Elemental Mastery and Elemental Reactions are mechanics unique to Genshin Impact. While some players may not find it as valuable as other stats like Attack or Critical Rate, building the Elemental Mastery attribute on the right characters can result in excellent team composition and high damage output.
Genshin Impact introduced a mechanic called Elemental Reactions that plays off each character's Elemental Vision. These reactions include Vaporize, Melt, Overload, Superconduct, Frozen, Electro-charged, Burning, Shattered, Swirl, and Crystallize. Currently, the only Elemental Reaction with Dendro is Burning by applying Pyro to Dendro-type enemies and obstacles. Playable Dendro characters haven't yet been introduced to Genshin Impact and it's unclear whether or not more Dendro Reactions will come later on. When comparing to Anemo and Geo, the only Reactions they have are Swirl and Crystallize, respectively.
Updated on December 11, 2021, by Nahda Nabiilah: Electro units aren't highly favored because they don't have an insane Elemental Reaction. Unlike Pyro units that have easy access to 1.5x or 2x higher damage via Vaporize and Melt respectively, the very highest Electro Reaction damage is around 30k damage. To achieve this, the unit needs more than 2000 Elemental Mastery. Meanwhile, Pyro Units can reach this number with practically no Elemental Mastery.
Transformative Reactions did gain a decent buff in Genshin Impact 1.6. Unfortunately, this improvement still doesn't fix the issue of Electro Reactions being underwhelming. Although, at the very least, it greatly improves Swirl.
What Elemental Mastery Does
There are two types of Elemental Reaction; Transformative and Amplifying Reaction. Elemental Mastery determines the damage bonus a character gains from Elemental Reactions. This addition is multiplicative for Transformative Reactions and additive for Amplifying Reactions.
The Reaction damage scales with the character triggering the Reaction. For example, if an Electro character triggered Overload, then the damage will scale with the Electro unit's Elemental Mastery. Meanwhile, if a Pyro character triggered the Reaction, then the damage will scale with the Pyro unit's Elemental Mastery.
How Does Elemental Mastery Work In Genshin Impact
Transformative Reactions create individual damage and don't replace the triggering damage. It scales from Elemental Mastery and the character's level. This damage can't Crit and is not affected by the Elemental or Physical damage Bonus.
For Transformative Reactions, this is how Elemental Mastery works:
- Each Elemental Reaction has a Base Damage that scales with the level of the character triggering the Reaction.
- If the character has Elemental Mastery, then the Reaction damage is boosted according to the stated percentage. For example, if the Elemental Mastery provides a 50% damage bonus, then the formula is Base Damage x (1 + 50%).
- The last aspect for the calculation is the enemy's Resistance. Unlike normal damage calculation, Elemental Reaction doesn't consider the enemy's level.
Meanwhile, Amplifying Reactions doesn't have its own damage. Instead, it will amplify (and replace) the original Elemental damage. Because the calculation is derived from the original damage, this Reaction can Crit.
There are two different multipliers for Amplifying Reactions:
- Vaporize and Melt: 2x multiplier.
- Reverse-Vaporize and Reverse-Melt: 1.5x multiplier.
For example, if Hu Tao deals 20,000 damage before Reverse-Vaporize, then she'll deal 20,000 x 1.5 = 30,000 Pyro damage. Meanwhile, if she has Elemental Mastery, then the Reaction damage is boosted according to the stated percentage. For instance, if the Elemental Mastery provides a 30% damage bonus, then the Hu Tao damage becomes 20,000 x (1.5 + 30%) = 36,000 Pyro damage.
Some Elemental Reactions take into account which Element was already applied to the enemy and which Element triggered the Reaction. For example, hitting a wet enemy with fire will deal 150% Pyro damage with the Reverse-Vaporize Reaction, while hitting an on-fire enemy with water will deal 200% Hydro damage with Vaporize. Therefore, it's important which characters are applying the base Element and who is triggering the Elemental Reaction afterward.
Base Damage For Transformative Reactions
|
Level |
Base Damage |
|---|---|
|
83 |
590 |
|
84 |
608 |
|
85 |
627 |
|
86 |
645 |
|
87 |
665 |
|
88 |
684 |
|
89 |
704 |
|
90 |
724 |
Based on an analysis made by Nable in the HoYoLAB, the table above includes the approximated Base Superconduct Damage on different character levels.
To get the Base Damage for other Transformative Reactions, players simply have to multiply the Base Superconduct Damage with these numbers:
- Swirl: 1.2x
- Electro-Charged: 2.4x
- Shattered: 3x
- Overloaded: 4x
So among all the Transformative Reactions, Overloaded has the highest damage scaling.
