Honkai Star Rail 4.5 Special Program: Time & Codes Guide

The 60-Second TL;DR

The Special Program is a livestream, not a patch drop. It previews the next version's roster, events and rewards. It does not start banners, and it won't push the update to your client. What it does deliver: confirmation of the 4.5 lineup and the redemption codes that accompany every broadcast.

Two units headline: Robin • Summeretto on Wind Remembrance, and Aventurine • Waveflair on Quantum Elation. Leaks list these as Robin SP and Aventurine SP — SP units being alternate kits on Paths separate from the originals — so treat naming as fluid until the stream ends.

Your third action item is financial. Version 4.4 In Ravages Does the Whistle Sound runs July 15 – August 25, 2026 (42 days), so everything on the current Light Cone banner closes August 26. If your warp budget is short, bank currency before the flip. Many Trailblazers handle their Honkai Star Rail Oneiric Shard top up 4.5 Special Program through buffget for competitive pricing, fast mailbox delivery and secure transactions — so the shards are already sitting in the account when the banner rotates.

Confirmed vs expected

• Confirmed: stream date/time, 4.4 window (July 15 – Aug 25, 2026), Garden of Plenty mechanics, Oneiric Shard conversion rates, pity thresholds.
• Reported/leaked:SP naming for Robin and Aventurine, and a 4.5 window of roughly Sep 16 – Oct 27 — which conflicts with the schedule-implied ~August 26 start directly after 4.4 ends.
• Historical: Honkai: Star Rail launched April 26, 2023 by most records (some list April 23, 2023) on PC, PS5, iOS and Android.

4.5 Special Program Start Time by Region

Anchor time is 19:30 UTC+8, August 14. Converted:

• UTC: 11:30
• Pacific: 04:30 PDT
• Eastern: 07:30 EDT
• Central Europe: 13:30 CEST
• Singapore / TW-HK-MO: 19:30
• Japan: 20:30 JST
• India: 17:00 IST

Server regions work separately from the stream clock. Accounts sit on Asia, Europe, America, or TW/HK/MO, and each region's daily reset — including the Trailblaze Power run limit — rolls at 4 AM server time. Plan farming around your server reset, not the livestream.

Pre-stream setup takes five minutes: pre-load the client, clear mailbox space (rewards and shards both land there), and confirm the UID you'll use for any top-up.

Livestream Redemption Codes: Claim Every Reward

Codes drop live and are short-lived — treat them as same-day items. Redeem the moment they appear on screen.

1. Open the in-game menu and find the redemption code field, or use the official account settings redemption page.
2. Confirm the correct server and UID before submitting.
3. Enter the code exactly as shown — case-sensitive, no trailing spaces.
4. Check your in-game mailbox; Stellar Jade and materials arrive there.

Two recurring mistakes cost rewards: assuming codes stay live for days, and redeeming on the wrong server. Each account/server pair redeems separately.

Garden of Plenty: What Actually Doubles

Garden of Plenty is the highest-value farming event in the rotation because it doubles final drop quantities from Golden and Crimson Calyxes — character EXP, Light Cone EXP, Credits, and Path ascension/trace materials. It multiplies quantities only. It does not change drop-rate mechanics, and rewards still scale with Equilibrium Level.

The numbers:

• Golden Calyx (Garden Level IV): 4–6 Traveler's Guides per 10 Trailblaze Power vs 2–3 normally.
• Credits: 50,000–80,000 per run vs 25,000–40,000 standard.
• Crimson Calyx at Equilibrium 6: 4–6 high-tier Trace Materials vs 2–3 — and EQ6 unlocks at Trailblaze Level 65+.

The event recurs every 6–8 weeks, with documented windows of July 10–17 (7 days) and December 5–15, 2025 (listed as 10 or 11 days depending on source). A 4.5-cycle window follows the pattern — build your stockpile now instead of reacting after the announcement.

Where to farm

• Golden Calyxes: Bud of Memories (character EXP, Outlying Snow Plains), Bud of Aether (Light Cone EXP, Backwater Pass), Bud of Treasures (Credits, Great Mine).
• Crimson Calyxes by Path: Destruction (Storage Zone), Preservation (Supply Zone), Hunt (Outlying Snow Plains), Abundance (Backwater Pass), Erudition (Rivet Town), Harmony (Robot Settlement), Nihility (Great Mine).

Never run one? Clear Calyx: Bud of Memories in Jarilo-VI's Outlying Snow Plains, then open Interastral Guide > Survival Index to queue everything else from the menu.

Trailblaze Power Math: Hit the Cap Without Overflow

Each Calyx round costs 10 Trailblaze Power, and the daily cap is 12 rounds (120 Power), resetting at 4 AM server time. That cap is the real constraint — not your Power pool.

• TP regenerates 1 point every 6 minutes — 240 per day, pool cap 240.
• Overflow drains into Reserve Power, capped at 2,400, converting at 50% efficiency.
• Jade refills grant 60 Trailblaze Power each: 50 Jade (first), 100 (second), then 150. Daily refill limit is reported as 6 or 8 depending on source.

In practice: two logins a day is enough. Twelve rounds burn 120 Power, and natural regen replaces that in roughly 12 hours — so six rounds in the morning and six at night keeps overflow near zero. You can select up to six Calyx rounds at once, and auto-battle handles six consecutive fights. Queue six, run Auto with a fast-cycle team, repeat after regen.

Pro tip most players miss: Trailblaze Power is consumed on reward claim, not on entry, giving you a small buffer mid-regen.

