Just recently, HoYoverse dropped a preview teaser featuring landscapes from Sumeru and Dendro-based gameplay in Genshin Impact. It gives players a more in-depth look at the new element as well as what to expect with its elemental reactions.
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The Genshin Impact Dendro Element
In a recent video about Sumeru of Genshin Impact, HoYoverse showcased the Dendro Traveler’s skillset, inviting the company’s resident Combat Designers to talk about the new reactions. According to the teaser, the Dendro element encapsulates three keywords: catalysis, wisdom, and life, and these are reflected in the element’s mechanics and overall utility.
Players already experience catalysis with the Burning reaction, which is the only known Dendro reaction as of Genshin Impact version 2.7. This reaction combines Pyro and Dendro, causing prolonged Pyro damage to affected enemies. The video then goes on to reveal that there will be two new reactions added in Genshin Impact 3.0: Bloom and Catalyze.
Bloom involves Hydro and Dendro, taking inspiration from how flowers blossom. In the teaser, Barbara, a Hydro Genshin Impact character, attacks a Dendro slime, which creates a small, green pod on the field. The Combat Designer then talks about Catalyze, which involves Electro and Dendro. Here, Razor is shown attacking an enemy with Electro, causing the pod to burst and deal additional damage. These two reactions draw from the keywords of catalysis and wisdom, respectively.
Aside from combat reactions, Sumeru will also have area-specific gameplay mechanics based on Burning, Bloom, and Catalyze. There will be interactive Dendro elements in the region, which the player can alter with Pyro, Hydro, and Electro, adding a whole new layer to exploration in Genshin Impact. Even the local creatures will change their form based on the elements used on them, thus dropping different items upon defeat. While this is a cool new feature, it could prove troublesome if players are required to farm an entity with a specific element.
Where Are the Other Genshin Impact Dendro Reactions?
The new Dendro reactions are definitely an exciting addition to the game. However, these cover only three of the six other elements in Genshin Impact. At the moment, there’s no word on how Dendro reacts to Cryo, Anemo, and Geo. Anemo and Geo could potentially cause Swirl and Crystallize reactions with Dendro, just like it does with other elements. However, leaving out the Cryo element seems like a waste.
Many players have already theorized what the Cryo-Dendro reaction could be. Some ideas involved a slowdown or even paralyzing effect, while others entailed stat debuffs. That said, it’s possible that HoYoverse purposefully left out the Genshin Impact Cryo element since it’s already one of the more powerful elements in the game. That’s in contrast to the Electro element, which has been criticized in the past for its subpar reactions — something the new Catalyze reaction could solve.
Additionally, there have been some leaks circulating that point to triple reactions. This could be rooted in the Dendro element since the Burning reaction has been rumored to apply both Dendro and Pyro even after the reaction takes place. This also explains why one of the leaked Genshin Impact 3.0 artifacts encourages the player to have at least three different elements in their team comp. However, since these are only leaks, the community will have to wait for an official announcement to ascertain the inclusion of three-element reactions.
Genshin Impact is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch version is in development.
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