Genshin Impact Starter Guide: What to Do in Your First 30 Days (From Someone Who Wasted Week One)
I remember downloading Genshin Impact on a Wednesday night thinking I’d just try it for an hour.
That was 800 hours ago.
But here’s the thing — my first 30 days were an absolute mess. I pulled on the wrong banners, built the wrong characters, ignored Resin for two weeks straight, and nearly rage-quit because I kept dying in Spiral Abyss without understanding why. Nobody sat me down and said, “Hey, stop — do this first.”
So that’s what I’m doing for you right now.
This isn’t a wiki page. This is me, someone who has been deep in Teyvat’s trenches, telling you exactly what to prioritize — and what to completely ignore — in your first 30 days so you don’t make the same expensive mistakes I did.
First Things First: Don’t Rush the Story
I know, I know. You want to explore. You want to pull for characters. You want to do everything at once.
Resist that urge for just the first couple of days.
The main story quests are your unlock key. Almost everything — from Domains (where you farm upgrade materials) to the Archon Quest progression — gates behind advancing the story. Your very first goal should be reaching Adventure Rank 16 as fast as possible. That’s when the game truly opens up.
The quickest way to do this? Follow the golden compass. Do every single main quest that pops up. Don’t wander off hunting Oculi or exploring ruins just yet. Get to AR16, unlock the Adventurer’s Guild properly, and then start breathing.
It took me an embarrassingly long three days to realize I’d been ignoring the main quest marker and just… vibing in Mondstadt. Beautiful? Yes. Efficient? Absolutely not.
Understand Resin Before You Regret It
If there’s one mechanic that separates players who progress well from players who feel permanently stuck, it’s Resin management.
Here’s the simple version: Resin is your daily fuel. You get 160 Original Resin per day, it regenerates at 1 per 8 minutes, and you spend it to claim rewards from Domains, Leyline Blossoms, and bosses. If you don’t spend it, it caps out and goes to waste.
For your first two weeks, spend your Resin on Leyline Blossoms — specifically the gold ones that give Mora (the in-game currency). You are going to be broke in ways you didn’t expect. Upgrading talents and weapons costs obscene amounts of Mora, and most new players (myself included) never see it coming until they’re sitting at 80,000 Mora trying to upgrade something that costs 175,000.
Once you hit around AR35, shift your Resin spending toward Talent books and Ascension materials for your main DPS character. More on building a team in a second.
Quick Resin tips:
- Log in every single day, even if just for 5 minutes, to let Resin regenerate
- Don’t spend Primogems (the premium currency) to refill Resin — not yet, not as a beginner
- Use Condensed Resin once you unlock it (AR45) — it doubles your Domain reward efficiency
Build One Character First. Just One.
This was my biggest early mistake: trying to build six characters at the same time.
I spread my resources so thin across my entire roster that nobody was strong enough to do anything. All of them were stuck at Level 40, half-upgraded talents, mediocre weapons — and I wondered why I kept dying.
The smarter move is to pick one main DPS character and go all in. Level them to 80, push their talents to at least Level 6, give them the best weapon you have, and build a full artifact set around them.
For complete beginners, here are characters that are genuinely beginner-friendly and either free or easy to obtain:
- Noelle — You get her for free early on and she’s surprisingly tanky. Great for learning the game without constantly dying.
- Xiangling — Free after clearing Floor 3-3 of Spiral Abyss. She’s actually one of the best Pyro characters in the entire game, even years later.
- Beidou — Pulls well from standard banner, forgiving to play, high damage ceiling.
If you got lucky on the beginner banner and pulled someone like Diluc or Jean, obviously go with them — but don’t panic if you didn’t. The free characters will carry you plenty far.
Don’t Ignore These Free Things (Most Beginners Do)
Genshin is quietly generous if you know where to look. Most beginners walk past hundreds of free Primogems and resources every week.
Spiral Abyss (First 8 Floors): The early floors of Spiral Abyss (also called the Permanent Abyss) reset monthly and give you a ton of Primogems. You don’t need to be strong to clear floors 1–4. Do these.
Hangout Events: These are character story quests that give Primogems and sometimes good weapon materials. They’re also genuinely fun to read through.
Battle Pass (Free Tier): You don’t need to spend money to benefit from the Battle Pass. The free tier gives you weapon upgrade materials and sometimes standard-wish currency. Complete your daily and weekly Battle Pass missions without fail.
Daily Commissions: Four short tasks every day that take maybe 10-15 minutes. Do them. Every. Single. Day. They give you Primogems and slowly contribute to pulling new characters.
