Unlock more characters in Genshin Impact: How to expand your team

Genshin Impact shines when there's a colorful cast of characters to join you on your adventures

HoYoverse's Genshin Impact, one of Android's best games still to this day, is a vast and exceptional experience that no other title has even come close to reproducing (at least not yet). The money and polish put into Genshin Impact shows, and since its release in 2020, the payoff has been massive. The brilliance behind the team at HoYoverse is that they can always manage to find ways to successfully absorb players into the world of Teyvat while introducing a colorful cast of characters to bring on your adventures. So how do you go about acquiring more characters to join your party? Today, we've compiled a character recruitment guide to assist in building out your team.

How to recruit the starters

As you work through the first Archon quest (main story), you'll automatically recruit characters. See our checklist below.

• Amber (bow, pyro): She's the second character introduced after Paimon; you'll acquire Amber within ten minutes of playing.
• Kaeya (sword, cryo): Kaeya will be third in line to recruit. Complete the 'Crash Course' quest, which is part of a series of prologue quests, so you'll be unable to miss out on Kaeya anyway.
• Lisa (catalyst, electro): To obtain Lisa, you'll have to complete the 'Sparks Amongst the Pages' quest, another quest in the prologue quest series.
• Noelle (claymore, geo): Unlike the first three characters, Noelle can be missed/skipped. Once you've unlocked the ability to wish (the gacha system), you'll learn how wishing works. If you wish on the beginner's banner (maximum of 20 wishes, 14 wishes with the discount), you're guaranteed Noelle in your first 10 wishes.

Recruiting the extras

These characters are considered part of the starting cast, but you'll acquire them later than the four characters listed above.

• Barbara (catalyst, hydro): Once you've reached Adventure Rank 18 and completed the 'A Long Shot' quest, Barbara will join your team.
• Xiangling (polearm, pyro): Once you've reached Adventure Rank 20, you'll unlock the Spiral Abyss. Clear floor 3, chamber 3 (3-3), and then you can recruit Xiangling from the Spiral Abyss event, 'People's Choice.'

Buying characters using Masterless Starglitter

You can buy characters from Paimon's shop, which will cost you Masterless Starglitter. Masterless Starglitter is only accumulated when you've obtained duplicates of characters and any weapon (four and five-star rarity only). See the conversion rates below for an idea.

• 2 Masterless Starglitter for non-C6 four-star characters
• 10 for non-C6 five-star characters
• 5 for C6+ four-star characters
• 25 for C6+ four-star characters
• 2 for four-star weapons
• 10 for five-star weapons

To access the shop, tap on the Paimon icon > Shop > Paimon's Bargains > Starglitter Exchange.

Note: Purchasable characters reset monthly, and you can only buy one copy.

Participating in events

Events are limited-time quests. You'll often require fulfilling pre-requisites before taking them on, such as being a specific Adventure Rank, finishing some world quests, and completing certain acts in the Archon quest. Playing through events may lead to claiming a weapon (and refinements) or a character copy.

Using the gacha system

The bread and butter system for how to acquire more characters. Wishing is another word for pulling or summoning, which uses Fates. You may obtain Fates by in-game methods such as Adventure Rank rewards, leveling up the Sacred Sakura tree at the Grand Narukami Shrine, or purchasing with other currency (e.g., Primogems).

Standard Wish banner

Also known as the permanent banner. Unlike the Limited time banner(s), you can wish on the standard banner anytime. You'll acquire a five-star guaranteed at 90 wishes, but it is 50/50 on whether you get a character or a weapon; you are guaranteed to get a five-star character or a five-star weapon in 270 pulls if you have not received either in your previous wishes. You're also guaranteed to receive a weapon in 10 wishes. To wish on the standard banner, you'll need Acquaint Fates.

Limited time banner(s)

New units and re-runs of previous character event banners only show up for a limited time. You'll require Intertwined Fates to summon on the character event banners. More than one banner may appear at once, but the pity system (how you'll reach a guarantee) is shared between these banner types. What this means is if you perform 20 pulls (placed 20 wishes) on character banner 1, your pity (20/90) is carried over to character banner 2 if you change your mind on the featured five-star you're targeting.

You are guaranteed a character at 90 pulls, but reaching your first pity is still a 50/50 toss-up whether you'll receive a character from the standard banner or if it's the featured character. Your pity resets once you acquire the featured character on the banner. Four-star characters also have a rate up on these banners; you will gain a four-star weapon/character every 10 wishes, and if you don't get one of the rate-ups in the first 10, it is guaranteed on the second set of 10 pulls.

Note: Your built-up pity is carried over to any limited time character banner even if the current ones expire.

The more, the merrier

HoYoverse does an excellent job at creating vibrant and attractive characters in the world of Teyvat. Acquiring units and building them out is a large part of Genshin Impact's experience. So if you want to see what Genshin Impact offers, grab the install below.

You might have captured a few Inazuma units already, but found yourself hitting a wall in obtaining materials to build them, so we included a guide on how to get to Inazuma if you haven't found your way by now.