Starting a Genshin Impact playthrough can feel overwhelming when you first wash up on Mondstadt’s shore, with hundreds of quests, characters, and hidden mechanics to unpack. I remember my first week playing, I wasted 12 fragile resin on low-level artifact domains, leveled 7 different characters to level 40 without a single core build, and spent all my primogems on the standard banner just to get a three-star sword. After three years of playing and walking more than a dozen friends through their first few months in Teyvat, I’ve pulled together the most useful tips that would’ve saved me dozens of hours of regret.
Core Mechanics to Master Early in a Genshin Impact Playthrough
You don’t need to memorize every single elemental reaction within your first hour, but learning the basics will make every fight feel far less frustrating. Elemental reaction damage always outpaces plain attack damage, even if your character has lower overall stats. For example, a level 20 Xiangling using pyro to trigger vaporize with a level 20 Xingqiu’s hydro attacks will hit harder than a level 30 character with no reaction support.
You also don’t need to level every character you pull right away. Prioritize 2 to 3 core damage dealers first, and only level support characters when you have extra materials to spare. Wasting hero’s wit and mora on characters you’ll never use in your main teams will leave you stuck when you hit level 30 and can’t beat story bosses.
Resin, the game’s energy resource for domains and bosses, is another mechanic you should learn to use wisely early on. You get 180 resin per day that regenerates automatically, and you don’t want to waste it on low-tier rewards. Before adventure rank 45, stick to farming character and weapon ascension materials, talent books, and mora leylines. You won’t get guaranteed golden artifacts until you hit AR45, so there’s no point wasting resin on artifact domains before then.
How to Save Primogems Without Spending Real Money
Primogems are the most valuable resource in the game, since they let you wish for new characters and weapons. You don’t need to spend real money to get top-tier characters, either – free-to-play players can earn around 14,000 primogems per version update, enough for almost 90 wishes, if they complete all available content.
First, skip the standard banner except for the first 20 pulls. The beginner banner only requires 20 discounted pulls to get a guaranteed free Noelle, and you should never pull on the standard banner after that. Limited-time character and weapon banners give you way better value, since you can target specific characters you want instead of getting random pulls that might not fit your team.
There are tons of free primogem sources most new players miss, too. Here are the most consistent ways to stock up without spending a cent:
- Daily commissions (60 Primogems per day, plus extra rewards from the Adventurer’s Guild when you turn them in)
- Limited-time event challenges (up to 12,000 Primogems per full version update for 100% completion, plus free characters and weapons)
- Exploration rewards (chests, Shrine of Depths keys, and Statue of The Seven level ups give hundreds of primogems per region)
- Spiral Abyss star rewards (up to 600 Primogems every two weeks for clearing floors 9 through 12)
Don’t forget to link your game to an email and enable notifications, either. The devs often send out free primogem codes after live streams or for server maintenance, and they usually expire within 24 hours. You can easily get 300 to 600 extra primogems per month just from redeeming these free codes.
Common Mistakes New Players Should Avoid
One of the biggest mistakes I see new players make is using their fragile resin before AR45. Fragile resin gives you 60 extra resin per use, and saving all of them until you unlock guaranteed golden artifacts will let you gear up your main team far faster than using them early for minimal rewards. I wasted 20 fragile resin when I was AR25, and I still kick myself for it when I’m grinding artifact domains for hours looking for a good crit rate piece.
Another mistake is feeding high-rarity artifacts to low-rarity ones just to level them up fast. Keep every golden artifact you get, even if the substats look bad at first. You might get a new character later that fits that artifact’s main stat perfectly, and you’ll waste way more mora farming new artifacts than you would saving the ones you already have.
You also don’t have to rush through the main story as fast as possible. Wandering around and exploring hidden areas, completing side quests, and collecting ingredients for cooking will make your playthrough far more enjoyable, and you’ll get tons of extra rewards along the way. For example, the Aranara side quest chain in Sumeru takes a few hours to complete, but it gives you over 1,000 primogems, dozens of hero’s wit, and a free four-star sword.
Don’t sleep on cooking and crafting, either. Food buffs can give you 20% extra attack, 30% extra crit damage, or even instant revives for your entire team, and they’re way cheaper to make than pulling for new characters or upgrading weapons. Always keep a stack of attack and crit buff food in your inventory for boss fights and Spiral Abyss runs.
How to Build a Functional Team for All Content
You don’t need five 5-star limited characters to beat every piece of content in the game. Some of the strongest teams in the game are made entirely of free 4-star characters that every player can get for free. The popular “national team” – Xiangling, Xingqiu, Bennett, and Sucrose – can clear the highest level of Spiral Abyss even with all characters at C0, no 5-star weapons required.
Every good team follows the same basic structure: one main damage dealer, one sub damage dealer, one support character for buffs or elemental resistance shred, and one survival character for heals or shields. Never build a team without a survival character, no matter how much damage your other characters do. You’ll spend more time reviving dead characters than actually fighting, and you’ll waste tons of food in the process.
You don’t have to follow meta team builds if you don’t want to, either. If you really love a character that’s considered “bad” by the community, build them anyway. I’ve seen players clear Spiral Abyss with teams made entirely of playable cat characters, just because they liked the vibe. The meta changes every few months, but liking the characters you play with will always make the game more fun.
That said, if you are stuck on a boss or a Spiral Abyss floor, try switching up your elemental reactions. Teams that trigger vaporize, melt, aggravate, or hyperbloom will always do more damage than teams that only use one element. Even swapping one character out to add a new element to your team can make a fight that took you 10 tries feel easy on your first attempt.
At the end of the day, a Genshin Impact playthrough is meant to be fun first, so don’t stress too much about perfect builds or clearing Spiral Abyss as fast as possible. These tips are just here to help you avoid the most common frustrations new players face, so you can spend more time doing the parts of the game you love, whether that’s exploring hidden caves, pulling for your favorite characters, or beating tough boss fights. Take your time, and enjoy your trip through Teyvat.