Genshin Impact – Update 2.2

The highly anticipated next update for Genshin Impact goes live in a little less than a month. Normally this far out before the release of a patch, there wouldn’t be that much information available, but thanks to some interesting leaks revealed on a Genshin Impact subreddit, we have a little bit more clarity on what we may be able to expect. Now it should go without saying that these are mostly unconfirmed leaks, and it’s possible that when the update does finally go live that some information might not be entirely accurate and the developers might have changed their minds about certain things. But we’ll just have to see.

Based on the leaks, the update will release the Kokomi weapon banner, which will include the five-star catalyst ‘Everlasting Moonglow’, the five-star sword ‘Primordial Jade Cutter’, a four-star bow called ‘The Stringless’, a four-star claymore ‘Favonius Greatsword’, a four-star polearm called ‘Bane of Flamer and Water,’ and the ‘Favonius Codex’, a four-star catalyst. Along with this new banner will be the long-awaited new five-star Hydro character, Kokomi. She is only the second five-star Hydro-aspected character other than Mona.

There will also likely be a couple of rerun banners, but naturally, it’s not entirely clear which they will be. Currently, the most popular theory is that the rerun banner with be either Hu Tao, Childe, or Thoma.

This update is expected to introduce two new enemy types to the game, called Riftstalker Whelps and Hounds, both of which will come in Electro and Geo varieties. These enemies will drop ‘concealed claws’, ‘concealed unguis’, and ‘concealed talons’ when defeated. It appears that these ascension materials can be used to ascend the ‘Akoumaru’, ‘Wavebreaker’s Fin’, and the ‘Brumal Star’, which is an entirely new five-star bow weapon. It increases elemental skill and burst damage, and will build up stacks further increasing the wielder’s attack damage.

It appears that Update 2.2 will bring a roguelike dungeon time-limited event called ‘Labyrinth Warriors’ to the game, will put the player’s skills in battle to the test against wave after wave of opponents, and will consist of 4 separate stages. Players will receive 3 different kinds of currencies for defeating enemies, including ‘damaged replica’, ‘battered shikifuda’, and ‘aged token’, each of which can be used to purchase different buffs and debuffs before the beginning of the next challenge. Similar to the Spiral Abyss, players will bring a total of 8 characters in two teams into battle. Between battles players will be able to use 9 different buffs called ‘shikifuda’ that have various different effects, from healing, increasing attack or defensive power of the player’s characters, or damaging opponents. For completing this event players will be rewarded with great prizes, including primogems, mora, and ascension material, a free 4-star character ‘Xinyan’ (with an additional exchange of 1000 aged tokens), and also a new companion called ‘Shiki Koshou’.

It should be noted that the new Inazuma area added to the game in Update 2.0 is not yet entirely finished, and this update is expected to add some more details and content to that region, including the introduction of Tsurumi Island, which appears to have a spooky haunted theme, perfect for the upcoming Halloween season. As for now, we have to be happy with a previous update – version 2.1.

Genshin Impact has only been out for around a year and it has already attracted millions of dedicated fans. The game features an open-world environment and active battle system and is currently available on Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows. Plans have been made to release the game on Nintendo Switch, but unfortunately, it’s not clear yet when that will be.