Genshin Impact Elemental Gauge - An Important Hidden Index Explained!

Also known as Gauge Unit, Elemental Gauge is an important hidden index. It explains how elemental reactions work as well as the power rank of elements and the character's ICD. Check out what the Genshin Impact Elemental Gauge is and how to make it useful.

I. Elemental Gauge Explained

In Genshin Impact, when a character marks the target with their element, the Elemental Aura will disappear after a certain period of time. But how long is its duration? Why can this character use his elemental burst once only while that character can release her burst twice or three times? Understanding Gauge Unit helps you explain these phenomena.

When an Elemental Aura is created, its duration depends on its power based on its theory. The stronger the elemental application is, the longer its aura exists. But some elemental applications do not create the aura, such as Geo and Anemo.

II. Elemental Aura Duration

Most elemental skills and bursts in Genshin Impact apply  1/1.5/2/4/8 Units of Elemental Gauge. But 8 GU attacks only appeared in the Fayz Trial event during update 3.0. Keep in mind that the Aura of a 2-GU elemental attack does not exist twice as long as that of a 1-GU elemental attack.

As calculated, the 1-GU Aura lasts for 9.5 seconds while the 2-GU Aura lasts for 12 seconds and a 4-GU Aura disappears after 17 seconds. However, Hoyoverse put a 20% tax on all elemental gauges. Therefore, a 1U attack creates an 0.8U Aura, and an 8U attack creates a 6.4U Aura.

Besides, the Aura decay rate is inversely proportional to the Base Duration. For example, the decay rate of a 1U attack is 11.875 seconds per Unit while the decay rate of an 8U attack is only 4.21875 seconds per Unit.

III. Strong & Weak Element Examples

The theory seems to be too complicated to understand. But it helps you find out the strongest and weakest elements as well as the best elemental order to trigger the strongest reactions. An elemental reaction needs at least two elements.

The stronger element will consume more Gauge Units than the weaker element to deal higher damage to the target. It's obvious in two elemental reactions, including Melt and Vaporize. Check out this example to make it easier to understand this point.

• When applying the Hydro element on the Pyro Aura to trigger the Vaporize, it causes x2 damage.
• But if you use the Pyro elemental attack on the Hydro Aura to trigger the Melt reaction, it causes only x1.5 damage. It means that the Hydro element is stronger than the Pyro element in this pair.

This example is helpful in destroying elemental shields. For example, Hydro characters with constant elemental application abilities are very useful to break the shield of Pyro Spiral Abyss Mages.

When you release the Kazuha's elemental burst on a target with many elemental auras, the reaction order will be Transformative first, then Amplifying, and Swirl at last.

>>> Also Read: What Is Hypercarry In Genshin Impact & Best Hypercarry Teams To Build