Genshin Impact for Beginners: A Practical Starter Guide

What Kind of Game Is Genshin Impact, Really?

Genshin Impact is an open-world action RPG by HoYoverse. You explore a large world called Teyvat, complete quests, fight enemies, and build a roster of characters with different elemental abilities. It runs on mobile (iOS and Android), PC, and PlayStation, with full cross-save between platforms.

It’s free to download and play. The game earns revenue through a gacha system — a randomized banner pull mechanic — where you spend a currency called Primogems to obtain new characters and weapons. Understanding this system, and more importantly knowing when not to use it, is the single most important thing a new player can learn.

Genshin is genuinely playable without spending money. It requires patience, but the free characters and the Primogems you earn through play are enough to clear all story content and most endgame content if you spend them wisely.

The First Hour: What to Actually Do

The tutorial will walk you through the basics of combat and the opening story. Don’t skip it — it introduces the elemental reaction system, which is central to how damage works in this game. But there are a few things the tutorial doesn’t tell you.

Follow the Archon Quest First

Genshin has three types of quests: Archon Quests (the main story), Story Quests (character-specific), and World Quests (side content). For your first week, prioritize Archon Quests. They unlock new regions, new gameplay systems, and — critically — new ways to earn Primogems and upgrade materials. Without progressing the Archon Quest, many of the game’s best features are locked.

Unlock the Statues of the Seven

Scattered across each region are Statues of the Seven — large glowing structures linked to the elemental gods. Activating them extends your Stamina gauge (called Stamina or Resin-adjacent Stam — specifically, Stamina for the overworld, separate from Resin for dungeons). More Stamina means you can climb higher and glide further, opening up the exploration the game is built around. Every time you find one, activate it.

Open Every Chest You See

Treasure chests contain Primogems, upgrade materials, and occasionally weapons. In the early game, they’re the fastest way to accumulate resources. The open world is densely packed with them — behind waterfalls, on rooftops, inside puzzle rooms. Exploration is rewarded directly here.

Understanding Elemental Reactions

Genshin’s combat revolves around combining elements to create reactions that deal bonus damage or debuff enemies. This is what separates Genshin from a simple button-masher.

Key reactions to learn first:

• Vaporize (Hydro + Pyro or Pyro + Hydro): multiplies damage significantly. One of the highest-damage reactions in the game.
• Melt (Cryo + Pyro or Pyro + Cryo): similar to Vaporize, massive damage multiplier.
• Superconduct (Cryo + Electro): reduces enemy Physical resistance, useful for physical damage dealers.
• Swirl (Anemo + any element): spreads an element to nearby enemies, enabling group reactions.
• Freeze (Hydro + Cryo): immobilizes enemies, giving you time to land hits safely.

You don’t need to memorize all reactions on day one. Focus on making sure your team has at least two different elements so reactions happen organically, then learn the specific interactions as you go.

Building Your First Team

Genshin’s team structure is four characters. You’ll switch between them during combat, with each character contributing their unique element and abilities. Early in the game you don’t have many characters to choose from, and that’s fine.

The Free Characters Are Legitimately Good

The game gives you several free characters through story progression and events. Notably:

• Amber (Pyro archer) — free from the tutorial. Not the strongest, but teaches you ranged combat.
• Kaeya (Cryo sword) — free early in Mondstadt. Excellent free unit with solid utility and cryo application.
• Lisa (Electro catalyst) — also free early. Situational but useful for reactions.
• Barbara (Hydro healer) — given to new players who reach Adventure Rank 20. One of the best free healers in the game for early content.
• Xiangling (Pyro polearm) — earnable by clearing Floor 3, Chamber 3 of the Spiral Abyss, a mid-game dungeon. She is genuinely one of the best Pyro characters in the entire game and remains viable in endgame team compositions.
• Collei, Fischl, Beidou, Diona, Razor — various free four-star characters given through events or the Mondstadt Story Quests. All are worth leveling.

A strong starter team using only free characters might look like: Kaeya (Cryo) + Barbara (Hydro healer) + Xiangling (Pyro) + a fourth of your choice. This gives you Vaporize and Melt reactions with solid survivability.

Don’t Level Everyone at Once

Upgrade materials (EXP books, Mora currency, Ascension materials) are limited early. Spreading them across eight characters leaves you with a roster of weaklings. Pick three or four characters and focus all resources on them. A well-built team of four beats a half-built team of ten.

