Honkai Star Rail 4.6 Preview: Pearl, New Story and Everything Coming

Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.6, "Dance With the Beast Before Moonrise," releases on Monday, 28 September, and Sunday's Special Program settled the questions that matter for your Stellar Jade: Pearl is the version's only new 5★, her banner runs the entire version rather than one phase, Evanescia returns in Phase 1 and Mortenax Blade in Phase 2, and the story sends the Trailblazer into an IPC research facility whose director is weaponising the Voracity. Around that core sit a rom-com business event, a reality-show combat event, a new companion system called Astral Imagias, two Relic sets, two outfits and ten free Special Passes — plus a closing segment that confirmed the Zenless Zone Zero crossover for Version 4.8 and a post-credit message from Aha, the Aeon of Elation. Here is everything confirmed, and what to finish before the 28th.

Pearl: the fourth Stoneheart, built for Elation

Pearl is a 5★ Ice character on the Path of Elation, an Intellitron from the IPC's Strategic Investment Department, one of the Ten Stonehearts, and the CEO of Planarcadia. She follows Topaz, Aventurine and Jade as the fourth Stoneheart to become playable, and the stream framed her identity around fusing art with the Preservation-minded instinct to protect what she has built — in the story, she is the one directing the evacuation of Planarcadia.

The Special Program showed her kit in outline. No multipliers were given, and this description is at stream level, not patch-note level:

• Certified Banger — her damage-mitigation resource. She consumes it to block a percentage of the damage her teammates take, and the effect has no expiry, so it persists until spent rather than ticking down.
• Aesthetic Archetype and Deep Learning — she designates one ally as her Aesthetic Archetype and enters the Deep Learning state. In that state she advances the Archetype's action, scaled by how many Elation characters are on the team; with a full four-Elation lineup, the Archetype gets an instant extra turn.
• Enhanced Basic ATK — while in Deep Learning, her basic attack heals the whole team and cleanses debuffs. If the Archetype is an Elation character, the attack also deals bonus Elation DMG scaled off the target's own combat stats.
• Skill — a team-wide buff that adds bonus Elation DMG to each ally's next attack.

That is a sustain who heals, cleanses, mitigates and accelerates, with every second effect tied to how much Elation is around her. On an Elation core she replaces a generic healer and adds Path-specific tempo on top; on a mixed team her action advance shrinks and her bonus damage switches off, and a general-purpose sustain serves better. Her signature Light Cone is Colors for Tomorrow. Eidolons, stat priorities and Relic recommendations belong to a build guide once the patch notes publish the numbers.

Banners: Pearl all version, Evanescia then Mortenax Blade

• Pearl's banner runs the whole version, from 28 September to the end of 4.6 — unusual for a new 5★, and it means there is no rush to decide on her in week one.
• Phase 1 pairs her with the Evanescia rerun, with the Light Cone Until the Flowers Bloom Again. Evanescia is an Elation damage dealer, so the two banners share an audience.
• Phase 2, roughly three weeks in, brings the Mortenax Blade rerun with Reforged in Hellfire. There is no new character in Phase 2.

Standard rules apply: 160 Stellar Jade per Warp, hard pity at 90, and a 50/50 on the first 5★ that pushes a guaranteed copy to 180 at worst. Limited-banner pity carries across versions, so a lost 50/50 on Aventurine Waveflair or Ashveil in 4.5 is a guarantee on Pearl. Our E6 and vertical investment guide covers how to weigh a rerun's Eidolons against a new character's first copy.

Read together, the phases make 4.6 an Elation version: a sustain and a carry in Phase 1 for players building the archetype, and a quiet saving patch for everyone else.

The story: Yabuli's Life Sciences Institute

The Trailblaze Mission continues the Path of Elation crisis. The threat of the Voracity keeps escalating, and the stream tied Nihilux more closely to Aha, the Aeon of Elation, than before. The chapter's destination is the Life Sciences Institute in Astropolis, built by Madame Yabuli, head of the IPC's technology department, who is suspected of running a Husk-weaponisation project that draws on the Voracity's power. Pearl dispatches Ashveil and Kuchiha with the Trailblazer to infiltrate the Institute and stop her, to protect Planarcadia.

For players, the Voracity is also a live combat mechanic. Since 4.5, Voracity Corruption — the crimson Corruption Level that lets enemies revive and punishes one-shot strategies — has run through Divergent Universe and endgame modes, and a chapter about weaponising the Voracity is likely to lean on it. If you have been avoiding Corruption content, our Voracity Corruption guide covers the revive mechanics and the team shapes that handle them.

Events: a rom-com workshop and a one-take reality show

The flagship event is Love, Ghosts and Robots, a business-management event with a space rom-com plot: an Intellitron named Rakme proposes to Scott, who has come back as a ghost in Astropolis. Players run Scott's mech workshop, assemble mechs with specialised chips, hit business quotas and recruit helpers — Ruan Mei among them — in the cause of keeping Scott single. Rewards include exclusive resources and a cosmetic: Scott's sunglasses.

The combat event is an Interastral Peace Entertainment reality show: one-take fight scenes shot to a director's script, with supporting actors — co-stars — fighting alongside your team. It is the version's Jade-paying combat event and the natural place to test a Pearl team.

The routine rewards return alongside them: Gift of Odyssey (ten Star Rail Special Passes across daily log-ins), and the double-drop windows Garden of Plenty and Planar Fissure for Relic and Planar Ornament farming. The stream also named the next season of Currency Wars — Voyage into the Canvas — for Version 4.7.

Astral Imagias, two Relic sets and two outfits

Astral Imagias is the version's new system: small bionic companions collected blind-box style that travel with the Trailblazer — up to three at once — and can trigger hidden group chats. They get their own cabin on the Astral Express party car and a playground at the Life Sciences Institute, and they anchor a permanent co-op challenge mode, which the stream introduced as a squad challenge built around them.

Two new Relic sets arrive: Dreamlit Actor and The Edacious Heretic. Set effects were not read out on the stream; Dreamlit Actor's name and timing point to it being the Pearl-oriented set, but that is a reading, not a confirmation.

Two outfits launch with the version: Warm Cotton Skies for Hyacine, a pastel dessert-themed design, and Lunar Blossoming for Evanescia, a spring-into-summer look that lands alongside her rerun.

Outside the game, a Razer collaboration brings a Silver Wolf Lv.999 line of peripherals — chair, keyboard, mouse and headset — to global release.

What the stream pointed at beyond 4.6

The closing segment was "hijacked" by a host from the future to confirm the Zenless Zone Zero crossover for Version 4.8, with Ellen Joe and Astra Yao stepping onto the Star Rail stage. Banner rules and any further characters were not announced.

Then the post-credit scene: Aha speaks directly to the Trailblazer, asking for help gathering wish power to purify the Path of Elation of the Voracity's corruption — and offering to make the Trailblazer an Emanator of Elation in return.

The planning consequence: Pearl now, an Aha-centred Elation arc next, and the crossover in 4.8. Pearl's version-long window lets you watch the 4.7 Special Program before committing, but three limited banners in close succession is the shape of the next few months, so decide which your roster needs before the 28th.

Before 28 September

• Livestream codes are gone. The three Special Program codes expired on 21 September at 23:59 (UTC+8). Standing codes still work.
• Finish Minuscule Great Adventure. The 4.5 combat event closes on 28 September at 03:59 (UTC+8). Our Minuscule Great Adventure guide covers the stages and the Jade.
• Settle Aventurine Waveflair and Ashveil. Their banners close with 4.5; a lost 50/50 there is a guarantee in 4.6, a half-built pity is not.
• Bank Trailblaze Power for Garden of Plenty and Planar Fissure rather than spending it on standard farming this week.
• Pre-farm Ice and Elation materials if Pearl is a yes.
• Count your Elation roster. Her action advance and bonus damage scale with it; fewer than two Elation allies and the honest answer is to save for what Aha's arc brings.

If you are newer to the game, our progression explainer covers how Warps, Trailblaze Level and character building fit together.

Build the Elation core before the banner opens

A sustain that scales with her Path only pays off on an account that already has the Path's carry and buffer built, and those take longer to raise than a banner takes to run.

• Browse verified Honkai: Star Rail accounts with Evanescia, Aventurine Waveflair or a built Elation core, listed by server, Eidolons and Light Cones.
• Book Honkai: Star Rail hourly services to have a verified player clear Trailblaze Power, Relic farming and daily training by the hour before the 28th.
• Order Honkai: Star Rail boosting for Memory of Chaos, Apocalyptic Shadow and Divergent Universe clears once the new rotations open.

Every order is covered by Buyer Protection, with payment released only after you confirm delivery.

GameMarket.gg is a trusted digital marketplace for everything gaming-related. We serve the gaming community by providing secure access that enhances every gaming journey.