Principes de base de Genshin Impact Theater Mechanicus
The Theater Mechanicus activity in Genshin Impact is a tower defense style minigame, which means you have to set up elemental Mechanici to prevent waves of enemies from escaping the stage. You continue to control your characters in the Theater Mechanicus arena, but your attacks will not deal any damage and you will not generate any energy for your Elemental Blast (one bug aside). What you can use, however, are your basic skills.
So the general flow of Theater Mechanicus is simple: build Mechanici towers to damage enemies and trigger elemental combos, and use your own elemental skills to trigger additional combos and control the terrain. There's more to this activity than that - obviously - but you won't need to have a full squad of max-level characters to complete all of the challenges on offer here.
Theater Mechanicus can be performed solo or with unother person in co-op. You can either walk in with a friend already in your world or use the pairing feature built into the Theater Mechanicus menu. The rewards are unique between players, so you don't have to worry about sharing your winnings with your partner. There is a penalty for dropping out of your partner mid-game, and you'll have to wait until you can play Theater Mechanicus again if you do.
Mechanic, Wizard and the Mystic Arts Points
In any stage of Theater Mechanicus, there are nodes where you install Mechanicus towers, and it's up to you to determine which towers work best in which locations. Before each wave, you'll receive a brief rundown of the enemies that will spawn (you can check it out anytime t00), and you'll want to set up your Mechanici in a way that prevents enemies from escaping the arena. The purple portals they spawn from will be visible both on the overview map and in the field, and the route enemies take will be traced by a red / blue light on the ground to the blue exit portal.
At the start, there are five Mechanici that you can deploy - a Pyro, Electro, Hydro, and Cryo tower, and an AoE “Salvage” which will increase your Veneficus Points earned on enemies slain in AoE. Each round costs a certain number of Veneficus Points to deploy, and you gain more by killing enemies. Essentially, when you kill enemies, you can build additional towers to better bolster your defense.
There's a catch though: there's a limit to the number of Mechanici you can deploy in the field. If you wish to exchange one tower for another, or free up space for a more optimal location, you will only be refunded a small portion of the Veneficus points you have spent. You need to choose your towers and positions wisely, lest you find yourself short of Veneficus Points and unable to prevent enemies from escaping. Best of all, the number of towers that can be deployed and the total Veneficus Points available to spend are shared between the players in the co-op, so you'll want to communicate your plans to each other.
Between waves, you'll have a selection of Mystical Arts to choose from, and the majority of them will cost Veneficus Points as well. These are modifiers that can increase the potency of a particular Mechanici, grant you additional Veneficus Points, or make your life in general easier. There are a few that will come with strong penalties, but on your turn, you will either have more Veneficus Sigils at the end of the activity ("fearless"), or you will provide a substantial buff if you can overcome the hidden random penalty (”).
You have 30 seconds between waves to choose your Mystic Arts, but you are free to choose none if you want to keep your Veneficus Points for the next wave. There are different challenges associated with each stage and difficulty, and the more you complete the more Sigils of Veneficus you will earn upon completion. These are essential, as they are used to improve your Mechanici outside of the Theater Mechanicus.
Veneficus Sigils, level up your Mechanici and progress through Theater Mechanicus.
Sigils of Veneficus are a currency exclusive to the activity earned by completing challenges in the Mechanicus theater. These can range from not allowing enemies to escape the arena, to killing a specific number of enemies with your Mechanici. These challenges reward a set amount of Veneficus Sigils, which can be previewed from the Theater Mechanicus page (Stage Features> Challenges).
Veneficus Sigils is used to upgrade your various Mechanici towers. They'll hit harder, throw farther, and add powerful passives to their kit. To overcome the later stages and higher difficulties of the Theater Mechanicus, you will need to upgrade your Mechanici, but there are a few things to consider.
