways to earn EXP. These consist of four short tasks scattered throughout the map, which can involve defeating enemies, collecting items, or interacting with NPCs. Each completed commission grants a fixed amount of Adventure EXP , and completing them all grants you an additional bonus at the Adventurer's Guild .
3. Explore the world and unlock Genshin Impact
Exploration is one of the most rewarding aspects of Genshin Impact . Unlocking Waypoints , Statues of the Seven , and Domains earns you Adventure EXP. Additionally, opening Chests scattered throughout Teyvat grants small amounts of EXP, which can add up over time.
4. Complete Domains and Defeat Weekly Bosses
Domains are instanced challenges that grant valuable materials and Adventure XP . Some are only available on certain days of the week, but they are essential for strengthening your characters and leveling up.
On the other hand, Weekly Bosses , such as Stormterror (Dvalin) and Andrius (Wolf of the North) , yield a large amount of EXP and valuable materials. They can be faced once per week and are unlocked as you progress through the story.
5. Use Original Resin strategically
Original Resin is a limited resource that regenerates over time. It's used to collect rewards from bosses, domains, and leyline blooms. Spending Resin efficiently earns not only valuable upgrade materials but also Adventure EXP .
6. Complete the Ley Line challenges
Ley Lines are map events that appear as gold or blue circles. They offer Adventure XP and useful resources for character enhancements. While they require Original Resin to collect, they're a great way to gain experience while strengthening your team.
Make the most of your Original Resin
Original Resin is one of the most important resources in Genshin Impact . It's used to collect rewards from domains, bosses, and special events. However, Resin has a daily limit and regenerates slowly over time. Therefore, spending it efficiently is essential to progress quickly in the game.
Check out the best ways to use your Original Resin every day and ensure maximum benefits.
1. Prioritize World Bosses
World Bosses like Hypostasis, Regisvines, and Ruin Serpents offer character ascension materials and artifacts. Each battle costs 40 Original Resin , but the rewards are worth it, especially for those building a strong team.
2. Take on the Weekly Bosses
Each week, players can face Dvalin (Stormterror), Andrius (Wolf of the North), and Signora , among others. These bosses require 30 or 60 Original Resin , depending on Adventure Rank level, but grant exclusive materials for talent ascension.
3. Farm Artifacts in Domains
Specific domains offer powerful artifacts, essential for improving character performance. However, it's best to farm 5-star when your World Level is high enough to ensure the best rewards.
4. Invest in Ley Lines when you need EXP or Mora
If you need to strengthen your characters, Blue Ley Lines are a great source of Character EXP . Gold Ley Lines provide Mora (in-game currency) , essential for leveling up characters, talents, and weapons.
5. Spend Condensed Resin to maximize rewards
After unlocking the recipe in Liyue Reputation (Level 3) , you can craft Condensed Resin , which consumes 40 Original Resin but doubles the rewards from certain domains. This reduces the amount of playtime needed to farm important materials.
6. Participate in Genshin Impact
Events often offer challenges that require Original Resin. If the event offers good rewards, prioritize spending Resin on it over regular activities.
Choose your starting characters carefully in Genshin Impact
It's unlikely you'll get all the characters you want right away. The game uses a gacha , where new characters and weapons are obtained through wishes (summons) . However, summoning resources are limited, so it's important to learn how to use the free characters effectively and plan your next investments.
Check out tips for building a strong team even without access to all the game's heroes.
1. Take advantage of the free characters
Right from the start, Genshin Impact offers some characters without the need for luck in the gacha:
- Traveler (Anemo/Geo/Dendro) – Versatile protagonist with elements that can be swapped out at specific statues.
- Amber (Pyro) – Archer with abilities useful for breaking shields and solving puzzles.
- Kaeya (Cryo) – Agile character and good at dealing elemental damage.
- Lisa (Electro) – Sorceress with area attacks and continuous electrical damage.
- Barbara (Hydro) – Free Healer obtained upon reaching Adventure Rank 18 .
- Collei (Dendro) – Earned for free in events or by progressing through certain missions.
These characters are enough to form a balanced team at the beginning.
2. Manage your Fates and Essential Gems well
standard banner wishes offer a varied selection of characters and weapons. Promotional banners offer exclusive characters for a limited time. So, if you want a specific character, save up your Primogems and wait for the ideal banner. Avoid impulsive spending, as resources are limited.
3. Use elemental reactions well
Even without rare characters, you can deal high damage by combining elements:
- Vaporize (Pyro + Hydro) – Greatly increases the damage of the attack dealt.
