Readers know how much I love Genshin, writing guides, making short clips, and joining communities here and there. I’ve been playing this game since its launch, there were moments when I felt alone, and I watched Genshin streams to interact with streamers or hopped into the community channels to do my bit. Well, on one fine day, I was watching Indian Genshin streams and came across this streamer who had an artwork of mine as his video’s thumbnail.
I hopped in with my alt account and asked a few questions about the thumbnail. To my surprise, this streamer was humble and showed the creator’s account (He didn’t know that I was the creator). Shortly after I revealed that it was my artwork, and he was astonished.
I told him that I was more than happy to see the artwork on his streams, and that’s how I came to know Dagger. Our relationship grew and we even co-oped in a number of games. I would say that he’s the reason I started watching Indian Genshin streams and fell in love with the streaming culture. So it seemed like the natural next step to get him in for an interview.
Dagger, AKA Deepak Kumar, is a casual and competitive gamer fusion. On some streams, he’s roaming around in the world of Teyvat. On others, he’s racking up aggressive killstreaks to dominate his enemies. Then when he’s not adhering to his crazy streaming schedule, he can be found attending gaming events, bobbing his head to Anime OSTs, or binge-watching his favorite animes.
Being an ambitious streamer, Dagger aims to play for India and wants to be a part of eSports teams in the future. To achieve this goal, he invests numerous hours in honing his aiming skills, game sense, and teamwork to the point that he plays competitive games deep into the night regularly.
With a passion for competitive games, Dagger manages to take time to play casual games with viewers and often have a one-to-one talk if anyone wants to share their thoughts. He believes that talking can help someone out of a situation and never shies away from helping anyone.Â
With that said, let’s hop into the interview and get to know more about his life on and off stream. Grab a pack of popcorn, cola, or a slice of pizza and enjoy reading through our wholesome interaction.
Himanshu:Â Since the day I interacted with you in that art contest, I’ve consistently been a part of your community. I assure you we’ll go into Genshin questions soon enough, but I have one personal question from my end.
Pretty sure, I know you didn’t expect me to ask this, but I checked through your Instagram, and you like to wear Denim. I’m quite a fan of them, and I hope you don’t mind telling us where you buy them from and telling us about the event where you wore them. I remember you met some famous content creators at that gaming event?
Dagger: You know, I rarely buy my own clothing. Even the shirt I’m wearing right now was bought by my mother a few days back. I’m at home or on stream most of the time, and even if I go to buy clothes myself, my mother has always had a better choice. She’s got an incredible fashion choice and keeps herself up-to-date with modern-day trends.
I wore those jeans at a Gamerconnect event in Lucknow sponsored by Nvidia, where they feature all types of gaming setups, popular streamers like Ankit Pant and Sikhwarrior were there. I would say Sikhwarrior is my inspiration for FPS games and competitive gameplay. That was kind of a reason I came to Apex Legends and started to climb its leaderboard.
Himanshu: Well, it’s a dream to attend gaming events and meet your favorite streamers. I plan to visit Lucknow one day because it’s obviously a beautiful city and hosts India’s most popular events. Now, it’s fair to say that streamers have unique names, and sometimes they relate a place, game, or movie, for example.
My first impression of your name was that it’s associated with the game, Prince of Persia. In that game, the prince uses a Dagger to rewind time and that was insane feature for a game back then. Is it related to that, or is there another story behind your inspiration?
Dagger:Â Actually, you know my name’s inspiration is straight-up from a marvel character. There’s a female Marvel character named Dagger, and she wears a white costume and has an all-white look. Also, a reason why I bought a white color setup or even my table is of white color. My name’s inspired by her, and you know, it doesn’t seem like you can judge the character’s pronoun. Lol, I got fumbled a bit while explaining, but you get what I’m trying to say.
Himanshu: Dagger, you told me when you went to that Gamerconnect, that you didn’t have a gaming setup back then. Every gamer wants a decent setup to play and run games smoothly. Now you have a fabulous and powerful gaming PC configuration that can run even the heaviest games without a hiccup. So tell us, how was your journey from not having a gaming setup to getting one? What were the hardships you faced, and how did you sort out everything?Â
Dagger: You know, when I went to that Gamerconnect event, I was stunned to see high-end gaming setups. I sat down on those setups and played PC and VR games like Beat Saber, and would say the game experience was immersive. Virtual reality is on another level.
