Alexis Kestler
Hey friend! Have you tried out the amazing new Genius Invokation trading card game mode that was just added to Genshin Impact in version 3.3? This in-depth card battler adds a whole new dimension to everyone‘s favorite open world gacha game. Once you reach player level 2, you‘ll gain access to daily guest challenges which offer fun duels against NPCs along with sweet rewards.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll be walking you through everything you need to know to unlock and dominate these exciting guest challenges for the Genshin Impact TCG experience. Stick with me and you‘ll be mastering these daily content quests in no time!
A Brief History of Genius Invokation TCG
But first, let‘s take a quick trip down memory lane to understand where this game mode came from. Genshin Impact first launched in September 2020, focused entirely on open world exploration and action RPG combat. It grew popular thanks to its anime aesthetic, vast world, and frequent updates.
In August 2022, miHoYo announced they were developing an in-game trading card game called Genius Invokation TCG. This would allow players to collect character cards and battle opponents in a turn-based strategy format.
Genius Invokation TCG entered beta testing in October 2022. It was accessible through a gadget item added in version 3.2. Players could give feedback and experience the gameplay.
Finally, on December 7th, 2022, miHoYo officially launched Genius Invokation TCG with the "All Senses Clear, All Existence Void" update (version 3.3). Now the full game mode is available to all players above Adventure Rank 32.
Early reception among the Genshin community has been very positive. Content creators like Mtashed have praised the strategic gameplay and called TCG a "perfect endgame mode" for Genshin veterans to sink their teeth into.
Introducing Guest Challenges
Now onto the topic at hand – guest challenges! What exactly are they and why are they important?
Guest challenges are repeatable PvE duels that unlock after reaching player level 2 in Genius Invokation TCG. They pit you against NPCs from around Teyvat with special preconstructed decks. By winning, you‘ll earn valuable rewards to improve your account.
These function similarly to daily commissions from the main Genshin Impact gameplay loop. Guest challenges refresh daily, giving you a set of 3-8 quick battles to complete each day for progression.
The rewards are very enticing:
- Adventure EXP
- Mora
- Character/weapon ascension materials
- Talent level-up materials
- Artifacts
- Occasional premium currency (Lumamber)
Completing all available guest challenges is currently the only way to obtain Lumamber for gacha pulls as a free-to-play player. So they are essential for collecting new cards and expanding your roster of options for deckbuilding.
Unlocking guest challenges early on will accelerate your Genius Invokation progress tremendously. In this guide, I‘ll go over exactly how to access them as quickly as possible.
Step-By-Step Instructions to Unlock Guest Challenges
Here is the complete walkthrough for gaining access to your first set of guest challenges:
Step 1: Reach Player Level 2
The requirement to unlock guest challenges is reaching player level 2 in Genius Invokation TCG. This is achieved by participating in duels against NPCs and completing matches.
Each NPC match you win grants the following player EXP:
- Normal difficulty: 100 EXP
- Hard difficulty: 200 EXP
- Extreme difficulty: 300 EXP
You‘ll also gain substantial EXP from completing main story quests related to the TCG. For example, the prologue quests provide around 1500 EXP total.
So basically, you just need to battle various NPCs and progress through the introductory questline. Here are some tips to optimize gaining player EXP:
- Challenge every NPC at The Cat‘s Tail tavern first, since they‘re easy early targets.
- Equip the Instructor‘s Brooch card (+20% EXP) and Food Pouch (+100 EXP per match) in your starting deck.
- Use food items that grant +X% EXP bonus before battles.
- Play duels while your Genius Invokation TCG gadget is equipped for 20% more EXP.
- Prioritize completing all available story quests for their big EXP payouts.
With a focus on EXP gains, you should be able to blast through to player level 2 within a couple hours. It took me around 3 hours of casual play.
Once your account hits level 2, you‘ll get a satisfying notification that guest challenges have unlocked!
Step 2: Find and Talk to Guest Challenge NPCs
After reaching the prerequisite level 2, head over to The Cat‘s Tail tavern in Mondstadt, the central hub for Genius Invokation TCG activities. Look around for NPC characters with blue exclamation point icons above their heads – these mark guest challenge givers.
Interact with these NPCs and select the "Guest Challenge" dialogue option. This will open the guest challenge menu, allowing you to preview available challenges and their rewards.
Early challenge NPCs include:
- Candace in Mondstadt‘s central plaza
- Soraya in Mondstadt‘s southern alley
- Khedive in Liyue Harbor‘s jeweler shop
- Djajeet in Liyue Harbor‘s restaurant
And many more will appear over time and at higher player levels. Talk to every marked NPC to find new challengers!
Step 3: Complete Your First Guest Challenge
Upon accepting a guest challenge, you‘ll enter the TCG battle screen with your deck squared off against the NPC‘s lineup.
