Genshin Impact Beginner's Guide: Characters, Elements, and Progression

Genshin Impact remains one of the most-played free-to-play RPGs worldwide, combining open-world exploration with an elemental combat system and gacha-based character collection. Its systems are deep enough that new players often don't know what to prioritize — or whether to spend money — in the first dozens of hours.

Is Genshin Impact Actually Free?

Yes, fully. The gacha system sells characters and weapons, but the entire story, open world, quests, and the majority of game content is 100% accessible without spending a single dollar.

What spending actually buys: specific limited characters (like Hu Tao, Raiden Shogun, or Neuvillette) and 5-star weapons that aren't available for free. These characters are often stronger than free options, but the performance gap only matters at the game's hardest content (Spiral Abyss Floor 12, Imaginarium Theater). The story, exploration, and most domains are completable with free characters.

The honest truth: Genshin Impact is one of the most generous free-to-play experiences in the gacha genre. The welkin moon (monthly pass for $5) provides more Primogems over time than most single banner pulls. Free-to-play players who save intelligently can pull a limited character every 1-3 months.

Understanding Elemental Reactions

Elemental reactions are the core of Genshin's combat system. Every enemy can have elements applied to them, and combining two elements triggers a reaction that is more powerful than either element alone.

The reactions worth understanding first:

Vaporize (Pyro + Hydro): Dealing Pyro damage to a Hydro-affected enemy, or Hydro to a Pyro-affected enemy, multiplies the damage. Pyro into Hydro gives a 1.5x multiplier; Hydro into Pyro gives 2x. Vaporize is the strongest single-hit damage reaction in the game and drives the majority of top-tier DPS team compositions.

Melt (Pyro + Cryo): Pyro into Cryo gives 2x multiplier; Cryo into Pyro gives 1.5x. Melt is functionally equivalent to Vaporize in power. Teams that combine a Pyro DPS with Cryo appliers deal enormous burst damage.

Freeze (Cryo + Hydro): Freezes enemies in place, interrupting their actions. No direct damage multiplier, but the crowd control is invaluable against groups and is core to a whole team archetype.

Overloaded (Pyro + Electro): Creates an AoE explosion that knocks enemies back. Excellent in open areas; frustrating in small rooms because enemies scatter. Gives a 4-element reaction bonus with Quicken.

Quicken + Aggravate/Spread (Dendro + Electro): Applying Dendro + Electro creates the Quicken status, which enables Aggravate (Electro bonus) and Spread (Dendro bonus) reactions on subsequent hits. Hyperbloom (Dendro + Hydro + Electro) creates homing seeds that do enormous damage. These reactions are newer and power-creep the older ones significantly.

You don't need to understand all 10+ reactions to play well. Build your first team around Vaporize or Melt. It works on most enemies and remains effective throughout the game.

Your Starter Team

Genshin's combat uses a four-character rotation where you switch between characters to apply elements, trigger reactions, and deal damage. A well-built starter team covers:

1. Main DPS: The character you spend the most time controlling. Diluc (free option: Pyro) or Noelle (free, Geo shielder) are the most common starter DPS heroes.
2. Sub-DPS / Reaction Enabler: Applies an element for the main DPS to react off of. Xingqiu (Hydro, enables Vaporize for Pyro DPS) is exceptionally strong.
3. Support / Healer: Keeps the team alive. Barbara (Hydro healer, guaranteed free from early progress), Bennett (Pyro healer and the best support in the game for most content).
4. Flex: Another reaction enabler or second support. Fischl (Electro), Sucrose (Anemo for swirl).

Xiangling is free at Spiral Abyss Floor 3-3 and is arguably the strongest Pyro sub-DPS in the game despite being a 4-star character. Getting Xiangling as early as possible is one of the best early-game goals.

A reliable starter setup: Diluc (or any Pyro DPS) + Xingqiu + Bennett + Sucrose. This team has Vaporize, healing, and grouping. It clears most early-to-mid game content.

Resin and Daily Stamina

Original Resin is Genshin's stamina system. It gates access to the most rewarding content.

How it works: Resin regenerates at 1 per 8 minutes, up to a cap of 160 (or 200 with Fragile Resin). Each Ley Line Outcrop costs 20 Resin to claim rewards. Each domain (artifact or talent materials) costs 20 Resin. Trounce Domains (weekly bosses like Stormterror and Tartaglia) cost 60 Resin.

