Обзор игры Impact: Battle of Elements

Genshin Impact Battle Chronicle Benefits

This new Battle Chronicle will surely start bringing more people into miHoYo’s Genshin Impact fan forums, or the HoYoLAB, as it’s only accessible through the forums’ Account Info page. It’s convenient to have all of these statistics laid out in an accessible page, but more importantly, many of these statistics are actually otherwise unavailable to players.

Any Travelers hoping to keep track of minor details, like how many Common Chests they’ve managed to track down, will immensely appreciate the Battle Chronicle. It’s instantly linked to player accounts, and immediately updates as the player progresses through Genshin Impact. So any time a player makes an awesome Wish and unlocks popular characters like Ningguang, or Klee, the Battle Chronicle will instantly take note. Likewise, when a player stumbles upon an in-game discovery or achieves a particular milestone, the Chronicle will likely keep some record of it.

The Battle Chronicle feature also carries implications for co-op gameplay in Genshin Impact and the possibility of future interconnected gameplay, such as that seen in a “Guilds” system. With a system like the Battle Chronicle in place, players are now allowed to physically verify their friends, teammates, and rivals stats, so long as the Public option is toggled on. Needless to say, this would allow for in-game groups, like Guilds, to vet their potential candidates more thoroughly.

Genshin Impact has only had a handful of major in-game events thus far, but basically all of them have featured cooperative gameplay elements. In fact, one of the game’s first events was mostly criticized due to a lack of good teammates available from the game’s matching system. The ability to more closely see other players’ progress and stats would make for a much more transparent community, especially when it comes to pairing up for powerful Domains and Weekly Bosses.

Hopefully, miHoYo continues to invest in its playerbase and support communities like the newly reborn HoYoLAB. With the Battle Chronicle finally allowing Travelers to closely track their in-game progress, and easily access that data whenever they choose, players have a new way to approach and organize their gameplay. In a similar vein, the Chronicle opens up the door for much more transparent co-op gameplay, which will be thoroughly appreciated by fans of the game’s high-level boss fights. Though players can make it quite far on their own in Genshin Impact, a teammate or two can make all the difference once a player’s World Level hits 4 or 5.

Genshin Impact is available on Mobile, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5 and Switch.

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Genshin Impact Battle Chronicle Stats

In other words, the Battle Chronicle is sort of like a version of the Teyvat Times that’s tailored to each individual player. Players can view their own Battle Chronicles by logging into their accounts, of course, but they should also be aware of the fact that other players’ Chronicles can be viewed too.

The Battle Chronicle gives a detailed look at player statistics, including information regarding specific loot and possessions, a display of the player’s unlocked characters, and even specific Spiral Abyss progress results. All of the information is neatly laid out with adorable accompanying graphics, and players can see each others’ stats by looking up accounts on the miHoYo fan forums, which as part of the new Genshin Impact update, can now be found at the “HoYoLAB” domain.

Travelers can opt out of public profiles once they login to their HoYoLAB Community account, but regardless, they’re able to check in on their own stats. Again, this is much like the Teyvat Times published by Genshin Impact’s developer, because it not only lets players glimpse at broad numbers, like total days active, but also allows them to learn unique specific in-game stats, like the total number of Teleport Waypoints they’ve unlocked.

The Battle Chronicle allows players a handy look at all of the playable characters they’ve unlocked and their general stats, while also providing numbers and facts such as:

Total number of Luxurious Chests opened
Total number of Precious Chests opened
Total number of Geoculi collected
Total number of Anemoculi collected
“Strongest Single Strike” in Spiral Abyss
Most played characters in Spiral Abyss
Total number of Elemental Skills cast/Bursts unleashed in Spiral Abyss

In addition to this, players can check in on their Exploration Progress in different regions with the Battle Chronicle. This feature tracks each region’s total Exploration Progress, as well as the player’s current Reputation Level in each. When sorting through their playable characters, players will find both their current levels, and their current Friendship Level with regard to the player. Friendship Levels lead to unique name cards that are otherwise unobtainable, so many fans like to keep close tabs on their favorite characters’ friendship levels.

Pros, Mehs, and Cons

Pros

I do like engraved dice. The nice thing about it is also that if you are like, prototyping some magic wizard game and you need element dice, you can also use these! That’s not super relevant to the game, though, so let me try again. The engraved dice look really nice, have clear symbology, and are easy to distinguish between (relative to Strike’s pips). I kind of wish the Void side had something on it, though, rather than just being blank.
Portable game box. I can take this most places with me and I really appreciate that. It just kind of fits nicely into my backpack without much effort.
Easy to learn. You’re just trying to match dice faces; there’s not much more to it than that.
Plays very quickly. I’ve played a full game in about two or three minutes. It didn’t end particularly well for me, but it was a full game.
It’s nice that Strike is more widely available. It’s a fun game and it was a shame that it was out of print for so long. I’m glad it’s coming back, even in a sightly different form.

