Star Rail Release – All information about the release date and characters of the Genshin Impact sequel

After Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact, the next highly anticipated offshoot from developer HoYoverse will be released on April 26: Honkai: Star Rail. While this game is also based on the gacha principle and has many parallels to other titles, there are some fundamental differences that differentiate Honkai: Star Rail from them.

The publisher HoYoverse, formerly known as miHoYo, has been producing video games since 2011 and has gained popularity especially in recent years with its popular gacha titles Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact – so these two games not only have a high number of players, but also continue to bring in record sales years after their release. The next title Honkai: Star Rail has been longed for by fans for several months.

With a new, turn-based combat system and some changes to their other titles in combination with well-known ones gacha systems and new as well old, beloved characters from Honkai Impact 3rd it convinces both old fans and newcomers. In this article we will tell you what you need to know about Honkai: Star Rail before the release and before the start of the game.

Release date and available platforms

Honkai: Star Rail is coming after an extended beta and pre-registration phase on April 26, 2023 at 10 a.m. (UTC +8). This corresponds to around 4:00 am Central European Summer Time, so players who want to start the release straight away can expect a long night. The release is accompanied by a live stream, which will be broadcast at 3:30 via YouTube by publisher Hoyoverse. If you have signed up for the pre-registration, you will receive some advantages at the beginning. For example, not only some of the passes you need for the gacha system, but also the 4-star character Serval.

The game appears as usual for iOS and Android as well as on the PC as a download via the official website or the Epic Games Store. It is completely free to download and play, but supports in-game purchases.

Genre and combat system

Like the other titles from HoYoverse, Honkai: Star Rail is in the genre of open-world RPGs with fantasy and adventure elements, but uses a turn-based combat system instead of an action-heavy one. Similar to offshoots of personaseries, you cannot attack the opponent directly on the overworld with attacks and abilities, but start a fight by touching it or being touched by it.

Just like in Genshin Impact, your party of four characters each have a basic attack, an ability, and a special ability that you can use during battle. These differ from character to character and, just like the figures, are based on one of the following elements: Physical, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Quantum and Imaginary. Each element grants you a different advantage when used against your opponents and breaking their toughness.

In addition to their element, each character has a so-called path. This is comparable to the classes of other RPGs and determines the role that your character takes on in combat. The following roles are represented in the game:

• The Hunt: DPS characters focused on single enemy damage.
• The Erudition: DPS characters with a focus on area damage.
• The Destruction: DPS characters with all-round potential.
• The Nihility: Support specializing in debuffs.
• The Harmony: Support specializing in buffs.
• The Preservation: Support specializing in shields.
• The Abundance: Healer with the ability to restore your party’s HP.

Apart from that, each character also has a so-called skill tree, i.e. a network of skills, such as those from the old ones final fantasy-Share knows. So you can customize your characters individually and at will.

In Genshin Impact, too, the characters are an integral part of the fun of the game. We’ll show you how to unlock them all here:

The Gacha System

Just like in Genshin Impact, you can get one by playing, completing daily quests, or even special events Currency, which you can in turn exchange for two gacha currencies: one for limited banners and a second for the standard banner, which is available at all times. The “warping” mentioned in Star Rail does not differ much from the “wishing” from Genshin Impact in other respects either:

At the beginning you have a 50% chance to draw the limited character or a limited Light Cone, which is a kind of weapon. If you don’t get it, you’ll get one of the default characters, and then you’re guaranteed to get it after further warps. The same applies to the limited 4-star characters and light cones. You need a maximum of 90 total warps per character and 80 per light cone. It is currently (as of April 2023) unknown whether there is a so-called “Pity System” that increases your chances of 0.8% of getting a 5-star item with progressive warps.

There are also constellations, as you know them from Genshin, in Honkai: Star Rail. With each additional copy, you can unlock up to six additional bonuses for your characters.

One major way Honkai: Star Rail’s gacha system differs from Genshin Impact’s is the unique ability to After 300 wishes on the standard banner, choose a character available there. So if you still don’t own your favorite standard character after hitting this milestone, you can use this to get it for free.

Figures and banners available at the start

In addition to your Trailblazer, the main character of Honkai: Star Rail, and the aforementioned Serval through pre-registration, you will receive the following 4-star characters for free at the beginning:

• 7th March
• Dan Heng
• asta
• herta
• Natasha
• Qingque

In addition to these, the following 5-star characters are at all times via warps on the Standard banners available:

• Yanqing

• cheetah
• bronya
• World
• himeko
• Clara
• Bailu

Honkai Impact fans in particular should be familiar with some of these names. Honkai: Star Rail uses some of its namesake’s fan favorites, in addition to many of its own characters. Besides Bronya and Himeko, it’s likely to see more incarnations of the characters from Honkai Impact and maybe Genshin Impact in the future.

The Limited Banner will be divided into two phases in version 1.0:

• Stage 1: Soul and the Light Cone “Brilliant Fixation”, the 4-star limited characters represented are Hook, Natascha and Pela.
• Stage 2: Jing Yuan and the Light Cone “Before Dawn”, the represented limited 4-star characters are currently (as of April 2023) still unknown.

After a stage expires, the character obtained in it will not return for an unknown duration. So if you really want Soul or Jing Xuan, be sure to spend your passes on these banners before they expire!

If you are still unsure whether you want to try Honkai: Star Rail and would like to get a few more impressions, it is worth taking a look at the official trailer for the release of the game:

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