Honkai Star Rail 1.6 release date and countdown

Honkai Star Rail is preparing for its version 1.6 update, and with the conclusion of their recent livestream event, the community got a glimpse of everything featured in the patch. It is expected to commence on December 27, 2023, featuring Ruan Mei and Dr. Ratio as the playable characters. Players can expect an official announcement shortly, which will further report the server downtime and other details regarding the update.

For now, Trailblazers can refer to our countdown to track the release of version 1.6. They can also use this time to prepare for the upcoming characters.

Further details about the Honkai Star Rail 1.6 update have been presented in this article.

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Honkai Star Rail 1.6 release date and time across all regions

The official artwork for Honkai Star Rail 1.6 (Image via HoYoverse)

The Honkai Star Rail 1.6 update will roll out on December 27, 2023, at 11 am (UTC+8), following the six-week update duration and ongoing banner cycle. The first phase will feature the Ruan Mei banner alongside a Blade rerun.

Like every other patch release, version 1.6 will be available on all servers simultaneously, meaning that the airtime will be different for each player based on their region. Therefore, we have presented below the launch schedule for a few major time zones.

Remember that the update will go live in America on December 26, 2023, due to time zone differences.

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America (December 26, 2023)

Pacific Standard Time	7 pm
Mountain Standard Time	8 pm
Central Standard Time	9 pm
Eastern Standard Time	10 pm

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Europe (December 27, 2023)

Western European Time	3 am
Central European Time	4 am
Eastern European Time	5 am

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Asia (December 27, 2023)

India Standard Time	8:30 am
China Standard Time	11 am
Philippine Standard Time	11 am
Japanese Standard Time	12 pm
Korea Standard Time	12 pm

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Honkai Star Rail 1.6 universal countdown

To avoid further confusion, you can keep an eye on the countdown below, which shows the time remaining until the release of version 1.6. However, the timer does not account for any delay or rescheduling. Thankfully, HoYoverse has a good reputation for maintaining its launch schedule, and the same can be expected for the next major update.

The new patch should be playable when the timer hits zero. It is advised to pre-download all the resources to swiftly connect to the live servers after the update.

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What to expect from version 1.6

The following list outlines all the new content lined up for patch 1.6:

• Limited-time banner for the new 5-star characters: Ruan Mei (Ice, Harmony Path) and Dr. Ratio (Imaginary, The Hunt Path).
• Blade and Kafka will appear as rerun units.
• New Light Cone Warps for the featured characters.
• The Crown of the Mundane and Divine will be the main story mission.
• Return of the Gift of Oddysey, the seven-day log-in event featuring 10x Star Rail Special Pass as free rewards.
• There are a bunch of other events, which include Critter Pick, Virtual Scentventure, and more.
• Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz as the new weekly boss.
• Seclusion Zone will be added as the new explorable area in Herta's Space Station.
• Pure Fiction game mode.
• Gold and Gears DLC in Simulated Universe.

Lastly, Honkai Star Rail will give away a free copy of Dr. Ratio to every player in version 1.6 for recently winning multiple game awards.