I skipped Daily Commissions for the first ten days because I thought they were optional flavor content. I lost roughly 400 Primogems doing that. Don’t be me.
How to Think About Gacha (Without Losing Your Mind)
Let’s be real — the gacha system is front and center in Genshin, and if you go in blind, it will absolutely drain your wallet before you understand what happened.
Here’s the honest breakdown:
Save your Primogems. As a new player, you’ll be tempted by every new banner that pops up. Resist. Save up at least 80 pulls (called “wishes”) before spending anything, because 80 pulls guarantees a 5-star character on a limited banner (this is called the “hard pity” system).
Use your beginner wishes wisely. You get a discounted beginner banner early on — use all 20 of those first. You’re guaranteed Noelle, and there’s a chance you pull a strong 4-star or even 5-star.
Don’t pull on weapon banners early. The weapon banner has worse odds and requires specific 5-star weapons to hit pity efficiently. That’s an endgame concern. Stay far away from it for your first 30 days.
And please — set yourself a mental budget if you decide to spend real money. It’s easy to rationalize “just one more ten-pull.” I’ve seen friends spend $200 in a weekend and still not get the character they wanted. The pity system exists, but it doesn’t guarantee you won’t go unlucky.
Exploration: Do It, But Do It Smart
Here’s where Genshin actually shines beyond most gacha games — the open world exploration is genuinely incredible. Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, Fontaine — each region is a masterpiece and worth exploring slowly.
But exploration has a practical side too.
Statues of the Seven: These are giant statues you find across the map. Activate them — they reveal the surrounding map and let you offer Oculi (small collectibles) to increase your stamina and HP. Prioritize finding these early in each region.
Oculi: Those little glowing collectibles (Anemoculi in Mondstadt, Geoculi in Liyue, etc.) are worth grabbing. Offering them to Statues gives you Primogems and character upgrades. You don’t need to obsessively hunt every single one immediately, but grab them when you see them.
Chests: Open every chest you find. They give Primogems, Mora, weapon enhancement materials, and sometimes ascension items. The game tracks how many you’ve found in each region.
Common Mistakes That’ll Set You Back Weeks
Let me save you the pain:
Wasting Acquaint Fate on Standard Banner constantly — Standard banner characters are fine but not usually the most exciting. Save your Intertwined Fate for limited banners with characters you actually want.
Leveling every character equally — Pick your main team of four and focus there. Two strong DPS, a healer, and a support is a solid starting structure.
Ignoring Elemental Reactions — Genshin’s combat is built around combining elements. Vaporize (Hydro + Pyro), Overloaded (Pyro + Electro), and Freeze (Hydro + Cryo) do massive damage. Learn two or three basic combos and your damage output will jump noticeably.
Ascending characters but not talents — A Level 80 character with Level 1 talents is weaker than a Level 60 character with Level 6 talents. Don’t neglect talent upgrades.
Burning through all your Primogems in Week One — Just… don’t. Wait until you understand the banner system and have a character you genuinely want to pull for.
What a Realistic First 30 Days Actually Looks Like
Here’s a rough roadmap if you want something structured:
Week 1: Follow main quest to AR16. Do daily commissions. Spend Resin on Mora Leylines. Pick your main DPS character and start leveling them.
Week 2: Push to AR25. Unlock more regions. Start exploring Mondstadt and early Liyue properly. Farm Talent books twice a week (specific days unlock specific Domains). Unlock the Spiral Abyss.
Week 3: Hit AR30–35. Start farming proper artifact sets for your main DPS. Your goal here is getting to a 2-piece bonus on a strong set — don’t chase perfect stats yet. Clear Spiral Abyss Floors 1–5.
Week 4: AR35–40 push. Your main character should be ascended to Phase 4 (Level 60–70). Talents at Level 6. Start building your support characters. Pull on a banner only if you’ve saved 80+ wishes.
One Last Thing Nobody Tells You
Take breaks. Seriously.
Genshin is designed to be played in 20–40 minute daily sessions, not marathon weekend binges. The Resin system literally enforces this whether you like it or not. Trying to grind 8 hours straight will just leave you frustrated and out of Resin with nothing to do.
The players who stick with Genshin for years aren’t the ones who burned brightest at the start — they’re the ones who found a comfortable rhythm, enjoyed the story, appreciated the music (which is genuinely gorgeous), and didn’t treat it like a second job.
Teyvat isn’t going anywhere. Neither are the characters you want. So breathe, explore at your own pace, and don’t let anyone rush you through content you haven’t seen yet.
Good luck out there, Traveler.
