Understanding Anemo Element Interactions in Genshin Impact
Anemo Element Overview
Anemo is the Wind Element in Genshin Impact, with Mondstadt being the designated Anemo Region and Barbatos as the Anemo Archon. Anemo will immediately disappear if applied to characters. If a non-Anemo and non-Geo element is already applied to a character, Anemo will cause a Swirl effect which will make the initial element and Anemo immediately disappear.
Elemental Interactions
- Anemo’s primary reaction is swirling with all elements except Anemo, Geo, and Dendro. This can be a good way to spread other elements to nearby enemies.
- Throughout Teyvat, six Elements rule the roost: Pyro, Cryo, Electro, Hydro, Anemo, and Geo. These represent Fire, Ice, Electric, Water, Wind, and Earth respectively. A seventh element, Dendro, represents Nature but is only found in obstacles like shields and structures made of wood.
- Elemental Reactions can react together in several ways for different effects. For instance, being inflicted with Wet could cause your own Electro attacks to trigger Electro-Charge, dealing damage to your own character over time, leading you to take Pyro damage to trigger Vaporize, thus removing the Wet condition and regaining balance on the battlefield.
Strengths of Anemo
- Anemo’s core strength lies in its ability to Swirl and group enemies together, allowing it to easily trigger elemental reactions with other elements.
- Its Swirl Reaction pulls enemies together and deals additional elemental damage based on the swirled element, making it very versatile for triggering reactions with various teams.
- Anemo characters often possess abilities that can group enemies together, making them excellent for dealing with large groups of enemies.
Weaknesses of Anemo
- Despite its strengths, Anemo is not a good element when it comes to breaking Elemental Shields and Elemental Armor. It can still do some damage to them, but it’s better to use the right element that is weak to the particular shield or armor.
- Anemo attacks, on their own, generally deal lower damage compared to other elements, making them primarily reliant on Swirl reactions to deal substantial damage.
- Against large, single enemies, the grouping effect of Anemo is less impactful, potentially reducing its effectiveness.
Elemental Reactions Types
- Different Types of Elemental Reactions include Transformative and Amplifying. Transformative reactions such as Overloaded, Shattered, Electro-Charged, Swirl, and Superconduct rely heavily on character level and Elemental Mastery. Damage from these reactions cannot crit.
- Amplifying reactions, like Vaporize and Melt, replace the damage of the attack that triggered it, multiplying it by 1.5% or 2.0%. Unlike transformative reactions, damage from Amplifying reactions can crit and character level is less important here, although Elemental Mastery boosts damage.
What Makes Geo Effective Against Anemo?
Anemo is weak to every other element except Dendro and Geo. This implies that while Geo doesn’t possess any weaknesses or strengths, it still plays a role in the elemental interaction system.
Specifically, Geo isn’t weak or strong against anything.
- It only creates shields.
- Fighting Geo slimes or the Hypostasis does not affect the other reactions at all.
- It’s comparable to fighting a physical enemy.
In the context of Genshin Impact, Geo attacks are generally not very effective against Anemo enemies. There is no direct elemental reaction between the two elements. Consequently, a Geo attack will simply deal its normal damage against an Anemo enemy with no added effect.
Moreover, Geo interacts with all elements except Dendro and Anemo. It drops a shard, which, once picked up by a character, creates a shield that protects against attacks of that particular element. This represents the primary function of Geo.
While Geo attacks cannot be ‘swirled’ by Anemo characters, which can group enemies and deal additional damage, they can still be utilized to disrupt enemy movements and provide some defensive utility against Anemo attacks.
Best Strategies for Fighting Anemo Enemies
When fighting Anemo enemies, it is effective to utilize elements that react with Anemo. The best elements to use are:
- Pyro
- Hydro
- Cryo
- Electro
Additionally, Pyro and Electro can react with Dendro.
It is advisable to avoid using Anemo characters such as Sucrose or Jean. The boss completely resists Anemo damage. Instead, you should bring your highest-damage characters that can take advantage of Swirl. Recommended characters include:
- Hu Tao
- Ganyu
- Raiden Shogun
- Kamisato Ayaka
Swirl is a reaction that occurs when you apply Anemo to enemies affected by Hydro, Pyro, Electro, or Cryo. When you add Anemo to these elements, it creates a Swirl effect, which:
- Deals extra elemental damage
- Expands Area of Effect (AoE) damage
To summarize, Anemo’s primary reaction is swirling with all elements except Anemo, Geo, and Dendro.
Elemental Reactions: How They Work Against Anemo
Anemo has the following reactions when combined with other elements:
- Swirl: Swirling deals Elemental DMG of either Electro, Pyro, Hydro, or Cryo while also spreading that Element to nearby enemies. This allows any of those four Elements to create an Elemental Reaction on nearby enemies.
Moreover, Elemental Absorption can be found on some Anemo abilities. This allows you to absorb any of the Swirlable elements, which are Pyro, Hydro, Electro, and Cryo. The Anemo effect then becomes infused with the absorbed Element, dealing Elemental DMG of that type on top.
Furthermore, many Anemo Characters absorb elements while using Anemo Skills or Bursts. Examples include:
- Wanderer’s Jade-Claimed Flower, which grants buffs based on what Elements are absorbed.
