Genshin Impact is a game built around 7 elements (fire, water, ice, air, ground, life, and electricity). Every playable character is able to utilize one of these 7 elements in combat and users can assemble a team of up to 4 characters to battle various enemies in the game. Your party can gain different types of benefits depending on its composition. For example, if your party has two or more fire wielding characters the entire party gets an attack boost while if you have two or more water using characters the entire party gets an increase to their health points.
Attacking an enemy that has an element on it with a different element will trigger an elemental reaction. For example, an enemy that is imbued with fire will get melted when hit with ice. The ways that different elements react with each other is a core mechanic of the game as it gives team composition a new lens. Electricity and ground don’t interact with each other at all while life and electricity create powerful bursts of extra damage, so pairing characters of those elements is more ideal.
This creates a strategic dynamic to combat where knowledge of character’s individual strengths is less important than understanding how characters interact with each other as well as enemies. You can craft a perfect team around water damage but that’s all null and void if the enemy is immune to water. Likewise, you can pair the “strongest” characters in the game together but if they’re all the same element the damage output won’t be as high as a more varied team.
This dynamic leads to the overall aesthetic of Genshin (from this set of mechanics) being challenge, as the enjoyment from the battle system comes from overcoming powerful enemies using strategy.
