Genshin Impact: Game currency and microtransaction guide

Primogems? Fate? Crystals? If you've been playing Genshin Impact for a few hours, you've already been introduced to a dizzying world of currencies designed specifically to obfuscate how much money you might end up spending on this free-to-play game. And you may even be thinking -- why bother? Early in the game, it seems there's no need to spend any money at all!

Though Genshin Impact's currency system can be dense, the ways in which you can engage with it are fairly limited. Below we've compiled a guide to the different types of currency, what they're used for, and what the best way to spend them in Genshin Impact is.

What are the different types of currency in Genshin Impact?

Genesis Crystals

Genesis Crystals are the currency that you directly buy in Genshin Impact. You can purchase them in the following amounts:

• 60 crystals: $0.99
• 300 crystals: $4.99
• 980 crystals: $14.99
• 1,980 crystals: $29.99
• 3,280 crystals: $49.99
• 6,480 crystals: $99.99

There is also a first-time buyer bonus in effect where the first time you purchase Genesis Crystals, you'll receive double the amount. This makes it more lucrative to make your first purchase a larger one if you think you want to go in on Genesis Crystals.

Genesis Crystals have no use on their own, and are instead spent to buy Primogems.

Primogems

Primogems are a currency you'll be using a lot in Genshin Impact. You can earn them in a number of ways by just playing the game: they're quest rewards, rewards for the Battle Pass, achievements, and completing Adventure Ranks, opening chests, unlocking new waypoints, finishing commissions, or completing dungeons. Early in the game, you'll be drowning in Primogems, though later on they get a bit more scarce.

Primogems are also purchaseable with Genesis Crystals. One Genesis Crystal is equal to one Primogem, meaning that you can use the currency table above to figure out how much Primogems technically cost you. 60 Primogems is approximately a dollar.

Primogems, like Genesis Crystals, have no use on their own. But they can be traded in for Intertwined and Acquaint Fates, with a single Fate costing 160 Primogems.

Intertwined and Acqaint Fate

Finally, three levels of currency in, we're into something you can use. Fates are the currency you want to shoot for to obtain more characters and powerful weapons. Using the "Wish" option on the Paimon menu, you can spend a single Fate to "Wish" for either a new character or weapon.

Each Fate costs 160 Primogems, which means if you're paying real money, you get approximately the following for each tier of Genesis Crystals you can buy (though you'll always have some Primogems left over):

• $5 = 1 Fate
• $15 = 6 Fate
• $30 = 12 Fate
• $50 = 20 Fate
• $100 = 40 Fate

In a section below, we'll get into how you should use your Fates and what the odds are on characters, but for now just know that if you're spending real money on Fates, this is how much your Wishes will cost you.

If you're going after a certain character, make sure you check before buying whether you need Intertwined Fate or Acquaint Fate to get them — different rolls will use different Fates.

Starglitter

Starglitter is a weird currency you can only obtain when you receive a duplicate character from a Wish. The amount varies depending on a number of factors including how many times you've received that character and how rare the character is.

You can spend Starglitter in the Starglitter exchange in the Shop under Paimon's Bargains, either on more Fates (5 Starglitter per Fate) or to receive very specific characters or weapons.

There is no way to obtain more Starglitter deliberately, but it will accumulate if you are Wishing often.

Stardust

Stardust is also obtained through Wishes, and you'll get a small amount each time you Wish and receive a weapon you already own. As a result, you'll probably end up with a lot more Stardust than Starglitter, but again -- it's not something you can really control or buy yourself.

Stardust can be spent in the Stardust Exchange under Paimon's Bargains on a number of items, including a limited amount of Fates per month, Mora, EXP items, and other things.

Mora

Mora is the currency of the world of Teyvat, and is how you buy items in-game such as food, materials, and upgrades. You can get more Mora with Stardust or Starglitter, but it's also obtainable just by playing through the game, fighting monsters, and opening chests.

Should I buy currency in Genshin Impact?

The answer to this question depends on what you want out of the game. Genshin Impact is completely free, and it's possible to enjoy the entirety of the game's story content without ever spending a dime on the game. That said, there is a point later on in the game (we're talking 20, 30 hours in here) where things start to slow down if you're not willing to spend at least a small amount to help them along, so if you love the game by that point but don't want to purchase anything, you may have to grind.

