Everything we know about the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite Festival

Genshin Impact is flush with events. Nearly every single week there's a brand new activity for you to complete. In January, the game featured events like Lost Riches, Hypostatic Symphony, and Marvelous Merchandise. For February, developer miHoYo is kicking off the good times with the Lantern Rite Festival featuring the all-new five-star character, Xiao.

Here's everything we know about the event.

What is Genshin Impact's Lantern Rite Festival?

The Lantern Rite Festival is the main event in version 1.3. It's centered on both wish making and the character Xiao. It previously existed during Genshin Impact's beta phase in early 2020, so this will mark its debut in the full game.

During the beta, the event came to celebrate the first full moon of the new year, similar to Lunar New Year festivals. For the festival, Liyue's denizens release lanterns containing a wish for the year.

For the actual event, players will spend a day with the Adeptus Xiao during the festival, allowing you to learn more about the character while gaining rewards.

There's also a Mondstadt equivalent of the event called the Windbloom festival, which has far less fanfare surrounding it.

When are the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite Festival start and end times?

The Lantern Rite Festival will begin with the 1.3 update launch on February 3. An exact end date has yet to be announced, but most events last two weeks, so it will likely conclude on February 17.

How do you unlock the Lantern Rite Festival in Genshin Impact?

You'll need to be Adventure Rank 23 to unlock Xiao's story quest and begin the event. Following the event's conclusion, the Adventure Rank needed for Xiao's story quest will be raised to 32.

How do you participate in the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite Festival?

The Lantern Rite Festival has its own quest system. Similar to previous events, the Lantern Rite Festival is played in stages, but you'll need to unlock stages. To do so, complete Lantern Rite Tales, which will raise the event's "Festive Fever" level, thus unlocking new stages after passing certain thresholds.

In addition to finishing quests via the Lantern Rite Tales, you'll also need to earn event currency by playing a new mini-game in Liyue Harbor called Theater Mechanicus. It's effectively a tower defense game where you have to stop three rows of monsters from destroying your Leyline core. You can play this mode in single-player or co-op.

What rewards can you receive from the Lantern Rite Festival in Genshin Impact?

There are so many rewards available throughout the festival. The most notable one is perhaps that you'll be able to choose one free four-star character. You can claim one free character from amongst the following selection: Xiangling, Xinyan, Beidou, Ningguang, Xingqiu, or Chongyun. That will be available between February 18 and March 7.

If you log in between February 11 and February 26, you'll receive up to 10 Intertwined Fates to spend on the Event Banner. You'll receive one every day that you log-in.

There will also be an event shop available where you can unlock new name cards, talent materials, and a Crown of Insight called the Xiao Market.

According to miHoYo, you'll be able to earn up to 1600 Primogems during the event.