Genshin Impact F2P Late Game Efficient Strategy Guide

by Ogyusuh

Hey guys, I’ve super enjoyed this game and experienced and read up on a lot regarding this silly plagiarized gacha game. I am an AR 33 F2P player (although that might change with the upcoming patch in NOV) and have spent a lot of time theory crafting and looking up how to best spend my resources, as any gachagame player will tell you, F2P is all about resource management. Luckily, F2P in Genshin Impact is very forgiving. All content outside of the highest floors of spiral abyss can be cleared with any character you want, even Amber and Bennet can even if the tier lists say they are trash, so clearing content or power generally isn’t a “problem” for F2P or Whales till you hit 30+ (which is gacha game hell territory but maybe don’t play 10hrs a day like me and wait for the 5 week patch structure).Well patch isn’t for another 4 weeks so what should I do with the content we have? Well come here come all, if you’re looking to build up your favorite character to be a bit stronger or maybe just be a meta slave to be as strong as possible to clear as many abyss floors before reset.

DISCLAIMER:

There is an overwhelming amount of contradictory information on the web right now, THE GAME IS NEW, ultimately in the next week something new and broken might rear its head (like it did last night). I HOPING TO GIVE A CONSOLIDATED GUIDELINE FOR INEXPERIENCED PLAYERS to move and spend their resources as efficiently as possible to have fun the way they want to. NONE, IF ANY OF THIS IMFORMATION WAS DISCOVERED BY ME. I WISH TO SIMPLY CONSOLIDATE IT FOR OTHERS.

SO MOVING ON

SPEND YOUR RESIN: try to spend as much resin as possible and do not max out. Once you run out of story quests its only chests, resin tasks, and daily commisions for consistent ARexp. Sure you might get a bit extra from you adventure book too but resin is what makes this a gacha game. Its like not using your stamina in other gachas.(THERE IS A CAVEAT TO THIS PRE AR30 see part 2)

There are a couple of things we should be focusing as a new F2P player in Genshin Impact:

PRIMOGEMS/WEEKLYBOSSES:

(Character Pulls, Weapon Pulls/Crafting),

RESIN REWARDS:

[Character Ascension, Character Leveling, Character Talents]

{Weapon Ascension, Weapon Leveling}

(Artifacts, Leylines)

MONSTERS AND CHESTS:

[Farmable Ascension Materials, Mora]

PRIMOGEMS AND STARMONEY:

Character Pulls and Weapon Pulls are generally from Gacha. From this we have 3 currencies to focus on. Primogems and Stardust and Starglitter, As F2P we want to maximize the value out of the few pulls and resources we get. How? One common way is rerolling, which I will not cover here. Do this if there is a character you MUST simp for, but I would HIGHLY suggest against rolling for “meta” or “damage” reasons(which I will cover down the line, F2P can somewhat compete with whales as of now.) Assuming we dont want to reroll we simply spend our primogems on rolls as we get them on single rolls (single rolls are better because you can reset your pity rate for 4stars in less than 10 pulls). Thats it on Primogems, unless you want to spend primogems on Resin, which I HIGHLY DO NOT recommend(you want less gacha pulls in a gachagame?), but if you must (to raise AR or you just REALLY want those ascension mats/artifacts), only spend on the first recharge as gem costs increase as you refill more then spend fragile resins till you hit refresh cap to be efficient.

As you pull from the Gacha 4 and 5 star pulls will net you stardust and starglitter, the important part is how to spend these resources. These shops reset monthly and have limited supply. As F2P the only shop you will sell out in is most likely stardust (unless MiHoYo drops 10s of thousands of primogems for free). However for stardust its pretty self explanatory, buy out the 5 intertwined and acquainted fates for extra pulls. After spend on Mora (one of the bigger resource gates late game). Enhancement stones and Adventurers’ Experience are generally not worth it but can be an option if you are desperate after the first Mora option is bought out. Monster Drops should be last priority as they are easily farmed. You should not need to save stardust for fates the next month as the shops reset if you do your dailies and just play the game.

Starglitter is much rarer as you only receive a few at a time for character pulls. That being said if Amber is your waifu your choice is easy, save for the constellation. Otherwise Razor is a great unit and worth the investment as well to get and get copies up for constellations. I would AVOID spending on extra intertwined and acquainted fate for starglitter as you should get better bang for your buck just picking up Razor and buying a copy of him monthly. That being said if you’re a gambler…. be my guest… Its only game….Now Weapons, unfortunately as F2P this far into the game I haven’t been able to test any of the weapons… The only one I have heard good things about are blackcliff pole for late game content as the passive scales very well (However there is another busto polearm ill get to later). THAT BEING SAID, if Genshin follows gachagame progression (which it does), buying multiple and refining one of these weapons will likely be one of the most stable ways to reach F2P “endgame” down the line in the upcoming months, so save that glitter!!!!!!

