After Dan Heng, which other Honkai: Star Rail 4-stars should be getting 5-star versions?

Honkai: Star Rail developer HoYoverse set an interesting precedent with the release of Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae: that 4-star characters can get 5-star versions, remaining the same character lore-wise while receiving a more powerful kit.

So, with that in mind, who are the other 4-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail that could get the Dan Heng treatment and receive a 5-star version?

Don't worry, we actually have some well-thought-out reasons based on the game lore, not just which 4-stars are our favourites.

Anyway, here are our picks:

March 7th

If there's one 4-star character that should get a 5-star version, then it has to be March 7th. Not only is she the game's mascot (aside from Pom-Pom), she's also one of the Astral Express Crew's core trio.

With the Trailblazer powering up with every new Aeon whose gaze they earn and Dan Heng assuming his true form as the Imbibitor Lunae upon arriving in the Xianzhou Luofu, March 7th is next in line.

Let's just hope for her sake that it doesn't involve getting stabbed.

Now how March 7th gets a 5-star version is tricky, as we know very little about her past before she was encased in the mysterious 'Six-Phased Ice' and was found drifting in space by the Astral Express.

If we're going to hazard a guess, then we think March 7th (and her potential 5-star version) will have something to do with Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance.

As the Aeon of the Path of Remembrance, Fuli records everything that happens in Honkai: Star Rail's universe in preparation for its destruction and eventual rebirth.

While the Path of Remembrance isn't represented in the in-game character classes, it does appear in the Simulated Universe and is focused on freezing enemies.

Memories and Ice are both integral to March 7th's character. For one, she likes taking photos of everything she encounters so that she doesn't forget them like her past. On the other hand, she was found encased in Ice and her current playable version has her wield the Ice element.

We think March 7th has close ties with Fuli, which she might rediscover to become a 5-star character. Perhaps she is an Emanator of Remembrance, or a highly-ranked member of the Garden of Recollection?

Hopefully, March 7th can take centre stage in the story soon so we can find out! Perhaps that will happen in her upcoming Companion Quest or the Astral Express' next stop at Penacony? Let's wait and see.

Herta

Herta is one of the more powerful characters in Honkai: Star Rail lore-wise whose strength isn't really represented well by her playable character, even if the Herta we get to play as is canonically one of her many puppets.

Herta is member 83 of the Genius Society, a group of the most intelligent beings in the Honkai: Star Rail universe, which also makes her an Emanator of Nous, the Aeon of Erudition.

She can boast quite the list of feats, including successfully de-ageing herself, sealing the Stellaron that would eventually get implanted into the Trailblazer, meeting the Aeons twice, spearheading the creation of the Simulated Universe, and making multiple functional puppets of herself, among others.

It should be noted that every single time players have interacted with Herta in the game's story, it is through one of the many puppets she uses scattered throughout the Herta Space Station.

While we have talked to Herta through her puppets, we have no idea what she actually looks like now, especially considering she has been able to reverse her own ageing.

So, should Herta ever get a 5-star version, we think it would be because we finally get to meet Herta in the flesh. Sure, the 4-star Herta we have now is already good (kuru kuru~), but just imagine how much better she can get as a 5-star (kuru kuru~ but more powerful)?

With that said, there's not much reason for Herta herself to appear at this point of the game's story.

So far, the Aeons who have played the biggest roles in the story have been Nanook the Destruction, Lan the Hunt, and Yaoshi the Abundance (Tayzzyronth the Propagation, too, if we count the Simulated Universe event), with Nous the Erudition among the other Aeons who have not had their time in the spotlight yet.

So, we predict that Herta's 5-star version may come around once Nous takes on a larger role in the game's story. But until then, let's just enjoy the Herta we have now and kuru kuru~ our way to victory.

Sampo

Love him or hate him, Sampo Koski is one of the most interesting characters in Honkai: Star Rail.

Sure, we can't deny that he's a conman, but he also assisted the Astral Express Crew while they were in a pinch twice. And, of course, that's not to mention how there's more to him than meets the eye.

In the 'Silent Galaxy' Trailblaze Mission, just after the Astral Express Crew defeated Cocolia to resolve the Stellaron Crisis in Jarilo VI, there is a short cutscene where Sampo is shown talking to people off-screen.

