Genshin Impact Gameplay Guide

I remember checking out Genshin Impact’s trailer on my mobile and thought about what kind of game it is. I saw Aether using his elemental skill on slimes and performing attacks with a sword. Having played a couple of MOBA and MMORPG games in the past, Genshin Impact was a whole new experience for me. I was on my mobile, opened the play store, and downloaded the game the day it was launched. I remember spending more than 12 hours playing the game that day and soon shifted to a laptop to get a better experience.

I admit I was playing on a potato mobile, and the experience on the laptop was way smoother. From that day to now, I’ve spent numerous hours on the game and will share it with you in this Genshin Impact Gameplay guide. I want you to relax, grab some snacks and go through this guide if you are starting the game. You will get to know the gist of the game’s ins and outs and will have a smoother experience.

This guide aims to take you through the basics of Genshin Impact and present how easy it is to ace through the content and know about things in advance. That will save you hours of research and utilize that time to prioritize tasks in the game. Let’s hop into the guide!

Genshin Impact, A Journey

Genshin Impact is a journey where you play as the protagonist to find your other sibling after encountering the unknown god in the beginning cutscene of the game. The way the game started, I was stunned to see such a fantastic cutscene where I had to choose the character.

It was fabulous, and the deal-breaker for me to whether I should be playing the game or not. Not only that, just in 30 minutes of the game, you will come across a fight with a dragon named Dvalin and see yourself getting immersed in the story.

Sometimes, I want to re-live those moments again, and I start a new account to feel nostalgic and remember how I used to play the game in the beginning. The stamina bar was low, characters took time to fight enemies, regions were locked, and more.

These things gave me nostalgia, and I wish I could forget about the game and redo it again. Although, that’s not practically feasible after spending thousands of hours on the game and finishing up a lot of challenges and tasks.

I remember there’s an official teaser for the game on the official Genshin Impact youtube channel where they have laid out the chapters of the game. Spoiler Alert! There are some exciting story events about the twins and how their journey will take them across many places. If you are someone who wants to experience soothing music, a beautiful world, and a thrilling story, Genshin Impact is for you!

The Story, Manga, and Quests

Genshin Impact blew my mind when I first started the game, and the opening cutscene plays where Aether and Lumine take a head-on against the unknown guide. Soon after you complete the cutscene and choose your character, you will find yourself by a shore near the Starsnatch cliff, where you will fish Paimon out of the water! I love the wholesome interaction you have at the start of the game with Paimon and how the Traveler is comfortable with Paimon. Soon after that, you meet Amber, Kaeya, Lisa, and Jean, and the game starts to delve into the story.

While the current story focuses on the aftermath of a calamity that happened years ago, you learn about the past from manga. The manga focuses on Vanessa, who ascended to Celestia and defended her people against the injustices brought upon them by the nobles. I won’t go into details, but if you have a knack for its lore, I’ll point to our Genshin Impact manga guide, where you will find some interesting pieces of the story.

Now, in Genshin impact, you won’t dive straight into the story and complete it in one go because usually, you do the story in quests. There are a variety of Quests in the game where you have to complete parts of the story and get to know new characters and join them on their adventures. We have an amazing Quest guide on our site where you will find all the types of Quest and recommendations for the ones I’ve loved.

Elements, Archons, and the World

Once you dive into the game, you will notice that the world is full of elements and beings that rule the lands of Teyvat. Genshin Impact has seven elements and Archons who command those elements. Here are the seven elements that are currently in the game: Pyro, Cryo, Hydro, Electro, Dendro, Geo, and Anemo.

According to that, there are seven archons who command these elements and possess Gnosis that looks like a chess piece. From the story, you get to know that though the Archons have element control without the Gnosis, it seems to enhance their ability to control the respective element. Still, not much enough is known about them, and only hope future quests cover content related to that.

Just like the seven elements, there are seven nations in the continent of Teyvat after each element. You will find me referring to Teyvat as the world occasionally, but technically it is a continent in the game. The only nations we can access so far are Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma. The remaining nations will become available to us in the future.

