Genshin Impact’s Scale & Mechanics For The Uninitiated Part 1/3
This is part 1 of a 3 part series on the basics of game scaling in Genshin. Much of it is left vague to keep things simple, while hopefully providing enough context for newer players to understand the mid to end game macro goals. Both Nikki and I are competitively minded so this guide is framed towards future sweaty players but for those who are just out to enjoy the world and story of Teyvat hopefully this guide will provide clarity on some of the less obvious mechanics in Genshin Impact.
If you spot any errors or inconsistencies feel free to reach out to myself Deo (@ImDeophest). We aimed to be thorough in our research but we would rather make corrections than leave misleading information in the guide!
Foreword
Because the game is designed to get you to spend money or to be invested in the gambling mechanics it should be noted that there are no truly “bad” units (characters/weapons) in the game or “bad” artifacts. Tier Lists usually sort all units in tiers from C to S but even a low tier unit will scale well enough to complete the game. They will be considered C tier comparatively to some of the more busted units in the game. Additionally, tier lists are also biased towards their creator’s playstyle. Every character in this game can fulfill multiple rolls in a party so do not be discouraged from trying unconventional builds.
If you want to, you can absolutely scale the entire game and complete all of the game’s content using the free units, only rolling free primogems and farming dungeons for artifacts with the stats you want. Even the worst unit in the game (Amber) scales serviceably. You’ll only have “difficulty” (and I do mean it like that, this game is not hard) with some of the end game content (later parts of the abyss) at worst. Every character in this game is broken and unbalanced, some (most of the 5★) are just more broken than others. There is also very little end game content right now so don’t feel the need to rush to AR60.
TL;DR build whatever party out of whatever characters, weapons and artifacts you want, you will be fine. Optimization is for fun!
Adventure Rank and World Level
As you go through the game you gain adventure rank experience from things like completing story quests, daily commissions, opening chests, beating up bosses, completing domains etc. The most important thing about Adventure Rank is that as you gain higher AR your World Level will start to increase. Sometimes your world level is gate kept by Ascension Quests (which you complete to increase world level) but half of them just happen when you hit the right AR.
Key point:
- Adventure Rank locks your Weapon and Character Ascensions.
- World Level locks the level of enemies, enemy drops and artifact drops
- Additionally for those using the Co-Op feature you can always visit the Worlds of friends at your WL or lower and claim drops at their level but you cannot go up. You must be AR16 minimum to co-op.
- In Patch 1.4 you’ll be able to decrease your world level down one level
At the time of writing the max level cap in Genshin is AR60.
Elemental Reactions
There’s a bunch of lore related to this but to keep it simple each character has an element. Their E(elemental skill) and Q(elemental burst) will allow them to deal some sort of affect related to that element
- Bow uses can use charged shot will also apply elemental damage
- Catalyst users their base and charged attacks apply elemental damage.
Applying elemental effects to enemies to enemies makes that element’s icon appear above their head for a few seconds. Applying two (or more) elements causes an elemental reaction.
See genshin.gg breakdown of elemental reactions and resonance or the genshin wiki for more details on the exact mechanics.
TL;DR Elemental resonance in your party + elemental reaction combos = damage
Bosses and Drops
Characters and weapons require items dropped from world bosses, boss camps and general enemies to ascend.
- Gems (Elemental World Boss)
- Boss materials (Elemental World Boss, Golden House Challenge, Wolf Challenge, Stormterror Challenge)
- Local Specialties (Flowers, Rocks, Fungi, Berries etc.)
- Enemy drops (Hilichurl masks, treasure hunter sigils etc.)
As well characters can increase the stats on their talent skills by obtaining talent books and enemy drop materials. Talent books can be obtained as quest rewards and from specific domains.
The long and short is that to level your characters and their equipment up you need to do a lot of farming of enemy spawns, bosses, weekly challenges and be continually picking up flowers, berries, fruits etc. from the world. Lots of players use spreadsheets, I use the Genshin Planner to keep track of the random fodder I need to pick up in the world.
Characters, Talents and Weapons
All characters in the game are either 4★ or 5★.
You can only get 5★ characters from either the promotional character banner or the standard banner.
4★ characters come
- For free: Amber, Lisa, Kaeya as part of the story, Noelle on the Beginner Banner, other characters for specific event challenges or rewards
- On any banner
- Purchases from the starglitter shop (starglitter/stardust is consolation prize/currency from the gacha)
Rolling duplicates (up to 7) is generally pretty good as you will unlock the characters constellations which will buff their stats, increase talent levels etc.
Weapons can be obtained via gatcha or crafted, low level weapons can be found in world chests or obtained as quest rewards. Weapons have a main stat and a substat. These scale as you level the weapon. Duplicates of the same weapon allow you to refine it (up to 4x) which improves the scaling on the weapons passive ability.
