What's new in Honkai: Star Rail patch 1.2?

Honkai: Star Rail just launched its 1.2 update, and it’s actually a big one. Not only does it feature new story and characters, but there’s new content to farm out, as well as new relics.

It can be overwhelming to log in and see a bunch of red dots on everything, indicating all the new content, so here’s a breakdown of the biggest updates in Honkai: Star Rail’s 1.2 update.

The Xianzhou Luofu story continues in Trailblaze Missions

The Trailblaze Missions centered on Xianzhou Luofu nears its conclusion in the new patch, wrapping up our journey on this history-rich area. We still have questions, so it seems like there may be more to come, but this new story addition does add the final (?) boss fight, just like Cocolia’s in Jarilo-VI.

As you go through the new story quests, you’ll run through two new maps: Alchemy Commission and Scalegorge Waterscape. Each one comes complete with a new set of chests to find, puzzles to solve, and a new type of bad guy to take down.

There are new bosses to fight

There’s a new Stagnant Shadow boss (the ones you have to fight for character ascension material) and a new Echo of War boss (the ones you have to fight for trace ascension material).

Both are locked behind the story, and Blade uses materials from both of these to level up, so if you pulled Blade from gacha, then you’ll need to complete the story in order to properly level him up.

Blade is out now, with Kafka coming later

That said, Blade, the new five-star Wind Destruction character is out now. He consumes his own HP to deal massive damage (and regain some of that HP back), so if that type of playstyle entices you, he’ll be on the gacha banner for about three weeks.

After he rotates out on Aug. 8, Kafka, the Lightning Nihility Stellaron Hunter that everyone has been waiting for, will join the game via gacha. Alongside her, a new four-star character named Luka will debut. Luka is a Physical Nihility character.

Of course, next to these new character launches come their personal Light Cones, which are also tied to gacha.

Forgotten Hall and Simulated Universe both have new additions

Forgotten Hall now has 15 new stages that are themed with the Xianzhou Luofu area and you’ll get a free Yukong for completing at least one of the stages. Nice! This also means that there are more Stellar Jade to farm from earning stars in each level. You need to beat the Trailblaze Mission “Xianzhou Luofu — A Dragon Gallant, Its Ocean Distant” in order to unlock this new section.

Simulated Universe also has an additional world (World 7) where you’ll have to fight the dreaded deer boss from the Xianzhou Luofu storyline. You do need to complete the Trailblaze Mission “Xianzhou Luofu — Humming Antlers, Entwined Horns” and World 6 to unlock World 7.

There are new relics and Planar Ornaments to farm

Completing the new World 7 of Simulated Universe will reward new Planar Ornaments: Rutilant Arena and Broken Keel.

There’s also a new Cavern of Corrosion to farm two types of new relics from: Longevous Disciple and Messenger Traversing Hackerspace. The new cavern is in Alchemy Commission, so you’ll need to be at least that far in the story to run it.

You can see the relic and Planar Ornament effects below, as per the game:

Broken Keel

2-piece set bonus: Increases the wearer’s Effect RES by 10%. When the wearer’s Effect RES is at 30% or higher, all allies’ CRIT DMG increases by 10%.

Rutilant Arena

2-piece set bonus: Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 70% or higher, the wearer’s Basic ATK and Skill DMG increase by 20%.

Longevous Disciple

2-piece set bonus: Increases Max HP by 12%.

4-piece set bonus: When the wearer is hit or has their HP consumed by an ally or themselves, their CRIT Rate increases by 8% for 2 turn(s) and up to 2 stacks.

Messenger Traversing Hackerspace

2-piece set bonus: Increases SPD by 6%.

4-piece set bonus: When the wearer uses their Ultimate on an ally, SPD for all allies increases by 12% for 1 turn(s). This effect cannot be stacked.

You’ll need to take down new enemies to get the new relics. Image: Hoyoverse via Polygon Seele’s ultimate ability will no longer feel like a flash bang with a new “eye comfort mode” setting

You can now toggle an “eye comfort mode” in the settings to tone down the flashy effects of certain skills in battle, like Seele’s. This is a long time coming, as many users (myself included) felt like they were personally getting blasted in the face every time they used Seele’s ultimate ability.

Harmony buffers will now do a better job targeting in auto-battles

Or so the patch notes say. The update notes don’t explain how they’ll target specifically, but hopefully they start picking characters with higher attack, or characters with DPS roles.

You can now trial out the regular warp characters

The regular warp five-star characters (Himeko, Welt, Clara, Bronya, Gepard, Yanqing, and Bailu) can now be played in their own trials, the way the event warp characters can be. To access these trials, go to the standard warp banner and tap the “character trial” button at the bottom. Each of these will let you test out the character and give you a handful of rewards (including Stellar Jade).

For the full update notes, you can check out Hoyoverse’s website.