Genshin Impact Resin guide: How it works and how to get more

Once your characters reach higher levels in Genshin Impact, Resin becomes one of the single most important resources you get in the game. It's in frustratingly short supply, and you have to spend a little bit each time you complete certain high-level activities. 

But how Resin works is a little confusing and especially frustrating. Fortunately, this Resin guide has all the information you need, including some tips on how to optimize your Resin usage, what Genshin Impact Condensed Resin is, how to get more, and what to spend it on. 

Genshin Impact Resin: How it works 

Though Genshin Impact is a free-to-play game inspired by the "gacha" RPGs that are so popular on phones, its microtransactions are mostly harmless and there’s only one system that tries to limit how quickly players can progress. It's called Resin.

Here's how it works:

• Resin is a regenerating resource used to access rewards from certain activities.
• You can have a maximum of 120 Resin at one time.
• It regenerates at a rate of 1 Resin per 8 minutes.
• It'll take 16 real hours to fully regenerate your Resin.
• There are some ways to quickly recover some (explained below).

When you defeat a weekly boss like Dvalin or Andrius, for example, you cannot claim the rewards you've earned from that fight right away. You have to first spend 60 Resin. It's a similar system to "stamina" gauges found in mobile games or the way most MMOs will only let you earn loot from raid bosses once a week.

The problem with Resin right now is that it's far too easy to blast through your daily supply in a few minutes and then have nothing to do until it regenerates. If you've completed the story and explored most of the map, farming dungeons or bosses for loot is really the only thing left to do—and Resin makes that an especially slow grind.

What do I spend Resin on? 

Like I said, most endgame activities in Genshin Impact require some amount of Resin in order to access their associated rewards. Here's a quick break down of each activity and how much Resin it costs: 

• Ley Line Outcrops: 20 Resin
• Abyssal Domains: 20 Resin
• Elite Bosses: 40 Resin
• Weekly Bosses: 60 Resin

Ley Line Outcrops provide you with money and materials to level up your characters. While Abyssal Domains, Elite Bosses, and Weekly Bosses all reward upgrade materials for your characters and their weapons in addition to some other rare resources. Generally, the rarity of the rewards scales with how much Resin it costs (though rewards are always randomized and you won't know what you got until after spending the required Resin). 

Well, how do I get more Resin? 

Aside from waiting for Resin to slowly regenerate, there are two main methods to earn more immediately. You can use an item called Fragile Resin to immediately restore 60 Resin or you can spend an increasing amount of Primogems to add more Resin a limited number of times each day.

Fragile Resin is a special consumable item that is only awarded for increasing your Adventure Rank. You'll typically earn one Fragile Resin for each rank, but considering how slowly you'll rank up at higher levels it's not a reliable means to earn more and you should spend your Fragile Resin sparingly.

Primogems can be spent to immediately add 60 Resin. Primogems are a special kind of currency you earn in Genshin Impact for doing most activities, including opening chests, completing quests, or just exploring. You can top up your Resin using this method six times per day, but each time you spend Primogems the price will go up. 

Here's how that works:

• First refill: 50 Primogems
• Second refill: 100 Primogems
• Third refill: 100 Primogems
• Fourth refill: 150 Primogems
• Fifth refill: 200 Primogems
• Sixth refill: 200 Primogems

What makes Genshin Impact Condensed Resin different?

Condensed Resin can be used instead of original Resin to revitalize Petrified Trees and Ley Line Blossoms, and it's worth it because Condensed Resin will net double the usual reward amount.

How do you get Condensed Resin? Well, first you need to be reputation level three in Liyue. If you're not sure what that means, here's our explainer on the Genshin Impact reputation system.

Once you hit level three reputation in Liyue, you'll receive the Condensed Resin blueprint as a reward. Go to the precious item menu on the far right of the inventory page. You'll see an option to craft condensed resin when you've selected the blueprint.

Ingredients for Condensed Resin are: 40 original Resin and 1 Crystal Core.

Note that you can only hold three Condensed Resin at once.

Finally, when you visit a Ley Line Blossom and interact with it to revitalize it, the prompt will now give you the option of using original Resin or Condensed Resin.

So how do I make the most of my Resin? 

That's the big issue facing hardcore Genshin Impact players right now, and many are pushing developer MiHoYo to change the system to make it easier to earn Resin. Once you've played for about 30 to 40 hours, you're going to hit a wall where what you can do will be restricted by how much Resin you have. And because the activities associated with spending it only take a few minutes to complete, you'll quickly rip through your stockpile and have nothing to do. Instead of being able to play for hours on end, you'll maybe have 15 minutes of stuff to do before being forced to grind for Primogems or simply stop playing.

Don't spend your Primogems on Resin, though. Using them to open lootboxes is a far better way to spend them because the best characters and equipment you'll occasionally get from them are easily worth more than some upgrade materials you might need. The only time this advice won't apply is if you already have a powerful team equipped with the best weapons and don't necessarily need or want other characters.

Because it regenerates fully once every 16 hours, the best method is to play Genshin Impact twice a day: Once in the morning and once in the evening. No matter what, during one of these play sessions you will have less Resin as it won't have a chance to fully recharge, but just play whenever it works with your schedule.

The good news is that it'll only take 15 minutes to blast through your Resin supplies, so it's pretty easy to log in before bed or first thing and quickly tear through a few Abyssal Domains or down an Elite Boss or two.

Here's some quick tips, though:

• Prioritize your Resin based on what you actually need. Abyssal Domains have different upgrade materials depending on what day of the week it is, so don't blast all your Resin doing Ley Line Outcrops if one of the upgrade materials is available.
• Don't let your Resin sit the max limit of 120 for very long. You're just wasting the excess Resin you could be earning.
• Upgrade materials are a better investment than equipment drops as it limits how powerful your characters and weapons can get. Don't waste Resin trying to get a rare piece of equipment when you have characters that need upgrading.
• Save your Fragile Resin items for when you really need them, like if the reset on the Weekly Boss is fast approaching and you forgot to complete it.

Ultimately, there isn't a great shortcut for getting more Resin. You'll just have to be patient and hope that MiHoYo makes adjustments to make the whole system less punishing. It sucks because it's one major flaw in what is otherwise an astounding and wonderful RPG.