Version 4.4 has brought many great new features, the biggest being the brand new area, Chenyu Vale. Here is our guide to exploring the new region and getting the most out of all it has to offer.
How to get to Chenyu Vale
To get to Chenyu Vale, first you’ll need to complete the entirety of Mondstadt’s Archon Quest, ending with ‘Prologue Act 3: Song of the Dragon and Freedom’. After that, you’ll be able to walk into the area that bridges Liyue and Fontaine from either side. Upon setting foot in Chenyu Vale, a cutscene will play, introducing you to some characters and kicking off Chenyu Vale’s main world quest.
Chenyu Vale’s Storyline
Chenyu Vale’s main World Quest, ‘Chenyu’s Blessings of Sunken Jade’, is a wonderfully fun standalone story, mostly unrelated to Genshin Impact’s wider plot. While some knowledge of Liyue’s Adepti may help you to enjoy this quest more, we feel that it works perfectly on its own.
You can start the quest immediately by simply setting foot into Chenyu Vale, where you’ll be introduced to Fujin, the Golden Carp Adeptus. Along your adventure, you’ll learn a lot more about the Adepti of Liyue and Chenyu Vale, as well as the land itself. We absolutely adored this World Quest and we hope you will too!
Spirit Carp and the Rainjade Oblation
Throughout your travels in Chenyu Vale, you may notice some floating blue orbs. These are Spirit Carp, and are this area’s alternative to the elemental Oculi, or Dragonspine’s Crimson Agates. They can be submitted to the Rainjade Oblation in exchange for great rewards, such as Intertwined Fates, Acquaint Fates and more.
To unlock the Rainjade Oblation, you’ll need to complete the main world quest of Chenyu Vale. This includes the quests ‘Chenyu’s Blessings of Sunken Jade’ and ‘The Cloud-Padded Path to the Chiwang Repose’, the latter of which can be accessed an in-game day after completing the first.
There are 50 Spirit Carp in total scattered across the region, but some are locked behind puzzles or quests. You can view a guide to all of the Spirit Carp locations here on the HoYoLab website, but we recommend trying to find as many as you can yourself - it can be fun and take you to places you hadn’t seen yet!
Exploration
Chenyu Vale introduces mechanics based around Adeptal Energy. The first of these is the Flighty Simulacra, a statue of an owl that greatly increases your jumping abilities when you are nearby it. This can be great when trying to ascend one of Chenyu Vale’s huge mountains! You may stumble upon similar statues, called Carefree Simulacrum, on the ground - these need to be moved to their designated location using Adeptal Energy, indicated by a lit blue square on the ground. The third type of Simulacrum, the Wrathful Simulacrum, allows you to launch orbs of water that you can then travel to.
Another new mechanic are some Jade Incense Cauldrons lit by flames - you can use your Adeptal Energy to pull the flame to you, and then again to send it towards a cauldron you’re looking at. Do this in a way that the flame will pass through any smaller cauldrons in the middle, lighting them all. This will complete the puzzle.
Lotus Lamps and Lanterns are another brand new mechanic in Chenyu Vale. The big Lotus Lamps will resonate energy, while smaller Lotus Lanterns will react to this energy. You can use your Adeptal Energy to grab one of the big Lotus Lamps, at which point you will resonate energy yourself. You can place this somewhere it can permanently light all Lotus Lanterns, or run around with it and light all the lanterns yourself to complete the puzzle.
Finally, Golden Carps are a really fun new travel mechanic in Chenyu Vale - using your Adeptal Energy on them will turn you into a Golden Carp Fish and travel whichever way you want. Jump to leave vertically!
There are a few other new exploration mechanics, such as Miasma, that are best introduced through Chenyu Vale’s story, but we really adore the mechanics this area introduced!
New World Boss
As with the addition of most new areas in Genshin Impact, Chenyu Vale comes with a new boss in the overworld for players to take down. The Solitary Suanni boss is accessible after completing the full World Quest for Chenyu Vale, specifically the ‘Chenyu’s Blessings of Sunken Jade’ quest line.
This boss drops the Cloudseam Scale, an Ascension Material for Xianyun and possibly future characters too. If you’re a Xianyun fan, you’ll have to get used to fighting this boss, as you’ll need 46 of these in total to get to Level 90! At World Level 7 or 8, the Solitary Suanni will drop an average of 2.5 of these per fight.
The Solitary Suanni fights using Hydro and Anemo and resists these elements, so you’ll want to fight with Pyro, Cryo, Electro, Dendro or Geo characters. We recommend using Cryo specifically, as some of the Solitary Suanni’s attacks allow it to be Frozen, creating a huge advantage for the player. The Solitary Suanni has one big special attack, Spiritwind Storm, that creates three Spiritwind Pearls around itself. If you destroy all of these with Cryo, Pyro, Electro or Hydro attacks, the Solitary Suanni will be paralyzed and give you a big window to deal more damage to it. We think this is one of the easier recent bosses, but it’s quite a fun fight.
New Materials and Enemies
Chenyu Vale’s incredible landscapes are also home to some brand new materials and enemies that you may encounter during your exploration. Firstly is the Clearwater Jade, an ascension material for Xianyun. You’ll need 168 Clearwater Jade total to ascend her to Level 90. To harvest Clearwater Jade efficiently, you’ll need a Claymore character, or a character who attacks using Geo. They can be found on the back of Jadestone Turtles, obtained by attacking them. However, there’s no need to worry about hurting them, as you’re doing them a favor by cleaning off their shells!
Chenyu Adeptea is a local specialty, as Chenyu Vale (especially Qiaoying Village) is known for its excellent tea. You can use this to make some delicious food items, such as ‘Chenyu Brew’, ‘Fine Tea, Full Moon’, and more! These items will heal or revive characters.
Xuanwen Beasts, however, are not so fun or tasty - these brutal enemies can put up quite a fight, but are the only way to get the Lunar Fin item (and its leveled-up variants). You’ll need these if you want to level up Xianyun’s signature weapon, ‘Crane’s Echoing Call’, or any future weapons that use the material.
That concludes our guide to Chenyu Vale! This is one of our favorite ‘bonus’ areas the game has added in a very long time, and we’ve been having a ton of fun exploring it and seeing everything it has to offer. Chenyu Vale really expands upon the beauty of Liyue while adding some fun new game mechanics and a great self-contained story. What did you enjoy most about exploring this brand new area? Tell us in the comments below!
