Dan Hengs. We all love them, and now we're getting a third character based on the same guy. Honkai Star Rail's Permansor Terrae is set to join the roster in update 3.6, giving us the option to have almost a full Dan team.
It seems that Honkai Star Rail's Dan Heng, the shy and stoic guy you meet on the Astral Express, actually has a lot more going on than we thought. Even more than his whole other life as Dan Feng, also known as HSR's Imbibitor Lunae. Permansor Terrae is "the Guard of the Astral Express, your companion, Dan Heng the Nameless" - a Chrysos Heir, no less.
His third, and maybe final - but who knows - form is a physical-using character who follows the path of preservation. Hopefully, he'll be able to deploy a strong shield like HSR's Aventurine. His powers come from the Permanence, and interestingly, the only people associated with it for now are Dan Heng (x3), Lingsha, and Bailu - along with some NPCs.
While I am intrigued to see where this leads, and visit the associated city 'Beyond the Sky', I do wonder… why do we have three Dan Hengs? I understand getting one five-star version, which HSR's March 7th is also finally getting, but two? Could it not have been a skin, or another path for the four-star, similar to March 7th's Hunt option?
I'm always for a male character, but the design of Permansor feels a little lazy. Sure, he's got different horns and a ponytail, but the actual outfit is overall very similar to his four-star garb. He did get different boots, too, but it really feels like a glow-up of the original form.
Where are some other five-star versions of four stars? We got The Herta, but where is Sampo's SP? Please, Hoyo, we know it's going to happen, so just release the tricksy man already. In fact, why not give us a fourth Dan Heng so we can have a full four-piece team of the same person…?
I don't know if I can justify purchasing pulls for not one, not two, but three Dan Hengs in the same game, only two years apart. The new Honkai Star Rail codes can help us all save up a bit, but even if he goes into SS-tier of our Honkai Star Rail tier list, I may have to skip.