Genshin Impact Luna VIII: Sunny Summer Fontinalia Complete Guide

Genshin Impact Version Luna VIII, also known as Version 6.7 and subtitled Song of the Welkin Moon: Scherzo - Sunny Summer Fontinalia, went live on July 1, 2026. It closes out the Song of the Welkin Moon story arc and the wider Nod-Krai chapter of the 6.x update cycle before the next major version begins. The patch adds one new playable character, the Fatui Harbinger Sandrone, introduces the Stellar-Conduct elemental reaction, opens the permanent Frost Moon region beyond Teyvat, and runs the returning Fontinalia Film Festival under the Sunny Summer Fontinalia event. Phase I Event Wishes went live at launch, pairing Sandrone's debut with a Citlali rerun, and set the pace for how the rest of the version unfolds.

Genshin Impact Version Luna VIII Release Date and Update Details

Version Luna VIII went live worldwide on July 1, 2026 at 11:00 AM (UTC+8), with server maintenance beginning five hours earlier at 06:00 (UTC+8) the same day. Because the update unlocks at one fixed global moment, players outside Asia saw it arrive on different local dates and times, for example the evening of June 30 across the Americas. Pre-installation opened alongside the maintenance announcement, letting Travelers download part of the update in advance and cut down on wait time once servers came back online.

Travelers who reached Adventure Rank 5 or above before maintenance began qualify for Maintenance Compensation of 300 Primogems, calculated at 60 Primogems per hour of downtime, delivered by in-game mail and claimable before Version Luna VIII ends. Version Luna VIII is the final patch in the 6.x cycle, meaning it wraps up the current Song of the Welkin Moon storyline before the next major version cycle begins, and it launches simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, iOS, and Android, alongside continued support for the Miliastra Wonderland expansion mode.

Genshin Impact Version Luna VIII New Character Sandrone and the Stellar-Conduct Reaction

Sandrone is the only new playable character in Version Luna VIII, and her kit was designed around the patch's other headline addition, the Stellar-Conduct elemental reaction, rather than functioning as a separate feature. Her Elemental Skill, Elemental Burst, and resource management all exist to keep Stellar-Conduct active on the field, which makes her release and the new reaction effectively one package rather than two unrelated additions bundled into the same update.

Sandrone Is a Cryo Claymore DPS Built Around Fagio and Decoding Power

Sandrone is the Seventh of the Fatui Harbingers, codenamed Marionette, and returns in Version Luna VIII after her role in the Nod-Krai storyline. She is a 5-star Cryo Claymore Main DPS whose kit revolves around Fagio, an autonomous construct that fires condensed beams dealing Stellar-Conduct damage whenever Sandrone lands a Charged Attack. Fagio's output is tied to a resource called Decoding Power, and once Fagio reaches its firing limit, its attack interval increases, which pushes players to manage the resource actively rather than holding Charged Attacks indefinitely.

Her Elemental Skill puts her on the Tea Party Tactical Assault Hovermech, letting her hover in place for several seconds while a Prismatic Resonance Cannon fires Cryo damage at nearby enemies, and casting it also lowers Decoding Power to keep Fagio from overloading. Her Elemental Burst calls in an artillery bombardment, and any beam damage dealt inside her Polestar Field counts as Stellar-Conduct damage rather than plain Cryo damage. Her signature weapon, A Teaspoon of Transcendence, adds a flat ATK increase and stacks a damage bonus called Transcendence each time a Charged Attack connects, reinforcing the same Charged Attack loop her kit is built around.

Stellar-Conduct Creates a Team-Wide Polestar Field

Stellar-Conduct is a new variant of the existing Superconduct reaction, triggered when Cryo and Electro interact under specific conditions tied to Sandrone's kit. With Sandrone on the field, every Superconduct reaction triggered by any party member converts into Stellar-Conduct instead, and the whole team gains increased Stellar-Conduct damage rather than losing value to a reaction most teams normally avoid. Triggering the reaction can transform the surrounding area into a Polestar Field, sometimes referred to as a Stellar Glow Domain, that stores excess Cryo and Electro energy from enemies struck inside it and releases that energy periodically as damage buffs.