- Superconductor (Electro + Cryo) – Reduces enemies’ physical resistance.
- Electrically Charged (Electro + Hydro) – Deals continuous damage over time.
Knowing how to combine elements is more important than having 5-star characters.
4. Evolve the right Genshin Impact
Your resources are limited early on, so avoid investing in all your characters at once. Choose at least one main DPS , one elemental support , and, if possible, a healer to make combat easier.
Understand the elements and their reactions in combat
Genshin Impact 's elemental system is one of the game's most strategic aspects. Each character possesses an element, and combining them can trigger elemental reactions , which increase damage or apply special effects to enemies.
While mastering all interactions takes time, understanding the basics helps you build an effective team. See below for the main elemental reactions and how to use them in combat.
1. Fusion and Vaporization – Large damage amplifiers
These are the reactions that increase damage the most, being essential for DPS (damage per second) characters.
- Fusion (Cryo + Pyro) – Increases the damage of the inflicting attack. If Cryo is applied first, Pyro's damage is doubled. If Pyro comes first, Cryo's damage is increased by 50%.
- Vaporize (Hydro + Pyro) – Works similarly to Fusion. If Pyro is applied first, Hydro's damage is doubled. If Hydro comes first, Pyro receives a 50% increase.
These reactions are ideal for teams focused on high damage.
2. Dendro – Catalyst for new strategies
Dendro was introduced with Sumeru and has unique interactions :
- Bloom (Hydro + Dendro) – Generates explosive seeds called Dendro Cores , which deal damage when they explode.
- Intensify (Electro + Dendro) – Increases Electro and Dendro damage against the affected enemy.
- Propagation (Dendro + Electro) – Amplifies the damage of the next Dendro attack on the enemy.
- Burgeon (Pyro + Dendro Cores) – Causes Dendro Cores to explode with area damage.
Dendro is one of the most strategic elements in the game, working very well with Hydro and Electro.
3. Electro – Continuous damage and reduced resistance
Electro element doesn't deal as much instant damage as Pyro or Cryo, but it's useful for dealing damage over time and reducing enemy resistances.
- Electrically Charged (Electro + Hydro) – Deals continuous damage and shocks nearby enemies.
- Superconductor (Electro + Cryo) – Reduces the physical resistance of enemies, great for characters that deal physical damage.
- Intensification and Propagation (Electro + Dendro) – Strengthens elemental attacks of these elements.
Electro shines on teams that focus on sustained damage and enemy control.
4. Freezing and Breaking Ice – Control and Physical Damage
- Freeze (Hydro + Cryo) – Immobilizes enemies for a period of time, excellent for crowd control.
- Ice Break (Heavy Attacks + Freeze) – If an enemy is frozen, heavy or Geo attacks can break the ice and deal extra physical damage.
Freezing is very useful for keeping enemies still and reducing the difficulty of combat.
5. Swirl and Crystallization – Support and Defense
Anemo element excels at spreading other elements across the battlefield and amplifying elemental damage.
- Whirlwind (Anemo + Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo) – Spreads the affected element to hit multiple enemies. If the character has bonus elemental damage, Whirlwind becomes even more powerful.
- Crystallization (Geo + Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo) – Creates a shield based on the absorbed element, useful for increasing the team’s defense.
While Whirlwind is great for amplifying damage, Crystallize provides extra protection in combat.
Build your first team strategically in Genshin Impact
Knowing how to build a balanced team makes all the difference, even with 4-star or free characters. To achieve this, it's important to consider three factors: team roles, elemental synergy, and ease of upgrades .
1. Basic structure of a team
An effective team typically has four main functions:
- Main DPS – The character who deals the most damage and stays on the field the longest.
- Sub-DPS – Applies secondary damage, either with off-field abilities or elemental combos.
- Support – Provides buffs to the team or applies beneficial effects.
- Healer/Shield – Essential to ensure survival in long battles.
Even without 5-star characters, you can build an efficient team with free heroes and 4-star heroes available on banners.
2. Initial Team Suggestions
If you don't have many characters yet, here are some recommended formations:
Free team (for beginners)
- Main DPS: Kaeya (Cryo)
- Sub-DPS: Lisa (Electro)
- Support: Xiangling (Pyro) (Obtained from Spiral Abyss – Floor 3)
- Healer: Barbara (Hydro) (Obtained at Adventure Rank 18)
This team allows you to activate elemental reactions such as Superconductor (Cryo + Electro) and Vaporization (Pyro + Hydro) , guaranteeing extra damage to enemies.
