One of the most common progression questions in Genshin Impact is surprisingly simple:
What should you upgrade first?
Characters need levels and ascensions. Weapons need materials. Talents become increasingly expensive. Artifacts can dramatically improve a build, but farming them can consume huge amounts of Original Resin.
Trying to improve everything at the same time can quickly drain your Mora, Resin, and materials.
For most developing accounts, a useful general priority is:
Character Ascension and Level → Weapon → Important Talents → Functional Artifacts → Artifact Optimization
However, this is not a strict rule for every character.
The best upgrade depends on what is currently holding the character back.
Here is how to decide where your resources should go.
1. Start With Character Ascension
Character ascension should usually be one of your first priorities.
Ascending a character can:
- Increase their level cap
- Improve an ascension stat
- Unlock additional Talent levels
- Allow further character progression
If an important character is waiting at an ascension threshold, completing that ascension is usually more valuable than repeatedly farming for small Artifact improvements.
Prioritize ascensions for characters you actively use.
You do not need to ascend your entire roster just because the option is available.
2. Does Character Level Always Come First?
Not necessarily.
Character levels are important, but the value of additional levels differs between characters.
Some characters benefit greatly from reaching Level 90, particularly when their performance depends strongly on character level, certain Elemental Reactions, HP, or DEF.
For other characters, reaching the final ascension at 80/90 and investing resources elsewhere may be more efficient.
This means you should separate two ideas:
- Character Ascension
- Taking a character all the way to Level 90
Final ascension can be valuable even when Level 90 is not your immediate priority.
3. Upgrade Your Weapon Early
Weapons are one of the most reliable upgrades in Genshin Impact.
Unlike Artifacts, weapon progression does not depend on random stat rolls.
Increasing a weapon’s level improves its Base ATK or other relevant scaling stats, while also increasing its secondary stat as the weapon progresses.
For damage-dealing characters, an underleveled weapon can significantly reduce performance.
Weapons can also have excellent account-wide value because many of them can be transferred between characters.
If your character is properly ascended but their weapon is far behind, the weapon is often the next thing you should fix.
4. Which Weapons Should You Level First?
Do not level every weapon you obtain.
Prioritize weapons used by:
- Your main damage dealer
- Important off-field damage dealers
- Frequently used supports
- Characters appearing in multiple teams
Weapons with broadly useful stats or passive effects can be especially good investments because they may remain useful even if you change teams later.
A well-leveled 4-star weapon can be more useful than a poorly matched or underleveled 5-star weapon.
Rarity alone does not determine whether a weapon is worth investing in.
5. Upgrade Important Talents Next
Talents are another source of guaranteed progression.
If a character’s important Talent is underleveled, increasing it directly improves the ability that character relies on.
However, not every Talent deserves equal investment.
Ask what the character actually does in your team.
A character may rely primarily on:
- Normal Attacks
- Elemental Skill
- Elemental Burst
- A combination of several Talents
An off-field support that never uses Normal Attacks usually does not need significant investment in that Talent.
Spend resources on the abilities that actually contribute to the character’s role.
6. When Should Talents Be Prioritized Over Artifacts?
If your character already has usable Artifact main stats but important Talents remain underleveled, Talents are often the more reliable investment.
Why?
Talent upgrades provide a guaranteed result.
Artifact farming does not.
You may spend hundreds of Resin in an Artifact Domain without obtaining the specific improvement you want.
If you already know that upgrading an important Talent will make the character stronger, completing that upgrade can be more efficient before returning to Artifact farming.
7. Build Functional Artifacts Before Perfect Artifacts
Artifacts are extremely important, but there is a major difference between:
Building a functional Artifact set
and
Optimizing an Artifact set
A functional build should come first.
Depending on the character, focus on appropriate main stats such as:
- ATK%
- HP%
- DEF%
- Energy Recharge
- Elemental Mastery
- Elemental DMG Bonus
- CRIT Rate
- CRIT DMG
- Healing Bonus
Once your character has suitable main stats and enough Energy Recharge to perform their role, you can gradually improve substats.
Do not reverse that order.
8. Why Artifact Farming Usually Comes Later
Artifact farming is different from most other character upgrades because it contains multiple layers of randomness.
You may need:
- The correct Artifact set
- The correct slot
- The correct main stat
- Useful starting substats
- Good upgrade rolls
Because of this, Artifact farming can consume enormous amounts of Resin without guaranteeing a meaningful improvement.
Character ascensions, weapons, and Talents are much more predictable.
That is why developing accounts should usually secure their guaranteed upgrades before spending excessive amounts of Resin chasing Artifact optimization.
9. Before AR 45, Prioritize Guaranteed Upgrades
Before Adventure Rank 45, serious Artifact farming is generally not the best use of large amounts of Resin.
Instead, prioritize resources such as:
- Character ascension materials
- Weapon ascension materials
- Talent materials
- Character EXP
- Mora
Use the best Artifacts you naturally obtain and upgrade useful pieces when necessary.
You do not need perfect Artifact sets to progress through the early and mid-game.
10. After AR 45, Artifacts Become More Important
At AR 45, the highest-level Artifact Domains become available and guarantee at least one 5-star Artifact per run.
This makes serious Artifact farming much more efficient.
However, reaching AR 45 does not suddenly make Artifacts more important than everything else.
If your weapon is severely underleveled or an important Talent is neglected, fix those problems too.
