Fate Stars: Current Phase Only, or Nothing
Start with the Fate Stars, the most important of the three. It's the only one that genuinely expires — you're not losing a small bonus, the chance itself goes to zero. The old phase of "Steadfast Endeavor" runs from 04:00 on August 10, 2026 to 03:59 on November 2, and the new phase picks up seamlessly at 04:00, running all the way to 03:59 on January 25, 2027. In other words, November 1 is the last full day of the old phase: anything you still need to exchange has to be exchanged before 04:00. Once that moment passes, the screen rolls over to the new phase and your old-phase progress stays behind with it.
Why does "hoarding" equal "giving up"? The official rules are blunt. When exchanging Fate Stars, you cannot pick a character you haven't obtained, and you cannot pick one you already exchanged for in an earlier phase. And any Fate Star whose objective you completed but never exchanged can only be spent within its own phase — the choice does not carry over to the next one. Read those two sentences together: the first tells you who you can pick, the second tells you when. Hoard it and it doesn't become next phase's balance; it becomes grey, unclickable text on the screen. You do your commissions every day, you chase the weekly progress every week, and then you lose it all on "I was sure I'd exchanged that." Is that a good trade?
There's good news too. Starting with this phase, the Fate Stars of nine characters officially join the exchangeable list: Lyney, Wriothesley, Navia, Sigewinne, Clorinde, Emilie, Chiori, Xianyun and Mizuki. So how do you actually choose? Prioritize the characters you already own — a free Constellation without spending a single Primogem, and you know exactly how many pulls a Constellation is worth in a banner. Characters you don't own can wait: you can't pick them, and staring at the list won't change that.
Steadfast Endeavor: Closing One Phase, Opening the Next
With Fate Stars covered, on to "Steadfast Endeavor" itself. It's a little unusual: the old phase ends at 03:59 on November 2 and the new one opens directly at 04:00, with identical objectives. So this section is both a wrap-up and a fresh start — same rules you already know, nothing to relearn, just don't let the streak break. The beauty of this event comes down to one word: effortless. No math, just do it daily.
The daily objective is to claim four commission rewards and then spend 120 Original Resin; do both and the day counts. 120 Resin sounds intimidating, but it's only half a day of natural regeneration plus one Condensed Resin — ordinary play sits right in that range. The real trap is never the Resin, it's logging off after three commissions; miss one and the day's objective simply doesn't count. The weekly goal is far more forgiving: hit the daily Endeavor objective five times in a week and the week is complete. Progress accumulates toward the stage rewards, so five days out of seven is enough. That isn't the developers going soft — it's slack built in for the day you work late or go out. But the slack is only two days, so don't read it as "there's always tomorrow".
If you're a long-haul player, there's another layer after week eight: "Steadfast Recompense". Complete eight weekly Endeavor objectives within the current phase and it unlocks the following week; keep clearing your weekly objectives afterwards for bonus gifts, with the counter resetting every week. Nothing will remind you about this layer — it resets itself weekly, and whatever you don't claim is simply gone. Veterans are the ones most likely to trip on this line: "I've been at it all along, one week won't matter."
Sanctifying Surge: Three Double Drops, Don't Save Them All for the Small Hours
With the Endeavor covered, let's look at the double drops. Of the three events this one pays out most directly — one claim, two rewards — but it's also the easiest to waste: the daily uses reset every day, and what you don't use today is gone today. Note that it's three per day, not all day long and not every domain. During "Sanctifying Surge", clearing a Sanctifying Domain and spending Original Resin to claim the treasure reward grants double, up to three times per day. The event runs from 04:00 on October 26, 2026 to 03:59 on November 2, and requires Adventure Rank 20 or above plus the corresponding Sanctifying Domain unlocked. Check that you're in the right domain before you spend — same Resin, wrong domain, and you won't get a single double drop.
How do you use all three? In essence, you're banking three runs' worth of Resin. On November 1, run the artifact set you're shortest on and burn all three uses; if you still have Resin before 04:00 on November 2, top up with another round. But don't cut it fine — the event ends at 03:59, and late-night servers, your clicking speed and that sudden "oh right, I forgot" are all unreliable. If you're going to top up, do it before late evening on November 1. Don't stake your run on the last half hour.
