When will Genshin Impact 3.0 be released? Genshin Impact is fast approaching its second birthday, and for a game that many people (not unreasonably) thought would never catch on, it’s certainly done pretty well for itself. The impending start of Year 3 means that Version 3.0 is rapidly approaching on the horizon, and on this page we’ve collated everything we know about 2022’s big version Genshin Impact change. Read on for more information on release dates and times, as well as the new map region and its new characters, weapons, story quests, and plenty more!
Genshin Impact 3.0 release date
Genshin Impact 3.0 is due for release on or around August 24th. The exact times haven’t been announced yet, but we do know that the current event wish banners are expiring on August 23rd, and there’s usually a gacha downtime of around six hours for maintenance between versions. Therefore, fans in Europe and the Americas can probably expect to be able to play the new version the following day.
Genshin Impact 3.0 new region: Sumeru
The version number only ticks over in Genshin Impact once per calendar year, but it signals a whole host of new content, including a new chapter in the Archon Quest series that makes up the game’s central storyline, and a new nation for you to explore as you make your way across the world of Teyvat.
In Version 3.0 the new nation is Sumeru, the Dendro nation governed by Lesser Lord Kusanali (a.ka. the Flower God) and guided by the ideal of Wisdom. Appropriately enough given this theme, Sumeru is home to the Sumeru Akademiya, the most respected seat of learning in all Teyvat. The academy also acts as Sumeru’s governing body.
Culturally, Sumeru draws inspiration from a mishmash of medieval Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures, with India as the primarily identifiable naming influence for characters and locations. Geographically, in addition to the main city and the academy, Sumeru will feature a woodland area called Avidya Forest, and a waterside settlement called Port Ormos.
It’s also worth noting that HoYoverse have drawn no small amount of criticism for portraying most of the inhabitants of Sumeru as light-skinned given its real-world inspirations, especially since out of all the 50+ previously released playable characters, only Xinyan and (at a push) Kaeya can be described as representing darker-skinned people. I mention this in the spirit of holding the developers to account and hoping that we see a greater diversity of character designs added to the roster over the course of Version 3.
Genshin Impact 3.0 new characters
Whenever the plot of Genshin Impact moves to a new nation, you can quite naturally expect a whole host of new characters to populate the region. Sumeru is no different, of course, and below is a quick run-down of every confirmed and rumoured major character you can expect to encounter on the next leg of your journey through Teyvat, and when you might hope to meet them:
- The Dendro Traveler: As you’re no doubt aware, your nominal player character The Traveler has the unique ability to adapt to different elemental powers (thereby completely changing almost every aspect of their kit) when they interact with Statues of the Seven. Since Sumeru is the Dendro nation, expect your Traveler to get to try out their new element and its associated talents and constellations fairly early on.
- Tighnari: One of three confirmed playable characters hailing from Sumeru, it’s been all but confirmed that Tighnari will be the first 5-star event-exclusive character from the region, likely debuting on Version 3.0 during Phase I. He has a Dendro vision but his weapon of choice has yet to be revealed. (Rumours that he’ll be a bow user seem to have arisen from confusing him with Collei, although leaked comparisons between his kit and Ganyu’s mean you can’t rule it out as a possibility either.)
- Collei: Second of the three confirmed playable characters from Sumeru. Collei is a Dendro bow user and it’s rumoured she’ll be available at 4-star rarity. It’s not yet been confirmed if she’ll debut on Version 3.0, but reliable leaks indicate that she’ll debut alongside Tighnari in Phase I.
- Dori: Third and final of the three confirmed playable characters from Sumeru to date. It’s been confirmed that she possesses an Electro vision, while credible leaks suggest she’ll be a Claymore user and available at a 4-star rarity. Like Collei, while her debut during Version 3.0 hasn’t been confirmed but credible leaks suggest she’ll debut during Phase II in mid-September.
- Kusanali: The Dendro Archon and god of the nation of Sumeru. Despite holding the masculine-coded title Lesser Lord Kusanali she is in fact female, and is notable for being the youngest of the Seven Archons currently ruling over Teyvat. While it hasn’t technically been confirmed that she’ll be playable, the three previous Archons encountered in earlier chapters have all joined the roster as 5-star event-exclusive characters, so I’d be very surprised if she didn’t turn up on a Character Event Wish banner in the near future. Archons usually don’t make their playable debut immediately upon their nation’s release, however, so expect to wait somewhere in the region of six to nine weeks after Version 3.0 lands for Kusanali to make her full appearance.
- Cyno: Cyno appeared in the Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview: Travail video that was released way back in September 2020 to tease the game’s full planned story, and he’s also made a significant cameo in the tie-in manga. For his appearance in Travail, he was the representative character for Chapter III and the nation of Sumeru. Since the characters who appeared in the video to represent the prologue and Chapters I and II (that’s Diluc, Ningguang, and Kamisato Ayaka, respectively) have since become playable when their nation was introduced, it’s likely that Cyno will join the ranks somewhere down the line. Based on his supplementary appearances it’s likely that he’ll be an Electro Polearm user, and rumours suggest that he’ll appear fairly early on in Sumeru but not during Version 3’s initial debut. His rarity is also completely unknown for now.
