Games

The Beginner’s Guide To Genshin Impact

The Beginner’s Guide To Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is a free-to-play action RPG that caught a ton of attention when it was first revealed, as gamers were quick to compare it to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.  While the game certainly does have some similarities to Link and his latest adventure, there’s a lot of other areas where the two games are wildly different.  Thankfully, people have been willing to dive in and find those differences out themselves, which has led to the game being quite popular just a few weeks after launch.

Genshin Impact presents an absolutely massive world that’s filled with insane amounts of content, which can be rather daunting at first.  If you’re not familiar with the action RPG genre or free-to-play mechanics, you might fear you’re getting in over your head.  No need to worry though, as everything will slot into place quickly if you follow these helpful beginner tips.


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Barbara uses her Elemental Skill to heal everyone!

Barbara is a great asset for f2p players – a free healer!

Take it easy

Genshin Impact truly does offer a wealth of content to explore.  From massive towns to mountainside dungeons, weapon customization and a wide cast of characters, there’s a ton to see and do.  That’s why it’s so important to take your time early on, and let the information trickle in.  Don’t try to understand every mechanic and perfect your approach a couple hours into the game.  Genshin Impact does an excellent job of spoon-feeding you tutorials that’ll teach you the basics in great detail, and then you’re given time to hone skills after you learn them.  Just go with the flow and you’ll become an expert before you even know it.

Ready for adventure!

The size of Genshin Impact can be breathtaking, and the developers have already said that even more locations are in the works.  Do yourself a favor and fully explore your surroundings while tackling quests.  You’ll have plenty of story and side-quests to take on, but there’s nothing wrong with veering off the beaten path to see what you can discover.  Sure, you might find a batch of aggressive enemies or a location you can’t access yet, but that’s what makes the game so much fun!  Exploration leads to great discoveries, and it’ll push you to keep leveling up in order to see what those unearthed locations are hiding.

Stop ‘n Swap

Genshin Impact has quite the roster of characters to choose from, and you’ll be able to obtain them in multiple ways.  The key to success in Genshin Impact is to make sure you swap between those characters as you play.  You can jump from character to character with just the press of a button, and each will have a different set of abilities.  Some can electrify water to zap enemies, others can freeze it and create new paths to clear hurdles.  Don’t stick with just one or two of the cast in your roster while in combat, as you’ll rob yourself of multiple powers, and you’ll also end up making the game much tougher.  The best players will rotate characters multiple times throughout the course of a battle.

Aether looking out over Mondstadt, with a Statue of the Seven under a large tree in the distance.

Lumine > Aether. We said it.

Statues of the Seven

There are tons of landmarks to spot in Genshin Impact, but none may be more important than the Statues of the Seven.  You’ll find these massive angel-like statues scattered about the lands, and visiting each one nets you multiple benefits.  They’ll fill in a portion of your map, refill your entire party’s health, allow you to change your elemental talents, and give you a boost to your overall stamina in exchange for Oculi.  The Statues of the Seven will make it much easier for you to get around the game world, both in terms of waypoints, as well as letting you expand your ability to climb and glide.

Pick up EVERYTHING!

You’re going to come across a bounty of goodies while you make your way across Teyvat.  Everything from common flowers to rare item drops from foes.  No matter what it is, make sure you collect it.  Even if it’s the most mundane food item you’ve seen 50 times in a row, take it with you!  Almost everything in Genshin Impact can be used to help power you up on your journey.  You don’t want to hit a roadblock when leveling because you didn’t pick enough berries while roaming the lands.  Stock up on every item out there, and they’ll almost certainly come in handy at some point.

Play for free …really

Some people have been wary of Genshin Impact due to its free-to-play nature.  It’s true that the game does have a few “gacha” mechanics, but there’s something very important to point out.  At no point during your time in Genshin Impact will you have to spend actual money in order to progress.  Truth be told, you can amass almost all the things you need in-game when you want to purchase something extra.  Some of the elements you need will replenish daily, and others can be snagged in towns, dungeons, or across the countryside.  Don’t worry about setting off on your journey only to be prodded by payment requests 30 minutes in.  Genshin Impact handles it free-to-play mechanics in ways that a lot of other mobile games could learn from.

Chongyun uses his Cryo Elemental Skill against a tough shield-bearing mitachurl.

Chongyun uses his Cryo Elemental Skill against a tough shield-bearing mitachurl.

Rank up

Your first real goal in Genshin Impact should be growing your Adventure Rank.  Without getting to at least Adventure Rank 20, you’ll find yourself hitting roadblocks somewhat early in the game.  The good news is that bumping up your Adventure Rank should come naturally with gameplay.  As long as you’re taking on story and side missions, your Adventure Rank should rise accordingly.  Along with that, fight every enemy in your path and open up some chests, and you should be well on your way to that 20 mark.


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Kevin Cassidy has been covering all things Nintendo for over 15 years now and has been leading the weekly GoNintendo Podcast for just as long. Kevin is also quite passionate about pro wrestling, anime, comic books, and more! Follow Kevin on Twitter via @GoNintendoTweet.