Genshin Impact Archon Quest Order and AR Requirements

El Genshin Impact Archon Quests are released act by act, and each act lists its own Adventure Rank and the quest it follows. This guide puts every act in one table from HoYoverse’s own update notes, current for Version 7.1 (23 September 2026), and separates three things that are easy to mix up: travelling to a region, the standard conditions to start its story, and time-limited Quick Start functions.

In our reading, Archon Quests form the main story line of Genshin Impact. The update notes reviewed here document Adventure Rank requirements and prerequisites for many acts, but not every act. The “order” below is the chapter sequence the notes use. Some acts also pull in Story Quests, and a few chapters can be entered by a shortcut.

Three numbers matter most when you are checking whether you can start something:

The table lists every act in the order HoYoverse released it, which is also the order the prerequisites chain them. Each row cites the version note that states it; a value from an older note can change later, and the newest note for that act is the one shown. Where a cell says “Not stated”, the update notes we checked (Version 1.1 onward) give no value. Interlude acts sit where they were released, because each one waits for a specific main-story act.

Chapter VII: Act I lists Adventure Rank 18 and Prologue: Act III “Song of the Dragon and Freedom” as its only quest conditions. Completing that Prologue act automatically unlocks a Teleport Waypoint southwest of the Volkodlak Tundra in Snezhnaya, with a Primogem reward, and the waypoint appears after the update if you had already finished the act. The 7.0 notes then say travelers who meet the requirements can use the waypoint to begin Act I even without the preceding Archon Quests, naming “Song of the Welkin Moon: Act X” as an example.

For what the four Chapter VII acts open up once you are in, see our breakdown of what Chapter VII Acts I – IV unlock. Acts III and IV arrived with Version 7.1 and are permanently available.

Getting to Nod-Krai and starting its story are separate. The Luna I notes say completing Prologue: Act III “Song of the Dragon and Freedom” automatically unlocks a Teleport Waypoint south of Nasha Town in Nod-Krai, so you can travel there long before Paralogism.

The story is gated differently. Song of the Welkin Moon: Act I lists AR 28, the Prelude “The Journey Home” and Interlude: Act IV “Paralogism”. The Prelude itself lists AR 28 and Chapter V: Act VI “A Space and Time for You” (5.8 notes), and Paralogism lists AR 40. That is the standard path, laid out below; time-limited Quick Start functions are covered in their own section.

The Version 5.0 notes list Adventure Rank 40 for Act I, which also needs Chapter IV: Act VI “Bedtime Story”, and for Act II, which needs Act I. The later notes (5.1 and 5.7) list AR 28 for Acts III and IV, the Interlude “All Fires Fuel the Flame”, Act V and Act VI, each after the previous act. No note we read says Acts I and II were lowered, so treat the two numbers as the listed values for different acts.

If an act will not start and your AR is high enough, check whether it wants a Story Quest or World Quest first. The cases the notes list:

Interlude Chapter

Act I needs Chapter I: Act III. Act II “Perilous Trail” needs Chapter I: Act III, Raiden Shogun’s Story Quest “Imperatrix Umbrosa Chapter: Act II”, Arataki Itto’s “Taurus Iracundus Chapter: Act I” and the World Quests “Wherefore Did the Spiritstone Descend?” and “A Teapot to Call Home: Part I” (Version 2.7). Act III needs Kazuha’s Story Quest “A Strange and Friendless Road” and Chapter III: Act V. Act IV needs Albedo’s “Traveler Observation Report” plus Act III.

Chapter II: Act II

Besides AR 30 and Act I, it lists Kamisato Ayaka’s Story Quest “Grus Nivis Chapter: Act I” and Yoimiya’s “Carassius Auratus Chapter: Act I”.

Quick Start lets you accept a new Archon Quest act while keeping your current Archon Quest progress. The notes attach it to specific acts, with its own criteria and, for most, an end. None of them is restated in the 7.0 or 7.1 notes, so treat each as unconfirmed for 7.1 until your Quest menu shows it.

Focused Experience Mode is not time-limited. It arrived in Version 4.6: you turn it on for certain quests in the Quest menu, and it stops the locations and characters of that quest from being taken by other quests. Using it requires Prologue: Act III. The notes list it act by act, for example on Chapter VII Acts I to IV.

Sources and Confidence

This table separates what the studio has confirmed and what is not confirmed yet.