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Genshin Impact

Overview

By
Matt Chard

Unlock Criteria

Location Prerequisites
Liyue Harbor, next to Ji Tong Complete the quests “The Origin of the Lanterns” and “Liyue: Theater Mechanicus”.

Event Phase

Event Schedule Start Time End Time
Theater Mechanicus February 10, 2021 February 28, 2021

Introduction

Theater Mechanicus is a new Tower Defense game mode added with the Version 1.3 update and it’s only available during the Event: Lantern Rite. To start playing it, you’ll need to complete the Alatus Chapter (Xiao Story Quest). This will unlock the quest “The Origin of the Lanterns” which needs to be completed to unlock the rest of the events quests.

After you’ve completed the above quests, you’ll need to complete one more quest to get access to the game mode, this is “Liyue: Theater Mechanicus”. The cost to play Theater Mechanicus is one Xiao Lantern.

Liyue: Theater Mechanicus

Talk to Ruijin and she’ll ask you if you want to play Theater Mechanicus, agree by saying “I’ll try a round” and this’ll take you to the main screen of the game mode, hit start and it’ll take you to the party selection screen. Although you can’t deal direct damage to the enemies in this game mode, you can influence it with the right party setup.

For example: Jean can use her Elemental Skill to pick up and throw the smaller enemies into the chasm or push them back into your Mechanici, this will be explained in more detail on the Stage pages. Once you’ve chosen your party, you’ll be thrown into the tutorial stage.

Xiao Lantern

Xiao Lanterns are crafted at a Crafting Bench and requires three event only items:

  • Lantern Fiber - Obtained by harvesting any plant or fruit.

  • Wick Material - Obtained by defeating any Hilichurl or Fatui, these seem to drop from other sources too, like Boars.

  • Plaustrite Shard - Obtained by mining any ore deposit.

You can craft Xiao lanterns at any crafting bench.

The Basics

Underneath the mini-map you’ll notice the following:

  • Wave 1/4 - 24 Enemies Left - This means that there will be four waves and that the first wave will have 24 enemies in it.

  • No more than 0/25 escaped monsters - If any of the enemies reach your portal, the number on the left will rise, if it equals the number on the right, then you will fail the stage.

  • A (Build) hammer Icon with 400 next to it - The 400 is the amount of resources you have to spend on your Mechanici - this resource is called “Veneficus” and it can also be used in the Theater Mechanicus Armory which will let you upgrade the Mechanici for a cost.

  • Next is a Mechanici icon with the numbers 0/14 - This shows that you have zero Mechanici on the field out of the maximum which is fourteen. Each time one is placed, the number on the left will go up.

  • Start Wave - Depending what system you’re playing on, the controls will change, but you can start the wave early if you are done preparing.

Preparation Phase

As soon as you enter the Stage, you’ll have just over one minute to place down the Mechanici, these are placed on the square boxes with circles inside all over the arena, you’re limited to how many Veneficus points you have, and these carry over between stages if you haven’t spent any upgrading the Mechanici in the Armory.

(1 of 2) If you go near one of these boxes, you can interact with it by clicking Construct

If you go near one of these boxes, you can interact with it by clicking Construct (left), this will bring up a menu to place any Mechanici pf your choosing. (right)

Stages

Each stage will have a different layout and each one will also have some type of gimmick for you to exploit, the tutorial stage for example has a big hole in the middle of the stage and the enemies will come down both lanes either side of it which makes a great place to put down your Mechanici as they are chokepoints which means it’s easier to control their path. Talking of path, you can see what paths the enemies will take by the blue and red lines which move throughout the stage.

(1 of 4) The enemies come from the purple portals, the location changes depending on the stage

Stage Features

Inside the main menu of Theater Mechanicus you can check out the “Stage Features”, inside here, it’ll show you all the stages available as well as a hint on how to approach it.

Portals

There are two types of portals, the blue one is your portal which you must stop the enemies getting into it, and the purple portals, which is where the enemies spawn from, there can be multiple of these in a stage.

Co-op

This game mode can be played with one other player via matchmaking. The Veneficus Mechanici limit is shared between the two players, although the currency isn’t shared and earned individually.

Mechanici

There are six available at the start with four more unlocking as the event goes on, these are statue type objects which are imbued with a different element or even some other type of a mechanic like a mine, these will periodically shoot at the enemy and deal damage to them. These can be upgraded up to level six and their properties will change as they go up in level, to upgrade them you need to spend Veneficus which is accumaleted by defeating the enemies in the stages, more can be earnt by them dieing in the Recovery Mechanici. More in-depth information about these can be found in the Armory page.

The Armory lets you strengthen your Mechanici.

Armory

The Armory can be found after speaking to Ruijin and selecting the menu in the Theater Mechanicus main menu, this is where you’ll upgrade the Mechanici as well as get more information on what they can do.

Difficulty

There are eight difficulty levels and each one has a multiplier associated with it, the multiplier starts at 1.0 and can reach a whopping 3.0. There are only a few difficulties to choose from at the beginning with more unlocked as the event goes on.

Challenges

You’ll have 22 challenges each offering a different amount of Veneficus as a reward for completing them, these range defeating a t least 20 monsters to not letting any enemies escape. There are also Mystic Arts which appear after a wave has been completed, you can select one to either strengthen the Mechanici or choose one of the challenges to add for the next wave. More in-depth information can be found on the Challenges page.

Rewards

There are three sets of rewards with only one unlocked at the beginning and the other two unlocked as the Lantern Rite Event progresses, you’ll be rewarded Peace Talismans for completing certain objectives, these can be spent in the Xiao Market, which is the event shop, check out the Xiao Market page to see what you can obtain!

(1 of 2) Once the stage has been completed, you will get rewarded Veneficus Sigils for every objective you completed within the Stage which will then be multiplied by the Difficulty Multiplier

Once the stage has been completed, you will get rewarded Veneficus Sigils for every objective you completed within the Stage which will then be multiplied by the Difficulty Multiplier (left), you’ll also be rewarded Peace Talismans for completing specific objectives, these can be spent in the Xiao Market Event Shop. (right)

We’ve Only Just Begun rewards

Guests Flock From Afar rewards

Glow of a Thousand Lanterns rewards

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    miHoYo
  • Platforms,
    Android, iOS, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch
  • Genre
    Action RPG, Adventure
  • Guide Release
    31 October 2020
  • Last Updated
    31 July 2023
    Version History
  • Guide Author

Share this free guide:

This guide for Genshin Impact includes the following:

  • Based on version 3.0.
  • An interactive Map of Teyvat showing the location of all; Anemoculus, Geoculus, Statues of the Seven, World Quests, Shrines, Plants, Monsters, Enemies, Chests and Minerals.
  • Knowledge on all of the current known regions of Teyvat.
  • Detailed Character pages of all playable characters showing talent trees, skill builds and Ascension tables.
  • Character Tier Lists.
  • Combat Information and Elemental Effects & Combinations.
  • Weapons - Showing the current best and highest rated weapons in the game.
  • All Archon Quests including the new Sumeru Archon Quests.
  • All World Quests that are unlocked by speaking to NPCs through Teyvat. They give insight into the various locations and stories of the world.
  • All Story Quests consisting of chapters related to the background and personalities of each playable character.
  • All Domains laid bare with expert strategies including the new Sumeru Domains.
  • How to conquer the Spiral Abyss.
  • All Weekly Bosses covered with expert strategies.
  • How to get all the optimal outcomes on Hangout Events
  • Housing guide using the Serenitea Pot including a full blueprint and furnishings list.
  • All details on Gardening and Fishing.
  • Bonus Content, including Interviews from voice actors.

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