How to play Genshin Impact on Android with a controller

Genshin Impact is one of the most popular “free-to-play” action RPGs in the world, helped by its support for mobile play on Android, iPhone, and iPad. A controller, of course, can potentially make any action game better, especially when compared with touchscreen inputs that block your view and smudge your display.

Unfortunately, Mihoyo doesn’t include official controller support fro the game, but there’s still a way to do it if you take the right steps.

Can you play Genshin Impact on Android with a controller?

Yes you can, although enabling controller support is a more convoluted than it needs to be. To even open up the option you need to watch the game’s opening cutscene, meet Paimon, then follow a tutorial teaching the game’s basic touchscreen controls, including a combat encounter. This is in contrast to many Android games, which let you use a USB or Bluetooth gamepad from the jump.

On top of that, you’ll need to re-pair every time, and the game doesn’t have official controller support on Android. That means using something like the Razer Kishi V2‘s Virtual Controller mode, or a third-party mapping app such as Mantis Gamepad Pro. We use the latter for this tutorial.

These applications work by mapping your connected controller to the touch screen controls via an overlay. You’ll still need to tap the screen to collect items, open menus, and perform various tasks, but it works well for combat and exploration. It’s not as smooth as official controller support, but considering that’s not an option on Android, it’s the best you’ll get.

How to play Genshin Impact on Android with a controller

Follow these steps to enable a controller:

• First, setup a controller mapping tool such as Mantis Gamepad Pro or Razer’s Virtual Controller. You may need to spend a little time here tailoring it for Genshin.
• Watch the game’s opening cutscene and complete Paimon’s tutorial if you haven’t already.
• Tap the Paimon menu, which is found in the top-left corner of the gameplay screen, next to the mini-map.
• Tap the gear icon to open the Settings menu, then choose Controls.
• Put your controller into pairing mode if it uses Bluetooth.
• Tap Control Type, then select Controller in the drop-down menu.
• Later, you can go back to the Controls menu to adjust camera sensitivity, or possibly invert the Y-axis (up-down movement) if you prefer aircraft-style controls. Don’t invert the X-axis.