Efficient Resin use by progression stage:

• Adventure Rank 1-40: Use Resin on Ley Line Blossoms (the glowing flowers on the map). They give character EXP books and Mora, which you need constantly for leveling.
• Adventure Rank 40-45: Split between Ley Lines (for EXP/Mora) and domains for talent materials.
• Adventure Rank 45+: Transition to artifact farming. Domain artifacts at AR45 have a meaningful chance of dropping good substats.

Don't let Resin cap out. 160 Resin capping takes 21 hours. If you log in once daily and spend your Resin, you lose nothing. If you play twice daily, you capture nearly all regeneration. Playing less than once per day means capped Resin and wasted progression.

Exploration vs. Story

Genshin's world is open from the start but Adventure Rank gates story content. Archon Quests (the main story) require minimum Adventure Rank levels to unlock each chapter. World Quests (side stories) require certain AR levels or prior quest completions.

Adventure Rank is raised by completing quests, opening chests, finding waypoints, and claiming Ley Line rewards. You cannot rush it directly with Resin — it comes from engagement with the world.

Exploration rewards are worth doing. Every chest gives Primogems (currency for character pulls). Teleport Waypoints let you traverse the map instantly. Statues of the Seven increase your stamina (for climbing, swimming, and gliding) and restore health. Exploring a new region before its story quests gives you Primogems, region progress, and gear that helps with the story quests themselves.

The recommended approach: explore each region as you unlock it through the Archon Quests. Don't try to explore all of Mondstadt before leaving for Liyue. Progress naturally and revisit areas when new content unlocks them.

Artifact Farming

Artifacts are Genshin's primary gear system, equivalent to equipment in other RPGs. They come in five slots, have a main stat, and four substats, and are farmed from repeatable domains.

The most important rule: don't farm artifacts before Adventure Rank 45. Before AR45, artifact domains drop items with a maximum of 4 substats and lower rarity caps. The RNG involved in getting useful substats on a good artifact means you'll spend Resin on gear that becomes obsolete within a few Adventure Rank levels. It's genuinely wasted time.

Before AR45:

• Level your characters with talent materials and EXP books
• Use +4 or +8 leveled artifacts from domains or crafting rather than heavily investing in specific pieces
• Focus Resin on Ley Lines

At AR45+: target specific 2-piece or 4-piece sets for your DPS. For Pyro DPS like Diluc, Crimson Witch of Flames 4-piece is the BiS (best in slot) set. For Xingqiu, Emblem of Severed Fate maximizes his burst damage. The in-game character screen has a "Recommended Artifacts" section that's a reasonable starting reference.

Should You Spend Primogems?

Primogems are the premium currency used to wish (pull) on character and weapon banners.

For free-to-play players: Save your Primogems exclusively for limited character banners (the ones featuring a specific 5-star character for a limited time). Never pull on the standard banner (Wanderlust Invocation), and never pull on weapon banners. Weapon banners have the worst pull economy in the game — you can get stuck pulling for a specific weapon across two banners if you're unlucky.

Soft pity on limited banners starts at 74 pulls. Hard pity (guaranteed 5-star) is at 90 pulls. If you get a 5-star, there's a 50/50 chance it's the featured character (if not, the next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured one).

For light spenders: The Welkin Moon (monthly pass for $5) gives 90 Genesis Crystals upfront and 90 Primogems/day for 30 days, totaling around 2,700+ Primogems for the price. This is by far the best value purchase in the game.

What not to spend on: Genesis Crystal conversion (terrible value unless buying Welkin), Blessing of the Welkin Moon in addition to other purchases (pick one), standard banner pulls.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Pulling on every banner: Genshin regularly runs multiple simultaneous banners. New players often pull on all of them and end up with no Primogems when a character they actually want appears. Decide which character you want, save for them, pull only when they're available.

Not saving Primogems for limited banners: The standard banner 5-stars are obtainable over time without targeted saving. Limited characters like Hu Tao, Kazuha, and Neuvillette are only available for about 3 weeks every few months. If you want one, save specifically for their banner window.

Farming artifacts before AR45: Covered above. Using 200+ Resin on artifact domains before AR45 is a measurable progression mistake.

Ignoring Bennett: Bennett is widely considered the best support in the game across most content. He's a 4-star character available on the standard banner. His Elemental Burst heals the character standing in it and provides a massive ATK buff. If you have Bennett, build him and use him.

Not doing daily commissions: Daily Commissions (4 quests per day, available after AR12) give a large chunk of Primogems per week. Missing them consistently is leaving a significant amount of free currency uncollected.

See how to increase FPS on Windows if Genshin stutters during exploration or boss fights, and why your gaming PC is overheating if extended sessions cause performance drops.