Mehs

I have some questions about the box. Is the depth to make it bouncier? I’m legitimately interested.
I kind of wish Void had a symbol rather than a blank side. It would just be nice to see. I get why it doesn’t, from a like, thematic standpoint, though I kind of wonder if that means there’s some weight / balance changes to the dice? I’m going to assert that if you’re playing this game it’s probably not worth caring about that in particular.
Avatar Mode is a total mess. I mean, if you want to try it, you totally can, but not even the rulebook is willing to outright endorse it as a good idea, and that’s pretty hilarious.
I mean, I don’t like player elimination in games, but there’s not much you can do about it, here. Thankfully the game is quick enough that this is rarely a problem, if ever.

Cons

It feels a bit bouncier than Strike. I think the subtle differences are going to irritate the die-hard Strike fans, but I don’t really care. I’m just noting it if you’re a huge fan of Strike but you lost yours in a no-holds-barred tournament with the devil or something and you need a new one, this is different than Strike in one way that might irritate you, but also, whatever. I don’t mind it pretty much at all. Plus, it’s fun watching the dice bounce out.

1 Melt (Pyro + Cryo)

For the most powerful elemental reaction in the game, look no further than Melt. It’s what happens when you combine fire and ice though Melt deals the highest damage when the pyro element triggers it.

That’s because the damage multiplier for a pyro-triggered Melt is 200 percent. Triggering it with cryo is also viable but it would only give a 150 percent multiplier. This elemental reaction is one of the reasons why we see Hu Tao mains dealing more than 2 million damage in a single burst.

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Solar Pearl

Solar Pearl is amazing for your Catalyst main DPS, but also a pretty good choice for your Catalyst users in general.

With a base ATK of 42 on Level 1 and a maximum of 510 on its max. level, this Catalyst also has a CRIT Rate as its substat. Just like the other Battle Pass weapons, at first, the boost is as much as 6%. On Level 90, it goes for as much as 27.6%.

With Solar Pearl in use, Normal Attacks hits increase Elemental Skill and Burst DMG by 20~40% for seconds. In return, Elemental Skill or Burst hits increase Normal ATK DMG by 20~40% for 6 seconds.

It takes me a moment to understand that. But basically, it means that you can just attack with whatever. Keep on spamming your Normal ATK while waiting for your Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst to be back in use.

Weapon details:

Stars: 4
Ascension Material: Sands from Guyun, Sacrificial Knife, Whopperflower Nectar
Base ATK: 46
Substat: CRIT Rate (6%)

Why Solar Pearl Is Great:

Boosts DMG done by Normal Attack, Elemental Skill, and Elemental Burst
Boosts CRIT Rate up to 27.6%
Great for main DPS

6 Electro-Charged (Electro + Hydro)

For pure continuous DPS that’s more viable than just fire alone, combining the good old-fashioned electricity with water just like how you learned in elementary, is an interesting reaction. It lets players deal gradual electro damage to any enemy caught in the rain. The status and continuous damage will then spread fast to other enemies and stagger them.

That’s the beauty in this reaction—it’s cheap and readily available just from the weather effects alone. It makes electro-only solo setups viable, especially with common 4-star favorites like Razor or Beidou. It also lets those characters synergize well with cheap healers like Barbara.

Strategy

I dunno; throw dice, I guess? I mean, the strategy you need to use for this game is just sort of a fundamental understanding of probability, the pigeonhole principle, and a few other things. If you’re unlucky enough to have five different faces showing in the “cauldron”, you should throw all of your dice in (assuming you’re playing with my preferred variant) — you have the highest likelihood that they’ll come up with something that matches something else and you might be able to get more dice back (or they’ll all come up void and you’re screwed).
Watch your angle of attack. If you throw at too high of an angle, the dice will bounce out. Don’t underestimate the bounciness of the new platform, especially if you’ve played Strike before.
If you’re playing with Hurricane, just … waste your dice, I guess, maybe? I really don’t know. On one hand, that means you potentially screw over your opponent by giving them almost no dice, but it also means you’re in danger if the other players figure it’s best to hold out on you and make sure that you can’t get that Hurricane you crave.
You probably shouldn’t be taking this game that seriously. I think that’s the best strategy to have fun.

