Originally posted on December 5, 2023
As Fontaine’s Archon Quest comes to its conclusion, we’re discussing all our favorite parts of Genshin Impact’s newest version, 4.2.
Archon Quest
Wow, hasn’t Fontaine’s Archon Quest been fantastic so far? Version 4.2 introduces the final chapter of Fontaine’s main story, titled ‘Masquerade of the Guilty’. We can’t wait to find out how this amazing story in the region of Hydro wraps up - we’re especially excited to find out more information about the Hydro Archon, Furina. She has easily become one of our favorite characters in Genshin Impact through the last 4 chapters of Fontaine’s Archon Quest, and it looks like this finale will dive a lot deeper into her character.
We’re also very excited to see where the story will go next - Natlan will be the next region we travel to in Genshin Impact, which we know very little about. What exciting secrets could the nation of Pyro be hiding?
New Characters
This new update adds a new long-awaited 5-star character to the game, Furina. As the Hydro Archon, Furina has played a huge role in the Archon Quest of Fontaine, and many players have become incredibly fond of her. For good reason, too - she’s one of Genshin Impact’s most interesting characters while having an adorable design.
In combat, Furina wields a sword, and makes use of the Ousia and Pneuma mechanics introduced in Fontaine. Furina’s Charged Attack deals damage and changes her alignment from Ousia to Pneuma or vice versa. Her Elemental Skill spawns some of Furina’s aquatic friends, either dealing Hydro damage to enemies in Ousia form, or healing nearby characters based on Max HP. Her Elemental Burst deals AoE Hydro damage and enters the party into the Universal Revelry state. For each percentage point party members lose or gain HP, Furina will gain a Fanfare point. The party’s incoming healing and damage dealt will increase scaling with the amount of Fanfare points.
Quality of Life
Version 4.2 may be Genshin Impact’s greatest ever patch in terms of Quality of Life updates - this update eases a lot of the issues the game has faced after becoming so big over the last few years.
A huge update to the Trounce Domain system allows players over Adventure Rank 40 to challenge any Weekly Boss straight from the menu, even without completing any of the necessary story quests. While we adore Genshin Impact’s story, we understand different types of players will want different things out of the game, so this is a great way to make these bosses accessible to players who don’t want to work through 5 nations worth of plot.
This update contains a bunch of other exciting quality of life changes, too. One of these is a complete overhaul of the Stellar Reunion system, allowing players to earn rewards for returning to the game, complete with its own unique menus. Also, the Daily Commissions system has recently received a huge rework in 4.1, allowing players to earn points for completing various activities in the game, such as progressing the story or exploring new areas. This can reduce how repetitive the daily gameplay loop can get, hopefully revitalizing the fun of the game for those who have played for a long time.
New Bosses
Version 4.2 introduces two new bosses - one is a regular overworld boss and the other is a weekly Trounce Domain boss that you will meet during Fontaine’s Archon Quest, or access through the new Trounce Domain menu.
The Hydro Tulpa is a Regular Boss found in the Beryl region of Fontaine. As its name suggests, this boss is a Hydro elemental, and will fight using water attacks. While this fight is not too difficult, keep an eye on the smaller elementals the boss summons so that things don’t get out of hand - generally you’ll want to kill them immediately. This boss drops the ascension material for Furina, called ‘Water That Failed to Transcend’. Just like all other overworld bosses, it’ll also drop Artifacts and Hydro Ascension Materials.
The new weekly boss is the All-Devouring Narwhal, a huge enemy that interacts with Pneuma and Ousia mechanics. The Narwhal uses a ‘Fury’ mechanic where it builds Fury over time and as it takes damage - at a set threshold, the Narwhal will eat the player, forcing them to fight the Shadow, a boss-within-a-boss. This boss drops the ‘Lightless’ Talent Level-Up Materials, which will be used for Furina and Charlotte as well as the next few patches’ characters. This weekly boss is a lot of fun and really feels massive, we really enjoyed fighting it!
New Genius Invokation TCG Cards
Genius Invokation TCG has remained a favorite of ours over the last year, and we’re excited that the game continues to see support. Version 4.2 introduces three new character cards for Baizhu, Dori and Nilou as well as various support cards for them.
Baizhu is a Dendro element character card. His Elemental Skill, Universal Diagnosis, costs 3 Dendro dice to deal 1 Dendro damage and summon a Gossamer Sprite. This Sprite will deal Dendro damage at the end of a turn and heal the active character for 1HP. Baizhu’s Elemental Burst, Holistic Revivification, costs 4 Dendro dice and 2 Energy to create a Pulsing Clarity and a Seamless Shield. Pulsing Clarity will create a Seamless Shield when the Action Phase begins, while the Seamless Shield itself provides 1 Shield for the active character. When Seamless Shield is removed or re-applied, the active character is healed for 1 HP and deals 1 Dendro damage.
Dori is an Electro character card, whose Elemental Skill uses 3 Electro dice to deal 2 Electro damage and summon an After-Sales Service Rounds. This summon deals 1 Electro damage at the end of the turn. Her Elemental Burst uses 3 Electro dice and 2 Energy to deal 1 Electro damage and summon Jinni, who heals the active character for 2 HP and gives them 1 Energy at the end of a turn.
Finally is Nilou, who is a Hydro character card. Her Elemental Skill uses 3 Hydro dice to deal 3 Hydro damage. If the party includes only Hydro and Dendro characters, this ability will also create a Golden Chalice’s Bounty. This turns all Dendro Cores into Bountiful Cores that deal 2 Dendro damage at the end of a turn. Nilou’s Elemental Burst costs 3 Hydro dice and 2 Energy to deal 2 Hydro damage and inflict Lingering Aeon. This inflicts 3 damage to the affected character at the end of the turn.
We’re really excited to see how these 3 cards and the many various balance changes introduced in this patch shake up the Genius Invokation TCG meta!
That concludes our list of things we love about Genshin Impact’s Version 4.2 update - we hope you enjoy this update as much as we have been!