Carefree Snowball Showdown: The 6,000-Point Cap Opens in Stages
After the double drops comes the Snowball Showdown. It's the only mini-game of the three, and the one whose progress is most often misjudged, because the score cap isn't full from day one. On the opening day the "Snowball Cheer" cap is 2,000; it rises on day 3 and day 5, eventually reaching 6,000. The event runs from 10:00 on October 21, 2026 to 03:59 on November 2, and requires Adventure Rank 20 or above, completion of the Archon Quest Prologue Act III "Song of the Dragon and Freedom", and "A Gunshot in the Silent Land" in Chapter VII Act I "The Snowbound Land No God Pities". Once you understand that, you can relax: if you couldn't push higher in the first few days, it isn't because you played badly — the cap wasn't open yet. Conversely, you can't go from two thousand to six thousand on the last day either. The cap opens; the clock doesn't.
The gameplay isn't complicated: enter a stage through matchmaking and throw snowballs to knock down "Oddball Screech Owls" within the time limit. "Genius Beet" joins partway through, and cheering next to it earns you an extra buff. Cheering is the bonus almost everyone misses on their first run — eyes on the ball, feet forgetting where to stand — yet that small buff is often exactly the margin you were short. On the final day, if you're topping up your score, open the panel first and check how far you are from 6,000. If the gap is large, let it go and give the time and Resin to Fate Stars and double drops: skip those two and they're gone, while the snowball score only costs you a little. This is where players get carried away most often — chasing a number they can't finish and dragging something genuinely irreversible past midnight.
There's Only One Pool of Resin: Save What Disappears First, Then What Can Be Recovered
We've been through all three now, but they're all fighting over the same thing: Original Resin. So the real question isn't which event to do first — it's who gets the Resin. Why do Fate Stars come first and double drops second? Because Fate Stars cost no Resin at all, only time: the one item of the three that is zero-cost yet expires outright. The order comes down to three lines: exchange Fate Stars (zero cost, only time) → three double drops from Sanctifying Surge (saves Resin) → top up the Snowball Showdown (pure gameplay rewards). Remember it in one sentence: skip the first two and they're gone; skip the third and you only lose a little. Trading "a little less" for "nothing at all" — is that worth it?
After 04:00 on November 2, don't break the first day of the new "Steadfast Endeavor" phase — clear the "four commissions + 120 Resin" objective that very day. The sooner your eight-weekly-objective progress starts, the better; Sunday won't hand you a spare day. That opening move really does decide whether the next few weeks are relaxed or a scramble. As for the tail end of 7.1, the version is nearly over, and events like artifact double drops are the best window for patching substats. Plan your gathering and domain runs against Genshin material refresh times, and concentrate Resin on the pieces you're still missing instead of spreading it evenly. This is also the resource question worth more of your attention than Genshin 7.1 banners: pulling is a moment, building a character is dozens of days. Pulling a character you can't build is the same as not pulling at all. At the end of a version, the question to ask yourself isn't "which character am I still missing" but "is the character I already have ready to take the field?"
Back to the time we started with: 03:59 on November 2, when three events close at once. Before that, you still have the whole of November 1 — enough to finish your Fate Star exchanges, burn all three double drops, and calmly decide whether those few thousand points are worth chasing.
Genshin Impact 7.1 FAQ
Can Fate Stars from the old phase be carried into the new one?
A: No. The official notice states that Fate Star rewards whose objectives have been completed but not yet exchanged can only be used to select a character within the current phase; the choice cannot be carried over to the next phase. They must be exchanged before 03:59 on November 2.
How many double drops does Sanctifying Surge grant per day?
A: Three per day. During the event, clearing a Sanctifying Domain and spending Original Resin to claim the treasure reward grants double, up to three times daily. The event ends at 03:59 on November 2, and Adventure Rank 20 or above is required.
What's the maximum score in the Snowball Showdown?
A: The Snowball Cheer cap tops out at 6,000. The opening-day cap is 2,000, and it rises on day 3 and day 5 of the event. The event ends at 03:59 on November 2.
Genshin Action Checklist for November 1-2
- Open the Steadfast Endeavor page and confirm whether your old-phase Fate Stars have been exchanged — if not, do it now.
- Run Sanctifying Domains and use all three daily double drops, prioritizing the slot you're missing most.
- Check your current Snowball Cheer score in the Showdown. If you're far off, let the cap go rather than feeding it Resin.
- Right after 04:00 on November 2, clear the new phase's day-one objective: four commissions + 120 Resin.
- Rebuild your post-November 2 Resin plan around the new phase's rhythm.
We've checked the end times and rules of all three events line by line against the official announcement, and we'll update the GameHub Guides hub as later versions change. Banner and event details for 7.2 are subject to the official preview livestream — we don't write up unannounced content in advance. If you'd like us to build a November Resin plan around your roster, leave a comment at gghubs.com.