Genshin Impact Best Gadgets and Which to Craft First

The best gadgets in Genshin Impact are the ones that save you time every day: a treasure compass for each region, the NRE (Menu 30), the Portable Waypoint and the oculus resonance stones. Their diagrams come from city reputation rewards, and you make them at the crafting bench. Add the Parametric Transformer from a Liyue quest and you have the five worth getting first.

How gadgets work

Gadgets have their own tab in the inventory. You equip one from there and use it with the gadget button, which is Z on a keyboard. Only one is equipped at a time, so players swap them often.

They fall into two groups:

• Reusable gadgets stay with you and have a cooldown: the treasure compass, the NRE, the Wind Catcher.
• Consumable gadgets are used up: a Portable Waypoint, a resonance stone, a portable stove. You craft a new one each time.

Most diagrams are rewards on a region's reputation track. Reputation opens after the early story of that region and grows through weekly bounties and requests, the region's quests and exploration. Once you own a diagram, the crafting bench makes the gadget from materials of that region. A few gadgets come from quests instead.

Genshin Impact gadgets list: five to get first

Treasure compass

A treasure compass points to the nearest unopened chest around you. It works region by region: Mondstadt's comes from Mondstadt's reputation, Liyue's from Liyue's, and so on, and none of them finds chests outside its own region. For anyone who wants every chest of a region, nothing else comes close.

NRE (Menu 30)

The NRE holds one healing dish and one revive dish and eats the right one at a single press. There is no inventory to open and no list to scroll in the middle of a fight. It comes from Mondstadt's reputation and is the gadget most players keep equipped in combat. It does not work in the Spiral Abyss, where food is not allowed.

Portable Waypoint

This places a temporary teleport point where you stand, and it lasts seven days. Put one next to a boss that is far from any waypoint, at a mining spot or beside a puzzle you want to come back to. Each one is used up when you place it, so craft them as you need them. Its diagram is a reputation reward too.

Oculus resonance stones

Every region with oculi has a resonance stone for them. Use one and it marks the area of a nearby oculus on your map. The stone is consumed when it finds one. These are for the end of the hunt, when you miss the last three or four and have no idea where they are.

Parametric Transformer

This one is a quest reward from Liyue's Tianqiu Valley. You feed it spare materials, hit it with elemental attacks until it finishes, and it gives back a random mix of useful things such as Mora, experience books and enhancement ore. Then it needs about a week to recharge. Used every week, it turns junk you would never spend into resources you always need.

Useful later, not urgent

• Wind Catcher. It stores wind energy from Anemograna and releases it as an updraft where you stand. Handy on cliffs, but it has to be charged first.
• Adepti Seeker's Stove. A portable stove, so you can cook far from any camp.
• Warming Bottle. It gives warmth against the Sheer Cold of Dragonspine and is only needed there.
• Region gadgets from quests. Several areas hand you a special gadget during their story. You need it there and almost nowhere else, and the quest gives it to you anyway.
• Omni-Ubiquity Net. It catches small animals for your Serenitea Pot. A hobby item: fun, never urgent.

Which gadgets to craft first

1. The treasure compass of the region you are exploring now, as soon as its reputation gives you the diagram.
2. The NRE, once Mondstadt's reputation reaches it.
3. A Portable Waypoint when you start farming a boss or a spot that is a long walk from a waypoint.
4. Resonance stones only when you are down to the last few oculi of a region.
5. With each new region, start its reputation early. The bounties and requests are limited per week, so the weeks you skip can't be made up.

The Parametric Transformer sits outside this order. Do its quest as soon as you can, because every week without it is a week of rewards you did not collect.

Treasure compass tips

• It only senses chests within a limited range. No signal means none is close: move on and try again.
• It can't see a chest that does not exist yet. A chest that appears after a puzzle, a timed challenge or an enemy camp shows up only once you finish that.
• Explore with your eyes first, then walk the region with the compass to pick up what you missed. Used the other way round, it sends you after chests you would have found anyway.
• Remember that it works by region. If it finds nothing at all, check that you have earned the compass for the region you are standing in.

A compass tells you a chest is near, not how to reach it. If the arrow points into a wall, look for a cave entrance or a puzzle before you start digging through the cliff.

Frequent questions

What is the best gadget in Genshin Impact?

For exploration, the treasure compass of the region you are in. For combat, the NRE (Menu 30). They don't compete with each other, because swapping gadgets takes a second.

How do I get a treasure compass in Genshin Impact?

Raise the reputation of the region until its track rewards the compass diagram, then make the compass at a crafting bench with materials from that region.

Where do I equip and use gadgets?

Open the inventory, go to the Gadgets tab, select one and equip it. After that the gadget button uses it: Z on a keyboard, and an on-screen button on a phone.

Is there a full gadgets list in the game?

The Gadgets tab shows every gadget you own. For the ones you don't have yet, each region's reputation screen lists its rewards level by level, diagrams included.

Gadgets come from playing, Genesis Crystals from a top-up

No gadget is sold for money. Reputation, quests and crafting materials are the whole price, so the only way to get them sooner is to start the weekly reputation tasks sooner. What a top-up gives you is Genesis Crystals, which convert into Primogems for wishes.

When you need them, you can get Genshin Impact Genesis Crystals on Mas4Games, loaded by UID and server. The store asks for the UID and server only, never for a password, and its help center has live support.