Lunar Arcana are the prettiest thing in Genshin Impact that almost nobody can explain, because the system is buried three menus deep inside the hardest mode of an endgame activity most players skip. They are collectible tarot cards. There are 22 of them. And HoYoverse hands out exactly one per Imaginarium Theater season, to everyone, forever.
That last rule is the whole story, and it is the reason the game shipped a trading mechanic alongside the cards.
This page applies to Imaginarium Theater Season 27, which runs from 1 September to 1 October 2026, and to Version 7.1. Every rule below is transcribed from HoYoverse's own Lunar Mode announcement and the in-game item text, not from patch-note summaries.
Quick answer: Lunar Arcana are 22 collectible cards, numbered I to XXII, earned in Imaginarium Theater: Lunar Mode. You get them by clearing both Arcana Challenge events that appear during a run and then finishing the Act 10 Performance Challenge — after which you pick one card. HoYoverse's rule is blunt: "Each season of Imaginarium Theater grants every Traveler one Lunar Arcanum." Lunar Mode launched with Season 16 on 1 October 2025, so as of Season 27 the maximum any account can hold is 12 of 22. You trade the rest using the Lunar Arcana Case, a 4-star gadget, in Co-Op Mode outside the Serenitea Pot.
What are Lunar Arcana in Genshin Impact?
Lunar Arcana are collectible cards, and nothing else. They carry no stats, grant no combat buff, and cannot be used in a team. They sit in the Lunar Arcana Collection in the Theater Lobby, and each one is a full illustrated card with a verse of in-game text attached.
The set is modelled on the Major Arcana of a tarot deck, with one deliberate twist. In a real tarot deck The Fool is card 0. In Genshin, The Fool is card XXII — the last one, not the first — and its verse is written from the Traveler's point of view: "I am the void at the moment of creation, I am the newborn spark when all things end."
Each verse also points at something specific in Teyvat, without ever naming it outright. XIII: Death reads as Ronova. XVIII: The Moon reads as Celestia and the Frost Moon. XXI: The World reads as Irminsul. This is not decoration bolted onto a reward track — it is one of the densest blocks of cosmology text HoYoverse has published, delivered one card a month.
How do you get Lunar Arcana?
There is a gate before the gate. HoYoverse's own warning in the Lunar Mode announcement reads: "Lunar Mode unlocks once you've cleared Visionary Mode. It's a tough challenge, so make sure you're well-prepared!"
Once Lunar Mode is open, the loop per season is:
- Start a Lunar Mode performance. It has the same ten Acts as Visionary Mode.
- As your characters spend Vigor during the run, Arcana Challenge events appear. HoYoverse's wording: "once participating characters have consumed a certain amount of Vigor, up to two Arcana Challenge events may appear at the same time."
- Clear both of them. They can be entered and exited freely once unlocked, and they do not have to be done immediately — you can leave them and come back before Act 10.
- Finish the Act 10 Performance Challenge. Only then does the draw unlock: "Once you have completed all Arcana Challenge events, you can draw the special item, Lunar Arcana, after completing the Act 10 Performance Challenge."
- Pick your card.
The roster requirement is the real barrier, and it is steeper than Visionary Mode.
28 characters at Lv. 70 or above, with 4 additional slots available and one Supporting Cast character you can borrow. If you cannot field 28 levelled characters, Lunar Mode is closed to you this season regardless of how strong your best team is. This is an account-breadth check, not a damage check, which is why it filters out so many otherwise capable players.
One point where HoYoverse's two texts differ slightly and worth knowing: the announcement says to "choose the one you like best," while the in-game Lunar Mode: Arcana Challenge tutorial adds that "the Lunar Arcana that can be drawn will be determined to some degree by the characters taking part in the performance." Read together: you choose, but the pool you are choosing from is influenced by the roster you brought.
How many Lunar Arcana are there, and how long does the full set take?
There are 22, numbered I through XXII. And here is the number that reframes the entire system.
Lunar Mode did not launch with Imaginarium Theater. It arrived in Season 16, on 1 October 2025, alongside Luna I. Seasons run for exactly one calendar month. The current season, Season 27, opened on 1 September 2026.
| Milestone | Season | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lunar Mode launches | Season 16 | 1 October 2025 |
| Current season | Season 27 | 1 September 2026 |
| Seasons with Lunar Mode so far | 12 | — |
| Cards still unobtainable today | 10 of 22 | — |
| Earliest possible complete set, solo | Season 37 | July 2027 |
Twelve seasons have run since Lunar Mode went live. One card per season. So a Traveler who has cleared Lunar Mode perfectly every single month since launch, without missing one, holds at most 12 of the 22 cards right now. Ten cards are not merely unowned by most players — they are mathematically unobtainable by anyone playing alone, and the earliest the set can possibly close on a solo account is around July 2027, roughly Season 37.
That assumes a flawless streak and that you never need a card twice. Most accounts are well short of 12, because a single missed month is gone permanently — there is no catch-up, no backfill, and no way to buy a past season's card.
Which is exactly why the next mechanic exists.
How does Lunar Arcana trading work?
The trading system is not a community workaround. HoYoverse headlined the feature announcement with it: "Introducing Lunar Mode: Collect Lunar Arcana and trade them with friends!"
You need the Lunar Arcana Case, a 4-star Gadget. Its in-game description calls it "a card box given to you by a certain witch proficient in divination," and confirms the cards "may also be exchanged with friends in Co-Op Mode."
Getting the Case is a separate step from Lunar Mode, and a much easier one. Per HoYoverse's own footnote: "After completing the challenge and settlement in Imaginarium Theater: Visionary Mode, you can complete the related quest in the Theater Lobby to obtain the Lunar Arcana Case." So the Case comes off Visionary Mode plus a short Theater Lobby quest — you can hold the Case long before you can beat Lunar Mode.
To trade: enter Co-Op Mode outside the Serenitea Pot, use the Case, and send an exchange invitation to a friend. The gadget's interface has two actions, Exchange and Check.
Players are already running this at scale. One Traveler in r/GenshinImpactTips, replying to someone dismissing the cards as pointless, put it this way:
"As if those collectible cards aren't AMAZING and give achievements and look fabulous. We're all trading them between each other so we can catch all the pokemon arcana."
That is the correct mental model. Twenty-two cards, one draw a month, and an explicit trade function is a design that assumes you will swap duplicates with a friend group rather than grind toward completion alone.
All 22 Lunar Arcana cards and what each one alludes to
One caveat before the table. HoYoverse does not label these cards with a subject — each one carries only a verse of allusive poetry, with no name attached. The right-hand column below is the reading the community has settled on from the people, places and events each verse gestures at, not an official designation. A few are unmistakable, like XXII: The Fool addressing the Traveler in the first person. Others are inference.
| No. | Card | Who or what it alludes to |
|---|---|---|
| I | The Magician | Alice and the Hexenzirkel |
| II | The High Priestess | Rhinedottir |
| III | The Empress | Andersdotter |
| IV | The Emperor | The Belyi Tsar and the Heavenly Principles |
| V | The Hierophant | The Church of Favonius and Barbatos |
| VI | The Lovers | I. Ivanovna N. |
| VII | The Chariot | The Millelith |
| VIII | Strength | Saurians and Holawaqa Ngoubou |
| IX | The Hermit | The Sumeru Akademiya |
| X | The Wheel of Fortune | Istaroth |
| XI | Justice | Focalors |
| XII | The Hanged Man | The Cataclysm |
| XIII | Death | Ronova |
| XIV | Temperance | King Deshret and the Great Red Sand |
| XV | The Devil | The Abyss and Riftwolves |
| XVI | The Tower | Decarabian's Mondstadt and Roland |
| XVII | The Star | Barbeloth |
| XVIII | The Moon | Celestia and the Frost Moon |
| XIX | The Sun | Yumkasaurus and Teyvat's wildlife |
| XX | Judgment | Inazuman youkai and Kitsune Saiguu |
| XXI | The World | Irminsul |
| XXII | The Fool | The Traveler and their sibling |
Unobtained cards are not hidden from you either. The Collection screen shows every slot from I to XXII, so you can see exactly which ten of the set you are missing before you go asking a friend for a trade.
