Honkai: Star Rail 4.6 is live — compensation, the Pearl banner, and when it unlocked

Updated September 29, 2026

Honkai: Star Rail 4.6 unlocks worldwide at the same moment

28 September 2026

Live: Version 4.6 launched on 28 September 2026 after maintenance that began 06:00 (UTC+8) and was estimated at five hours, confirmed by the official Version 4.6 Update Details published that day. Neither notice states the minute servers returned, so the 11:00 (UTC+8) shown is the announced start plus the estimate. Version 4.6 runs until 2026/11/11 06:00 (UTC+8).

Unlock time by region
Los Angeles (PT)	Sun 27 Sept, 20:00
New York (ET)	Sun 27 Sept, 23:00
London (BST)	Mon 28 Sept, 04:00
Berlin / Paris (CEST)	Mon 28 Sept, 05:00
Dubai (GST)	Mon 28 Sept, 07:00
Beijing / Singapore / Manila	Mon 28 Sept, 11:00
Tokyo (JST)	Mon 28 Sept, 12:00
Sydney (AEST)	Mon 28 Sept, 13:00

If you go by abbreviation: Pacific time (PST/PDT) is the Los Angeles row, Eastern (EST/EDT) is New York, Philippine time (PHT) and Singapore time (SGT) both match the Beijing row, and GMT/BST is London.

At a glance
Release date	2026-09-28
Developer	HoYoverse
Publisher	HoYoverse
Platforms	PC · PlayStation 5 · iOS / Android
Preload	Available now
Early access	None advertised

Version 4.6 “Dance With the Beast Before Moonrise” is live — it launched on 28 September 2026 and runs until 11 November 06:00 (UTC+8). Claim the 600 Stellar Jades of compensation; the 300-Jade bug-compensation mail must be claimed by 28 October.

Changelog, 29 September. 4.6 is live. Added the official Update Details of 28 September: the second 300-Jade bug compensation with its 28 October deadline, and the version end date. The countdown above now counts up from launch. Everything below is kept as the launch record.

The release date was 28 September — if you have seen 7 October somewhere, that is a six-week cadence being applied to a version that did not run six weeks — and HoYoverse’s own 4.5 notice says the duration was shortened.

Changelog, 28 September (early). Added the official maintenance notice of 24 September — window, preload sizes, compensation — and the Phase I banners posted on 27 September. The unlock minute is still not announced; the clock uses the announced start plus the five-hour estimate.

Changelog, 24 September. This page previously counted down to 7 October as a labelled derivation from the six-week cadence. That derivation is now wrong and has been replaced with the official date. The evidence is below.

28 September is official

Official post	What it fixes
Version 4.6 store post (20 September)	Dates the new outfits and shop items to “2026/09/28 4.6版本更新後” — after the 4.6 update on 28 September
Version 4.5 Update Details (26 August)	4.5 runs “until 2026/09/28 06:00 (UTC+8)” — that boundary is the 4.6 maintenance start
Same notice, on the shortening	States that because the 4.5 version duration was adjusted, its endgame modes ran five weeks instead of six

The two posts agree, and the second explains why the cadence arithmetic misses: 4.5 was about five weeks, not six. 28 September 06:00 (UTC+8) is therefore when 4.5 stops and 4.6 maintenance begins.

Maintenance, preload and compensation — official

HoYoverse’s Version 4.6 Update and Maintenance Notice, posted 24 September:

Maintenance: begins 28 September 06:00 (UTC+8), takes approximately five hours. You cannot log in during it.
Unlock: around 11:00 (UTC+8) — start plus estimate, which is our arithmetic; the notice gives no minute.
Preload: open since 24 September 14:00 (UTC+8) — about 3.58 GB on PC and 2.21 GB on Android and iOS, more if you have extra voice-over packs. On PC you can keep playing while it downloads; on mobile you cannot. PlayStation pre-installs on its own after you launch the game.
Compensation: 600 Stellar Jades in two mails, per the Version 4.6 Update Details of 28 September — 300 maintenance compensation claimable until 4.6 ends, and 300 bug compensation that must be claimed by 28 October 23:59 (UTC+8). Both require Trailblaze Level 4 and above before 28 September 06:00 (UTC+8) and were mailed within five hours of the update.

The livestream aired 20 September — and its codes are dead

The Version 4.6 Special Program went out on Sunday 20 September 2026 at 19:30 (UTC+8) on the official YouTube and Twitch channels. As always it carried three redemption codes worth 100 Stellar Jades each:

Code	Status
`KA5SV3FJM7WX`	Expired 21 September 23:59 (UTC+8)
`7S4AD2X35NE3`	Expired 21 September 23:59 (UTC+8)
`MALSV2F247FP`	Expired 21 September 23:59 (UTC+8)

HoYoverse’s own stream summary states the expiry. We list them expired rather than deleting them, because the sites still presenting these as “working 4.6 codes” are the reason people keep pasting dead strings into the redemption page. The next codes come with the 4.7 special program.

