Materials Genshin Impact

In Genshin Impact, "materials" are the item group used specifically for power upgrades: Ascension breaks a level cap to unlock a higher level for a character/weapon (6 ascensions per character, from level 20 up to level 90), and Talent leveling raises a combat skill to a higher rank. These two systems need different materials, so they cannot be farmed in the same place:

• Elemental ascension gems — a 4-tier gem set matching the character's element, used only for Ascension.
• Common enemy/boss drops — dropped by open-world enemies or Weekly Bosses; mostly for Ascension, though common enemy drops are needed for Talents starting from the very first upgrade, not just at high levels.
• Local specialties — plants/minerals gathered around the open world, tied to each character's home nation, used for Ascension.
• Talent books — drop from Talent Domains on a fixed weekly schedule, used only for Talents.

Weapons ascend through a similar mechanic but use their own set of ore/monster-scale materials by weapon type, unrelated to the 4 character material groups above.

Each element has its own set of ascension gems, split into 4 tiers from lowest to highest. Drops don't let you pick the tier directly — to get a higher one, you combine 3 lower-tier gems plus Mora at the crafting bench into 1 gem one tier up:

Since the conversion ratio is always 3:1 across all 4 tiers, farming more low-tier gems makes it easy to craft your way up instead of relying on luck for the exact tier you need. Short on conversion materials? There is also an item that lets you convert gems from one element into another, at the cost of extra Mora, saving you from having to hunt the exact enemy/boss of the element you are missing.

Elemental ascension gems are split by 7 elements: Pyro, Hydro, Electro, Cryo, Anemo, Geo, Dendro — each with its own gem set, usable only by characters of that element. The main farming source is Elite (Field) Bosses in the open world — each element is tied to a few fixed boss types that specifically drop that gem, and the tougher the boss, the better the odds of a high tier; a number of Weekly Bosses also let you claim high-tier elemental gems alongside their main Talent-material reward.

The Traveler is the one exception in this whole system: even though they switch element by story chapter, the Traveler does not share gems with characters of the currently-equipped element — instead they have their own unique gem set called Brilliant Diamond, which covers every element the Traveler has ever wielded.

Local Specialties are plants/minerals gathered freely around the map, no combat required, and always tied to a character's home nation — a Mondstadt-born character needs Mondstadt specialties, a Liyue-born character needs Liyue specialties, and so on by region. Gathering nodes respawn roughly every 2 real-world days (46–48 hours, estimate), so if you need a character fast, following a known collection route beats wandering the map at random.

The total amount of local specialty needed across all 6 ascensions of a single character is 168 units — a fixed number for every character, old or new, that does not change from patch to patch.

Talent books drop from Talent Domains, which open on a fixed weekly schedule rather than freely every day. Each region splits its talent books into 3 groups, each dropping on only 2 fixed days a week, with every Talent Domain opening on Sunday:

Since this schedule is core-system, not tied to any temporary event, it stays stable across patches — instead of memorizing exactly which region opens on which day, just remember the pattern ("3 alternating day-pairs during the week, Sunday opens everything") and check the schedule whenever you need to farm a specific character in a hurry.

Resin is a limited resource spent to claim Domain rewards, so farming without a plan wastes it fast.

A few rules help you spend Resin more efficiently: (1) Always do Resin-free materials first — local specialties and common enemy drops can be gathered whenever you have free time, saving Resin strictly for elemental gems and talent books; (2) Concentrate Resin on 1-2 characters you are actively building rather than splitting it across a whole 4-person team, since spreading it thin slows everyone down; (3) Match your talent-book farming to the actual Domain day for the region you need, so you do not walk in on the wrong day and have to wait; (4) Do not let Resin sit capped before spending it — Resin beyond the cap simply stops regenerating,

so spending it down regularly through the day squeezes more total Resin out over the long run.

Every region in Genshin has its own set of local specialties, and each character only uses the specialty of their home region. The table below shows how many specialty types each region has, with a couple of examples, so you know where to go gather:

That adds up to 58 specialty types across 7 regions. Since each gathering node only respawns after about 2 real-world days (46–48 hours, estimate, not cross-checked), this is the group to gather early and steadily: whenever you have time, run a loop through the home region of the character you plan to build, so you are not stuck right when you need to ascend.

The full Genshin item database currently holds around 770 entries — that is a count of items, not characters (Genshin only has roughly a hundred characters). For building characters, the groups that matter most are:

The 32 ascension gems break down as 7 elements × 4 tiers (28 gems) plus the Traveler's own 4-tier set. The rest of the database is EXP items, forging ore, gadgets, potions, food and quest items — not used directly for ascension, so they rarely need urgent farming.

Common enemy materials drop from ordinary open-world foes (slimes, Fatui, Treasure Hoarders, mages...) and are the largest group in the database — around 144 entries. What makes them special: the same chain is shared by both character ascension and weapon ascension, so it is perpetually in short supply.

Each chain splits into several tiers from low to high. Take the Slime chain: Slime Condensate (tier 1) → Slime Secretions (tier 2) → Slime Concentrate (tier 3); or the Mask chain: Damaged Mask → Stained Mask → Ominous Mask. The higher the ascension phase, the higher the tier of the same chain the game demands.

Tip: this group costs no Resin — you just clear enemies. Since both leveling characters and upgrading weapons draw from here, clean up enemies along the way whenever you go gather specialties, so you do not discover a shortage right at ascension time.

With a database of nearly 770 entries, the most efficient way to browse it is to split it along 2 independent axes instead of scrolling through the full list:

• Element axis — use this when you already know which element the character you are building needs (Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo/Anemo/Geo/Dendro), and filter straight to that element's 4 ascension gem tiers, ignoring the other 6 elements.
• Source axis — use this when you are asking "what should I farm today," grouping items by how they are obtained: common open-world enemies, fixed-location Elite Bosses, schedule-gated Weekly Bosses, weekday-rotating Talent Domains, and freely gathered local specialties.

These two axes are not mutually exclusive — a single ascension gem belongs to one element (axis 1) while also coming from an Elite Boss source (axis 2). Combining both quickly answers the two practical questions: "what does character X need" (axis 1) and "where should I farm today" (axis 2).

Instead of looking up each item one by one, it's easier to remember every material source as one of these 5 types, ordered by increasing Resin cost:

The rule of thumb when picking what to farm: clear the first 2 Resin-free types first, and save Resin for the last 3 — this is the same logic behind the Resin-saving tips above.