Save half. That is the whole answer if you only have ten seconds: Version 7.0 is a two-act patch, and the second act is where the reruns you have been waiting on are most likely to appear. The launch banners get all the trailer attention because they are new, but for most players the smarter Primogems go to Phase 2, where a proven unit you actually want to build is worth more than a day-one gamble on a kit you have watched for a week.
We already broke down the 7.0 launch roster and the Stellar Reactions rework, and the release-date and map basics before that. This piece is the other half of the patch: what is rumored for the second banner phase, how confident anyone can actually be about it, and how to budget so you are not broke when the banner you care about finally arrives.
Everything below the confirmed launch date is leak-tier. HoYoverse has not published a Phase 2 lineup, and Snezhnaya is a finale region, which historically means HoYoverse holds cards longer and shuffles the order later than usual. Treat this as a planning map, not a schedule.
When Phase 2 actually starts
Genshin patches run on a six-week cycle split into two roughly three-week phases. With 7.0 launching August 12, 2026, the Phase 2 banner swap lands in early September, most likely around September 2 to 3, and runs until the 7.1 update near the end of the month. That is the window your reserve needs to survive to.
| Phase | Window | Status | What headlines it |
| 7.0 Phase 1 | Aug 12 to early Sep | Confirmed patch, roster leaked | Three new Snezhnaya units |
| 7.0 Phase 2 | Early Sep to late Sep | Leaked | Reruns plus one new debut (unconfirmed) |
| 7.1 | Late Sep 2026 | Rumor | Continued Snezhnaya arc |
The reruns leakers keep pointing at
The consistent thread across trackers is that 7.0 Phase 2 leans on reruns of characters that pair with the new Cryo-forward Stellar Reactions system. That is the tell worth reading. When a region drops a reaction overhaul, the follow-up banners almost always resurface the units that suddenly get better with it, because a rerun sells far harder when the patch notes just told you the character got a second life.
Three profiles keep coming up, and it is worth separating the pattern from the specific names, because the names move and the pattern rarely does:
- A marquee Cryo carry rerun. The single most-repeated claim is that a top-tier Cryo damage dealer returns in Phase 2 to demonstrate Stellar Reactions in practice. If you skipped Cryo carries because the element felt weak, this is the rerun the rework was built to make you reconsider.
- A reaction enabler rerun. A support or off-field applier that feeds the new interactions, the kind of unit that quietly triples a team's ceiling. These are the reruns veterans quietly prioritize over the flashy carry.
- One standard Anemo or Hydro pivot. HoYoverse rarely runs an all-Cryo phase; expect at least one banner aimed at players who are not chasing the new system at all.
We are deliberately not stamping names as fact here, because at this range even reliable leakers hedge, and a Phase 2 order this far out has shifted before drip marketing. When the Genshin tier list gets its 7.0 pass, that is when the rerun value is real instead of rumored.
Why the Tsaritsa is still not in the banner
This is the question in every comment section, so here is the blunt version: the Cryo Archon is not a 7.0 pull, and there is no credible leak that she is. Snezhnaya is the setup, not the payoff. Genshin has spent five years teaching you that an Archon's home region opens with the political and character groundwork and saves the Archon herself for a later, climactic patch. Mondstadt did it, Liyue did it, and every region since has followed the same beat.
Planning your reserve around a 7.0 Tsaritsa banner is the fastest way to waste this patch. If she is your endgame pull, the correct move is to bank through 7.0 entirely and revisit when 7.x drip marketing actually shows her on a banner card. Anything before that is a rumor wearing a countdown.
How to split a reserve across one patch
The trap in a two-phase patch is spending your whole reserve on the Phase 1 novelty and walking into Phase 2 empty, right as the rerun you actually planned for shows up. Here is the discipline that avoids it.
- Decide your one priority before launch. New launch carry, or a Phase 2 rerun. Pick one. A patch that wants your wallet twice is beaten by a player who already knows which banner they are here for.
- Count your real pulls, not your vibes. Add up Primogems, Fates, and Starglitter, and know your pity going in. A "full reserve" that is actually 60 pulls deep changes every decision below it.
- Farm your free income now. Abyss stars, the new Spiral Abyss cycle, event Primogems, and the current Genshin codes all stack over six weeks. Clear them before launch so the reserve you are budgeting is money in hand, not a projection.
- Do not pre-farm artifacts for a leaked rerun. The Stellar Reactions rework may revalue which sets a returning carry wants. Farm for units you already own, and hold your Resin gambling until the kit and its best set are confirmed.
- Hold a hard floor. Whatever your priority, keep enough in reserve to guarantee it at worst-case pity. The players who end a patch happy are the ones who never had to gamble on the banner that mattered.
Our honest read
Version 7.0 is built to sell twice: a new-region roster up front and a Stellar-Reactions-flavored rerun wave in the back. Both halves are designed to look essential, and neither is, unless one of them lines up with a character you genuinely want to play. The winning move is boring and it works: decide your single priority now, bank aggressively through the half you are skipping, and verify at drip marketing before you spend a thing. Then check our Genshin best-characters guide and the team-building primer so whatever you pull slots into a team, not a display case.
Sources: community datamine trackers and leak aggregators covering the Version 7.0 banner window, cross-referenced against Genshin's established two-phase, six-week patch structure and its historical Archon-region pacing. All Phase 2 details are leak-tier and unconfirmed until official drip marketing on the Genshin Impact channels. See our full Genshin review for the wider picture.