But regardless of what characters you pull to keep a general guide we will focus on PURE F2P and assuming NO 4 or 5 star weapons. WE WILL BE APPROACHING WITH A PURE F2P LENS. adapt to your own pulls as necessary and feel free to ask questions on specific character in PMs or in comments.

This being said the best F2P characters in MY OPINION for sinking resources into are: XIANG LING, BARBARA, NOELLE

Weapon Crafting/Refining

The F2P Godsend. Jealous of whales with seemingly OP 5star characters and 5star weapons? DON’T BE! YOU CAN COMPETE!

%atk attack modifiers in general are the most important stats in the game for progression

some character like support Barbara will scale with HP but that is few and far between.

as of now and outside of 5 star and 4 star gacha weapons there are many great options! There are 2 main weapon types that are best for F2P players MAX refinement 3star weapons and crafted 4star weapons!

3 star weapons, as you know, are INCREDIBLY prevalent in the gacha and easy to acquire. They are even available in chests, the F2P grindstone. Max refining these weapons will maximize their passive bonuses and some of these weapons have GREAT passive bonuses allowing you to keep up despite lower base stats on 3 star weapons. IN GENERAL these lose out BARELY on performance to the 4 star crafted weapons but they are still great to fill out your team for higher abyss floors or if you are missing resources to craft multiple 4 star crafted weapons.

Next are 4 star crafted weapons. In Mondstat you meet the smith early on in your journey, as you increase in AR (AR20?25? someone halp) you will unlock the ability to craft weapons through him. They all cost a “Northlander *weapontype* Prototype” and 50 white iron chunks and 50 crystal chunks, Many of these weapons will be BiS for F2P players as you collect additional prototypes from weekly bosses (you also get a single prototype of each type from the gem shops in liyue and mondstat for 225 sigils each). Many of these weapons are BETTER than gacha weapons. PICK ONE OF EACH WEAPON TYPE and refine those as you collect additional prototypes to maximize damage efficiency on a single unit. You should not be gated by ores as they are farmable mats. These will be what you want to build up over time as F2P current endgame.

3 Star Weapons to Refine and Use

Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers: This is easily BiS for support Barbara, a F2P staple Character and even a whale staple with 6 constellations, gives %HP for Barbara Heals and when you switch out gives an %atk bonus to the character you switch into. What’s not to love about this perfect support catalyst?

Slingshot: Wanna prove those tier lists wrong? Wanna use Amber in your main team because she’s so useful in exploring AND she triggers double fire element party with Xiangling? But she’s F TIERTRASH you say? TIERLIST BOOHOO just slap this bad boy on her and spam those left clicks! You make up for lack of %atk with the passive bonus AND crit rate as a secondary stat will still scale well later on!

White Tassel: The previous King of F2P, %atk AND %normal atk, amazing for Xiangling to abuse as primary DPS, Still an amazing option but outshadowed by the 4star craftable spear which is BORKENDebate Club: Me hit thing hard, baby version of prototype animus and still good because of it. %atk gud stat

Skyrider Greatsword: %phys damage is good for base damage although not as versatile as %atk and the Passive gives the loved %atk and %def will also Synergizes with Noelle and her skills/talents

Filet Blade: See Debate Club

Cool Steel: give %atk and passive synergizes with Kaeya excellently

4 Star Craftables

Iron Sting: This is potentially a good weapon for Kaeya down the line, unfortunately elemental mastery is hard to utilize as a F2P player, remember %atk bonuses are what we really want. Try it out if you wanna try something crazy with Husbando Kaeya but probably not great.

Prototype Rancour: Ah %physatk exactly what we like to see, and even a bit of %atk on the passive, will be great on MC and Kaeya

Prototype Crescent: %atk and more %atk…. Uh sorry what more do you want? Open with Aim shot and fire away. probably the better choice for Amber

Compound Bow: Playing on mobile? Can’t hit the broad side of a barn? grab this instead. Big Boi version of the slingshot

Prototype Animus: BigBoi Debate Club, ME HIT VERY HARD, give us what we want which is +atk% with a decent burst passive, good on Noelle for obvious reasons.

