You’ve been playing Genshin Impact a while. You and Genshin Impact first united at some point in the last year. Maybe you entered the Teyvat fray on day one or perhaps you joined with Inazuma. No matter when you started playing Genshin Impact, you’re going to reap the rewards of the first anniversary.
What are those rewards going to be exactly? Here’s everything we know about the 2021 Genshin Impact anniversary.
When is the 2021 Genshin Impact anniversary date?
Genshin Impact was released on September 28, 2020. The first anniversary will be on September 28, 2021, which occurs during Patch 2.1.
What are the 2021 Genshin Impact anniversary banners?
There are currently no known banners designed specifically for the anniversary. Players will receive the exact same banners currently expected for Version 2.1.
The first banner will consist of the five-star Electro Archon, Baal. She’s a Polearm user that can briefly wield a sword while her Elemental Burst is active. She’ll be joined by the four-star Electro Bow user, Sara Kujou. Two other four-star characters will also be available, but their identities are currently unknown.
Kokomi, the five-star Hyrdo Catalyst character will lead the second banner in Version 2.1. She’s currently considered to be a decent new healer. It’s not known what four-star characters will accompany her.
If you’re playing on PlayStation, Aloy will be a free five-star character available just in time for the first anniversary.
These are the only new characters that you can currently expect to obtain in Version 2.1.
What are the 2021 Genshin Impact anniversary events?
In conjunction with the anniversary, Genshin Impact is also celebrating the Moonchase festival, which is unreleased to the anniversary. Moonchase is based on the Chinese holiday, the mid-autumn festival. Most events in Version 2.1 will be directly connected to the Moonchase festival.
We currently know of four events:
- Lunar Realm – the event is expected to introduce fishing to Genshin Impact. You’ll have to catch fish throughout Teyvat. Collected fish can be exchanged for event-exclusive weapons or placed in a pond within your Teapot. This is supposedly the first part of the Moonchase Festival.
- Light Caresses the Moon – a cooking event that focuses on your making tasty grub throughout Liyue. This is another part of the Moonchase Festival.
- Hyakunin Ikki – a fighting tournament. You’ll form multiple teams of characters to win.
- Spectral Secrets – finding the new Spectre enemy that has appeared across Inazuma.
There are currently no leaked or announced events that tie directly into the anniversary. Although, it wouldn’t be surprising if miHoYo announced a birthday extravaganza. Perhaps just a free in-game cake, like what they do for player birthdays? Or maybe Genshin Impact could utilize Yoimiya’s firework specialty to put on a show in Inazuma?
What are the 2021 Genshin Impact anniversary rewards?
According to leakers, there will be a login reward for the anniversary, rewarding players with 10 Event Banner wishes if they play for a week. It’s unknown when during the patch this will be awarded.
Other anniversary rewards have yet to be revealed.
How does the 2021 Genshin Impact anniversary compare to Honkai Impact?
In addition to Genshin Impact, miHoYo also develops a free-to-play Gacha game called Honkai Impact, which has been available globally for nearly four years. We can possibly use Genshin’s sister game to predict further anniversary rewards.
For the first anniversary, Honkai awarded players new costumes, areas, characters, and free Crystals.
During later anniversaries, rewards became more robust. Players received even more costumes, exclusive characters, new anniversary cosmetics, real-world items, and free characters.
If Genshin Impact doesn’t pony up more goodies for the first anniversary, perhaps it’s just because the game is so new. Future anniversaries might offer better rewards, especially as the game has more items to give away for free.
