With the upcoming release of Honkai Star Rail 4.0 massive update patch, alongside the release of brand new contents and features, old characters like Sparkle and Black Swan will also be receiving special brand new buffs to help them become more prevalent in the overall meta of the game. In this guide, we will go over the leaked details of the upcoming buffs for Sparkle and Black Swan in Honkai Star Rail Version 4.0 Update Patch.
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Honkai Star Rail 4.0 Character Buffs Leaked Details – Everything You Need To Know
Thanks to trusted leaked information, we now know the upcoming changes coming to their skill kits, therefore, we will go over all of the changes coming to these two characters and analyze how these changes will affect Sparkle and Black Swan’s gameplay in their respective best teams.
Please note that since these are leaked information, they are subjected to change at any time and players should take these information with a grain of salt before they are finalized in the official release of Honkai Star Rail Version 4.0 Update. Credits to Hakushin for this leaked information and details.
Sparkle Buffs
For Sparkle, she has received a massive overhaul for her entire skill kit, including her Skill, Ultimate, Talent, Bonus Abilities and some of her Eidolons:
| Ability | Old Effect | New Effect | Effect Summary |
| Skill | Increases the CRIT DMG of a single target ally by 24% of Sparkle’s CRIT DMG plus 45%, lasting for 1 turn(s). And at the same time, Advances Forward this ally’s action by 50%. When Sparkle uses this ability on herself, the Action Advance effect will not trigger. | Increases the CRIT DMG of a designated ally by 24% of Sparkle’s CRIT DMG plus 45%, lasting for 2 turn(s). And at the same time, advances this ally’s action by 50%. When Sparkle uses this ability on herself, the Action Advance effect will not trigger. | – Increase Sparkle’s Skill Buff Duration from 1 turn to 2 turns. |
| Recovers 4 Skill Points for the team and grants all allies Cipher. For allies with Cipher, each stack of the DMG Boost effect provided by Sparkle’s Talent additionally increases by 10%, lasting for 2 turns. | Recovers 6 Skill Point(s) for the team. If Skill Points overflow, Sparkle gains 1 stack of “Mask” for each point that overflows. When an ally character’s turn ends, if the team has fewer Skill Points than the maximum, Sparkle consumes 1 stack of “Mask” to recover 1 Skill Point for the team, until the limit is reached. Then, grants all allies “Cipher”. For ally targets with “Cipher,” the DMG Boost effect provided by Sparkle’s Talent increases by an additional 5% per stack, lasting for 3 turn(s). | – Increases Sparkle’s SP Recovery when using Ultimate from 4 to 6. – Grants Sparkle a special Skill Point Preserve function where she can conserve excess overflown skill points and grant them to the team. – Improves Sparkle’s Ultimate Damage Boost effect and increase the buffs’ duration from 2 to 3 turns. | |
| Talent | While Sparkle is on the battlefield, additionally increases the max number of Skill Points by 2. Whenever an ally consumes 1 Skill Point, all allies’ DMG dealt increases by 6%. This effect lasts for 2 turn(s) and can stack up to 3 time(s). | While Sparkle is on the battlefield, additionally increases the max number of Skill Points by 2. Whenever an ally target consumes 1 Skill Point, all enemies’ DMG received increases by 3%. This effect lasts for 2 turn(s) and can stack up to 4 time(s). | – Instead of increasing allies’ damage dealt, Sparkle’s Talent now instead makes all enemies takes more damage overall. |
| Technique | Using the Technique grants all allies Misdirect for 20 seconds. Characters with Misdirect will not be detected by enemies, and entering battle in the Misdirect state recovers 3 Skill Point(s) for the team. | After using Technique, grants all allies Misdirect for 20 seconds. Characters with Misdirect will not be detected by enemies, and entering battle in the Misdirect state recovers 3 Skill Point(s) for the team and regenerates 20 Energy for Sparkle. | – Grants Sparkle 20 Energy upon entering the fight |
| Additional Ability 1 | When using Basic ATK, additionally regenerates 10 Energy. | Using Basic ATK additionally regenerates 10 Energy. When an ally character who possesses the CRIT DMG Boost effect provided by the Skill consumes Skill Points, Sparkle additionally regenerates 1 Energy. | – Additionally boost Sparkle’s energy when allies affected with her buff uses skill points. |
| Additional Ability 2 | The CRIT DMG Boost effect provided by the Skill will be extended until the start of the target’s next turn. | If an ally consumes 3 or more Skill Points in a single action, Sparkle’s next Skill usage will not consume Skill Points. | – Completely revamps Sparkle’s ability to allow her to not consume Skill Point when using Skill once allies have used 3 Skill Points per turn. |