Optimal Garden of Plenty Farm Order

Highest value first on double-drop days:

1. Crimson Calyx trace materials at Equilibrium 6 — 4–6 high-tier drops per run is the biggest swing, and trace levels gate damage more than raw levels.
2. Golden Calyx character EXP (Bud of Memories) — 4–6 Traveler's Guides per run clears ascension backlogs fast.
3. Golden Calyx Credits (Bud of Treasures) — 50,000–80,000 per run funds trace upgrades that would otherwise stall.
4. Golden Calyx Light Cone EXP (Bud of Aether) — top priority only if you're pulling and immediately leveling a new Light Cone.

Farm Crimson Calyxes matching the Paths you're actually building. With Robin • Summeretto on Wind Remembrance and Aventurine • Waveflair on Quantum Elation, pre-farming those Path materials is the difference between a day-one build and a week-long grind.

The August 26 Light Cone Cutoff Explained

Version 4.4 ends August 25, 2026, so August 26 is the practical cutoff — the 4.4 featured Light Cone banner closes and the 4.5 rotation replaces it. What expires is access to that specific featured Light Cone. What carries over is progression: pity carries across limited banners, and unspent Special Star Rail Passes stay in your inventory.

Exact warp mechanics:

• Limited banners run a 0.6% base 5-star rate, soft pity around pull 74, hard pity at 90.
• The featured character is a 50/50 on your first 5-star, guaranteed on the next.
• Special Star Rail Passes are required for limited character and Light Cone Warps. Regular Passes only work on the permanent banner — this trips up returning players every patch.

The Fate[UBW] collaboration continuing through 4.4 matters here too, with Archer as a free collab character and Gilgamesh as a limited 5-star. Collab availability is typically window-locked, so audit those banners before August 26 as well.

Bank Oneiric Shards Before the Cutoff

The conversion math is fixed: Oneiric Shards convert to Stellar Jade 1:1, and 160 Jade or Shards equal one Star Rail Pass. Official store reference points: $0.99 for 60 Shards and $14.99 for the 980+110 pack (1,090 total). A 980-Shard block yields 6 passes plus 20 leftover.

Build your warp budget worksheet:

1. Count what you hold — passes in inventory, plus Stellar Jade divided by 160.
2. Project income to August 26 — F2P accounts typically earn 2,000–2,500 Stellar Jade per patch (~13–15 pulls). An Express Supply Pass adds 60 Stellar Jade daily for 30 days on login.
3. Compare to guarantee cost — a guaranteed limited 5-star realistically runs 100–130 pulls, or 16,000–20,000 Jade. Subtract steps 1 and 2; the remainder is your shard gap.

Timing is the whole point. Passes and pity persist, but the banner doesn't — the shards need to exist in the account before August 26, not after. For gap-filling, many players prefer to buy Oneiric Shards Garden of Plenty Aug 14 via buffget, where wide game coverage, high user ratings and responsive customer service keep same-day delivery reliable during peak livestream traffic.

One overlooked bonus: the first-time purchase bonus doubles Oneiric Shards once per denomination, permanently, and never expires. Hit each unclaimed denomination before topping up in bulk — free value.

Top-up procedure and the one unrecoverable mistake

1. Log in to your HoYoverse account.
2. Select your server (Asia, Europe, America, TW/HK/MO) and enter your UID.
3. Choose the Shard denomination and pay.
4. Shards arrive in your in-game mailbox within minutes.

Verify the UID twice. A wrong UID credits a different account, and there is no recovery process.

Misconceptions That Cost Trailblazers Rewards

• Double drops apply everywhere. No — Garden of Plenty doubles Golden and Crimson Calyxes only, and multiplies quantities without touching drop rates.
• Unused Trailblaze Power is wasted. Overflow becomes Reserve Power up to 2,400 — but at 50% efficiency. A cushion, not a bank.
• Pity resets between banners. Pity carries across limited banners; only the 50/50 state changes after a win or loss.
• Topping up after the banner ends is the same. The currency is identical; the banner isn't. Conversion timing protects the pity you've already invested.

Your 72-Hour Post-Stream Action Plan

• Hours 0–6: Redeem every livestream code immediately on the correct server/UID. Write down your pull targets.
• Day 1–2: Run 12 Calyx rounds daily in two batches of six with Auto on. Batch relic salvage and inventory cleanup so mailbox space stays free.
• Before August 26: Recount passes, close the shard gap, and pull using your true pity number from warp history — not memory.

Don't let the August 26 cutoff decide your pity for you. Lock in your warp budget tonight, finish Garden of Plenty at the full 12-round cap, and walk into the 4.5 banners already at guarantee.

FAQ

What time is the 4.5 Special Program? 19:30 UTC+8 on August 14, 2026 — 11:30 UTC, 04:30 PDT, 07:30 EDT, 13:30 CEST, 20:30 JST, 17:00 IST.

Which materials double in Garden of Plenty? Golden and Crimson Calyx rewards: character EXP, Light Cone EXP, Credits, and Path ascension/trace materials. Quantities double; drop mechanics don't change.

How much Trailblaze Power do I need daily? 120 Power for the 12-round cap at 10 per run. Natural regen is 240/day (1 per 6 minutes), so two sessions cover it.

What happens on August 26? Version 4.4 ends August 25, 2026, so the 4.4 featured Light Cone banner closes. Passes and pity carry over; banner access doesn't.

How many warps guarantee a limited 5-star? Soft pity starts near pull 74, hard pity is 90, and the featured unit is a 50/50 — budget 100–130 pulls (16,000–20,000 Jade).

Do Oneiric Shards convert directly to warps? Shards convert to Stellar Jade 1:1, and 160 equals one Star Rail Pass. Limited banners require Special Star Rail Passes, not regular ones.