- Scaramouche: The Sixth of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers is rumoured to be reappearing in Sumeru sometime around Version 3.2. This is a bit of a surprise since Scaramouche is more heavily associated with Snezhnaya (the seventh and final nation of Teyvat, not due for an in-game appearance until 2025). However, he is quite mobile and has already been spotted hanging out and causing problems in both Mondstadt and Inazuma, and leaks have suggested that he’ll once again be a boss rather than a playable character during the Sumeru chapter. (I still predict he’ll eventually be playable, but perhaps not until that far-off final chapter.)
- Alhaitham & Kavi: The most lightly rumoured Sumeru characters we know anything substantial about. Alhaitham has appeared briefly in a 3.0 teaser video (see top of page), and further leaks suggest that he’ll be a Dendro Sword user and therefore probably playable at some future point. Kavi has a bit of significance in lore and seems to have some relationship to Alhaitham, but it’s unknown whether he’ll be playable too or more of a supporting NPC.
Version 3.0 character event wish banners
If you’re looking for in-depth information on which new playable characters will be released when, see our Genshin Impact character event wish banners page for all the details. However, if you’re just looking for the highlights, here you go: leaks suggest that 3.0 Phase I will see the introduction of Tighnari and Collei alongside a rerun for Zhongli, while Phase II (sometime in September) will see concurrent reruns for Ganyu and Sangonomiya Kokomi while introducing Dori.
Genshin Impact 3.0 new weapons and artifacts
Sumeru seems to be a bow-heavy region, judging by the hints that one or even two of the first playable characters from the nation will be bow-users. This is also borne out by leaks relating to the new weapons arriving in Version 3.0. What looks to be the usual new five-piece national signature set for Sumeru (consisting of a Bow, Catalyst, Claymore, Polearm, and Sword, presumably with similar passives) will allegedly be joined by two more bows: one a 4-star, and the other the update’s first 5-star weapon. Of course, we can expect to see many more weapons added over the course of Version 3 as a whole, and these leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt.
In terms of artifact sets, the introduction of the Dendro element naturally leads us to believe that there’ll be a new Dendro DMG Buff set to match the six other playable elements. A second rumoured new artifact set might increase CRIT DMG while reducing enemy DEF and shield strength, or could buff Elemental Mastery and ATK, depending on which leakers you believe. It’s possible that those last two are different in-development artifact sets, of course, but since we’re heavily reliant on rumour for this part I should clarify that most sources are claiming just two new sets at the outset of Version 3.0.
Genshin Impact 3.0 new playable element: Dendro
With Version 3.0, Dendro is finally taking its proper place among Genshin Impact’s other elements. Seven has always been the arc number in the world of Teyvat: there are seven Archons, seven nations, and seven types of elemental visions. However, the Dendro element has been notably sidelined compared to the other six since the game’s launch: other than a few low-level Dendro enemies and the ability to trigger the Burning (Dendro + Pyro) reaction whenever one of your fire-wielders went out and touched grass, Dendro hasn’t really had much of a part to play. Even rumoured first Dendro character Sayu turned out to be an Anemo vision holder instead, which some fans still think was a relatively last-minute change-up, given that her theming really makes her seem like a tree creature.
Version 3.0 will not only bring in the first playable Dendro vision holders in the form of the Dendro Traveler, Tighnari, and Collei, but it will expand the number of elemental reactions available for Dendro as well, with Bloom (Dendro + Hydro) and Catalyze (Dendro + Electro) deepening the element’s usefulness in combat. Exact details of how these new reactions will deal damage are unknown at this point, as are the resonating benefits of pairing up multiple Dendro users in a party. But be sure to have a look at our Genshin Impact elemental reactions and resonances guide for more information as soon as we know it.
Genshin Impact 3.0 new Archon Quests
Archon Quests make up Genshin Impact’s main story questline. The central plot is fuelled by the Traveler’s ongoing search for the cause of their twin’s disappearance, and the rift that persists between them even after their all-too-brief reunion. This family drama seemingly has deep but as-yet-unknown ties to the history and mysteries of Teyvat, and the saga will continue in Version 3.0 with the addition of “Archon Quest Chapter III: Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana”.
As yet, we don’t know much about the new Archon Quest Chapter other than its title and the fact that it will take place predominantly in Sumeru. The Prologue and Chapters I & II were all composed of three to four main “acts” split into roughly half a dozen quests each, plus various prologues and epilogues, so it’s likely that Chapter III will have a similar structure.
How long will Genshin Impact 3.0 last?
You may recall that Genshin Impact suffered a rare production delay earlier this year, with Version 2.7 releasing three weeks later than initially planned. Most likely as a result of this, we’ve spotted unconfirmed rumours that Versions 3.1 and 3.2 will be shorter than usual — lasting around a month each rather than the usual six weeks — presumably in order to get things back on schedule for HoYoverse’s long-term roadmap for the game. If true, this will mean that you’ll have slightly less time than normal to pull your desired characters and weapons from time-limited Event Wishes during those update periods. But of course, we’ll do our best to get firm details on this well in time so that you can plan accordingly.
The same source claims that Version 3.0 itself will last from late August until early October, which would gel with the October 5th release date we might infer for Version 3.1 under ordinary circumstances. So it seems at least the debut update of Version 3 won’t be affected by the shortened cycle, and will last the usual six weeks.
Even prior to Version 3.0’s release there were already over 50 characters in Genshin Impact, and you can get to know all of them on our Genshin Impact tier list. And, because we like Genshin Impact but don’t recommend you start spending loads of cash on the gacha, be sure to check out our Genshin Impact codes list for a regularly updated run-down of all the freebies you can currently claim.
