Genshin Impact – How to Unlock Free “Stand by Me” Character

The Lantern Rite event in Genshin Impact will allow fans to grab a free character via the “Stand By Me” promo, but they’ll have to put some work in before walking away with one of the six available heroes. If you want to net a free “Stand By Me” character you’ll have to keep up with the Lantern Rite event, meaning you’ll want to clear damn near everything on offer.

The “Stand By Me” free character from the Lantern Rite event in Genshin Impact is locked behind max Festive Fever and costs 1000 Peace Talismans.

To grab your free character from “Stand By Me” you’ll have to actively participate in Genshin Impact’s Lantern Rite event. There are three key portions to the event, and each blocks and unlocks specific segments of the others. We have a full Genshin Impact Lantern Rite event guide here detailing how everything snaps together, but to summarize it all here: you need to complete all three of the “All That Glitters” event story quests and reach the max Festive Fever rank to even unlock access to the “Stand By Me” free characters.

The Lantern Rite “All That Glitters” story quests are the most important of the above to complete, since they gate the Lantern Rite Tales required to raise your Festive Fever rank in the event. These story quests are easy enough to knock out though, their sole major limitation being time. The first “All That Glitters” quest unlocks the Lantern Rite event proper, and the last two – “Currents Deep Beneath the Lanterns” and “Light Upon the Sea” – won’t be available until February 14th and 18th respectively. Wrap these up as soon as they drop.

To increase your Festive Fever to the max “Glow of a Thousand Lanterns” rank you’ll need to not only finish the “All That Glitters” quests, but clear all the Lantern Rite Tales side quests on offer. Think of Festive Fever as reputation: each Lantern Rite Tales side quest will award you a set amount, and once you’ve earned enough you’ll go up a rank. There are three ranks total, and you have to reach the max “Glow of a Thousand Lanterns”  rank to access the “Stand By Me” free characters.

The final hurdle isn’t too hard to clear: you’ll need 1000 Peace Talismans to purchase your free “Stand By Me” character. I have a full guide on how to earn these here, but to once again summarize: complete Theater Mechanicus challenges to earn Peace Talismans. There are three sets of challenges, each locked behind a specific Lantern Rite Festive Fever rank. In short, you won’t have any issues accessing these challenges if you are keeping up with your Festive Fever rank in Genshin Impact’s Lantern Rite event. You will need Xiao Lanterns to participate in both Lantern Rite Tales side quests and the Theater Mechanicus activity though, and you can learn how to craft them here.

Once you’ve reached “Glow of a Thousand Lanterns” and have 1000 Peace Talismans in hand you can visit the “Stand By Me” tab within the Lantern Rite event page in Genshin Impact. You will have your choice of one of the six Liyue 4-stars available. These characters are:

• Xiangling – Pyro/Polearm damage-dealer.
• Xinyan – Pyro/Claymore damage-dealer.
• Beidou – Electro/Claymore damage-dealer.
• Ningguang – Geo/Catalyst damage-dealer.
• Xingqiu – Hydro/Sword support or damage-dealer.
• Chongyun – Cryo/Claymore support or damage-dealer.

Each is solid in their own right, though Ningguang arguably leads the pack. Remember, you only get one free character from “Stand By Me.” While the Lantern Rite event in Genshin Impact ends February 28th, “Stand By Me” will remain open until March 7th, so feel free to take a little time to figure out which free character works best for you.