I Didn’t See the Jiaoqiu Twist in the Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Event Coming

Honkai: Star Rail can be an exceptionally silly game. There’s a trash can photography event. The Trailblazer avatar often trolls folks with their possible responses. Sampo is a walking joke. It gets really goofy! The thing is, that element of can sneak up on you. So when the March 7th Saga of Primaveral Blade event happened in Honkai: Star Rail, I feel like I should have known there was the potential for HoYoVerse to joke around, but I didn’t expect that twist to be set in motion with new character Jiaoqiu.

Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers for the Honkai: Star Rail Saga of Primaveral Blade Panacea Divinus Jiaoqiu route below.

So the idea in the Saga of Primaveral Blade event in Honkai: Star Rail is that March 7th is training with Yanqing and Yunli to become a sword-wielding hero. Why? Because recurring IPC villain Skott returned to the Xianzhou Luofu, was cruel to an employee at a restaurant, and when March got involved she ended up agreeing to a duel with him. The first time you go through the event, Huohuo will show up as a training companion for additional story segments, buffs during, and a possible alternate ending for the final Skott encounter that changes how you approach that encounter. 

After you complete the minigame once, you can go through it multiple times. Each run, you get buffs to put March in a better situation at the start. However, the selling point is that the ally who pops in to assist with additional training story segments, buffs, and potential ending changes. The first two are Huohuo and Qingque. However, for the third round of Saga of Primaveral Blade in Honkai: Star Rail, you can pick Jiaoqiu as your ally with a Panacea Divinus route.

Now, the thing about this that shows just how sneaky HoYoVerse was comes down to how well-executed this thing is. In general, March seems to learn life lessons from these additional allies during Saga of Primaveral Blade, and so when the Jiaoqiu part comes up in Honkai: Star Rail, it seems to be about there being no medicinal shortcuts to greatness. We get to spend time with him and learn how he essentially makes food into medicine. We encounter Lingsha after hearing about legendary ingredients. So when the time comes to close out that run, I chose Jiaoqiu’s option of course. I figured given the lead up to the event, even with his tricky nature, it’d be about healthy supplements or meals. Especially since both Bailu and Lingsha are also around for that final conversation.

Nope, Jiaoqiu gives Skott and his IPC minions diarrhea.

Like okay. Part of the fun from the twist came from the shock value. While Bailu and Lingsha are being all serious during this Saga of Primaveral Blade route, it turns out Jiaoqiu took matters into his own hands and tasked Moze with preparing a special “meal” for Skott and his underlings in Honkai: Star Rail. 

Fine. I go to the final confrontation and figure maybe this will be a text-based and story-only segment. No. HoYoVerse actually took it a step further. The battle between Skott and his allies and March still happens in the Saga of Primaveral Blade route, but custom dialogue and debuffs are in effect! When the fight starts, the Skott Senior Staff: Team Leader is debuffed! The IPC soldiers who are there alongside him are immediately afflicted with “Diarrhea Shockwave” whenever they are summoned to the fight, resulting in them instantly falling back so it returns to a true one-on-one fight between March and Skott. I was stunned at the effort put into this “joke” ending. Not to mention it’s made even better by the final conversation between March and Skott that truly brings the situation to a close.

I love when a game is able to surprise me after over a year of service, and HoYoVerse did just that with the Saga of Primaveral Blade March 7th event and Jiaoqiu in Honkai: Star Rail. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to make me actually pull for the new five-star when he debuts. (I’m still pulling for Yunli in hopes of getting her and adding her to a team with Clara!) But the turn of events definitely made him stand out and better defined him for me.

Honkai: Star Rail is available for the PS5, PC, and mobile devices. The Saga of Primaveral Blade event and its Panacea Divinus route is available until September 9, 2024. Jiaoqiu will join Honkai: Star Rail as a playable character on August 21, 2024.