Honkai: Star Rail reveal Ruan Mei, Dr. Ratio, and Xueyi as new characters coming in version 1.6
Ruan Mei and Dr. Ratio will both be 5-star characters while Xueyi will have a 4-star rarity.
Honkai: Star Rail dropped a massive bomb on players on Tuesday (31 October) by revealing all at once the three new characters coming in version 1.6 in December: Ruan Mei, Dr. Ratio, and Xueyi!
The drip marking for version 1.6 saw a notable departure from that of previous versions, which revealed the new characters coming in an update once a day over a three-day period. With version 1.6's new characters being revealed all at once, the excitement for the update's release in December is certainly palpable.
Here's what we know about Ruan Mei, Dr. Ratio, and Xueyi so far:
Ruan Mei
Ruan Mei hails from the Xianzhou Alliance and is member #81 of the Genius Society, a gathering of the most brilliant minds from all across Honkai: Star Rail's universe personally selected by Nous, the Aeon of Erudition. She is an expert in the biological sciences and earned Nous' attention with her talent and terrifying perseverance in researching the origin of life in a secret corner of the universe.
It is unknown if Ruan Mei is also an Emanator of Nous like Herta, as it has not been confirmed if all members of the Genius Society are also Emanators of Nous.
Ruan Mei will wield the Ice element and follow the Path of Harmony, which means her role will be providing buffs to her allies to aid them in battle. She will also be the game's first limited 5-star Harmony character, with the only other 5-star Harmony character, Bronya, available on the Standard Warp.
While we don't have any official information on Ruan Mei's kit yet, if we're going by how strong Bronya is as a Standard 5-star Harmony character, just imagine how strong a limited one like Ruan Mei will be.
While Ruan Mei has yet to make appear in-person in the game so far, she does make frequent appearances in the Simulated Universe, which she collaborated to create alongside fellow Genius Society members Herta, Screwllum, and Stephen Lloyd.
There is even a rare Simulated Universe Occurrence event where Ruan Mei will give the Trailblazer a huge amount of Cosmic Fragments or all the Blessings in a random Path.
Aside from her intellect, Ruan Mei also enjoys theater, embroidery, and making desserts. In the Light Cone 'Geniuses' Repose', she is even seen serving tea and pastries to Herta and Screwllum.
Ruan Mei will be voiced by Emi Lo in the game's English dub, Saori Ōnishi in the Japanese dub, 张文钰 in the Chinese dub, and Yoon Yeojin in the Korean dub.
Dr. Ratio
Dr. Ratio is an entirely new character that has not appeared in any promotional material or in Light Cones before being revealed as a playable character. He is a member of the Intelligentsia Guild, another faction that follows the Path of Erudition, just like the Genius Society.
But unlike the Genius Society, which only accepts the cream of the crop, the Intelligentsia Guild is willing to welcome all who are willing to learn as members and provide them with what they need in their pursuit of knowledge.
Among the members of the Intelligentsia Guild, Dr. Ratio is known as a candid and self-centered individual who calls himself a "Mundanite". This term may come from the word 'mundanity', which refers to the quality of being commonplace or ordinary. From that, we can guess that Dr. Ratio may be someone who is fascinated by what most people see as ordinary and uninteresting.
That may be supported by the fact that Dr. Ratio firmly believes that intellect and creativity are not confined to geniuses. He also seeks to distribute knowledge to the entire universe to cure the persistent disease named ignorance.
Dr. Ratio will wield the Imaginary element and follow the Path of the Hunt, meaning he will specialise in dealing massive amounts of single-target damage. He will also be the first Hunt character to wield the Imaginary element.
Dr. Ratio will be voiced by Jordan Paul Haro in the game's English dub, Shunsuke Takeuchi in the Japanese dub, and Lee Dong-hun in the Korean dub.
Xueyi
Xueyi resides in the Xianzhou Luofu and is one of the judgest of the Ten-Lords Commission, in charge of tracking down and imprisoning criminals with her iron chains and Marasunder Awl. She is also the older sister of Xueyi, another judge in the Ten-Lords Commission who will become playable in version 1.5.
Xueyi is actually dead, as the one we see and will play as is only her soul in a puppet body gifted to her by the Ten-Lords Commission so she can return to the world of the living and carry out her missions.
Xueyi first appeared in Dan Heng’s side adventure with Luocha and Sushang during the reemergence of the Ambrosial Arbor. She is also depicted alongside Xueyi in the Light Cones 'Under the Blue Sky' and 'Return to Darkness'.
Under the Blue Sky notably shows Xueyi together with Hanya when they were younger and in happier times. Meanwhile, Return to Darkness depicts the two some time later when they are much older and with Hanya holding her older sister's lifeless body.
The latter Light Cone seems to depict Hanya holding Xueyi's puppet body, as she notes that her older sister's body "has been cold like this for a very long time".
Xueyi will wield the Quantum element and follow the Path of Destruction, able to deal tons of damage to multiple enemies but with some drawbacks. She will also be the first character of her Path to use the Quantum element and should have some form of synergy with her sister Hanya, who is a Physical Harmony character.
Xueyi will be voiced by Jenny Yokobori in the game's English dub, Maki Kawase in the Japanese dub, and Park Ri-Na in the Korean dub.
Ruan Mei, Dr. Ratio, and Xueyi will be released in Honkai: Star Rail version 1.6, which is expected to drop around Christmas. Preceding that update will be version 1.5 in mid-November, which features the upcoming characters Huohuo, Argenti, and Hanya.
Honkai: Star Rail is currently in the second half of version 1.5, featuring the Fire Hunt character Topaz and her pet Warp Trotter Numby as the new featured 5-star character. The current banner also includes a rerun for the 5-star Quantum Hunt character Seele and the debut of 4-star Fire Nihility character Guinaifen.
If you're still torn on whether or not you should pull for Topaz, Seele, or their signature Light Cones, we've got you covered.
Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.
For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.
