There are dozens of characters to play in Genshin Impact, and building teams with or around them is one of the game’s most enjoyable aspects. There are, however, some best practices for optimizing your team when you get a new character so you don’t spend too much time grinding aimlessly.
It’s possible to spend days or weeks gathering what seems like the right materials and Artifacts, only to find your resources stretched thin with little actual progress to show. You’ll want to plan your new character’s progression more optimally and stick to that plan. Do so, and you’ll have your new character up and running quickly, letting you ensure the team you build around them is as strong as possible.
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How to Build a New Character in Genshin Impact: Basics
There are two phases to building a character in Genshin Impact: before you pull them and once they’re on your roster. The steps you take before you pull are all about saving time. Any steps you take after are optimization — testing builds, teams, etc. Both phases of creating a character are essential, but which you prioritize will depend on how much time you’ve invested elsewhere in Genshin. In other words, do you have a bank of Ascension materials, EXP Books, and Talent upgrade resources to spend right away, or will you need to farm for them?
Then, once you have a character, you need the right weapon and Artifacts to help them reach their full potential. We cover both subjects in our final character build guides, like Lyney, Furina, Ayato, and others. Once built, you’ll need to figure out how they fit in a team of characters you’ve already invested in, and that is a subject all on its own.
One of the biggest hurdles I’ve had to jump as I gather more and more characters is budgeting my farming resources. I don’t have every character in Genshin, and I want all of them, and I want to build all of them, but I also don’t want to spend any money on the game. Thus, I’m left at the mercy of my Original Resin stores, of which all of us only get 160 per day without using Fragile or Condensed Resin to restore or supplement our allotment of Original.
The plan you need to follow is to dedicate yourself to the character before and after you pull them. There are 21 days between patch phases, giving you a maximum of three weeks to pull for and build a character before the next release. If the upcoming phase doesn’t have a character you want or offers those you already have, you have even more time. Here’s how I’d go about it all.
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Preparing to Build Before You Pull for a Character in Genshin Impact
Preparing for a new character in Genshin is a several-step process.
- You need to collect their Ascension materials so you can level them quickly. Unless the character is part of a brand new region like Fontaine, there are tons of community resources that explain what you need and how much you need. These include the Genshin Wiki, GenshinLab, and Genshin.gg. When I’m preparing for a new character, I spend most of my Original Resin on World Bosses for this phase and a lot of free time collecting the world materials I’ll need.
- You need to have the EXP books to level them. You can get many of these by questing, but Ley Line Outcrops are the best source. Using them costs 20 Original Resin, and the quality of the books you get depends on your World Level, so you might spend multiple days collecting the books you need.
- Finally, you need to gather their Talent materials so your chosen character isn’t hitting like a wet noodle. Leveling Talents is the second of the major grinds in building a character after Ascension mats, and if your character’s Talents aren’t upgraded, their damage and ability output will be well below par. Having some or all of the materials you need to level a character’s primary Talent to at least level six is paramount.
You can also obtain and upgrade a character’s best weapon at this point, provided you don’t plan to pull for it on the Weapon banner that comes alongside a character. However, unless you’re absolutely sure you already have a weapon to use, I’d wait until after pulling for the character to choose their weapon.
Building After You Pull a Character in Genshin Impact
This side of building a character in Genshin Impact is technically endless. Sure, there will always be best-in-slot weapons, whether from the banner or free-to-play accessible, but Artifacts? Yeah, Artifact luck is a fickle mistress. Here are the steps you’ll need to take after you’ve added a new member to your roster.
- Level them to maximum. This is the “easy” part unless you have additional grinding to do. Gathering leveling and Ascension materials — EXP books, world items, Boss materials, and elemental gems — is a slog no matter how you slice it, and it takes time and patience. This step also includes Talents, provided you have everything for those as well.
- Level their weapon. After choosing the weapon you want to use between the free-to-play and banner options, it’s time to level it. This process can take a few days unless you had the weapon in mind before pulling.
- Equip a four-piece set of Artifacts. I didn’t say “good” or “optimal” Artifacts. Getting those can take until the heat death of the universe. Instead, get a four-piece set of your character’s best Artifacts just to get things rolling. You can return to farming for better ones later. You can also use non-matching Artifacts with more optimal stats for the increased damage and ability effectiveness if you’d prefer.
Now, it’s time to build your team. How you do so depends on two primary factors and dozens of smaller ones. We’ll cover the big topics here.
- Character role. Your character’s role is one of their two most important traits and defines their place in the team. If your new character is a healer like Baizhu, you need to surround them with damage dealers and supplemental units that enable that damage dealer. On the flip side, getting a main DPS like Neuvillette or Ayaka means they’ll need supporting characters that let them do what they do best without fear of being knocked out.
- Character element. Taking on Genshin Impact’s toughest challenges means you probably need multiple elements on your team. Elemental reactions are king in the Genshin combat loop, and whatever element your new character uses will help define what other characters go on their team. A Pyro DPS like Hu Tao requires a different supporting cast than sub-DPS Raiden Shogun. Our build guides will help with the finer details here.
Don’t be afraid to alter or completely overhaul a team setup if you don’t like what you built initially. I ran with a single foursome for more than a hundred hours, only to put all of them on the back burner after getting a single new character. And don’t worry about being a slave to the meta. If you like how an unoptimal character plays or looks as they fight, go with it. Getting bogged down in the minutiae is a one-way ticket to a crazy town, and Genshin Impact is fun enough that you want to stay sane long enough to get another character.
