Genshin Impact update 5.1 has been revealed, and the highlight is a new 5-star Geo character named Xilonen, who's poised to become one of the strongest support characters in the four-year history of this open-world RPG. Like update 5.0, it also brings another way to collect free Primogems by finishing new content relatively quickly, not to mention a suite of quality-of-life changes.
As developer HoYoverse explained in the version 5.1 special program – which seems to have been staffed by localization members in English due to the ongoing video game actor strike – Xilonen can skate up walls for exploration purposes, and her elemental skill can shred enemy elemental resistance for up to three different elements based on your other party members. This is similar to the gold-standard Viridescent Venerer artifact set available to Anemo characters, and will make a powerful combo with the new damage-boosting artifact set, Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City, which is tuned for Natlan characters.
Any element that can trigger the Crystallize reaction – Pyro, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo – will work with her skill, and Xilonen will also reduce Geo resistance if there are only three total elements in the party. So, if you have two Pyro characters and a Hydro character, for example, Xilonen will make nearby enemies take more Pyro, Hydro, and Geo damage. Her elemental burst, meanwhile, will heal the active character as long as you have two or more members of those elements in your team augmenting her skill. If you have one or fewer elements, her beast will deal additional damage instead.
With resistance shred and sizable damage bonuses, Xilonen has drawn comparisons to Kazuha, one of the best 5-stars in the game, and even the Hydro Archon Furina, who provides the biggest universal damage-type bonus. She can't group enemies together the way Kazuha can, but her healing is a powerful source of utility all its own. Suffice it to say, Xilonen ought to be one of the best characters in Genshin Impact's history.
Xilonen will debut along a rerun banner for Fontaine's own 5-star Geo character, Chiori. The second half of the update will see reruns for Hu Tao and Nahida, with Nahida also appearing in a Sumeru festival tied to a 5.1 event. This Sumeru event will notably give out a free copy of the 4-star Hydro character Candace.
Update 5.1 will dish out another 500 Primogems for completing the next chapters of the region's Archon quest (within 50 days), and also add new exploration rewards worth up to 400 Primogems for exploring 80% of Natlan and completing specific quests. These are limited-time rewards, putting a bit of a rush on exploration. Unlike the quest bonus, however, you'll apparently have two full patches to claim the exploration rewards, and this goes for all future areas as well.
This comes alongside the usual suite of event rewards, including the return of Liben's daily commissions, as well as monthly challenges like the Spiral Abyss and Imaginarium Theater. The Theater is adding new cosmetics for Zhongli and Keqing, while the Abyss will be quicker to clear going forward since you can now skip the easy floors as long as you earned full stars in the previous cycle.