| Additional Ability 3 | Increases all allies’ ATK by 15%. When there are 1/2/3 Quantum-Type allies in the team, additionally increases Quantum-Type allies’ ATK by 5%/15%/30%. | Increases ATK for all allies by 45%. When an ally character possesses the CRIT DMG Boost effect provided by the Skill, their All-Type RES PEN increases by 10%. | – Massively improved Sparkle’s Attack boost and make it so that allies with her critical damage buff penetrates the enemies’ all-type resistances. |
| Eidolon 1 | The Cipher effect granted by the Ultimate lasts for 1 extra turn. All allies with Cipher have their ATK increased by 40%. | Increases the ATK of ally targets with “Cipher” by 40%. When the battle starts or when using Skill, increases Sparkle’s SPD by 15%, lasting for 2 turn(s). | – Now also provides Sparkle with a speed boost. |
| Eidolon 2 | Every stack of the Talent’s effect allows allies to additionally ignore 8% of the target’s DEF when dealing DMG. | Each stack of the Talent additionally reduces the enemy target’s DEF by 8%. | – Changes the way her defense reduction effect works, allowing it to stack easier. |
Black Swan Buffs
Unlike Sparkle who received an overhaul to the majority of her skill kit, Black Swan mainly gains overhaul in how her Arcana buffs function in some of her Skill, Ultimate and Talent effects:
| Ability | Old Effect | New Effect | Effect Summary |
| Overall Change | Black Swan’s Basic Attack, Skill and Ultimate no longer have a chance to inflict Arcana stacks on enemies. | ||
| Ultimate | Inflicts Epiphany on all enemies for 2 turn(s). While afflicted with Epiphany, enemies take 25% increased DMG in their turn. Additionally, if enemies are also inflicted with Arcana, they are considered to be simultaneously afflicted with Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and Shock. After Arcana causes DMG at the start of each turn, its stacks are not reset. This non-reset effect of Arcana stacks can be triggered up to 1 time(s) for the duration of Epiphany. And the trigger count resets when Epiphany is applied again. Deals Wind DMG equal to 120% of Black Swan’s ATK to all enemies. | Inflicts “Epiphany” state on all enemies for 2 turn(s). Then deals Wind DMG to all enemies equal to 120% of Black Swan’s ATK. In “Epiphany” state, enemy targets take 25% increased DMG. When gaining 1 stack of “Arcana,” there is a 50% fixed chance to gain 1 additional stack, and “Arcana” stacks won’t be halved after dealing DMG at the start of the turn. | – Optimized Black Swan Ability to maintain Arcana stacks by making it so that her Arcana stacks won’t be halved when triggered by DoT Detonation Effects – When enemies gained Arcana stacks, they have a chance to gain additional stacks. |
| Talent | Every time an enemy target receives DoT at the start of each turn, there is a 65% base chance for it to be inflicted with 1 stack of Arcana. While afflicted with Arcana, enemy targets receive Wind DoT equal to 240% of Black Swan’s ATK at the start of each turn. Each stack of Arcana increases this DMG multiplier by 12%. Then Arcana resets to 1 stack. Arcana can stack up to 50 times. Only when Arcana causes DMG at the start of an enemy target’s turn, Black Swan triggers additional effects based on the number of Arcana stacks inflicted on the target: When there are 3 or more Arcana stacks, deals Wind DoT equal to 180% of Black Swan’s ATK to adjacent targets, with a 65% base chance of inflicting 1 stack of Arcana on adjacent targets.When there are 7 or more Arcana stacks, enables the current DoT dealt this time to ignore 20% of the target’s and adjacent targets’ DEF. | Each time an enemy target takes DoT, there is a 65% base chance to inflict 1 stack of “Arcana.”When an enemy target is in “Arcana” state, they are also considered to be in Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and Shock states. At the start of each turn, they take Wind DoT equal to 240% of Black Swan’s ATK, after which the stack count is halved. Each stack of “Arcana” increases this DMG multiplier by 12%. “Arcana” can stack up to 50 time(s). Additional stacks beyond the limit can still be applied, but will be removed after dealing DMG.”Arcana” DMG ignores 20% of the target’s DEF. Only when “Arcana” deals DMG at the start of the enemy target’s turn, adjacent targets additionally take Wind DoT equal to 180% of Black Swan’s ATK. | – Change it so that Arcana is always considered Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn and Shock stats at all time instead of needing enemies to be in Epiphany State. – At the start of the turn, when enemies takes DoT damage, instead of resetting Arcana stacks, now it only halves the stacks. – Arcana stacks now ignore enemies’ defenses and will always deal AoE damage when triggered at the start of the enemies’ turn, regardless of the amount of stacks. |