Balanced team (with common 4-star characters)
- Main DPS: Xiangling (Pyro) or Razor (Electro)
- Sub-DPS: Xingqiu (Hydro) (great for Vaporization)
- Support: Sucrose (Anemo) (Spreads elements and increases elemental damage)
- Healer: Noelle (Geo) (has healing and shield at the same time)
This formation offers good reactions and resistance in combat.
3. Adapting your team to your playing style
If you prefer a more offensive game, you can replace the healer with another sub-DPS or damage support, such as Fischl (Electro) or Beidou (Electro). If you prioritize defense, you can invest in characters like Noelle or Diona, who provide shields and healing simultaneously.
Evolve your weapons and artifacts with strategy
Investing too much in weak equipment can hinder your progress. This is because, as you progress through the game, you'll have access to much better options. Therefore, it's important to know when and how to upgrade your weapons and artifacts without wasting precious materials.
1. Don't max out low rarity weapons
1-, 2-, or 3-star weapons should only be used temporarily. They may be useful in the early levels, but will soon be replaced by 4- or 5-star , which have much higher stats and abilities.
What to do?
- Upgrade your weapons to level 20 or 40 at most.
- When you get a better 4-star weapon, switch without hesitation.
- Don't use rare ores to upgrade weapons that you know will be discarded.
2. Choose your artifacts carefully before investing
Artifacts are necessary to improve the performance of Genshin Impact characters, but in the early game it is best not to spend too many Books of the Art of Refinement or Mora on them.
5-star artifact sets only start appearing at higher Domain levels, so starting gear will soon become obsolete.
What to do?
- 2 and 3 star artifacts only as intermediates.
- 4-star sets from Adventure Rank 25 onwards.
- Only invest heavily in 5-star , obtained at World Level 5 or higher.
3. Save upgrading materials
Many items needed to upgrade weapons and characters are difficult to obtain. If you spend everything immediately, you may have trouble later when trying to upgrade a better character.
What to do?
- Prioritize only one main DPS to receive the best upgrades.
- Wait until Adventure Rank 30 to decide which weapons and artifacts are really good.
- Do not spend Original Resin on Artifact Masteries before reaching Adventure Rank 45, as the chances of obtaining 5-star artifacts are very low.
Don't miss out on limited-time events
Limited-time events are one of the best ways to earn valuable rewards in Genshin Impact . They often offer Primogems, Fates, Mora, ascension materials, and even free characters and weapons . Since these events only last a few weeks, it's important to take full advantage of them before they disappear.
1. Why are events so important?
Unlike permanent in-game activities, events often offer exclusive rewards and large amounts of Primogems , used to make wishes on character and weapon banners.
Additionally, many events feature free characters , such as Fischl, Xingqiu, Collei, and Faruzan in past editions. For those who don't want to rely on the gacha system, this is a great opportunity to expand their team.
2. How to track active events?
Events are announced in-game, in the events tab, and also on HoYoverse . Typically, each update (every six weeks) brings at least one major event and a few minor ones.
Stay tuned for notifications so you don't miss out on valuable prizes.
3. Most common types of events
- Combat Challenges – Test your skills against enemies in exchange for rewards.
- Minigames and puzzles – Include platforming, puzzle-solving, and exploration challenges.
- Story Events – Introduce new characters and expand the game’s lore.
- Co-op events – Allow you to play with friends to complete objectives.
Each type of event offers different prizes, so it's worth participating in all of them.
4. Plan your time so you don't miss out on rewards
Many events require players to complete specific quests or reach a certain Adventure Rank . If you leave it to the last minute, you may not be able to complete them in time.
So, organize yourself to complete the challenges throughout the days and guarantee all the rewards without rushing.
Start your Genshin Impact journey off on the right foot
Exploring the vast world of Teyvat may seem challenging at first, but with the right strategies, your progression will be much more efficient. Understanding the story, increasing your Adventure Rank, managing your Original Resin, and assembling a balanced team are essential steps to fully enjoying the game.
Additionally, avoiding rash investments in weapons and artifacts, mastering elemental reactions, and participating in limited-time events will help you strengthen your characters without wasting resources.
With planning and dedication, you'll have a much more fluid and rewarding experience in Genshin Impact. Now that you understand the basics, it's time to embark on this journey and explore everything the game has to offer!
Good adventure, Traveler!