Characters standing inside an active Polestar Field gain increased Cryo and Electro damage, and enemies inside the field have reduced Physical resistance, which widens the reaction's usefulness beyond a pure Cryo-Electro team composition. Several existing Cryo and Electro characters, including some featured on the new Lightrace Wish Banner, receive kit-level enhancements that specifically interact with the Polestar Field, giving older units like Yae Miko, Cyno, and Wriothesley a reason to return to active rotations built around Sandrone.

Genshin Impact Version Luna VIII Phase I Event Wishes: Sandrone, Citlali, and the Weapon Banner

Phase I Event Wishes opened the moment Version Luna VIII went live and run until July 21, 2026 at 17:59 server time. Sandrone is featured on the Character Event Wish, To the Looking-Glass the Mademoiselle Said, while Citlali returns on the paired Character Event Wish-2, Starry Night's Whispers. The two banners share the same Character Event Wish guarantee count, meaning pity and the guaranteed promotional 5-star carry between them. However, losing a 50/50 on one banner does not automatically guarantee the other banner's featured character. The next guaranteed promotional 5-star depends on which of the two character banners the player continues wishing on.

Both Sandrone's and Citlali's banners carry a rate-up for the same three 4-star characters: Beidou, Diona, and Freminet. They use the standard 4-star pity system where a non-featured 4-star pull guarantees one of the featured 4-star characters on the next 4-star drop from that banner type. The Epitome Invocation weapon banner runs on the same window and features A Teaspoon of Transcendence, Sandrone's signature Claymore, and Starcaller's Watch, Citlali's signature Catalyst, alongside five 4-star weapons: Favonius Sword, Rainslasher, Dragon's Bane, Sacrificial Fragments, and Sacrificial Bow. Players can use the Epitomized Path system to chart a course toward a specific promotional 5-star weapon instead of leaving the weapon banner entirely to the 75/25 split.

The Lightrace Wish Banner, called Heavenlit Prophecy, launched alongside Phase I as a separate pull system built around the Stellar-Conduct reaction. It lets players chart a path toward one of five 5-star characters, Yae Miko, Cyno, Wriothesley, Qiqi, and Yumemizuki Mizuki, or several featured 5-star weapons, including Kagura's Verity, Staff of the Scarlet Sands, Cashflow Supervision, Sunny Morning Sleep-In, and other weapons in the pool. Its guarantee count is separate from the two Phase I character banners, which makes it a separate budget decision from pulling on Sandrone or Citlali, and it is aimed squarely at players who missed these characters during their original limited runs or want units that benefit from the new Cryo-Electro reaction focus.

Genshin Impact Version Luna VIII Banner and Event Schedule: What Launches First

Phase I is everything live from day one: Sandrone's debut, Citlali's rerun, the Epitome Invocation weapon banner, and the Heavenlit Prophecy Lightrace Wish. Phase II replaces the character lineup after Phase I ends, swapping in reruns for Columbina and Raiden Shogun with their own matching weapon banner. There is no confirmed return date for Sandrone once Phase I ends, so players who want her signature Claymore or her specific Stellar-Conduct kit need to commit within the first three weeks of the patch rather than waiting for a later rerun.

On the event side, several activities go live in the same July 1 launch window as Phase I, including the flagship Sunny Summer Fontinalia event described below and the Revelations by Chance quest, which awards a Witch's Revelation Case that unlocks bonus Talents and buffs for a corresponding character once opened. The Miliastra Wonderland expansion also receives its own Chronicles of the Realms content and a rotating Miliastra Shop stocked with new decorative and consumable items, both live from launch rather than staggered later in the patch.

Version Luna VIII also includes smaller time-limited activities outside the flagship event. Final Long-Range Sightlines, Dance Dance Easy-Breezy Disco, and Ley Line Overflow round out the patch's event calendar, while the new Moon Gazing World Quest gives exploration-focused players another permanent objective to complete after the main launch rush. These additions are not as central as Sandrone, Sunny Summer Fontinalia, or the Frost Moon, but they help make Luna VIII feel like a full version update rather than a single-event patch before the next major cycle.

