Genshin Impact 4.0 is out after much anticipation and now that we’re drowning in content- literally, we thought it was the perfect time to make a basic guide for beginners to aquatic or underwater exploration. Anyone’s first time underwater can be a little overwhelming, to say the least even though the developers have made the aquatic terrain much more welcoming and soothing than we initially thought.
Basic Tips for Underwater Exploration in Fontaine
In this following list, we will guide players on the basics of underwater exploration that will be relevant throughout your journey through Fontaine’s waters.
Recovery Orbs
These are small circular groups of 3 yellow fish that are scattered throughout the aquatic terrain and passing through them recovers your HP and Aquatic Stamina by a significant amount.
Xenochromatic Creatures
These are bluish underwater life forms with a texture similar to Oceanids. You can use your NA on them to gain their special skills and abilities. They are essentially the core of your underwater combat as you can use their special skills to do various kinds of attacks. There are only three types of Xenochromatic creatures- Hunter’s Ray, Blubberbeast and Armored Crab.
Xenochromatic Hunter’s Ray
You can use their skills to shoot long and sharp water blades. Holding their skill allows you to point and aim. You can use their water blades to cut through Fontemer Seagrass which often form puzzles or hold treasure underwater.
Xenochromatic Blubberbeast
Their special skill allows you to release pulsing sonar waves and holding them allows you to aim while continually releasing these waves. Their sonar waves can sometimes resonate with nearby hidden mechanisms or items which more often than not are hiding valuable treasure.
Xenochromatic Armored Crab
Arguably the most useful of all the Xenochromatic abilities, this one allows your character to form a strong shield while releasing a shockwave in a small AoE around you. If you hold this skill you can point the shockwave at an enemy or towards rocks or rocky formations underwater.
If you can time your hold and release of this skill to counter an incoming attack (similar to Beidou’s E), it will release an even stronger shockwave. Sometimes you’ll need these stronger shockwaves to destroy underwater vents called Bullet Barnacles that shoot homing attacks at you when nearby.
Water Currents
Just like Wind Currents in the overworld, the underwaters of Fontaine have Water Currents which can be used to traverse a large distance quickly. They usually appear as glowing blue rings of Hydro underwater.
Resurface and Dive Buttons
You can use resurface and dive buttons to easily move vertically underwater but when moving up or down in this way you cannot use the Dash feature. To quickly move up or down or use the Dash feature to do so you’ll have to point your camera angle up or down in your desired direction and then Dash.
And that’s it for the basics. We hope you can use these tips and features to their fullest extent for a magical time underwater in Fontaine. We’re sure to get more optimisations and features in upcoming updates and we’ll let you know about any further developments.
