Details of the new update 2.3 was showcased by miHoYo on Twitch on 12th November 2021.

The official name for this update is “Shadows Amidst Snowstorms”.

The livestream revealed lots of new information.

So let’s break it down and take a look at what’s going to come in update 2.3.

Characters

Gorou

The General of the Sangonomiya Resistance is joining the roster in the new update. He was first introduced in the Archon Quest in Update 2.0.

He is s 4 star bow character who wields the element Geo which is an unlikely combination and also is the fifth Geo character that was introduced.

Looking at his moveset his role is most likely to be a support.

His elemental skill “Inuzaka All-Round Defence” places a War Banner on the ground and deals and AoE Geo damage. Depending on the amount of Geo members in the party, it grants effects. One Geo member grants a defence bonus, Two Geo member grants a resistance to interuption bonus and lastly, Third Geo members grants a Geo damage bonus. All of these effects do stack on each other.

His Elemental Burst ” Juuga – Forward unto Victory” creates a special field known as “General’s Glory” which is a AoE Geo attack. It gives a buff to Geo party members and the field moves Gorou and active party memeber. It spawns a Crystal Collapse every 1.5 seconds which do a AoE damage.

Arataki Itto

The First and the Greatest Head of the Arataki Gang is joining the roster in the new update. He was first teased in Update 2.2 by voice lines and in-game Bulletin Board. He is decendant of the Oni heritage.

Later he was revealed on Genshin Impact’s twitter page and that tweet is currently the most liked tweet of all of the character announcement tweets to date, beating Raiden Shogun announcement tweet after two days of the announcement which had around 151k likes and 52.2k retweets.

He is a 5 star Claymore user who wields the Geo element and is the sixth Geo character and the 2nd character with this combination.

Looking at his moveset, looks like he is going to be a DPS character.

In his normal attack “Fight Club Legend”, normal attack performs up to four consecutive strikes where Itto gains two stacks of “Superlative Superstrength ” when his second and fourth hit hits the opponent. His normal attack combo won’t reset after a short time after using his elemental skill, which allows you to constantly swing his claymore. There is a max of five stacks. This effects refreshes the duration of existing stacks.

When you hold for a charge attack, he uses “Arataki Kesagiri”, slashes without using stamina. Each slash will consume one stack of “Superlative Strenght” and when the final stack is used, he will unleash a powerful attack.

His Elemental Skill “Bloodline of the Crimson”, he throws Ushi, a young Akaushi Bull which deals Geo damage. When it hits an opponent Itto gets one stack of “Superlative Superstrenght”. It is a Geo construct which means it will continue to support by taunting opponents. It will flee when his health reaches 0 or the duration ends, granting Itto one stack of Superlative Superstrength.

His Elemental Burst “Royal Descent: Behold, Itto the Evil!” he will release his inner Raging Oni King in battle which gives special properties:

• Normal, charged, and plunging attacks are converted to Geo damage
• His elemental and physical resistance drops in Raging Oni King state but attack increases based on his defence, his attack speed also increases
• The first and third combos of his normal attack grants him one stack of Superlative Superstrength” when it hits opponents
• The state clears when he leaves the battlefield

Banner

In this banner miHoYo is changing things up introducing three banners in this update.

On the first half of the update, there will be not only be two banners but also both of them will be reruns of previous banners of Albedo and Eula. They both will run simultaneously.

This is both of their second rerun. At this moment it is not revealed which 4 star character will be on these banners.

Both of the banner will have same pity/pull count which is considered as a really good news. This means if you wish 80 times on Albedo’s banner and switch to Eula, you’ll be guaranteed a 5 star (either 50/50 or banner character).

On the second half of the update there will be Itto’s banner. Gorou will be included in this banner.

The reason why they are doing this is because the number of characters in the game is increasing and takes a lot of time for their rerun to come. They are also introducing new heroes and are not adding any new characters to base 5 star pool. Doing this will get the current and new players get their favorite heroes much easier.

Hangout Quest

There are going to be two new addition to the Hangout Quest in the new update.

They will be Gorou and the “Queen of the Crux Fleet” Beidou. Currently there are a total of 9 Hangout Quest (two of it is Noelle’s quest).

Weapon and Artifacts

There are two new weapons that is coming in the new update. “Redhorn Stonethresher” a 5 star claymore and “Cinnabar Spindle” a 4 star sword.

“Redhorn Stonethresher” is going to be featured in the weapon banner but “Cinnabar Spindle” will be featured in a event which will be explained later.

There are two new artifacts that is also coming. “Husk of Opulent Dreams” and “Ocean-Hued Clam”.

“Husk of Opulent Dreams” is artifact which is BIS (best in slot) for Noelle and the upcoming Arataki Itto and Gorou as their abilities scales off of defence and also grants a geo damage bonus.

Equipping 2 piece grants 30% Defense and equipping 4 piece will obtain a Curiosity effect. When on the field, the charater gains 1 stack when hitting a opponent with a Geo attack. This will trigger a maximum of once every 0.3 secs and of the field grants 1 stack every 3 sec. Curiosity can stack up to 4 times and each stack grans 6% Def and 6% Geo damage bonus.

“Ocean-Hued Clam” is an artifactn which is BIS for healers such as Kokomi and Qiqi.

Equipping 2 piece grants a 15% healing bonus and equipping 4 piece will heal the characters in the party. A See-Dyed Form appears every 3 secs which accumulates the amount of HP recovered from healing. At the end of its duration it will explode dealing a AoE damage based on 90% of the accumulated healing. Only one Sea-Dyed Form will be active at a time and can accumulate up to 30,000 HP.

Weekly Boss

A new weekly boss in going to be introduced in the new update, “Golden Wolflord”.

It will be located in Tsurimi Island which was introduced in the last update.

“Golden Wolflord” is known as the king of the Rifhounds and Rifthound Whelps and can also apply the Corrosion status which causes all characters in your party to continuously lose HP regardless of any shields.

When it reaches a certain health, it will summon Rifthound Skulls to shield itself and its attacks increases with its resistance to Geo attacks decreases.

Events

Like the previous two updates, there will be four events that’s going to be featured in this update.

Shadows Amidst Snowstorms

The first event in this update is going to “Shadows Amidst Snowstorms”.

This event takes place in the mountain region known as “Dragonspine”.

Looking at the trailer Albedo, Eula, Bennet and Amber is going to be featured in the event but also they all are going to up against Albedo who is using Cryo attacks against them. Which came as a shock everyone as Albedo is a Geo character.

The Adventurer’s Guild have decided to hold a winter training camp in this area which you are also going to participate in it.

There will be three types of challenges in this event.

The first one is Agility Training, which will put your speed to the test in specially-designed race tracks with various buffs, collectible seals, and obstacles.

The second challenge is the Tracker Training which requires participants to spot and melt certain Ice Crystal Piles to collect Snowman Components.

The third challenge is a Combat Training. You will find special Lures emitting cold air, buffing a great number of enemies around. If you get closer, Sheer Cold will also accumulate at a faster rate. Luckily, you can switch the Lures to Heat Source mode by activating all three mechanics around you while carrying Scarlet Quartz.

During the event you will obtain varios Snowman Components in which you are able to make your Puffy Snowmen in-game. How cool is that!

You are also able to bring them into the Serenitea Pot.

Bantan Sango Case Files: The Warrior Dog

In this event you are going to lend a hand to the Bantan Sango Detective Agency by bringing back some animals who have been kidnapped.

Oddly enough, the gameplay of the event can be summed up by a mere sentence, “you are going to play Hide and Seek with some dogs”. Yes, you did read it correctly.

Canine Bunshin, a mysterious dogs and its illusionary copies are patrolling around and guarding some of the missing animal. To get them, you have to sneak past the guarding dogs by not getting to its area of sight and use a special Gadget Ubiquility Net to catch them. This event is giving off some Metal Gear vibes.

You are able to distract the watchdogs by using smoke machines and fireworks wisely. The other missing animals seem to be imprisoned at a location named the Den of Thieves. You can free them by defeating all of the animals.

You are also rewarded with the Omni-Ubiquility Net when you complete the event. The gadget will capture the essence of some smaller creatures and replicate their forms in the Serenitea Pot

Energy Amplifier Fruition

This is going to be a second time this event is coming back.

Some of the remaining Mutation Stones have started to surface, affecting the creatures around. You need to visit places of interest to destroy the stones and defeat the enemies contaminated.

Once they destroy all stones, travelers will get the energy amplifier and you will get this in Act I. This will boost specific abilities during the following stages of the event.

After the end of each act, a Deceitful Domain will unlock, players can customize the difficulty and conditions of the enemies in the domain.

Misty Dungeon: Realm of Light

This event was first introduced in Update 1.5 and is making a return with this update.

You are able to battle in Dungeons using not only your own characters but Trial Characters which are not the same one as you own.

You are unable to use food in the dungeon.

Marvelous Merchandise

This is an recurring event in this game and this is fourth time this event is getting featured.

During the event, you can look around for Liben the Merchant and he will exchange World Materials for Box of Marvels. Each box contains big rewards and may differ in each world.

After trading materials 5 times, you can get a Mega Box of Marvels with has big rewards.

Serenitea Pot

There is not much of an update to the Serenitea Pot other than the fact that you are now able to bring Paimon in your realm.

She also has new dialogue options which you can get in the pot.

That’s about all of the details revealed during the livestream

Are you excited for the new update?