- Kaedehara Kazuha’s Kazuha Slash, which continues to deal Elemental DMG for the remainder of the Burst.
- Venti’s Storm of Defiance, which reduces an enemy’s Elemental RES by 20% for the absorbed Element.
When considering the best elemental reactions against Anemo, the most effective option is generally ‘Swirl.’ This is triggered by applying any of the elements Pyro, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo to an enemy, followed by an Anemo attack. This combination allows you to spread the elemental damage to nearby enemies and deal significant AoE damage. Swirl deals damage to multiple enemies within the affected area, making it great for crowd control.
Key points about Swirl:
- Versatility: You can use almost any elemental character to trigger Swirl, making it highly adaptable to different team compositions.
- Elemental Mastery Scaling: Swirl damage scales significantly with Elemental Mastery, so building your characters with high EM further enhances its effectiveness.
Common Misconceptions About Anemo Weaknesses
Anemo, also known as the Wind element, has specific weaknesses and strengths against other elements in Genshin Impact. Anemo is weak to Geo and Dendro elements. Moreover, all elements, except Dendro and Geo, are strong against Anemo. Notably, Pyro, Electro, Hydro, and Cryo are effective against Anemo.
The best elements to use against Anemo are:
- Pyro
- Electro
- Hydro
- Cryo
Specifically, Pyro is highlighted as the most effective element against Anemo in Genshin Impact. In of power, Electro stands out as the most powerful element against Anemo.
Furthermore, the pyro element is a strong contender for the best element to confront Anemo characters. In Genshin Impact, some of the best Pyro DPS (Damage Per Second) characters include:
- Hu Tao – pyro-infused auto attacks
- Yoimiya – pyro-infused auto attacks
- Lyney – homing charged attacks
In addition, the hydro element also reacts effectively with Anemo. Hydro is a popular choice for dealing with Anemo characters since Hydro characters can create rain. This provides hydro application for freeze reactions, helping to keep enemies immobilized. Notable Hydro characters include:
- Xingqiu – elemental burst
- Yelan – elemental skill and elemental burst
Cryo is another common partner to Hydro when facing Anemo characters. Players often prefer freeze reactions to immobilize elusive Anemo enemies. Noteworthy Cryo characters that excel in this area include:
- Ayaka – cryo-infused auto attacks and elemental burst
- Ganyu – elemental skill and elemental burst
- Shenhe – elemental burst
Meanwhile, the electro element serves as a powerful solution against Anemo enemies with elemental shields. Some of the recommended Electro characters are:
- Raiden Shogun – elemental skill and elemental burst
- Yae Miko – elemental skill and elemental burst
- Fischl – elemental skill
When facing Anemo enemies, to be cautious of other enemies that may be present. The interactions between different elements can significantly boost the damage potential that enemies can inflict. This may require you to construct teams that offer some sustainability.
Finally, it’s important to note that Anemo is weak to every element except Dendro and Geo. Players should capitalize on their characters’ pyro damage—whether from elemental bursts or skills—to effectively handle Anemo enemies. As Anemo enemies are often elusive and quick, employing freeze reactions with Cryo is favored among many players.
Comparative Analysis: Anemo vs Other Elements
Comparative Analysis: Anemo vs Other Elements
Anemo reacts to Electro, Pyro, Hydro, and Cryo, applying Swirl status together with whichever elements it comes in with. The first element that comes in with Swirl will have its element infused while the wind spreads the Elemental DMG to enemies nearby. However, only one element can react with Anemo at a time.
The main elemental reactions associated with Anemo include:
- Swirl: This reaction activates when Anemo is used on an enemy that has Pyro, Hydro, Electro, or Cryo already applied to it. The element reacted will spread to nearby enemies as AoE damage.
In of effectiveness against Anemo:
- Pyro: A strong contender for the best element to go against Anemo characters.
- Hydro: Can react with the Anemo element.
- Cryo: A common counterpart to Hydro when dealing with Anemo characters.
- Electro: Can effectively challenge Anemo enemies.
Additional elemental reactions include:
- Superconduct: Cryo + Electro deals AoE Cryo DMG while reducing enemies’ Physical DMG Resistance by 50%.
- Frozen: Cryo + Hydro freezes enemies for a few seconds. Hitting frozen targets with Claymore, Plunge attack, or Geo DMG will apply the Shattered effect, dealing more Physical DMG.
- Overloaded: Electro + Pyro creates AoE Pyro DMG and causes an explosion, arguably the Elemental Reaction with the biggest DMG in the game.
- Electro-Charged: Electro + Hydro deals Electro DMG over time, interrupting actions.
- Vaporize: Activates when Pyro comes into with Hydro or vice versa, resulting in increased multiplicative damage.
- Melt: Occurs when Pyro and Cryo interact, also resulting in increased multiplicative damage.
- Crystallize: This reaction spawns a pickable elemental shield shard based on Geo character’s Elemental Mastery. It protects against attacks corresponding to the element of the shield.
In conclusion, while Anemo has various interactions with other elements, it is essential to use the correct element against it, especially those that are weak to the particular Elemental Shield and Elemental Armor. Anemo’s primary reaction is swirling with all elements except Anemo, Geo, and Dendro.
