Genshin Impact Version 4.1 is only a few days away; now’s your last chance to prepare. The update is bringing a lot of new content to the game: a new part of the Fontaine region, two new 5-star characters, six new weapons, story and side quests, and more are all coming soon. And while you don’t have much time before the patch drops, there are still plenty of things you can do before the fall 2023 update. We’ll discuss them in this guide.
Related: Genshin Impact Update 4.1: New Story, Characters, Gear, the Third Anniversary, and More
Complete All Available Fontiane Archon Quest Content
It goes somewhat without saying, but if you’re at a place in Genshin Impact where you can take on Adventure Rank 40 content and haven’t yet completed Fontaine’s Archon Quest Chapter IV, Parts I and II, do so now. We’ll be getting two new chapters in 4.1, and if Fontaine follows Sumeru, there will only be two more before the next interlude. Keeping up with the Archon Quest is also a good way to explore more of the map if you haven’t spent much time in Fontaine yet, and it’s a relatively easy source of materials, currency, and even Primogems if nothing else.
Farm Level and Ascension Materials for New Characters
Probably the most laborious task before any update with new characters, farming experience books, and ascension materials is about as significant a grind as Genshin has. Depending on your current stock, I recommend spending about a 70-30% split between ascension mats and EXP books, as farming the latter is much more tedious than the former.
As for what to farm, you need the following mats for the four 4.1 limited event characters:
- Neuvillette: 420,000 Mora, 100+ Varunda Lazurite Sliver (and its upgrades), 46 Fontemer Horn, 168 Lumitoile, 200+ Transoceanic Pearl (and its upgrades)
- Hu Tao: 420,000 Mora, 100+ Agnidus Agate Sliver (and its upgrades), 46 Juvenile Jade, 168 Silk Flower, 200+Whopperflower Nectar (and its upgrades)
- Wriothesley: 420,000 Mora, 100+ Shivada Jade Sliver (and its upgrades), 46 Tubion Devices, 168 Subdetection Unit, 200+ Meshing Gear (and its upgrades)
- Venti: 420,000 Mora, 100+ Vayuda Turquoise Sliver (and its upgrades), 46 Hurricane Seed, 168 Cecilia, 200+ Slime Condensate (and its upgrades)
Finish Limited-Time Events and Farm Primogems
If you haven’t finished any of the active events, be sure to do so, at least for the Primogems they offer. Once that’s done, you’re free to do literally anything else for Primos, provided you’ve saved activities and reward sources in the world. Treasure chests, Achievements, Sacred Tree upgrades — if it awards Primogems, now’s the time to do it. I don’t recommend completely exhausting your supply of chests or Primogem-awarding quests, as you can use them as a bank of sorts for future content.
You should also take this time to either finish or continue playing Spiral Abyss (yes, I know, it’s boring to the extreme) to get as many Primos as you can. If you haven’t been able to clear all of floors 9-12, at least do what you can. Every extra 50 Primogems is 50 you didn’t have before.
Pull for Current Limited Time Characters/Weapons if You’d Like
If none of the new characters entice you, but you’re missing either Zhongli or Tartaglia (Childe) and want either or both of them, feel free to spend a few thousand Primogems on them now to see if you can land them. Best case: you win the 50/50 pity and have a shiny new Support or Main DPS to play with. If you lose the 50/50 or don’t quite reach your guaranteed 5-star, consider those pulls banked for a character you do want.
If you have Childe/Zhongli already but not their signature weapons, now’s the time to do it. Genshin Impact character and weapon reruns are on a roughly six-month rotation, but that timeframe is bound to extend as more and more characters enter the limited event pool. The same is true of signature weapons banners, so strike while the iron is hot.
Activate Fontaine’s Available Fast Travel Points
You don’t need to complete every Fontaine quest and piece of side content, but having all of its Teleport Waypoints and Statues of the Seven active will likely make your life quite a bit easier. The new region that becomes available with Genshin Version 4.1 is probably fairly large, but not Sumeru Desert large. And until we have the entire region unlocked after 4.2 or 4.3, I would put money on us needing to go back to the base version of the region at least a few times. Having all the fast travel available will make finishing the Archon Quest at least a more comfortable proposition.
Build or Optimize Any Characters You Want to Take Into the Story
Unless you’re an ultra-veteran, it’s a good idea to continue building your one or two main teams so you can take on the new challenges awaiting in the 4.1 update version of Fontaine. There are two new bosses with new strategies to unpack, new enemy types to overcome, and likely some tough fights during the story quest, as well. Having one or two teams you’ve invested a lot of time and resources in will ensure nothing can stop you from enjoying the new content.
Focusing on only a few characters also helps keep you from spreading your resources too thin. Better to have a small group of powerful, optimized teams you can take into any content than having more than a dozen characters that work but aren’t the best they can be. If you pull for a new character, you will, of course, need to spend some of those resources to get them up to snuff. However, if your main teams don’t really need any additional work, or only need small improvements, you focus all your time on the new character.
