Honkai: Star Rail 4.3 to 4.4 Pull Planning: Mortenax Blade, Himeko Nova, and the Fate Collab

Honkai: Star Rail 4.3 to 4.4 Pull Planning: Mortenax Blade, Himeko Nova, and the Fate Collab

What's actually in the Honkai: Star Rail 4.3 and 4.4 banner lineup?

Version 4.3 launches on June 3, 2026. Phase 1 runs June 3 to June 24 with the new limited Mortenax Blade, and Phase 2 from June 24 to July 14 kicks off the Fate/stay night collab. Version 4.4 is expected around July 14, opening with Himeko Nova.

On paper the 4.3 first-phase decision looks like a four-way choice: Mortenax Blade as the brand-new 5★, plus three rerun reissues — Cyrene (Ice Remembrance), Cerydra (Wind Harmony), and Evernight (Ice Remembrance). That's the practical starting point for any global pull plan, because every jade you spend on a rerun is a jade you don't have for the collab queue later.

Here's the confirmed scheduling, which matters because the collab window is unusually long and that changes how aggressively a low-spend account should commit:

The 4.4 patch is stacked: it carries three-plus limited 5-stars across its run when you count the ongoing collab. The clear takeaway from the creator is that resource-light players should not force pulls in 4.4 just because something new appears. The collab itself runs long enough that you can wait, evaluate combat reviews, and pick targets rather than panic-spending into the first thing that shows up.

One more reason to slow down: the Fate collab uses a separate collab gacha system rather than the standard character pity, and a free 5★ selector opens later in the timeline. So the "everything at once" feeling of this stretch is partly an illusion — several of these rewards don't draw from the same wallet, and one of them is free.

Is Mortenax Blade worth pulling in Honkai: Star Rail 4.3?

Mortenax Blade is a 5★ Fire Nihility unit that scales off Max HP and plays as a hybrid support / sub-DPS. He's strongest in Nihility teams that keep debuffs flowing, and pairs naturally with Acheron. If you main that archetype, he's a genuine upgrade rather than a sidegrade.

The kit runs almost entirely on his own health. His Skill consumes 15% Max HP to deal 36% Max HP Fire DMG to all enemies plus four additional hits of 12% Max HP to random targets, costs no Skill Points, and can't drop him below 1 HP. The Basic deals 25% Max HP Fire DMG and taunts for one turn. After casting his Ultimate he enters an "Infinite Fury" state and deploys a Bounded Field zone on the battlefield, placing a 70 AV cooldown before it can fire again.

That zone is the heart of the build. While it's active, the "Balefire Bind" debuff is listed as a permanent 30% DEF shred plus 50% Vulnerability on enemies — though sources conflict here, with one instead listing roughly 20% DEF down and +20% DMG taken. His enhanced Ultimate hits all enemies for 180% Max HP Fire DMG, and his transformation grants +20% CRIT Rate and +30% CRIT DMG (one source says +60% CRIT DMG), plus a one-time survival of a lethal hit that recovers 50% Max HP.

His Talent is what makes him a team multiplier. Ally attacks apply Balefire Bind and grant a Charge; at 9 Charges he consumes them to regenerate 15 Energy and fire his Skill again as a no-HP-cost Follow-Up. While the zone is up, his Traces give all allies +50% DMG, and with a second Nihility ally that becomes +50% Ultimate DMG. The V3 balance pass lowered his HP cost, raised that Ultimate buff to 75%, removed the party-wide Follow-Up buff, and nerfed his E2.

For investment math: the V3 signature Light Cone gives 24% Max HP, a party-wide 30% CRIT DMG-taken debuff on enemies, 60% CRIT DMG-taken for himself, and a 30% Max HP buff. E1 adds 20% All-Type RES PEN and extends the transformation, while E6 adds a stack on any HP loss and a +150% Ultimate multiplier. The honest read: if you don't already run Nihility or Acheron, he's a "like the character" pull, not a must-have.

Which 4.3 rerun should I grab — and which can I skip?

Of the three 4.3 reruns, the one standout pickup is the Wind Harmony support Cerydra. The two Ice Remembrance reruns, Cyrene and Evernight, are recommended only for players who genuinely like them — otherwise the advice is to bank your jades for newer units.

Cerydra is the rerun the creator calls a "have-her-or-not, two different experiences" enabler for certain damage carries: if you already own specific Hunt-style DPS units, picking her up meaningfully changes those teams. Importantly, the recommendation is to grab the character only — her signature Light Cone isn't treated as required for the upgrade to land. That keeps the pull cheap relative to a full carry investment.