What do Lunar Arcana actually unlock?
Three achievements, and that is the extent of the mechanical payoff.
The Magnum Opus achievement set sits in the Wonders of the World category and was added in Luna I. It has three tiers — Magnum Opus (Tier 1), (Tier 2) and (Tier 3) — and the set is earned purely by obtaining Lunar Arcana. Collect more cards, clear more tiers, bank the Primogems.
Beyond that, the cards are cosmetic. The rewards worth clearing Lunar Mode for come from the run itself, not the card: HoYoverse lists Primogems and the Artifact material Sanctifying Elixir among the Lunar Mode rewards.
Can you buy Lunar Arcana cards?
No, and this is worth stating plainly because search results are misleading here. Lunar Arcana are in-game items. They cannot be purchased, topped up, or acquired outside Imaginarium Theater and friend-to-friend exchange.
Physical tarot decks using Genshin artwork that appear in marketplace listings are unofficial fan merchandise. They have no connection to the in-game Lunar Arcana Collection and do not add cards to your account.
Is Lunar Mode worth clearing just for the card?
Honestly, it depends on where your account is, and the community is split on it in a useful way.
The case against, from r/GenshinImpactTips: "that's 2 extra level that you need to complete to get 12 stella, which will give those artifact creator mats (sanctifying elixirs) and a collectible card, that's all. not worth the pain unless you're an endgame player."
The case for, from the same subreddit: "Lunar mode is for those who have enough characters and want a pretty card. It has two additional challenges. I always do Lunar mode though I usually only end up getting 7-10 stars."
The decisive detail is the one nobody mentions: the card is the only part that does not come back. Sanctifying Elixirs and Primogems recur every season. A missed Lunar Arcanum is permanently gone from your account, and with 22 cards on a one-per-month drip, every skipped season pushes your completion date a month further out.
If you can field 28 characters at Lv. 70, the Arcana Challenges are worth attempting even on a run where you will not star out. And if you are reading this during Season 27, that season closes on 1 October 2026 — the September card goes with it.
FAQ
How many Lunar Arcana are there in Genshin Impact? There are 22, numbered I to XXII, following the Major Arcana of a tarot deck. The Fool is XXII rather than 0.
How do you get Lunar Arcana? Clear both Arcana Challenge events during an Imaginarium Theater: Lunar Mode run, then complete the Act 10 Performance Challenge. You then choose one card.
How many Lunar Arcana can you get per season? Exactly one. HoYoverse's wording is "Each season of Imaginarium Theater grants every Traveler one Lunar Arcanum."
What are the Lunar Mode requirements? 28 characters at Lv. 70 or higher, with 4 additional character slots available and one Supporting Cast character you can invite. You must have cleared Visionary Mode first.
How do you trade Lunar Arcana? Use the Lunar Arcana Case gadget in Co-Op Mode outside the Serenitea Pot to send an exchange invitation to a friend. The gadget's options are Exchange and Check.
How do you get the Lunar Arcana Case? Complete the challenge and settlement in Imaginarium Theater: Visionary Mode, then finish the related quest in the Theater Lobby. It is a 4-star Gadget.
When did Lunar Arcana come out? Lunar Mode launched on 1 October 2025 with Imaginarium Theater Season 16, alongside Luna I.
Can you get a Lunar Arcanum you missed in a previous season? Not by replaying it — Imaginarium Theater seasons do not return. HoYoverse has not published any catch-up route for missed Arcana, and the Lunar Arcana Case exists precisely so players can fill those gaps by trading with each other.
Do Lunar Arcana do anything in combat? No. They are collectibles. Their only mechanical effect is progressing the three-tier Magnum Opus achievement set in Wonders of the World.
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