Genshin Impact Progression Guide

Image: Hoyoverse via HGG / Devin Dornbrock

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Penned by Devin Dornbrock

Devin has always been a fan of good writing and compelling visuals. She learned from an early age that video games are the best and most satisfying... Read more

Reviewed by Jeffrey Hsu

Genshin Impact is an absolutely massive game. With content updates coming out roughly every six weeks, it can be pretty daunting to jump into. And that’s before you even get into the time-limited events! Which is why we’ve got a Genshin Impact progression guide to help you map out the most important aspects of the game.

Now let’s get started!

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In the Beginning (Early Game Progression)

There are actually a lot of tips and tricks you should know as a player based on how far you are into the game. Newer players especially can get overwhelmed by everything Genshin has to offer. 

If you’re having a hard time keeping track of it all, don’t sweat it. You’ll learn the most important things as you go, and part of what makes Genshin Impact so fun is that there is always something new to learn. 

Focus on the Story

Early on in the game, the best thing to do is to just follow the story and complete the Archon / World Quests. Those are going to help you get familiar with the game’s plot and explain most of the mechanics. 

Following major quest lines will also naturally progress what you have access to as a player. Quests are the best way to gain experience, both in a literal and figurative sense. Not only will you get a feel for how to play the game, but you’ll also be able to level up your Adventure Rank. You’ll also be introduced to the most important mechanics and systems via short tutorials.

Aside from playing through quests, increasing your Adventure Rank is definitely the next priority. 

Level Up Your Adventure Rank

Leveling up your Adventure Rank (AR) is a must for Genshin Impact beginners. 

Adventure Rank is essentially your level as a player, separate from your characters’ levels. You can check your Adventure Rank through the Adventurer’s Guild by talking to Katheryne. She’s a friendly NPC that can be found at every Adventurer’s Guild location. 

The Adventure Rank system caps out at level 60 and will give you rewards for each new level you achieve. Most of the rewards are things like Mora, EXP items, and Wish tokens, but there are certain milestone levels that will unlock new aspects of the game too. 

Adventure Rank is also the primary way of unlocking new mechanics that aren’t given through World Quests. Most special events are locked behind certain AR tiers as well. Luckily, you won’t need to get all the way to Adventure Rank 60 to get access to everything in Genshin Impact. By the time you get to Adventure Rank 35, you should be able to do pretty much anything in the game. 

Even if you want to take your time playing through the story, it’s a good idea to at least progress to AR 27. 

As long as you don’t slack on your questlines it shouldn’t take too long to get there. Completing quests, exploring the world, and claiming treasures will help you progress smoothly through AR levels, so it’s generally not something you need to stress about.

Get Familiar with the Game

You don’t have to go all-in on the quests or upping your Adventure Rank right off the bat. It’s also important to take some time to explore the game and actually enjoy it too.

Early game is the best time to explore and figure out how it all works. You may not have access to everything just yet, but that’s okay. It’s easier to learn the basics early on and figure out the rest later as you unlock it. 

Right off the bat you’ll have access to the Monstadt region of the game. This is the very first region and where most of the game’s general tutorials take place. The enemies in this region are generally the easiest to fight, and you won’t typically just stumble into boss fights either. 

Get Used to Resin

There are a lot of different resources in Genshin Impact, and it’s really tough to keep track of them all as a new player. As you level up your Adventure Rank and build more powerful characters, one of the most important resources to be aware of is Original Resin.

Original Resin is a renewable resource in the game and is what you spend to obtain rewards related to strengthening your characters. You can spend it on a variety of things from claiming rewards from boss fights to obtaining artifacts and weapon materials from domains. 

On a more meta level, spending Original Resin is also the main reason players regularly log on to Genshin Impact.

Original Resin caps at 160 naturally. Any time you’re below 160 Original Resin, it will automatically accrue up to 160 at a rate of 1 Original Resin every 8 minutes. You’ll also periodically obtain items like Fragile / Transient Resin, which are one-use items that let you regain 60 Resin immediately.

These items can let you go over the 160 Original Resin cap, but you will not naturally accrue more Resin in the meantime. All of that being said, we strongly suggest saving these items until you have a better understanding of the system and reach higher levels.

In the early stages of the game, you’re going to want to get used to spending your Resin on the right things. Don’t worry about farming domains early on, instead focus on challenging bosses to get character ascension materials. This will let you increase the level limits of your characters and unlock more abilities.

