If you’ve ever grinded through a tough Spiral Abyss floor alone or gotten lost looking for a specific Liyue specialty, you’ve probably wondered can Genshin Impact be played with friends. The short answer is yes, but co-op play has specific unlock requirements, limits, and hidden perks that most new players miss. I’ve spent hundreds of hours running domains, farming materials, and even messing around in friend’s worlds across PC and mobile, so I’m breaking down everything you need to know to play Genshin with your favorite people without the frustrating missteps. You don’t have to be a high AR player or have meta 5-star characters to have a good time in co-op either, as long as you know the basic rules.
How to Unlock Co-Op When You Want to Play Genshin Impact With Friends
Unlocking co-op is simpler than many new players expect, but there are two non-negotiable requirements you have to hit first. The first is reaching Adventure Rank 16, which usually takes 8 to 12 hours of casual play for new accounts. The second is completing the prologue Archon quest “Song of the Dragon and Freedom” in Mondstadt, which wraps up the first major story arc of the game. A lot of new players rush to grind AR 16 by opening chests and doing side quests, but they forget to progress the main story, delaying their co-op access by days.
One of the best parts of Genshin’s co-op system is that it’s fully cross-platform, with no extra paywalls. You can play with friends on PS5, PC, Android, iOS, and Switch as long as you’re all registered to the same server (America, Europe, Asia, or SAR). You don’t need to pay for any subscription or premium content to access co-op play, even on PlayStation consoles, which is a nice change from most other online multiplayer games. Once you hit both requirements, the co-op icon will pop up in your main menu, and you can start sending friend requests or joining public sessions right away.
What You Can (and Can’t) Do in Genshin Impact Multiplayer Sessions
Genshin’s co-op has clear limits to keep the game balanced for all players, especially for hosts who are opening their world up to others. Most core gameplay activities are available in co-op, but a few story and progression features are locked to solo play only. The most common activities you can do with friends include:
- Farm domains for artifacts, talent books, and weapon ascension materials, with extra bonus rewards for joining or hosting public co-op sessions
- Fight world bosses like Stormterror, Childe, or the Aeonblight Drake to get rare character upgrade items that you can’t get anywhere else
- Collect materials in your friend's world (as long as the host gives you permission, and you stick to the in-game resource limits per visit)
- Run limited-time co-op events, like Misty Dungeon or Hyakunin Ikki, for exclusive primogem, mora, and furnishing blueprint rewards
There are a few key restrictions you should remember to avoid disappointment. You can’t progress Archon quests, story quests, or hangout events in co-op, so you’ll have to finish those solo before you can play with friends. You also can’t open chests tied to the host’s world progression, or use the Parametric Transformer in someone else’s world. If you join a lower AR player’s world, your character levels will be scaled down to match the world’s difficulty, so you won’t be able to one-shot all the enemies for them unless you have a very well-built scaled character. Hosts can kick any player at any time, so always ask before taking rare resources like Cor Lapis or Violetgrass — I learned this the hard way when I got kicked from a world for grabbing three Cecilia flowers without asking first.
Top Tips for a Smooth, Fun Co-Op Experience With Friends
Even if you know the basic rules of co-op, there are small adjustments you can make to make your sessions way more enjoyable for everyone involved. First, coordinate your team comps before you start a domain or boss fight. If your friend is running a main DPS like Diluc or Hu Tao, bring a healer or shielder like Zhongli or Barbara to cut down on run time and avoid party wipes. You don’t all need to run meta DPS characters, and bringing support characters will usually make the run faster than having four DPS characters that all die in two hits.
Running co-op domains cuts your resin cost per run by 50% if you split runs with friends, saving you hundreds of primogems a month on resin refills. Agree on a rotation beforehand where you take turns hosting, so everyone gets equal access to boss drops and world resources. If you don’t want to type or use voice chat, use the in-game ping system to mark enemies, resources, or points of interest in seconds — it’s way faster than typing mid-fight.
You can enable private co-op mode to only let people on your friend list join your world, avoiding random public players dropping in unannounced. This is perfect if you only want to play with people you know, or if you’re in the middle of a story quest and don’t want to be interrupted. Also, don’t grief other players’ worlds by killing their NPCs or messing up their puzzle progress — that’s a quick way to get removed from your friends’ list and reported for bad behavior.
Fun Non-Meta Activities to Try With Genshin Impact Friends
Co-op isn’t just for grinding materials and beating bosses. Some of my best Genshin memories come from silly, unplanned sessions where we didn’t collect a single reward. One of the most popular non-grind activities is hide and seek across Mondstadt, Inazuma, or Sumeru, where players use small characters like Diona or Sayu to hide in hard-to-reach spots. You can set rules like no using elemental skills to make it more challenging, or give prizes to the person who stays hidden the longest.
You can also host screenshot contests at scenic spots like the Wangshuu Inn rooftop, Dragonspine’s peak, or the rainforests of Sumeru, and vote on the best photo of the night. If you’re into fashion, run a character skin show where everyone shows off their favorite outfits and themed team comps. For players who love building, you can decorate your Serenitea Pot together with friends, placing furniture and building themed areas like a Mondstadt tavern or a Liyue garden.
If you’re feeling competitive, you can set up friendly duels in the Serenitea Pot, as long as all players agree to the rules. I host a monthly co-op game night with my Genshin friend group where we skip all grinding entirely and just mess around, and it’s kept me playing the game longer than any new character banner ever has. You don’t have to be focused on progression every time you log on, and co-op is the perfect way to relax after a long week of grinding domains.
At the end of the day, asking can Genshin Impact be played with friends unlocks a whole new layer of fun that you won’t get playing solo, even if you’re the type who prefers to grind alone most of the time. You don’t have to stick to just domains and boss fights either; some of the best parts of co-op are the unplanned, silly moments that you can’t get from solo play. Whether you’re trying to beat a tough new boss or just want to show off your newly built Kazuha, co-op is one of the best parts of the game that’s well worth unlocking when you hit AR 16.