When first starting out, I recommend using the preconstructed Starter Deck the game provides. It has a solid balance of offensive and defensive cards out the gate.
Make sure to play to type advantages – bring hydro and cryo cards against pyro NPCs. Use electro and pyro cards versus hydro opponents. You can see the NPC‘s deck element on the challenge preview screen.
Once you overcome the NPC and emerge victorious, you‘ll receive some great rewards! Typical initial prizes are:
- 1000-2000 Adventure EXP
- 1000-2000 Mora
- 2-3 Hero‘s Wits (character EXP material)
- Fine Enhancement Ore (weapon exp)
- Occasional Lumamber
After claiming your loot, return to The Cat‘s Tail tavern to take on more guest challenges!
Expanding Your Daily Guest Challenges
As your Genius Invokation TCG player level increases, you‘ll unlock access to more daily guest challenges. Here‘s a breakdown:
| Player Level | Max Daily Challenges |
|---|---|
| Level 2 | 4 |
| Level 4 | 6 |
| Level 6 | 8 |
You can see how the number of max possible daily challenges expands as you reach certain thresholds.
For example, once you hit level 4, your daily limit will extend from 4 up to 6. This means you‘ll always have new battles to take on each day for rewards.
Here are some tips to gain player EXP efficiently and reach level 6‘s maximum of 8 daily guest challenges:
- Build your first real constructed deck with EXP-boosting cards like Instructor‘s Brooch, Marvelous Merchandise, and Mimi Tomo. This deck can carry you through the early levels.
- Play through the Spiral Spire game mode for big buffs to player EXP gain for a period of time.
- Cook and consume food that gives bonuses to earned EXP.
- Continue completing all available story quests and explore new areas.
- Return daily for guest challenges and normal NPC rematches.
With some diligent play focusing on EXP, you should hit level 6 within the first 1-2 weeks. Then you‘ll have a nice chunk of guest challenges to take on daily!
Why Prioritize Unlocking Guest Challenges ASAP?
You‘re probably anxious to jump into guest challenges already, but let‘s talk about why you should focus on unlocking them early:
Rewards – The resources from guest challenges will seriously amplify your progress in both Genius Invokation and regular Genshin Impact. That extra Mora, hero‘s wits, and ascension materials really add up!
Lumamber – Guest challenges are the only renewable source of premium Lumamber currency as a free player. You need this for gacha pulls to expand your card collection.
Card Packs – Some guest challenges directly reward you with card packs, helping build your deck faster.
Progression – The repeatable daily content gives you something to work on each day. It‘s engaging endgame.
Practice – Battling different NPCs lets you test deck strategies and get better at piloting.
Friendship XP – You gain friendship EXP with whichever character‘s deck you beat.
Getting access to and completing guest challenges should be one of your top priorities in the first few weeks of Genius Invokation TCG. Let‘s recap the process:
Guest Challenge Quick-Start Checklist
- ✅ Reach Adventure Rank 32 and finish "Song of the Dragon and Freedom" to unlock Genius Invokation
- ✅ Duel NPCs and complete quests to gain player EXP
- ✅ Hit player level 2 to unlock your first 4 daily guest challenges
- ✅ Find NPCs with blue exclamation icons in Mondstadt and Liyue Harbor
- ✅ Build a solid starting deck and defeat NPCs to win challenges
- ✅ Claim rewards to improve your characters, weapons, and account progression
- ✅ Continue gaining player EXP to unlock 6 daily challenges at level 4
This checklist will get you up and running with guest challenges ASAP. Then you can start reaping those sweet, sweet rewards!
Locations to Find Guest Challenge NPCs
Guest challenges can be initiated by talking to various NPCs scattered around Teyvat. Here are the hotspots to check when hunting for new challenges:
Mondstadt
- The Cat‘s Tail tavern – starting location, check here daily
- Central plaza – often 2-3 NPCs with challenges
- Knights of Favonius HQ
- Angel‘s Share tavern
- Forsaken Rift area
Liyue Harbor
- Yujing Terrace tavern – main Liyue hub
- Jewelry shops – especially Third-Round Knockout
- Restaurants – Wanmin and Wangshu Inn
- Harbor docks
- Qingce Village
Inazuma
- Mikage Furnace tavern – Inazuma‘s TCG hangout
- Grand Narukami Shrine
- Ritou dock area
- Hanamizaka
Make talking to every marked NPC part of your daily routine. Also remember challenges change day-to-day, so revisit previous locations too.
Rewards and Progression From Guest Challenges
The rewards you earn from guest challenges are extremely valuable for progression. Let‘s break down the prizes in more detail:
Adventure EXP
- 1000-5000 per challenge
- Raises your Adventure Rank, unlocking content
Character EXP
- Hero‘s Wit items
- Level up characters in your party
Weapon EXP
- Enhancement Ore
- Increase equipped weapons‘ levels
Mora
- 1000-5000 per challenge
- Needed for everything!