Cyrene is a 5★ Ice Remembrance unit whose leaked kit leans on Memosprites (a Spectral Stingray), a dual Child/Adult form, and an Ultimate called "Archery" that reportedly triggers all allies' Ultimates, positioning her as a hybrid support that's strongest for Inheritor units. Treat all of that as inferred from earlier Version 3.7 testing rather than confirmed — which is another reason the cautious call is to skip unless you're a fan.

The reasoning behind skipping the Ice Remembrance pair is simple resource discipline. Two reruns of the same Path/Element overlap heavily, the 4.3-to-4.4 stretch is jade-hungry, and the collab plus Himeko Nova are all queued right behind them. Unless one of these characters fills a real gap in your account or you simply want them, the higher-value move is to hold. There's no upside to thinning your stockpile on a rerun you only "kind of" want this close to a stacked patch.

Should free-to-play players save for the Fate/stay night collab?

Yes — the collab is the single best reason to hold jades through this stretch. It runs across 4.3 Phase 2 and into 4.4, the window is very long, and a free 5★ selector lets you claim either Gilgamesh or Archer at no pull cost. Low-spend accounts shouldn't burn resources before this.

The free selector opens July 24 and runs until the end of Version 4.6. You choose one of Gilgamesh (5★ Lightning Destruction) or Archer, and it's separate from standard pity, so it doesn't eat into your saved guarantees. That alone is a strong argument against forcing any 4.4 pull: you're already getting one collab 5★ for free if you're patient.

The paid collab side features Gilgamesh and Rin Tohsaka (a 5★ collab Erudition unit), running on a separate collab gacha system rather than the normal character banner. Part 1's Saber and Archer banners also remain available as carryover. The creator's firm stance is that you should secure at least one collab character — Rin Tohsaka specifically gets a "definitely grab one" call simply because collab units don't return on a normal rerun cadence.

So the planning logic is layered. Take the free Gilgamesh-or-Archer pick on July 24 regardless of budget. Beyond that, prioritize one paid collab pull if you have the jades, and lean on the long banner duration to time it. Because the collab gacha and the free selector both sit outside the standard pity pool, a careful player can walk away from this period with multiple collab characters without ever touching their hard-saved guarantee.

Is Himeko Nova good, and how does she actually work?

Himeko Nova is a 5★ Fire Erudition unit expected in Version 4.4 Phase 1. She's notably the second character ever to reuse a prior version's exact Path/Element combo (after Herta and Therta), and her synergy is built around Astral Express members. The honest verdict: wait for combat reviews before committing.

Her presentation leans hard into a robot theme — fiery red hair, a coffee cup, and a white mecha behind her splash art. Her obtainment titles, "Astral Express Coffee Master" 1st Place and "But My Robot Is Better Than Yours" 1st Place, plus her flavor line about painting "a trailblazing miracle" down the silver rail, all point at a kit themed around that mech companion.

That title and the robot on her back drive three theories about how her damage works. One: she summons the splash-art robot via Skill to deal damage directly. Two: the robot lives on the action bar — comparable to Jing Yuan's summon — and she triggers its actions through her Skill. Three: she's a conventional Erudition unit dealing straightforward direct damage. None is confirmed, which is exactly why holding for live testing is the safe move.

Team-wise, she's tuned for Astral Express comps: Astral Express sustains and Sunday's energy generation feed her, and crucially her damage is noted to count as Memosprite DMG when Evernight is on the team. That last detail hints she'll slot into Remembrance-flavored cores rather than standing alone. As for relics, the Navigator set ("As Navigator Isee Sees It") looks like a natural fit for a Skill-and-Ultimate-driven attacker: its 2-piece grants +12% ATK and its 4-piece raises Skill and Ultimate DMG on combat entry or Skill use, with one source noting +18% on Ultimate activation. Confirm the scaling once her kit is final before farming around it.

Which redeem codes give free Stellar Jade in 4.3, and how do I claim them?

The 4.3 livestream codes hand out 300 Stellar Jade plus materials across the listed entries. They're short-lived, so claim fast. You must first finish the Trailblaze Mission "A Moment of Peace," then redeem through the official site or the in-game Phone menu.

The three named codes each give 100 Stellar Jade alongside a different material, and there are three more reward codes published with them. Redemption is time-boxed and capped, so don't sit on them:

The single most important constraint is timing: these livestream codes must be redeemed within 24 hours and have limited redemptions, so a code you save "for later" is usually a code that expires. The 50,000, 5 Traveler's Guide, and 4 Refined Aether tucked alongside the jade are also worth grabbing for leveling materials, not just the currency.

