Genshin Impact is gearing up for both an eventful end to 2020, and a dynamic start to 2021. Players are already anticipating new playable characters and major updates to be introduced throughout December and January, and as the new year approaches, more new details continue to emerge.
Travelers can now rest assured that Ganyu and Albedo will be the next characters joining Genshin Impact, but apart from them, the game's December 23 update is set to introduce an entirely new mountainous region, Dragonspine, and several powerful new weapons. While many of the details remain unspoken of, a recent Special Program detailing the update gave players a rather close look at some of the weapons to expect.
Specifically, miHoYo plans to add at least four new weapons to Genshin Impact with Version 1.2. All four of them are four-star weapons, which is to say, they're fairly powerful, and three of them will be forgeable by players. The last of the four, Festering Desire, though not forgeable, will be obtained as a free gift that can be Refined through its respective Event Shop.
Aside from the obvious relevance to future team-building, the Genshin Impact Special Program's coverage of Version 1.2 weapons also gave viewers a great indirect glimpse at the new Dragonspine region. Many of the specifics were simply glossed over in the stream, but nonetheless, the coverage of these weapons gives players a thorough idea of all the different areas and features to expect as part of Dragonspine. The four weapons to be introduced are the Dragonspine Spear (polearm), Frostbearer (catalyst), Snow-Tombed Starsilver (sword), and Festering Desire (sword). Festering Desire will be an event weapon, while the other three will all be forgeable, and all share the same Passive Ability: Frost Burial.
Frost Burial has a 60 percent chance of forming and dropping an "Everfrost Icicle" above enemies who are hit with a Normal or Charged Attack. Everfrost Icicles will deal 80 percent area of effect ATK DMG, while enemies already affected by Cryo are also dealt 200 percent ATK DMG. This can only occur once every 10 seconds. Needless to say, this makes for some interesting Elemental synergy, whether or not it's used by a Cryo character. Now, even though these three weapons all share an ability, they will be initially obtained in totally different ways.
Dragonspine Spear
The Dragonspine Spear will be somehow tied to a region of Dragonspine referred to as The Festering Fang. While players originally assumed that "Festering Fang" was actually more directly related to the leaked Albedo event and its own sword, it turns out that it simply represents an area of Dragonspine. Travelers can expect to find and collect "Dragonteeth" throughout the area, the likes of which will apparently be redeemable for a powerful Dragonspine Spear.
Players don't know if Dragonteeth will serve any additional purposes, but it's expected that players will receive the blueprints to the Dragonspine Spear, and that it will be forgeable by means of a Northlander Weapon Prototype and the new Dragonteeth material.
Frostbearer
The Frostbearer will be a strong four-star catalyst, linked to the Dragonspine region's mighty Frostbearing Tree. This sizable plant is one of Dragonspine's keynote features, and it apparently subsists on a resource known as Crimson Agate.
Crimson Agate will be found across Dragonspine, and players will be able to deliver it to the Frostbearing Tree so as to level it up. The Frostbearing Tree's level-up function actually seems to be analogous to the recently introduced Reputation System players can take advantage of in Mondstadt and Liyue, so in other words, players will effectively collect Crimson Agate to build up Dragonspine's equivalent of Reputation. The Frostbearing Tree's functions are analogous to the Reputation System because as a player levels up the tree, it will offer them various rewards. Namely, blueprints to a new item, the Warming Bottle, at Level 4, and blueprints to the four-star catalyst, Frostbearer, at Level 10.
The Warming Bottle will allow players to take some heat on-the-go for their sub-zero climate adventures, while the Frostbearer will allow players to give their mages a unique Cryo-themed boost.
Snow-Tombed Starsilver
The Snow-Tombed Starsilver is the third and final forgeable weapon that will be introduced by Version 1.2's Dragonspine. Again, players will find themselves exploring new sectors of Dragonspine in order to unlock this weapon. Though this time, the four-star is uncovered while exploring the remains of an ancient forgotten city.
It seems that Albedo, the master alchemist and Geo swordsman, has been following the trail of a long-lost city, hidden underneath Dragonspine. The so-called Entombed City will represent one of the main questlines players can explore in Dragonspine, and though it sounds similar overall, is something entirely apart from Albedo's "Chalk Prince and the Dragon" event. Details remain scarce, but Travelers will receive the Snow-Tombed Starsilver's blueprints upon completion of the Entombed City story in Dragonspine, after which they'll be able to craft it using a Northlander Sword Prototype, and the new eponymous resource known as Starsilver.
Starsilver is expected to be required by all three of the forgeable weapons introduced in Version 1.2, though only the Snow-Tombed Starsilver features the material in its name. Naturally, players speculate that Starsilver will appear within and around Dragonspine, in mineable mineral deposits.
Festering Desire
The fourth weapon players can expect to earn as part of Genshin Impact's Version 1.2 is the Festering Desire, a cursed sword. This previously leaked weapon will be featured alongside Albedo as part of the game's The Chalk Prince and the Dragon event, and as per recent leaks, will be given to all for free once the event kicks off.
Its stats- unlike the previous three weapons- are as follows:
- Base Stat: ATK
- Secondary Stat: Energy Recharge %
- Passive Ability: (Undying Admiration) Increases Elemental Skill DMG by 16%, and Elemental Skill CRIT Rate by 6%
Once Refined to Level 5, Festering Desire's ability doubles in effectiveness, boasting 32% and 12% Elemental Skill DMG and CRIT Rate boosts, respectively. As many players have pointed out, characters like Bennett could possibly take advantage of this, though, in all likelihood, Albedo will be the weapon's intended recipient (if not the Traveler themself.)
As per the recent official Version 1.2 Livestream, Albedo will task players with using the Festering Desire sword throughout Dragonspine. Doing so will apparently remove whatever curse has been placed on the powerful weapon, and though the particular "curse" is currently unspecified, it's likely it will manifest as a debuff experienced by players using the sword. It has also been confirmed that once the event quests are concluded, players can keep a "pure" version of the sword, which definitely makes the event worth looking out for. The Event Shop will purportedly allow Travelers to Refine the special sword as well, so all things considered, it may be an extremely easy-to-max four-star weapon.
Genshin Impact is available now on the App Store, Google Play, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5, and Switch.