Genshin Impact New Player Roadmap: A 30-Day Plan for AR, First Build & What to Farm
You don't need to rush the meta in your first 30 days: week 1 clears the story on the 4 free characters (Traveler, 
Amber, Kaeya, Lisa), week 2 is for locking in exactly 1 Main DPS and assembling the National team (Xiangling/Bennett/Xingqiu + Chongyun or Sucrose) — the cheapest, most reliable F2P comp — week 3 mixes Adventure Rank grinding with 'practice' artifact runs, and serious artifact farming only starts once you hit AR45. Spreading resources across too many characters at once is the #1 mistake that overwhelms new players — commit to one DPS first; see character picks on the beginner-characters page and comp-building on the team-building page.
New to Genshin and overwhelmed? Here's the 30-day roadmap to fix that
You open the game and there are dozens of characters, a dozen overlapping systems (Level, Ascension, Talents, Artifacts, Wishes...), and a constant feeling of "whatever I do feels wrong" — that's completely normal, everyone goes through it. The good news: you don't need to understand everything in week 1. This roadmap splits into 4 phases anchored to Adventure Rank (AR) — a measure of how much you've explored/played, not a fixed calendar date, so it works whether you play fast or slow:
- Phase 1 (low AR, roughly week 1): clear the story on free characters, don't touch resin yet.
- Phase 2 (roughly week 2): lock in exactly 1 Main DPS, assemble a stable F2P comp.
- Phase 3 (AR 30-44): grind AR while "practicing" artifact farming, not going all-in yet.
- Phase 4 (AR45+): farm artifacts seriously, attempt your first Spiral Abyss.
Following this order keeps you from wasting resources farming too early or building the wrong character.
Phase 1: the 4 free characters can carry the whole story — don't touch resin yet
Right from the start you already have the Traveler, Amber, Kaeya, and Lisa — no Wishes needed, no spending required, and they're enough to clear every early-chapter story quest. Your job this phase: push the main story chain continuously to unlock new regions (each region opens more daily commissions, teleport waypoints, and farmable resources), and do your 4 daily commissions every day even before you fully understand combat — this is the single steadiest source of Primogems and Adventure Rank XP for the entire game, not just this early phase.
What NOT to do in this phase: pour resin into artifact domains. Low-level artifact domains (the ones unlocked early) cost the exact same resin as high-level ones but drop noticeably worse stats — save your resin and put all of it toward raising AR through world exploration and quests instead. See exactly how far these 4 starting characters can carry you on the beginner-characters page.
Phase 2: stop spreading thin — pick exactly 1 Main DPS and build the National team
The most common new-player mistake: liking every character so you level a little bit of all ten of them — and end up with nobody strong enough to fight bosses or climb the Abyss. The single most important job of phase 2 is to funnel resources (EXP books, Mora, ascension materials) into exactly 1 Main DPS first; everyone else just needs to be combat-usable, not optimized yet.
On team structure, Genshin's standard shape is always 1 Main DPS + 1-2 Sub-DPS + 1-2 Support/Sustain — someone always needs to deal the primary damage while others trigger elemental reactions, buff, shield, or heal. The FIRST thing to think about when building a team is Elemental Resonance: Pyro resonance (2 Pyro characters) gives a flat +25% ATK to the whole party — the strongest resonance currently available. That's also why the National Team (Xiangling + Bennett + Xingqiu + Chongyun or Sucrose) remains the most effective F2P/beginner comp — cheap to build, easy to play, constant damage through Vaporize/Melt reactions, and it exploits that exact Pyro resonance. See the full breakdown and alternative comps on the team-building-guide page and the teams page.
Weapons: craftable & quest weapons are strong enough to replace 5★ gacha for now
Don't let "I don't have a 5★ weapon yet" make you feel behind — plenty of slots in a team are covered by craftable (forge-made) or quest-reward weapons that are completely free and strong enough to carry content up to AR45 and beyond, especially for the support/sub-DPS roles in the National team. Your job this phase is to run world quests to unlock forging blueprints, gather forging materials (some overlap with world-boss materials used for character ascension too — one farm run, two benefits), and slowly level that weapon using spare weapons as EXP fodder.
The Primogems you're saving (see the last section of this article) are better spent on a character who fills a missing role in your team — say, a Sub-DPS of a different element you're lacking — rather than on a 5★ weapon while you're still building your foundation. Want to compare damage between an F2P weapon and a gacha one for your exact character? Plug your numbers into the live damage calculator at the top of this page.
Phase 3 (AR 30-44): practice artifact farming, don't go all-in yet
This is the "apprentice zone": your AR is high enough that artifact domains now drop pieces with 4 substats (instead of fewer at low level), but you're not at the highest-tier domain yet. Feel free to run a few farming attempts to get familiar with the interface and basic main-stat/set-bonus logic, but don't burn all your resin on one character yet — the main goal is still steady AR growth through daily commissions and exploration.
A few numbers worth remembering to plan your resin: max resin is 200, regenerating 1 point every 8 minutes (a full refill from 0 takes roughly 26-27 hours if unused), artifact/talent-book/weapon domains cost 20 resin per run, and elite/world-boss fights cost 40. This is also the right time to learn the basic artifact-picking rule: the correct main stat for your role always matters more than the set bonus, and the set bonus matters more than substats — a 4★ piece with the right main stat beats a 5★ piece with the wrong one. Read the full breakdown on the artifact-farming-guide page before moving to phase 4.