The Mechanicus Theater has a handful of Time Doors attached to it, to include the highest level your Mechanici can reach at any given time. Full-time doors are:
- Mechanicus Theater Stage 1
- Maximum difficulty: 2
- Max Mechanicus level: 4
- Cap Veneficus Sigil: 900
- Mechanicus Theater Stage 2
- Maximum difficulty: 3
- Max Mechanicus level: 5
- Cap Veneficus Sigil: 1050
- Mechanicus Theater Stage 3
- Maximum difficulty: 4
- Max Mechanicus level: 6
- Cap Veneficus Sigil: 1200
- Mechanicus Theater Stage 4
- Must achieve the Festive Fever rank "Guests Flock from afar".
- Maximum difficulty: 5
- Max Mechanicus level: 7
- Cap Veneficus Sigil: 1350
- Mechanicus Theater Stage 5
- Maximum difficulty: 6
- Max Mechanicus level: 8
- Cap Veneficus Sigil: 1500
- Mechanicus Theater Stage 6
- Must achieve the Festive Fever rank "Glow of a Thousand Lanterns".
- Special mode: eye blink
- Max Mechanicus level: 10
- Cap Veneficus Sigil: 2000
Each stage is unlocked 24 hours after the last one, but you will need to reach the Festive Fever ranks "Guests Flock From Away" and "Glow of a Thousand Lanterns" before unlocking stages 4-5 and 6 respectively. This is done by completing side quests in Tales of the Rite of Lanterns.
With higher difficulties comes an increased multiplier for better Veneficus Sigil gains, although you will need to keep upgrading your Mechanici to cope with the growing challenge. The Sigil cap is only about how many Sigils you can hold at a time, not how many you can earn per day. You are free to farm as many Veneficus Sigils as you need to fully level your Mechanici each day.
To participate in the Theater Mechanicus, you need to speak with Ruijin in Liyue Harbor, and each attempt will cost you exactly one Xiao Lantern (you can read how to craft them here). Whether you pass or fail, the Xiao Lantern will be consumed when you enter the Mechanicus Theater.
To earn Peace Talismans, you will need to complete the general Theater Mechanicus challenges associated with each stage. There are three Challenge Pages, each unlocked by reaching a specific Festive Fever Rank. You can read a full description on how to earn Peace Talismans here, but to sum it up in this guide: you will need to clear stages on each difficulty, achieve a set number of points in those difficulties, level up your Mechanici, and clear stages without letting any enemy escape.
General advice and suggested programming.
The Theater Mechanicus follows one basic premise: line up powerful elemental combos to generate massive damage. That said, crowd control is absolutely essential, but you can't just rely on Cryo and Hydro towers to hold back enemies, as towers have brief cooldowns between their attacks.
This is where your team composition will come into play. Since levels don't really matter in Theater Mechanicus, you'll want to call in four characters (or two if you're playing co-op) who are good at playing. Lock down enemies while triggering elemental combos.
Anemo characters are great at fending off enemies, and having a Cryo character handy means you can freeze any enemy drenched by your Hydro Towers without having to wait for the Cryo Tower to retreat. Additionally, characters capable of "blocking" enemy paths can block them and leave them within range of your deadly Mechanici towers.
My recommended team composition for the Theater Mechanicus is therefore: Geo Traveler, Sucrose, Kaeya and Jean. Two of the four are accessible to everyone (Geo MC and Kaeya), and Sucrose isn't too hard to grab hold of (assuming you don't already have it on your list). Jean is the most difficult to grab, as she is 5 stars, so if you don't ask for her, try replacing her with a character on your roster who can repel enemies.
The idea with this composition is simple: Geo MC can use his elemental skill to block the routes taken by enemies, Kaeya's short skill cooldown will allow you to frequently freeze enemies afflicted by Wet from your Hydro, Sucrose towers. has AoE recoil that triggers Swirl, and Jean can push and grab enemies as needed (throwing enemies out of open ledges is a perfectly viable tactic).
Whichever build you use, remember to work in tandem with your towers, and don't be afraid to modify the towers you have on the field to better match the enemies you are about to face. . Don't be afraid to use a recovery tower or two: extra Veneficus Points can be the difference between success and defeat. Good luck Traveler and happy Rite of Lanterns!
