If you’ve spent hours wandering Liyue’s mountain paths or fighting Childe in the Golden House alone, you’ve probably asked at some point: can you play Genshin Impact with friends? The short answer is yes, but co-op mode has a few quirks and unlock requirements you need to know before you can jump into domains or hunt bosses with your favorite people. I’ve been running co-op sessions with my group of 4 regular players for nearly 3 years, so I’ve picked up all the hacks to make sessions run smoothly, avoid annoying glitches, and get the most out of every minute you spend playing together. You don’t have to stick to solo grinding forever, and co-op can make even the most tedious ascension material farms feel fun.
How to Unlock Co-Op If You’re Wondering Can You Play Genshin Impact With Friends
The first thing you need to know is that co-op mode is not available from the start of the game. You cannot access co-op mode until you reach Adventure Rank 16, no exceptions. HoYoverse put this restriction in place to make sure new players learn basic combat, quest, and exploration mechanics before they join other people’s worlds, which prevents a lot of frustration for both new players and their more experienced friends. For most casual players, hitting AR 16 takes between 4 and 6 hours of focused play, as long as you stick to archon quests and ignore side content until you unlock co-op. You don’t have to complete the entire Mondstadt archon quest line to hit the rank requirement, but you do need to finish the initial prologue missions that introduce you to the Seven Elements and the city of Mondstadt.
Once you hit AR 16, a small co-op icon will pop up in the top left corner of your screen, right next to your map icon. Tapping or clicking this icon will pull up your co-op menu, where you can search for friends’ worlds, send join requests, or adjust your own world permissions. You don’t have to complete any extra quests or unlock any specific items to activate co-op once you hit the required rank, it will unlock automatically the second you hit AR 16.
Cross-Play Rules for Genshin Impact Co-Op Sessions
One of the best parts of Genshin Impact’s co-op mode is that it supports full cross-play across nearly every platform the game is available on. Whether you play on PC, PlayStation 4/5, iOS, Android, or Nintendo Switch, you can play with friends who are on any other supported platform, no extra steps required. You don’t need an active console online subscription (like PS Plus or Nintendo Switch Online) to play Genshin Impact co-op, which is a common misconception that stops a lot of console players from trying multiplayer mode. The only cross-play restriction you need to worry about is server locks.
Genshin Impact has 4 main regional servers: North America, Europe, Asia, and SAR (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan). You can only play with friends who are on the same server as you, and you cannot transfer your existing account between servers. If you accidentally picked the wrong server when you first signed up for the game, the only way to play with friends on a different server is to make a brand new account on their server. You can check what server your account is on from the initial login screen, right before you enter your game, so double check that before you grind for hours on the wrong server. Cross-save is also supported across all platforms except PlayStation, so you can switch between PC and mobile and still join the same friend group’s sessions without losing progress.
Fun Activities You Can Do With Friends in Genshin Impact
Once you get co-op unlocked, there are dozens of different activities you can do with your friends, from productive farming sessions to silly, no-goal hangouts. Some of the most popular co-op activities include:
There are a few things you can’t do in co-op, though. You can’t progress archon quests or story quests together, you can’t open certain story-locked chests, and only the host can pick up most overworld collectibles like dandelion seeds or cor lapis. If you’re farming for ascension materials, take turns being the host so everyone gets a chance to collect the materials they need. I once spent an entire 2 hour session with my friends just doing Windtrace and racing gliders across Inazuma’s islands, and we didn’t farm a single material the whole time, and it was still one of my favorite Genshin sessions ever.
Common Co-Op Mistakes to Avoid for Better Sessions
Co-op is pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it, but there are a few common mistakes that can ruin sessions for everyone involved. The first mistake is joining a friend’s session with a team that doesn’t match their needs. If the host is running a pyro hypostasis fight, don’t bring a pyro main, that just makes the enemy’s shield way harder to break and drags the fight out for everyone. Always ask the host what team composition they need before you join their session to avoid wasting everyone’s time. If you’re not sure what to bring, a healer or shielder is almost always a safe bet that every group will appreciate.
Another common mistake is AFK-ing in the middle of a domain run or leaving without saying anything. Nothing is more annoying than carrying a 3-person domain because one person decided to step away to answer the door without warning. If you need to leave mid-session or step away for a minute, just type a quick message in the in-game chat first, it only takes a second and it saves everyone a lot of frustration. You also should never mess with the host’s world without permission: don’t go around harvesting all their limited ascension materials, start boss fights they didn’t agree to, or pull enemies into their camp while they’re trying to cook or craft items.
Finally, don’t forget about world level scaling if you’re a higher rank player joining a lower rank friend’s world. If you’re AR 55 joining an AR 20 friend’s world, all enemies will scale to your level, which will make it impossible for your lower-rank friend to contribute to fights at all. You can lower your world level temporarily in your settings to match your friend’s rank so everyone can have fun instead of you carrying every single fight. You can adjust your world level right from the main menu, and you can switch it back immediately after you leave your friend’s world with no penalty.
At the end of the day, asking can you play Genshin Impact with friends opens up a whole new layer of fun in a game that can feel pretty isolating when you’re grinding alone. Even if you only jump into co-op once a week to run domains with your friends, it can make the grind for artifacts and ascension materials feel far less like a chore. Just remember to follow the unwritten co-op etiquette, check server and rank requirements before you try to join a friend, and don’t be afraid to mess around and have silly, non-productive sessions too. After all, half the fun of exploring Teyvat is getting to share the weird, wonderful moments with people you enjoy playing with.