The newest Honkai: Star Rail’s Fate collab seems closer than ever, but the lack of more official details is distressing.

Over the past months, the community has speculated about which characters from the anime will be adapted into the game and how they will play. Some of the players’ speculation also revolves around the idea that the Fate collab may not be a standalone event, per se, but get mixed up with the larger main campaign – possibly even overlapping with the Amphoreus story arc that is being told this year. A lot of mystery still revolves around what the event will provide in of content, but some rumors and leaks about the Honkai: Star Rail collab are emerging.

Click here to view leaks about the Honkai: Star Rail Fate collab.

Two Fate Characters May Arrive In Honkai: Star Rail 3.4

Saber & Archer May Become Playable In The Turn-Based RPG

The newest leaks have now revealed details about which Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works characters could become playable with the event, as well as their gameplay information, such as Path and element. According to information provided by the leaker known as Luna, who accurately reported that Cipher would be a Quantum character following the Path of the Nihility, two Fate characters will become playable: Saber and Archer. The leak was shared in a post tagged as “Reliable” on Honkai: Star Rail Fate collab characters.

Even without official confirmation from HoYoverse, it makes perfect sense that Artoria Pendragon and Emiya Shirou would be the selected characters for the collab event. Both characters are the anime’s protagonists – though some fans could argue that they are deuteragonist and protagonist, respectively. Regardless of how they are perceived, both of them are the most important characters in Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, and they are apt to be adapted into playable units. Characters like the regular version of Emiya Shirou or Rin Tohsaka aren’t suited for battle, so it’s unlikely they would become playable in Honkai: Star Rail.

Rin Tohsaka can also be interpreted as a deuteragonist or protagonist.

All Honkai: Star Rail Fate Collab Characters Explained

Saber May Rival Blade, While Archer May Further Powercreep Seele

As seen in the leak provided by Luna, Artoria Pendragon (also referred to as Saber, her Servant name) will be a limited 5-star who will only be obtainable via the gacha banner system. The leak also mentions that Artoria Pendragon will not be given out for free, though she has Eidolon levels for players who obtain multiple copies of her. Furthermore, the leak states that Saber will be a Wind character who follows the Path of the Destruction. This piece of information aligns with previous rumors, which led to the interpretation that Saber will powercreep Blade in Honkai: Star Rail.

This is because both Saber and Blade are 5-star Wind characters following the Path of the Destruction. Apart from Remembrance and a single case in Nihility, most of the older Paths are attributed to team comp role archetypes, and Destruction characters are all DPS units with great self-sustaining abilities. Even if Saber doesn’t use HP loss mechanics like Blade, she will likely still be a Wind DPS character with a large Max HP pool who will essentially fulfill the same role as the Stellaron Hunter, if the Honkai: Star Rail leak about the Fate collab proves to be true.

Depending on how she works, Saber could require different team comps and builds, but ultimately her role should be dealing massive amounts of Wind DMG to enemies, which is precisely what Blade does.

Alternatively, Emiya Shirou (the true identity of the Servant known as Archer) is said to be a limited 5-star character who is obtainable via banners. Like Saber, he is rumored to have Eidolon levels for players who obtain him multiple times. However, the leak mentions that a copy of Archer will be given for free once the Fate collab starts. HoYoverse has already confirmed that players will receive a free 5-star character later this year, so these rumors coincide with the developer’s earlier statement. Archer may be treated like Dr. Ratio in Honkai: Star Rail regarding his free distribution period.

According to the leak, Archer will be a Quantum character who follows the Path of the Hunt. No other details about him were provided, but given his leaked element and Path, he may rival the already powercrept Seele. The character from Jarilo-VI was the first 5-star character to be released, and shortly after her release, she was already powercrept and left out of most competitive teams. If Archer is set to also focus on dealing high instances of single-target Quantum DMG, as a Hunt character normally would, he may further worsen the problem with Seele in Honkai: Star Rail.

Will The Fate Collab Overlap With Amphoreus In Honkai: Star Rail?

There Are Hints At An Extended Collab

While the leak only addresses the rumored playable characters that will be added via the collab, there is still speculation about how the event will present itself in the turn-based RPG’s universe. Prior to this collab, HoYoverse performed a disastrous collab between Genshin Impact and Horizon Forbidden West by adding Aloy to the game. The character was simply thrown into the RPG without any other correlated event – Aloy doesn’t even have Constellations and has since been crowned one of the game’s worst characters. Honkai: Star Rail needs to avoid repeating its sister game’s mistake.

One of the possible ways of doing this is consolidating an actual event around the release of these characters. While a separate event to introduce the Astral Express to the Fate characters would suffice, there is reason to believe that the anime’s collab may overlap with the main Amphoreus story arc. Amphoreus has shown signs of being stuck in a complicated time loop, and that may fit in well with the Fate series, which plays around lightly with time-related disturbances – Emiya Shirou’s status as Archer is proof of that, for example.

Furthermore, Amphoreus is guided by the Remembrance in Honkai: Star Rail, and Fate’s Servants are essentially summons, much like memosprites.

Perhaps the strongest piece of visual evidence, however, lies in subtle design choices. When the Fate collab was announced, HoYoverse only showcased the image of what seems like a half-destroyed red planet or moon. With the recent release of Version 3.2, players explore a map called Dragonbone City Styxia. After progressing sufficiently, you may see a large red moon lurking behind a regular-colored moon above the main tower in the city. This moon-like satellite heavily resembles the red moon used in the Fate collab announcement, so it may prove to connect with Honkai: Star Rail.

As reliable as Luna has proven to be in the past, their leaks should still be taken with a grain of salt, as the collab event is still a few months away from occurring, and a lot can change internally until then. More official details and, possibly, even hints about the anime’s connection to the game should arise during the months, and players will likely soon know what else is in store for Honkai: Star Rail’s Fate collab aside from the rumored playable characters.

Source: Reddit