Genshin Impact's biggest reveal ever makes players thirsty for bad guys and hungry for Dendro

Genshin Impact
(Image credit: Hoyoverse)

Genshin Impact released a motherload of information over the weekend, including Dendro and Fatui teaser videos which have set the hook for many players.  

The newest video from the official Genshin Impact YouTube channel details the Fatui Harbingers who've been working behind the scenes of some of the game's biggest plot moments. We've already met a few Harbingers – including the playable character Tartaglia (Childe), wandering anarchist Scaramouche, and the now-deceased La Signora (Rosalyne) who the other Harbingers mourn in this trailer following her death at the hands of the Electro Archon, Raiden – and now we've gotten a look at the rest of the villains. 

The identities of these Harbingers are still a bit fuzzy, but rough backstories for each of them can be pieced together from lore snippets buried in artifact descriptions, collectible books, and other details sprinkled throughout the game. The Genshin Impact Fandom wiki has a pretty comprehensive collection of everything we've learned so far, if you want to dig deep. 

The important thing is that this video puts faces and voices to the Harbingers we haven't met in-game and, not unexpectedly, many fans have instantly become smitten with them, with plenty of players calling for more Harbingers to become playable in future updates. Tartaglia's questionable motives and Scaramouche's outright antagonism didn't stop the Genshin Impact community from building shrines in their honor, so it's no surprise that the abrupt reveal of eight new characters has caused widespread cases of Down Bad.

That's only the latest reveal, too. Another recent video kicked off teasers for the upcoming Sumeru region with a deep-dive on the Dendro element. Genshin Impact 3.0 characters have now officially been revealed, and the Dendro users Tighnari and Collei – who appear briefly in the final moments of the Fatui teaser – are the headliners. Together with the Dendro Traveler, these two will enable Dendro teams in just a few months. The new Electro user Dori is also interesting, but the reactions tied to Dendro have put the element front and center. 

A Hoyoverse combat designer who goes by Aquaria described Dendro as the final piece of the puzzle for Genshin Impact's combat system, and an element with a "higher degree of synergy" than most. Dendro will retain the Burn reaction caused by Pyro, and update 3.0 will introduce two new reactions: Bloom, caused by Hydro, and Catalyze, caused by Electro. Bloom spawns Dendro seeds which can seemingly be altered through other reactions, while Catalyze apparently empowers Electro attacks – which is presumably why the other new character in 3.0 is Electro. 

Together, these info dumps, coupled with last-minute reveals for update 2.8, have framed what's likely the biggest reveal in Genshin's history. The Dendro and Sumeru teasers are also set to continue in the weeks ahead, presumably leading up to the release of update 3.0 in August. 

Genshin Impact 2.8 is just days away and its banners have finally been confirmed. 

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Read more
Genshin Impact screenshot of Citlali looking surprised opening a door
Genshin Impact announces a huge change for update 5.5: your custom-made artifacts can't be absolute trash anymore, so hold onto your Sanctifying Elixirs
Marvel Rivals upcoming character Blade tease in Central Park map trailer
All Marvel Rivals upcoming characters, heroes and villains
The Fantastic Four seen running towards Dracula in Marvel Rivals' Season 1 'Eternal Night Falls' trailer.
Marvel Rivals season 1 has "double the playable content of a regular season" and adds maps, heroes, balance changes, and more
Helldivers 2
Now that the Illuminate faction's arrived, Helldivers 2 is "finally the three-front battle of the galactic war" fans have been "waiting for"
Marvel Rivals winter soldier and captain america clashing
Marvel Rivals devs know Duelists are dominant, so they're nerfing the biggest offenders and giving Cap and Venom some help in Season 1
The Fantastic Four seen in Marvel Rivals' Season 1 'Eternal Night Falls' trailer.
Marvel Rivals now lets Storm's ultimate turn into a raging, fiery tornado when teaming up with Human Torch - and I've never been so thankful to have hero ban
Latest in JRPG
Suikoden
As Suikoden returns from the dead, Konami wants the cult JRPG classic to "become a huge title that can rival other AAA" games
Metaphor: ReFantazio's protagonist smiles at his fairy companion, Gallica in an anime-style cutscene.
After dominating 2024 with Sonic, Persona, Yakuza, and Metaphor, Sega is the first company to become the year's best-rated publisher 3 times
Persona 5 Royal screenshot
Sega outlines plan to "strengthen" Persona, Yakuza, and Sonic studios, says "Atlus is an important studio for us to expand Japanese IPs overseas"
Suikoden
Konami spent over 5 years bringing an iconic JRPG series back to life as reviving Suikoden "would be over" before it began if they released a "half-baked product"
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail cinematic screenshot showing Alphinaud Leveilleur, an Elezen boy with short white hair
Final Fantasy 14's funniest speedrunning beef continues as runner who lost a world record to its original champ in just 1 day returns, beats record, is promptly dethroned again
Persona 4 Golden All-Out-Attack cut-in screenshot featuring Kanji, Yu, Chie, and Yukiko.
Persona 4's iconic singer confirms she's "recording for a new game," leaving JRPG fans wondering if a remake is finally on the cards
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip