Honkai: Star Rail players can get the crossover character Archer for free once the long-awaited collaboration event goes live.
Honkai: Star Rail has finally revealed the details of its long-awaited collaboration event with the Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] anime series, with the collaboration going live on 11 July and featuring two crossover 5-star characters in Saber and Archer. Players can claim Archer for free while Saber will be available to pull in a Special Collaboration Warp during the event.
Honkai: Star Rail developer HoYoverse announced the details of the long-awaited collaboration event at the end of the game's second anniversary concert livestream on Saturday (4 May) with a teaser showcasing Saber using her iconic Excalibur attack. The teaser was also notably accompanied by the reveal that a new Honkai game will be coming soon.
Honkai Star Rail x Fate/stay night collab to feature Saber and Archer
Honkai: Star Rail's collaboration event with Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] will see two of the anime series' most iconic characters in Saber and Archer cross over into the universe of Honkai: Star Rail and join the game's roster of playable characters.
In Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works], both Saber and Archer are ‘Servants’, reincarnated personifications of legendary heroes from history that fight for their ‘Masters’ in a battle royale known as the ‘Holy Grail War’ for the right to claim a magical chalice that can grant any wish. Saber is the Servant of the series' main character, Shirou Emiya, while Archer is the Servant of Rin Tohsaka.
Saber will join Honkai: Star Rail's roster as a playable character that wields the Wind element and follows the Path of Destruction, with her ultimate ability very likely being her iconic Excalibur attack that was shown in the teaser above. Meanwhile, Archer will wield the Quantum element and follow the Path of the Hunt.
Both Saber and Archer will be available to pull in a Special Collaboration Warp using Star Rail Special Passes, once the collaboration event goes live on 11 July. Archer will be given away to all players for free simply by logging into the game from 11 July until the end of Version 3.6 sometime in September.
HoYoverse did not specify how long the Special Collaboration Warp will be available, only saying that it will be up “over a long period of time”. With Archer being available for free until the end of Version 3.6, it is likely that the Special Collaboration Warp may also come to an end at around the same time.
In addition, the developers specified that the Special Collaboration Warp will have an independent count for its cumulative pulls distinct from the other Banners. This means that players cannot carry over their pull count or pity from the Limited and Standard Banners over to the Special Collaboration Warp and vice versa. So, if you're planning on getting Saber, then you better save up your Star Rail Special Passes for 11 July!
Aside from the two crossover characters, the collaboration will also feature a Fate/stay night in-game event that will see the Holy Grail War expand into a new battlefield in Penacony. According to HoYoverse, the ‘Penaconian Holy Grail War’ will see the Trailblazer join the battle for the Holy Grail by summoning Heroic Spirits, using Command Seals, wielding Noble Phantasms, and trying different character classes to win strategic battles.
Saber's splash art for the collaboration notably features silhouettes of Honkai: Star Rail characters Aventurine, Boothill, and Robin, among others. These characters will likely be included in the event as Servants for the Trailblazer to help them in their fight for the Holy Grail.
HoYoverse also said that they worked closely with Takashi Takeuchi and Kinoko Nasu for the collaboration event. Takeuchi and Nasu are the co-founders of Type-Moon, the studio behind the Fate series.
Takeuchi, the character designer and illustrator of the Fate/stay night visual novel, was behind the original concept designs for both Archer and Saber in Honkai: Star Rail. Nasu, who wrote the story of Fate/stay night, supervised in the creation of the story for the collaboration.
