Genshin Impact’s 1.3 Update is nearly upon us and you may be wondering when exactly it’s coming. As ever, miHoYo is operating on a pretty clockwork schedule, meaning that it’s arriving just a short time after 1.2 and 1.1 before it.
Genshin Impact’s 1.3 Update release date is February 3, 2021, barring any changes. And it’s going to be a big one.
Here’s everything we know about Update 1.3 based on the early previews for it so far:
- Xiao, the anemo polearm user, will indeed be coming as a featured 5 star with Update 1.3 arrives. We do not yet know which 4 stars will be rate-up alongside him, and supposedly the 5 star featured after him is going to be Keqing, meaning we’re not getting two new 5 star heroes, which is surprising.
- Xiao will have his own story quest called All That Glitters that will be the main story focus of this update.
- There are other additions in this update that have not been fully detailed yet, Lantern Rite Tales, Theater Mechanicus and Xiao Market. These three are a part of the Lantern Rite Event Series. Theater Mechanicus appears to be some sort of Tower Defense-type game with elements.
- Players will be given one of six 4 star heroes for free at a certain point after this update hits, and they’ll be able to choose from Xiangling (Pyro), Xinyan (Pyro), Beidou (Electro), Ningguang (Geo), Xinqiu (Hydro) and Chongyun (Cryo).
- There are new dinosaur-like bosses called Vishaps that will arrive in this event, tuned to different elements for tough fights. There will be an event tied to them, but they seem like permanent additions to the game.
- There is some sort of photo-based event coming called The Five Flushes of Fortune that has something to do with a special camera.
- There will be a Ley Line-based event which will involve Ley Lines giving out a lot more rewards than they would normally.
- We have seen glimpses of new areas, but we don’t know much land mass is actually being added in Update 1.3.
- In terms of additions to the game, materials transformation is coming in Update 1.3, and so is controller support for mobile.
- Zhongli is getting another round of buffs and the strength of the Geo shield in general is getting increased to try and make that class stronger and more valuable.
So yeah, it’s going to be a big update, and there’s still a lot more to learn about it in the coming two weeks. Less than that now, actually. Stay tuned for more.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels Herokiller and Herokiller 2, and read my first series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also on audiobook.
