The Lantern Rite festival is upon us in Genshin Impact, and there’s lots of new content to explore. One event players can participate in is a tabletop game known as Theater Mechanicus. Travelers can visit Ruijin in Liyue Harbor to try their hand at the new game. If you’re familiar with tower defense games, this may look familiar. The objective is to fend off many monster waves by constructing Mechanici and arranging them in strategic positions. Here’s our Genshin Impact Theater Mechanicus guide, containing tips and tricks to help you get through the more severe difficulties.
Visit Ruijin in Liyue Harbor to participate in a round of Theater Mechanicus. Each entry requires one Xiao Lantern, which you can craft at Lantern Overseer Jingming’s station. Speak with Ruijin when you have a Xiao Lantern, and select your difficulty to get started. Theater Mechanicus supports co-op, so you can go about it solo or with some friends or strangers.
Genshin Impact Theater Mechanicus Guide
Here’s a breakdown of all the Theater Mechanicus mechanics, features, and nice-to-know details. Most importantly, refer to our guide on how to get Xiao Lanterns if you don’t know how to do this because you’ll need a lot of them.
Construction Phase
Players have one minute before each round begins to strategically place Mechanici in any of the predesignated positions. You start with some Veneficus Sigils, which you can use to build, using level-specific special skills, or purchasing upgrades after each round.
Your characters deal NO damage to the enemies in this mode, but your characters’ Elemental Skills can be a lifesaver. Bursts are also disabled in this event. Please take a look down below for some tips and tricks we’ve come up with to help you defeat the more formidable enemies. The primary way to eliminate mobs in this mode is through the use of Mechanici. You can construct, dismantle, or reconstruct Mechanici at any point during the game using Veneficus Sigils.
Portals
The purple portals signify where the waves of monsters spawn from, while the blue portal is where the mobs need to reach to escape. Your job is to prevent enemies from getting to the blue portals. Arrange your towers to deal with the waves effectively, so none sneak through.
Veneficus Sigil
For this event, the in-game currency is Veneficus Sigil, not to be confused with Peace Talisman (the event currency). Players can use Veneficus Sigils to build and alter Mechanici, purchase Mystic Arts after each round, and activate special features on each stage. Special features differ from map to map but will generally help you get rid of many mobs by triggering a trap.
Mystic Arts
After completing each wave, a menu will pop up with a list of Mystic Arts. Mystic Arts can contain any of the following:
- Mechanici enhancements
- Influences to mob difficulty
- Ways to obtain more Veneficus Sigils
Peace Talisman
Peace Talisman is the Lantern Rite event currency, which you can use to buy stuff from Xiao Market, including Hero’s Wits, Crowns, and more. You can also use them to claim your free 4-star character from the Stand By Me event.
Armory
Travelers can check out the Armory menu before going into a stage. This area is where you can upgrade your Mechanici or unlock new ones by spending your Veneficus Sigils. This is only available in the later stages and rounds.
Tips for Theater Mechanicus
Here are some of the best heroes for Theater Mechanics:
- Sucrose: She can group up enemies and crowd-control them.
- Jean: She can push mobs off the edge of maps.
- Diluc: He can knockback enemies with basic attacks and break shields with Searing Onslaught.
- Traveler (Geo): He can block enemies from moving forward with his Geo statue.
- Traveler (Anemo): He can activate Swirl and apply elemental reactions.
In general, catalyst users are ideal for Theater Mechanicus due to their ability to apply status effects. While you cannot deal damage to mobs, you can still take advantage of elemental reactions. Don’t forget to push enemies off the edge whenever possible.
The best towers at the moment, in terms of damage, appear to be Pyro. Try to stick a Cryo tower alongside a Pyro tower to slow mobs down, apply melt, and destroy them with severe damage.
- Pyro: the highest damage-dealing Mechanici.
- Cryo: a medium-range, fast attacker capable of slowing.
- Electro: ideal for single-target damage.
- Hydro: a short-range Mechanici with high-damage and moderate speed.
The best thing you can do in co-op is crowd-control enemies and utilize the proper elements. There is lots of room to get creative in this mode and figure out interesting ways to defeat waves of mobs and clear stages.
