Want to know how to beat Genshin Impact’s Theater Mechanicus? Liyue’s Lantern Rite festival introduced Ruijin’s tabletop game, Theater Mechanicus, a tower defence minigame in which players could earn Peace Talismans and trade them in for various rewards.
Theater Mechanicus is back in the Genshin Impact 2.0 update. Mihoyo announced that “thanks to the efforts of the Theater Mechanicus Representative Komakata, everyone’s favourite game from Liyue is finally available in Inazuma”. As the original Theater Mechanicus was themed around Liyue’s Lantern Rite festival, several aspects of the game have changed and adapted to an Inazuman audience.
The minigame is now all about drawing Wondrous Sticks, which come in several types. There are Fortune Sticks that upgrade towers with additional beneficial effects, or Courage Sticks that increase enemies’ strength, but grant you additional rewards. There are also Mystic Sticks that buff your characters, and Ominous Sticks that are cheaper than Fortune Sticks but have unknown side effects.
These serve the same purpose as the Mystic Arts we used in the Liyue version, but only last for the duration of one stage. As you progress through the stages, you earn Mechanicus Mastery levels, which upgrade the amount of points you start each round with, and the level of the Fortune Sticks available to you. Here’s everything you need to know to beat Theater Mechanicus 2.0.
How to play Genshin Impact Theater Mechanicus
To play Theater Mechanicus, you need to be Adventure Rank 30 or above, and have completed the Archon Quest “Ritou Escape Plan”. The event is live and available until August 26 at 03:59 server time.
To start the minigame, speak to Komakata in Inazuma. If you haven’t played Theater Mechanicus before, here’s the lowdown: it’s essentially a tower defence game, and can be played solo or in co-op mode with another player. Each stage consists of several waves of enemies; enemies enter through the purple portal and move through the stage toward the blue portal, which they escape through if they make it all the way there without being defeated.
To stop monsters escaping, you construct towers, known as Mechanici, during the timed construction phase before each wave. You can see the paths that the incoming wave of enemies will take, marked by a glowing trail, so you can plan your tower placement accordingly. Building Mechanici costs Veneficus points, which are earned by defeating enemies.
If you keep enough monsters from escaping, preventing your Terminus Integrity from reaching zero, you pass the stage. Completing missions earns you Wondrous Talismans, which can be exchanged in the event shop for primogems, hero’s wit, talent level-up material, and mora.
Theater Mechanicus Mechanici
There are several kinds of towers that you can build to fend off the incoming swarm of beasties. Each tower has different attack effects based on its respective element, and placing different types together will create powerful elemental reactions.
In each round, there are Mechanicus types that won’t receive buffs from Wondrous Sticks that round, so avoid placing these down.
- Rippling Reflections – Hydro
- Inferno – Pyro
- Furious Discharge – Electro
- Dust Devil – Anemo
- Glacial Bloom – Cryo
- Crack Shot – fires Physical damage arrows
- Tandem Mine – explodes when an enemy gets close, dealing AoE Pyro damage
- Charity – slows enemies down and gives extra Veneficus points
- Binding – traps enemies for three seconds
- Banishment – knocks enemies back every six seconds
- Arcanum – increases the attack of nearby towers by 50%
Theater Mechanicus tips
- Check the stage features to see the oncoming monster types as well as the available challenges each round
- Keep selecting new Wondrous Sticks throughout the round to continually add buffs, making use of the currency you accumulate
- Enemies can spawn from multiple portals; make sure you build towers to cover the intersection of lanes and not just directly in front of the portal
- Stages have special features you can activate for a fee – and on a cooldown – to destroy monsters
- Try not to stack elemental effects; avoid placing towers of the same elemental type equidistant from the wave, as this will result in the towers applying their effects simultaneously
The best Theater Mechanicus party composition
You can’t deal damage to monsters yourself directly, but you can use Elemental Skills to apply elemental effects to them. You can also use charged attacks to knock them over and push them back toward your towers.
Cryo and Hydro heroes are particularly useful in this mode – with the right team composition, you can constantly freeze enemies.
- Geo Traveller’s elemental skill and Genshin Impact Zhongli’s pillars can block the path, preventing enemies from getting past.
- Zhongli’s elemental bursts are also incredibly strong.
- Jean’s E can throw enemies over the edge into the central pit and kill them instantly.
- Sucrose’s AoE gathering skill is also useful.
- Ningguang can stagger enemies, forcing them to stand still.
- Ganyu or Kaeya combined with Mona or Barbara can keep enemies permanently frozen.
That’s everything you need to know about the Genshin Impact Theater Mechanicus minigame. If you’re curious about what awaits you in the Inazuma region, we’ve got the latest on all the Genshin Impact new characters and the Genshin Impact Electro Traveler build.