Genshin Impact: What are Primogems and what to spend them on

Wondering how to get Genshin Impact Primogems, arguably the most important currency in the game? It isn't surprising. There are a ton of currencies in Genshin to keep track of, and developer miHoYo hasn't necessarily made them easy to understand.

Primogems are key to getting new characters, new weapons, and more in Genshin Impact. But you'll want to know everything about them before diving in because of the game's gacha mechanics, which encourage players to spend real money on other fake currencies to buy items in-game rather than grind for it.

Here's everything you need to know about Primogems in Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact Primogems: What to use them on

Primogems are the currency you use in Genshin Impact in order to buy three things:

1) Fates, which are used in turn use to buy Wishes, which provide randomized rewards like characters, weapons, and artifacts. I know it's already confusing, but look at it like this:

Primogem -> Fate -> Wish -> Reward

2) Original Resin: The currency/resource you'll need to obtain rewards from Ley Line Blossoms, Petrified Trees, or Trounce Blossoms. You can either wait eight minutes for one Original Resin to replenish, or you can spend a growing amount of primogems to replenish up to 60 Original Resin.

3) Battle Pass levels: Genshin Impact features a free battle pass, plus a battle pass that costs $9.99. It also offers extra rewards for completing certain quests or other requirements. Like a lot of other battle passes in other games, you can spend in-game currency (in this case Primogems) to level up the battle pass if you don't want to bother playing the game and finishing challenges. This definitely isn't the smartest way to use your Primogems, but if you're only one or two tiers away from where you want to be by season's end, you might feel it's worth dropping some Primogems to catch up.

You can use Primogems in the Wish menu, accessed by either pressing F3 or pressing 'Up' on the radial menu.

How to get Primogems in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact gives you a decent amount of Primogems simply for playing the game. Here's a brief rundown of most ways you can get Primogems for free:

• Inviting your friends to play
• Finishing daily commissions (up to 60 Primogems a day)
• Discovering waypoints, dungeons, and domains (5 Primogems for each discovery)
• Completing Achievements (Usually 5-20 Primogems)
• Chests
• Quests
• Adventure Rank rewards at certain levels (50-100 Primogems)
• The Abyss: 300 Primogems for every floor you complete at 9th star level
• Blessings: If you purchase a Blessing (Such as the Blessing of the Welkin Moon), you'll be awarded a set number of Genesis Crystals and 90 Primogems per day for 30 days. You can purchase a Blessing multiple times
• The Battle Pass at certain levels
• Events and mail giveaways. Don't forget to check that inbox, as miHoYo is fond of throwing you a bone every so often. It's all to encourage you to buy more, but hey, free is free.

If you want to get Primogems faster than what the game offers, you'll have to pay for them.

To do this, you can go to the in-game shop and buy Genesis Crystals, then exchange them for Primogems. The exchange rate is one Genesis Crystal for one Primogem. It's an unnecessary extra step, but that's how miHoYo has decided to do it.