Whiteblind: I think OVERALL this is better on Noelle than the Animus on paper due to bonuses you can get from her talents and with GEO MC. The passive does require stacking so its great if you are mainly using Noelle. However if you are only using Noelle to switch in occasionally(because Xiangling OP) animus will be better. BUT if you like Noelle>Xiangling OR plan on using her as your primary character in your second abyss party this is a good choice.

Prototype Malice: Outshined by Thrilling Tales as a F2P support weapon and outshined by Mappa for Damage/Element Synergy. Good middle ground for Barbara but not recommended

Mappa Mare: This is probably your best bet for catalysts, Slap this on Lisa to help with her overload synergy with XiangLing. Otherwise catalysts are probably the most underwhelming options unfortunately. Hope for a Favonius Codex/Sac Frag for supports or Eye of Perception for DPS in the Gacha. (Any Help on F2P mage DPS setups are appreciated)

Prototype Grudge: This weapon does not exist in the face of the F2P God of Genshin, Good if you only want to use Xiangling as a support only.

Crescent Pike: Kinda what made me want to make this guide. WHAT I CLAIM AS GOD WEAPON OF F2P**\* Thanks to Burblesz for posting about this at like 3am EST last night or something. Read his thread and upvote it. TLDR: 99% uptime Double Dip atk modifiers***for now

So for characters and weapons for our pure F2P example we can have : Noelle-prototype animus/Whiteblind, Barbara-Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers, Xiangling-Crescent Pike, MC – Prototype Rancour, Lisa – Mappa Mare, Amber-Prototype Crescent, Kaeya – Cool Steel.

This team focuses on Xiangling + Amber (to give +atk fireparty bonus) as your primary DPS with other characters to support her. In higher tier abyss with 2 teams your secondary DPS can change as you SHOULD be using mostly interchangeable artifacts at this stage in the game for secondary DPS carries. The variation in rooms that abyss offers means you can run different setups for optimization(but at this point do you need my help?). That being said I am partial to Noelle with GEO MC as a good choice

We will refine the craftable weapons as we collect more prototypes overtime thru weekly boss drops.

FEEL FREE TO USE GACHA 5STAR WEAPONS IF YOU PULL THEM! REMEMBER THOUGH 4 STAR CRAFTED CAN BE SUPERIOR OR KEEP UP EXPECIALLY WITH REFINEMENT! %atk attack modifiers in general are the most important stats in the game for progression and this will not change until you start farming for specific artifacts and stat combos. (and once you’re doing that, again do you really need MY help?)……………….

As far as farming the weekly bosses for prototype loot, always, always, try to hit your next AR benchmark (25/30/35)before doing your weeklies to maximize potential rewards. For reference if you are AR 29 do not do your wolf and dvalin weekly before hitting 30.

RESIN REWARDS:

Lets start off what we can spend resin on daily:

Elemental Bosses: character ascension gems/cores, artifacts ARXP

Domains (talents): Talent ascension cores ARXP

Domains(weapon): Weapon ascension cores ARXP

Domains(artifacts): artifacts(endgame) ARXP

Leyline(mora): Mora ARXP

Leyline(exp): Character EXP. ARXP

Next lets establish which of these we can get outside of resin usage which are: Mora, Character EXP, standard Artifacts. Given we can theoretically farm these infinitely we should theoretically never spend resin on these, So therefore as tryhard F2P genshin players we ignore all leylines. the only times we do these leylines are when we are desperate and lazy. which can happen very often so dont beat yourself over if you do need extra mora and xp. ITS JUST GAME.

from AR1-30 is actually super simple! Spend as LITTLE RESIN AS POSSIBLE WHILE NOT WASTING RESIN BY CAPPING, only doing ascensions as little as possible AS NEEDED TO CLEAR CONTENT. SPEND AMAP ASCENDING CHARACTERS AND TALENTS AS THEY WILL HOLD MORE CUMMULATIVE VALUE. The more resin you spend at lower AR the less value you get per resin spent as rewards increase with AR. Pre AR30 you have enough quests and oculus to collect such that ARxp is easier to get thru those methods than resin. AFTER AR30, with the lack of quests, dailies commissions and resin will actually become part of what you need to actually gain ARxp and ARlvls!

Im sure a speedrunner somewhere can map out an optimal F2P resin optimal run to 30AR but Im not going to do it. just keep in mind, least amount of resin used possible before AR30 to increase the value per resin spent.

What about post 30? this is supposed to be a late game guide??? depends on how much you play and how you enjoy the game~!

Generally you will cap out at around AR30-32 when you run out of oculus/quests. If you have the time and will to farm chests past that point (I don’t think I do) then farm up as quickly as possible to AR35. Meanwhile you should be farming your lvl 70 ascension resin only mats for 2-3 characters and weapons at AR30+ so you can uncap immediately after AR35+.

However what if you’ve farmed mats for 2-3 characters and your still stuck at say AR33?(cuz chest grinding is cancer) Well here is where I think it gets complicated and up to personal preference. You could farm endgame artifacts at this point or continue to farm ascension mats for additional characters past your main DPS characters. If you want my advice (and thats why you’re here right?) I would farm and ascend other characters to 60, as this will most likely hold value over time (i think) compared to artifacts which could rapidly lose value at higher ARs (you replace artifacts but xp is cumulative)

The problem with this is farming character XP and mora for the upgrades. and if you need mora and character Xp… you farm chests…. which if your farming chests you might as well farm AR….but you don’t wanna do that so maybe farm endgame artifacts….but you don’t wanna farm artifacts cuz your AR isn’t at its next breakpoint….. As you see this can get pretty cyclical without planning. But as a general guideline for this issue: Farm artifacts domains only when you are mora/ARxp gated to a point where you do not want to grind for chests for mora or ARxp. note this is for when you have farmed ascension mats for your next AR breakpoint on your main carries.

Last thing to keep in mind is that Weapon and Talent Domains change daily, rotating between 3 options with a mishmash on sundays. so keep those dates in mind when you plan on managing your AR thresholds for farming mats much like you would keep track of weekly resets for Dvalin and Wolfie in relation to AR.

MONSTERS AND CHESTS:

[Farmable Ascension Materials, Mora]

Google “Interactive Map Genshin” This probably should be in part 1 but use this to collect oculus and unlock things as necessary.

There are a few “unlimited resources” in genshin you can farm which I will list out and will cover some ways to farm them. ultimately to be “efficient” incorporate the interactive map to route out monster, chest, ore and plants into a single route that works for your material needs for your team. Make sure you are collecting multiple things on your routes to maintain maximum efficiency and shorten running between resources. Keep in mind these materials can be “stolen/borrowed” from co-op worlds so steal others and protects yours kekw (or let friends take the ones you dont need and vice versa) BUT breaking ores in coop worlds will net ore for BOTH players. Farm as much as possible/as necessary as this is what you do post AR30 when you’ve spent your resin and have done your dailies.

Monster Mats (track boss monster mats in your journal but you should farm these along the way of farming other mats like flowers to stay efficient)

Mora (The big late game gate, Sigils are your best bet for “farming” mora, chests will have sigils and they are also scattered across the map, trade them in at the Gem icon in Liyue or Mondstat 1 or 2 for 1600)

Character XP(Chests are your best bet here to drop charXP scrolls unfortunately, killing mobs is low return BUT DOES ADD UP, [level your characters to 49/59/69 to maximize mob XP…..or not….)

Artifacts(base artifacts will drop from bosses and have spawn points in the map (check the interactive map!)Flowers/Ores (USE INTERACTIVE MAP)

ARxp (CHEST FARMING REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE other users have posted tips regarding.)

ONE MORE THING:

ARTIFACTS: Only farm in artifact domains after fulfilling conditions laid out in part 2!!!!!This section is honestly more of a what stats are good, rather than what artifacts are good. Much like weapons what is important is not the star value but the STATS THEMSELVES. So not instead of mindlessly saying:

%atk attack modifiers in general are the most important stats in the game for progression

We will add a TINY bit of nuance.So for XiangLing you want to stack as much +atk% as possible, HOWEVER other stats can be acceptable if they help you say get a super cool set bonus like martial artist or gladiator. over say adventurers. If you get a 2 martial artist pieces a feather with base atk (as always) and sayyyyy a goblet with +physicalatk%. Using this set is better than using an adventurers set of the same rarity but with Atk% instead of physatk% as the +15%normal attack bonus is stronger than +1000HP from adventurers.

This example is a very obvious judgement call but sometimes you will have to choose between martial artist and berserker or gladiators with various substats and mainstats or choose %atk vs %pyrodamage or whatever else in the late game as we will not have perfect artifact choices as a F2P player. These are the minmax calls you will have to test for yourself. but worry not. as long as you remember and apply:

%atk attack modifiers in general are the most important stats in the game for progression

the min max differences will be largely nominal.

TLDR: Log on and do your dailies. Spend Resin when you can. Hoard mats for future AR thresholds. 4star crafted weapons are good. Crescent Pike OP AF.

Well that’s it for now let me know if I missed anything y’all think are important and ask questions in the comments.