The gating step trips people up — the codes won't apply if you haven't cleared "A Moment of Peace" yet, because livestream rewards require an account that has progressed past that early checkpoint. If you're a returning or fresh account, knock that mission out before the redeem window opens. Beyond these one-off codes, the only reliable free jade comes from in-game events and mail, so treat livestream codes as a recurring, time-critical chunk of your pull budget rather than a bonus you can

Who is the last piece of the Joy Trailblazer team — Pearl or someone else?

The community is split between Pearl and another character who was announced at the same time but still hasn't entered a banner. Both are framed as the potential final piece of the Joy Trailblazer team, and neither is confirmed playable yet — this is leak-and-speculation territory.

Pearl currently exists as an NPC on Planarcadia inside Pearluxe Tower, holding the rank P45 senior manager title. Community leaks describe her as a universal Harmony support or emanator, with rumors that she could become a playable Stoneheart member. The creator's read is that a 4.5 banner appearance would make sense narratively, since she's a company executive who could guide players through the headquarters city, Qianxing, when that location opens.

That HQ tie-in matters because the Elation/Joy content arc is said to run a full year, with the back half taking players to Qianxing — the headquarters of the entertainment corporation. The creator expects the 4.5 through 4.8 character rollout to orbit that city. A pointed observation supporting the "new unit soon" theory: by Version 4.4, no new sustain (survival) unit has launched at all, leaving an obvious gap in the roster.

Beyond Pearl, the creator floats a wishlist of speculative future arrivals tied to the same arc: Opal, said to be one of the Stoneheart Ten; the Genius Club's 84th seat, the oddball Stephen Lloyd; a Trailmaster ranger battle-maid possibly named Loretta; and a Harmony Emissary dancer, Beatrice. These are predictions, not confirmations, so file them as "what to watch for," not pull targets.

Finally, there's Kafka SP, the upgraded Kafka the creator personally wants. Rumors place her in a 5.x version with a Path shift from Nihility to Harmony, tied to a movie-production story arc involving the Masked Fools and Elio on a new planet, Patrevia. Nothing here is locked, so the practical conclusion stands: keep jades in reserve, because the most interesting decisions are still ahead of 4.4.

FAQ

When does Honkai: Star Rail 4.3 release?

Version 4.3 launches June 3, 2026. Phase 1 runs from June 3 to June 24 with Mortenax Blade, and Phase 2 runs from June 24 to July 14 with the Fate/stay night collab. Version 4.4 is expected around July 14, 2026.

Is Mortenax Blade an HP-scaling character?

Yes. Mortenax Blade is a 5★ Fire Nihility hybrid support / sub-DPS whose Skill, Basic, and Ultimate all scale off Max HP. His Skill consumes 15% Max HP for damage but can't drop him below 1 HP, and his enhanced Ultimate deals 180% Max HP Fire DMG to all enemies.

Can I get a free Fate/stay night collab 5-star?

Yes. From July 24 until the end of Version 4.6, you can claim a free selector choosing either Gilgamesh (5★ Lightning Destruction) or Archer. It's separate from standard pity, so it doesn't consume your saved guarantee.

How much free Stellar Jade do the 4.3 codes give?

The listed livestream codes total 300 Stellar Jade plus materials such as 50,000, 5 Traveler's Guide, and 4 Refined Aether. You must complete the Trailblaze Mission "A Moment of Peace" first, and the codes must be redeemed within 24 hours with limited uses.

What element and Path is Himeko Nova?

Himeko Nova is a 5★ Fire Erudition unit expected in Version 4.4 Phase 1. She's the second character to reuse a prior version's exact Path and Element combination, after Herta and Therta, and her kit is built around Astral Express synergy.

Should low-spend players pull in Honkai: Star Rail 4.4?

The creator's advice is no, not by force. Version 4.4 is a stacked patch with multiple limited units and the long-running collab, but the collab window is generous and includes a free 5★ selector — so saving and timing your pulls beats panic-spending.

Is Mortenax Blade good with Acheron?

Yes. Mortenax Blade fits Nihility teams that apply constant debuffs, and pairs well with Acheron. His zone applies the Balefire Bind debuff while allies attack, and with a second Nihility ally his Traces grant additional Ultimate DMG, which suits an Acheron-centered comp.