Beginner's Guide

1. Combat basics

Before team building, learn the controls that keep you alive. Dashing (tap the sprint input) grants a short invulnerability window — the i-frame — on the first step, so a well-timed dash dodges almost any telegraphed attack without a shield. Stamina limits how long you can sprint, climb, or glide, which is why raising your stamina cap through Statues of the Seven is a quiet priority in the first region. Climbing drains stamina and drops you if it empties mid-wall, so tap climb rather than holding it on long ascents. Gliding lets you cross gaps and drop from cliffs safely, but it also burns stamina, and plunging into a fight from above deals bonus plunge damage.

Every character has two abilities. The Elemental Skill (usually the E key) has a short cooldown and costs no resource, so you use it on cooldown in every rotation. The Elemental Burst (the Q key) is the big payoff but requires Energy built by hitting enemies and by picking up elemental particles. A unit that never gets its Burst off is a unit wasting half its kit, so manage energy through particle generation and batteries. Normal attacks, skills, and bursts each apply an element, and that element is what drives every reaction in the game.

2. Build a balanced team early

A reliable starter team combines damage with support. Aim for at least one main damage dealer (the carry you attack with most), one sub-DPS who applies a second element off-field, and one shielder or healer for survival. The fourth slot is flexible — a second support, an elemental battery, or a second carry depending on what you own. Early free characters (the Traveler plus the starters from the prologue) are enough to clear most open-world content and several domains.

Do not over-invest Mora and XP books into every character. Pick one 4-star or 5-star carry and pour resources into that unit, its weapon, and later its artifacts. A single built character carries the early game far better than four half-finished ones, and the materials you save can be redirected the moment you pull a unit you prefer. See the character database and the tier list for which free or early units hold up.

3. Learn elemental reactions

Damage in Genshin Impact scales with elemental reactions, not just raw stats. Vaporize (Hydro + Pyro) and Melt (Cryo + Pyro) are amplifying reactions: they multiply the damage of the triggering hit by 1.5x or 2x depending on which element lands last, which is why most top teams are built to set up one of those two. Swirl (Anemo) and Crystallize (Geo) are utility reactions that spread elements or grant shields, while Superconduct, Overloaded, and Electro-Charged deal transformative damage that scales with Elemental Mastery. The Dendro reactions — Bloom, Burning, and Quicken — add a third layer of teambuilding depth. See the element wiki for the full reaction chart and the per-element pages for specifics.

Pairing two elements that react well is almost always stronger than stacking same-element units, because a non-reacting team relies purely on stat inflation. Even a basic Hydro applier plus a Pyro carry will outperform a mono-element squad of similar investment, and it teaches you the reaction order that every late-game team reuses.

4. Adventure Rank and World Level

Adventure Rank (AR) is your account level, and it gates Domains, World Level, events, and co-op. You unlock Daily Commissions at AR 12 and Domains at AR 16, both of which you should engage with immediately. The Archon Quest and the Experience tab of the Adventurer's Handbook are the fastest XP sources early; chests and world quests fill the gaps. At AR 25, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 you hit an Ascension Quest that must be cleared before you can rank further, and clearing it raises your World Level automatically.

World Level controls enemy HP, enemy damage, and drop quality. Do not rush AR for its own sake or trigger an Ascension Quest with an unbuilt squad — the difficulty jump is real and the next story step will punish a level-40 team. Level your carry and one healer or shielder first, then take the quest. A higher World Level is only good if your characters can survive it.

5. Spend Original Resin on progression

Resin is your daily progress currency. It regenerates at 1 point every 8 minutes up to a cap of 160, so a full refill from empty takes 21 hours 20 minutes — and regen stops once capped, which makes logging off at 160 a straight loss. Early on, prioritize talent domains and weapon or boss materials for your main carry, then boss materials for ascensions. Artifact farming is best left until AR 45+, when the domain reward screen is guaranteed to drop at least one 5-star piece. Read the Original Resin guide for the full daily loop and Condensed Resin craft.

6. Plan your wishes

Save Primogems for limited characters you want rather than pulling on the standard banner, which only ever offers a fixed, generally weaker pool. Track your pity with the Pity Calculator so you know how many pulls stand between you and a hard-pity guarantee. A 50/50 means your first 5-star on a limited banner is either the featured character or a standard one; if you lose the 50/50, the next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured unit. Planning pulls around that guarantee is how you actually get the character on the banner, instead of scattering Primogems across every rate-up and ending up with none of them.

7. What to spend Primogems on

The only high-value Primogem sink is the limited character event banner (and, for most accounts, the limited weapon banner only once you have a concrete reason). The standard banner and the permanent roster rarely move your account forward compared to a targeted limited pull. Convert Primogems to Intertwined Fate through the Fates screen, not by buying standard Acquaint Fates you will never use. Resist the temptation to refill Resin with Primogems early — 50 Primogems buys 60 Resin but also buys a third of a wish, and wishes compound while Resin refills for free.

Treat your first guaranteed 5-star as a deliberate decision, not a impulse click. Read who is rate-up, check their build on the character database, and only then commit the Primogems you have saved.

8. What not to do

A handful of habits quietly stall new accounts. Do not rush Adventure Rank past your characters' levels — a higher World Level with a weak squad just makes every fight slower and deadlier. Do not feed 5-star artifacts to other artifacts as fodder; even a bad 5-star is worth keeping or strongboxing, because the enhancement value is not worth destroying a rare drop. Do not skip Statues of the Seven — each one you activate reveals the map, restores HP, and raises your stamina cap, which improves every future exploration session.

Also avoid spreading upgrade materials evenly, pulling a little on every banner, and farming artifact domains before AR 45. None of these are obvious mistakes, but each one cuts your real progression speed in half. Fix those four and an account grows far faster than the raw playtime would suggest.

9. Your first-week checklist

Concrete daily and weekly actions for week one:

• Push the Archon Quest until Daily Commissions and Domains unlock, then run all four commissions every day for the 60-Primogem bonus.
• Activate every Statue of the Seven and teleport waypoint you pass; sweep chests in each starting region.
• Pick one carry, level them and their weapon, and learn their Skill and Burst timing.
• Spend Resin on talent and weapon domains plus boss materials for that carry; ignore artifact domains.
• Save every Primogem for one limited character you actually want; track pity in the calculator.
• Clear the weekly Trounce bosses (first three at the discounted 30 Resin) for talent materials.

10. Explore, but don't rush

Open-world chests, statues, and world quests are your free source of XP, Primogems, and upgrade materials. Unlock teleport waypoints as you go so later farming is fast. Story and character progression unlock naturally through the Archon Quests, and the Experience tab of the Adventurer's Handbook rewards you for strengthening your team, so exploration and progression reinforce each other rather than competing.