• Honkai: Star Rail Version 3.4 launches on July 2
• The update introduces the new five-star character Phainon and the much-anticipated Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] collaboration
• Plus, reworks to old characters Silver Wolf, Blade, Kafka, and Jingliu

Everything suggested that Version 3.4 was going to be a huge update for Honkai: Star Rail. And now that ‘For the Sun is Set to Die’ has been fully unveiled, it’s clear we have lots to look forward to when it launches on July 2.

If you want a quick overview: there’s the introduction of a fan-favourite character, the continuation of the Amphoreus storyline, a new area to explore, the launch of a much-anticipated Fate collab, reworks of some of the game’s oldest and most-loved characters, re-runs of some of the most popular new units, and a whole host of new gear and events.

In case the key art doesn’t make it clear, the addition of Phainon as a playable character is the highlight. He joins the game as a Physical character following the Path of Destruction. Based on the footage shared in the livestream, Phainon offers one of the game’s most unique kits yet that sees him take on enemies as a one-man army.

First, he builds up ‘Coreflame’ stacks as he uses his skill, receives buffs from the rest of the team and debuffs from enemies. Then, when reaching 12 stacks, you can activate his ultimate form, which removes the rest of your party from the battle, dramatically buffs Phainon’s stats, and allows him to unleash three new attacks. One of these effectively looks like a planet-ending explosion for some ridiculously high damage.

As cool as all of that sounds, I’m suffering from very limited funds after the last few patches, so this may have to be a skip for me. My eyes are also on the reruns of Sunday and Tribbie, as well as future characters – but more on that in a bit.

Also, finally launching as part of 3.4, is a Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] collaboration, featuring new characters, quests and events.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not hugely familiar with the world of Fate, but the excitement for this collaboration among the game’s player base is extremely high. That was only made clear by the reaction to Saber’s surprise reveal at the end of the recent second anniversary concert.

Both Saber (Wind, Destruction) and Archer (Quantum, The Hunt) will join the game as playable characters on July 11. Unlike other limited characters, though, the banners for both of them will run for a longer period. Exactly how long is yet to be confirmed.

Even if you don’t plan to pull for these characters, if you log in before the end of Version 3.6, you can claim Archer for free. Plus, if you spend 200 Star Rail Special Passes across limited banners throughout 3.4, you also get a copy of Archer’s signature Light Cone.

And then, if that wasn’t enough, the older characters Silver Wolf, Blade, Kafka, and Jingliu are all getting much-needed enhancements to their abilities and Eidolons in 3.4. I might finally be able to get Kafka off the bench and back into one of my main teams with this, as I really miss playing the DoT archetype.

I won’t go through every buff and change here as it would be an entirely new piece in itself, but you can check out all of the details in the Novaflare Character Enhancement System Guide published on HoyoLab.

Rounding off everything coming in Version 3.4, there’s a new outfit for Firefly, an updated version of the fun match-3 mini-game, Origami Bird Clash, new planar ornaments to farm, and a long-awaited skip dialogue function.

I’ll stick my neck out here and say I’m glad they’ve finally added the latter to the game as someone who doesn’t always click with the game’s often verbose, stilted and meandering approach to storytelling.

Honkai: Star Rail Version 3.4 launches on July 12. The free-to-play RPG is available now on PC, mobile, and PlayStation 5.

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James Pickard is a Deals Editor at TechRadar. After many years of scouring the net for the cheapest games and tech for his personal use, he decided to make it his job to share all the best bargains and coupon codes with you. James also has almost a decade of experience covering some of the biggest sales events of the year at Eurogamer and VG247, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day. When not deals hunting or stacking coupon codes to get the biggest savings, James can be found on the PS5, watching a classic film noir or cheering on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.