Everything We Know About Honkai Star Rail Patch 2.0
| Tags: Honkai
| Author Thealchemist
This article will be covering everything currently known about Honkai Star Rail’s Patch 2.0
With Honkai reaching the one-year mark of its runtime, HoyoVerse is finally closing in on the game’s first massive update – yes, even bigger compared to the previous ones – and it looks like they have a lot planned. For fellow Trailblazers, this is incredibly exciting news, so we’ll be looking at everything that patch 2.0 will be offering, or at least the ones we know about currently. Let’s dive into it.
Contents
Patch Release Date?
Source: HoyoVerse
There is no official date given to us by HoyoVerse as of yet, but speculations say it could be around the first week of February 2024, which is very soon. This assumption is valid if patch 1.6 also has a 6-week runtime, just like most other patches in the game. Now, some people might be wondering why there isn’t a patch 1.7 after 1.6, but this is just a trend that HoyoVerse games whenever they have a big region added to their games, Genshin Impact being a prime example.
A New Planet to Explore
Source: HoyoVerse
Possibly the biggest and most exciting update coming in patch 2.0 is the addition of an entirely new world that players can explore called Penacony, The Planet of Festivities. The planet itself was apparently barren and completely deserted, its only function being a prison held under the ownership of IPC (Interastral Peace Corporation). When the Stellaron corrosion occurred, the denizens of Penacony took refuge under Xipe, the Aeon of Abundance, and became members of The Family who were the ones that rebuilt Penacony into the massive metropolis city that we will be able to explore.
Penacony features an area known as The Reverie Hotel, which seems to be the main hub of the planet, and quite possibly a place tantamount to the story. We don’t know what the hotel looks like, but it can be speculated that the image shown above is Reverie Hotel itself.
Phase 1 Banner
Source: HoyoVerse
With patch 2.0 being such a ginormous update, it can be naturally expected that there will be new characters and banners for you to spend your Star Rail passes on. The first of these characters is Black Swan, as officially revealed by Hoyo themselves. She is a 5-star Nihility character that can manipulate Wind energy and works as a ‘Memokeeper’ for the Garden of Recollection. With the power to enter someone’s memories as a unique way to obtain information, it’s hard to say what moral faction she belongs to.
It’s not confirmed that she will be the banner for Phase 1 of patch 2.0, but since she was the first character revealed to us, it’s natural to assume that this will be the case.
Phase 2 & 4-Star Character
HoyoVerse releases banners in pairs,and so for Phase 2, it’s safe to say that the 5-star character Sparkle will be joining the roster. As a member of the theatrical group ‘Masked Fools’, Sparkle is a professional at her act as well, being able to mask her face with any expression/emotion (literally and figuratively since she owns a lot of masks), given the situation. Talk about trust issues. As for her typing, she’s a Quantum damage dealer from the Path of Harmony. Not much else is currently known about her, but we have high hopes since Quantum characters are usually very viable and interesting to play with.
They’ve also confirmed a new 4-star character that will be added, going by the name of Misha. He is a diligent bellboy working for The Reverie Hotel and belongs to the Path of Destruction dealing Ice Damage. That being said, Destruction characters are always a joy to use, thanks to their versatility. We can’t wait to see Misha’s potential on the battlefield!
Gameplay/QOL Updates
Source: Dexerto
Patch 2.0 will be adding several small (and big!) changes that will benefit the ease-of-access to Honkai’s gameplay. Let’s look at some of these:
- Quick Enhance: A rather niche option will be added which lets the player upgrade any relic to the next highest level that adds a random sub-stat. For example, you can upgrade a relic from +0 to +3 enhancement with the Quick Enhancement button.
- Discard Relic: Players will now be able to mark a relic as un-needed as soon as they obtain it. This is a welcome addition as constant farming in the game clutters the inventory, making the actual valuable relics extremely hard to find in the mess.
- Relic Filter: Filters will be updated in 2.0 so that you can choose to see specific stats and sub-stats amongst the plethora of relic sets that a player might have, making the process of picking out good relics significantly easier.
- Relic Recommendation: The devs have mentioned that they will be adding a feature that lets a player know what relic set is most viable for a character in Honkai. It’s currently being worked on, so the feature will not be available in 2.0, but it will surely come in a future update very soon!
- Calyx Updates: Calyxes are small tree-like entities that reward players with upgrade materials once finished. 2.0 will have new characters and areas, so that naturally means Calyxes will be upgraded to house more materials suited to these new characters, along with new ones added in places like Xianzhou Luofu and Penacony.
- Overlay Crossroads System: A new tree-diagram system will be added, which will organize missions and side missions based on their timelines and locations. This feature will make it much more accessible and easier for Trailblazers to follow along with the mission and the story itself.
- New Light Cones: 2.0 will update the Light Cone Manifest Store with new Light Cones available for every Trailblazer playing the game. Yes, even F2P players.
And that concludes everything currently known about Honkai Star Rail’s Version 2.0 update! Not everything has been revealed yet and there’s still a lot to cover. New characters, an entirely new region to explore and multiple quality of life updates will surely reignite the spark that Trailblazers might’ve lost in the content plateau that happens in between patches.