Recently, HoYoverse announced some exciting character reworks coming in the Honkai Star Rail 3.4 update, aiming to shine the spotlight back on some fan-favorite characters. During the RPG’s latest livestream, they revealed plans to tweak characters like Kafka, Silver Wolf, Blade, and Jingliu following fan feedback asking for these heroes to be revamped. Although details on the adjustments remain under wraps, the anticipation is already building.
If everything stays on track, we can expect to see HSR 3.4 roll out in early July 2025.
Back in 2023 when these characters made their debut, they quickly became top choices for players. Kafka, in particular, found renewed interest when Acheron joined the game in 2024. However, as time passed, their influence waned. Jingliu requires significant investment and still can’t keep pace with peers for damage output; Kafka has been lacking new damage-over-time allies lately, and Mydei, a recent addition, feels too similar to Blade in gameplay.
It’s not unusual for older characters to lose their edge—something known as “powercreep” in gacha games like Honkai Star Rail. However, HoYoverse’s games usually ensure longevity for their characters. Genshin Impact, for example, still sees some of its early heroes performing strongly in tier lists and doing well in endgame content. Meanwhile, in Zenless Zone Zero, you can still tackle tough challenges with the original characters you start with. These games evolve, but don’t leave their characters behind.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to extend to all characters in Honkai Star Rail. Heroes like Bailu, Yanqing, Natasha, Hook, and Welt haven’t seen the same resurgence and seem unlikely to receive updates soon.
On a brighter note for fans of classic characters, version 3.2 will offer players the opportunity to choose a free 5-star character between Ruan Mei and Luocha. So, if you’ve been eyeing them, keep an eye out for the update!