HSR 4.5 Is Only Five Weeks: What That Means for Your Jade

The Version 4.5 Special Program has aired, which turns weeks of beta speculation into confirmed schedule — and one detail overturns an assumption most pre-livestream coverage was built on. Version 4.5 runs about five weeks, not the usual six. Every projection that spaced Phase 2 "roughly 21 days" after Phase 1 was working from a six-week cadence that no longer applies, and HoYoverse has confirmed that Memory of Chaos and the other permanent challenge modes will have their schedules adjusted because of it. On top of that, the livestream announced something nobody had in their planning: a Zenless Zone Zero × Honkai: Star Rail collaboration. Here's what the official confirmation changed.

The headline change: five weeks, not six

Version 4.5 launches 25 August for North America and 26 August for Europe and Asia, and runs roughly five weeks rather than the standard six.

Two consequences follow, and both affect planning more than any kit detail:

Your Stellar Jade income is compressed. A week less of dailies, and a tighter event calendar, in a version offering two new five-stars plus two reruns. If your usual patch income funds one guarantee, this version's won't stretch as far.

The phases are shorter. Pre-livestream coverage assumed a 21-day gap between Robin • Summeretto and Aventurine • Waveflair. That spacing was described as good news for anyone torn between the two — with a five-week version, there's less room to earn between them than that framing suggested.

Memory of Chaos is being rescheduled

HoYoverse stated directly that because Version 4.5 runs about five weeks, the schedule for permanent challenge modes like Memory of Chaos will be adjusted, with further announcements to follow.

That matters for anyone budgeting Jade around endgame clears. A full Memory of Chaos cycle is worth roughly 800 Stellar Jade, and if the rotation shifts, the timing of that income shifts with it.

Don't assume the usual cadence holds. Our Memory of Chaos Stormcleanse guide covers the current cycle's reward maths — clear it on the existing schedule rather than banking on a predictable next reset.

Zenless Zone Zero × Honkai: Star Rail

Announced during the same livestream, and unexpected. No details on characters, timing or structure have been published yet.

Worth flagging now purely for budgeting reasons: a cross-title collaboration is the kind of event that historically demands significant currency. If it lands in the 4.6 window, Jade spent freely across 4.5 is Jade unavailable for it.

Banner phases and reruns

Phase 1 — Robin • Summeretto, with a Hyacine rerun. Light Cones: Rise and Sing (Robin's signature) and Long May Rainbows Adorn the Sky (Hyacine's). Four-star rate-up Light Cones include Dream's Montage, Geniuses' Greetings and the new A Little Getaway.

Phase 2 — Aventurine • Waveflair, with an Ashveil rerun. Featured four-stars: Sampo, Hook, Guinaifen.

Hyacine: the sustain option

A 5-star Wind Remembrance unit, and functionally a healer — the Chrysos Heir who guards the Sky Coreflame, accompanied by her memosprite Little Ica.

She's widely described as forgiving to play: pay a reasonable amount of attention and she works in most configurations. There's also a niche hypercarry route through Little Ica paired with Sunday, though that isn't her intended use.

Pull if your sustain bench is thin. Sustain is the slot most accounts under-invest in, and a Wind Remembrance healer covers both a Path and an element some rosters lack.

Skip if you already run a healer you're happy with. A second sustain is a luxury.

Ashveil: the follow-up carry

A 5-star Lightning unit on the Path of The Hunt, and the more demanding of the two reruns — in a good way.

His kit runs on follow-up attacks: allies' attacks trigger his Talent, he reduces enemy DEF, and he raises the team's Follow-Up ATK CRIT DMG. That makes him unusual in being excellent as a main DPS while also buffing as a sub-DPS — though his personal damage is high enough that most teams simply run him as the carry.

His signature Light Cone is The Finale of a Lie.

Two honest weaknesses. Hunt units perform well against single targets and struggle in content with many enemies. And reaching high CRIT Rate on him is difficult without premium Light Cone options.

Pull if you own follow-up units like Feixiao, or generalist supports like Sunday and Tribbie. Skip if you don't intend to build a follow-up-centric team — his ceiling depends on the team around him more than most carries.

Phase 2 is the attack-frequency phase

Worth noticing, because it changes how you weigh the two halves.

Aventurine • Waveflair builds Fervor from teammate attacks. Ashveil's Talent triggers on ally attacks. Both units in Phase 2 want the same thing — a team that attacks often — which makes them a natural pairing rather than competing pulls.

Phase 1's Robin • Summeretto also builds her Vibes from ally attacks, so the whole version leans in one direction. If your roster is built around slow, burst-oriented turns, this version asks you to rethink that before it asks you to spend.

A small piece of history: Ashveil's original banner in March ran alongside a Hyacine rerun. The two are being separated across phases this time rather than paired.

One honest caveat on dates. Published phase end-dates currently disagree across sources — some place Phase 1 closing on 12 September, others on 16 September, with similar divergence on the version's final day. Check the countdown in your own client rather than planning against a specific published date. What's confirmed is the version length and the phase order.

What the livestream confirmed about the characters

Both were already covered in detail from beta data, and the livestream largely confirmed that picture rather than changing it. In summary:

Robin • Summeretto — 5-star Wind Remembrance, a shift from the original's Harmony role. Builds Vibes through ally attacks, then enters a Fever state in which she stops taking turns while providing large offensive buffs, ignoring DEF, and dealing damage through her Summer Songbirds memosprites. Our Robin Summeretto kit breakdown covers the mechanics in full.

Aventurine • Waveflair — 5-star Quantum Elation, and a main DPS. He manages Punchlines and Fervor, building Fervor from his own skills and teammate attacks before releasing it in one burst. Our Aventurine Waveflair kit breakdown and Elation build guide cover his Fervor loop and Eidolon values.

The clarification worth repeating: Waveflair is not a Preservation sustain. If your account's weakness is survival rather than damage, he does not solve it.

Astropolis and quality of life

Version 4.5 adds Astropolis, a new planet of bright, sunny beaches, visited by the Astral Express alongside additional story missions.

New areas typically carry meaningful Stellar Jade in chests and exploration rewards — and in a shortened version, clearing it early matters more than usual, since it front-loads income before Phase 2.

Also confirmed: story dialogue can now be played at a faster speed, toggleable at any time during dialogue. Small, but welcome for anyone replaying or rushing through quest text.

And a non-gameplay note: Robin's new single releases 26 August.

What to do before 25 August

• Clear Version 4.4 content. Event tracks close with the version. The Fate collaboration banners for Rin Tohsaka and Gilgamesh remain available through the end of 4.6, so those aren't the deadline — our 4.4 Phase 2 guide covers what is.
• Finish your endgame clears on the current schedule, since Memory of Chaos timing is changing.
• Redeem the livestream codes before they expire.
• Decide Phase 1 versus Phase 2 now. A five-week version leaves less room to change your mind than a six-week one.
• Factor in the ZZZ collaboration when deciding how freely to spend.

Build the roster the new units need

Both 4.5 characters reward teams built around frequent attacks — and assembling that roster, with the relics and traces behind it, is the slow half of any Star Rail account. Browse verified Honkai: Star Rail accounts if you want a roster ready for Elation and attack-frequency teams, speed up relic and trace farming with Honkai: Star Rail hourly services, or clear the toughest endgame floors through Honkai: Star Rail boosting.

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