Genshin Impact Battle Pass — Complete Breakdown of Donation, Farming & Weapons

Let’s break it down: what the Battle Pass gives, why you need the Pearl Hymn, and whether it even makes sense to spend money in Genshin Impact. Spoiler alert: a free-to-play player won’t die, but the paid Battle Pass is actually more comfortable to play.

How the Battle Pass works in Genshin Impact

The idea is simple and familiar to anyone who’s ever played a free-to-play game: complete activities to earn rewards. In Genshin, the system is divided into three sections.

Daily quests. The easiest part. If you sit down and click through them all at once, it won’t take more than 20-30 minutes. There’s nothing complicated about them.

Weekly challenges. Also not rocket science. Most of them can be completed in a single evening, if time allows. The cool thing is that quests from the weekly, daily, and “Current Period” tab are completed almost automatically—as you play.

Here are a couple of tips for beginners. Spend your Resin every day, down to the last drop. This isn’t just about leveling up heroes, artifacts, and bosses—for every 1200 Resin spent per week, you’ll also gain experience in BP. And an important point: if you don’t convert Primogems into Resin, don’t let it accumulate to 160. The counter accumulates to 160 per day, and 180 total—overflowing = wasted resources.

Where to farm Mondstadt and Liyue curiosities

A quick rundown of the locations I’ve tested myself.

Mondstadt: Valyasha grows in bushes of four, Wolf’s Hook grows in clusters near the Wolf’s Den, and Flanemo mushrooms are scattered throughout Mond and Springvale (relevant if you have Klee). Blue flowers for Fischl and Diluc are found near the huge tree in the Valley of the Winds and in Wolfendom, closer to the water. Liyue: Qingce Village—a racetrack through the fields, with tons of curiosities. The inn has few points, but each has two mulberries. In Liyue, the garden by the harbor is plentiful, and the jade is hidden in a cave between two mountains with an entrance from the south (guarded by khachipurlas, with glowing butterflies inside for thick resin). And don’t forget the cave opposite the Liangshan Labyrinth dungeon—it’s covered by a destructible stone.

Current period. The most interesting and most controversial. The quests here are simple, but there’s one that’s truly annoying—complete 50 prayers. That is, 50 rolls in gacha. For F2P, this sounds like a death sentence.

But if you break down the sources of spins as of late December 2020, it becomes simpler:

• the main path is saving up Primogems for banners;
• rewards for leveling up characters;
• a round pack from the BP itself;
• leveling up the Permafrost Tree on Dragonspine;
• increasing AR and Adventure Rank;
• events and bonus giveaways—for example, Genshin Impact recently won a couple of Game of the Year awards, and everyone was given 1,600 Primogems, which is exactly 10 spins.

In short, it’s possible to accumulate resources, but over time, some of these sources will be depleted, and new ones won’t appear right away. This won’t be the most convenient time for F2P. Also included in the “current period” are quests based on monthly events: currently, it’s Dragonsreach; previously, it was Meteorites.

The Pros and Cons of the Battle Pass

The bottom line on the quests is simple. They’re not difficult, but they require consistency. I hear complaints on streams about how I can’t keep up, how nothing’s working. Oh well. An hour a day, and the Battle Pass closes without rushing, with enough to last the entire update.

But here’s the real pain: the 50-level cap. For casual players, it’s fine; they barely make it to 50. For those who play more, it’s not enough. Last month, I closed the pass two weeks before the end of the season and would have easily lost another 20-30 levels. The developers apparently aren’t planning on raising the bar—they have the same situation in their other game (which has been around for significantly longer than Genshin). For me, this is the only major drawback of the Battle Pass.

Quickly leveling up the Battle Pass: how to reach 50 levels and avoid getting stuck at the cap

One Battle Pass level = 1000 points. The daily cap is 10,000, meaning a maximum of 10 levels per day. After that, the counter freezes until it resets at 4:00 AM server time. If you hit the cap, quit the game. There’s no point in finishing your activity, and the points won’t count.

The basic math is this: daily tasks award 900 points, dropping 1,200 Resin in a week awards another 1,000, and then there are weekly challenges and “Current Period” quests. Play at your own pace—you’ll easily reach 7-8 levels per week. Trouble strikes when you’ve been out of the game for 10-14 days. You won’t be able to catch up linearly. You’ll hit the daily cap and grind your teeth.

“Current Period” Quest Abuse

This block, not the routine Dailies, is the main source of quick points. It features quests like “open 5 chests,” “activate 3 teleporters,” “kill 20 elite mobs,” and “cook 15 dishes.” The key feature is that some of these quests are counted retroactively. Chests you’ve opened previously and Statues of the Seven you’ve already activated count toward your progress as soon as the quest appears in the list. Hence, a simple tactic: don’t rush to clear the map before the weekly quests are announced. Leave a trail of untouched chests and a couple of unactivated teleporters in the new location—you’ll get points later for free.

The second abuse is cooking and crafting. “Cook N dishes” and “craft N upgrade items” are completed in literally a minute at any cauldron or alchemy table. Throw in the cheapest ingredients in packs of 15-20 (eggs + flour + milk = a tasteless omelet)—the tick drops instantly. It’s the same story with ore: split magic crystals in Mondstadt and Liyue, turn in Mystic Enhancement Ore to the alchemist, and progress starts immediately.

