Teyvat’s beauty hides its challenges, and new travelers often stumble before they shine. These eight beginner tips will help you avoid early mistakes, save resources, and build a team strong enough to face anything the game throws your way.
Our Genshin Impact beginner’s guide provides some tips that will help you successfully navigate the world of Teyvat, using the knowledge we’ve gained from our years of playing the game.
Pick up everything
Collect every item you see, no matter how small it seems. Flowers, fruits, ores, and enemy drops all serve a purpose later-whether for cooking, crafting, or character upgrades. Many resources respawn over time, so gathering regularly builds a steady supply. Even common materials can save you from running short during quests or while enhancing weapons and artifacts.
As you walk around, you’ll notice sparkling environmental items just about everywhere. You have an inventory limit of 10,000, so just pick up everything you can. Flowers, food ingredients, and other items that might seem useless will be useful down the line to craft into various foods and power-ups for your characters.
Flowers and some other ascension materials only respawn after a certain number of real life days, so you don’t want to be in a situation where you have to wait real time to upgrade your characters. You’ll be glad you don’t have to go out of your way to find these items down the line.
If you plan on going hard in exploration, keep tabs on what you’ve found
If you plan to explore every corner of Teyvat, keeping track of your discoveries can save you plenty of time later. Mark resources, puzzles, and chests on your map so you don’t lose track of areas you want to revisit. Many players overlook hidden spots or forget where they found rare materials, so making notes or using the in-game pins helps a lot. This habit makes your exploration smoother and ensures nothing valuable slips past you.
If you love solving puzzles, cracking open chests, and nabbing collectables, then good news: Genshin is a great game for you. However, if you’re looking to really grab everything, you’ll want to start keeping tabs on what you’ve found as soon as you start. We recommend using this unofficial fan-made interactive map to do so. (We like it because users can leave comments, often helping you figure out puzzle solutions or where items are, if you’re feeling lost.)
Take a minute to think about team building
Each character in Genshin Impact has unique abilities, elements, and weapon types, so mixing them wisely can make battles much smoother. Try pairing characters whose skills support each other-such as a Hydro character who can trigger reactions with a Pyro or Electro teammate. Building a balanced party with both damage dealers and support roles helps you handle every situation, whether you’re fighting strong bosses or exploring new regions. Experiment with different combinations to find what fits your playstyle best.
There are multiple things you need to know when going into team building. For one, your team should usually involve one character who mainly focuses on dishing damage, two characters that help support that damage in some form, and one character that will help sustain your team with healing or shielding. Different characters fit into different roles and while you can get away with running whatever you want early on, harder content might end up stumping you if you don’t have a proper team set up.
The second thing you need to consider is their elemental resonance and reactions. Having more elements doesn’t mean your team is necessarily better, as the elements interact with each other differently, and having two of any element on your team provides a unique buff. Mixing Cryo (ice) and Hydro (water) will freeze enemies, but mixing Cryo with Electro (electricity) will decrease the enemies physical damage resistance. There’s a lot here, so you can mix and match a ton of characters to create worthwhile effects.
Don’t forget to build your characters
Building your characters should be one of your main priorities from the beginning. Level up their stats, improve their weapons, and upgrade their talents regularly to keep up with tougher enemies. Make sure to collect materials from the open world or weekly bosses to support their growth. A balanced team with various elemental abilities will help you handle more challenges and keep battles smoother as you progress.
As you blast through the story, you might forget to level up your characters, their weapons, and their artifacts (equipment). Much more, characters do have specific weapons and artifact sets that work best on them, so if you have access to these, you should use them. Don’t just slap whatever you picked up off the ground on them without giving the items some thought!
That being said, it can be pretty hard to parse all the game jargon in the equipment descriptions, so we recommend using guides to help you sort out your character builds. Keqing Mains is our build site of choice, maintained by people who crunch the numbers and put in the time to recommend what’s best.
Your characters don’t need to be built to 100% efficiency – there’s plenty of free-to-play options to equip your characters with, so don’t fret too much about it.
Co-op is your friend, especially earlier on
Co-op is a great help early on, letting you share the load, learn faster, and enjoy story moments together as you figure out the basics.
The domains you have to fight your way through to get artifacts and upgrade materials from can be hard early on, especially if you don’t have these characters built – and you need to clear these to build the characters, so it becomes a bit of bizarre ouroboros of a problem. Don’t be afraid to hit that co-op button, which will match you with other players that can help carry you make it through these domains easily.
