Last updated: 25 July 2026

Genshin Impact Elemental Reactions Explained

Genshin Impact's combat depth comes from chaining elements together. Every elemental reaction — whether it multiplies your damage, freezes enemies in place, or detonates explosive cores — changes the outcome of a fight. Understanding exactly which element triggers what, and how Elemental Mastery scales the numbers, is the fastest way to dramatically increase your team's damage output.

01The Two Reaction Categories

All elemental reactions fall into two broad families: Amplifying reactions multiply the damage of the hit that triggers them, scaling with the triggering character's ATK and Crit stats. Transformative reactions deal separate damage (or utility effects) based on a base damage value that is fixed by the triggering character's level and scaled by their Elemental Mastery — not by ATK or Crit at all.

This distinction matters enormously for team-building. Amplifying reactions reward high-ATK, high-Crit DPS characters as triggers. Transformative reactions reward stacking as much Elemental Mastery as possible on whoever presses the button that sets them off.

02Amplifying Reactions: Vaporize and Melt

Vaporize and Melt are the strongest single-hit damage multipliers in the game. Both apply a flat multiplier to the triggering hit, and both have a 'forward' and 'reverse' variant depending on which element lands second.

• Vaporize (Hydro + Pyro): Pyro triggering on a Hydro-afflicted enemy gives a 1.5× multiplier. Hydro triggering on a Pyro-afflicted enemy gives a stronger 2× multiplier.
• Melt (Cryo + Pyro): Pyro triggering on a Cryo-afflicted enemy gives a 2× multiplier. Cryo triggering on a Pyro-afflicted enemy gives a 1.5× multiplier.
• Elemental Mastery bonus: Both reactions receive an additional percentage bonus from the triggering character's EM. At 200 EM the bonus is roughly +28%; at 500 EM it reaches around +48%.
• Reaction bonus from artifacts: The Elemental Reaction DMG bonus from artifact sets like Crimson Witch of Flames stacks on top of the EM bonus, making those sets best-in-slot for Melt and Vaporize carries.

The 2× Pyro Melt (for example Hu Tao or Klee melting a Frozen enemy) and 2× Hydro Vaporize (Yelan or Xingqiu enabling a Pyro DPS) are the two most common routes to massive single-target damage numbers.

03Transformative Reactions: Overload, Superconduct, Swirl and More

Transformative reactions deal damage (or apply effects) whose magnitude is entirely determined by the triggering character's level and Elemental Mastery. Stacking Crit or ATK on the trigger character has zero effect on these hits.

• Overloaded (Pyro + Electro): Deals AoE Pyro damage and launches smaller enemies. Strong in Overload teams but can knock enemies out of melee range.
• Superconduct (Cryo + Electro): Deals small AoE Cryo damage and reduces nearby enemies' Physical RES by 40% for 12 seconds. The core enabler for Physical DPS like Eula or Razor.
• Stellar-Conduct (Cryo + Electro with Stellar Linchpin): Introduced in Version 6.7. When a character with the Stellar Linchpin trait is in the party, Cryo + Electro creates a Polestar Field instead of standard Superconduct. The field accumulates stacks from elemental hits on enemies inside it, granting party-wide buffs that scale with stack count and reducing Physical RES. As of 6.7, only Sandrone enables Stellar-Conduct; standard Superconduct still triggers when no Stellar Linchpin character is present.
• Electro-Charged (Hydro + Electro): Deals Electro damage every second and chains to nearby wet enemies. Both auras persist, enabling further reactions.
• Swirl (Anemo + Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo): Spreads the reacted element to nearby enemies as AoE damage and applies that element to them. Kazuha and Sucrose are top Swirl enablers.
• Shatter (heavy attacks on a Frozen enemy): Heavy or Claymore hits on a Frozen enemy trigger Shatter, dealing Physical damage and breaking the Freeze.
• Burning (Pyro + Dendro): Deals Pyro damage over time and maintains a Pyro aura on the target.

04Dendro Reactions: Bloom, Hyperbloom, Burgeon and Quicken

Introduced in version 3.0, Dendro added an entirely new layer with two reaction families: Bloom-based reactions and the Quicken (Catalyze) additive reactions.

Quicken triggers when Dendro meets Electro. It deals no immediate damage but places a Quicken aura that is not consumed — instead it enables two follow-up additive reactions that stack on top of your normal damage:

• Aggravate (Electro on a Quickened enemy): Adds a flat Electro damage bonus to the Electro hit, scaling with EM. Best triggered by Electro DPS like Keqing, Fischl or Raiden.
• Spread (Dendro on a Quickened enemy): Adds a flat Dendro damage bonus, with a slightly higher multiplier. Best triggered by Dendro DPS like Tighnari or Nahida.
• Bloom (Dendro + Hydro): Creates a Dendro Core that floats near enemies and explodes after a few seconds for large Dendro AoE. Up to five cores can exist at once.
• Hyperbloom (Electro on a Dendro Core): Consumes a core and fires a homing shot for Dendro AoE. Scales strongly with the Electro character's EM — Kuki Shinobu and Raiden are popular triggers.
• Burgeon (Pyro on a Dendro Core): Consumes a core and deals Dendro AoE in a large radius. Scales with the Pyro character's EM. Thoma is a popular safe trigger.

For Bloom-based teams, the character who triggers Hyperbloom or Burgeon should stack as much Elemental Mastery as possible — aim for 800–1000 EM. Nahida's Elemental Skill also buffs EM, making her central to almost every Dendro composition.

05Crystallize and Frozen: Utility Reactions

Not every reaction is about raw damage. Crystallize and Frozen offer crowd control and shielding that can be just as valuable in tough content.

• Crystallize (Geo + Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo): Drops a glowing shard that grants a shield matching the reacted element. Shield strength scales with the Geo character's EM and level.
• Frozen (Hydro + Cryo): Immobilises enemies. Deals no direct damage but enables Shatter and clean Melt reactions on the frozen target.
• Frozen duration: Scales with the Cryo gauge strength and is refreshed by Hydro. Mona and Kokomi maintain long Freeze windows by keeping a strong Hydro aura active.

06How to Optimise Elemental Mastery

Elemental Mastery benefits different reaction types differently. Prioritise it based on your playstyle:

1. Amplifying carries (Vaporize/Melt DPS): 100–300 EM is typically the sweet spot. Beyond that, more ATK and Crit often beats more EM on the carry.
2. Transformative enablers (Swirl support like Kazuha/Sucrose): 600–800 EM. Sucrose buffs teammates' EM and Kazuha grants an elemental DMG bonus, so their EM pays double dividends.
3. Bloom, Hyperbloom and Burgeon triggers: 800–1000 EM for the dedicated trigger. Use EM sets like Flower of Paradise Lost or Gilded Dreams.
4. Quicken / Aggravate / Spread DPS: 200–500 EM alongside ATK and Crit, since these reactions add flat damage rather than multiplying a hit.

EM comes from artifact substats and main stats, weapons (Iron Sting, Sacrificial Sword), and character passives. Hold off on heavy EM artifact farming until you unlock the endgame domains around AR45.