Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.6 featured Rappa and Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae in its first half, then Acheron and Aventurine in its second half. Rappa was the version’s new five-star character, while the other three were returning characters. HoYoverse announced Version 2.6 for October 23, 2024.
The available official announcement text confirms the character roster but does not establish the exact server-time cutoff for either phase or the complete Light Cone rate-up lineup. Those details should not be inferred from the event schedule: Sound Hunt Ninjutsu Inscription ran from October 25, 2024, at 12:00 to December 2, 2024, at 03:59 server time, but those are event dates rather than banner-phase dates.
What characters were on the Honkai: Star Rail 2.6 banners?
Version 2.6 had two character-banner phases. Rappa and Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae were the featured five-star characters in the first half, followed by Acheron and Aventurine in the second half.
| Version 2.6 phase | Confirmed five-star characters | Status in Version 2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| First half | Rappa; Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae | Rappa was new; Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae was a rerun |
| Second half | Acheron; Aventurine | Both were reruns |
This is the complete character grouping established by the Version 2.6 livestream recap and HoYoverse’s release announcement. The announcements identify the featured names and their first-half or second-half placement, but the source text available here does not provide a verified phase-end timestamp.
Who was the new character in Version 2.6?
Rappa was the only newly introduced five-star character identified for Version 2.6. HoYoverse’s update details described her as obtainable through the Brilliant Fixation Character Event Warp.
What Rappa’s banner status means
Calling Rappa the new character distinguishes her from the three returning five-stars in the same version. It does not, by itself, establish her full combat kit, recommended teams, damage profile, Path, element, or whether she was the best choice for a particular account. Those are separate gameplay questions requiring kit and testing information.
The practical historical answer is therefore straightforward: if you were checking which 2.6 character was making her debut, it was Rappa. Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae, Acheron, and Aventurine were returning characters rather than new releases for this version.
Which characters were reruns?
HoYoverse identified Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae, Acheron, and Aventurine as returning characters in Version 2.6’s warp events.
- Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae: returned in the first half alongside Rappa.
- Acheron: returned in the second half.
- Aventurine: returned in the second half.
The wording confirms their return during the version, but it should not be expanded into claims about exact banner overlap, pity carryover, or banner-specific mechanics unless a separate notice confirms those details. The reliable roster answer is the phase grouping above.
What does “first half” and “second half” mean for Version 2.6?
The labels describe the two sequential portions of the version’s character-warp schedule: Rappa and Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae came first, and Acheron and Aventurine came later.
They do not supply a precise clock time in the official text available here. A version announcement can establish that a character belongs to a phase without stating the exact moment that phase ends on every server. For that reason, an article or archive that lists a specific cutoff should be checked against a primary banner notice before treating it as confirmed.
Why the missing cutoff matters
Players in different regions may need a server-time conversion to know when a phase changes. Without the server and timestamp, a calendar date alone can be misleading, especially around daylight-saving changes or when a local date differs from the game server’s date.
For a historical roster lookup, the safest wording is “first half” or “second half.” That communicates the confirmed order without pretending that an exact hour has been established.
What Light Cones were on the 2.6 banners?
The official source text available for this roster does not establish the complete phase-by-phase Light Cone rate-up lineup. It confirms the character banners, including Rappa’s access through Brilliant Fixation Character Event Warp, but it does not provide enough verified information to name every featured Light Cone.
| Light Cone question | What can be stated confidently |
|---|---|
| Was a Light Cone warp part of the version? | The character announcement alone does not provide a complete Light Cone schedule. |
| Which Light Cones were rate-up in the first half? | Not established by the official source text available here. |
| Which Light Cones were rate-up in the second half? | Not established by the official source text available here. |
| Can a character’s signature Light Cone be inferred from the character list? | No. A character roster is not a verified Light Cone rate-up notice. |
This limitation is important because Light Cone banners are separate from character banners. A character’s presence in a phase does not prove that a particular Light Cone was available, featured, or paired with that character. Naming a Light Cone without a phase-specific notice would turn an assumption into a false historical record.
When was Version 2.6 released?
