Genshin Impact‘s elemental attacks are one of the game’s most defining, but tricky-to-understand, features. These attacks work similarly to those found in other games action RPGs, but elements offer a level of depth you might not be used to.
You can inflict elemental damage by attacking enemies just like you’d expect, but you can also combine elements for an even greater impact in MiHoYo’s free-to-play game.
In this Genshin Impact guide, we’ll cover how elemental attacks work and list the many elements and elemental combos the game has to offer.
How Elements Work in Genshin Impact
As you’d expect, elemental damage is more powerful than standard damage on certain enemies. Depending on the enemy and what element it’s weak to, you’ll want to prioritize certain elemental attacks over others.
For example, you can use the Pyro elemental attack on enemies weak to fire, or the Hydro element on enemies weak to water.
Elemental attacks also have varying degrees of effectiveness based on the environment around enemies as well.
If your enemies are in water, using Electro attacks will increase the effectiveness of the elemental attack, causing Electro damage over a period of time. The same can be said about combining Pyro with Dendro; if your enemies are around nature, dishing out Pyro attacks will cause burning over time.
List of Elements
Here is a list of all the elements and their corresponding names in Genshin Impact:
- Anemo — Wind
- Cryo — Frost
- Dendro — Nature
- Electro — Lightning
- Geo — Earth
- Hydro — Water
- Pyro — Fire
Elemental Combos
As mentioned above, you can cause Elemental Reactions by combining two or more elements. Below is a list of the various elemental combos you can execute in Genshin Impact.
- Blizzard = Cryo + Anemo — Bypass enemy defenses
- Burn = Dendro + Pyro — Inflicts Pyro damage over time
- Crystalize = Geo + Cryo, Electro, Hydro, or Pyro — Grants a crystal shield
- Dust = Geo + Anemo — Knocks enemies back
- Electro-Charged = Electro + Hydro — Inflicts Electro damage over time
- Fire-Storm
- Frozen = Cryo + Hydro — Freezes enemy
- Magma = Geo + Pyro — Applies fire shield that burns enemies
- Melt = Cryo + Pyro — Inflicts additional damage
- Mud = Geo + Hydro — Slows enemy movement and attack speed
- Overloaded = Electro + Pyro — Initiates AoE Pyro attack
- Poison = Dendro + Hydro — Initiates AoE poison attack
- Shatter = Geo + Cryo — Increases chances of landing critical attack
- Superconduct = Cryo + Electro — Initiates Cryo AoE attack and lowers enemy’s physical resistance by 50%
- Swirl = Anemo + Cryo, Electro, Hydro, or Pyro — Inflicts additional elemental damage and causes spreading
- Thorn = Geo + Dendro — Inflicts bleeding to enemies and leaves sharp traps that cause damage
- Vaporize = Hydro + Pyro — Inflicts additional damage
Elemental Resonance & Party Effects
As you play Genshin Impact, you’ll come across temples, which serve as dungeons, that throw enemies and puzzles at you. To make the most out of your dungeon crawling, you can bring up to a party of four with you — each with their own elemental abilities.
The elements assigned to each character will offer various effects when combined with one another, so be sure to pay attention to which elements you have in your party.
How to Check a Party Member’s Element
You can check which element is tied to a party member by looking at the icon above their heads, next to their names, in the party select screen.
Powerful Party Element Combos
Here are some elemental combinations that you’ll want to keep an eye out for. To get the desired buff, you must have characters with those elements in your party.
- Enduring Rock = Geo + Geo — Improves your party’s resistance to interruption and increases your attack damage by 15% when protected by a shield
- Fervent Flames = Pyro + Pyro — Decreases the impact Cryo has on your party by 40% and increases attack by 25%
- Soothing Water = Hydro + Hydro — Decreases the impact Pyro has on your party by 40% and increases healing by 30%
- Impetuous Winds = Anemo + Anemo — Lowers your party’s stamina consumption by 15%, increases movement speed by 10%, and shortens Skill CD by 5%
- High Voltage = Electro + Electro — Decreases the impact Hydro has on your party by 40% and Superconduct, Overloaded, and Electro-Charged have a 100% chance to generate an Electro Elemental Particle
- Shattering Ice = Cryo + Cryo — Decreases the impact Electro has on your party by 40% and increases critical rate by 15% towards enemies impacted by Cryo
- Protective Canopy = Any four unique Elements — Increases all Elemental resistance by 15%
And that wraps up everything you need to know about elemental combos in Genshin Impact. Be sure to keep checking back in for more tips, and if this guide helped you out, don’t forget to visit the Genshin Impact hub page here for more.
