Honkai: Star Rail features a unique turn-based combat system that designates each character with a “Path” and “Type”. A character’s Path designates what party role they fill, and their Type describes what damage type they do. HoYoverse’s other popular game, Genshin Impact utilizes a similar system. However, Genshin Impact faces one main limitation: the inability to add any more damage types in the future. If it wants to provide players with more variety in the future, Honkai: Star Rail could eventually add all new damage types.
This limitation exists for a number of reasons. For starters, Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact are completely different games. Genshin Impact‘s open-world format and element-based physical system results in hardware demands that Honkai: Star Rail does not. Furthermore, the damage types in Genshin Impact are dictated by the game’s lore, another limitation that Honkai: Star Rail can easily avoid.
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Honkai: Star Rail Leaks New Damage Type
A recent Honkai: Star Rail leak teases a new damage type that will reportedly be exclusive to one of the version 2.2 characters.
Honkai: Star Rail Is Free From Genshin Impact’s Limitations
The Hardware Limitations of Genshin Impact
Honkai: Star Rail is an RPG with a focus on its technical combat system. Damage types are differentiated by how they create “Weakness Break”, one of the game’s main combat mechanics. This elegant simplicity allows Honkai: Star Rail to run as easily on mobile devices as it would on a PC.
On the other hand, Genshin Impact is an open-world game with expansive exploration and a physics system inspired by games like Breath of the Wild. Genshin Impact already includes numerous interactions for each elemental combination. To add even a single element more might stretch the game’s engine, making the game less accessible for mobile players. This has already been proven by the complicated history of Dendro in Genshin Impact. It would be exciting to see how HoYoverse might avoid similar pitfalls if it tried adding new damage types again with Honkai: Star Rail.
Genshin Impact’s Archons vs Honkai: Star Rail’s Aeons
In Genshin Impact, the seven elements are strongly tied to deities called Archons. The Archons are extremely important to the lore of Genshin Impact, with many of them even becoming playable characters.
Honkai: Star Rail‘s version of Archons are “Aeons”. Aeons are linked to Paths, not elemental damage types. Though there are currently seven main Aeons correlating to the seven playable Paths, it is understood that many more exist and have existed throughout the lore.
Archon Lore Limits Genshin Impact’s Options
Though the Archons are some of Genshin Impact‘s most popular characters, the lore behind them means Genshin Impact is extremely unlikely to receive any new damage types. The Archon War is a major lore event in the world of Teyvat, which resulted in the hierarchy now known as “The Seven”. The world of Teyvat has seven regions, and one Archon rules over each of them. Though individual members of The Seven may change, the number of members will always remain consistent.
This concept of The Seven is a blessing and a curse. Despite being a live-service gacha game, Genshin Impact cannot continue forever. The lands the Archons preside over create a defined order of future updates, and new content for players to explore. This creates a strong roadmap to the end of the game’s story, but leaves no way for any new Archons to appear without dropping a significant bombshell to the lore. With no new Archons, there can’t be any new elements.
Honkai: Star Rail Could Add New Damage Types in Future Updates
Honkai: Star Rail simply does not have this lore limitation. The number of Aeons is not limited, like the number of Archons is, and Aeons are not tied to damage types to begin with. Instead, Honkai: Star Rail mostly inspires its damage types from its status as a sci-fi adventure.
This does beg the question of what a future additional damage type could look like. Of Honkai: Star Rail‘s existing damage types, four of them are elemental in nature. The exceptions are Physical, Quantum, and Imaginary, which each enhance the sci-fi feel of combat. Because of this variety, HoYoverse continues to push boundaries with Honkai: Star Rail‘s gameplay and animations.
HoYoverse could add a new damage type to Honkai: Star Rail if it wants to continue this trend of innovation. The new type could be one of the elements not yet represented, or something more in line with the game’s non-elemental types. Whichever way it chooses, the prospect of new damage types in future updates of Honkai: Star Rail is exciting nonetheless.