Honkai: Star Rail's Version 4.6, subtitled "Dance With the Beast Before Moonrise," goes live September 28. It brings a new playable 5-star, a Trailblaze mission that reveals Nihilux's true identity, and a fresh zone to explore. Players are talking about something else entirely since the preview livestream aired on September 20: HoYoverse confirmed Star Rail's first official crossover with Zenless Zone Zero, its other flagship mobile title, coming in Version 4.8.
Pearl joins the roster as the story exposes a conspiracy at the Life Sciences Institute
The new playable character is Pearl, a 5-star Ice unit who fights along the Path of Elation. The 4.6 Trailblaze mission writes her into the main plot rather than sidelining her as a side character: Nihilux shows her hand as Aha, the Aeon of Elation, and Pearl becomes a key ally as the Trailblazer investigates Astropolis.
The mission takes the crew to the Life Sciences Institute, a new area unlocked as the story progresses. There, evidence points to Yabuli running an operation to weaponize "husks," with suspected ties to a faction that venerates Voracity. Pearl sends Kuchiba and Ashveil to investigate alongside the Trailblazer and Nihilux, turning the mission into a four-way team-up rather than a solo Trailblazer errand.
Pearl's banner runs next to an Evanescia rerun
Pearl's banner opens today, September 27, in North America, and runs through Phase 1 alongside a rerun for Evanescia, giving anyone who missed her first release a second shot. The featured 4-star lineup on Pearl's side includes Qingque, Xueyi, and Misha, a spread built for Break and crit-focused support around the new unit. Phase 1 closes October 21; Phase 2 is expected to open with its own banner pair after that.
The 100x Stellar Jade redemption codes handed out during the September 20 livestream expired September 21, so that window is closed. Banners and story content are the only way in now.
Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero are colliding
During the same livestream, HoYoverse confirmed that Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero will cross over for the first time, with Ellen Joe and Astra Yao joining Star Rail's roster in Version 4.8, expected this winter. Both characters are S-Rank Agents in Zenless Zone Zero: Ellen Joe as an Ice-focused Attack unit and Astra Yao as an Ether Support. Early reporting from Siliconera and Dot Esports suggests they'll carry similar roles into Star Rail's Path system.
HoYoverse has kept its major mobile titles siloed from each other since launch. Crossing two of its biggest live-service releases signals a willingness to test shared audiences across games, not just within them. Whether Zenless Zone Zero gets a matching crossover event of its own hasn't been confirmed.
Version 4.6 is a quiet patch next to that announcement: one new unit, one story chapter, one rerun. The next two patches carry the real weight, first with whatever HoYoverse builds toward in 4.7, then with the ZZZ crossover landing in 4.8. Anyone stockpiling Stellar Jade now has a reason to keep saving through the winter.