The Resin System: Genshin’s Daily Resource Mechanic

Original Resin is the stamina system for Genshin’s dungeons (Domains) and boss fights. You have a maximum of 160 Resin, which regenerates at 1 per 8 minutes (full regen in about 21 hours). Spending Resin in Domains drops upgrade materials — talent books, weapon ascension materials, and artifact sets.

As a new player, your Resin priorities should be:

1. Talent upgrade materials — from talent Domains. Upgrading your main characters’ talents is one of the highest damage-per-investment improvements you can make.
2. Weapon upgrade materials — if you’re leveling a craftable or free weapon.
3. Artifacts (equipment pieces) — important, but artifact farming is a late-game time sink. In the early game, any artifacts near the right stat categories are fine.

Don’t hold your Resin at cap. It’s a time-gated resource that caps at 160 — every Resin that sits above the cap is wasted regeneration. Log in once or twice a day and spend it.

How to Spend Primogems Wisely

This section matters more than almost anything else for long-term enjoyment of the game.

Understand How the Banner System Works

Pulling on a banner costs 160 Primogems per pull (or an Intertwined/Acquaint Fate). There are three main banner types:

• Limited Character Banners (Event Wish): feature one five-star character with a double 50/50 rate increase. Run for roughly three weeks each. These are where the game’s most unique and powerful characters live.
• Standard Banner (Wanderlust Invocation): permanent, features a rotating set of older characters and weapons. Has no rate-up bonus for a specific character.
• Weapon Banner: features two rate-up five-star weapons. Has a Fate Points system but is generally the least efficient banner for new players.

The pity system guarantees a five-star at 90 pulls and a four-star at 10 pulls. On limited banners, if your first five-star isn’t the featured character, the next five-star is guaranteed to be them (the “50/50” mechanic).

The Practical Advice: Save for Limited Banners

Save your Primogems for limited character banners featuring characters that fit your preferred playstyle. Don’t pull on the standard banner or the weapon banner out of impatience. The standard banner gives no targeting ability, and the weapon banner is notoriously inefficient unless you’re specifically chasing a weapon for a maxed character.

A good rule: build a stockpile of at least 80 pulls (12,800 Primogems) before committing to a limited banner, so you can guarantee the featured character if you hit the 50/50 the wrong way.

Where Primogems Come From Free

• Daily Commissions (4 per day): the most consistent free Primogem source, giving 60 Primogems per day if you complete all four and claim the bonus from the Adventurers’ Guild.
• Archon Quest and Story Quest completion: first-time clears of story content give Primogems.
• Exploration achievements: opening chests, activating Statues, completing puzzle challenges.
• Spiral Abyss: a bi-weekly dungeon challenge that gives Primogems on first clear of each floor.
• HoYoverse codes: HoYoverse occasionally releases redemption codes via their social channels and livestreams. Redeem at genshin.hoyoverse.com/en/gift.

What to Prioritize in Your First Month

1. Reach Adventure Rank 45+ — unlocks the full progression system. Most systems are gated behind AR thresholds.
2. Complete the Mondstadt and Liyue Archon Quests — both regions are packed with Primogems in chests, quests, and achievements.
3. Earn Xiangling from Spiral Abyss — she’s one of the best Pyro supports in the game and she’s free. Clear Floor 3, Chamber 3 as soon as you’re able.
4. Do Daily Commissions every day — 60 Primogems per day adds up to 1,800 per month without doing anything beyond logging in for 10 minutes.
5. Don’t spend Primogems until you know what you want — it’s far better to save for three weeks and get a character you love than to spend impulsively on a banner that expires.

A Note on Third-Party Primogem Sources

You’ll find content online claiming to offer “free Primogem generators” or “unlimited Primogems.” These are scams. HoYoverse has no mechanism for third-party sites to deposit currency into your account. The only legitimate ways to get Primogems are through in-game play, official events, official codes from HoYoverse’s channels, and purchasing Genesis Crystals through the official in-game shop. Any site asking for your account details in exchange for Primogems will steal your account.

Genshin is actually generous with Primogems by gacha game standards — the daily commissions alone give you a meaningful pull rate over time. Patience is the real free-to-play strategy.

For more guides on Genshin and other popular mobile titles, see the HogaToga mobile gaming hub. If you’re just getting started with mobile gaming in general, the how-to section covers setup, accounts, and device optimization guides. And if you want to stay updated when new Genshin banners and codes drop, consider subscribing to our newsletter.