HoYoverse has some exciting news for Honkai Star Rail fans! In their recent livestream, they revealed that the upcoming HSR 3.4 update, set to launch in early July 2025 if all goes according to plan, will feature some notable character reworks. Fan-favorites Kafka, Silver Wolf, Blade, and Jingliu are set to receive updates to bring them back into the spotlight. While details are still under wraps, HoYoverse is responding to players calling for these characters to be revamped.
When these four characters first hit the scene in 2023, they were top performers in Honkai Star Rail. Kafka even found renewed popularity in 2024 with the introduction of Acheron. But with the passage of time, their effectiveness in battle has waned. For instance, Jingliu requires significant investments but struggles to match the damage output of her peers. Kafka, on the other hand, hasn’t found new characters to synergize with, especially for damage-over-time strategies, and the new addition of Mydei feels like a rehash of Blade.
This decline of older characters, often termed “powercreep,” is common in gacha games like Honkai Star Rail. Interestingly, HoYoverse’s other titles like Genshin Impact haven’t faced the same issue as dramatically. Some of Genshin’s initial standout characters still hold their ground well in player tier lists and can handle late-game content without any hassle. Similarly, in Zenless Zone Zero, players can effectively tackle challenging bosses with the starting characters provided.
Despite these plans for character reworks, it doesn’t seem like a sweeping trend for all characters. Folks like Bailu, Yanqing, Natasha, Hook, and Welt have not garnered such attention, and there’s no indication that might change soon.
On another note, there’s an exciting opportunity coming up with version 3.2. You’ll get to choose from two free 5-star characters—Ruan Mei or Luocha—once it drops.
