Summary
The first thing that you’ll learn when you start playingGenshin Impactis that the world of Teyvat consists of seven elements, and they all react with each other differently. These reactions are at the core of the combat system in the game, and you won’t get past anything if you don’t understand them properly.
While each element has something special about it, some of them will give you much more value than others. Of course, this can change depending on the character you’re using and the enemies you’re facing, but the elements can still be ranked based on their usability.
7Geo
The Geo element in Genshin Impact is one of the most interesting, and unfortunately, the worst element in the game. This element has the same reaction with four elements, which causes a crystallized object to spawn on the ground that gives a shield to your party. However, its inability to react with Anemo and Dendro is quite a problem.
The Geo element is based around shielding your party, which means you’d want to use it with all other elements, but its resonance gives you a RES shred only for Geo. Thankfully, if you’re lucky enough to have Zhongli in your account, you can still use this element in battle since he’s arguably one of the strongest characters in the game.
6Cryo
Cryo has had one of the toughest journeys as an element in the game. It was quite strong when the game started because of its Freeze and Melt reactions, which are still strong, but the new reactions and characters overpowered it quite a lot. Dendro’s release was the time when this element went down the meta.
This is once again an element that has some of the strongest characters like Ganyu and Kamisato Ayaka. Overall, Cryo is still a viable element, but it’s quite hard to use it when you can clear endgame content like the Spiral Abyss much easier with others.
5Anemo
The first region you visit when you start playing Genshin Impact and the first element the Traveler resonates with is Anemo. Whenever this element reacts with anything except Geo and Dendro, the Swirl reaction is triggered, which deals extra damage to the same elemental type that it reacted to.
Anemo is already a great element on the base level because of its extra damage and resonance that makes exploration much easier. However, it becomes much stronger if you’re using an Anemo support unit with the Viridescent Venerer set.
4Electro
One thing that HoYoverse deserves credit for is the ability to switch around the meta whenever they want, and that’s evident once you look at thehistory of Electro. From the beginning, this element has been the least famous since none of its reactions were extraordinary, but things changed with the release of Dendro.
It brought along new reactions in the form of Aggravate, Spread, and Hyperbloom. These three reactions are by far some of the strongest reactions you’ll find in the game, which automatically makes Electro one of the best elements to use. you may also get some extra elemental particles from its resonance if you’re using multiple Electro characters.
3Pyro
Pyro, the element of destruction and war, is undoubtedly one of the top three elements in Genshin Impact. The main reason behind this is the existence of Hu Tao, the strongest character in the game, belonging to this element. This was made even better with the release of Lyney since he gives way to mono-Pyro teams.
Pyro is one of the few elements that react with every other element in the game, but its best reactions are Vaporize, Melt, and Swirl. Pyro resonance also increases the entire team’s ATK by 25 percent, which might not be beneficial for Hu Tao, but it’s great if you’re using it as a support element with Xiangling and Bennett.
2Dendro
Dendro has been the underdog element since the start of the game because there were no playable characters from this element and the only reaction that involved it was Burning. However, it cooked up a thunderstorm on its release during the Version 4.0 update, shaking the meta from top to bottom.
The Dendro element heavily relies on Elemental Mastery, which is clear from its path resonance giving your team an extra 30 or 20 EM on triggering reactions. It is the one element that has the most reactions in the top ranks of Genshin Impact, and that’s not changing anytime soon.
1Hydro
Finally, the best element in Genshin Impact, and one of the most aesthetically pleasing,Hydro has everything an element needs. Firstly, its resonance gives 25 percent extra HP to the entire party, which not only helps your team stay alive but also buffs most Hydro characters since they scale on the Max HP.
It has one of the strongest sets of reactions including Bloom, Hyperbloom, Swirl, Freeze, and Vaporize. Overall, it’s easy to notice that Hydro is one of the most synergized elements since it suits all the characters from this element and reacts well with others.
