Next Genshin Impact banner: release date, time, and featured characters [Version 4.0]
Current event: Sangonomiya Kokomi and Wanderer reruns! Up next: Version 4.0!
Who is featured on the Genshin Impact banners in Version 4.0, and when will it go live? Genshin Impact works on a gacha system, where players can spend various in-game and real-world currencies to Wish on a character's banner in the hopes of obtaining a playable version of them.
While many characters are permanently available as potential pulls from the gacha, others — usually 5-star characters — are only available during limited periods as part of Character Event Wish banners. Every Character Event Wish banner features one 5-star character and three 4-star characters with a massively increased drop rate, and the 5-star character is often unique to the banner and unobtainable in any other way.
On this page, we've compiled everything we know about Genshin Impact's current and upcoming banners, including release dates and times for the next banner changeover. Further down the page, we've included some information about characters who are available to purchase from the current and upcoming stock in Paimon's Bargains.
Genshin Impact: current event banners
The concurrent Character Event Wish banners in Genshin Impact for Version 3.8 (Phase 2) are Drifting Luminescence and From Ashes Reborn: respectively, the fourth appearance of Sangonomiya Kokomi and the first ever rerun for Wanderer. These banners have been available to wish starting from July 25th and are due to end on August 15th at 3pm BST / 4pm EDT / 1pm PDT.
In addition to the two featured characters, both banners include a boosted drop rate for 4-stars Yanfei, Rosaria, and Faruzan.
See below for full details on the characters with increased drop rates on the current banners:
Drifting Luminescence
- Sangonomiya Kokomi (5-star)
- Yanfei (4-star)
- Rosaria (4-star)
- Faruzan (4-star)
From Ashes Reborn
- Wanderer (5-star)
- Yanfei (4-star)
- Rosaria (4-star)
- Faruzan (4-star)
Genshin Impact: future event banners
Genshin Impact's next patch will be the annual version update, bringing us up to Version 4.0! The update will be available to play on August 16th at 4am BST, which for our readers in the US is August 15th at 11pm EDT / 8pm PDT.
Version 4.0 will bring with it a new region — Fontaine — and, naturally, there are plenty of new characters to be found there, many of whom will become playable over the next year. Version 4.0 will introduce the following:
- Lyney: 5-star Pyro Bow user debuting during Phase 1
- Lynette: 4-star Anemo Sword user debuting during Phase 1
- Freminet: 4-star Cryo Claymore user debuting during Phase 2
The version will also see reruns for three returning 5-star characters: Yelan in Phase 1 alongside Lyney's debut, and Zhongli and Tartaglia during Phase 2.
Paimon's Bargains and the Starglitter Exchange
Wishes and banners aren't quite the only way to increase your party roster in Genshin Impact. There is another corner of the in-game store where you can potentially get your hands on some new playables. Check out Paimon's Bargains for a regularly rotated stock of common 4-star characters you can purchase outright in exchange for Masterless Starglitter, a currency generated from pulling duplicate characters and high-end weapons from the gacha.
The Starglitter Exchange features two characters every calendar month, and though they're a little pricey at 34 Masterless Starglitter each, this is a guaranteed purchase rather than a gamble. For August 2023, the characters in the Starglitter Exchange are Beidou and Noelle.
Paimon's Bargains seem to work on a regular half-yearly rotation, so here's who we can likely expect to see on offer in the Starglitter Exchange over the next few months:
- September 2023: Ningguang and Xingqiu
- October 2023: Amber and Razor
- November 2023: Bennett and Lisa
- December 2023: Barbara and Kaeya
- January 2024: Fischl and Xiangling
Genshin Impact gets a new event banner every three weeks, so be sure to check back for news about upcoming banners! To get to grips with your odds of actually pulling that elusive 5-star character, check out our page explaining Genshin Impact's pity system. In the meantime, if you're eager to get wishing but have made the commendable choice not to put your real money into a gacha, our guide on getting more Primogems in Genshin Impact can help you to maximise your in-game earnings.