How to destroy Bullet Barnacles in Genshin Impact

Exploring the underwater areas of Fontaine in Genshin Impact is an extremely peaceful and enjoyable experience—until you find yourself relentlessly targeted by pesky Bullet Barnacles. These are perhaps the most annoying residents of Fontaine, but luckily, you can eliminate them to make your undersea adventures much more enjoyable.

How do you destroy Bullet Barnacles in Genshin Impact?

To destroy Bullet Barnacles, you’ll need to absorb the ability of a Xenochromatic Armored Crab and use it to pivot the Bullet Barnacles attack right back at it. Underwater combat and healing in Fontaine is a complex process, so it might take you a few tries before you are able to successfully eliminate the Bullet Barnacle.

Here are the exact steps you should follow to ensure you eliminate Bullet Barnacles with ease.

• Start by finding a Xenochromatic Armored Crab nearby. These creatures are fairly common all around the underwater regions of Fontaine, so you shouldn’t have too tough of a time finding one. You’ll recognize them based on their bright blue color and glow plus the floating crab-shaped logo hovering by their head.

• Swim to a spot where you can focus on just one Bullet Barnacle and no other ones are targeting you. This might not always be possible, but defeating a Bullet Barnacle will be much easier when you don’t have several other ones also targeting you.
• Position your character to be at a moderate distance away from the Bullet Barnacle. You don’t want to be too close since this won’t give you time to react, but you also don’t want to be too far away because you might exit the range of the Bullet Barnacle.
• Hold down the attack button and aim the cursor directly at the Bullet Barnacle.

• Wait for the Bullet Barnacle to shoot and continue waiting until the attack strikes your Xenochromatic Armored Crab shield. As soon as the attack hits your shield, release the attack button, which will then send it right back at the Bullet Barnacle.
• If you’ve done it right, the Bullet Barnacle should be eliminated with just one powerful strike using your Xenochromatic Armored Crab ability. You’ll then receive the Version 4.0 achievement “Eye for an Eye” for successfully defeating your first Bullet Barnacle.

Related: Genshin Impact: Pneuma and Ousia explained

If you have your commission region set to Fontaine, you might sometimes receive the “Don’t Get Crabby” task, which asks you to eliminate three Bullet Barnacles. You can follow the same steps as before to take out each one at the requested location for this commission.