Phainon will be the third five-star character releasing in Version 3.4, joining two crossover characters from the Honkai: Star Rail x Fate/stay night collab.
Honkai: Star Rail has begun the drip marketing for Version 3.4, starting with the reveal that Phainon will be the first five-star character arriving once the update releases sometime in early July. He will also be the ninth Chrysos Heir out of 13 to become a playable character.
As one of the biggest fan favourites among the cast of Flame-Chasers in Amphoreus, Phainon's arrival as a playable character has generated a lot of hype within the game's community.
Phainon will wield the Physical element and follow the Path of Destruction, making him the third five-star character of that element-Path combo after Clara and Yunli. While we haven't seen much of Phainon's full combat prowess yet, we can infer from his splash art that he'll mainly be using a sword that looks eerily similar to the one used by the Flame Reaver boss. We can also see what looks like a secondary winged form hidden behind Phainon.
Phainon hails from Aedes Elysiae, a remote frontier village, that has since been destroyed and only lives on in cryptic legends. He found his way into Okhema and was discovered to be the Chrysos Heir destined to carry the Coreflame of “Worldbearing” from the Titan Kephale. For his prophesied role to carry the Coreflame of arguably Amphoreus' most important Titan, Phainon has earned the aliases “The Deliverer” and “The Nameless Hero".
That last alias hits home as, according to Phainon's entry in ‘As I’ve Written', Phainon is not his real name. The man we know as Phainon notably shares many similarities to Kevin Kaslana from Honkai Impact 3rd. Aside from their similar appearances, both Phainon and Kevin are part of a group known as Flame-Chasers trying to save the world from corrupted divine entities–the Titans and the Dark Tide in the case of Phainon, and the Herrschers and the Honkai in the case of Kevin. They also share a similar alias, with Phainon being called the Deliverer while Kevin is codenamed 'Deliverance' as the top-ranked Flame-Chaser of his world.
While we don't know how Phainon's story will pan out, Kevin's own journey may provide us with some clues. Succinctly put, despite being the strongest warrior of his era, Kevin was faced with the impossible task of trying to save humanity from utter destruction at the hands of the Herrschers and the Honkai. In a desperate attempt to save humanity, Kevin tried to fuse all of humanity into one collective consciousness that could survive the impending disaster before his plan was stopped by Honkai Impact 3rd's main protagonists.
Phainon will be among three known five-star characters to make their debut in Honkai: Star Rail Version 3.4. HoYoverse previously revealed that Saber and Archer will join as crossover characters as part of the Honkai: Star Rail x Fate/stay night collaboration event starting on 11 July, which puts it within the duration of Version 3.4. A second five-star character is expected to be revealed on Wednesday (7 April), likely to be one of the four still unrevealed Chrysos Heirs.
