Dear Trailblazers, are you excited for the upcoming Version 3.5 update for Honkai: Star Rail? We’ve previously covered last week’s Special Program on Icy Veins. But did you know there are also some amazing quality-of-life changes as well? Let’s review what they are together!
Honkai: Star Rail already announced their big plans for Version 3.6, including story skips, which is currently expected to release in late September. But what about Version 3.5, which is releasing this upcoming Tuesday, August 12th?
According to the official Update Radio on HoYoLAB, there are five major updates that will be available:
- Individual Voice Toggle for Collaboration Characters
- Relic Synthesis Optimization
- Smart Equip Optimization
- Light Cone Exchange Optimization
- Past Mission Optimization
Saber and Archer Voice Optimizations
If you’ve been playing with the Fate/stay night collaboration characters, you maaaay have noticed both Saber and Archer are missing some of their vocal chords. This is because they only have voice audio files available in Japanese, not other languages. Thankfully, starting in Version 3.5, players can now hear both characters speak as they fight, regardless of what voice language option you choose.
This feature can be enabled via Character Details > Information > Voice. However, this feature is only for collaboration characters’ interaction, combat, and idle voice lines! It does not apply to Story voice lines from the collaboration event or the Trailblaze Continuance missions.
Better Relic Synthesis Customizations
Make sure to save up any Wishful Resins you still have! Starting in Version 3.5, they will all be converted to Self-Modeling Resins for better convenience, at a 1:1 conversion ratio. This way, Relic Synthesis will only require one type of material to work. As a result, Self-Modeling Resins can now customize both Main and Subsidiary Stats of a relic.
Despite the change, the total Resin cost is still the same. See the example below, when customizing all stats of a Relic piece (1 Main Stat and 2 Subsidiary Stats):
| Version 3.4 and before | Version 3.5+ (Now) | |
| Self-Modeling Resin Amount | 1 Self-Modeling Resin | 5 Self-Modeling Resins |
| Wishful Resin Amount | 4 Wishful Resins | N/A |
| Total Resin Amount | 5 Resins (Combined) | 5 Resins |
All of the Resin sources also haven’t changed. Any Wishful Resin-exclusive sources now provide Self-Modeling Resin instead. If you were synthesizing Relic Remains into Wishful Resins twice every month, you can now do this for Self-Modeling Resin instead.
If you’ve already reached the Relic Remains synthesis limit for August 2025, you will not receive additional Resins as a result of the Version Update. You will have to wait until the next monthly reset. If you still have any Wishful Resins in your Mailbox, they will automatically convert into Self-Modeling Resin at the same 1:1 rate.
In addition, if you’re unsure on which Main or Subsidiary Stats to choose for your relics, you can now filter by suitable characters. By picking the character you wish to build for, the game will automatically recommend a few stats to you.
These recommendations are based on all recent players and the system. If you want more curated advice instead, consider reading through our character guides on Icy Veins!
After synthesizing, remember to click the Close button at the bottom of the screen!
Is Smart Equip Actually Smart Now?
If you’ve tried out the Smart Equip feature before, it’s getting a few upgrades to its system. Namely,
- You can now select individual Relics without having to leave the loadout or system
- Selected Relics are now marked and prioritized, so you won’t forget when making multiple plans!
- To view the post-changes better, the system window will stay open until you decide to close it
- A brief explanation is now provided for why certain Relic pieces work better
Most of these are quality-of-life and self-explanatory, but let’s explore the last point a bit. One of the hardest challenges in HSR character building is understanding how stats work. Why does one character need CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG, and the other only Break Effect? Which Body‘s Main Stat should I use: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG? Are ATK Boots better than SPD Boots?
Well, to help educate players who are new or returning to HSR, the Smart Equip system now provides a brief explanation for its recommendation. For example, it can recommend a new piece based on:
- Main Stat compatibility (if a character works better with certain stats)
- Subsidiary Stats improvement (compatibility and efficiency)
- Set Effect changes (enables a Set Effect, or works better for the character)
- and more!
This will hopefully help players understand how to pick better Relics to upgrade. Be sure to try it out after Version 3.5 releases! If you don’t want to think about building characters yourself, you can also consult our build guides on Icy Veins!
No More Excess Light Cone Trades!
If you have an excess of Lucent Afterglows (you know, the exchange currency for 4-Star Light Cones?), now you won’t have to worry about spending too many of them all at once! Previously, if you say had 2,000 Lucent Afterglows, you’d be able to exchange for ten 4-Star Light Cones altogether. Maybe you only wanted to superimpose one Light Cone, not any more than that!
Now, starting in Version 3.5, you are limited up to 5 exchanges each time you want to trade Lucent Afterglows for 4-Star Light Cones. If you want to trade for 5-Star Light Cones instead (such as with Light Cone Memory Shards), they are limited to 1 exchange per transaction. It may be a little less convenient if you wanted multiple copies, but this will ensure there won’t be any spending accidents!
Similar to the warping feature, players can also now skip animations when obtaining duplicate Light Cones through non-Warp methods. For example, if you obtained multiple copies through the Store or Salvaged Light Cone Retrieval. No changes have been made to the Warp system’s animation features.
More Storage Space for PC and Mobile!
And last, but not least, Trailblazers on the PC now have better resource management options available! Starting in Version 3.5, players can “Delete Past Mission Resources” through the Settings menu. Hopefully that’ll bring the game’s file size down a few gigabytes, especially for one-time missions you’ll never do again!
In addition, this option will also be remembered when reinstalling the game on mobile devices. So the next time you need to reinstall HSR on your phone, the system will exclude downloading past missions based on your account’s current progression.
We hope everyone is looking forward to the upcoming Version 3.5 update! Happy Trailblazing, and we’ll see you tomorrow for the update summary release!
