Summary
- Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 releases in October and includes new characters, story missions, and events.
- The update introduces three new characters, including the long-awaited Jingliu.
- The flagship event, Aetherium Wars, allows players to collect and train Aether Spirits for a tournament with rare rewards.
Several new details about Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 have been revealed, including its release date, the PlayStation 5 launch, the character banners planned for the version’s six weeks of content, story missions, events, and much more. As a live-service game, the turn-based RPG by HoYoverse regularly receives updates, which grants players more to explore and do. Much of the information was revealed during a special program, which also featured the limited Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 livestream codes. In terms of story, the game will pick up after the events presented in Version 1.3, which showcased the aftermath of the Trailblazers efforts to control the Stellaron crisis.
This will be a version with less story content when compared to Version 1.2 and 1.3, for instance, but it will make up for it with other pieces of side missions – including one that details the legendary High-Cloud Quintet in the Xianzhou Luofu. There will be a total of three new characters introduced to Honkai: Star Rail with the 1.4 banners and, according to the special program, the RPG will finally see its first rerun banner since the official launch in April.
Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 – Release Date & PlayStation 5 Launch
The definitive release date for Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 is October 11, according to the livestream shared on the official Honkai: Star Rail channel on YouTube. This will be the day the patch’s contents are added. The date also marks another important milestone for the title. October 11 is the day Honkai: Star Rail’s PlayStation 5 version finally arrives following a series of tests earlier this year. On that day, the PS5 version will be released, and the game will already be updated with Version 1.4, thus allowing players on the new platform to catch up with the content – the exception being past limited-time events and character banners.
Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 – New Characters (& Banners)
As was previously mentioned, there are three new characters being added via the Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 banners. The first one is Jingliu, a 5-star Ice character that follows the Path of the Destruction. This character was first introduced as an NPC during the story, in which she followed and eventually challenged Yanqing. Now, players will be able to incorporate her into their parties if they are lucky enough to beat the Honkai: Star Rail drop rates. Jingliu is a DPS character who has two states, one of which sees her consumed by Mara.
By using her Skill or Ultimate, Jingliu accumulates stacks of Syzygy, and when a certain amount has been obtained, she enters a Spectral Transmigration state which sees her overrun by Mara. While in this state, Jingliu will constantly deduct HP from her allies’ Max HP, but in turn, will have her ATK increased based on the HP that was consumed. This state in Honkai: Star Rail also prevents her from using her Basic Attack – she needs to use her Skill, Moon On Glacial River, which does not consume skill points, but stacks of Syzygy. When the stacks are cleared out, she returns to her regular state.
Jingliu’s Technique sees a ring of ice created around her and, whenever an object comes in touch with it, it is destroyed. Enemies touched by the ring will become frozen. The other new character to be added with Honkai: Star Rail 1.2 is Guinaifen, a 4-star Fire hero that follows the Path of the Nihility. Sushang’s best friend has not yet been introduced in the game before. The focus of Guinaifen will be using her Skill and Basic Attack to try to apply Burn on enemies and, with her Talent, inflict the Firekiss state, a stackable debuff that makes enemies receive more damage from allied strikes.
The third and last new character being added to Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 is a duo called Topaz and Numby. Topaz is a 5-star Fire character who follows the Path of the Hunt, making her a new Fire DPS. Like Guinaifen, she has not yet been introduced in the story. Topaz works for the IPC’s Special Debts Picket Team. Both in the story and in combat, Topaz is accompanied by Numby, her pet Warp Trotter. Topaz inflicts the Proof of Debt debuff on an enemy if no opponent is marked with it at the start of an allied turn. This debuff will increase follow-up DMG and Numby will target them.
