HoYoverse teases Honkai Star Rail’s Black Swan and Sparkle
Honkai Star Rail 1.6 is just around the corner, but HoYoverse is already teasing the next round of Honkai Star Rail characters – Black Swan and Sparkle. There’s also a new 4-star character.
While this is the first time HoYoverse publicly announced these characters, devoted Star Rail fans have known about them for months. Dataminers found evidence of these and many more characters planned for release during the Star Rail 2.0 series of updates set in Penacony, the Land of Dreams.
Black Swan is a 5-star Nihility character with wind as her element, but current leaks point to her working like a wind Pela instead of another Sampo. She’s meant to reduce enemy effect resistance and possibly defense, and her talent applies Fate Cards to enemies. These activate when foes take damage over time and trigger different effects depending on the circumstances, which seems similar to Dr Ratio’s talent, which triggers different kinds of follow-up attacks.
"Extraterrestrial Satellite Communication" Black Swan
"If I can identify and encapsulate a fragment of memory before it's unveiled to the world, those solitary moments of delight are my most favored and unique memories."
A Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection. A mysterious… pic.twitter.com/TLeK5fnjTx— Honkai: Star Rail (@honkaistarrail) December 12, 2023
Despite her fireworks-themed name and appearance, Quantum is Sparkle’s element. She follows the Harmony path, and leaks suggest her kit resembles something like a turbo-charged Hanya and Bronya combo. Sparkle’s skill is meant to boost an ally’s attack and move their action forward, not unlike Bronya’s skill.
"Extraterrestrial Satellite Communication" Sparkle
"I'm not exactly a person loaded with cool skills, and dreaming big isn't really my thing. But, ya know, my latest thing is… getting myself into the Genius Society! Ha, I'm so ready to give it a go. Reckon anyone will buy it?"… pic.twitter.com/wCti84YPpT
— Honkai: Star Rail (@honkaistarrail) December 14, 2023
Her ultimate reportedly recovers four skill points, or, if your skill point meter is full, it adds two temporary points. It also grants a mask to all allies, which bumps up Sparkle’s talent power and increases a character’s damage when they use a skill point.
That sounds almost too good to be true, especially for skill point-hungry characters such as Imbibitor Lunae and Qingque, so I’d be surprised if that doesn’t change before launch.
Finally is Misha, a 4-star Destruction character with ice as his element whose kit centers on powering up when allies use more skill points – a perfect fit for Sparkle, in other words.
"Extraterrestrial Satellite Communication" Misha
"I'm going to work really hard, so I can save up and explore the stars just like grown-ups do!"
A lovable and thoughtful bellboy of The Reverie Hotel. He wishes to become an intergalactic adventurer like his grandfather.
He is… pic.twitter.com/P5t0EVGSly— Honkai: Star Rail (@honkaistarrail) December 14, 2023
Given how HoYoverse’s character teases worked in the pass, it seems safe to assume Star Rail 2.0 will come after version 1.6 sometime in February 2024.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF