Genshin Impact bug turns Barbara into a broken Dendro Bloom bomber

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Enjoy this bug while it lasts, because Hoyoverse is already aware of it

Genshin Impact character tier list
(Image credit: MiHoYo)

A newly discovered Genshin Impact bug has turned the weak four-star healer Barbara into an utterly broken Dendro Bloom bomber.

Barbara ranks pretty low on our Genshin Impact character list due to her virtually non-existent personal damage and limited utility, but it turns out the Hydro ring generated by her elemental skill becomes absolutely unstoppable when paired with the new Dendro element released in update 3.0. This video shared by Twitter user hxg_diluc helps demonstrate how: 

There's some pretty complex elemental math going on under the hood here. Hydro and Dendro trigger the Bloom reaction which spawns a Dendro core. These cores can be used for the Hyperbloom or Burgeon sub-reactions, or you can let them detonate on their own after a few seconds. However, you can also force cores to explode by spawning more than five at once, as this will pop the oldest core to maintain the core entity limit. 

This is where the bug comes in. Barbara's elemental skill normally applies Hydro to nearby enemies every few seconds, but for some reason, it's currently reapplying Hydro almost every time a Dendro core is spawned. This makes Barbara apply a metric ton of Hydro and trigger just as many Bloom reactions, flooding the screen with Dendro bombs which instantly detonate as the game struggles to keep up.

The short version is that combining Barbara's skill with even a single Dendro character – including the surprisingly good Dendro Traveler, one of many units who were buffed in update 3.0 – can instantly delete everything nearby. This is one of the strongest and most consistent bugs in Genshin Impact's history, so it's no surprise that developer Hoyoverse is already aware of it. The latest in-game patch notes read: 

"Presently, Dendro cores produced by Bloom reactions would cause some characters' skill effects to be triggered incorrectly. We are diagnosing the issue and will fix the problem in future updates."

It sounds like the Barbara Bloom bug won't be fixed until the release of update 3.1 at the earliest, so enjoy it while you can. 

Genshin Impact 3.1 banners have been announced: Cyno, Nilou, and Candace are coming soon.  

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.