Besides the seven nations, there are nations or regions whose nature is still not clear yet and have an aura of mystery around them. Khaenri’ah, Dark Sea, and Celestia are the ones who are still surrounded by the mystery clouds, and not much is still not known about them. Though you will find some pieces of lore related to them from the manga and the story, a brief introduction to them is still yet remaining.

What interests me the most is what kind of regions they will be in and what kind of mysteries will unfold there. From the current events in the game, it seems like we will have to go through the seven nations by ourselves first and meet our other siblings from time to time. I chose Aether as my main character, and it seems Lumine has her own secrets and journey that’s driving her.

There were a few moments when we got to meet Lumine, and it seemed she had sided with the abyss. Also, characters like Dainsleif have their own backstories that slowly get unwrapped in archon quests. For now, I think only the time will tell how the story will proceed and what kind of revelations are waiting for the players.

Characters and NPCs

As you being the game, you will come across our only remaining outrider, Amber, who will meet you on the outskirts of the city of Mondstadt and asks you to assist her in defeating some hilichurls. Your traveling guide Paimon is always there when you need her and will accompany you on all sorts of adventures.

Through the game, you will get to know numerous characters, where some of them will be playable and others aren’t. Whether a playable character or an NPC, you will find yourself running errands for them or participating in combat together to slay mighty beasts or defend the city from dangers.

Slowly as you progress through the game, you will be introduced to different parts of the world and reach the city of Liyue and Inazuma. The story will have a turn of events that will lead you to places to know about your other sibling and encounter mysterious beings on your way. Not only that, you will come across NPCs who will play a key role in the story and lead you to a myriad of places to help you or sometimes for their own benefit.

See Also: Genshin Impact NPCs Guide

Getting Characters and Wishing System

The wishing system is something you will get familiar with at the very beginning of the game. After you finish up the encounter with Dvalin high up in the sky, you are introduced to the wishing system where you can wish on the character banners. At first, there will be a beginner’s banner where you can get Noelle guaranteed and a 20% discount on a ten pull, costing you only eight fates. There are two types of banners, Standard and Featured.

The standard banner features characters who are in the standard pool, which includes all of the 4-star characters and select 5-star characters along with standard weapons. The standard banner doesn’t change for quite a while and is usually only updated when a new four-star character is added. 

In the case of the featured banner, limited-time characters are launched on it, where you can obtain them with the help of intertwined fates. Promoted characters have boosted drop rates, and three 4-star characters are featured with a 5-star character. The players have to wish on them with the help of primogems or intertwined fates and hit the pity to get a certain character.

One wish is 160 primogems for an acquaint or intertwined fate, and although you can get the fates from the Paimon shop, I won’t recommend you to exchange masterless starglitter for that. It’s better to use it on something else, like getting a character constellation or a weapon.

Wishing in Genshin Impact works using a pity system, like many other GACHA games. After 75 wishes, you will reach soft pity, where the usual 0.6% chance to pull a five-star unit will increase dramatically. When you reach 90 wishes, you will hit hard pity and be guaranteed a 5-star character. On the featured banner, you have a 50-50 chance of pulling the featured 5-star, and if you lose the 50-50, the next 5-star you pull will be the features 5-star character. 

As for 4-star units, on both banners, you are guaranteed at least one 4-star every ten pulls, whether it’s a character or a weapon.

In the case of the weapons banner, the pity system is kinda rough because you may end up with an undesired weapon. But to counter that, the game has introduced a chart course feature where after hitting two times pity, you are guaranteed the weapon in the third pity. That’s a rare case where you have to go to such depths in wishing, but it’s a brutal system.

Personally, this is my take, but I don’t wish on the weapon’s banner because the pity system there is brutal, and I wish on the promoted banner only. I convert all my primogems to intertwined fates and save up for a character that I like and wish for them.

It’s best to use the acquaint fates you get after ascending character on the Standard banner and use the rest of the primogems on promoted character banner. Nonetheless, I wish you the very best in your wishes and hope you get your desired characters so that you can have extra fun in the game.

