5 Biggest Genshin Impact Meta Changes Over the Years

Published: Jul 10, 2024, 8:52 pm Updated: Oct 18, 2024, 3:06 pm

Since its release in September 2020, Genshin Impact has undergone five updates/versions, each with eight patches over six weeks. Version 4.8, called Summerside Scales and Tales, is about to come, and fans can expect a new character, skins, and a summer-themed event.

In its almost four-year run, Genshin Impact has undergone many changes. It now has twice as many characters and features new elements, like Dendro, that dramatically shift the meta.

Though some of these updates are small, like the increase of the overall resin cap and the buff to Zhongli, they are still much needed in the game.

Other additions come with extra hours of casual content in the gameplay.

So, here are the five most significant Genshin Impact meta changes over the years.

Hangout Events

Hangout Events, or Invitation Quests, are special Story Quests that can be played repeatedly and feature different endings.

This features 11 series, added to the game in version 1.4.

Hangout Events lets players choose a four-star character who will go through several branching story paths.

Here, they can obtain primogems, and each ending has detailed art that can be downloaded and used as a wallpaper.

Zhongli’s Buff

Zhongli is a Geo character known for being a consultant at the Wansheng Funeral Parlor.

He’s later revealed to be the Geo Archon, Morax, who starts to experience the world from a mortal’s perspective.

But before he became a playable character in Version 1.1, he was first introduced as an NPC in Version 1. 0.

Though Zhongli is a powerful shielder in Genshin Impact, players are pretty upset by his overall performance.

That’s when sizable buffs come in, increasing his shield strength and reducing enemy defenses when his shield is activated.

His buffs turn him into a true Archon, allowing his shield to single-handedly tank most boss attacks without needing to dodge.

Character Outfits

Character skins have been a common feature in gacha games, letting players choose an alternate look for their favorite characters for a short time.

Genshin Impact fans have been vocal about wanting this feature to be added to the game. Thankfully, miHoYo finally heard their cries.

Character Outfits were finally added in Version 1.6, with the first skins released for Barbara and Jean.

MiHoyo is also very generous with its followers, making the four-star skin for each available for free when they participate in its release event.

Though skins are slowly released, they are received well, and several skins are now available for characters like Barbara, Jean, Ningguang, Keqing, Fischl, Diluc, Lisa, and Ayaka.

The Serenitea Pot

The Serenitea Pot or Real Within, also colloquially known as Teapot, Housing, Homeland, or Player Housing, is a system that allows players to create their own homes.

Players can interact with the system using the Serenitea Pot and request a visit to their friends’ homes in Co-Op Mode regardless of the World Level.

The Serenitea Pot is one of the biggest casual modes in Genshin Impact.

First released in Version 1.5, it lets players interact with their favorite characters, converse with their obtained characters, and increase their friendship levels without using them in the open world.

Dendro

Dendro is one of the seven Elements in Genshin Impact. Its associated Archon is Buer, whose domain is Sumeru.

First released in Version 1.0, the text color for Dendro DMG was changed to a darker green, received Bloom and Quicken Elemental Reactions, and was given a Wood sister element in Version 3.0.

So, though it was already part of the game, with enemies like the Dendro slimes, players couldn’t utilize it.

However, everything changed when Sumeru was introduced, and the Traveler could finally use this element.

That said, Dendro shifted the balance scales of Genshin Impact, with previous five-star characters like Keqing finally receiving good buffs.

Since the game’s release, these five meta changes have been the biggest changes added to Genshin Impact.