What is officially posted, and what is not

Official: the date, 28 September; the version name, Dance With the Beast Before Moonrise; the special program of 20 September and its three now-expired codes; and the shop items dated to after the update.
Official, since 24 and 27 September: the maintenance window, preload and maintenance compensation (above), and the Phase I banners (below).
Not official yet: the unlock minute, and anything the update-day notice adds — typically extra compensation and the full content list.

Phase I banners — official

From HoYoverse’s Version 4.6 Event Warp: Phase I notice of 27 September:

Warp	Limited 5-star	Runs until (server time)
An Ocean in a Pearl	Pearl (Elation, Ice) — new	10 November 15:00
Light Cone	Colors for Tomorrow	10 November 15:00
Character rerun	Evanescia (Elation, Physical)	21 October 11:59
Light Cone rerun	Until the Flowers Bloom Again	21 October 11:59

4-star characters on rate-up: Qingque (Erudition, Quantum), Xueyi (Destruction, Quantum), Misha (Destruction, Ice). 4-star Light Cones: Post-Op Conversation, Planetary Rendezvous, Boundless Choreo. Both character warps start after the update on 28 September and share one pity counter — the notice states the character event warps’ pity is fully shared.

4.5’s Phase 2 (Aventurine — Waveflair, Quantum / Elation) runs until 28 September — the full version record is on the 4.5 page, and why Waveflair is not a sustain is its own page.

Sources

The 28 September date comes from two HoYoverse posts that agree: the Version 4.6 store post of 20 September, which dates its items to “2026/09/28 4.6版本更新後”, and the Version 4.5 Update Details of 26 August, which runs 4.5 to 2026/09/28 06:00 (UTC+8) and states that the version duration was shortened. The three expired codes and their 21 September 23:59 (UTC+8) expiry are from HoYoverse’s 4.6 Special Program summary. The special program slot and the version name are from the 4.6 Special Program notice of 14 September; the voice-cast list is from the official 4.6 trailer post. The maintenance window, preload sizes and 300-Jade compensation are from the Version 4.6 Update and Maintenance Notice of 24 September; the banners, end times and 4-star rate-ups are from the Phase I Event Warp notice of 27 September. The 11:00 (UTC+8) unlock is the announced 06:00 start plus the announced five-hour estimate, not an announced unlock time, and is labelled that way wherever it appears. Until 24 September this page carried a derived 7 October date; that derivation has been withdrawn, not quietly corrected.

FAQ

When does Honkai: Star Rail 4.6 come out?

28 September 2026 — official. HoYoverse's Version 4.6 store post of 20 September dates its new items to after the 4.6 update on 28 September, and the official 4.5 update notice ends 4.5 at 2026/09/28 06:00 (UTC+8). If you were expecting 7 October, that is the six-week cadence — but HoYoverse shortened 4.5 to about five weeks and said so in the 4.5 notice itself, so the cadence arithmetic is wrong here.

What time does 4.6 unlock?

It went live on 28 September 2026, around 11:00 (UTC+8) — the evening of 27 September in the Americas. Maintenance began 06:00 (UTC+8) and was estimated at five hours, per HoYoverse's notices; neither states the exact minute servers returned, so 11:00 is start plus estimate.

When is the HSR 4.6 livestream?

It already aired: Sunday 20 September 2026 at 19:30 (UTC+8). It carried the version name 'Dance With the Beast Before Moonrise' and the usual three redemption codes — `KA5SV3FJM7WX`, `7S4AD2X35NE3` and `MALSV2F247FP`, 100 Stellar Jades each. All three expired on 21 September at 23:59 (UTC+8); anything still listing them is recycling dead codes. Eight days before launch is the normal gap.

What are the Honkai: Star Rail 4.6 banners?

Official, from HoYoverse's Phase I Event Warp notice of 27 September: **Pearl** (Elation, Ice) debuts on 'An Ocean in a Pearl' with her Light Cone 'Colors for Tomorrow', from the update until 10 November 15:00 server time; **Evanescia** (Elation, Physical) returns with 'Until the Flowers Bloom Again', from the update until 21 October 11:59 server time. The 4-star rate-ups are Qingque, Xueyi and Misha. The two character warps share one pity counter.

How much Stellar Jade does the 4.6 update give?

600 Stellar Jades in two mails, per the Version 4.6 Update Details (28 September): **300 maintenance compensation**, claimable until 4.6 ends, and **300 bug compensation**, which must be claimed by **28 October 23:59 (UTC+8)**. Both need Trailblaze Level 4 before 28 September 06:00 (UTC+8). The three livestream codes worth 300 more expired on 21 September.