Genshin Impact is largely a single player game with tons of quests to accomplish on your own as well as some content that can be engaged in solo mode or with other players. There is a lot of fun and excitement involved in solo adventures with a massive world to explore and various challenges to take on but being able to play with 3 other friends or random players across some of the game’s content can tremendously upgrade the experience.
There will hardly be any newbies in Genshin Impact’s co-op multiplayer as it takes some time and effort to unlock the feature. As you accomplish story quests and missions, you earn adventure experience points that in turn level up your adventure rank to unlock additional content and features. You need to reach adventure rank 16 to be able to partake in co-op sessions and it would take about a day or 2 of normal playing to get there.
There are a lot of active players in Genshin Impact and the best part is that it allows cross-play across PC, PS4, iOS and Android platforms. Naturally, playing with friends will make it easier to strategize against multiplayer endeavors but, for the most part, simply having other people to play with carries with it some distinct advantages, and enlightening as well in some cases.
If you are a little late to the party and just heard about Genshin Impact now, or have just started diving into its world, then be sure to read our Genshin Impact beginner’s guide. Both the beginner’s guide and our advanced guide covers all the basic game mechanics and features you need to familiarize yourself with to progress more swiftly across the game’s initial content.
As heroes are at the core of your capacity to triumph over each and every challenge that comes your way, identifying which ones are at the peak of the roles they can play is worth knowing early on. RPG enthusiasts should be very much immersed in the resource management aspect of similar RPGs, and Genshin Impact is no stranger to leaving you with a lot to grind for to ensure that each of your favorite heroes have all they need to stay in top shape.
Although we like every hero in the game so far, we still consider some to be better than others and if you are inclined to discover our picks for the best heroes in the game, then you should take a peek at our Genshin Impact tier list. Identifying the best heroes for your team and prioritizing them as far as resources go is just half of the basic knowledge you need to be equipped with as far as heroes are concerned. Each of Genshin Impact’s 23 heroes can be built in a variety of ways, resulting in a unique set up of each character’s strengths and overall traits for each player based on their chosen weapon and artifacts. If you need help with some ideas on how to build your favorite characters, we have you covered as well with our character builds guide.
With all the basic game mechanics and features covered and with a deeper understanding of which heroes to pick as members of your main team, as well as how to build each one in accordance with your preferred role of them, the next thing to work on is clearing boss battles as fast and efficiently as possible. The elite bosses will typically be your regular target for farming basic ascension materials for your top heroes and while you can beat them with practice even in the absence of a solid strategy, being prepared will have you cut through them much faster. Each of the elite boss’ unique drops and strategies are covered in our boss guide.
In this new guide, we will be focusing entirely on the co-op multiplayer aspect of Genshin Impact. In contrast with adventuring on your own and joining or being joined by other players, there are plenty of benefits accorded to multiplayer sessions. However, there are some limitations as well and with a lot of multiplayer game modes requiring original resin, one of the basic preparations you need to be mindful of is having a good stock of it before engaging in co-op multiplayer.
1. Understand The Limitations Of Co-Op Multiplayer
One of the features of co-op multiplayer session in Genshin Impact that you need to be well aware of is the party settings. There will always be only 4 heroes in a party. When you are playing co-op with another player, both of you will only be able to control 2 characters each. If two other players join your session, then each of them will have one hero while you get to control 2 heroes since you are the session host. If you are part of a 4-player co-op session, then each player will only get to use one hero each.
Once you reach adventure rank 16, a new icon appear beside the elemental sight icon at the upper left side of the screen. Clicking on it will open a page with a list of active player who are open for joining. You can send them a request to join invite and wait for them to accept your request. On the lower right side of the Co-op Mode page, you can set your multiplayer session to automatically accommodate invites, reject them, or leave it at the default settings of requiring your approval.
If you enjoyed a session with strangers and want to add them as friends as well, then you can send them an invite thru the friends button at the main menu. A list of players whom you have engaged in co-op sessions with are at the bottom tab of the page. Don’t miss out on invites as well from the second tab of the page and accept players who want to be friends with you. You can also send out your UID, which can be seen under your avatar on the main menu, to other friends so they can add you as a friend, even if they are on a different gaming platform.
Adventure ranks and world ascension levels serve as a delimiting factor to co-op sessions. Players on a higher world level will be able to join in on any player’s world but you will not be able to join in a player’s world that is on a level higher than yours is.
