Genshin Impact Version 2.8 details: Heizou release, Diluc & Fischl skins, more

Genshin Impact Version 2.8 is now live as players get ready to bid farewell to Inazuma. The final update for the region includes Shikanoin Heizou’s release, a new Summer event, as well as some skins for Diluc and Fischl as Sumeru hype ramps up: here’s the patch notes.

Genshin Impact Version 2.8 might be the game’s most-glossed over update, but it’s finally here. Yes, it’s not the Sumeru launch, but we’re getting ever closer and HoYoverse still has plenty of content for players in the interim.

Heizou has been released as the final new Inazuman character while popular Anemo adventurer Kazuha has returned for a long-awaited rerun. Diluc and Fischl are getting some skins as part of a new event, Summertime Odyssey, which includes the beloved Golden Apple Archipelago just in time for the warmer weather. 

And while there’s no balance changes to playable characters, some of the mobs will be easier to kill for new players. With Sumeru’s launch around the corner, you can connect the dots.

Here’s what you need to know about Genshin Impact Version 2.8, which went live on July 13, 2022, including the full patch notes.

Genshin Impact Version 2.8 trailer & livestream

If you want a full wrap of the Genshin Impact Version 2.8 update, including some Sumeru teasers, you can catch up on the livestream done earlier in July 2022 below.

What’s changing in Genshin Impact Version 2.8?

Shikanoin Heizou finally released

It’s been a long time coming, but Shikanoin Heizou has finally been released. The Tenryou Commission Detective is currently part of the Version 2.8 banners, with the four-star Anemo Catalyst character boasting some supreme martial arts skills.

Throwing hands, kicking enemies around, and gut punches are all part of Heizou’s kit in-game, dealing plenty of damage when up close and personal while also acting as a great Swirl enabler for Elemental Reactions (which is Anemo’s primary use anyways).

Find out more about Heizou in our guide, including the best build you should rock when pulling for him in Genshin Impact Version 2.8.

Klee and Yoimiya rerun banners

On August 2, 2022, two new banner reruns began featuring Klee and Yoimiya.

The 5-star adventurer Klee is currently available in the Sparkling Sprits banner, alongside three 4-star characters: Heizou, Ningguang, and Thoma.

Firework-loving 5-star Yiomiya is also currently running, with the 4-star characters Bennett, Xinyan, and Yun Jin also featuring in the pyro-heavy Tapestry of Golden Flames banner.

Both rerun banners will be available until August 23, 2022.

Diluc and Fischl get new skins

HoYoverse are continuing their slow trickling of skins with Mondstadt’s Diluc and Fischl headlining the offerings in Genshin Impact Version 2.8. The duo’s new skins ⁠are Red Dead of Night and Ein Immernachtstraum (named after Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) respectively.

Diluc’s skin features a crimson red coat with much more intricate trim compared to his base skin. Fischl is also trading in the blacks on her dress for some more elegant blues and whites in a much more bright version of her base look. 

Fischl’s skin can be obtained through the Resonating Visions event, while Diluc’s will be paywalled.

Summertime Odyssey event marks Golden Apple Archipelago return

Speaking of events, players will be able to earn Primogems and more rewards across Genshin Impact Version 2.8 in the Summertime Odyssey event by completing quests in-game. As long as you’re Adventurer Rank 32 and have finished Mona’s Story Quest you can get into the Summer fun.

The Golden Apple Archipelago area is also returning for players to mess around in ⁠— and if HoYoverse’s wording is anything to go by, this will be the last time it makes an appearance.

Nobushi & Specters easier to farm thanks to QOL changes

While there’s no character buffs or nerfs in Genshin Impact Version 2.8, there are a couple of changes for those who are sick of farming Nobushi and Specters in Inazuma.

The overall ATK of the two enemies is being cut for players using a World Level between three and six, helping new players progress through content faster. Specters now also have more intuitive movement, have less health and resistances, and can be affected by pulling effects.

