Genshin Impact 7.1 in October 2026: a phone plan

It is 5 October 2026, and Genshin Impact is on version 7.1, "A Rekviem for the Underworld." The patch launched on 23 September and runs into early November. Snezhnaya is no longer a trailer. The Archon Quest is on Chapter VII, Act IV. Vesna and Vodyanitsa are the new five-stars tied to Stellar Swirl. A highlight video will tell you to pull both, clear Moonchase, and also prep the Abyss. On a phone that plan dies in the first evening. The handset gets hot, resin runs out, and a normal account does not have two limited five-stars sitting in the bag.

I would play October by the calendar, not by the trailer. The version has an end date. Moonchase in Liyue is limited. Imaginarium Theater already rotated on 1 October, and the next season is 1 November. A new Spiral Abyss lands on 16 October. Those are four different reward bins. None of them wait while you drag a new character to level 90.

What this patch actually is

7.1 keeps pushing Snezhnaya and puts Ronova, the Ruler of Death, in the plot. The story chapter uses the same name as the version. Clear it in the first week of October even if you do not care about combat rankings. HoYoverse gates teleports, chests, and slices of the event behind the Archon Quest. Saving the story for a holiday, inside a patch that ends in early November, means you will be sprinting it in the last three days next to a closing event shop.

Vesna is a five-star Anemo sword user. Vodyanitsa is a five-star Hydro catalyst. Both lean on Stellar Swirl. That is not "another Anemo support for the bench." If you already have a team that clears Abyss and Theater, a new reaction does not have to become your personality this week. The reaction looks strongest where the patch feeds it: Abyss blessings, event enemies, Theater seasons. Outside that window your old team often does the same work for zero pulls.

A phone is a limit, not an excuse

On a mid-range Android phone, Snezhnaya and a festival Liyue drain the battery faster than old Mondstadt. If the case is warmer than your palm during a story conversation, drop shadows, crowd density, and frame rate to a stable 30. Pretty fog does not pay primogems. A crash in the middle of a cutscene does the opposite.

What I leave on for the whole month:

Shadows and crowd below high.
30 fps if taps start missing after fifteen minutes.
Keep the audio. On story scenes it matters more than anti-aliasing.
Play on a charger only if the battery is not swelling from heat. A phone sitting at high temperature ends the session sooner than empty resin.

If the 7.1 client grew and you have less than a couple of gigabytes free, delete screen recordings and old installers first. HoYoverse updates want room to unpack. "Not enough storage" always arrives on the day the event timer is already running.

Where the hours go from 5 October to 16 October

The new Abyss is still more than a week away. That is the right window for story and Moonchase, not for dumping fragile resin into a character you have not decided to keep.

An order that does not fall apart:

Claim version mail and any login compensation while it is still in the box. HoYoverse mail expires. "Later" is how rewards die.
Play the story act until the new teleports open. Do not chase exploration percent the same night.
Open Moonchase and see which tasks need co-op and which are solo. Save co-op for an evening when someone is actually online.
Touch Imaginarium Theater, live since 1 October, only if you already have a bench of built characters across elements. A new account will not clear it. That is fine.
Hold pulls until you have tried Vesna or Vodyanitsa in the trial. Trials lie upward, but a completely empty hit is still information.

I would not spend fragile resin and one-time bonuses before 16 October on "I'll build someone early." The Abyss blessing can change who is even worth feeding. One day after the reset tells you more than a week of theory posts.

Pulls: Vesna, Vodyanitsa, and why both is a bad idea

One pull is 160 primogems. Ten pulls are 1,600. Soft pity on the character banner is still around 90, and a lost 50/50 carries the guarantee to the next five-star. From a cold start, budgeting up to 180 pulls for a specific character is the honest number. That is 28,800 primogems if luck is awful. Dailies, Abyss, and one version of events do not cover it. A stash you did not touch for several patches covers it. So does a wallet.

The October rule is simple. Under 70 pulls and no guarantee, you pick one. Not "ten here and ten there." Ten pulls are not half a character. They are noise.

If you like both:

Take Vesna if the team is missing Anemo damage and grouping, and Hydro is already covered by someone you actually play.
Take Vodyanitsa if your Hydro slot is still a level 70 Barbara and you resent every rotation.
Take neither if the current team clears dailies in twenty minutes and you are saving for a specific character next patch. 7.1 will end. Your stash does not have to.

