In Genshin Impact, Lantern Rite is Liyue's defining annual event. It coincides with the real world's Lunar New Year celebrations. Every year, Liyue Harbor lights up with countless lanterns to represent its' citizens' wishes.
With the event comes lots of new lore about Liyue, entertaining story quests, and in-game events for important rewards like character ascension and talent materials, primogems, and other useful in-game tools are introduced. Though Lantern Rite wasn't received well during its first run, it is now the most highly anticipated event every year in Genshin Impact. There's lots to love about this colorful annual festival in the game.
10 Lantern Rite Honors Skybracer
Skybracer is a famous Adeptus who died during the Archon War. He was one of Liyue's fiercest guardians, but he died when a god cut Mount Tianheng in half. Skybracer used his antlers to prevent the mountain from entirely collapsing on top of Liyue.
Even after losing his antlers and bleeding out, Skybracer didn't stop fighting until his body gave out. Lantern Rite is a festival to honor him and it's meant to keep his story alive so the people of Liyue never forget his sacrifice.
9 Lantern Rite's Story Is Always Entertaining
Lantern Rite always comes with an entertaining story quest as a prelude to the event. Last year, players helped Ningguang rebuild the Jade Chamber so it hovered over Liyue Harbor again after a sea monster destroyed it. Last year's event ended with a performance by Yun Jin, a newly released four-star character who became famous for her impressive opera performances.
This Lantern Rite, players are first instructed to help Zhongli pick some fresh bamboo shoots. Then, everything has a domino effect in helping a musician from Fontaine start up the Iridescence Tour again. Lantern Rite always fleshes out Genshin's characters a bit more.
8 Lantern Rite Offers Generous Rewards
Perhaps the most alluring aspect of Lantern Rite as an annual event in Genshin Impact is that it always offers generous rewards that are useful in-game. There's a daily log-in event where players get everything from Mystical Enhancement Ore to Hero's Wit to help build characters and forge weapons.
Players can also get Crowns to max out their favorite characters' talents via the minigames after finishing the prelude and the log-in event. Lantern Rite is always a great time to stock up on important in-game materials.
7 Lantern Rite Shows A Kinder Side Of Two Fatui Agents
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The Fatui is known for being ruthless missionaries of the Tsaritsa in Snezhnaya, but not all of them are total villains. During Lantern Rite, there's always two Fatui agents who seemingly sneak away from their duties to go on a date during the festival's finale.
It's just a minor detail, but it's something that makes fans happy since the Fatui are often villainized in the game. Though they work for an evil organization, many of its members don't have a choice but to follow the Tsaritsa's orders.
6 Lantern Rite Allows Players To Hang Out With Characters From Liyue
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Aside from story quests or hangout events, characters don't usually hang around as NPCs in Genshin Impact. However, this happens frequently in Lantern Rite. It makes the story feel more believable, and fans wish that they'd see more of their favorite characters walking around Liyue Harbor or their respective regions more often during the game and not just during events.
Being able to hang out with fan-favorite Genshin Impact characters during the game is just another sweet aspect of Lantern Rite. It helps flesh out each character more and makes fans fall even more in love with their favorites.
5 Lantern Rite Ties The Game Into Real-World Celebrations
The Lunar New Year is one of the biggest real-world celebrations, so many fans think it's cool that Hoyoverse replicated it in the game. Since China inspires Liyue, the company truly went all out to deliver an entertaining event and story for fans.
It really helps fans feel festive about the Lunar New Year. All of the extra rewards are just a bonus. The real-world Lantern Festival takes place around January 15th every year and, like Liyue's extravaganza, is defined by beautiful lanterns in the sky that represent good things.
4 Lantern Rite Offers New Character Skins
Usually, Lantern Rite offers a new skin for a five star character as well as a skin for four stars. The skins for five stars must be paid for with Genesis Crystals in the shop. Four star characters' skins can be obtained for free by earning enough points during the event's minigames.
Last year, Keqing and Ningguang received skins during Lantern Rite. This year, Lisa and Ayaka received new skins even though they're not Liyue characters. It's just another way to expand the game's worldbuilding and define each characters' aesthetic a bit more.
3 Lantern Rite Really Lights Up Liyue Harbor
Liyue Harbor is already one of the most beautiful in-game destinations, but Lantern Rite always makes it more beautiful with the abundance of impressive decorations and lanterns that light up the night sky.
All of the red hues on the buildings throughout Liyue Harbor seem more vibrant with all the decorations. In fact, many fans talk about turning their in-game clocks forward to keep the nighttime setting just so they have more time to admire all the lanterns floating around in the sky.
2 Lantern Rite Gives Players A Chance For A Free 4-Star Character
Every year with Lantern Rite, there's a new four star character released. 2022's Lantern Rite brought about the arrival of the opera singing powerhouse, Yunjin. 2023's Lantern Rite finally introduced Yaoyao, who has been highly anticipated for years in the Genshin Impact fandom.
This gets even better when fans realize they don't need to risk blowing their hard-earned primogems wishing for these characters since the in-game event offers points. These points can either be used for a four star character skin or any four star character from Liyue. Fans can choose from Xinyan, Xingqiu, Chongyun, Xiangling, Beidou, Yaoyao, Yunjin, Yanfei, or Ningguang. It's also an excellent opportunity for their constellations.
1 Lantern Rite Rewards 10 Free Intertwined Fates
Every avid Genshin Impact player understands that Intertwined Fates and primogems are as good as gold in the world of Teyvat. Luckily, Lantern Rite's in-game daily login event offers ten free intertwined fates for players.
This is extremely useful since a free ten-pull could be exactly what a player needs to ensure they get the five star character of their dreams on a limited banner. It's also nice that the players are finally getting rewarded for the hours of in-game grinding for primogems or materials.