We'll detail how to optimize your spend below, but the best recommendation is this: don't spend any real money on Genshin Impact until you reach at least Adventure Rank 20. That's when the Battle Pass becomes available, and at that point you'll have a pretty good idea of whether you're committed to the game or not. We don't recommend spending money on any straight Genesis Crystals until at least Adventure Rank 25, when the game starts to get more challenging if you don't have beefed up characters.

Are the currency deals any good?

There are essentially two "deals" available in Genshin Impact that let you get a lot of good rewards for a small amount of money. The first, visible from the shop, is the Blessing of the Welkin Moon. The second is the Battle Pass.

Blessing of the Welkin Moon

For $5, the Blessing of the Welkin Moon gives you 300 Genesis Crystals immediately, and 90 Primogems a day for 30 days. This means that total, you'll be spending $5 for 3000 Primogems, or almost 19 rolls at Fate. Granted, it takes 30 days to get the full amount, but if you're committed to the game and logging in daily, this is an excellent deal.

Because it's so cheap and because of the instant 300 Genesis Crystals you get, this is already a better deal than spending $5 on Genesis Crystals alone, so there's really no downside. If you're sure you like the game and are going to stick with it and want to spend money on it, we recommend picking this up as soon as possible so you can reap the rewards quickly.

Battle Pass

Genshin Impact's Battle Pass doesn't come available until you reach Adventure Rank 20. It costs $10, and essentially opens up a menu of daily, weekly, and full-period achievements for a six-week period. Whenever you complete certain objectives — including logging in, spending Mora, doing commissions, or fighting Stormterror — you'll get EXP toward your Battle Pass level.

Each time you gain a level, you get more rewards. These rewards include EXP items, Mora, enhancement ore, and yes, Fate. The Battle Pass is also worth it if you've reached Adventure Rank 20 and feel you're ready to commit to the game, though keep an eye on how much time is left on the Battle Pass. If there are only a few weeks left and you don't intend to play a lot every day, it might be worth holding off and waiting until the next Battle Pass starts.

What's the best way to get better characters and weapons?

We've covered every way you can spend money so far and whether it's worth it, except for straightforwardly buying Genesis Crystals and spending them to roll for characters.

Is it worth it to buy Genesis Crystals? Not really.

The way Fate rolls work in Genshin Impact is that you are guaranteed a four-star pull or above every ten rolls, and a five-star or above every 90 rolls. This means that in order to absolutely, completely guarantee a five-star character using only Genesis Crystals, you'd have to spend over $200. And even then, you have no way of guaranteeing it will be the character you want, though some events will make certain characters slightly more common than others.

But fortunately, you don't have to do that, though that doesn't mean it's easy. The game provides you with enough Primogems that you can pretty easily manage to roll once or twice a day, and that's even easier if you've bought into the Blessing of the Welkin Moon. So if you're playing a lot already, you're already going to be using Fates pretty often, and if you play for long enough, eventually a 5-star character will come to you.

If you really feel the urge, throwing some money at Genesis Crystals can speed up the process. But given the exchange rate and the randomness of it all, unless you're a hardcore player with money to burn trying to pull the absolutely strongest characters, you're better off just making do with what the game throws at you.

One final note: the characters and weapons you get via the free pulls are absolutely going to be good enough. Even the worst character, Amber, does okay when you level her up and invest in her, and while we don't recommend Amber specifically, you can get multiple 4-star characters just from rolling with the free Fates and Primogems you get from playing, and those will be just fine for 99.9% of what you do in Genshin Impact. The very few things you'll really want 5-stars for are so top-level that by the time you need to worry about them, the game will probably have thrown one of these characters at you anyway.

Have more questions about Genshin Impact currency?

If you still have a question about the currency systems in Genshin Impact or how Fates works, let us know in the comments below so we can help you out.

For more information on the world of Teyvat and Genshin Impact, check out our guide to everything you need to know about playing the game. But if you've burnt out on grinding and are ready to move on to another game, here's a guide to other great gaming options available.