I did want to buy a setup, but nothing was sure. As time went on and one day, dad called me in the morning and had no clue why he called me. My mother knew I wanted a gaming PC, but I never asked her to buy me one because I told her I wanted to build it on my own. And I didn’t even discuss gaming setup with my dad. But you know, mom had told my father about the gaming set up the previous night, and he called me in the morning.
The exciting part comes here; he asked me if I wanted to buy a computer? In my mind, I was like, “Wait, what? What’s happening?” At that point, my mind was hovering in question marks, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. There were so many questions popping up in my mind.
He asked about the budget, and I said, you’re not joking, right? He said, “Yeah! You can buy one in April,” I told him about the budget and setup requirements. For a few moments, I asked whether it’s really coming together that I’m getting a setup.
Now, April is about to come, but lockdown came into effect in March. Time passed by, and when govt relaxed restrictions in September, I started to build the PC. But now, the budget has been overshot because expenses have risen.
My dad was pretty cool and told me to buy whichever parts I wanted, and my birthday was also in September. Fast forward, I gave designs for the table to a carpenter and went to a brand new shop in our area.
Trust me, It was a miracle come true for that shop because I was loaded and wanted to buy everything. I told shop owners what I wanted, and they ordered everything for me without charging shipping costs. Right now, that shop is so popular that even a popular streamer Sikhwarrior, who lives near my area, promoted it. So, after getting my setup, I posted a thank you letter and gave a shoutout on my Instagram page.
Himanshu: It’s awesome to have family support you in your gaming ambitions and form a better understanding. My parents have supported me a lot since I started writing about the games I love, so I completely understand how far that mutual respect can go.
Okay, let’s get into Genshin a bit. Dagger, I’d say Genshin came out with its promo a few years back; it seemed like another open-world game but soon became popular. What was your first impression of Genshin?
Dagger: I used to play Apex legends a lot, and as the time passed, my team member’s got a bit busy with their lives, and I was kind of burnt out playing alone. So, now here’s the thing, I’m getting Genshin ads every single day. You know those ads where Qiqi is doing 1,2,3 or Eula is flying off the church, and I wondered what kind of game this is.
Finally, I installed the game, thinking it seemed like a story game. Now, I dived into the game, playing as Aether. I was mesmerized by the music, and as I headed toward Mondstadt, I was in awe of the environment. After playing for a couple of minutes, I closed the game.Â
The next day, I’m getting Genshin trailers in my youtube recommendation, and I saw Kazuha’s trailer. And believe me, I was stunned by the music of that trailer and thinking, how come someone made such a fantastic trailer.
So, the day Kazuha’s banner dropped and literally played for 6-8 hours straight. And since that day, I’ve been playing Genshin Impact daily. I fell in love with Genshin’s story and completed Venti’s arc. Even if you see, the recent Ayaka cutscene where they showed Ayaka’s backstory is so marvelous that I get goosebumps every time I watch it. So Good!
Himanshu: Basically, the initial Genshin Ads impressed you with their great character trailers, I can relate. Coming to characters, I’ll be honest, my favorite character is Klee, and I would have given up on the game if I didn’t get her.
I got her during her second re-run and was on cloud nine when I got her, and even crowned her abilities. So, with my preferences out there for all to see, are there any characters whom you love the most, and what about any you don’t like? At least one name to spice up things a bit, please!
Dagger: Everyone knows, Kokomi. You know my whole community knows I love Kokomi the most. I just find Kokomi and Ayato better. The ease of play is what I like the most about these characters. Kokomi is quite an underrated character, and since she came out, I have enjoyed her playstyle and abilities. Let me think, It’s not Amber, that’s for sure, because she’s a waifu mate.
It’s Diluc; I mean, it’s not like I hate him or something. But there’s still a part of me who doesn’t like him. But again, I don’t hate him much, but I also can’t justify that I totally like him. It’s just a mixed bag of feelings when it comes to Diluc.
Himanshu: Yeah, one of my close friends adores Dulic, and I’m sure female fandoms are crazy for Diluc too. I hope we don’t get messages from them in our chats. I have another question related to Genshin’s story when Raiden was launched, there were many opinions in the community about her role. Some people liked it while others didn’t. So, what do you think about Genshin’s character stories?