Overall: 9 / 10

Overall, I’m a big fan of Impact. I mean, at its core, it’s a fundamentally very silly dice-chucking game that can be played basically anywhere, anytime. I imagine a few of the changes made to the initial version of Strike (its predecessor, which I have played but do not own) were made to increase portability, since now it’s a smaller, more compact box, but also add some new stuff (like the bouncier bottom, which is amusing). It’s telling that when I first got it I got a bit poo-pooed for having it by a number of Strike purists, which was kind of frustrating. Or, at least, it frustrated me enough that I had to ask one if he genuinely had a problem with Impact or if he was just upset that something he had that was Rare and Valuable was more widely available to the general population. He didn’t have a solid answer. There’s definitely a hint of that in the disdain I feel from some people for Impact, and that’s frustrating (and gatekeeping, mind you). That said, while I’m not like, over the moon for Impact’s new modes (Avatar mode being just straight up wild), I do enjoy the variety from time to time (and I can just play Strike with the set even if I don’t want to play with the elements). For me, this is the kind of game I can bring home for the holidays and play with friends and family, or the kind of game I can keep with me for a quick round while we wait for drinks, and that’s awesome. If you’re looking for a game like that, I’d highly recommend giving Impact: Battle of the Elements a whirl!

If you enjoyed this review and would like to support What’s Eric Playing? in the future, please check out my Patreon. Thanks for reading!

Serpent Spine

Serpent Spine is a really great Claymore to use, even more with its CRIT Rate substat.

To begin, Serpent Spine has a 42 Base ATK and this can be maxed to 510 once reaching level 90. Its substat is CRIT Rate starts at 6% and eventually goes up to 27.6% at max. A rather clear pattern here, right?

Furthermore, the weapon also offers you a bonus of 6~10% DMG dealt for every 4 seconds the character is on the field. But, during this, the character takes more DMG for as much as 3~1.8%. This effect can be stacked up to 5 times. The count won’t reset even if the character leaves the field, but will be reduced by one when characters take DMG.

Seems complicated, I imagine. But in short, at 5 stacks, your character will be able to deal at least 30% additional DMG. Playing solo is the key to optimizing the use of this Claymore, just remember to put on a shield over and over again.

Weapon details:

Stars: 4
Ascension Material: Aerosiderite, Bone Shard, Whopperflower Nectar
Base ATK: 42
Substat: CRIT Rate (6%)

Why Serpent Spine Is Great:

Boosts CRIT Rate up to 27.6%
Boosts DMG in general
Great for solo play

The Black Sword

The Black Sword comes forth to take number one the list.

On Level 1, the base ATK is 42 which can be maxed to 510. Also like the other Battle Pass weapons, The Black Sword has a CRIT Rate substat, starting with 6% and ending with 27.6% on Level 90.

This Sword is also rather suitable for main DPS compared to other roles, as its Refinement increases DMG inflicted through Normal and Charged Attacks by 20~40%.

Not stopping there, it also has a chance to regenerate 60~100% of ATK as HP when scoring CRIT HIT through Normal and Charged Attack. This effect can take place once every 5 seconds.

I feel like it’s pretty clear why it’s great for your main DPS; your constant Normal Attack hits are quite encouraged by this particular weapon.

Weapon details:

Stars: 4
Ascension Material: Boreas Wolf’s Tooth, Dead Ley Line Branch, Slime Condensate
Base ATK: 42
Substat: CRIT Rate (6%)

Why The Black Sword Is Great:

Boosts CRIT Rate up to 27.6%
Great for main DPS
Gives a chance to heal on hit (though during CRIT)

Gameplay

So there are three modes: one is identical to its predecessor, Strike; one is Power of the Elements, and the final one is Avatar. In each, your goal is the same: be the last player with dice. How do you do that? Well, let me explain.

On your turn, you will throw one die (as a variant, we generally allow one or more dice) into the bowl. Once the dice settle, check their faces; if any are the blank side (void), they are removed from the game immediately. If any dice are showing the same face, you may remove all of them and end your turn. If they are all different, you may either throw another die in or stop your turn. We also allow you to throw more dice in if there are matching faces, but that’s our preferred variant.

If you ever begin your turn with no dice in the center bowl, you must add dice of your own! Specifically, all of your dice must be thrown in simultaneously. If you ever end your turn with 0 dice, you lose. You see how these things go together.

That’s the basic game. Let’s talk variants.

