“Alchemical Ascension‘ is the cornerstone event of Genshin impact version 4.5, which asks you to mix herbs to create drinks that follow news trends.
Completing the event will also reward you with a plethora of goodies: furniture, Primogems, a Crown of Insight, and a special weapon that can only be obtained through this event. The weapon, “Dialogues of the Desert Sages”, is a polearm that healers, such as Mika and Yaoyao, benefit from. Again, that’s possible only get this weapon (and the refinement material) from this event, so make sure you grab it before it’s gone.
As usual with Genshin events, ‘Alchemical Ascension’ is split into three time-bound parts. Phase one began on March 14, phase two begins on March 16 and phase three begins on March 18. We will update this guide as content becomes available.
You may worry about ruining your drinks at first, but don’t worry too much. As the event progresses, you’ll eventually be able to keep making potions and spam cycles indefinitely, so you can keep making potions and earning income without worry.
Anyway, we explain below how to become a potion expert, potion recipes and how market news works.
How to make potions in Genshin Impact’s ‘Alchemical Ascension’ event
From the first part of the event you have 10 cycles to make potions. You can only make one potion per cycle and you can end the cycle by talking to Lisa. Over several cycles, market news will tell you what people like, and therefore which drinks will sell better.
Each drink consists of several ingredients. You’ll unlock more as you level up, and you can grow them in pots in the potion making area. Each ingredient correlates to a specific one effectiveness: strength, constitution, agility, charisma, wisdom or balanced. They also each have a different one characteristic: endurance, warm, stabilizing, fragrant, healing, strengthening, relaxing, perception, focus or technique.
The goal is to place the ingredients, like a puzzle, on the grid in a way that creates a potion with specific stats and characteristics, leaving as few gaps as possible.
As you place pieces, you can see on the left side of the screen what your drink will look like. If you hover over the ingredient on the right you will also see what it adds to the drink. You just need to add the corresponding plants until you get the desired result.
After selling the potions, you can buy upgrades (like a better cauldron or more plant pots) from a nearby woman. Your plants will also upgrade as they become acclimated, unlocking more shapes for you to use during the puzzle portion of the event.
Market news requirements, explained
A new paper is delivered to you every few cycles discussing the latest trends. As expected, we need to analyze these trends to create drinks that fit whatever trend is happening. However, the game does not immediately tell you which efficacy or characteristics are needed per trend; you just have to guess. But you actually don’t, because we list all the news and associated requirements below, along with the cycle in which they appear.
Keep in mind that in cycles eight through ten you will get two random trends out of the four we mention. There also seem to be some elements of RNG which properties are associated with each trend, according to both our experience and one few other Guides. Each trend can have up to three attributes, so if our table has more than three, you’ll have to guess and check. However, fear not as the market news screen will confirm which efficacy and features you got right. (As mentioned above, though, you don’t have to worry about getting all the potions perfectly, as you’ll have an unlimited number of cycles to play through later in the event.)
Genshin Impact ‘Alchemical Ascension’ market news efficacy and features
| Bicycle | News | Effectiveness | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bicycle | News | Effectiveness | Characteristics |
| 2-4 | Good Hunter comes with new dishes for adventurers who love fighting. | Constitution, strength, agility | No |
| 2-4 | The owner of a flower shop in Mondstadt wants to make his fresh flowers grow more lush and extend the flowering time. | Constitution | Endurance, fortitude |
| 5-7 | Draff of Springvale recruits hunters to hunt an extremely fast Boar King. | Strength, agility, wisdom | Stamina |
| 5-7 | A scholar from Mondstadt has unearthed an ancient stone tablet and is currently trying to decipher the information on it. | Wisdom | No(?) |
| 8-10 | A bard in Mondstadt hopes to reliably put on a good show and attract a larger audience with his performances. | Charisma, wisdom | Technique, stable, relaxing |
| 8-10 | The cavalry captain of the Knights of Favonius leads a team whose mission is to clear out bandits hiding outside the city. | Strength, agility | Stamina, strengthening |
| 8-10 | The Dragonspine Exploration Team prepares supplies to ensure members stay in good shape. | Constitution, strength | Warm, staying power |
| 8-10 | Make-up is in fashion among the young girls in Mondstadt. | Charisma | Fragrant, technique |
Special customers and orders
From cycle eight onwards you will receive a number of special orders from visiting NPCs. At the time of writing this (with only phase one available), Beidou is the only dedicated customer.
Beidou wants one constitution bring a drink relaxing characteristics. You can do this by using Calla lilies And Dandelions. You can use mushrooms and berries to fill in any extra gaps to get those extra points, but don’t use too much. You don’t want their properties (endurance and warmth respectively) to overtake the relaxing property.