Weapon Types:
- Catalyst — Applies elements on Normal and Charged attack
- Bow — Long range, Charged attack (aimed shot) applies elements
- Claymore/Greatsword — Slow, big damage, optimal for breaking rocks and crystals in the field
- Sword — Standard well rounded weapon
- Polearm — Faster & longer range than sword, slightly less damage
Characters are locked to a weapon type (Xiao only uses polearms, Xingqiu only uses Swords etc).
Early game your characters, weapons and talent ascensions will all be locked by your AR. In general if you keep up with the level caps for your given AR you’ll be fine. Additionally if you had bad luck, 3★ weapons are fine even into late game, and they are also much easier to refine so you can get optimal value out of their passives.
“Best” 3★ Weapons:
- Catalyst — Twin Nephrite, Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (For Barbara)
- Bow — Slingshot (until the game gives you Favonius Warbow)
- Sword — Harbinger of Dawn, Fillet Blade
- Claymore/Greatsword — Debate Club
- Polearm — White Tassel, Halberd
Early Game Builds
Most characters do well with 2 or 4 Piece set from:
- Berserkers, Brave Heart, Sojourner, Martial Artist, Gambler for DPS
- Lucky Dog, Defenders Will for DEF scaling Sub DPS or Tank
- Instructor, Exile/Scholar for support
Late Game Builds by Character
- Gamewith
- PcGamesn
- Look for [character]main communities as they often have character specific docs!
- Experiment with what you have using the Genshin Optimizer.
Character “Roles”
Generally speaking there are 3 roles characters in Genshin Impact occupy. There is often overlap and characters can be built to fill different roles.
- Main DPS: This is the character that will be on the field 90% of the time. They will use their normal attacks or charged attacks frequently to deal damage.
- Sub DPS: This is a character who is used largely for their Elemental Skill and Burst. They swap in, drop their abilities, and swap out. They are sometimes called “Reaction Supports” as they usually provide Elemental Reactions.
- Support: This is a very large catchall to encompass any amount of utility characters can bring. These can be shields(Diona,Zhongli), resistance reduction (Viridescent Venerer (4-piece) or Zhongli’s Elemental Skill) or most frequently people mean healing(Barbara, QiQi).
Most team compositions will have 1 Main Dps, 2 Sub DPS, and 1 Support (usually a Healer). There are compositions that are essentially 3 Sub DPS and 1 Support that quickly rotate between all characters to use their Elemental Bursts in rapid succession. Generally speaking, most teams want to make use of the Elemental Bursts of their whole team as often as possible. We will get into using Artifacts to enable that Elemental Burst uptime in the next section.
Artifacts Stats/Substats
Artifacts have a main stat and up to 4 substats.
- Artifacts cannot have the same substat and main stat (so no HP% main stat AND HP% substat)
- Artifacts cannot have the same substat twice (so if you have CRITR% as a substat you wont get CRITR% again)
- Every 4 levels an artifact sub-stat gets added or increases
Possible substats:
- HP,HP%,ATK,ATK%,DEF,DEF%,EM,ER%,CRITD%,CRITR%
- DMG% which refers to the damage type the character outputs. This is an element (eg. Pyro DMG%, Electro DMG%) or Physical DMG%
Artifacts come in sets (same name and colour scheme). Having a matching set of 2 or a matching set of 4 provides an overall bonus. Set list breakdown provided by genshin.gg.
Early game prioritize your best artifacts (Most ★ + CRITD%/CRITR%/ATK% main stat) and 2 or 4 piece set bonuses (ATK, CRIT). Don’t worry about substats!
Late game you will have opportunities to grind artifacts based on team synergies, playstyle, talent skills etc. A 4 ★ is only about 60% as efficient as a 5 ★ so once you can get those 5 ★, you want to use them. You have to roll roughly twice as well on a 4 ★ to be on par with a 5 ★.
DMG Mitigation
- Most shields scale of DEF
- Barbra, Diona, Bennet, Xinqui heal scales off HP
- Qiqi,Jean heal scales off ATK
- Noelle heal scales of DEF
- Use HP% or HBONUS% to amp heals if you need
Crit Investment
When you click on your character stats, if your green atk number is not larger than your white atk number, invest in ATK first. After that focus on getting Crit Rate up to 40%~. From then on look for a 1:2 Ratio of Crit Rate to Crit Dmg. You’ll find that for Sub DPS you probably will not reach that point. Crit is largely a damage stat for Main DPS because Sub DPS often need to invest in Energy Recharge.
Elemental Mastery Investment
…is pretty terrible outside of the Vaporize, Melt, and Swirl Reactions. Electro reactions scale off EM, but frequently you care about the raw damage more than the reaction, so crit investment for characters like Beidou outvalue EM investments.
Elemental Reactions are also less consistent when you consider slimes and various elements that can be applied by enemies or leyline disorders. Put simply Elemental Mastery is largely a luxury stat, even for characters like Diluc who reach the theoretically highest numbers with some elemental mastery investment.
