While the folks at HoYoVerse may be hard at work creating engaging stories and worlds forHonkai: Star Rail, the most exciting part of every major patch is arguably acquiring the newest character. While the latest banner, Mydei, is quite a powerful unit, some players are holding onto their Star Rail Special Passes for the Remembrance-Quantum character Castorice. She’s set to release in version 3.2, but four versions of her kit have already been leaked by reliable sources like HomDGCat. This pre-release information for this character shows a possibly polarizing future for theHonkai: Star Rail’s characters.
The details about Castorice’s kit and story are based on leaked, pre-release information at the time of writing. Therefore, players should brace for possible changes once she makes her debut inHonkai: Star RailVersion 3.2.
According to recent leaks, Castorice possesses a passive ability known as “Sanctuary of Mooncocoon,” which temporarily delays her allies from becoming downed when their HP drops to zero. This allows them to take one action before getting knocked out, but it also gives the player a chance to heal or shield them before they do so. This only triggers once per battle and can only be accessed if Castorice is in the current team. It was likely added to offset the amount of team HP thatCastorice and her Memosprite, Pollux (formerly known as “Dead Dragon”), drain to deal big damage to enemies. However, a utility as strong as a revive is often reserved for Sustain units following the Preservation and Abundance path, like Fu Xuan (with Eidolon 2 activated) and Bailu, and not damage dealers like Castorice. As such, it’s a hot topic of discussion among avid Trailblazers.
Castorice’s Revive Passive in Honkai: Star Rail Could be a Game-Changer for Better or for Worse
Powercreep refers to a situation in which a game releases new characters, abilities, or items that are significantly more powerful than existing ones, thereby making the older units feel underpowered in comparison.
Powercreeping characters is one way to get players to buy new characters, as dedicated fans don’t want to miss out on getting the best results in endgame modes likeMemory of Chaos.Honkai: Star Railalso caters to these modes to new characters' abilities, making them even more appealing to get. However, this can also backfire, as existing players will feel that the older units they invested in are being left behind as the meta shifts to cater to newer and more powerful characters.
How Castorice’s Passive Heightens the Discussion of Powercreep in Honkai: Star Rail
When it comes to Damage characters inHonkai: Star Rail, the main topic in the powercreep conversation is obviously how much damage they can do in a single turn. Hitting 250K damage or more was difficult to set up and achieve until Acheron and Firefly debuted. Now, it’s par for the course for damage dealers like Aglaea, Mydei, and The Herta to dole out such numbers.The Hertacan even do more than one million damage with the right buffs and ability rotations.
There’s no doubt that Castorice will be on the same, if not higher, power level than the latestdamage units inHonkai: Star Rail. There’s even footage of her dealing upwards of 800K damage without Eidolons and her signature light cone. However, what makes her even more of a powercreep threat is her revive passive. With her on the team and another sustain, the team has little chance of dying, even in the face of the toughest bosses in the game. If the developers can make one unit this strong, some players are worried that future characters may get even more features that make older units feel obsolete.
Castorice’s leaked passive will likely stay, but there’s still a major patch’s worth of time to make it seem less overpowered. It’s up to the devs if they’ll do so to appease fans. Plus, there are also rumors ofbuffs to existing units inHonkai: Star Rail, which may breathe new life into some players' existing favorite characters and make them viable again. Castorice will likely be available to pull during the first half of Version 3.2 in early April 2025.