Level Up System

Genshin follows an interesting level-up system, and I must say, there are a variety of things in the game that you have to level up. Let’s talk about characters first. Then we’ll come to artifacts, weapons, and talents that are one of the most vital to the character. A character can be leveled up to level 90, and to do so, you need to feed character EXP material along with mora to achieve the required levels.

Mora acts as a universal currency that you can use in the game for all sorts of things, and though there are various currencies, their use is either limited to the events or Serenitea pot. Your characters will gain experience after completing quests, defeating enemies like unusual hilichurls, opening chests, or using original resin on leylines. Gradually, after a certain point, you will need character EXP books like Hero’s wit and use them to level up your character.

Similar is the process with weapons and talents where you have to feed the respective level material and combine that with the required ascension material. The materials will depend on the type of weapon or character you are trying to ascend, but you will need mora for all of this work.

In my experience, leveling up your arsenal, artifacts, weapons, and characters are things you cannot ignore in the game. Investing in your character will pay off in the long run, and you will be able to tackle any challenging content in the game.

Combat Mechanics

Characters in Genshin Impact have three primary ways with which they can deal damage to the enemies. Normal attack, elemental skill, and elemental burst. Normal attacks are the primary attacks that you perform with your main weapon, though in the case of some characters like Childe, he can deal hybrid damage.

Normal attacks also feature charging attacks, aimed attacks, and plunging attacks. Now the elemental skill and elemental burst will mainly feature the element your character belongs to and deal elemental damage to the enemies.

Depending on the situation, you can use a combination of characters to leverage elemental reactions to deal a massive amount of damage. There are elemental reactions related to the elements that can help you to freeze, overload, or electro-charge enemies.

These are not the only reaction, and I encourage you to go through our elemental mastery guide to dive into depth about these reactions. In case you want to deal severe damage to opponents, I’ll advise you to focus on amplifying reactions like vaporizing or melting.

Enemies

As the game starts, a short cutscene will play after you unlock your first ever waypoint and see Dvalin flying over your head towards the city. Paimon urges you to check out the place where the Dragon will land, and you will come across a few hydro slimes that you can slay with normal attacks. I know, they do look cute, but down the line, you have to do what must be done. Brace yourself, Traveler. There’s gonna be a ton of enemies that you need to take down to polish your weapons.

You need to collect a plethora of enemy materials from ascending your characters, weapons, and talents. That, of course, requires you to defeat world bosses, elite enemies, and common enemies. Common enemies like Hilichurls or Mitachurls can be found roaming in the wild, whereas bosses like Signora or Dvalin have dedicated domains.

You need to spend original resin to claim the rewards from the world bosses and have a tougher battle. World bosses have special drops that you can use to level up your talent level to their maximum status and boost up your character’s damage potential.

Then, There are transnational organizations like the Fatui and Treasure hoarders, which are quite active and can be found everywhere. While the Treasure hoarders don’t seem much of a bother, the Fatui aren’t the same. The Fatui has powerful connections across the lands, and their harbingers are forces not to reckon with.

They worship the Cryo archon, The Tsaritsa, and follow her orders with absolute devotion. So far, the Fatui has been an integral part of the story, and it’s still not very clear what their motives are.

Leaving them aside, there are living beings, elemental life forms, automatons, rogue samurai, and sometimes ghosts with whom you will cross your paths. But, overall, I would say without enemies, no game is fun, and they really do make the overall experience better.

Items and Collectibles

A unique aspect of Genshin Impact is that the world is interactable, and you can collect plenty of food items, quest items, and precious items on your journey. The first thing you have to do after finishing up the earlier archon quests is to activate teleport points. This may seem tiresome, but believe me, it will save you a lot of worthless hours of effort on traveling.

Whenever you are exploring a new region, always try to unlock all the waypoints for faster travel. I noticed it when I was doing commissions. Sometimes their locations were at the end of the map. After that, I made a rule that I would unlock all the waypoints first and then explore the region with all my might.