You can find the full Genshin Impact Version 2.8 patch notes below, courtesy of HoYoverse. The update went live on July 13, 2022.

Genshin Impact Version 2.8 patch notes

New Area

Golden Apple Archipelago (Only available during Version 2.8)

Area Unlock Criteria

• Reach Adventure Rank 32 or above
• Complete the Archon Quest “Chapter II: Prologue – Autumn Winds, Scarlet Leaves”
• Complete Mona’s Story Quest “Astrolabos Chapter: Act I – Beyond This World’s Stars”
  • During the event, the Adventure Rank required to accept Mona’s Story Quest “Astrolabos Chapter: Act I – Beyond This World’s Stars” will be adjusted to 32.

The Golden Apple Archipelago will no longer be accessible after the end of Version 2.8. You will also no longer be able to open treasure chests, gather materials, or earn quest rewards on the islands, so grab the opportunity to explore away!

New Character

Shikanoin Heizou

• Vision: Anemo
• Weapon: Catalyst
• A young prodigy detective from the Tenryou Commission. His senses are sharp and his thoughts are clear.

New Equipment

Cursed Blade (4-Star Sword)

• When a Normal, Charged, or Plunging Attack hits an opponent, it will whip up a Hewing Gale, dealing AoE DMG equal to 180% of ATK and increasing ATK by 15% for 8s. This effect can be triggered once every 8s.

New Events

Summertime Odyssey

• During the event, complete the specified tasks in “Surfpiercer” and “Phantom Realms” to obtain rewards such as Primogems, Hero’s Wit, and Mystic Enhancement Ore.
• Complete the “Phantom Realms” challenges to obtain Iridescent Flotsam. Accumulate a specified number of Iridescent Flotsam to invite “Prinzessin der Verurteilung!” Fischl (Electro)! You can also use Iridescent Flotsam to exchange for rewards such as Crown of Insight, Character Level-Up Materials, and Talent Level-Up Materials from the Event Shop.

New Outfits

Diluc — Red Dead of Night

• One of the outfits Diluc wears during covert actions, it resembles a flame dancing in the shadows. The crimson red traces it leaves behind at the edges of the enemy’s vision will scar their nightmares forever.
• Diluc’s outfit “Red Dead of Night” will also feature additional idle animations, combat special effects, combat voice lines, and chat voicelines.
• Diluc’s outfit “Red Dead of Night” will be available for purchase in the Character Outfit Shop at a limited-time discount. During the discount period, the price of the outfit is 1,980 Genesis Crystals. The price will revert to 2,480 Genesis Crystals after the limited-time discount ends.

Fischl — Ein Immernachtstraum

• A ceremonial outfit for the Prinzessin. May she who is noble retain her courage, sincerity, and kindness forever, such that no evil shall ever overcome her.
• During Version 2.8, Travelers can obtain Fischl’s “Ein Immernachtstraum” for free through the “Resonating Visions” event.
• After Version 2.8 is over, Travelers can buy the outfit in the Character Outfit Shop.

New Main Story

Story Quest

Kaedehara Kazuha’s Story Quest: Acer Palmatum Chapter – Act I “A Strange and Friendless Road”

Permanently available after the Version 2.8 update

Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 40 or above
• Complete the Archon Quest “Chapter II: Act III – Omnipresence Over Mortals”
• Complete Raiden Shogun’s Story Quest “Imperatrix Umbrosa Chapter: Act I – Reflections of Mortality”

New Hangout Event

Hangout Event: Shikanoin Heizou – Act I “Trap ‘Em by Storm”

Permanently available after the Version 2.8 update

Event Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 40 or above
• Complete the Archon Quest “Chapter II: Act III – Omnipresence Over Mortals”
• Complete Raiden Shogun’s Story Quest “Imperatrix Umbrosa Chapter: Act II – Transient Dreams”