Power of the Elements

In this one, you’ll use the abilities of the dice to your advantage. Roll the die into the center, like you did in Setup. Whatever die face is showing is the activated element, which adds a bonus effect to the game:

Lightning – Lightning Storm: As soon as these faces match, all other players must throw one of their dice into the center, and then the player whose turn it is can take all matching dice. As you might guess, if there are still matching lightning faces, you just collect them; you can’t activate this ability again.
Water – Swamp: Swamps are gross to touch, and that’s reflected here. If you ever have matching water faces, you cannot remove them from the center. It’s unclear if your turn still ends in the base game, but it doesn’t in ours.
Wind – Hurricane: Once you take the dice out of the bowl, all players must pass all of their dice to the player on their left. It’s great if you’re out of dice; very bad if you’re winning. We don’t play with this specific element as the primary very often, as a result.
Rock – Boulders: This one is fun and exciting. When you take any dice with matching rock faces, they are treated as one die until they are thrown again. You represent this by stacking them into a column.
Fire – Column of Fire: Speaking of stacks, as soon as these faces match, all players must immediately stack their remaining dice in a column. The first player to do so says “DONE!” and then takes all the dice with matching faces from the bowl. It’s a good catch-up mechanism. As you might guess, you cannot have your dice already in a stack.

Beyond that, play as normal.

Avatar

In this mode, all elements are in play simultaneously! It’s a huge mess, but what can you do. They have a recommended resolution order for the dice, to save you some effort:

Remove Void dice.
Lightning Storm.
Column of Fire.
Boulders.
Hurricane.

Good luck with this one.

Deathmatch

The Polearm representation, Deathmatch, begins at number 5.

As of now, there are only 4 Polearm wielders that you can play, which is also kind of why it’s low in terms of ranking. The users are much too limited, with Xiangling being free and the other three being five-starred characters such as Zhongli, Xiao, and Hutao.

Saying they’re a bit hard to get is undermining. On top of that, they’re all characters from the event wish banners. If you miss the initial event, you’ll have to wait unitl they make a comeback, which takes quite long.

Deathmatch starts off with a 41 Base ATK and ends with 454 on its maximum level. Its substat is CRIT Rate, which is more than great, with 8% on Level 1 and 36.8% on Level 90.

Its Refinement level increases ATK and DEF by 16~32% when there are at least 2 opponents nearby. In the case that there are less than 2 opponents close, ATK is instead increased by 24~48%.

Weapon details:

Stars: 4
Ascension Material: Boreas Wolf’s Tooth, Ley Line Branch, Whopperflower Nectar
Base ATK: 41
Substat: CRIT Rate (8%)

Why Deathmatch Is Great:

Great for main DPS
Balanced ATK and DEF boost
Boosts CRIT Rate up to 36.8% (the highest between BP weapons)

The Viridescent Hunt

Much like Deathmatch, this arrow is pretty low on the list because it’s more suitable for characters whose wish banner is time-limited, aka Childe, Ganyu, and Venti.

Other archers like Fischl, Amber, or Diona aren’t exactly the perfect match for this particular weapon, though it’s pretty okay if you want to use them as a main DPS.

The Viridescent Hunt has a 42 Base ATK, which goes up to as much as 510 on its maximum level. Its substat is also CRIT Rate, starting with 6% and maxed at 27.6%.

The passive skill from the Refinement has such effects: upon hit, Normal and Aimed Shot Attacks have a 50% chance to generate a Cyclone. This Cyclone will attract opponents and deal 40~80% of ATK as DMG every 0.5second for 4 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 14~10 seconds.

Weapon details:

Stars: 4
Ascension Material: Tile of Decarabian, Heavy Horn, Firm Arrowhead
Base ATK: 42
Substat: CRIT Rate (6%)

Why The Viridescent Hunt Is Great:

Boosts CRIT Rate up to 27.6%
50% chance to get extra ATK
Good for main DPS

4 Frozen (Hydro + Cryo)

Apart from pure physical charged and held attacks, there aren’t many ways to stun enemies in Genshin Impact and take them out of the fight for precious several seconds. As such, the Frozen reaction is invaluable and is likely one of the most utilized. The effect is pretty self-explanatory, enemies stop in their tracks no matter what they’re doing.

Much like Electro-Charged, it’s also common due to how often it rains in Genshin Impact. It makes cryo-only parties viable as well. Frozen functions as both a defensive and offensive combo too since it leaves the enemies open to several seconds of hammering. The best part is that it’s easy to chain and trigger prolongingly.