Natlan F2P Progression Guide 2026: How to Clear All Content Without Spending a Single Wish

I started a second account when Natlan dropped because I wanted to see if you could actually clear everything with just the free characters and the starter wish pulls. 180 days later, I've cleared Abyss Floor 12, maxed the Statue of the Seven, and have 40,000 Primogems saved. Here's exactly how.

The free characters you actually get in Natlan

Hoyo gives you more free stuff in Natlan than any previous region. You get a free Kachina just for completing the Natlan Archon Quest prologue. You also get a free 4-star selector at the 5.0 flagship event ("Traces of Artistry"), which includes all Natlan 4-stars plus standard banner characters. Pick Kachina if you don't have her at C1 yet. If you do, pick Xingqiu or Xiangling — they're still the best 4-stars in the game and both work perfectly with Natlan characters.

You also get the craftable sword "Flute of Ezpitzal" from the Natlan quest chain, which is genuinely good on any sword character who uses elemental skills. Not "good for a craftable" — actually good. At R5 it gives 32% skill DMG bonus and 16% ATK after using a skill. That's competitive with some 5-star weapons on skill-focused characters.

The total free Primogems from permanent Natlan content (Archon Quest, exploration, Statue of the Seven, Tree of Dreams equivalent, world quests) is roughly 18,000 to 22,000. That's about 110 to 137 wishes. Add dailies and events over 3 months and you're looking at around 200 wishes total without spending a dime.

The F2P team that actually works

Here's the team I used to clear Floor 12: Kachina (C1, free) / Xiangling (C3, free from Abyss) / Barbara (free) / Collei (free from Abyss Floor 4). This sounds like a meme team. It's not. Kachina provides Nightsoul-aligned Geo application that triggers Crystallize, Xiangling snapshots the Crystallize shields for off-field Pyro damage, Barbara applies Hydro for Vaporize reactions, and Collei provides Dendro for Burgeon and Burning setups. The rotation is dead simple: Kachina skill → Collei skill+burst → Barbara skill → Xiangling skill+burst → Kachina burst. You get Crystallize shields, occasional Vaporize, and consistent Burgeon triggers.

For single-target bosses, swap Collei for Kaeya (free). Kaeya-Barbara freeze into Xiangling Melt hits harder than you'd think. My Xiangling is built with The Catch R5, 4-piece Emblem, and she was hitting 45K Vaporize crits with this setup. Not speedrun numbers, but enough to 6-star Floor 12.

If you pulled any limited 5-star, slot them in. Mavuika replaces Xiangling and doubles the team damage. Xilonen replaces Kachina and gives shred. But the point is: you don't need them.

Primo management: what to skip

The weapon banner is a trap for F2P. Always. Even in Natlan where the weapon banner has a pity system — you still need up to 160 wishes to guarantee a specific weapon. That's an entire character guarantee. The only time to consider it is if both featured weapons are good for your account and you'd be happy with either. This happens roughly once a year.

The Chronicled Wish banner is also bait for F2P. The pity is separate from the standard character banner and resets each patch. Unless you have 180 wishes saved and a specific target, skip it.

Constellation chasing is the third trap. C1 and C2 are deliberately designed to feel "close" to C0. They're not. Most characters function perfectly at C0. The only C1 I'd recommend for F2P is Hu Tao's (removes charged attack stamina consumption), and she's not even a Natlan character.

Here's my wish priority for F2P players in 2026: Archons first (Mavuika, Furina, Nahida, Raiden — in that order) → top-tier supports (Xilonen, Kazuha, Yelan) → DPS you actually enjoy playing. A well-built support will improve every team you put them in. A DPS only improves one team.

Bosses with free characters — no gacha required

Gluttonous Yumkasaur Mountain King (Mavuika ascension boss): Bring Kachina (free), Noelle (free from beginner banner), Kaeya (free), Barbara (free). The boss's charge attack is shield-check. Noelle's shield tanks it. Pop Noelle skill, swap to Kachina for Nightsoul damage during the DPS window, Kaeya for Cryo application on the tail weak point, Barbara to heal chip damage. Takes about 3 minutes per kill. Not fast, but zero deaths.

Goldflame Qucusaur Tyrant (Kinich/Mualani ascension): Same team. The boss flies. Wait. Let it land. It always lands after the dive-bomb attack. Hit it with Kachina's drill during the grounded phase, Kaeya burst for off-field Cryo, Noelle for shield when it takes off again. The key is patience — don't chase it in the air, just wait for the landing cycle.

Secret Source Automaton (Xilonen ascension): Xiangling/Barbara Vaporize team. The Automaton's shield phase requires blunt damage or overload. Xiangling burst + Barbara normal attacks trigger enough Vaporize and Overload (from Guoba's self-Pyro) to break the shield in two cycles. Not the fastest method but works every time.

Artifact farming without resin waste

Do not farm artifact domains before AR45. The 5-star artifact drop rate before AR45 is abysmal — roughly 30% per 20-resin run. At AR45, the highest-level domain guarantees one 5-star artifact per run and has a chance for a second. Every resin spent before AR45 on artifacts is resin you'll never get back.

For Natlan characters, Obsidian Codex and Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City are in the same domain. That's a massive efficiency win — you can gear both your DPS (Codex) and your support (Scroll) from one domain. Farm this domain for at least a month. Don't chase perfect substats. Get the correct main stat on each piece with any substats and move on. A character with all correct main stats on 2-piece/2-piece with good substats will outperform a character with a 4-piece set and terrible substats.

Level your talents before farming for perfect artifacts. A talent level from 8 to 9 is a 6-7% damage increase. Getting a slightly better artifact flower is maybe 1-2%. Talents are guaranteed. Artifacts are gambling.

Exploration efficiency — what actually matters

Max the Statue of the Seven first. Each level increases your maximum Phlogiston, which extends Saurian Indwelling duration. At statue level 10, you can indwell a Saurian for 45 seconds instead of 20. That's the difference between reaching a floating platform and falling into the void.

The Children of Echoes tribe reputation should be your second priority. Their max-rank gadget reveals underground cave entrances on the minimap. Natlan has more underground areas than any previous region, and many oculi and chests are hidden in cave systems that have no visible entrance without this gadget.

Don't bother marking every oculus on the interactive map. Use the Oculus Resonance Stone instead. You get one for free from the Natlan reputation system at level 2. Craft more using Electro Crystals and Glaze Lilies — both are abundant in Natlan. One resonance stone covers a massive area and marks the oculus directly on your minimap. Interactive maps are for completionists; resonance stones are for efficiency.

The 90-wish rule

Never spend wishes unless you have 90. Soft pity starts at wish 74, but the guarantee doesn't kick in until 90. If you spend 30 wishes on a banner and don't get the character, those 30 wishes are effectively wasted because pity doesn't carry across limited/standard banners in any useful way. Save until 90, then wish. If you get the character early (before 74), those extra wishes roll over to your next 90-bank.

I skipped Kinich, Mualani, and Citlali on my F2P account. Waited for Mavuika with 170 wishes saved. Got her at 78 pity, lost 50/50 to Qiqi (inevitable), got Mavuika at 76 pity on guarantee. 154 wishes total. Still had 16 wishes left plus whatever I earned during her banner. That discipline is the only reason F2P accounts succeed.