Genshin Impact 7.1 Guide: September 23 Launch, Vesna and Vodyanitsa Banners, Two Free 5-Stars

Genshin Impact Version 7.1 “A Rekviem for the Underworld” launches on September 23, 2026. HoYoverse said so in the Version 7.1 Benefits Overview on September 12, then named the two Event Wishes on September 14: “When Warm Winds Cavort” for Vesna (Anemo) and “Surging Ballad” for Vodyanitsa (Hydro), both “available after the Version 7.1 update on September 23”. This guide lists what is confirmed, who the fourteen free 5-star options are and what each pick asks of you, and how to plan Primogems now that both new 5-stars are official.

Four official posts carry everything in this article. The table keeps HoYoverse’s wording where the wording matters, because the difference between “after the Version 7.1 update” and a specific banner date is exactly what people get wrong.

Vesna carries the title “Snowy Banquet’s Sharp Blade” and is Anemo. The showcase post frames her as a commander: she is “showing the new recruits of the Druzhna what she can do in battle”. Her Event Wish is “When Warm Winds Cavort”. A separate character teaser, “Vesna: The ‘Vilatrace’”, went up on September 16.

Vodyanitsa is “Lingering Siren-Song” and Hydro. Her showcase is written around a song that “rises from the depths” and “an old hymn she rarely performs on the theater stage”; the September 15 story post calls her a prima donna. Her Event Wish is “Surging Ballad”. Both posts use the same sentence for timing: the wish “will be available after the Version 7.1 update on September 23”, with “a huge drop rate boost”.

What the text of the two posts does not give: the full banner schedule and how the two wishes are distributed across the version — that needs separate confirmation from the in-game notice; the 4-star characters on each; whether a rerun runs alongside; and any numerical values — talent multipliers, energy cost, constellation effects. The verified announcement text contains no figures; the showcase videos are official too, and this article has not transcribed them, so it makes no claim about what they do or do not show. Vesna is Anemo, but whether her kit touches the Stellar Swirl reaction added in 7.0 is not stated in the text.

The Benefits Overview text says “invite two 5-star characters to join your party”; the graphic under it names the pools and the conditions. They are two different events with two different gates.

Both picks come with “the corresponding Ascension Materials needed to raise the selected character to Lv. 60”. That is a set of ascension materials, not a levelled character: the pick itself is a new character, the materials cover the ascensions up to level 60, and the graphic says nothing about character EXP, Mora, talent books, a weapon or artifacts — budget those as you would for any new 5-star. 11/03 is HoYoverse’s month-day format, so the window closes on November 3 by server time; the graphic adds “please check in-game notices for event details and schedules”, which is where the exact start and end will be printed.

The six-character pick is gated behind the Version 7.1 Archon Quest — the graphic’s own wording, which also settles that 7.1 ships a new Archon Quest act. What the two Chapter VII acts already in the game unlock is covered in the Chapter VII guide; the 7.1 act’s name and length are not published yet. The eight-character pick needs nothing but a login after the update.

The rest of the anniversary package, as the graphic lists it: Intertwined Fate ×10 for checking in during the period, Primogems ×1,600 claimed via mail, an Initial Top-Up Bonus Reset (the doubled Genesis Crystals on a first top-up come back), and the Miliastra Wonderland Headwear for logging in. Ten Intertwined Fates and 1,600 Primogems add up to 20 limited-banner pulls, but the graphic ties the Fates to checking in “during this limited-time period” and the Primogems to the mail, and gives no day-by-day schedule — count them as they arrive, not as a day-one lump sum. The text notice says more anniversary rewards will be announced in-game, so this is the floor, not the total.

The free picks change the arithmetic. If the reason you were saving was a gap in the roster rather than a specific character, check the fourteen names first: a 5-star you can claim is a 5-star you do not pull for. The 20 anniversary pulls are real but small next to a pity, and they arrive on the event’s schedule rather than all at once — treat them as a top-up on the banner you have already chosen, not a reason to enter a second one.

Building talent priority around characters you already own remains the more reliable use of resources than pre-committing to a kit nobody has seen in numbers. Decide on the showcases; the multipliers arrive with the update.

Before the update

After the update

Kept in one place so nothing above has to hedge. As of September 17, none of the following is in the text HoYoverse has published; the showcase videos have not been transcribed here:

• Banner schedule — when “When Warm Winds Cavort” and “Surging Ballad” each run within the version; both posts say only “after the Version 7.1 update on September 23”, and how the two are distributed needs separate confirmation.
• 4-star characters on either Event Wish, and whether any rerun banner runs alongside.
• Kit values for Vesna and Vodyanitsa — the text of the Character Skill Showcases publishes no multipliers, costs or constellation effects; the videos themselves are official and are not read here.
• Ascension and talent materials for the two new 5-stars, and therefore where to pre-farm.
• The 7.1 Archon Quest’s name and length — its existence is confirmed only by the free-pick condition.
• The rest of the anniversary rewards — the Benefits Overview says more will be announced in-game.

This article no longer repeats leaker names or roadmaps. When any of the items above is published, this section shrinks and the section it belongs to grows.

Genshin Impact 7.1 launches September 23, 2026, with two new limited 5-stars, two free 5-star picks and 20 free pulls — all from HoYoverse’s own posts, none from unofficial sources. The open questions are the banner schedule, the 4-stars, the kit values and the materials, and they stay open until the update prints them. Until September 22, the 7.0 Phase 2 banners are the only clock running; which 7.0 events expire and which carry over is in the 7.0 events guide, and the 7.0 banners themselves in the 7.0 banners piece.

Sources and Confidence

Every claim above is tied to a HoYoverse post and its date. Nothing here comes from unofficial channels; the last row lists what is not published so the gaps are as visible as the facts.