Once other players join your world, you will no longer be able to access story quests. Players who join the session, on the other hand will not be able to open chests or help you with obtaining anemoculus or geoculus. Guiding mysterious seelie are out of the question as well. Enemies encountered and defeated by anyone in the world brings XP for everyone but drops may be different across players. Each player’s location can be seen on the map and despite each player’s progress in activating teleportation waypoints and other important locations, the host world’s progress will be considered exclusively.
Multiplayer co-op sessions adhere to the mechanics of switching party members around in single player mode. In the open world, players can freely switch characters in the party so long as no one is currently engaged in combat. If another player is close enough to you in a co-op session, for you to pick up experience points from enemies they defeated, then you will not be able to enter the party set-up menu to change your characters.
Likewise, no player can change party members once they have entered an abyssal domain so always make it a point to shift to the hero or heroes you wish to use before important battles or abyssal domain runs.
2. Ley Line Outcrops
One of the basic activities you can engage in co-op multiplayer is engaging flower blossoms scattered across the map. The Ley Line Outcrops require 20 original resins for you to claim the rewards for clearing its objectives and each player who joins in must separately pay the amount to claim their own rewards.
As Ley Line Outcrops, however, can easily be beaten on your own without much effort, and given as well that there are more rewarding alternatives for expending original resins, we recommend saving these activities for last and only if you are bent on drying out your stock of original resins. In any case, being in a multiplayer co-op session where spending original resin is involved is best spent on elite boss battles or domain levels that will be difficult for you to beat on your own.
Alternatively, players can engage a Ley Line Outcrop and simply clear mobs for some extra loot and not spend original resins to unlock the flower blossoms after conquering the objective. It will not be as rewarding, but every bit of loot earned without the corresponding exhaustion of original resins at a fast enough pace is well worth the time spent.
3. World Map Adventuring
If you are on a co-op session with friends who are open to just spending time to farm for some resources, especially without consuming original resins, then a leisurely stroll across the world map can be a rewarding and fun experience for everyone. Although normal mobs and even normal bosses do not typically put up much of a fight even on single player mode, simply traveling around and defeating enemies can earn each player some valuable resources.
With at least 2 or more heroes deployed simultaneously, under each available player’s control, slicing through mobs becomes a lot faster. As far as the normal bosses are concerned, they can endlessly respawn like normal mobs if you distance yourself enough away from their spawn points. In co-op sessions, players do not need to be immediately within the vicinity of a battle to gain experience points from each enemy killed. However, given that random drops from each enemy must be picked up for you to earn them, it is best to stay loosely close to one another while adventuring as a party.
Note that there is only text chat available as a party in Genshin Impact, which means coordination can be a challenge outside of specific targeted locations like elite bosses, abyssal domains, or even ley line outcrops. In this sense, always make it a habit to check the chat menu at the lower left side of your screen and communicate as well as you can with your party.
4. Elite Boss Hunts
One of the best activities to engage in while in a co-op session is hunting elite bosses. Especially as you reach higher world levels, elite bosses become increasingly more challenging and while your team of heroes may still be strong enough for you to take on each one of them, elite boss battles become a lot easier in multiplayer co-op sessions.
For starters, an elite boss’ shifting focus of attack gives all other players more chances to attack. With more players attacking simultaneously, you will be able to reduce the boss’ HP in a much faster pace. Taking Oceanid for example, the water elementals summoned to the arena can be quite exhausting to kill, with some even capable of dealing heavy damage to your heroes.
In multiplayer co-op, these elementals will not always be focusing on you and in the case of multiple water elementals summoned, dividing their attention is a big enough help for other players to squeeze in some attacks.
Another good example of an elite boss battle that becomes exponentially easier is Geo Hypostasis. The rock pillars erected by this hypostasis can be a pain to get rid of on your own and it becomes a common scene to have multiple rock pillars to eliminate during the battle. With more players in the arena, cutting these pillars down will take a lot less time, and you will soon find yourself at the last phase of the battle with Geo Hypostasis summoning its last 3 pillars in an attempt to replenish its health. This will be a cinch as well.
Like engaging elite bosses in solo adventure, each run costs 40 original resins. This means that each player will have to pay the same amount as well and your co-op team will only be able to battle 3 elite bosses. Unless you are up to expending fragile resins or even primogems to replenish your limited supply of original resin, then it is best to consider taking on bosses that offer rewards needed by each player in the co-op party.
