Honkai: Star Rail 4.2 Phase 2 is now live

Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.2 Phase 2 is now live across all servers. The second half of the anniversary update brings a new 5-star character, three rerun banners, and a full set of Light Cones running until June 1, 2026. The Silver Wolf LV.999 banner that dominated Phase 1 has closed, and the choice of where to spend Stellar Jades now shifts entirely to Phase 2's lineup.

Version 4.2 launched on April 21 as the game's third anniversary update. Phase 1 ran for three weeks and featured Silver Wolf LV 999 alongside reruns for Dahlia, Castorice, and Firefly. Phase 2 runs from today until June 1, at which point version 4.3 begins with a new character in Mortenax's Blade.

Evanescia and what she does

Evanescia is a 5-star Physical character on the Path of Elation and the headline addition in Phase 2. Her banner, The Demoiselle in Charge, is live now with featured 4-star characters Guinaifen, Lynx, and Sushang. Her signature Light Cone, Until the Flowers Bloom Again, is available simultaneously through the Brilliant Fixation banner.

Her kit runs on a dual-resource system that links energy and a secondary resource called 'Certified Banger'. Energy gained also generates Certified Banger, and Certified Banger gained generates energy in return, creating a self-sustaining loop. At 240 accumulated energy, she triggers Master Fox, a follow-up attack that deals physical elation damage to all enemies and regenerates 10 energy per proc, keeping the cycle going. Her skill deals physical damage to a primary target and adjacent enemies while generating 10 Punchline stacks, which feed into the Elation multipliers that define her damage ceiling. She functions as a primary DPS in Elation-focused teams and synergises directly with the Elation Trailblazer, which was added for free at the start of Version 4.2.

Reruns and what else is live

The Phase 2 Indelible Coterie rerun banner features three strong returning characters: Tribbie, Sunday, and Feixiao. Their respective signature Light Cones are available at the same time through the Coalesced Truths banner, alongside the 4-star Light Cones Swordplay, Memories of the Past, and Shared Feeling at boosted rates. Players who lost their 50/50 during Phase 1 carry that guaranteed 5-star over to Phase 2, and pity accumulated on previous limited banners transfers to The Demoiselle in Charge.

The standard 50/50 system applies across all Phase 2 banners. The hard pity cap sits at 90 pulls, with a 0.6 per cent base rate for 5-star characters. Players who miss Evanescia during her debut have no confirmed rerun date yet, so the window to pull her closes when Phase 2 ends on June 1.

Honkai: Star Rail is free to play on mobile, PC, and PlayStation 5. For something completely different in the gaming music space this week, Notebookcheck spoke with Final Fantasy Tactics composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, who revealed the iconic FFT soundtrack is rooted in rock and shared his thoughts on the upcoming Colors of Harmony concert.