Numby’s action in battle via Topaz’s Talent will be forwarded when an enemy marked by Proof of Debt is hit by a follow-up attack. Topaz’s Skill reallocates the Proof of Debt debuff to an alternative target, which is immediately followed by Numby’s strike and a bit of Topaz’s ATK as Fire DMG, which also counts as a follow-up attack. Topaz’s Ultimate is, essentially, a major buff to Numby’s DMG and CRIT DMG in Honkai: Star Rail. Additionally, the Ultimate sees that when an opponent marked by Proof of Debt is hit by an ally’s Basic Attack, Skill, or Ultimate, Numby’s action is advanced forward even more.
It seems like, even if she is a Hunt character, Topaz will perform even better when paired up with an Erudition character focused on follow-up attacks. Outside of combat, Topaz’s Technique summons Numby, who in turns seeks out Basic Treasures and Trotters within range. In addition, Trotters will not run away, and the ability does not consume Technique Points in Honkai: Star Rail. Entering battle with the Technique active will grant Topaz extra Energy at the beginning of the fight, and winning the battle with the Technique active will grant Topaz a bonus of Credits, up to a daily limit.
The featured 5-star character in Phase 1 banners during Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 will be Jingliu. Phase 2 banners will be more agitated, as they will not only feature Topaz and Numby as the main new 5-star character and Guinaifen as a new 4-star hero, but a second character banner will come into play: Seele. This is the first time a 5-star character is being rerun in the game, perhaps to give new PS5 players a chance of obtaining the game’s first 5-star hero. Each 5-star character’s signature Light Cone will be featured in the Light Cone banner during the respective phase in which the hero is highlighted.
Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 – Story Updates & New Additions
There will not be too much focus on main story quests in Honkai: Star Rail 1.4, much like in Version 1.1, which primarily featured events. That is not to say there will be no story content, as there will be the addition of a Trailblaze Continuance called “Future Market”. This will serve as something of an interlude act. The story will happen on a new map on Jarilo-VI, the Pillars of Creation. There is also a second map planned for the upcoming version called the Old Weapons Testing Ground, where an event will be held.
Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 will also see the introduction of Clouds Leave No Trace, a Companion Mission that will see Dan Heng receive a mysterious letter from someone who wants to rendezvous with him. It seems like this story mission will be focused on the story of the High-Cloud Quintet. Players are bound to learn more about Jingliu, Blade, Jing Yuan, Dan Feng, and Baiheng. Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Scorch is also being added with the update. The challenge drops Searing Steel Blade, the Ascension Material for Topaz and Guinaifen.
Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 – Events & Rewards
The flagship event for Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 will be the Aetherium Wars, set on Jarilo-VI. This is an event focused on gaming. Players will be collecting and training Aether Spirits, digital replicas of creatures that can operate as combat companions. The next step is to battle with these creatures in a tournament, which will mainly happen in the aforementioned Old Weapons Testing Ground. There are Victory Zones spread across several other maps, however, where opponents must be challenged. There are three categories of Aether Spirits, and they have a cyclical relationship, being strong against one, and weak against another.
The Aetherium Wars event will provide several good and rare rewards, such Self-Modeling Resin, Tracks of Destiny, Stellar Jade, and even a free 4-star character. The options to choose from are Serval, Pela, Luka, and Hook. This is a great way of either increasing one’s roster or improving the aforementioned characters’ Eidolons. Honkai: Star Rail 1.4 will also see the introduction of a new Simulated Universe event called Planar Infinity. This event offers new and exclusive challenges filled with exclusive buffs that are not normally acquirable. This event also has several related rewards, including free Stellar Jade.
There will also be another Gift of Odyssey login even in Honkai: Star Rail 1.4, which will gift ten Star Rail Special Passes to players if they log in for seven days. Planar Fissure also returns in the next update, offering a chance to obtain double Planar Ornaments from Simulated Universe, as well as Realm of the Strange for double Relic drops from Caverns of Corrosion. As a quality-of-life feature, HoYoverse is introducing Replay, which allows players to pause the dialogue in the story and read what has been said. There are many new additions in Honkai: Star Rail 1.4, even if main story missions are not the focus.
Source: YouTube/Honkai: Star Rail
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