| Bonus Ability 1 | After using Skill to attack one designated enemy that has Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, or Shock, each of these debuffs respectively has a 65% base chance of inflicting 1 extra stack of Arcana. | When an enemy target is attacked by Black Swan, there is a 65% base chance of inflicting 5 stack(s) of “Arcana” on them. | – This change makes it so that all Black Swan’s attacks simply inflict 5 stacks of Arcana on enemies. |
| Bonus Ability 2 | When an enemy target enters battle, there is a 65% base chance for it to be inflicted with 1 stack of Arcana. Every time an enemy target receives 1 instance of DoT during a single attack by an ally, there is a 65% base chance for the target to be inflicted with 1 stack of Arcana. The maximum number of stacks that can be inflicted during 1 single attack is 3. | When enemy targets enter combat, there is a 65% base chance that they will be inflicted with 1 stack of “Arcana,” and a 100% base chance to be inflicted with the DEF reduction effect from the Skill, which lasts for 3 turn(s). After using Basic ATK or Ultimate, there is also a 100% base chance to inflict the DEF reduction effect from the Skill on enemy targets hit, which lasts for 3 turn(s). | – Make it so that enemies get defense reduced when they enter the fight and allows all of Black Swan’s attacks to reduce enemies’ defenses, not just her Skill. |
| Eidolon 2 | When an enemy target afflicted with “Arcana” is defeated, there is a 100% base chance of inflicting 6 stack(s) of “Arcana” on adjacent targets. | When enemy targets enter the battle, there is a 100% base chance to inflict 30 stack(s) of “Arcana” on them. | – Make it so that Black Swan simply provides a massive amount of Arcana stacks on enemies right away. |
| Eidolon 4 | While in the Epiphany state, enemy targets have their Effect RES reduced by 10% and Black Swan regenerates 8 Energy at the start of these targets’ turns or when they are defeated. This Energy Regeneration effect can only trigger up to 1 time while Epiphany lasts. The trigger count is reset when Epiphany is applied again. | Under the “Epiphany” state, increases the DMG taken by enemy targets by 20%, and Black Swan regenerates 8 Energy at the start of each turn or when they are defeated. | – Improves Ephany’s damage taken increase effect from 10% to 20% and remove Black Swan’s energy regen restriction. |
| Eidolon 6 | When an enemy target is attacked by Black Swan’s teammates, Black Swan has a 65% base chance of inflicting 1 stack of “Arcana” on the target. Every time Black Swan inflicts “Arcana” on an enemy target, there is a 50% fixed chance to additionally increase the number of “Arcana” stacked this time by 1. | Increases maximum stacks of “Arcana” by 20. When an enemy target is attacked by Black Swan’s teammates, Black Swan has a 65% base chance to inflict 1 stack of “Arcana” on the target. Every time Black Swan inflicts 1 stack of “Arcana” on an enemy target, the number of stacks added is additionally increased by 1. | – Added an effect that increases Black Swan’s max Arcana stacks. |
Buff Analysis
Now that we have gone over an overall summary of what their buffs will entail, here is an overall analysis of how their buffs will affect the way Sparkle and Black Swan will play in the future:
– Sparkle: Sparkle has received a massive overhaul to help her support ability further when used in a Skill Point centric team, with her Skill now no longer requiring Skill Point usage when allies have consumed 3 Skill Points per turn and her buff duration lasting 2 turns instead of 1 now.
Additionally, with the effect to recover even more Skill Point and store any excess Skill Point to be used by allies later after using her Ultimate, players won’t need to micro manage her Ultimate usage and can just use it whenever to buff the damage of the team. Additionally, Sparkle will now be able to use her abilities and ultimate much faster thanks to her new speed and energy buffs.
– Black Swan: Black Swan’s improvement is overall quite easy to understand: with the new buffs, all of Black Swan attacks will now inflict 5 stacks of Arcana on enemies and reduce their defenses. Additionally, her stacking and reset conditions are changed immensely to allow Black Swan to maintain her Arcana stacks on enemies much more efficiently by simply halving her Arcana stacks on enemies’ turns rather than resetting them.
These overall buffs make Black Swan into a more reliable debuffer for DoT team and help improve the team’s damage uptime overall.
Conclusion
With that, we have gone over the buffs Sparkle and Black Swan will be receiving based on leaks for Honkai Star Rail Version 4.0 Update. If you are intending to roll for these characters when their inevitable rerun banners release, don’t forget to prepare some funds in advance with the help of Enjoygm – the best top up site on the web.
