A new Genshin Impact leak has revealed a major shift in HoYoverse's release schedule for five-star characters planned for the Fontaine update cycle. The newest five-star characters added to the HoYoverse RPG often serve as some of the biggest highlights of each new update for fans. New five-star characters added to the game like Raiden Shogun and Nahida have often broken records for the game, earning tens of millions in revenue for the developer in China alone. Now, however, HoYoverse appears to be shifting its release philosophy for the upcoming debut of Fontaine.
With Genshin Impact's newest region just weeks away from its debut, HoYoverse has already teased several of the new characters coming with Fontaine. Version 4.0 has already been confirmed to feature three new characters joining Genshin Impact's roster with Lyney as the lone five-star character, accompanied by two four-stars in Lynette and Freminet. Official trailers have also teased multiple upcoming Fontaine characters, including Hydro Archon Furina and even a new playable Fatui Harbinger. Coming along with these new characters, according to recent leaks, will be a major shift in five-star releases.
A new update shared by prominent Genshin Impact leaker Tao via leaker Uncle A has revealed a shift in Genshin Impact's five-star release plans for Fontaine. According to the post, Fontaine is set to only feature one update throughout its lifespan that does not feature a new five-star character. In a major shift from past updates, HoYoverse will reportedly not feature more than one new five-star character during any Fontaine patch following the release of Furina. The change comes as Genshin Impact's past new regions in Inazuma and Sumeru have typically front-loaded their character releases.
Alongside the confirmations about HoYoverse's new plans for five-star characters, the leak would also share rarities for two of the characters teased in the Fontaine trailer. The post confirms that both Navia and Clorinde will debut within Genshin Impact as five-star characters, with release dates for both currently unknown. Navia is currently believed to be Genshin Impact's first new Geo character in over a year-and-a-half since the release of Yun Jin in January 2022.
The array of new characters expected to join the game with Fontaine's debut will serve to end a new character drought that has plagued the end of the Sumeru chapter. Version 3.7 only saw a single new four-star character added to the game in four-star Dendro Sword user Kirara. Version 3.8 would also become the first update in Genshin Impact's history to not introduce any new characters to the RPG's roster, though it did feature the long-awaited re-run of Eula. Genshin Impact fans look to have plenty of new characters on the way with Fontaine's release looming.
Genshin Impact is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, and mobile devices. A Switch version is in development.
