If your Genshin Impact damage feels flat, you are probably swinging weapons instead of triggering reactions. The combat is built so that applying two elements to the same enemy does far more than either element alone. Learn which pairs do what, and you go from chipping at health bars to deleting them.
Reactions split into two families that behave completely differently, so start there.
The two families of reaction
Amplifying reactions multiply the damage of the triggering hit. There are only two, and they are the biggest single-hit numbers in the game:
- Vaporize (Hydro + Pyro)
- Melt (Cryo + Pyro)
Transformative reactions deal their own separate burst of damage that does not care about your weapon's attack stat. These include Overload, Superconduct, Electro-Charged, Swirl, Shatter, and the whole Dendro family. They scale off character level and Elemental Mastery rather than your ATK.
That difference decides how you build a character, so keep it in mind as you read the tables.
Amplifying reactions: the multipliers that matter
Vaporize and Melt have a "forward" and "reverse" version, and the order you apply the elements changes the multiplier. This is the single most valuable table in Genshin combat:
| Reaction | You trigger with | Base multiplier |
| Vaporize (forward) | Pyro onto Hydro | 1.5x |
| Vaporize (reverse) | Hydro onto Pyro | 2.0x |
| Melt (forward) | Cryo onto Pyro | 1.5x |
| Melt (reverse) | Pyro onto Cryo | 2.0x |
Read it as: the element you hit second is the one triggering the reaction, and 2.0x reactions want your big damaging hit to be the second element. A Pyro carry melting an enemy the team froze wants to be the one applying Pyro onto Cryo for that fat 2.0x. Elemental Mastery and reaction-damage bonuses push these numbers higher still.
Transformative reactions: the utility toolbox
These do flat elemental damage and, more importantly, control the fight. They scale with Elemental Mastery, not ATK.
| Reaction | Elements | What it does |
| Overload | Pyro + Electro | AoE Pyro burst, knocks back light enemies |
| Superconduct | Cryo + Electro | Physical resistance shred, small AoE |
| Electro-Charged | Hydro + Electro | Chained ticking damage across wet enemies |
| Swirl | Anemo + Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo | Spreads the element and does AoE; the premier grouping tool |
| Crystallize | Geo + Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo | Drops an elemental shard that shields you |
| Frozen | Hydro + Cryo | Freezes the enemy in place |
| Shatter | Blunt hit on a Frozen enemy | Extra Physical damage |
Swirl deserves a special mention: an Anemo character can spread one element across a whole pack and shred that element's resistance with the right artifacts, which is why Anemo supports show up in so many teams.
The Dendro family: the deepest rabbit hole
Dendro added a second engine of reactions, and these carry a lot of the modern meta. They all start from Dendro touching another element:
- Burning (Pyro + Dendro): a lingering Pyro damage field.
- Bloom (Hydro + Dendro): creates Dendro Cores that explode after a moment.
- Hyperbloom (Bloom Core + Electro): the core becomes a homing seed that nukes a target. Elite Mastery-scaling and very strong.
- Burgeon (Bloom Core + Pyro): the core detonates in a wide AoE instead.
- Quicken (Dendro + Electro): applies a state that then enables two more reactions:
- Aggravate (Electro onto a Quickened enemy): boosts Electro damage.
- Spread (Dendro onto a Quickened enemy): boosts Dendro damage.
Bloom, Hyperbloom, and Burgeon all scale off Elemental Mastery, so their triggers stack EM to the moon. Aggravate and Spread instead add a flat, level-scaling bonus onto a normal hit, so those carries build like regular damage dealers with some EM mixed in. Knowing which bucket a character falls into is the difference between a good build and a wasted one. Our team-building guide shows how to slot these into a full four-character rotation.
What Elemental Mastery actually does
Elemental Mastery (EM) is the stat that powers reactions, and it does two different jobs:
- For amplifying reactions (Vaporize, Melt), EM increases the multiplier on top of the base 1.5x/2.0x.
- For transformative and EM-scaling Dendro reactions, EM directly increases the damage the reaction deals.
The catch: EM does nothing for the parts of your damage that are not reactions. A raw physical or crit-focused carry gains little from it, while a Hyperbloom or Burgeon trigger wants stacks of it. Build EM where reactions are your damage, and skip it where they are not. Which artifacts and stats to chase for each case is covered in the artifact guide.
Turning this into a team
The whole point of the reaction system is that your four characters are one machine, not four soloists. A working team usually looks like this:
- A driver who applies one element constantly (the "aura").
- A trigger who lands the reaction with their big hits.
- Enablers (Anemo for Swirl grouping, a healer or shielder for survival) that keep the loop running.
Pick a reaction, then assign those roles around it: a Vaporize team wants steady Hydro and a hard-hitting Pyro trigger; a Hyperbloom team wants Hydro plus Dendro to make cores and an Electro unit to pop them. For who fits which role right now, see the best characters guide, and for the endgame that all this preparation is aimed at, the Spiral Abyss floor 12 guide.
Master the reactions and Genshin stops being a game about which character is strongest. It becomes a game about which team you can assemble, which is where the depth has always been.
