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Everything you need to know about the ‘Genshin Impact’ Version 2.6 update

Patch notes for Genshin Impact's 2.6 update has been released, teasing new additions and major changes to the game.

Kamisato Ayato via Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact has just released official patch notes for their new 2.6 update — Zephyr of the Violet Garden — as it releases worldwide throughout today.

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The official patch notes were published on the game’s HoyoLab website as game servers go on maintenance in preparation for the update. Players will receive 300 primogems and an extra 60 per hour the servers are offline.

Version 2.6 will feature the highly awaited new location – the Chasm, located next to Liyue. Alongside the new location is the release of the third character rerun banner of Anemo Archon Venti, alongside Genshin’s newest character Kamisato Ayato.

Alongside the new characters and location is the new main Archon story quest – Requiem of the Echoing Depths, new enemies, and new artifacts.

Version 2.6 has also made adjustments and optimizations for existing content in the game. The most notable ones are a decrease in damage done by Geovishap Hatchlings when their tail sweep skill hits a character continuously. The tutorial icon will be displayed on the main interface for those below Adventure Rank 30. Additionally, Rosaria, Jean, Amber, and Mona’s appearances have been adjusted to their new alternative outfits.

Here are the patch notes for Genshin Impact’s 2.6 Update:

New Area: “The Chasm”

The Chasm is an abandoned underground area located next to Liyue. Players who have reached Adventure Rank 28 and have completed the Archon Quest “A New Star Approaches” and World Quest “Surreptitious Seven-Star Seal Sundering” are able to enter the new location.

New Character – Kamisato Ayato

Kamisato Ayato via Genshin Impact

Version 2.6 will also launch the release of Genshin’s new five-star character Kamistato Ayato. He will be a hydro unit that wields a sword and is described as a “young but highly accomplished head of the Yashiro Commission’s Kamisato Clan”.

New Domain

Version 2.6 will release the new domain – The Lost Valley. Genshin’s patch notes describe the domain as an ancient ritual ground that has now been abandoned.

“The ancient ritual grounds were buried beneath the earth amidst a cataclysm that tore heaven and earth asunder before being uplifted by the descent of an alien object, and finally unveiled by a destructive battle that resulted from a betrayal. Nonetheless, those who once frequented this place are no more.”

New Equipment

Alongside new characters, new weapons and artifacts will be released. Haran Geppaku Futsu is a new five-star sword and its name comes from “the manner in which it resembles the violent, roiling waves”.

The game will also be releasing two new artifact sets – ‘Vermillion Hereafter’ and ‘Echoes of an Offering’.

New Events

Irodori Festival

Hues of the Violet Garden is the new event that Genshin players can partake in for a chance to invite Genshin’s hydro character Xingqiu to your party.

During the event, players will be tasked to help organize the Irodori Festival. The event will have four gameplay modes that will be unlocked sequentially. Completing the event will reward the players with primogems, new recipes, furnishing, Crown of Insight, talent level materials, and invite Xingqiu.

Players need to reach Adventure Rank 30 and complete all the Inazuma Archon Quests, as well as multiple story quests from different characters. However, players can quickstart the event if they haven’t completed the Kamisato Ayato, Raiden Shougun, and Sangonomiya Kokomi story quests.

New Main Story

Asides from new events, Archon Quest Chapter II: Act IV “Requiem of the Echoing Depths” and Kamisato Ayato’s Story Quest “Cypressus Custos Chapter: Act I – The Firmiana Leaf Falls” will be released.

There will also be more than 15 new world quests, most of which will be in relation to The Chasm.

New Enemies

Ruin Serpent

New locations mean new enemies to face. Version 2.6 will allow players to face the Ruin Serpent, an ancient “bizarrely-shaped” autonomous machine located in the Chasm. Other new foes that the players could face in the new update are the Black Serpent Knight and the Floating Hydro Fungus.

Serenitea pot

Two new additions will be included to the Serenitea pot. The first is a new piece of furniture called the “Leisure Device: Maximum Motivation”.

Players are also now able to obtain “Radiant Spincrystals” in Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma, which allows players to unlock corresponding Realm Music using “Euphonium Unboun’. “Radiant Spincrystals” can also be purchased by the Teapot Traveling Salesman after completing the required World quest in Inazuma.

The game will also have made adjustments to the music volume in the Serenitea pot.

Spyral Abyss

There will be changes to the Spyral Abyss in Version 2.6.

Floors 11 -12 will have their monster lineup updated and Floor 11 will have its Ley Line Disorders changed to “All characters in the party gain a 75% Anemo DMG Bonus”.