Prioritize completing limited-time events
Limited-time events often give valuable rewards that help new players progress faster, such as upgrade materials, Primogems, and unique characters or weapons. These events usually rotate every few weeks, so missing them can mean waiting a long time for a second chance. Check the event menu regularly, complete daily challenges, and prioritize event missions before focusing on slower, permanent tasks like farming domains or exploring new regions.
Unlike its sibling games, Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero, once a Genshin Impact event ends, it’s gone. Even if it was a flagship event with lots of lore in the cutscenes – it’s gone and there’s no way to replay it. That being said, the limited-time rewards from these events are typically pretty good. Some events have dropped best-in-slot weapons for characters alongside its usual handful of Primogems and upgrade materials, so they’re worth doing. Some events will even give free four-star characters, helping you flesh out your roster, so you’ll definitely want to make sure to participate in these events before they’re gone forever.
Plan your gacha pulling responsibly
Gacha banners can be tempting, but your resources are limited. Before spending Primogems, check which characters or weapons are currently featured and decide if they fit your playstyle. Saving for future banners often pays off more than pulling impulsively. Keeping a clear goal helps you avoid regret and ensures that your progress feels rewarding instead of rushed.
If you are staring at that new, shiny character in the gacha “wish” banner with glossy eyes, with nothing by a few thousand Primogems in your pocket, you should prepare for the worst. It will take at most, 180 wishes (28,800 Primogems) to bring a five-star character or weapon home, guaranteed. While you may get lucky and win your coin flips to win the right prize and win it early, you should always be prepared for the “what if” you don’t get what you want.
We recommend saving your Primos for the characters or weapons you really want. While we cannot outright tell you whether or not you should spend money in this game to help you get what you want, we will remind you that this is gambling, and things can snowball very quickly if you’re not careful.
Take your time
Patience pays off in Genshin Impact. The game rewards steady progress, so don’t rush through quests or regions. Take time to learn character abilities, explore each area carefully, and gather resources at your own pace. Experiencing the story, mastering combat mechanics, and building a balanced team will make your adventure far more enjoyable than chasing quick results.
At this point, Genshin Impact is a huge game and it’ll take hundreds of hours at this point to catch up to everything. There are side quests that can take a dozen hours to complete, thousands of collectables, and so much other optional side content, that it’ll make your head spin if you’re rushing to just catch up. Set reasonable goals and pace yourself. “Catching up” fully in Genshin Impact is no easy feat, and if you’re looking to do so, you don’t want to burn yourself out.
If you’re looking for more to do in Genshin Impact, we have tons of guides to get you started. Our early Genshin Impact guides will list out the free characters you can get, how their elemental reactions work, and explain the battle pass to you.
Best starter team compositions for early game
For early game, focus on free characters you get from the story and wishes, and build around clear roles: main DPS, sub-DPS/supports, and a healer/shielder. I’ll list a few strong starter teams using mostly free or very common 4-stars.
Classic early starter (mostly free)
Use this as soon as you have four characters:
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Traveler (Anemo or Geo) – on-field DPS and swirl/crystalize reactions.
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Kaeya – fast Cryo application, good damage, and built-in self-healing from his talent.
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Lisa – Electro sub-DPS for Superconduct, Overload, and Electro-Charged setups.
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Barbara or Noelle – main healer (Barbara) or tanky shielder/healer (Noelle), both are free for new players.
This team gives you all basic roles, multiple elements for puzzles, and enough survivability to clear main story and early bosses without trouble.
Safe and comfy beginner team
If survivability feels more important than damage for you:
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Noelle – on-field tank/DPS with shield and healing.
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Xiangling – strong off-field Pyro damage from Guoba and her burst.
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Xingqiu (if you pull him) or Barbara – Hydro support and extra healing.
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Traveler – flexible element plus extra damage and crowd control (Anemo).
This setup is very forgiving; you can face-tank many mistakes while learning dodges and elemental reactions.
Reaction-focused early team
Once you understand reactions and want faster clears:
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Main DPS: Xiangling (or your strongest 4-star/5-star DPS if you have one).
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Support 1: Xingqiu or Barbara (Hydro) for Vaporize with Xiangling.
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Support 2: Kaeya or Rosaria (Cryo) for Melt and Superconduct for physical hits.
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Healer/shield: Noelle or a dedicated healer like Barbara if you didn’t use her already.
