Honkai: Star Rail 4.6 hits No.1 in Japan as Pearl lands
Honkai: Star Rail sat at No.1 on Japan's App Store top-grossing games chart at 9:30am on September 29, 2026 — up from No.11 the day before. The push came from version 4.6, "Dance With Beasts Before the Moon Rises," released on September 28.
A ten-place jump in a day rarely comes from raw power creep. It usually means a version finally filled a slot players had been waiting for.
From No.11 on September 28 to No.1 on September 29
gamebiz, citing Sensor Tower, recorded Star Rail going from No.11 to No.1 on Japan's App Store games revenue chart on the morning of September 29. The same day it climbed to No.2 on Japan's Google Play chart — both stores moving together is the usual signature of a banner launch.
Mainland China that day: No.9 overall, per third-party data
Community posts citing third-party tracker Qimai put the game at No.9 on the Chinese overall top-grossing chart and No.3 among games on September 28, topping the adventure and RPG categories.
What 4.6 actually added
HoYoverse lists the headline content as a new Trailblaze mission, "Dance With Beasts Before the Moon Rises," a new area called the Institute of Life Sciences, the five-star character Pearl with her limited light cone, the "Love, Ghosts and Robots" event, and a new companion-pet system.
Pearl fills the survival slot the Elation teams lacked
Pearl is a limited five-star on the Elation path with the ice element. Her kit spends a resource to absorb damage for the whole team while healing and cleansing debuffs — the defensive role Elation teams had been missing. Community interest has focused on the roster finally forming a complete archetype rather than on a damage number.
Cosmetics, pets and the rest of the patch
Pearl and her light cone run the whole version; Feiying returns in the first half, with Qianye Blade's rerun from October 21. On the store side, Feixiao's "Warm Picks by the Clouds" outfit is discounted to 1,350 Oneiric Shards and Feiying's to 2,680 Stellar Jade. The new Star Phantom Pets can be summoned three at a time and traded with other players.
Razer collaboration: four product lines and "CTRL + ALT + WIN"
IT Home reported on September 21 that Star Rail's overseas team announced a Razer collaboration themed on Silver Wolf LV.999, with the tagline "CTRL + ALT + WIN," covering gaming chairs, keyboards, mice and headsets for simultaneous release in multiple regions
Why Silver Wolf LV.999 makes sense
Silver Wolf LV.999 is the SP character introduced in the 4.2 anniversary version, built as a "genius hacker, top-tier gamer." Using her for peripherals is a natural fit: the character already carries the identity of a player.
The Zenless Zone Zero crossover: Ellen and Astra arrive in 4.8
The same livestream confirmed crossover characters from Zenless Zone Zero: Ellen and Astra will join Honkai: Star Rail in version 4.8. Together with the Razer hardware, HoYoverse has split one patch into two spending tracks — pull in-game, buy hardware in real life.
My read: this chart jump is about filling a hole
I would attribute 4.6's peak to how efficiently the version completed an archetype. Pearl turns Elation teams from "missing a survival unit" into a workable composition, so core players did not need power creep as a reason to pull. The longer-term move, though, is tying in-game content and physical goods into a single purchase decision: you pay for the character's banner and for the same character's chair. (More version coverage runs at GameHub Game news.)
The counterargument: one day at No.1 is not a successful patch
The sceptical case holds up. Mobile revenue charts are hypersensitive to launch-day banners, so a No.1 often just records the first-day pull peak; retention, story reception and the second-half banner decide how the version is remembered. Note also that surpassing 150 million downloads across platforms is a cumulative figure from COGNOSPHERE's own press release, not new users from this patch.
FAQ
When did Honkai: Star Rail 4.6 go live?
On September 28, 2026. The version is titled "Dance With Beasts Before the Moon Rises" and adds the Institute of Life Sciences area.
What role does the new character Pearl fill?
Pearl is a limited five-star on the Elation path with the ice element. She spends a resource to absorb damage for the team while healing and cleansing debuffs.
What products are in the Razer collaboration?
Gaming chairs, keyboards, mice and headsets, themed on Silver Wolf LV.999, due for release in multiple regions.