I would not pull the signature weapon from a phone account with a thin stash. The weapon banner can still walk you past the one you want. A character without the signature still plays. A signature without the character is an expensive shelf.

Abyss on 16 October, and Theater

The new Abyss season is set for 16 October. Until then the current season still pays if you have not cleared it. Clear what you can with the teams you already own. Do not rebuild three days before reset because Vesna looked good in a trailer.

Theater is a different problem. The first season has been up since 1 October. The next one arrives 1 November, close to the end of the version. Theater wants a bench, not one hypercarry. If you have four strong characters and twelve naked ones, October Theater will not be saved by pulling Vesna. You will hit a slot that wants another element. Take the stars your roster can actually take. Do not buy Genesis Crystals to finish the last act. That last act almost never pays for itself on a phone you play in short bursts.

Resin, without the heroics

About 180 original resin regenerates per day if you are not spending extra. That is not an infinite afternoon. On a phone I split it like this:

Before you pick a banner: world bosses and talent books for characters you already play.
After you actually get the new character: one boss for them, talents to 6/6/6, and only then an eighth talent level if it changes the rotation.
Artifacts last. It is easy in 7.1 to burn two weeks in a domain and come out with a DEF hat. A character with average sets and raised talents kills event mobs. A character at 1/1/1 in a perfect goblet does not.

Do not raise two new five-stars at once, even if both somehow dropped. You will not have the resin before the version ends, and you will be playing two raw characters instead of one finished team.

If you are coming back after a long break

Do not try to "catch the region" over a weekend. Snezhnaya from zero on a phone is dozens of hours of running. Follow the story quest, grab teleports on the way, and skip a chest if the puzzle wants twenty minutes at 12 percent battery. Puzzles survive 7.1. The event shop does not.

Open the party screen and build one team from people who are already geared. New reactions can wait until that team feels familiar again. People quit a patch because the first evening tries to teach four systems at once: story, banner, Theater, and a new reaction. Leave the evening for story and mail. Open the banner the next day, after the trial.

If the account is new

7.1 is a fair time to start, not because "everyone is strong," but because the map is still full of one-time primogems you have not opened. Do not dump them into the first banner the hour you install. Finish the prologue while the game is still teaching elements, then decide if you care about Stellar Swirl. A new player who burns the starter pulls on day one sits a month later with no guarantee and no team. A new player who reaches Snezhnaya on free characters plus one chosen five-star at least knows what they are playing.

On the phone, open controls and move the burst off the movement thumb. It is a boring tip. It saves more sessions than any artifact guide.

What I would not buy this month

Genesis Crystals "so I can get both" are the worst purchase in October. Welkin is more honest if you already log in every day and will finish it before the version ends: resin, books, and a known pile of primogems, not a roulette wheel. Do not spend on Moonchase cosmetics you do not actually like. In a month nobody will remember the decoration. The hole in the team will still be there.

The other trap is bought accounts and "we'll build it for you." The patch lives until November. An account bought from a stranger lives until the first email check. Skip it.

How you know October went fine

By the end of the month you want three checkmarks, not a full roster. The story act is done. Moonchase is taken as far as your evenings allowed, without an all-nighter. The Abyss after 16 October is cleared on the floor your old team can still live on. If Vesna or Vodyanitsa also showed up and you got talents to sixes, the month worked. If nobody showed up and the stash is intact, the month also worked. In Genshin people regret pulls more often than they regret a banner they skipped.

FAQ

When does version 7.1 end? It started on 23 September 2026 and is scheduled to run into early November. The exact timer is in the game. Use that, not a recap.

Do I have to pull Vesna and Vodyanitsa? No. They are strong new characters for Stellar Swirl. They are not a damage subscription. One target with a small stash beats two half-pulls.

When is Abyss? The new season is planned for 16 October 2026. Until then the current season still pays if you have not claimed it.

Is Snezhnaya heavy on a phone? Yes. Newer areas cost more than the old ones. Stable 30 fps and low shadows beat a crash during a cutscene.

Is October 2026 a good time to start Genshin? Yes, if you can play in short sessions and you will not burn starter pulls on night one. No, if you want full endgame in a week. Theater and Abyss do not work that way.