Elemental Reaction Types
Pyro has access to two Amplifying Reactions while Electro has access to none. That's why Pyro is often seen as superior while Electro is an underdog. For details, here are the Elemental Reactions available in Genshin Impact.
Amplifying Reactions
Amplifying Reactions have the highest damage and the simplest mechanic. So all Travelers need to know is the Elements that triggers it:
- Vaporize: Hydro x Pyro
- Reverse-Vaporize: Pyro x Hydro
- Melt: Pyro x Cryo
- Reverse-Melt: Cryo x Pyro
Transformative Reactions
Unlike Amplifying Reactions, Transformative ones don't have a "Reverse" mechanic. However, they do have special features.
- Overloaded (Electro x Pyro) throws the enemy while dealing great Pyro damage. This Reaction is considered an explosion.
- Superconduct (Electro x Cryo) may only deal small Cryo damage, but it offers 40% Physical Resistance reduction for 12s. This makes Superconduct the key Reaction for Physical DPS like Eula or Razor.
- Electro-Charged (Electro x Hydro) deals Electro damage that continuously rebound within enemies as long as they're affected by Hydro or Electro aura.
- Shattered triggers when Travelers use heavy attack (Claymore, explosion, or Geo damage) on Frozen enemies. It will deal Physical damage.
- Swirl (Anemo x Cryo/Pyro/Hydro/Electro) is a Reaction that can spread the Swirled Elements to enemies in a small AoE. It can also trigger other Elemental Reactions. For example, if Sucrose uses her Skill when one enemy has a Hydro aura and another has Cryo, she can Freeze the enemies when she Swirls Hydro and Cryo together.
Other Reactions
These Reactions don't deal damage. Instead, they provide utilities.
- Frozen (Cryo x Hydro) freezes the enemies without taking away the Cryo aura. Elemental Mastery does not affect Frozen duration.
- Crystallize (Geo x Cryo/Pyro/Hydro/Electro) grants a shield. The shield's strength scales with the character's level and Elemental Mastery.
Team Composition And Elemental Mastery
While many characters in Genshin Impact can be built flexibly, most have a role that they're best used for. For example, Diluc, Jean, and Razor are best used in the main DPS role while Diona and Bennett are best used as support characters who can deal wide AoE Damage with some added bonuses like shields and healing.
In this way, Diona could lay down Cryo AoE before coming in with Razor's Elemental Skill or Burst; triggering Superconduct. Setting off Xiangling's Elemental Burst or putting down Guoba, then switching to an Anemo character with a high EM stat can deal hefty Swirl damage. Players can also opt-out of having a "main" DPS and instead briskly switch between characters to get high Reaction Damage, but this tactic may not work as well when teaming up in co-op.
Some characters are better built for Elemental Mastery effects. For example, Mona's 1st Constellation enhances the effects of Hydro-related Elemental Reactions marginally, and Lisa's Elemental Mastery stat increases with levels.
Elemental Mastery Artifact Sets and Weapons
If the player wants to focus on the Elemental Mastery stat, they should consider farming for Artifacts with those substats and bonuses. In terms of matching sets, look for the Instructor's set and Wanderer's Troupe, which can either be used for 4-piece or combined for 2-piece set effectiveness. Other than that, here are some artifacts that boost Elemental Reactions damage:
- Crimson Witch of Flames: Increases Overloaded damage by 40%. Increases Vaporize and Melt damage by 15%.
- Thundering Fury: Increases damage caused by Overloaded, Electro-Charged and Superconduct by 40%.
- Viridescent Venerer: Increases Swirl damage by 60%.
An Elemental Mastery (EM) weapon, if paired with the correct character and artifact, can be a devastating combination. For example, playing Hu Tao on Reverse-Vaporize with Crimson Witch of Flames and Dragon's Bane can ease even the hardest content in the game. Here are all the available Elemental Mastery weapons in Genshin Impact:
- Rainslasher (Claymore): 165 EM
- Kitain Cross Spear (Polearm): 110 EM
- Dragon's Bane (Polearm): 221 EM
- Freedom-Sworn (Sword): 198 EM
- Iron Sting (Sword): 165 EM
- The Alley Flash (Sword): 55 EM
- Sacrificial Fragments (Catalyst): 221 EM
- Mappa Mare (Catalyst): 110 EM
- Windblume Ode (Bow): 165 EM
- The Stringless (Bow): 165 EM
Genshin Impact is now available on Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch version is in development.