Honkai: Star Railhas a diverse roster of characters, all wielding unique abilities to form strong team compositions and define the game’s meta. But, as many avid players have noticed,Honkai: Star Railseems to have put off releasing 4-star characters in the last few updates.
In the past,Honkai: Star Railwould release at least one new 4-star character along with new 5-star characters in every update. These 4-star characters are later included in the standard banner and even given away for free during select limited-time events. ButHonkai: Star Railis slowing down on the release of 4-star characters, so much that 5-stars have outnumbered them. Based on recent leaks, this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
Honkai: Star Rail Continues to Put New 4-Star Characters in the Backburner
As mentioned,Honkai: Star Railused to be more consistent with its release of new 4-star characters. Compared to its launch year in 2023, which had at least one new 4-star unit every month,Honkai: Star Railonly released a total of four 4-star characters in 2024. Half of them, namely Gallagher and Misha, were part of thelarger Penacony main story, so it made sense for them to be playable. Meanwhile, the other two, Moze and March 7th’s The Hunt form, became playable during the Xianzhou Wardance arc later that year.
March 7th (The Hunt)
Imaginary, Path of The Hunt
WithHonkai: Star Railcurrently in its Amphoreus arc, the characters released and revealed so far are all 5-stars, includingSaber and Archer from the upcomingFate/Stay Nightcollaboration. Recent leaks have also hinted at future characters who are said to be 5-star units as well, so it might be safe to assume that there might not be any 4-star characters during the entirety of the Amphoreus journey. If there are, it’s likely going to be a small number, just like last year.
The leaks paint a bleak picture of one ofHonkai: Star Rail’s recurring issues, further proving that it might be focusing more on 5-star characters in future updates from now on. This could particularly be disadvantageous to newer players, who might feel like they need to keeppulling inHonkai: Star Rail’s Warp bannersto get good 5-star characters to stabilize their teams, especially since there’s an impression that 4-star characters aren’t as powerful.
On the one hand, 4-star characters mostly serve as early-game placeholders for 5-star damage-dealers and healers that players don’t have yet. Many ofHonkai: Star Rail’s 4-star charactersare actually pretty good, with the likes of Tingyun and Gallagher being some of the best. Some also complement certain 5-star characters, like March 7th’s The Hunt form pairs well with Feixiao because they can stack each other’s meters with their follow-up attacks. The lack of new 4-star characters doesn’t significantly affectHonkai: Star Rail’s gameplay, especially for fans who have been playing since day one and have been using strong 5-star characters to fight strong bosses and complete endgame content.
PerhapsHonkai: Star Railisn’t in a hurry to release more 4-star characters because it has already reached its cap, and is probably focusing on refining its future 5-star characters, including the alternate forms of certain units. Granted, there is enough to satisfy both old and new players who are looking for characters to fill the gaps in their teams if needed, andHonkai: Star Railhas been giving away 4-stars for freein various events to make it easier for players to complete their characters' Eidolon levels. Still, it’s understandable why many players prefer having more new 4-star characters to further diversify the pool, and slowing down their release could stagnate it at some point.
