Genshin Impact: Of Thorns and Crowns teams and strategy guide (Stage 1)

Of Thorns and Crowns is one of the many exciting new events introduced in version 5.0 of Genshin Impact. It is a combat-based event with five stages, and each stage is divided into two separate modes. During the challenge, you must defeat enemies and complete a certain objective in the first round to gain special buffs that will help you get a higher score in the second round.

There is a certain team-building strategy and thought process that must go into building the correct teams for both rounds. The teams must be able to accomplish the objective swiftly, and easily be able to utilize the special buffs.

That being said, this article will provide a brief teams and strategy guide for Stage 1 of the "Of Thorns and Crowns" event in Genshin Impact.

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Genshin Impact: Of Thorns and Crowns Event Overview and Duration

The "Of Thorns and Crowns" event will be available from September 20, 2024, at 10 am (UTC+8), till September 30, 2024, at 3:59 am (UTC+8). To be eligible to take part in the event, you must be at least Adventure Rank 20 or above and have completed the Archon Quest Prologue: Act III "Song of the Dragon and Freedom."

The event will have five different stages that will become available over the course of five days. As mentioned above, each stage in the event will be divided into two separate combat modes: Trial of Thorns and Canticle of Crowns.

In the Trial of Thorns combat mode, you must complete a certain objective within the given time limit. Doing so will grant special buffs that you can use in the Canticle of Crowns mode. The better you do at completing the objectives in Trial of Thorns, the more buffs you will have in the Canticle of Crowns mode.

In the Canticle of Crowns combat mode, you must utilize the buffs you have acquired and defeat as many enemies as possible within the given time. The more enemies you defeat, the higher the score you get, granting you more rewards.

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Of Thorns and Crowns event (Stage 1) Teams and Strategy guide in Genshin Impact

Trial of Thorns

Of Thorns and Crowns event (Stage 1): Trial of Thorns objective and team setup (Image via HoYoverse)

In the Trial of Thorns mode of the first stage, your objective is to break the Praetorian Golem's Geo shield within the given time limit. You must break 10 Praetorian Golems' Geo shields to be able to get all the buffs for the Canticle of Crowns mode.

The Praetorian Golem's Geo shield can easily be broken by a Geo character, especially if they use a Claymore. To that end, you can also use the two trial characters (Navia and Kachina) that have been provided to swiftly complete the challenge. Apart from them, Zhongli, Aratki Itto, and Noelle can be viable options that break the Praetorian Golem's Geo shields.

Here are some recommended teams that you can use to complete the challenge's objective:

• Zhongli, Navia, Kachina, Bennett
• Zhongli, Arataki Itto, Kachina, Bennett
• Noelle, Kachina, Arataki Itto, Xiangling
• Navia, Bennett, Xiangling, Kachina
• Arataki Itto, Navia, Kachina, Bennett

Quick-swapping between your characters to use their Elemental Skills and Bursts more often to deal damage to the enemy's shields and defeating them swiftly will allow you to accomplish the Trial's objective and gain the maximum buffs that are available.

Once you have successfully completed the Trial of Thorns and acquired all the buffs, you can now proceed to the Canticle of Crowns.

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Canticle of Crowns

Of Thorns and Crowns event (Stage 1): Canticle of Crowns buffs and team setup (Image via HoYoverse)

The enemy lineup in the first stage of the Canticle of Crowns combat mode consists of waves of small and elite enemies, including Dendroshrooms, Tribal Warriors, Hydro Slimes, Hydro Mimic Boars, and Ruin Guards. The enemies will mostly come in waves of three or two, and you must defeat as many of them as possible before the time runs out to get a high score.

The buffs in the first stage of the Canticle of Crowns combat mode highly favor Dendro damage-dealing units. If you acquire all the buffs, then your characters will have increased Dendro DMG Bonus and Elemental Mastery, along with doing coordinated attacks with your active character's Normal Attacks that will also reduce the enemy's Dendro Resistance.

Keeping the enemy lineup and the buffs in mind, teams that deal Dendro AoE (Area of Effect) damage like the Hyperbloom, Burn, and Nilou Quickbloom will have a higher advantage in defeating the enemies. Characters like Nahida, Alhaitham, Kinich, and Emilie will perform well in the correct team compositions.

Here are some of these characters in various team recommendations that you can use:

• Nilou, Nahida, Xingqiu, Yaoyao/Baizhu
• Kinich, Xiangling, Emilie, Bennett
• Alhaitham, Nhida, Xingqiu, Kuki Shinobu
• Zhongli, Raiden Shogun, Furina, Nahida

You will need a total of 12,500 points to be able to collect all the rewards in the current stage of the "Of Thorns and Crowns" event.

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