Rotate supports to keep elements on enemies, then swap to your main DPS to trigger powerful reactions.
Element-coverage exploration team
For exploring puzzles and overworld content early:
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Pyro: Amber or Xiangling (torches, shields, melting ice).
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Cryo: Kaeya (freeze water, Cryo puzzles).
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Electro: Lisa (Electro totems, batteries).
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Flex: Traveler or Barbara/Noelle, depending on whether you want utility or sustain.
This isn’t the strongest combat team but is very handy when you’re unlocking waypoints and solving world puzzles.
General rules for early teams
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Always have: 1 main on-field DPS, 1 healer/shielder, 1-2 supports with different elements.
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Don’t over-invest: focus resources on 4-6 characters you like instead of spreading thin.
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Element variety matters more than perfect “meta” early; aim to cover Pyro, Hydro, Cryo, and Electro when possible.
If you tell me which characters you currently own, I can propose 2-3 optimized team comps tailored exactly to your account.
How to build artifacts for early game teams
For early game, keep artifacts simple: focus on correct main stats and cheap sets, and don’t seriously farm high-level domains until later Adventure Ranks.
1. General early-game rules
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Do not spend much Resin in artifact domains before around AR40-45; your priority is leveling characters, weapons, and talents.
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Use whatever 3-4★ pieces you get from chests, quests, and low-level domains, then replace them as you find better main stats.
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A 3★ artifact with the right main stat is better than a 4★ or 5★ with the wrong one at this stage.
2. Main stat cheat sheet
For almost all early teams:
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Flower: Always HP – accept any, just use the highest rarity/level.
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Feather: Always ATK – same as Flower, just equip your best.
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Sands (hourglass): ATK% on damage dealers; Energy Recharge% on supports who need burst often; Elemental Mastery if they mostly trigger reactions.
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Goblet (cup): Elemental DMG% (Pyro/Hydro/etc.) for ability-based DPS, Physical DMG% for physical carries, ATK% if you don’t have a good bonus goblet yet.
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Circlet (crown): Crit Rate% or Crit DMG% for main DPS; ATK% or Healing Bonus/HP% for healers and supports, depending on their scaling.
Aim for ATK% as a “safe” main stat on Sands/Goblet/Circlet if you are unsure.
3. Simple early sets to use
You don’t need perfect 4-piece sets early; 2-piece bonuses are enough:
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ATK% sets: Resolution of Sojourner, Brave Heart, Martial Artist – good for almost any DPS because +18% ATK or Normal/Charged Attack buffs are universally useful.
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Crit/DMG sets: Berserker (2-piece: Crit Rate +12%) is excellent for early main DPS.
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Support/utility: Instructor (Elemental Mastery) for reaction-oriented supports, The Exile or Scholar for Energy Recharge supports.
Mix 2-piece ATK% with 2-piece Crit or EM/ER depending on their role.
Example: early Xiangling → 2-piece ATK% set + 2-piece Berserker; early reaction support Lisa → 2-piece Instructor + 2-piece Exile.
4. How much to level artifacts
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Level only a few key artifacts per character: Sands, Goblet, Circlet for your main DPS, maybe +4 to +8 on each.
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Supports and healers can often stay with low-level artifacts; just give them correct main stats.
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Avoid pushing early 3-4★ artifacts beyond +8-+12 unless it massively boosts your only main DPS, because you’ll feed them into better 5★ pieces later.
5. Role-based quick templates
Use these for any early team:
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Main DPS (on-field attacker):
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Flower/Feather: highest rarity, any substats.
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Sands: ATK%.
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Goblet: Elemental DMG% or Physical DMG% (or ATK% as fallback).
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Circlet: Crit Rate% (or ATK% if no crit).
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Burst/skill support:
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Sands: Energy Recharge% or ATK%.
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Goblet: Elemental DMG% if they deal damage, HP%/DEF% if they are pure utility and scale that way.
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Circlet: ATK%, HP%, or Healing Bonus depending on their talents.
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Healer/shielder:
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Prioritize HP% or ATK% depending on scaling (e.g., Barbara/Noelle scale heavily with HP/DEF/ATK from talents).
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Healing Bonus circlet is good if you get one, but HP% is fine.
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If you tell me your main DPS and a couple of supports (e.g., “Traveler, Xiangling, Barbara, Kaeya”), I can give you exact Sands/Goblet/Circlet choices and easy sets for each.
