win.gg
Win.gg News These are the best Genshin Impact characters to level up early

These are the best Genshin Impact characters to level up early

Author Icon
William Davis Published 04/01/2022

For new Genshin Impact players, every single character level counts. That means picking the right characters to level up early can be hugely important.

As of update 2.3, there are 46 unique characters in Genshin Impact. New players only start with a handful of characters, but waiting for the perfect character to start leveling is generally a bad idea. Arming your team with high levels, good artifacts, and solid weapons will help you cruise through Teyvat to find all sorts of treasure. If you’re new to Genshin Impact, here’s how to level up characters and which early units are worth pouring your resources into.

How to level up early in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact’s leveling rules can be strange for newcomers. Defeating monsters gives you a small amount of character experience, but it’s nowhere near enough to actually level up your characters. Instead, you use special objects called experience books to level up characters. These come in three levels, with the most common being Wanderer’s Advice. You’ll need to dump these into your characters by the dozen to level up. Hold down the plus button to stack them up in the menu.

In addition to character level,  there are several other ways to boost your characters’ power. Talent levels are important as they directly raise the damage values of your attacks and elemental abilities. Artifact sets are also extremely important. For the early game, just jam attack percentage artifacts in every slot and raise their level to the maximum.

Xiangling is a great budget DPS

Xiangling is one of the few gacha characters you can get for free in Genshin Impact. You can get her for free by reaching Floor 3, Chamber 3 in the Spiral Abyss accessible through the eastern side of Monstadt. You don’t have to clear it with three stars. As long as you can beat all the enemies before the timer runs out, you’ll unlock a high-tier Genshin DPS character for free. 

One of her best weapons is the craftable four-star Crescent Pike, which boosts attack by up to 40% after picking up an elemental particle. Guoba is an easy source of particles, and Xiangling’s high base damage makes her a great DPS to carry you through the early game. Her level up materials are fairly easy to access as soon as you go to Liyue for the first time. Throw on a Berserker’s artifact set and you’re good to go.

Level up Barbara early for easy healing in Genshin Impact

Barbara is another free Genshin Impact character that you should consider leveling up early. Barbara’s entire kit is dedicated to healing. Her elemental skill applies a constant healing buff while her burst instantly heals the entire party for a good chunk of their max health. Healing is hard to come by in the early game, so having a dedicated character for patching up your main DPS is a good idea.

An important part of leveling up early Genshin Impact characters are talents. These become available to upgrade right after the first ascension to max level 40. Since Barbara is exclusively a healing support, just level up her skill and burst talents and leave her attack alone. Save your talent books for other characters later on down the line.

Noelle is the best early sub DPS

Noelle technically isn’t a free character, but she’s guaranteed to be available from the newbie banner. She’s meant to be your first claymore character that’s easy to use and build, but she fills a lot more roles than just that. Her combination of geo and claymore makes her an excellent shield breaker, and her shield helps keep your team alive during tough battles.

Most importantly, her elemental burst Sweeping Time turns her into a great area-of-effect DPS character. It greatly extends the range of her sword, which synergizes especially well with her spin-to-win charged attack. Swap to Noelle for her shield and keep her on the field every time her burst is available.

Sub DPS units are an important part of any Genshin Impact team. Noelle will introduce you to the concept while adding additional utility to your Genshin Impact squad.

William Davis
About William Davis

View full profile
Read Also
Kick Admits KPP Payment Errors — Ethan Wright Explains Calculation Changes Kick
Kick Admits KPP Payment Errors — Ethan Wright Explains Calculation Changes Khizar Mundia Kick creators have been claiming that something is wrong with their KPP payouts for some time now. Co-founder Eddie Craven and Director Ethan Wright both addressed the issues, blaming technical difficulties and stating the issue would be rectified, but creators have continued to allege that it hasn’t been fixed — and Wright has now given an update about KPP changes that he hopes will put the issue to bed. In ...
How Good Will Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Be? News
How Good Will Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Be? Zachary Roberts The Nintendo Switch run of games has been excellent by most metrics, but there are some things they haven't managed to do better than in previous attempts. Since 2017, Nintendo has put out a ton of outstanding games. They've won awards, and the Switch is the second-best-selling console ever; it may even end up in first eventually. That said, there are some things that have been replicated for the Switch ...
Kalshi Strikes Deal With Tunica-Biloxi Tribe News
Kalshi Strikes Deal With Tunica-Biloxi Tribe Emma Somersett-MacMillan The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe from Louisiana is joining the rapidly growing prediction market industry. They have formed a new partnership with Kalshi, and this has enabled it to be the first Native American tribe to introduce its own prediction market platform via the company’s framework. This was announced on September 18, 2026, during a time when several other tribes are questioning the growth and development of Kalshi. They object to this ...
Kick Offers Viewers More Visibility in Chats — Here’s How the New KICKs Pinned Messages Work Kick
Kick Offers Viewers More Visibility in Chats — Here’s How the New KICKs Pinned Messages Work Khizar Mundia 2026 has been a stellar year for Kick users, with the brand investing substantially in very visible updates. The livestreaming platform has now introduced another new option where Kick viewers can use KICKs to pin and highlight their messages in chats. Twitch and Kick have several similarities, which makes sense given that the Stake-backed platform launched as a competitor to the Amazon-backed giant. Bits are a common method for viewers ...
Will zekken Leave MIBR in 2026? Valorant
Will zekken Leave MIBR in 2026? Hannan Mundia Competitive Valorant has given rise to multiple talented professional players, but zekken stands as a powerful fragger even among them. While his glory days were definitely when he was on Sentinels during their iconic run, the player is now part of MIBR, which promised to create a super team. Unfortunately for zekken, the team has fallen short of that promise. With a disappointing 2026 season, rumors have started that zekken ...
What are Card Rips? The New Way to Trade Collectibles Explained News
What are Card Rips? The New Way to Trade Collectibles Explained Ben Boland Card rips are a new form of digital pack opening in which users can reveal physical trading cards and choose to sell, store or have them shipped to them. They are attracting serious interest among sweepstakes players. Currently, most card rip sites are separate from online casinos. However, some sweepstakes sites have foreseen the potential popularity of this form of this type of product and are offering their users the ...
KSI Hints at Falling Out With at Least “Some” Sidemen Twitch
KSI Hints at Falling Out With at Least “Some” Sidemen Khizar Mundia Olajide “KSI” Olayinka Williams Olatunji was arguably the largest name attached to Sidemen, and now that he's left the collective, it appears some of the members are no longer his friends. KSI’s exit from Sidemen was the end of an era. He and the boys were renowned for fun whilst creating good memories and building a massive following. When KSI left in May 2026, he'd stated that he was on ...