Genshin Impact 1.6 Impressions: 3 biggest takeaways

The Genshin Impact 1.6 special program just aired, and we got a look at the upcoming events coming to the game. There’s a lot to unpack here, but here are the three biggest things things that we can look forward to in 1.6.

Genshin Impact 1.6 Impressions

As always, we get a slew of new, arguably gimmicky gameplay events. This update is summer themed, and we’re getting some naval mini-games that remind me a lot of Wind Waker. These events never really excite me beyond the Primogem rewards, but any opportunity to get rewards is great. What really excites me are the following, in no particular order:

Kazuha

The star of any update is the new event five-star. After numerous leaks, we finally get an official look at the first Inazuma character- Kaedahara Kazuha.

In the 1.6 livestream, we learned that Kazuha, despite hailing from Inazuma, is actually wanted by the government. He’s taken refuge as a mysterious crewmember of Beidou’s Crux, and there’s a great air (get it?) of mystery surrounding the Anemo samurai that I’ve come to expect from miHoYo’s clever writing. I can’t wait to learn what his deal is.

Free-to-play friendly

The key tenant of a great free-to-play game like Genshin Impact is to have non-obtrusive microtransactions. The gacha/wish system is fundamentally anti-consumer, but miHoYo does know how to optimize their free-to-play experience to make sessions more fun.

There’s no free character this time around, but we can get a free four-star weapon that can be refined. Dodoco Tales is the featured event reward this time around. Based on prerelease information from Honey Impact, this free Klee-themed four-star Catalyst looks great. It has a similar mechanic to the Battle Pass’s Solar Pearl, but this time normal attacks increase charged attack damage, and Charged attacks increase ATK%. This is a great opportunity to grab a powerful weapon for most Catalyst DPS units like Ninguang, Yanfei or Klee.

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In addition to Dodoco Tales, we also get the Northlander Billet Trove, an item that can be redeemed for any Billet. This is great if you’re stuck on that Dragonspine Quest, as mentioned in the stream. It’s also a good opportunity to refine or get a strong weapon for any character who needs it, especially if you have bad luck pulling Billets from boss fights (like me). Any of the craftable weapons made from Billets are solid choices for any character, especially if you’re strictly free-to-play.

Surprise Ayaka appearance

MiHoYo wears their anime influence loud and proud, and I know many players are excited to finally hit Teyvat’s version of Japan. At the end of the stream, we got a surprise appearance from Ayaka, a Cryo user from Inazuma. She narrates over some concept art for locations in Inazuma. While we expected to go to Inazuma in 1.6, it doesn’t seem like it’s ready yet. My guess? We’ll get new countries in new versions and we’ll get to Inazuma in version 2.0.