5. Abyssal Domains
Abyssal Domains provide a unique mechanic as far as multiplayer co-op sessions are concerned. While players can freely choose to control similar characters anywhere in the outside world, only one hero for the entire party can be selected within the abyssal domains. With very stiff elemental affinity recommendations at the entrance of each domain, having a full squad of the same character across different players do sound overly cheesy.
In any case, it is a matter of coordinating well across the party to determine which player will utilize which character to spend less time in preparing for the run. Higher levels within some abyssal domains can be very challenging for solo play. As there are time limits within which all enemies must be eliminated, having a limited selection of DPS characters suitable for each domain can be very restrictive. Despite imposing a similar inhibition in co-op sessions, however, the fact that players can deal damage to mobs of monsters simultaneously make the feat a lot easier.
6. Elemental Crucible
The Elemental Crucible is a time-limited event in Genshin Impact that provides a guaranteed 4-payer co-op experience for anyone who engages in the activity. There are requirements that each player must meet prior to partaking in the event, and 40 original resins are required to claim rewards after each run as well. Although the event is no longer available by the time this guide is published, we are certain that this fun and exciting event will turn up again soon enough.
For starters, players who want to join an elemental crucible run should reach adventure rank 20 first. Players must also get past Prologue: Act 2 in the story quest entitled, “For a Tomorrow Without Tears”. Once eligible, players will be able to initiate the event quest involving Timaeus, which is One Giant Step For Alchemy. It is a fairly short and straightforward quest that grants adventurer’s experience and once accomplished, players can join in on an Elemental Crucible run without limits, given that you can continue to partake even without any original resins but will not be able to claim rewards after.
When starting a run through the event, you will automatically be paired with 3 other players for each session. If you are already in a co-op party, then pairing will only fill up the empty slot in your party. Players are free to use any hero from their roster, even if it is similar to a hero chosen by another player.
The mechanics of the Elemental Crucible are fairly simple as well. Players will run around the area to collect elemental cubes and bring them to the elemental crucible at the center of the stage. Every cube successfully brought back to the crucible contributes to filling up its meter and players have 15 minutes to completely fill up the crucible, which is actually a lot of time.
The cubes come in different colors signifying their element, each with a smaller and larger variant as well. Naturally, the big cubes carried to the crucible cause a bigger increase. Running across each cube will pick it up and its elemental properties apply to the carrier. Players can carry up to 3 cubes of the same element but touching a cube with a different color will replace the previous one that the player holds.
The enemies that spawn within the elemental crucible event are easy to deal with. Killing each one will spawn more elemental cubes for players to carry back to the crucible. The trouble comes when you get hit and knocked down while carrying the elemental cubes as this will disintegrate the cubes and consequently take you longer to fill the bar up and end the run.
When elemental overloads are triggered, more cubes of the same element will appear randomly across the playing field. Two random players will receive a temporary buff that raises elemental efficiency in filling up the crucible and as such, should become the designated runners within the elemental overload period. Elemental overloads will also spawn more than the usual number of enemies who will focus on shooting down the runners. In this case, the 2 other players should focus more heavily on drawing the mobs’ attention and eliminating enemies as fast as possible.
Throughout an elemental crucible run, the best tactic is to consider runners and fighters in the party. It can be a difficult feat to establish with random players, but after several attempts players should be able to identify which characters are more suitable for each role.
Adventure EXP and character EXP materials are among the numerous rewards to be earned from each elemental crucible run. Again 40 original resins is required for you to claim them and unclaimed rewards will be lost if you engage in another run. Beyond the outright rewards, there are numerous achievement feats in the alchemy book that can easily be accomplished by simply engaging in elemental crucible runs
At the end of each run, players are treated to a tag of accomplishments they made during the run, such as transporting the most elemental cubes or achieving the highest elemental efficiency in the team. These accomplishments will not impact earned rewards, though, as each participating player will receive bounties based on their respective world levels.
And that wraps up all we have for our Genshin Impact co-op guide. We hope that our guide has helped you appreciate the benefits of playing with others in the world of Genshin Impact and have enticed you enough to gather more in-game fiends to play with as well. If you have your unique multiplayer co-op experiences and learnings other than the ones we mentioned in this guide, feel free to share them with us in the comments!