Honkai: Star Rail developer HoYoverse announced on Wednesday (24 April) that Jade will be the second new 5-star character coming in version 2.3 in June.
Jade will wield the Quantum element and follow the Path of Erudition, being the second character of that element-Path combo after the 4-star character Qingque.
Jade is a senior manager of the Strategic Investment Department of the Interastral Peace Corporation (IPC) and one of the Ten Stonehearts, with her Cornerstone being the “Jade of Credit”. Jade will also be the third of the Ten Stonehearts to become a playable character after Topaz and Aventurine.
While HoYoverse has yet to reveal any details about Jade’s kit, we can assume it will incorporate follow-up attacks in some form based on the kits of her fellow Stonehearts Topaz and Aventurine.
Jade is described as “a cold and elegant moneylender” that is skilled at understanding the human heart, with a personal hobby called “Bonajade Exchange”. She is also willing to wait patiently for high-value acquisitions and adept at extracting value from her clients, even those that are already destitute.
While Jade was not among the Penacony characters revealed in the Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0 “White Night” trailer, she did appear in the version 2.1 Trailblaze Missions focused on Aventurine.
In those missions, Jade was revealed to have been the one to induct Aventurine into the IPC and even conspired with him in the latter’s plans to reclaim Penacony for the company. Jade and Topaz notably lent their own Cornerstones to Aventurine, even if the stones were said to be far more valuable than their own lives, in order to trick Sunday into thinking he was in possession of Aventurine’s Cornerstone.
Aventurine’s apparent “death” at the hands of Acheron in the version 2.1 Trailblaze Missions may have been the opening the IPC was looking for to allow Jade to enter the picture and force more aggressive negotiations for ownership of the planet.
Jade will be voiced by Faye Mata in the game’s English dub, Mitsuishi Kotono in the Japanese dub, Zhang Ruoyu in the Chinese dub, and Kim Soon-mi in the Korean dub.
Jade will also be one of two new 5-star characters coming in version 2.3, with the 5-star Fire Destruction character Firefly being the first to be revealed. It remains to be seen if a new 4-star character will also accompany Firefly and Jade in their debuts in version 2.3.
Based on the order by which they were revealed, Jade should be the featured 5-star character in the second half of version 2.3 while Firefly will take the spotlight in the first half.
Aside from the new characters, Honkai: Star Rail version 2.3 will also see the release of two new game modes in Divergent Universe and Apocalyptic Shadow.
With Honkai: Star Rail currently in version 2.1, which was released back in 27 March, and assuming the typical 40-day duration for version 2.2, we can expect version 2.3 to be released some time in mid-June.
Honkai: Star Rail is currently in version 2.1, which saw the release of three new characters in Acheron, Aventurine, and Gallagher, reruns for Luocha and Jingliu, and two new areas in Penacony. Not only that, version 2.1 is also Honkai: Star Rail‘s first-year anniversary patch and as such will give players tons of rewards!
If you’re still torn on whether you should pull for Aventurine or Jingliu in the second half’s banners, then we can help you decide.
After version 2.1 comes version 2.2 in May, featuring two new 5-star characters in Robin and Boothill.