Ascension Materials
- Character/weapon/talent books
- Upgrade units beyond level caps
Artifacts
- Early 5-star artifacts
- Enhance character stats and builds
Lumamber
- Premium gacha currency
- Obtained from certain challenges
- Used for card packs
Card Packs
- Contain random cards
- Awarded directly sometimes
With the sheer variety of rewards, you can target the materials you need most to boost your account.
Here‘s an example progression outline using guest challenge income:
- Early focus on Adventure Rank EXP
- Level up your main DPS characters to 80/90
- Max out key weapons like Iron Sting or Favonius Warbow
- Farm talent books to get key skills to level 8
- Start assembling powerful artifact sets like Viridescent Venerer
- Use Lumamber for targeted card pack pulls
Guest challenges compress typical Genshin grind into daily micro-tasks. Completing them will seriously accelerate gearing up your characters and cards!
Guest Challenge Reward Analysis By Player Level
To give you a better idea of the prizes you can expect, here‘s a breakdown of estimated daily rewards per player level:
Level 2 (4 challenges)
- 4000-8000 Adventure EXP
- 8000-16000 Mora
- 4-8 Hero‘s Wit
- 8-16 Fine Enhancement Ore
- 1-2 Lumamber
- 1-2 Ascension mats
- 2-4 Three-star Artifacts
Level 4 (6 challenges)
- 6000-12000 Adventure EXP
- 12000-24000 Mora
- 6-12 Hero‘s Wit
- 12-24 Fine Enhancement Ore
- 1-3 Lumamber
- 3-6 Ascension mats
- 3-6 Three-star Artifacts
Level 6 (8 challenges)
- 8000-16000 Adventure EXP
- 16000-32000 Mora
- 8-16 Hero‘s Wit
- 16-32 Fine Enhancement Ore
- 1-4 Lumamber
- 4-8 Ascension mats
- 4-8 Three-star Artifacts
As you can see, the rewards scale up nicely with each milestone player level. By level 6, you‘ll have a ton of income from guest challenges to put towards deckbuilding and character progression.
With 8 daily challenges, you can expect to earn roughly:
- 100,000 Mora per week
- ~100 Hero‘s Wit per week
- ~10 Lumamber per week
- ~30 Ascension mats per week
- ~50 Three-star Artifacts per week
Plus mountains of weapon XP, Adventure EXP and card packs! Complete them daily and it really adds up fast.
Guest Challenges vs. Spiral Abyss – Endgame Comparison
Many Genshin Impact veterans view theSpiral Abyss as the premier endgame challenge. This dungeon offers tough combat encounters and some of the best rewards.
So how do daily guest challenges compare as renewable endgame content? Let‘s break it down:
Guest Challenges
- Daily content, 4-8 short battles
- Focus on deckbuilding/strategy over mechanics
- Rewards target character/account progression
- Accessible early on at player level 2
- Relaxing PvE against predictable NPCS
Spiral Abyss
- Biweekly reset, up to 12 chambers
- Tests combat mechanics and team synergy
- Rewards mostly premium resources like primos
- Requires two well-built teams and higher AR
- Challenging PvE against dangerous enemies
As you can see, guest challenges and Spiral Abyss excel in different areas. Challenges are an earlier endgame option focused on progression. Meanwhile, Abyss offers greater long-term difficulty and premium rewards.
In my view as a gamer, Genius Invokation guest challenges are a perfect complement to Spiral Abyss. TCG gameplay provides a more strategic experience compared to Abyss‘s mechanical intensity.
Together they cover both bases – relaxed daily progression from challenges and hardcore combat from Abyss. MiHoYo nailed it with this combo for appealing to all types of Genshin players!
Closing Thoughts on Unlocking Genshin TCG Guest Challenges
And that covers everything you need to know about unlocking and dominating guest challenges in the amazing new Genius Invokation trading card game mode!
I hope this guide gave you a detailed walkthrough for accessing daily challenges ASAP. They offer rewarding progression that will accelerate your Genshin Impact account tremendously.
Here are some final tips:
-
Make gaining player EXP a priority early on to hit level 2 fast.
-
Talk to every marked NPC to find new guest challenges daily.
-
Build a strong starting deck and counter your opponents‘ elements.
-
Cash in your challenge rewards for character ascension materials, weapon XP, Mora, and more.
-
Shoot for player level 6 to unlock the maximum 8 daily challenges.
Thanks for reading, friend! Let me know if you have any other questions. I look forward to hearing your feedback once you start dominating these quick and rewarding TCG duels. Enjoy!