When the Spyral Abyss resets on April 1, Gladiator’s Finale and Wanderer’s Troupe artifacts sets will be replaced with “Vermillion Hereafter” and “Echos of an Offering” on floors 9-12

Also coming to Version 2.6 are three new refreshers to the Lunar Phase that help give improvements to damage dealt by characters. They are as follows:

Phase I: Sheet-Ice Moon

“After a character’s Normal Attack hits an opponent, this opponent will be afflicted with a Mark of Ending. After 10s, this Mark of Ending will be removed, dealing True DMG to this opponent. When a character’s Normal Attack hits an opponent with a Mark of Ending, the DMG dealt by the Mark of Ending’s removal will be increased. This DMG can be increased 9 times.”

Phase II: Snap-Rain Moon

“After a character’s Normal Attacks hit opponents, the DMG dealt by this character’s Normal Attacks will increase by 12% for 5s. This effect can stack up to 5 times. Each stack is calculated independently. This effect can be triggered once every 0.1s.”

Phase III: Iris Moon

“After a character’s Normal Attack deals DMG to an opponent, the Physical/Elemental RES of this opponent will decrease by 6% for 5s, matching the type of DMG dealt. This can stack up to 7 times. RES decreases of different types can co-exist, and their stacks and timers will be independent of each other.”

Other Additions

  1. Three new recipes can be obtained – “Quiet Elegance,” “Katsu Sandwich,” and “Rainbow Aster”.
  2. New achievement categories for the player to obtain, as well as some new ones for “Wonders of the World”.
  3. New player name cards
  4. Brightness adjustment settings are now available to be configured in the graphic settings
  5. Players can now purchase Sango Pearls, Unagi Meat, and two-star lucky dog artifacts in a shop in Ritou after completing the Raiden Shogun’s Story Quest “Imperatrix Umbrosa Chapter: Act II
  6. Players can capture two new creatures – Lucklight Fly, and Bluethunder Weasel
  7. New harvestable resource have been added called “Starshroom”
  8. The Adventure Handbook: Bosses will have a redirect link for certain development items in the future. This also includes items dropped by the Floating Hydro Fungus.
  9. Mobile players will have a shortcut for opening the Party Setup Screen.
  10. New prompts on the loading screen
  11. New loot drops from “Abyss Heralds,” and “Abyss Lectors”: “Gloomy Statuette,” “Dark Statuette,” and “Deathly Statuette.”

Adjustments & Optimizations

  1. Lowers the DMG done by “Geovishap Hatchlings” when their tail sweep skill hits a character continuously.
  2. Optimizes the appearance of the “Primo Geovishap” in the “Living Beings” section of the Archive.
  3. Optimizes the Ornamental Fish icon.
  4. Optimizes UI presentation and text of content that has yet to be unlocked in Hangout Events.
  5. When below Adventure Rank 30, the “Tutorials” icon will be permanently displayed on the main interface.
  6. Added “Recently Unlocked” to “Tutorials.” Five newly unlocked tutorials will be stored for easy access.
  7. “Tutorials” will record the position where you last have read. If there is no unread tutorial, the last read tutorial will be selected.
  8. Adjusts the position of the Tutorials button in “Living Beings.”
  9. Optimizes the sorting logic for Weapon Enhancement Materials and Artifact Enhancement Materials: these two materials are still placed at the bottom of their respective categories, but their internal sorting will be affected when sorting by quality.
  10. Optimizes the Japanese, Korean, and English voice-over for certain characters and quests.
  11. Adds Alternate Outfits voice lines for the characters Jean, Amber, Rosaria, and Mona; Travelers can change the outfits in “Character > Outfit” to play the relevant voice lines.
  12. The text of the “Exit Download” button in the login screen has been changed to “Stop Download,” and the text description of the related function was optimized.
  13. For animation cutscenes from Version 2.6 and earlier, Jean, Amber, Rosaria, and Mona’s appearances have been adjusted to the Alternate Outfits.
  14. Optimizes the effects of the cutscene animation in the Archon Quest “A Long Shot.”
  15. Optimizes some display animation details of the character Kaeya in the Character > Weapon interface.
  16. Batch optimizes the logic related to the enemy homing function for 15 characters and 4 large-sized enemies: Golden Wolflord, Stormterror, Ruin Serpent, (new enemy in Version 2.6), and Bathysmal Vishap Herd.
  17. After the Spiral Abyss resets on April 1, the “Gladiator’s Finale” and “Wanderer’s Troupe” Artifact set rewards in “Domain Reliquary: Tier I,” and “Domain Reliquary: Tier II” for floors 9-12 will be replaced with “Vermillion Hereafter” and “Echoes of an Offering.”
  18. Optimizes the sensitivity of the controller in the Hangout Events interface.
  19. Optimizes the display of certain messages on the interface when using a controller: hides messages that are not part of the current operation interface.
  20. When using a controller, you can quickly activate certain functions of the shortcut wheel by pressing key combinations.
  21. Adjusts the height of the central stage disc in some Domains.
  22. Adjusts the text description of Achievement category “Liyue: The Harbor of Stone and Contracts.” Progress in exploring Liyue’s The Chasm area will be counted separately in the “Chasmlighter” Achievement category.

Genshin Impact’s Version 2.6 update is out now, on all major platforms.