He regales them with a tale of what happened during the Stellaron Crisis, remarking that he "doesn't have to be a protagonist" and that he's "better suited to... shadowy comic relief".

Sampo then bids them farewell and asks them to send his regards to the people in the 'tavern' before breaking the fourth wall and asking the player if his performance brought a little more joy into their lives.

If you haven't figured it out by now, then that sequence suggests Sampo is a member of the Masked Fools, a radical group dedicated to the worship of Aha, the Aeon of Elation.

The Masked Fools are known to hang out in taverns across the galaxy and cause all kinds of mayhem to elicit laughter in order to worship of Aha — something that is right up Sampo's alley.

As if his antics in Jarilo VI weren't already enough to make us think he's more than just a random conman, Sampo somehow tricks the Trailblazer into gaining possession of a Mini-Neutron Bomb as a prank in the Xianzhou Luofu.

Even we were flabbergasted when we found a nuclear warhead while investigating some random packages and later found out it was all orchestrated by Sampo of all people.

Yep, we reckon Sampo and Aha got a good laugh out of that.

We don't know just how influential of a member of the Masked Fools Sampo really is, but when considering the kind of antics he likes to pull, we think he just might be an Emanator of Elation. And that makes him a prime candidate to have a 5-star version.

Sushang

The amateur Cloud Knight Li Sushang is one of the many characters from Honkai Impact 3rd to cross over to Honkai: Star Rail.

In Honkai Impact 3rd, Sushang an NPC-turned-playable character who was the daughter of a disciple of the Herrscher of Sentience Fu Hua.

She was also one of the main characters in the Seven Swords visual novel, forming a close relationship with Honkai Impact 3rd's big bad Otto Apocalypse.

Honkai: Star Rail's version of Sushang is a less-skilled and less mature version of her Honkai Impact 3rd character, who can summon a gigantic sword and make it fall from the sky to strike her enemies with her ultimate.

As an amateur Cloud Knight in Honkai: Star Rail, Sushang retains the ability to make her sword bigger with her ultimate, using it to summon a goofy, chicken-looking phoenix to body slam enemies. Make no mistake though, she still packs quite a punch if she is able to inflict Weakness Break on enemies!

With Sushang still an amateur Cloud Knight, it will take something drastic for her to get a more powerful 5-star version of herself.

But with her having ties to Luocha, Honkai: Star Rail's version of Otto Apocalypse, you never know what may happen...

Tingyun

Okay, we admit this is copium.

But we can't exactly rule out that the real Tingyun is out there somewhere in the galaxy completely oblivious to the fact that her identity was used by Phantylia during the Xianzhou Luofu's Stellaron Crisis and that everyone there thinks she's dead. After all, we never found a body...

HoYoverse is not shy about killing off characters in a game's story and still have them remain as a playable character, just look at Himeko in Honkai Impact 3rd (I'm still sobbing).

Himeko played a significant role in Honkai Impact 3rd, and her death wasn't something that was taken lightly by both the game's characters and players.

If Tingyun is really just some random Foxian used by Phantylia to orchestrate a Stellaron Crisis, then why bother making her a playable character instead of just having her as a NPC?

The fact that Tingyun did end up as a playable character even after she was planned to be killed off early on suggests that there's more to this than HoYoverse is letting on.

For all we know, the real Tingyun was not really killed by Phantylia and somehow retained a shred of the Emanator of Destruction's power from the ordeal, opening the avenue for her getting a 5-star character with her 'resurrection'.

Again, this is all copium, but HoYoverse please... I want to use Tingyun in my teams because she's one of the best supports in the game but I can't do that knowing that she's dead. Please bring her back.

Honkai: Star Rail is currently in version 1.3, featuring the 5-stars Imbibitor Lunae and Fu Xuan as well as the 4-star Lynx as new characters. After version 1.3 comes version 1.4, which will see the debuts of new 5-stars Jingliu and Topaz as well as the new 4-star Guinaifen.

Honkai: Star Rail version 1.4 is expected to be released on 11 October alongside the launch of the game's PlayStation 5 version.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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