Dagger: I would say it was quite a good character development. There were two personalities of Raiden, Raiden Ei as a person and Raiden Shogun as a puppet. Both have a unique persona, and Ei has a humble nature, whereas Shogun is strict. Their own perspectives were portrayed in the latest quest, and they accepted each other’s views. I loved the moments tied to her sister Makoto and backstory; I would say it was quite a decent character development.
Another character I want to see more stories about his Childe. His role in the Shiki Taishou domain was fabulous. He interacted with Xinyan, who refers to him as a big brother. Childe is a mix of this villain-type personality and a person with morals. You know he’s badass and a delusion transformation which makes him look super cool! His popularity is next level. I would love to see future quests where we go on adventures with Childe.Â
Himanshu: There have been a couple of Childe re-runs, and now I think we’ll get another Childe re-run. I got Childe on his third re-run and love the way his riptide animation slashes enemies. If anyone asks me who’s the coolest character in Genshin,
I’m always down for Childe. Now, moving on to the game’s regions recently, a new area, The Chasm, launched and we all were excited to see how Genshin’s story would progress. Enkanomiya was also launched earlier, making players opt for unique exploration tactics. What do you have to say about these new regions?
Dagger: I don’t follow up much with theories about upcoming content to keep my expectations in check. Coming to the Chasm, I’d say the upper zone is quite lovely to explore because of the proper environment, but the underground mines zone seems like a maze.
You have come to this maze, and now you’re trying to figure out the ways. There’s this trippy mushroom; I can’t remember the name right now. But oh my god, that is like a eye-blinding light bulb. If your monitor’s brightness is high, you’d need new pair of eyes; it’s that bright.
If I talk about Enkanomiya, that region’s music is S-tier; I literally searched its music on youtube and listened to its music while playing Apex legends. In contrast to the dark theme of the Chasm, Enkanomiya’s experience was more mysterious.
Himanshu: Well, I agree that Chasm is tough to explore and is thematically pretty dark. There were some places where even I got lost or couldn’t figure the way out. Especially one underground tunnel that leads to the Ruin serpent.
Though I do like to speedrun content, and so far, I’ve found Chasm to be one of the most challenging areas to explore because the environment was so dark. On that note, what do you think are the best and worst things about Genshin Impact? Which parts of the game can be improved?
Dagger:Â Some NPC characters like Zhiqiong in the Chasm are in the center of the story, and I feel their dialogues can be better with voice. Also, Zhiqiong is a waifu, and she’s pretty popular; only if she had voice acting in conversations would it be fabulous.
Another point where this game can improve is end-game content. They need to enhance the end-game content because it’s freaking dead. Totally dead content. Like most of the higher AR players just collect the resin and have nothing else to do in the game. There’s a Covid-19 issue in China, and they’re handling that by themselves. But also, there’s nothing much they can do, so all we can do is wait.
Himanshu:Â True, I agree that all we can do is wait, and I hope the things get better. I’m patiently waiting for fresh content to drop, as I know I’ll be hooked for weeks. Now, I have a bit off-topic question, but it’s relevant to what we are talking about. Dagger, we all know that your parents support you greatly regarding your gaming passion. But also, here in India, many parents have an opposite view of gaming.
Even some schools in India teach subjects in Sports periods. Unless you make it out big in the gaming community in India with the most popular games, the niche games don’t have enough support. So, what do you think is the best thing about gaming culture, and should it be promoted in our country?
Dagger: I’d say gaming should be promoted, but consider it a backup option unless you are pretty rich. Study hard, and do a job, though I don’t like to study at all, I’ve talked to my parents about studying, but I won’t say I don’t want to study in the future. I’d love to study and complete my future ambitions if the opportunity arises. For now, I’m all in for gaming and streaming.
PC gaming sucks, but also, as games like PUBG came, mobile gaming got a boost, and emulators started to go into the market. Now, PC gaming is also getting attention and evolving slower.
Even if I talk about audience, that’s somewhat immature, and we don’t have enough mature audience. Let’s suppose a controversy between streamers, then an immature audience starts to trash talk others. I don’t like when it happens to streamers. Stressing on this point, I would say the Genshin community is pretty relaxed and calm.
I’ve not seen anyone spreading hate in general, but some people just want to hate without reason, so that’s something you cannot control. Overall, the genshin community is full of lovely people. Even my community is full of people ready to help out each other. At least one streamer’s audience won’t go and flame the opposing steamer in the Indian genshin community. Also, I don’t think it often happens in small content creators’ communities; most of it happens among popular streamers’ communities.