Phase 4 (AR45+): farm artifacts seriously and try Spiral Abyss
Hitting AR45 is the milestone to start farming artifacts seriously: from here, domains open at their highest tier, and each 20-resin run is nearly guaranteed to drop at least one 5★ piece — the best resin-to-quality ratio in the entire system, so farming earlier just wastes time on a lower stat ceiling. From here, pour resin steadily into the exact artifact set that fits the Main DPS you locked in during phase 2 (the National team, for example, typically builds Crimson Witch of Flames for a Pyro Main DPS).
This is also the right time to try Spiral Abyss for the first time — the 12-floor challenge mode that resets every 2 weeks, and the most common yardstick the community uses for tier rankings. Don't aim for a full star clear right away; a reasonable goal is getting used to the scoring/timer rules and clearly seeing what your comp is still missing so you can improve it gradually. See the full rules and AR floor-unlock thresholds on the spiral-abyss-guide page.
How to read a tier list correctly — don't let it scare you off
A lot of new players get discouraged seeing their favorite character sitting at B or C tier — the key thing to understand is: every character is viable if invested in properly, a tier list is just a reference on average performance, not a hard rule banning you from using someone. A few rules for reading a tier list correctly: (1) tier lists usually rate 5★s at zero constellations (C0) and 4★s at full 6 constellations (C6) — a 4★ at C0 will be noticeably weaker than its listed spot; (2) an SS-tier Support can't be directly compared to an SS-tier DPS since they're measured on different scales — a good list ranks tiers separately per role; (3) tier depends heavily on the team and gear around a character, not just that character's standalone position.
The practical takeaway for new players: use a tier list to spot characters that are easy to build, easy to play, and strong even on a low investment (usually overlapping with the F2P picks already mentioned in phase 2), not to force yourself into owning exactly the names at the top. See the version-by-version rankings on the tier-list page.
Before your first real Wish: understand pity & your real Primogem budget
A dedicated F2P player (doing daily commissions, Spiral Abyss, exploration, redeeming codes) earns roughly 8,000-14,500 Primogems per ~42-day patch — that's about 50-90 pulls (1 pull = 160 Primogems) — see the full breakdown on the primogem-income page. Knowing this number upfront sets realistic expectations: don't expect to pull as freely as a paying streamer; instead, focus your Primogems on 1-2 characters per patch rather than spreading thin.
Before your very first pull, get familiar with the pity mechanic: the character banner has a 0.6% base 5★ rate per pull, climbing sharply from around wish 74 (soft pity), guaranteed by wish 90 (hard pity); if your 5★ turns out not to be the featured character (losing the 50/50), your very next 5★ on that banner is 100% guaranteed to be the featured one. Plug the number of pulls you're planning into the live pity calculator to know your exact odds before spending money or Primogems — so you don't blow an entire patch's budget without estimating first.
If I follow this 30-day roadmap exactly, can I clear Spiral Abyss floor 12 already?
Not necessarily, and that's fine — you don't need to. The goal of these 30 days is to build a solid FOUNDATION (understanding the systems, having one usable Main DPS, a stable comp, and no wasted resources), not sprinting to clear the highest floor. After phase 4, just keep farming artifacts steadily and repeating Spiral Abyss every 2 weeks — power grows naturally from there.
Do I have to spend money to keep up with this roadmap?
No. This entire roadmap is built on an F2P foundation: 4 free characters, an all-4★ National team, craftable/quest weapons. See the full F2P roadmap in more detail on the f2p-guide page. If you do have a small budget to spend, Blessing of the Welkin Moon (~$4.99/month, worth about 3,000 Primogems-equivalent per month) is consistently the best value option before considering the Battle Pass or straight Genesis Crystal top-ups.
Who should I pull my first 5★ for? Do I need to wait for full constellations before building?
You don't need to wait for full constellations — evaluate and build at C0 (zero constellations), since most characters are already strong enough at C0 to carry content; constellations are just extra optimization later. As for who: prioritize a character who fills a role your National team or current comp is missing (say, a Sub-DPS of a different element like Cryo/Electro/Hydro, or a versatile support) rather than pulling a duplicate role you've already covered. Check character recommendations for new players on the beginner-characters page before deciding.
My AR is climbing slower than my friends' — does this throw off the 30-day roadmap?
That's totally fine — this roadmap is anchored to Adventure Rank milestones (AR30, AR45...) rather than fixed calendar days, since AR reflects how much content you've actually played (story, exploration, quests), not something that ticks up on its own over time. Play fewer hours per day and it'll simply take more days to hit each milestone — the order and logic of each phase stays exactly the same, no need to race anyone else's pace.
Why wait until AR45 to farm artifacts — what happens if I farm earlier?
Because artifact domains at lower AR cost the exact same 20 resin per run as the highest-tier domain, but drop noticeably lower quality/fewer substats — in other words, farming early isn't against any rule, it just wastes resin since you're trading the same amount of resource for a worse outcome. Waiting until AR45, when domains unlock at their highest tier, before going all-in is the most resin-efficient approach across a character's entire lifespan.
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