Genshin Impact: Elements Guide
Genshin Impact is a multi-platform Action/RPG created by the Chinese studio MiHoYo. The main task of the game is to complete daily tasks, complete story missions of missions and collect heroes who need to evolve. Each character has the skills of a certain element. Some deal damage from Wind, others from Cryo, Fire, Electricity, etc. Before you start evolving your characters in Genshin Impact, you need to understand the features of the elements. In this guide, we’ll go into more detail on what elements are and how to combine them in one group.
What elements are there in Genshin Impact
We will cover each element in detail in the table below.
Icon | Element name | Description |
Geo | Element of earth | |
Dendro | Element of Nature | |
Electro | Element of Electricity (Lightning) | |
Anemo | Wind Element | |
Pyro | Fire Element | |
Hydro | Water Element | |
Cryo | Cold Element (Ice) |
Hydro, Pyro, Electro and Cryo are the basic elements in the game. The rest of the elements are auxiliary.
Please note: you can find out which element a specific character belongs to in the character menu by looking at the icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
Any basic element, in addition to the inflicted damage, imposes negative effects on the target:
- Cryo. Slows down and reduces the stamina of the enemy;
Fire. Sets the target on fire and causes it to take periodic damage (3 units per 1 sec.); - Electro. Reduces the rate of energy regeneration from the enemy. If an electric shock was inflicted on an enemy standing in the water, then everyone who stands next to him takes damage, including the character;
- Hydro. Applies the Wet effect to the target, making it vulnerable to attacks made with the help of Cryo-elemental skills.
Want to know which elemental heroes are best for your party? Read our characters guide!
How to use Elemental Reactions
You can learn different combinations of elements in order to receive unique effects from them that will help you in battles with different types of enemies.
The combination of elements gives many advantages in battles and greatly simplifies the gameplay of Genshin Impact.
The table below lists all the possible combinations of elements in the game and provides explanations for each of them.
Effect name | Description |
Melt | Appears when combining attacks of the elements of Cryo and Pyro. If you hit the target with Cryo damage first, then Pyro’s next attack will deal 200% more damage to it. In the event that the enemy is first attacked by Fire, the next attack with Cold will deal 150% more damage to him. |
Overloaded | When you alternately use the elemental abilities of Pyro and Electro, a powerful fire explosion occurs, inflicting AOE damage to all nearby enemies. |
Vaporize | Appears when a combination of Hydro and Pyro attacks. If you deal damage from Pyro to the target, then Hydro’s next attack will deal 200% more. On enemies hit by Hydro, Pyro’s damage will be increased by 150%. |
Superconduct | Appears when a combination of Cryo and Electro attacks. The combo creates a massive cryo explosion that deals AOE damage to enemies. |
Frozen | Cryo abilities that deal damage to enemies with the “Wet” effect (from Hydro skills) freeze and immobilize them. |
Burning | The combination of Dendro and Pyro strikes weaken enemies equipped with wooden shields. |
Swirl | Appears when combining the skills Cryo + Hydro, Electro, Pyro or Anemo. Deals heavy AOE damage to a group of enemies. |
Electro-Charged | By combining attacks from Hydro and Electro, the player imposes a negative effect on the target with a long duration that deals damage over time. |
Crystallize | Appears when Geo is combined with Pyro, Electro, Anemo or Cryo. Absorbs part of the enemy’s elemental energy and creates a sphere, picking up which the hero receives elemental damage received (determined by the type of sphere picked up by the character). |
As you can see in the table, if you combine any two different elements, you will usually get a distinct elemental reaction. The exceptions are Anemo and Geo, which will always produce Swirl if you combine Anemo or Crystalize if you combine Geo. Geo and Anemo cannot be combined with each other in any way.
Dendro can currently only be created by enemies and environments in the open world. Currently, no elemental reactions with Dendro are available in the game, except for Burning. Perhaps this will change if a character with the element of Dendro is added to the game.
To increase the effectiveness of the combination of skills of different elements, you need to collect a set of artifacts.
How to use Elemental Resonance
All characters who are in the same squad can use the effects of combinations of Elemental Resonance.
Let’s analyze each of the combinations in more detail:
- The combination of four different elements – increases the character’s resistance to elemental damage by 15%;
- Geo + Geo– reduces the probability of interruption and increases the damage inflicted by the character by 15%, provided that he has a shield at that moment;
- Pyro + Pyro – increases the damage done by 15% and reduces the duration of negative effects from Cryo by 40%;
- Cryo + Cryo – reduces the negative effects of Hydro by 40%;
- Hydro + Hydro – reduces the duration of negative effects from Pyro by 40% and increases healing by 30%;
- Electro + Electro – reduces the duration of negative effects from Electro by 10% and increases the chance of a critical strike against frozen enemies by 15%;
- Anemo + Anemo – speeds up the character’s run by 10%, reduces the cooldown of his skills by 5%, and reduces stamina costs by 15%.
Elements and their combinations are only part of the gameplay. You can find out more information about the game in our beginner’s guide.