Genshin Impact Fan Conquers Floor 12 on a Smartwatch—Here’s How

In a jaw-dropping display of dedication and creativity, a Genshin Impact fan just cleared the game’s hardest challenge—Spiral Abyss Floor 12 with all nine stars—using only a 1.6-inch smartwatch screen. This isn’t a gimmick; it’s a genuine high-level accomplishment that highlights precision, ingenuity, and the untapped potential of wearable gaming.

Whether you’re a seasoned Abyss runner or simply fascinated by extreme challenge runs, this feat rewrites what we thought possible on a tiny touchscreen. Read on for a deep dive into why Floor 12 is so brutal, how the runner overcame steep hardware and software hurdles, and why this could shape the future of mobile and wearable gaming.

What Is the Spiral Abyss—and Why Floor 12 Matters

The Spiral Abyss is miHoYo’s twice-monthly endgame gauntlet. It has twelve floors of escalating difficulty, each floor divided into three chambers that must be cleared within a strict time limit. Across those six-minute windows, players face waves of elite enemies—Abyss Heralds, Fatui agents, and towering Ruin Guards—that demand flawless elemental reactions, split-second dodges, and optimized team synergy.

Clearing Floor 12 with a perfect three-star rating in each chamber is considered the pinnacle of Genshin Impact combat skill. Even on PC or console, only a small fraction of the community achieves this milestone every cycle. Rewards include Primogems essential for character pulls, Mora for upgrades, talent books, and coveted Artifacts. Attempting this on a smartwatch amplifies every challenge to a superhuman level.

Hardware Hurdles on a 1.6-Inch Watch

• Screen Size and Touch Precision: Popular smartwatches like Android’s Kospet Prime 2 and others offer just a 1.3 to 1.6-inch touchscreen. That tiny surface makes menu navigation, real-time character swaps, and precise elemental bursts feel like threading a needle during an earthquake.
• Processor and GPU Limits: Watch CPUs are built for basic apps and fitness tracking, not action RPGs. To maintain a playable frame rate, the runner capped graphics settings at low, prioritized the GPU core clock, and disabled background services.
• Connectivity Constraints: Bluetooth input lag and Wi-Fi interference can introduce delays of over 150 ms, which is fatal in a speedrun. By assigning the watch to a dedicated 5 GHz Wi-Fi band and elevating its Bluetooth priority, the player held input latency under 80 ms.
• Battery and Thermal Throttling: Extended sessions on a smartwatch can drop performance sharply as heat builds up. The runner dimmed the screen just enough to stay visible, turned off heart rate monitoring, and clipped on a compact power bank to avoid mid-run shutdowns.

Software Strategies: Macros and Mirroring

Manual tap-and-swipe sequences on a micro screen would be an exercise in frustration. To streamline input, the player used a third-party mirroring app between their phone and watch. They programmed complex multi-touch combos—like charge attacks plus skill casts—into single-tap macros. This reduced in-game finger gymnastics and ensured consistency in every burst DPS rotation.

Combining these macros with preloaded hotkeys for shields and crowd control meant less fumbling through menus and more focus on timing elemental reactions. The result: a fluid run that held close to 60 FPS from first enemy spawn to the final Ruin Guard collapse.

Breaking Down the Record Run

Every high-level Floor 12 attempt demands a meta team comp: at least one shield-provider, a main DPS with strong elemental burst, an off-field support for elemental resonance, and crowd control. Our smartwatch champion chose a typical combination: a Geo shield character, a Cryo DPS for freeze shenanigans, and a heal/support hybrid.

Key moments included a pixel-perfect Evade-Dash—executed in under 200 ms—to dodge a massive Ruin Guard slam, followed immediately by a three-hit elemental combo. Chamber after chamber, the player stuck to a script of memorized boss rotations, reducing on-the-fly decisions and cutting clear times by a notable margin.

Community Buzz and Viral Reach

When the highlight video hit Reddit and HoYoLAB, it exploded—racking up over 50,000 views within 24 hours. Clips on TikTok and YouTube Shorts added another 100,000+ views, sparking lively debate about accessibility versus hardcore challenge. Fans praised the ingenuity, while others began sketching out their own “extreme runs”: single-stick playthroughs, voice-command demos, and even AR headset experiments.

This viral moment underscores Genshin’s vibrant community, always eager to reinvent how we experience Teyvat. From guitar-controller speedruns to no-heal solo clears, the scene thrives on innovation—and smartwatches have just joined that storied tradition.

Implications for Wearable Gaming

While a smartwatch run won’t replace your PC or console setup, it opens intriguing possibilities. Developers might explore watch-friendly UI layouts, lean control schemes, or companion apps that offload some processing. Specialized performance profiles on wearable OS could become a reality, prioritizing gaming tasks over background functions.

For the gaming hardware industry, this run sends a clear message: mobile and wearable platforms have untapped potential. As chipmakers improve SoC power efficiency and OS makers refine input frameworks, we may soon see more titles officially supporting smartwatches as secondary displays or even primary controllers.

Tips for Your Own Abyss Challenge

• Master easier floors first—build up muscle memory on Floors 1–6 before tackling Floor 12’s punishing loops.
• Experiment with macro software early—small timing tweaks can shave off precious milliseconds.
• Monitor battery temperature—thermal limits often trigger automatic downclocking on wearables.
• Engage the community—feedback on settings and gear can uncover optimizations you’d never think of solo.

Ultimately, conquering Spiral Abyss Floor 12 on a smartwatch is more than a flex—it’s a testament to player creativity, technical know-how, and the boundless possibilities of gaming innovation. Who knows what jaw-dropping runs the community will dream up next?