Genshin Impact Dendro reactions explained

Assuming you’re already familiar with Genshin Impact’s basic reactions, let’s throw Dendro into the mix. Dendro enables some incredibly powerful teams, but adds a layer of complexity to the reaction system. Here are all Dendro reactions in Genshin Impact, explained.

Dendro introduces special reactions that can only be triggered once another reaction has already taken place. There’s also a whole new class of additive reactions that work differently from other reactions. Let’s look at them each individually.

Transformative Reactions

Transformative reactions only scale with the triggering character’s level and Elemental Mastery. These reactions cannot CRIT except through special circumstances.

Burning: Pyro + Dendro

Applying Pyro and Dendro in any order triggers Burning, which deals damage over time to enemies based on the triggering character’s level and Elemental Mastery. This damage has a small AoE that affects both enemies and players.

Burning damage is quite significant, but it can hurt you too if you get too close to a Burning enemy. It’s not uncommon to trigger Burning on a group of enemies, and then just die because you caught yourself on fire too. If you can keep your distance, though, Burning can sometimes be used to keep up a Pyro aura for Melt teams.

Bloom: Hydro + Dendro

Bloom results from combining Hydro and Dendro in any order. Bloom spawns a Dendro Core near the enemy’s location. Dendro Cores explode after six seconds, dealing a small amount of AoE damage that scales with the triggering character’s level and Elemental Mastery.

Bloom is most commonly used as a setup for further reactions, i.e., Hyperbloom or Burgeon. Bloom by itself is only viable with Nilou, who significantly increases Dendro Core damage, AoE, and detonation speed.

Hyperbloom: Bloom + Electro

Hitting a Dendro Core with an Electro attack triggers Hyperbloom. Hyperbloom fires a homing projectile at an enemy, dealing damage that scales with your Electro character’s level and Elemental Mastery.

Hyperbloom is easy to play (just combine Hydro, Dendro, and Electro) and deals significant damage. Just make sure your Electro character is built with Elemental Mastery. The best Hyperbloom triggers in Genshin Impact are Kuki Shinobu and Raiden Shogun.

Burgeon: Bloom + Pyro

Hitting a Dendro Core with a Pyro attack triggers Burgeon. Burgeon deals damage in an AoE based on your Pyro character’s level and Elemental Mastery.

Burgeon can be tricky to use, since its explosions deal self-damage, and it’s easy for Pyro attacks to accidentally trigger Burning instead. Thoma is the safest trigger if you want to play a Burgeon team. You can also try to have excess Hydro to put out any accidental Burning.

Additive Reactions

Additive reactions in Genshin Impact increase the damage of triggering hits by adding a flat value on top of the hit’s base damage. This flat value scales with the triggering character’s level and Elemental Mastery.

These hits are able to CRIT. Characters who rely on additive reactions like Spread or Aggravate should build both Elemental Mastery and CRIT stats.

Characters who rely on additive reactions (e.g., Alhaitham, Cyno, Tighnari) tend to benefit more from Elemental Mastery than ATK.

Quicken: Electro + Dendro

Quicken is triggered by combining Electro and Dendro in any order. This reaction deals no damage, but applies the Quicken status to the enemy. (The game sometimes calls this Catalyze.) The Quicken status presents as a Dendro icon near the enemy’s health bar and green lightning effects around the enemy’s body.

While under the Quickened state, further Electro or Dendro applications will trigger Aggravate or Spread, respectively.

Aggravate: Quicken + Electro

Applying Electro to an enemy affected by Quicken will trigger Aggravate. Aggravate increases the damage of the triggering attack by a flat value based on the character’s level and Elemental Mastery.

As long as Quicken remains on the enemy, any hits that apply Electro will trigger Aggravate. This makes Aggravate teams fairly easy to play. Make sure your Electro DPS character has some combination of Elemental Mastery and CRIT stats.

You can add Hydro to an Aggravate team to get some bonus Hyperblooms in. Too much Hydro can eat away at your Quicken aura though, so if you’re finding that you’re not triggering Aggravate, consider removing/lowering your Hydro application or pivoting to a full Hyperbloom team.

Spread: Quicken + Dendro

Applying Dendro to an enemy affected by Quicken will trigger Spread. Like Aggravate, Spread increases the damage of the triggering attack by a flat value.

When an enemy has the Quicken status, further hits that apply Dendro will trigger Spread. As long as you have a Dendro and Electro character on your team, Spread teams tend to be quite forgiving and easy to play.