Himanshu: I totally agree that streaming can be considered a side hustle. It can really help you venture deeper into the Industry if you get it right. As a content creator, it’s tough to manage personal and professional life as you have to be online all the time. Also, I’ve seen many of your streams, and you like to help out many people in the spiral abyss and help players understand the current meta. What are your suggestions related to the meta?
Dagger: Meta, see, if you want to clear some in-game content easily and faster, the most efficient way is to follow meta team compositions and characters. I’d say, if you cannot clear the content, you should focus only on meta characters.
Though you can choose characters you want to build, that may be problematic to approach the spiral abyss. Characters like Raiden, Kazuha, Xiangling, Bennett, Xingqiu, Ayaka, Ayato, and Kokomi are the ones’ I’d say are metacharacters. Kokomi is like a zero to hero character. She didn’t get enough attention when she was launched, and now she outperforms.
Himanshu: Whoa! Those were some great points you made about the game, and I agree that many things can be improved. Some characters can be prioritized to help set up optimal team compositions and clear content in a better way, like Raiden National, one of the most popular teams in Genshin.
But Genshin isn’t the only game you stream. Let’s talk about the other game you love, Apex legends. I’ve seen you playing Apex legends, and I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about that game. I’ve seen your streams where you play aggressively to get better ranks. Our audience would love to hear about your Apex legends experience.
Dagger:Â Apex legends is a game that can be immensely difficult if you don’t have experience and knowledge about FPS games. If you were a CS: GO player, you’d at least have some basic knowledge about FPS shooters, which will help you figure out the game faster.
Apex is unique in its fast-paced design, and players fly here and there to shoot you down. Once you get out of the early grinding phase of the game and love the gameplay, then Apex is one of the best games. You’d have to put hours into this game to get better, just like any other game.
Coming to characters, I like to change legends; a legend is a new character that launches every season. So, I get that legend and try to see if it can fit my aggressive playstyle. Sometimes, I solo queue, so I prefer to use a character that can help me get in and out of the game with better agility.
I’ve solo-queued myself to Diamond 1, equivalent to Valorant’s Diamond league. I can even push to Predator league and India’s eSports leagues with a good team. I want to compete in LAN tournaments where I can play for my country, and I would say it’s one of my goals.
Although Apex is coming to mobile, which can help promote the game in our country, I won’t switch to mobile gaming. Mainly because I’ve spent numerous hours sharpening my skills on PC. It’s against my self-respect that I switch to mobile after spending years, hard work, and money on PC gaming. Because even people would say why you’d buy a beast gaming setup if you’d have to play on mobile.
Himanshu: So, Dagger, I know you are a busy man with a streaming schedule to keep so I won’t keep you much longer. Genshin Chronicle team appreciates you taking your time and I personally had a blast. Thanks a lot for having me, and before we sign off, I would like to know what your plans after this interview stream are?
Dagger:Â After this stream, I will play the Crab game with subscribers or anyone who wants to hop in from the chat. Anyone can join us, and we can play that game. The game format is like a squid game; I hope you have seen the squid game series.
Similar is the format of the Crab game, and we all will be the players in the game who will compete with each other to come out alive in the end. I’ve also invited other streamers to join in and enjoy a wholesome experience.
Tune in to the Interview
Woohoo! Well, we finally concluded our interview, and Dagger went to giveaway a welkin to his viewers to celebrate the collaboration with GenshinChronicle.If you’re an Indian viewer, you’d love to watch our wholesome conversation on Youtube.
I’ll chip in the video to take you straightaway to a fun interaction. You can find Dagger on Instagram and Youtube, where he occasionally posts Genshin and Apex highlights. Throughout the whole process, Dagger has given excellent support to our team and even helped us with relevant media to execute this interview flawlessly.
That was all for now, and I hope you enjoyed our fun conversation. I’ll meet you in another guide or, who knows, maybe another wholesome interview. Till then, I wish you luck on your future Genshin pulls, and keep stacking those sweet primogems. Adios!
Besides writing about his favourite games, Himanshu prefers to keep himself up-to-date with the latest happenings in the financial world, watching anime, cooking and listening to music from all around the world.
- Genshin Impact Fontaine Region Guide - January 5, 2024
- Genshin Impact Wild Fairies of Erinnyes Guide - December 17, 2023
- Genshin Impact All Dendroculus Locations - December 12, 2023