As for the actual EXP items used to level up your characters and weapons, simply completing quests and opening up chests that you find along the way will take care of that – all without spending your precious Original Resin.

Hoard Your Primogems

A mistake many new players make is spending their Primogems on the wrong things.

Primogems are the main premium currency in Genshin Impact and are an incredibly valuable resource. One that you will not want to spend willy-nilly. Tons of new players don’t understand just how valuable Primogems are and spend them on refilling their Resin. This is a HUGE mistake!

Primogems are required to use the game’s gacha system to get new characters and weapons, which you will definitely need as you progress through the game. 

Unless you’re willing to pour real money into the game, the only thing you should really be spending your Primogems on are Wishes. More specifically on the Limited-Time Character / Weapon banners. We have an in-depth guide to Wishing here, so you can maximize the value of your Primogems.

Quests and tutorials are a great source of Primogems, so it’s best to collect and hoard them in the early stages of the game. Once you start understanding the game’s mechanics and unlock more regions, then you can safely spend them on characters and weapons you want / need.

What’s Next? (Mid-Game Progression)

Once you’ve made it through the first couple of regions in Genshin Impact, you should have figured out most of the basics. That being said, there’s still a lot to learn.

After getting your sea legs (so to speak), it’s time to start focusing on making the most of what Genshin Impact has to offer to advance your progression. That means polishing up your characters and starting to understand the most efficient ways of getting resources. 

Increase Your World Level

By now, you’ve probably increased your World Level at least a little bit. World Level will automatically increase as you complete Ascension Quests that are necessary to increase your Adventure Rank level. 

If you don’t complete the Ascension Quests your World Level won’t increase… but neither will your Adventure Rank. Thankfully, you’ll still accumulate Adventure EXP though, so you won’t lose out on any EXP. As soon as you complete the Ascension Quest, you’ll gain it all at once.

As for why you want to increase your World Level, you’ll want to do so in order to get better rewards – namely access to rarer, stronger, and more plentiful rewards from defeating enemies and spending Resin.

For mid-game players out there, getting to World Level 5 is a good goal. Doing so will help you clear some of your Adventurer Handbook chapters and get some nice rewards, while also unlocking a reliable source of 5-Star artifacts for your characters. 

The drawback to increasing your World Level though is that the difficulty of the game is going to increase a fair bit. However, increasing your World Level isn’t completely necessary if you’re totally committed to the whole “big fish in a small pond” thing though.

If you want, you can definitely keep it at a lower level. Hoyoverse introduced the option of decreasing your World Level too, so if you do increase it and find the new difficulty too much, you can always go back down. Just be aware that you can only decrease your World Level by 1 level at most from what it’s supposed to be. 

Start Building Your Characters

As you start facing more difficult enemies- especially after leveling up your World- you’re going to want stronger characters. Mashing the attack button probably isn’t cutting it anymore, so it’s time to get familiar with your characters’ strengths. It’s also a good idea to understand how weapons and artifacts can synergize with specific characters.

When building a character there are a lot of things to focus on. Depending on how far you are in the game and what your World Level is at, your priorities for character building will look different. 

For players at World Level 5 and below, you’ll want to focus on the following in order:

• Increase character level
• Find the right weapon
• Increase Talent level 
• Find the right artifact set(s)

Until you unlock Level 90 artifact domains, don’t worry about getting the right artifact pieces just yet. Use what you have on hand already and focus more on leveling up your character and their weapon. That should generally be enough to get you through boss fights and all Archon Quests. 

Get Familiar with Team Comps

A key part of having strong characters in Genshin Impact is to have them on a team that synergizes. The right team compositions can make even your weakest character 100x stronger. Understanding how characters work together is going to be crucial when you reach the higher levels of the game.

Not every character you have is going to be the main damage dealer. A lot of characters don’t actually want to spend much time on the field or in direct combat. They work much better by being swapped in and out quickly after using their Elemental Burst or Elemental Skill. Characters like that are meant to back up and support your main damage dealer, often through Elemental Reactions or buffs / debuffs.

Putting some thought into how your characters interact in combat can help you create incredibly strong teams that make up for each other’s weaknesses. It’s also vital if you want to take on difficult combat challenges in events or the Spiral Abyss. 

When working on your team compositions, keep in mind these key factors:

• Character Talents (even the Passives!)
• Element Types (and the reactions they can trigger)
• Support Abilities

Characters that make strong team comps together will generally have complimentary Talents and diverse Element Types. It’s also very important in most cases to have at least one character that can heal or shield your team to minimize HP loss.

