Genshin Impact Talent Priority: Which to Level First — Normal Attack, Skill, or Burst?

Genshin gives every character 3 separate combat talents: Normal Attack (Normal/Charged/Plunging Attack share one level track), Elemental Skill, and Elemental Burst. Leveling a talent only bumps the numbers written inside that skill's own description (damage/shield/healing) — it never shortens cooldown or changes the energy cost of the Burst.

That means there is no single order that fits every character. The only rule that actually holds: ask "in my real rotation, which talent is contributing the biggest share of damage or value" and level that one first. Don't guess — plug your actual weapon, artifacts, and team into the damage calculator on this page to see the exact damage split per talent, and check team synergies on our Genshin team building guide.

Mora cost climbs with level, and jumps hard from level 6 onward:

• Level 1→2: 12,500 Mora · 2→3: 17,500 · 3→4: 25,000 · 4→5: 30,000 · 5→6: 37,500
• Level 6→7: 120,000 Mora · 7→8: 260,000 · 8→9: 450,000 · 9→10: 700,000
• Total: 1,652,500 Mora to take one talent all the way from level 1 to the max, level 10 (matches 2 independent sources).

On materials (cross-checked across 2 sources), maxing a single talent to level 10 needs: 3 low-tier books (Teachings) + 21 mid-tier books (Guide) + 38 high-tier books (Philosophies) of the matching elemental series, plus common mob drops (roughly 6× 1★ + 22× 2★ + 31× 3★, varies by character) and 6 weekly boss drops. The 9→10 step alone additionally needs exactly 1 Crown of Insight — an item you can't farm on demand, only from events or Paimon's Bargains. Maxing all 3 talents to level 10 triples everything: 9 low books + 63 mid + 114 high + 3 Crowns + 18 weekly boss drops.

"Main DPS" isn't one single archetype — it splits into two clearly different cases:

• Normal/Charged-Attack-scaling DPS (characters who stay on-field spamming their basic combo, typically claymore or bow units built around plain autoattacks): most of their damage comes from repeated Normal Attacks — level Normal Attack first, with Skill/Burst following since those mostly just buff, trigger reactions, or wait on energy.
• "Burst-mode" DPS (Raiden Shogun-style — while her Burst is active, her entire Normal/Charged Attack chain gets replaced outright by that skill's own enhanced sword strikes, literally swapping the combo mechanic): almost all real damage only fires while the Burst buff is active — here you level Burst first, not because "Burst is always more important" but because that skill IS the actual combo.

To tell which one you have: open the damage calculator and compare % damage from Normal/Charged Attacks vs. % damage dealt while the Burst buff is active across one full rotation — whichever side dominates gets the talent priority. Check character roles on our Genshin character list.

Sub-DPS and "skill-then-swap-off" reaction enablers (think Xingqiu-style sword-rain units) almost never stay on-field long enough for Normal Attack to matter at all. The sensible order here: Elemental Skill first (it's the thing getting triggered repeatedly every rotation, even after you've swapped another character in) → Elemental Burst second (used once per rotation, still worth real investment if it's a major damage/reaction source) → Normal Attack skipped almost entirely last, since it barely ever fires while the character is off-field.

One thing people miss: how reliably these characters can re-trigger their Skill every rotation depends heavily on Energy Recharge — if ER isn't at a stable threshold, talent investment won't fully pay off because the character can't even get back on-field on rhythm. Check target ER numbers on our Genshin Energy Recharge guide.

Not every support needs a high talent level — counterintuitive, but there's a clear reason. A classic community example: "anemo hoster" supports whose main damage comes from the Swirl reaction — Swirl damage scales off Elemental Mastery (EM) and character level, NOT off the Skill's talent level — so plenty of guides recommend leaving that talent at level 1 and dumping the freed-up Mora/books into your Main DPS instead.

Same logic applies to shielders/healers whose shield or healing formula is built mostly around the support's own DEF or Max HP (rather than a big dedicated talent-level multiplier) — the extra percentage per level is often small enough it's not worth the cost, especially from level 7 onward when Mora jumps into the hundreds of thousands per level. Quick check: if the value formula for that talent leans on EM/DEF/Max HP rather than a dedicated scaling multiplier, invest elsewhere first.

Talent books (Teachings/Guide/Philosophies) aren't farmable every day — each region locks its elemental book clusters to 2 fixed weekdays (say, cluster A on Mon & Thu, cluster B on Tue & Fri, cluster C on Wed & Sat), while Sunday unlocks every cluster at once so you can catch up freely — plan ahead before you burn Original Resin so nothing goes to waste.

• Crowns of Insight are scarce (only from limited-time events plus 1 guaranteed per month via Paimon's Bargains, bought with Masterless Starglitter) — spend them only on the talent that carries the biggest damage % for your actual on-field Main DPS, not on a secondary talent for a support.
• The common stopping point is 6/6/6: plenty of players treat level 6 as the sane cutoff for any talent that isn't your #1 priority, since Mora costs jump hard from level 7 onward (120,000+) while the per-level stat gain keeps shrinking — only push to 8-9-10 on the ONE talent you confirmed carries the highest damage share in the Core Rule section.
• There's no refund: once a talent is leveled up, there's no way to downgrade it and get materials back — think twice before dumping a rare Crown into a character who might get replaced in your team soon.

Check which characters/weapons are actually worth the investment first on our Genshin tier list and Genshin weapon page before you sink resources into a build that's about to get outclassed.