Activity points: where the fat pieces are

How to catch up if you’ve neglected BP for a couple of weeks

Let’s say you log in 10 days before the end of the season, and your counter is stuck at level 20. Let’s do the math: 30 missing levels x 1000 = 30,000 points. With a daily cap of 10,000, it should be possible to reach the cap in three days. But only if you actually have something to earn those points with. The catch-up process works like this:

• Starting Day. Clear all the stuck Dailies, defeat three weekly bosses, and drain all your Resin to zero—including your 180-point stash. At the same time, clear all available “Current Period” quests.
• Event Sprint. Open the current event—Dragon’s Reach, meteorites, whatever’s going on there. It usually contains 8-12 BP quests worth 200-300 points each. A total of 2000-3000 points in a couple of evenings.
• Crafting run. Fill your inventory with ore and ingredients, complete all repeatable cooking and crafting quests in one go.
• Earn extra with crystals. Any remaining points are topped up by purchasing levels.

Purchasing levels: when is it a scam?

In the Battle Pass store, you can purchase one level directly for 150 Warp Crystals (a paid currency). At first glance, this seems like pure robbery. But the math works in your favor in exactly two scenarios.

First, you have a day or two left in the season, are 3-5 levels short of reaching 50, and a top-tier BP weapon awaits as a reward. In this case, 600-750 crystals for a weapon of your choice is more than worth it. Second, you’ve already rolled the paid pass to 50, collected all the chests with talent materials and weapons. Purchasing levels further is pointless; there are simply no rewards for reaching 51+ in the game.

Direct conversion via Primogems is almost always negative. 150 crystals = approximately 160 Primogems, meaning one spin versus 1,000 BP. And you can earn that thousand in 40 minutes of active play. The difference, as they say, is obvious.

Donating in Genshin Impact: Battle Pass vs. Pearl Hymn

Now, about the money. I’ve been playing since the end of October, and I completed the first Battle Pass at level 30—I didn’t buy it back then. In total, I’ve gotten two Hollow Moon Blessings and one paid Battle Pass.

My breakdown is this: a Battle Pass + Blessing bundle every six weeks—that’s about 1,300 rubles per month. For this money, you get significantly more comfort. These options are tailored for players who don’t want to become whales and earn tens of thousands, but want to play without pain.

Someone might say, “Donating in a free-to-play game is shameful.” Seriously, guys? Spending money on a hobby is normal. Some people have sneakers, some have a gym, and I have games. This is how I pay the developers for their work and make my gameplay more enjoyable. I’ve barely spent any money on in-game content in my entire life, but Genshin is one of those cases where 1,200-1,300 rubles a month feels like a fair price for the experience.

Otherwise, the donations are excessive. They only speed up progress, nothing more. I’ve only ever unlocked two legendary heroes; the rest I either save up or spend a maximum of 50 Primogems a day on Resin.

Pearl Hymn: Should I Get It or Skip It

The Pearl Hymn in Genshin is a dubious thing. It gives 10 BP levels, a few weak Resins, and a profile background (who even got it?). This boost is only needed by those who log in once a week and are willing to pay to avoid playing. The short verdict: don’t get it.

But the paid BP is top-notch. For 900 rubles, you get a ton of resources and a weapon of your choice. The difference from the free version is colossal. The free Battle Pass gives:

• 27 Adventurer EXP
• 96 Mystic Enhancement Ore
• 720,000 Mora
• 36 Hero of Wit EXP
• 5 Gacha Rolls

The paid Battle Pass gives:

• 27 Adventurer EXP
• 384 Mystic Enhancement Ore
• 2,880,000 Mora
• 162 Hero of Wit EXP
• 5 Familiar Fates to summon
• 4 Intertwined Fates to summon
• 680 Primogems
• 4 Windy Country Guide chests with a choice of talent materials
• 3 Earth Country Guidance chests with a choice of talent materials
• 1 Windy Country Philosophy chest
• 1 Earth Country Philosophy chest
• 1 BP Bounty Weapon — a weapon of your choice

The difference, as they say, is obvious.

Battle Pass weapons: are they worth it?

In short, yes. I initially wanted to use the bow on Fischl, but the Amos Bow dropped literally the next day, so the BP one is sitting on the shelf for now. I’ll still give it to Fischl in a month because we’re saving up for Ganja.

The Catalyst looks good on Klee, but my 4-star weapon is currently covering my needs. I haven’t personally tried the two-handed weapon, but reviews say it’s powerful. The one-handed sword and spear also looked decent on streams. Bottom line: all the BP weapons are among the best 4-star weapons in Genshin Impact and provide a noticeable damage boost.

Bottom line: what should a F2P player get in Genshin Impact?

Download the Battle Pass anyway, whether it’s paid or free. It’s stupid to waste a freebie. Donating isn’t mandatory in Genshin Impact, but for maximum comfort, the optimal combination is: paid BP (valid for the entire patch, about a month and a half) + Blessing of the Hollow Moon. The daily 90 Primogems from the Blessing add up to 2700 per month, plus an additional 300 in-game currency for the shop or for those same Primogems.

Pearl Hymn is a no-no. I don’t see any point in it, either for F2P or for those who donate moderately.

This is a subjective comment—I’m not a top expert, just an ordinary player sharing my experience. If this post was helpful, I’d be grateful. I plan to continue exploring the mechanics of Genshin Impact, from farming to character builds. Share your thoughts on BP and donations in the comments, and good luck in the game.