For Veteran Players (Late-Game Progression)

Once you’ve increased your Adventure Rank and made it to the later stages of the game, you can really start refining your game play.

Veteran players who have a ton of hours under their belts and have caught up with plot quests can turn their attention to character showcases and getting the most out of events. Progression at this point in Genshin Impact mainly revolves around maximizing the strength of your teams 100% completing the game.

Time to Level Up

It’s finally time to start using that Fragile Resin you’ve been saving! 

When you get to World Level 6 and above, it’s time to finally start farming artifact domains. Unfortunately, grinding can be a huge pain in the neck, but it’s worth it to get the best artifacts for your characters. 

In late game, the right artifact pieces can be the most important part of your character builds after team compositions. It may take a while to find the right pieces (namely the right substats), but in the end it will be worth it when you can deal 100k+ damage in a single blow, we promise. 

Tackle the Spiral Abyss

A lot of players have given up on the Spiral Abyss in earlier parts of the game. The difficulty increases a lot more quickly here than any other part of the game, so it’s understandable to put it on the backburner. Especially since you’ll need at least eight decently built characters to progress past Floor 5. 

Once you make it through the first 8 Floors into the final four, the rewards renew twice a month and are a pretty decent source of Primogems. That alone definitely makes it a challenge you don’t want to sleep on. 

Which is why it’s much easier to progress in the Spiral Abyss later in the game when you can focus more on tweaking character builds… and actually have a decent number of characters to choose from to form a team.

Explore & Loot EVERYTHING

In the late stages of the game, Teyvat is your oyster. If there are areas you haven’t explored yet or puzzles you skipped over, it’s definitely time to head back to them. Even if your Exploration is at 100%, we can almost guarantee there is something you missed. Especially in the later regions of the game where underground caverns and hidden niches are common.

Whether it be a hidden treasure chest or even an open world trial, there is probably something more for you to do. If you’re looking for something a little more directed, you can also hunt down any lingering -oculi if you’re missing any. 

Certain regions will have more to do even after you’ve hunted down all the -oculi too. The Aranara in Sumeru and special quests in Liyue will keep you busy for some time while you wait for the next Hoyoverse update.

Get Creative in Your Teapot

The Serenitea Pot is a great way to obtain resources with minimal effort on your part, so you’ll definitely want to spend some time on it. Not to mention it’s nice having your own customized living space.

Players should be able to automatically unlock theirs after completing the A Teapot to Call Home: Part I quest. Once you unlock it, you can customize and upgrade it with the help of Tubby the Teapot Spirit. 

While inside the teapot, you can use furnishing blueprints to craft furniture and other decorations to make the place your own.

Aside from being able to customize your own little player home in Genshin Impact, the Serenitea Pot will also allow you to do some other really cool things. Firstly, you can invite playable characters to come live in your teapot. The longer they stay there, the more you’ll be able to level up their Friendship EXP. Which is a fantastic way to passively increase their Friendship level without needing to have them on your team. 

You’ll also have access to the Realm Depot, which will allow you to purchase more furnishings for your realm. You can also buy artifact / weapon enhancement materials, EXP books, and even Resin every week. To make purchases from the Realm Depot you’ll need Realm Currency, which will accrue at varying rates depending on how Tubby ranks your teapot. 

Build your Genius Invokation TCG Deck

For players who really want a change of pace from the usual, they can check out a new game mode entirely. 

If you ever need a break from the open world combat of Teyvat, you can always challenge someone to a card game within the game. Genius Invokation TCG was introduced in Version 3.3 to players who are Adventure Rank 32+ and that have completed Archon Quest Prologue: Act III Song of the Dragon and Freedom. 

NPC players can always be found at the Cat’s Tail tavern in Monstadt, but there are also some NPCs that will play you throughout the major cities of other regions as well. Don’t forget to check out the PvP mode so you can play against other actual players too!

The card game is loosely based on the actual combat system of Genshin Impact with character cards based on actual playable characters and even Elemental Reactions factoring into gameplay.

While playing Genius Invokation TCG is an optional part of Genshin Impact, we do suggest checking it out at least a little bit. There are some Primogem rewards to be gotten if nothing else.

Join the High Ground!

That’s it for our Genshin Impact progression guide! Did you learn something new or have a tip to share? Let us know in the comments below!

For more Genshin Impact guides, you can also check out our guide on the best Spiral Abyss Teams or our guide on the best characters and teams for exploration! 

Until next time, ad astra abyssosque and happy gaming!