Everything we know about Alhaitham in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact’s new boy toy knows more than he lets on. Alhaitham works as the Scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya, which means “classifying and archiving important documents” that should be kept out of the wrong hands. Others see him as a highly intelligent and organized individual who operates solely on rationality, much to the dismay of his peers.

He first appears in the Genshin Impact Archon Quest Chapter III Act I, where he saves the Traveler from being conned by local thugs. However, Genshin Impact fans knew about him way before that. He was one of the characters included in this year’s massive Genshin Impact 3.0 leak, which also included Tighnari, Collei, Dori, Kusanali, Nilou, Cyno, and Dehya.

Here’s what you should know about Alhaitham before he debuts in Genshin Impact 3.4.

When is Alhaitham coming to Genshin Impact?

Alhaitham is on schedule to launch with Genshin Impact 3.4. HoYoverse usually drip-markets its characters for the upcoming update on social media and then confirms their banners via livestream.

The developer posted previews for Alhaitham and Yaoyao right after the Game Awards, so those two characters should be coming in Genshin Impact 3.4.

What are Alhaitham’s Elemental Skill and Burst?

Like most Dendro characters, Alhaitham’s build seems like it will rely on Elemental Mastery to boost damage from Dendro-based reactions.

His Elemental Skill, Universality: An Elaboration on Form, activates an “aim assist” that works similarly to Keqing’s when you hold it. Just aim the reticle wherever you want Alhaitham to teleport, and he’ll deal Dendro DMG to the target and anything else within slashing distance. His Elemental Burst, Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena, also works similar to Keqing’s burst in how it strikes enemies within its AoE with a flurry of Dendro attacks.

That’s where the similarities end, though. Some fans warn that though he and Keqing seem similar at first glance, their kits greatly differ in other aspects.

Here are the full explanations based on leaked information from Project Amber.

Universality: An Elaboration on Form (Elemental Skill)

Rushes forward, dealing Dendro DMG to nearby opponents when the rush ends, causing a Chisel-Light Mirror to form. Holding this skill will cause it to behave differently. Hold to enter Aiming Mode to adjust the direction of Alhaitham's rush attack.

Chisel-Light Mirror

When this skill is unleashed, Alhaitham will generate one Chisel-Light Mirror. If there are no Mirrors at this time, he will generate one additional Mirror. Chisel-Light Mirrors will have the following properties:

• When he possesses Chisel-Light Mirrors, Alhaitham's Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will be converted to Dendro DMG. This cannot be overridden.
• When attacks of the aforementioned kinds hit opponents, the Chisel-Light Mirrors will unleash a Projection Attack that deals AoE Dendro DMG based on the number of Mirrors on the field.
• A total of 3 Chisel-Light Mirrors can exist at once.
• The Chisel-Light Mirrors will disappear one after the other over time, and will all disappear when Alhaitham leaves the field.

Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena (Elemental Burst)

Creates a Particular Binding Field and deals multiple instances of AoE Dendro DMG. If Chisel-Light Mirrors exist when this ability is unleashed, all such Mirrors will be consumed and increase the damage dealt. Two seconds after this ability is unleashed, if 0/1/2/3 Mirrors were consumed, Alhaitham will generate 3/2/1/0 new Mirrors in turn.

All of Alhaitham’s passive abilities

• Four-Casual Correction (Ascension Passive): When Alhaitham's Charged or Plunging Attacks hit opponents, they will generate 1 Chisel-Light Mirror like that from his Elemental Skill. This effect can be triggered once every 12 seconds.
• Mysteries Laid Bare (Ascension Passive): Each point of Alhaitham's Elemental Mastery will increase the DMG dealt by Projection Attacks and Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena (Elemental Burst) by 0.12 percent. The maximum DMG increase for both these abilities is 100 percent.
• Law of Reductive Overdetermination (Crafting Skill): When Alhaitham crafts Weapon Ascension Materials, he has a 10 percent chance to receive double the product.

What are Alhaitham’s constellations?

Alhaitham hasn’t been released, so his contellation information is subject to change. Here’s the current information cross-checked between Project Amber and Honey Hunter.

• Level 1: Intuition - When a Projection Attack hits an opponent, Universality: An Elaboration on Form (Elemental Skill)'s CD is decreased by 1 second. This effect can be triggered once every 1 second.
• Level 2: Debate - When Alhaitham generates a Chisel-Light Mirror, his Elemental Mastery will be increased by 40 for 8 seconds, max 4 stacks. Each stack's duration is counted independently. This effect can be triggered even when the maximum number of Chisel-Light Mirrors has been reached.
• Level 3: Negation - Increases the Level of Universality: An Elaboration on Form (Elemental Skill) by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Level 4: Elucidation - When Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena (Elemental Burst) is unleashed, the following effects will become active based on the number of Chisel-Light Mirrors consumed and created this time around: Each Mirror consumed will increase the Elemental Mastery of all other party members by 30 for 15 seconds. Each Mirror generated will grant Alhaitham a 10 percent Dendro DMG Bonus for 15 seconds. The pre-existing duration of the aforementioned effects will be cleared if you use Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena (Elemental Burst) again while they are in effect.
• Level 5: Sagacity - Increases the level of Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena (Elemental Burst) by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Level 6: Validity - If Alhaitham creates another Chisel-Light Mirror when their numbers have already maxed out, then his CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG will increase by 10% and 70% respectively for 6s. If this effect is triggered again during its initial duration, the duration of the buff will increase by 6s.

What relationship does Alhaitham have with other characters?

The Akademiya is the highest institution in Sumeru, the land of Wisdom. Alhaitham works as a Scribe for the Akademiya, which is considered a prestigious role because of how capable you need to be to get it. Many characters seem to respect Alhaitham for his shrewdness, including Candace, Cyno, and Layla.

Cyno also notes that Alhaitham is intelligent but realistic with his limitations. “I don't really like people who are too smart,” Cyno says in his voiceover. “They think they can control everything, and constantly venture to the fringes of danger. But Alhaitham is one of the more reliable ones. In most cases, he is actually in control of things and has the ability to avert potential dîsaster.”

Tighnari and Collei, who seem to be closer to Alhaitham, give the Traveler more insight to his character with how he complains about his roommate. He and his roomie Kaveh act like a divorced couple so, naturally, the Genshin Impact fandom decided that they should ship them.

Genshin Impact is available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android.