The hype for Honkai: Star Rail’s much-anticipated Version 2.0 continues to skyrocket with miHoYo revealing its second banner character to eager fans on Dec. 14. Her name is Sparkle and, as a Quantum character that follows the Path of Harmony, she will complete an important set to many players.
Sparkle is “a dangerous master of theatrics engrossed in playing roles,” so says her flavor text, and “a woman of countless masks and many faces.” We’re excited to meet her soon, as are those who run Quantum mono-type team compositions. Sparkle’s introduction will cement Quantum characters as the first group covering every Path in the game. From the upcoming Xueyi’s destructive potential to Lynx’s cleansing healing, this particular jigsaw is soon to be fully pieced together.
So, what does this mean from a gameplay perspective? Simply put, tactical flexibility. Current Quantum-exclusive rosters largely rely on Silver Wolf to debuff opponents, allowing for heavy hitters such as Seele and Qingque to break health bars down. Sparkle will offer a new dimension to consider as her moveset buffs her allies’ HP and ATK.
Speaking more broadly, characters such as Qingque and Imbibitor Lunae will especially love Sparkle’s Ultimate. According to leaks, Thousand Faces of a Fool restores several skill points for allies to use. Even if this amount exceeds the maximum stacks available to a player, their skill points will regenerate for each one over that limit. Furthermore, Joke is a temporary buff placed onto all allies which increases damage for each skill point consumed thereafter.
Quite frankly, she sounds like a remarkable character, if a bit unstable. “They released one mentally stable character in Jung Yuan and just said never again huh,” joked one user on Reddit. To be fair, we haven’t truly gotten to know all the characters releasing with Version 1.6 just yet. Still, their backstories, which range from dark pasts to childhood trauma to a being religious zealot, make it hard to disagree for now.
Speaking of 1.6, it looks like players looking for more Harmony characters are finally getting their moment. Ruan Mei will be the headline act for the banner, succeeding Argenti, and her kit looks all sorts of brutal. Her specialties include weakness breaks and delaying enemy actions. We should also consider Hanya, one of the most recent additions to Star Rail. She has earned herself plenty of praise from stats analysts for her support consistency.
Sparkle, then, will be the latest consideration for players as they choose what to spend their hard-won Stellar Jades on. That’s certainly not an envious position to be in.