HoYoverse announced October 23, 2024 as the release date for Version 2.6. That date identifies the version launch, not the start or end time of each character-banner phase.
The same update materials list the Sound Hunt Ninjutsu Inscription event from October 25, 2024, at 12:00 through December 2, 2024, at 03:59 server time. Those timestamps belong to that in-game event. They cannot be used as a substitute for character-warp phase cutoffs.
How to read the dates without mixing systems
- Use October 23, 2024 for the version launch. This is the announced Version 2.6 release date.
- Use October 25 to December 2 for Sound Hunt Ninjutsu Inscription. The times are server-time event dates, not banner dates.
- Use first-half and second-half labels for the character order. The roster is confirmed even though exact phase timestamps are not established here.
- Require a dedicated warp notice for Light Cone timing. Do not derive a Light Cone schedule from the event calendar.
Can the 2.6 banners be ranked without more gameplay data?
Not responsibly from the confirmed announcement facts alone. The roster tells you who appeared and when, but it does not establish kit performance, team requirements, account value, or a universal pull priority.
A useful comparison can still be made at the level of availability:
| Question | First half | Second half |
|---|---|---|
| Who was featured? | Rappa and Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae | Acheron and Aventurine |
| Was there a new five-star? | Yes: Rappa | No new five-star is identified in the announcement; both named characters were returning |
| What is confirmed about Light Cones? | Complete rate-up names not established | Complete rate-up names not established |
| Can the phase be given an exact cutoff from the available text? | No | No |
Players deciding whether to spend resources would need additional, separately verified information such as character kits, account needs, and the actual warp notices. None of those decisions follows automatically from the announcement’s phase grouping.
What is confirmed, and what remains unresolved?
Use this checklist when comparing archived Version 2.6 guides, screenshots, or social posts.
Confirmed
- Version 2.6 was announced for release on October 23, 2024.
- Rappa was the new five-star character.
- Rappa and Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae were the first-half five-star characters.
- Acheron and Aventurine were the second-half five-star characters.
- Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae, Acheron, and Aventurine were returning characters.
- Sound Hunt Ninjutsu Inscription ran from October 25, 2024, at 12:00 to December 2, 2024, at 03:59 server time.
Not established by the available official text
- The exact server-time moment when the first phase ended.
- The exact server-time moment when the second phase began or ended.
- The complete first-half Light Cone rate-up lineup.
- The complete second-half Light Cone rate-up lineup.
- Any pull-rate, pity, revenue, or player-count statistic for the version.
- A ranking of the four characters for every account.
Keeping those categories separate prevents a common archive error: treating a real date from one system, such as an event schedule, as evidence for a different system, such as banner rotation.
How should you use this information now?
If you are researching an old account decision, building a banner archive, or checking the release order of characters, the confirmed roster is enough to identify the two phases. Start with the character names and new-versus-rerun status, then verify any exact time or Light Cone claim against a dedicated official warp notice.
If a guide lists a signature Light Cone, a server cutoff, or a recommendation, treat that as an additional claim rather than as something proven by the Version 2.6 character announcement. This distinction is especially useful when different regions, reposted calendars, and fan-maintained databases show slightly different timestamps.
The defensible historical summary is: Rappa and Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae were first, Acheron and Aventurine followed, and Rappa was the new five-star. The available announcement text does not justify filling in the missing Light Cone lineup or exact phase clocks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Rappa available throughout the entire Version 2.6 update?
The announcement places Rappa in the first half, so her banner was tied to that portion of the version rather than the whole update. The source text available here does not give the phase’s exact server-time end.
Are the Sound Hunt Ninjutsu Inscription dates useful for finding an old banner?
They can identify the period of that event, but they are not a banner archive. Use a character-warp notice for banner timing and keep the event calendar as a separate record.
Why might two archived calendars disagree about the phase change?
A calendar may display local time while another uses server time, or one may reproduce an unverified timestamp. The official material confirmed the order of the phases without establishing the exact cutoff in the text available here.
What would be needed to document the Light Cone banners accurately?
A phase-specific Brilliant Fixation Light Cone notice naming each rate-up item and its availability window would be sufficient. Character names alone cannot verify that lineup.