A balanced character needs both guaranteed progression and suitable Artifacts.
11. Should You Level Your Weapon or Artifacts First?
If your weapon is significantly underleveled, usually upgrade the weapon first.
Weapon progression provides predictable improvements.
Artifact farming may provide nothing useful.
Once your important weapon is properly leveled, Artifact farming becomes a more reasonable place to spend Resin.
However, if you already own strong Artifacts that simply have not been enhanced, leveling those existing pieces may also provide a quick improvement without requiring additional Artifact Domain farming.
12. Should You Level Talents or Artifacts First?
This depends on the current state of the character.
If your character has extremely poor Artifact main stats, fixing the Artifact build may be urgent.
If the Artifacts are already functional but important Talents are underleveled, Talent upgrades may provide better value.
A useful question is:
Which upgrade gives me the most guaranteed improvement right now?
That question is often more useful than following a rigid upgrade order.
13. Do Supports Need the Same Investment as Your Main DPS?
No.
Different characters need different levels of investment.
Your main damage dealer may benefit greatly from:
- Higher weapon levels
- Higher important Talent levels
- Stronger Artifacts
- Additional character levels
A support may only require:
- Enough character level to function properly
- The important Talent for their role
- Enough Energy Recharge
- A useful support Artifact set
- An appropriate weapon
Do not automatically spend equal resources on every member of the team.
Invest according to each character’s job.
14. When Should You Take a Weapon to Level 90?
For important weapons that you expect to keep using, Level 90 is generally a strong long-term investment.
Weapons can often be moved between characters, and their progression is guaranteed rather than RNG-based.
Prioritize Level 90 for weapons used by your most important characters before spending resources leveling every secondary weapon you own.
This becomes especially relevant as your account enters later progression stages.
15. When Should You Take a Character to Level 90?
Level 90 should be evaluated character by character.
It can be particularly valuable for characters that:
- Benefit strongly from level-dependent Elemental Reactions
- Scale heavily with HP
- Scale heavily with DEF
- Gain meaningful performance from the additional levels
For some traditional ATK-scaling characters, the resources required to move from 80 to 90 may provide less immediate value than improving a weapon, Talent, or weak Artifact.
Do not assume every built character needs Level 90 immediately.
16. When Should You Crown a Talent?
Crowns are limited resources, so they should be used selectively.
You do not need crowned Talents to make a character strong.
Consider Crowning an ability when:
- The character is one of your most frequently used
- The Talent contributes significantly to their performance
- You intend to use the character long-term
- Other important progression is already in good condition
For many accounts, Crowning is closer to a late-game optimization or favorite-character investment than a basic progression requirement.
17. Don’t Forget Mora
Every major upgrade system eventually consumes Mora.
You need it for:
- Character levels
- Character ascensions
- Weapon upgrades
- Talent upgrades
- Artifact enhancement
A perfect farming plan does not help if you cannot afford to use the materials you collected.
If your Mora reserve becomes too low, farming Blossoms of Wealth can be a perfectly reasonable use of Original Resin.
Mora is part of progression, not a wasted farming day.
Upgrade Priority Checklist
If You Are Early or Mid-Game
- Ascend your main character when necessary
- Keep your main weapon upgraded
- Level important Talents
- Use functional Artifacts
- Keep your main team properly developed
- Save serious Artifact optimization for later
If You Are AR 45+
- Complete important ascensions
- Upgrade important weapons
- Raise key Talents
- Build correct Artifact main stats
- Meet Energy Recharge requirements
- Improve Artifact substats gradually
- Expand into additional characters and teams
If Your Character Already Feels Strong
- Fix the weakest Artifact slot
- Improve important Talents further
- Consider Level 90 when valuable
- Improve secondary team members
- Build more flexible supports
- Start developing additional teams
What Is the Most Resin-Efficient Upgrade?
There is no single answer for every account.
However, upgrades with guaranteed outcomes are generally easier to evaluate.
If 120 Resin guarantees the materials you need for an important Talent upgrade while 120 Resin in an Artifact Domain may produce no improvement at all, the Talent upgrade has a much more predictable return.
Artifact farming becomes increasingly valuable once your guaranteed upgrades are already in good condition.
Think of progression as moving from guaranteed strength toward increasingly RNG-dependent optimization.
A Simple Upgrade Order for Most Characters
If you want a straightforward starting point, use this:
Character Ascension → Appropriate Character Level → Weapon → Important Talents → Correct Artifact Main Stats → Artifact Set → Artifact Substats
This is not a universal rule.
Some characters may prioritize character level more heavily. Others may depend strongly on a specific Talent or Energy Recharge requirement.
But as a general progression framework, it helps prevent players from spending enormous amounts of Resin optimizing Artifacts while basic guaranteed upgrades remain unfinished.
Final Advice
When deciding what to upgrade in Genshin Impact, do not automatically choose the upgrade with the highest possible ceiling.
Choose the upgrade that provides the most useful improvement for the resources you spend.
Character ascensions, weapons, and important Talents provide predictable progression.
Artifacts are essential, but optimization becomes increasingly expensive because of RNG.
Build the foundation first.
Then optimize.
A character with proper levels, a strong weapon, upgraded important Talents, and good functional Artifacts will usually provide much more value than a poorly developed character wearing one or two exceptional Artifact pieces.
