Genshin Impact tips: 7 things you need to know when adventuring in Teyvat

genshim Impact tips
(Image credit: miHoYo)

With such a big RPG to explore, a few Genshin Impact tips are going to smooth your journey into this gacha open world full of quests, primogems and wishes. Think Zelda: Breath of the Wild mixed with Dragon's Quest but even more anime. There's a big map to explore, regular events to boost your winnings and basically a lot of stuff to do. Some Genshin Impact tips are definitely going to make life easier. 

Certainly don't be fooled by that cute cartoon style. There's a massively deep and intertwined networks of systems, rewards and mechanics that aren't always explained. Plus things that can be easily missed with all there is to take in. For a first time player there's a lot to process, so these Genshin Impact tips will make everything a little more welcoming. 

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Concentrate on Adventure Points instead of XP at the start

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Usually in an RPG it's all about leveling up your character, but Genshin Impact has two systems of progression that are equally important. Your characters level up with XP, but Adventure Points and your Adventure Rank are what gatekeep a lot of the story missions. So one of our top Genshin Impact tips is that in-order to be able to keep tearing through the story of Stormterror the dragon and looking for your missing sibling you'll want to focus on the activities that add to your Adventure Rank. You'll need to hit Adventure Rank 20 to unlock all of the game's features. 

You'll earn plenty of XP just by burning, zapping and wind-blading monsters as you explore, and you can also find items like Wanderer's Notes to boost your character rank.  Adventure Points, meanwhile, are easy to rack up as long as you exhibit slightly more curiosity than a dead hedgehog. You'll get them from unlocking teleport points, opening chests, and making offerings to the Statue of the Sevens that are dotted around the world. Exploring this way - checking out every chest that appears on the map - will mean you won't hit a bottleneck as you're crashing through the main story. 

Explore and experiment - nearly everything has a purpose

(Image credit: miHoYo)

The huge open world of Genshin Impact is packed with stuff. Animals frolic, birds flap overhead, and lakes are full of fish. The thing to remember is everything in this game is there for a reason. Everything has a use in cooking, alchemy, or quests, and like Breath of the Wild, every odd formation of rocks hides a secret. That means it's worth exploring because you'll be rewarded in some way for poking around. If you can't see an obvious reward, try using your party's elemental powers to reveal the hidden treat. See some pretty dandelions? Try a wind attack. Unlit torch sitting in a field? Well that's just begging for a pyro character to set it ablaze. 

Swap your Genshin Impact party members during battle to layer on the damage

(Image credit: MiHoYo)

One of the most crucial Genshin Impact tips is to swap your characters a lot during battle. Yes, we all want to stay faithful to sexy librarian Lisa, but swapping - as easy as hitting the D-pad - lets you pile on different elemental effects to do maximum damage. Get Amber's pyro arrows to start a fire, then swap characters and whip them into a tornado with a wind attack and prepare for carnage. As you build up a choice of party members you'll want to make sure you have a good mix of elements, and you get different buffs - like 15 percent elemental resistance for four unique elements - depending on your combination. 

Check the Genshin Impact menus for rewards you might have missed

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We're not trying to suggest you're some sort of short-sighted noob or anything, it's just that Genshin Impact has a lot of menus with a lot of features, and it's easy to skip over the bits that are hiding little gifts for you. Ferret around in the menu as much as possible and you'll find a heap of rewards you might have missed. It's not the most intuitive system, but hidden in your mailbox, achievements and adventure log will be plenty of treats you can claim. 

Focus on Genshin's Impact main story to unlock more heroes

(Image credit: MiHoYo)

Genshin Impact is a gacha game, but you don't have to do a single pull to unlock enough heroes for a versatile party - you just have to play through the story. As you play through, many of the characters you meet will automatically be added to your selection of heroes. You can always augment your group with random pulls, but it's not at all necessary at the start. If you're really desperate to get more choice early on, you can use the Wish System. Hidden in the menu this is the Gacha part of the game, essentially loot boxes - but you can use currency you earn in game to get new weapons and characters. Just make sure you save up your resources until you can get a bundle of ten, because the odds mean that with ten you're guaranteed a four star character or weapon. 

Forget your fear of heights and falling to your death Climb!

(Image credit: MiHoYo)

You can climb almost anything in Genshin Impact, but it's easy to forget and settle back into the usual rhythm of tottering around the world like a boring old groundwalker. So another great Genshin Impact tip is that when you see something high up, scout out a few resting points in first-person mode, then start scaling. Even if you don't find anything interesting at the top (which is unlikely) all that height will let you glide far enough to make up for whatever time you spent climbing.

Go for precision strikes in combat

(Image credit: MiHoYo)

Headshots aren't just for first-person shooters. It's usually worth your while to start off combat with a ranged character (like Amber, your archer friend) since they can land a few precision strikes to capitalize on the distance between them and their enemies. Also consider climbing - yes, it's that important - to get a better shot before you engage. The game also likes to kindly leave explosive barrels near some enemy camps, which can just give you the edge before the enemy even realizes the battle has started. 

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.