• Complete Arataki Itto’s Story Quest “Taurus Iracundus Chapter: Act I – Rise Up, Golden Soul”

New World Quests

Limited Time Quests

• “The Treasure of the Four Skerries”
• “Thus Was the Work Done in Vain”
• “Treasure Voyage,” “The Final Treasure”
• “Drama Phantasmagoria: Tale of the Sword-Wielding Princess!”
• “Bake-Danuki Wanderlust”
• “The Misplaced Photo”
• “The Discarded Insignia”
• “A Misplaced Conch”

Permanent Quests

• “Film Notes”

Other Additions

• New Recipe: Shikanoin Heizou’s specialty: “The Only Truth”
• New Achievements added to the “Memories of the Heart” categories
• New Namecards
  • “Shikanoin Heizou: Temari”
  • “Travel Notes: Azure Main”
• Adds the “Adventurer Handbook – Guide” page to the Adventurer Handbook: it shows the recommended priority quests to be completed.
• Adds the “Adventurer Handbook – Embattle” page to the Adventurer Handbook: ascend characters of various elements (except the “Traveler”) and complete the Elemental Trials in the Temple of the Lion to receive the corresponding rewards.
• Adds tutorials related to the use of Fragile Resin for beginners.
• Adds some prompts for loading screens.

Spiral Abyss

• Floor 11 Ley Line Disorders changed to: All party members receive a 75% Pyro DMG Bonus.
• Updated the monster lineup on Floors 11 – 12 of the Spiral Abyss.

Phase I: Valiant Moon

When a character takes the field, they will gain 1 Fortitude stack every 2s. This will increase their ATK by 20%. Max 3 stacks. When characters with 3 Fortitude stacks hit opponents with Charged Attacks, a shockwave will be unleashed at the opponents’ position, dealing True DMG. A shockwave can be unleashed in this manner once every 2s. When the character leaves the field, all their Fortitude stacks will be cleared.

Phase II: Windswept Moon

When a character triggers Swirl on an opponent, that opponent’s DEF is decreased by 12% for 10s. Max 3 stacks. Each stack’s duration is counted independently.

Phase III: Shivered Moon

After the active character’s Normal, Charged, or Plunging Attacks hit opponents, that character’s Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 12% for 8s. This effect can be triggered once every 0.1s. Max 4 stacks. Each stack’s duration is counted independently. This effect will be cleared if the character leaves the field.

Adjustments & Optimizations

Enemies

• Reduces the ATK of Nobushi: Jintouban, Nobushi: Kikouban, Nobushi: Hitsukeban, Kairagi: Fiery Might, Kairagi: Dancing Thunder, and Specters in Worlds with a World Level of 3–6.
• Optimizes the performance of Rifthounds after being hit.
• Adjusts the performance of Specters after being hit and launched.
• Reduces Specters’ HP and resistance to interruption, and increases the HP Percentage to fill up the Fury meter of Specters.
• Adjusts part of the Specters’ behavior logic: it can be affected by the pull effect when it is not in the “expanded” state.

System

• When picking up an item drop, the icon of the drop will also show the number of its stacks if its stack is greater than 1.
• Optimizes the attribute filtering of Artifacts, giving priority to displaying Artifacts whose primary attribute is the filtered attribute.
• Adds “Traveler” Character Level-Up prompts to the character screen.

Audio

• Adds Receiving a Gift voice-over lines for some characters in “Character > Profile.”
• Optimizes the sound effects for certain character attacks.
• Optimizes the volume performance of some cutscene animations.
• Optimizes the Japanese, English, and Korean voice-over for certain characters, quests, and NPCs.
• Adjusts the Korean voice-over of Venti to be consistent with the subtitles.

