Genshin Impact is a gacha game, so you can’t expect it to be too generous when it comes to free characters. 

By “free,” I mean characters you don’t need to use in-game or real-world currency to buy, and which can be earned by simply playing more Genshin Impact. That may involve completing specific quests and challenges, but these characters are “free” from a monetary standpoint. 

Genshin Impact introduces you to three party members at the very beginning to get started, and then continuously rewards you with new teammates throughout your journey. Every region introduces at least one free character, so you can expect even more over time.

Whether you’re a beginner or a returning veteran, this guide is here to help you recruit every free character (as of the time of writing) and highlight which ones are worth building. These aren’t even all of the free characters you can get—just the permanently free ones that will stay free no matter how long you wait. 

With all that in mind, here’s how to get every free Genshin Impact character.

 

Amber

• Element: Pyro
• Weapon: Bow

Amber is the first character to join your team in the Genshin Impact prologue, The Outlander Who Caught the Wind. She first appears as a trial character in the Wind-Riding Knight quest, which is one of the first few quests you naturally unlock if you wander close to Mondstadt. After escorting the Traveler to Mondstadt, she permanently joins the party. 

Her abilities don’t offer much in terms of raw strength and elemental reactions, even with multiple constellations. She is useful for environmental puzzles—especially lighting torches with her Pyro-infused arrows. However, those kinds of puzzles become much more rare after Mondstadt. Save your resources and level up another Pyro character like Xiangling instead.

 

Kaeya

• Element: Cryo
• Weapon: Sword

Kaeya is the Lieutenant of the Knights of Favonius. After the Knights of Favonius quest in the Genshin Impact prologue, you have the option to complete Kaeya and Lisa’s separate quests in any order. Kaeya joins your party after finishing his quest, Crash Course. 

Kaeya can trigger some pretty frost-worthy Cryo reactions with his Ultimate, which surrounds the character with a circle of ice that applies Cryo. You can also swap him off-field if you need other characters to trigger reactions. If you really like aloof jokesters with eyepatches—and have the patience to build a Cryo-centered team—then he’ll be worth it. A want but not a need, Kaeya is one of the better 4-star Cryo sub DPSes out there, even now.

 

Lisa

• Element: Electro
• Weapon: Catalyst

Lisa is the Librarian of the Knights of Favonius, a group you meet during the aptly named Knights of Favonius quest. Afterwards, you can recruit her with the quest Sparks Amongst the Pages. She and Kaeya are available for recruitment around the same time, but can be claimed in any order without forfeiting one over the other.

I wouldn’t recommend leveling up Lisa unless you really like her design, though. As an Electro character, she has some tough competition from the likes of 5-star characters like Yae Miko and even 4-star ones like Fischl. If you use Lisa, she has potential as an off-field sub DPS. Her Ultimate creates an electrical field that periodically applies Electro to enemies within range, even when swapping between characters. 

 

Noelle

• Element: Geo
• Weapon: Claymore

Noelle is one of the first 4-star characters you can get at the beginning of Genshin Impact. After unlocking wishes, you’re guaranteed to get her within your first 10-pull on the Beginner’s Wish banner. In that sense, she isn’t actually “free” because you need to spend wishes to get her, but she’s an unavoidable part of the Genshin Impact onboarding process.

I suggest only building Noelle if you have no better options for a shield or healer. She doesn’t actually provide a shield that prevents characters from receiving damage. Instead, it makes use of the Geo “Crystallize” reaction to reduce elemental damage based on whatever element it’s mixed with, i.e. Geo and something else. Noelle can also heal, but she only heals while dealing damage, so you have to use an extended spin attack to have any chance at recovering health for your team. This strategy can work, but it puts you at a disadvantage because it forces her to get close to enemies.

 

Barbara

• Element: Hydro
• Weapon: Catalyst

Barbara is the deaconess at the Church of Favonius in Mondstadt and a local idol. Her invite banner appears after you finish the prologue and reach at least Adventure Rank 18. Once you complete those prerequisites, you should see the aforementioned banner in the Events log, a.k.a. the “compass” on your Paimon dashboard.

Barbara is a practical free-to-play healer and a decent trigger for Bloom teams, a reaction that depends on combining Dendro and Hydro elements. Her Elemental Skill surrounds characters with a water ring that periodically heals them over time and applies Hydro to nearby targets. However, one of Barbara’s downsides is that her Skill also makes teammates vulnerable to freezing, so avoid using her against Cryo mages and similar opponents. 