You can notice all the items, precious items, and other collectibles in your inventory, like artifacts, weapons, food items, quest items, and others. It’s better to recognize all of them under the umbrella of collectibles because you will be able to differentiate among them after you have collected a few of them.

For the early game players, in-depth information may result in a negative result than a positive one. I believe we should follow a learning curve while playing games and not chug up all the information at once.

Game Events

It’s my personal opinion, but Genshin Impact is more about the events than the game itself. I know, a hot take indeed, but after you are finished with the main storyline up to the current mark, the only thing you can do are events. No doubt, the events are really good, and some of the flagship events have been mind-blowing.

I remember the first in-game event that featured insane lore, Unreconciled Stars. It was so beautiful, full of lore, and gave an amazing introduction about the Dragonspine mountain that was launched shortly after.

Though the event lasted for a few weeks, players were mesmerized by the experience, but sadly it’s not available anymore. Events come and go in Genshin Impact, and it rarely happens that an event repeats itself after a while.

There are a variety of events in Genshin impact where you can participate either via the game or on an online portal. Genshin Impact’s social media channel on Twitter the community up to date, and there are always some funny reactions in the comments.

I love reading Twitter’s comment section on Genshin Impact because the community has some hilarious artwork in them. Don’t tell anyone that I downloaded them and made Genshin impact stickers. It is our secret! Ssssh!

End-game Content

Sooner or later, every player will reach the end-game content, and what do I mean by end-game? Basically, the only thing that is left for you to do is daily commissions, spiral abyss, and events. It might be possible there are some minor events or quests here and there. But, if you are someone who likes to finish content as it launches, then this would be your daily routine.

In Genshin impact, archon quests are launched after a few updates, and then the story progresses. Sure, there are story quests, world quests, and other quests, but in the end, Archon quests follow the main storyline. You need them to progress so that you can go through different regions and see the events unfolding there.

After you are done with one updates’ archon quests, if it gets launched, then you can proceed to do the events. Still, most of them are time-gated, and you have the only option to spend the original resin. Also, in the spiral abyss, you need to have optimal team compositions and a bit better-invested characters because you need to complete the challenges within a time limit.

I would say the effort-to-reward ratio isn’t better because you barely get a wish to complete a floor successfully. Nonetheless, if you still want to give it a go, I’ll recommend you to go through our spiral abyss guide to learn about the abyss and ace it successfully!

Genshin Impact Questions

Let’s go over some questions that you may have after reading the guide. I feel it’s always a good habit to have a thirst for knowledge because, in the end, you are ultimately investing in yourself.

Remarks on Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is a game that topped the popularity charts all over the world and became successful. While there have been a lot of changes in the game, the game continues to rock character sales and launch interesting events. Soon enough, a new region named Sumeru will be launched, where we will be introduced to the Dendro element.

For now, that’s all speculation from my end, and I hope we get cool characters who can use the Dendro element. If there’s a certain character I’m waiting for, then it’s Collei. Who’s she? I’d recommend you to go through our manga guide to learn about her and how she was a key character in the manga. I’m sure you won’t regret reading the manga.

Overall, Genshin Impact has been a wild ride since it launched, and there is plenty of character in the game now. A few quality-of-life changes have been made to the game, and we hope to see better content getting launched in the future.

With that, I hope you got to know a few things about Genshin Impact and how the game experience is. For further reading, I advise you to go through our guide and find your favorite characters on the site. There are awesome guides written for Genshin Impact, and I hope you get to know something better!

Read Also:

• Genshin Impact vs Tower of Fantasy
• Best Games like Genshin Impact
• Sacred Seal Locations Guide

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Himanshu Verkiya

Himanshu is a passionate writer who loves to write about open-world games featuring anime style characters. He admits that his love for interesting anime stories and characters were a major reason he started playing Open world role playing games.Having played different Open world games in the past, now he prefers to play casual role playing games which feature beautiful sceneries and vast worlds to roam in.
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.

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