Other

• During the same period of Event Wishes, when you enter the Wish interface again, the page will retain the Wish interface selected when you exited last time.
• Changes the “Guide” page to “Version Highlights” in the Paimon Menu.
• Fixes an issue whereby buttons may conflict in the “Character Selection” interface when using a controller: in the “Character Selection” interface, the Claim Friendship Rewards button will be hidden and the corresponding function of the L3 button will be to carry out filtering.
• When using a controller, the Purchase button and purchase function of items that are not available for purchase or redemption in the Event Shop will be disabled.

Bug Fixes

Quests

• Fixes an issue whereby there are errors in the text of some quest items in the Archon Quest “Perilous Trail.”
• Fixes an issue whereby the quest item “Archaic Stone” from the Story Quest “No Mere Stone” would disappear abnormally after completing the World Quest “The Tales Behind the Fan.” For Travelers who encountered this issue before the fix, the item will be automatically re-issued to the Inventory.

Enemies

• Fixes an issue with the boss “Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto” whereby the Baleful Vajras summoned would have a small probability of positioning themselves incorrectly.
• Fixes an issue whereby the character would have a small probability of not being able to target and aim correctly when attacking the claws of the boss “Stormterror”.

Characters

• Fixes an issue with the characters Xiao and Gorou whereby clipping would occur on their movements on the Characters > Talents interface and optimizes the streamer ribbon effects on Gorou, Venti, and Kaedehara Kazuha’s outfits on this same interface.
• Fixes an issue with Tartaglia whereby the Elemental Skill CD duration would be abnormal after performing certain actions if Tartaglia enters Melee Stance after using his Elemental Skill.
• Fixes an issue with Yelan’s Whitesilk Mantle that caused clipping to occur in Aimed Shot at certain angles.

Equipment

• Fixes an issue with Lisa whereby when equipped with the “Echoes of an Offering” artifacts and activating the 4-Piece Set effects, her Normal Attacks would have a small probability of triggering an additional instance of Physical DMG.

Audio

• Fixes an issue whereby there is a chance that music may be missing in some cutscene animations.
• Fixes an issue of missing sound effects in some environment areas.

System

• Fixes an issue whereby the Attribute Reference interface could be opened abnormally in the Weapon Switching interface in controller mode.
• Fixes an issue whereby the Snow Weasel model would not display correctly in the Serenitea Pot’s placement function.
• Fixes an issue whereby Aether would not have an expression during his idle animation on the character interface.
• Fixes an issue on the character interface whereby Sayu, Arataki Itto, Diona, and Yanfei’s shadow would flicker abnormally during some of their idle animations.
• Fixes an issue whereby when there are emails in some languages (such as Thai) in the Mailbox, some emails in the Gift Mail Box are not displayed normally.
• Fixes an issue whereby after reading the tutorial entries, there is a small chance of not being able to claim Primogems. After the version update, the tutorial entries whose rewards could not be claimed will reappear with a red notification dot. Players will be able to re-read them and claim Primogems as normal.

Other

• Fixes an issue whereby before entering Co-Op Mode, if the host performed certain actions, enemies in the open world would abnormally remain in the state when the game was paused after a guest entered the world.
• Fixes an issue whereby some weapon effects had a small probability of disappearing after character teleportation.
• Fixes an issue whereby when the character undergoes the Shatter reaction, character switching or sprinting had a chance to abnormally trigger the Shatter special effects repeatedly.
• Fixes an issue whereby when playing in Japanese, German, English, Indonesian, Portuguese, and Vietnamese, some subtitles were missing in the cutscene animations of individual quests.
• Fixes some textual errors in 13 languages and optimizes text. “Note: Related in-game functions have not changed.” (Travelers can view the changes in different languages by going to the Paimon Menu > Settings > Language and changing the Game Language.)

Text-related fixes and optimizations in English include:

• Optimized instances of a term from “Kavikavus Prize” to “Pir Kavikavus Prize.”
• Optimized instances of a term from “Academia” to “Akademiya.”
• Optimized some lines in the quests and World Quests.
• Optimized Yae Miko’s and Keqing’s descriptions.