Genshin Impact’s Lantern Rite is a beautiful, annual festival, where the people of Liyue celebrate the beginning of a new year. With heaps of fun events and minigames to enjoy, and even more awesome goodies up for grabs, there’s plenty to be excited about.
To keep up to date with everything else going on in Teyvat, be sure to check out our Genshin Impact events and Genshin Impact leaks guides. We’ve also got our list of all the latest Genshin Impact codes to help you on your way.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite 2025:
When is the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite 2025?
The Genshin Impact Lantern Rite 2025 ran from Friday, January 24 until Sunday, 9 February. Entitled Springtime Charms, it ran throughout phase two of version 5.3, coinciding with Arlecchino and Chlorinde‘s banners, as well as a Chronicled Wish banner.
While Hoyoverse is yet to announce anything, we think it’s highly likely that we’ll see another Lantern Rite around January to February 2026. Of course, we’ll be sure to update this guide as soon as we get more info. In the meantime, you can check out what to expect from future Lantern Rite festivals by taking a look at 2025’s rewards and minigames below.
What are the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite 2025 prerequisites?
In order to participate in the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite 2025 you needed to be adventure rank 20 or higher, and to have completed the Archon Quest Prologue: Act III “Song of the Dragon and Freedom”.
Additionally, Hoyoverse recommended that you complete the Archon Quest “Incandescent Ode of Resurrection”, and the Story Quests “Lagenaria Chapter: Act I” (Baizhu’s story quest) and “Papilio Charontis Chapter: Act I” (Hu Tao’s story quest) first to get the best experience from the event.
What are the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite 2025 events?
As always, the Genshin Impact Lantern Rite 2025 saw the streets of Liyue lit up with not only lanterns, but also plenty of festivities and fun minigames.
This year is no exception, with a variety of puzzles and challenges inspired by Liyue’s culture and a whole heap of rewards for you to claim. The Lantern Rite 2025 games include the following:
Immortal Combat
Use rattan figures to duel against other characters (or other players) in this cute, Tetris-style minigame. Adjust falling blocks to line them up and connect multiple blocks of the same type to deal damage to your opponents and take home the victory.
Drills by Lamplight
In this limited-time combat event, you must form a team and select from a variety of different Secret Strategems to help you face your enemies. Then, complete goals on the battlefield to trigger the strategems, defeat opponents, and aim for the highest score.
Gift Envelopes
To spread the festive spirit, your friends from Liyue and beyond are asking for your help to decorate gift envelopes to send to their pals. Head to handicraft stalls in-game and let your creative side show to earn rewards and witness cute encounters – you can even send your very own gift envelopes to other Travelers!
Lantern Rite 2025 free character
Each year, the Lantern Rite gives us the opportunity to claim one free four-star character from Liyue. 2025’s invitation event, named Lantern-Lit Gathering, required you to gather festive cheer by participating in other Lantern Rite games. Once you hit a certain amount, you could choose any four-star character from Liyue, including the new anemo catalyst user, Lan Yan.
Here are the free Genshin Impact characters you could choose from during the 2025 Lantern Rite:
 Beidou |
 Ningguang |
 Xiangling |
 Xingqiu |
 Chongyun |
 Xinyan |
 Yanfei |
 Yun Jin |
 Yaoyao |
 Gaming |
 Lan Yan |
If you’re wondering which free Genshin Impact character you should choose, it depends on which ones you’ve already got, and who you use – you could take this opportunity to snap up a new character you haven’t got yet, or to collect some constellations for your fave! You can also look at our Genshin Impact tier list to see which characters are performing best and make your decision based on that.
In addition to the free four-star character, the Lantern Rite 2025 also ushered in a new Chronicled Wish, where you could select one of seven five-star characters or nine five-star weapons to pull for on a limited banner.
The version 5.3 Chronicled Wish featured the following five-star characters:
- Genshin Impact’s Baizhu
- Genshin Impact’s Shenhe
- Genshin Impact’s Keqing
- Genshin Impact’s Ganyu
- Genshin Impact’s Xiao
- Genshin Impact’s Childe (Tartaglia)
- Genshin Impact’s Qiqi
The version 5.3 Chronicled Wish featured the following five-star weapons:
- Primordial Jade Cutter (sword)
- Summit Shaper (sword)
- The Unforged (claymore)
- Calamity Queller (polearm)
- Primordial Jade-Winged Spear (polearm)
- Jadefall’s Splendor (catalyst)
- Memory of Dust (catalyst)
- Polar Star (bow)
- Amos’ Bow (bow)
If you want to learn more about the current and upcoming event wishes, be sure to check out our full Genshin Impact banner guide.
New Genshin Impact Lantern Rite skins
Lantern Rite 2025 introduced new Genshin Impact skins for Hu Tao and Xiangling. Xiangling’s outfit, entitled New Year’s Cheer, sees her kitted out in an adorable red coat and a Guoba-inspired hat. You can claim a free copy of this skin by participating in the Lantern Rite event.
Hu Tao‘s outfit, named Cherries Snow-Laden, is styled in a palette lighter than that of her normal ceremonial wear, as it’s actually a gift from her good friend Xiangling. Featuring an adorable red and white cloak, cape, and cap combo with thigh-high socks, it’s perfect for chasing down customers and selling coffins! Hu Tao’s new outfit will be available for a reduced price of 1,350 genesis crystals throughout the version 5.3 update, but will go up to the full price of 1,680 genesis crystals from version 5.4 onwards.
And that’s it for our Genshin Impact Lantern Rite guide. If you’re looking for another escape outside the world of Teyvat, be sure to check out our best mobile RPGs to find a new adventure today.