 

Xiangling

• Element: Pyro
• Weapon: Polearm

Xiangling is a cheerful chef from Liyue, the nation of the Geo element. To get Xiangling, you need to unlock the Spiral Abyss, a challenging dungeon that gives you more and more rewards the deeper you’re able to go. After reaching Adventure Rank 20 and clearing Spiral Abyss Floor 3—which should be doable with a reasonably built team of level 40 characters—Xiangling should be ready to invite from the People’s Choice event in the Events log.

If I were to build one character on this list, it would be Xiangling. She has stayed a top-tier trigger for elemental reactions thanks to her Ultimate, which surrounds her with a ring of fire that consistently applies Pyro to whatever it touches. It even stays on the field when you switch characters, so that you can activate another character’s skill to react with it—like Hydro or Cryo for Vaporize and Melt comps, respectively. 

 

Collei

• Element: Dendro
• Weapon: Bow

Collei is a former Mondstadt citizen who moved to Sumeru for help curing her chronic illness. You meet her soon after stepping into the nation of Wisdom and are introduced to both her and her master, Tighnari. Similar to Xiangling, Collei can join your roster after reaching Adventure Rank 20 and clearing Floor 4 of the Spiral Abyss. After that, her Curtain of Leaves event should be available in the Events log.

Collei and Amber have similar abilities, but Collei differs just enough that hers are slightly more useful than her inspiration. She and Dendro Traveler are a common combo for free-to-play Bloom teams that can’t afford a heavy-hitting 5-star Dendro driver like Nahida. I’d build and put her with any team comp that needs Dendro reactions.

 

Lynette

• Element: Anemo
• Weapon: Sword

Lynette is a cat-eared orphan from Fontaine and the magician’s assistant to her brother, Lyney. If you were to go through Genshin Impact’s story in chronological order, then Fontaine would be the fourth country you enter. Thankfully, you can get Lynette after you hit Adventure Rank 25, regardless of whether you’ve stepped into Fontaine or not.

I’d build Lynette for a team that has no better Anemo characters to trigger elemental reactions and benefits from attack buffs rather than Elemental Mastery buffs. She also has a taunt to distract enemies from allies, plus she's self-healing. Lynette would have trouble competing with Anemo powerhouses like the 5-stars Kazuha and Jean, but she offers plenty of value for a beginner.

As for alternatives, Sucrose can likewise cause Anemo reactions but also buffs your team’s Elemental Mastery for stronger elemental reaction damage.

 

Kachina

• Element: Geo
• Weapon: Polearm

Kachina comes from Natlan, the fifth nation that the Traveler visits in their journey through Teyvat. However, you can skip straight to Natlan if you finish the Liyue story arc, which is just for the second nation after the starting nation of Mondstadt. I mention this because Kachina is only available at the end of the Natlan story arc, so you’ll need to go through all the quests in the storyline to get her. Once that’s done, though, you should be able to invite her to your party using the Turbo Twirly event in your Events log.

Kachina doesn’t significantly outdo other Geo characters, so I wouldn’t raise her just to cause elemental reactions. However, she does let you play with Natlan-only mechanics like Nightsoul’s Blessing for enhanced movement and combat capabilities, and Nightsoul Burst, which triggers whenever an ally deals elemental damage with a Natlanese character in the party. If you plan on building her, equip her with a Nightsoul-enabling artifact set like Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City to make the most out of her.

 

Aino

• Element: Hydro
• Weapon: Claymore

Aino is from the latest region to be introduced into Teyvat, the borderlands of Nod-Krai. At time of writing, she’s available using the quick start function from the Event log. This option is only available during the Song of the Welkin Moon update and will be locked behind the Nod-Kai prologue afterwards.

But that’s perfectly fine because Aino's kit works best with Lunar-charged teams. Lunar abilities were only introduced after the 6.0 update with characters like Flins and Ineffa in Nod Krai. Aino could be used for more traditional elemental reaction teams like Vaporize (Hydro and Pyro) or Bloom (Hydro and Dendro), but there are plenty of other Hydro characters that fill those roles.
 

How to get more free characters

As mentioned earlier, these aren’t the only characters you can get for free. Genshin Impact regularly offers free 4-star characters as part of limited-time events like Lantern Rite, Windblume Festival, and more. As of Genshin Impact 5.0, HoYoverse has even started giving standard  banner 5-star characters away for free during anniversary events. Just keep your eyes peeled for limited-time events and the prerequisites you need to meet to participate!

Genshin Impact is available for free in the Epic Games Store.