Genshin Impact Version Luna VIII Summer Theme: Sunny Summer Fontinalia and the Frost Moon

Sunny Summer Fontinalia is Version Luna VIII's flagship event and brings back the Fontinalia Film Festival aboard the ship Wingalet in Fontaine, where Charlotte, Citlali, and a wide cast of familiar characters gather for a midsummer water festival. Reaching Adventure Rank 20, completing the Archon Quest Prologue: Act III Song of the Dragon and Freedom, and unlocking any Statue of The Seven in Fontaine unlock access to the event. Completing Song of the Welkin Moon - Act X first is recommended, though not required, for the fullest version of the story content. During the event, players manage a special aquarium through three activities: Operation Deep-Dive Treasure, where Travelers explore underwater areas with limited inventory space to recover collectibles and creatures, Kaleido-Catch, a fishing minigame that scores points based on the size and number of fish caught, and Curio Ledger, where salvaged items are sold through a souvenir shop to fund upgrades.

Completing the event awards the 4-star character Charlotte for free along with her new outfit, Hurlock Variations, at no cost, as well as Primogems, a Crown of Insight, character development materials, furnishings, and other event rewards. The outfit moves to the Character Outfit Shop for 1,680 Genesis Crystals once Version Luna VIII ends. The Story Quest tied to the event, also called Sunny Summer Fontinalia, remains permanently accessible after the event window closes for Travelers who meet its requirements, similar to how major seasonal story content has been preserved in recent updates. Citlali's new outfit, Whispers of Stars and Smoke, is sold separately in the Character Outfit Shop at a limited-time discount of 1,980 Genesis Crystals during the patch, rising to 2,480 Genesis Crystals afterward.

Beyond the summer festival, Version Luna VIII opens the Frost Moon as a permanent new region, reached by boarding a spacecraft and traveling beyond Teyvat. The area includes a luminous but dangerous lunar sea, an orbiting space station with a view back down onto Teyvat, and ancient ruins tied to the dragon race's history. A mysterious ancient power lets Travelers manipulate local gravity to cross terrain that would otherwise be impassable, and both the Frost Moon and Teyvat maps gained a new layered display showing the player's current elevation level in real time. New wildlife, including the Moonglow Frostfin Whale and Moonglow Jellyfish, along with Local Legend challenges tied to bosses like Prism Slime and Moosh-Tehir, give the region long-term exploration goals beyond the main story quests.

Genshin Impact Version Luna VIII Quality-of-Life Changes

Version Luna VIII also adds a set of smaller quality-of-life improvements that matter once the first-day banner and event rush is over. The layered map display now gives clearer information about the player's current elevation level, which is especially useful in areas with stacked terrain, underwater spaces, ruins, and Frost Moon traversal. Dialogue and interaction flow also receives new control options, including faster single-click progression and improved interaction shortcuts, reducing friction during long quest chains and repeated exploration tasks.

These changes are not the headline features of the patch, but they directly affect how comfortable Luna VIII feels to play. The Frost Moon's vertical layout makes the layered map upgrade more important than it would be in a flatter region, and faster dialogue controls help players moving through Sunny Summer Fontinalia, Moon Gazing, and the remaining Song of the Welkin Moon content on multiple accounts or during a limited event window.

What to Do in Genshin Impact After Version Luna VIII Launches

The first priority after logging in is claiming the Maintenance Compensation mail and any outstanding livestream codes, both of which expire if left unclaimed too long. Players who want Sandrone or Citlali should treat the July 21 cutoff as a hard deadline, since Phase II removes both banners in favor of Columbina and Raiden Shogun with no announced return date for either Phase I character. Anyone missing older Cryo or Electro units such as Wriothesley, Yae Miko, or Cyno should compare that cost against the Lightrace Wish's own guarantee system before spending Primogems on the main banners, since it draws from a separate guarantee count entirely.

Progressing the Archon Quest Prologue Act III Song of the Dragon and Freedom, reaching Adventure Rank 20, and unlocking a Fontaine Statue of The Seven are the practical requirements for Sunny Summer Fontinalia access. Finishing Song of the Welkin Moon - Act X beforehand is worth doing for players who care about story continuity rather than only the free Charlotte, her outfit, and the event rewards. Once the event content is cleared, exploring the Frost Moon is the best use of remaining time in the patch, since its gravity-based traversal, new wildlife, Local Legend challenges, and Moon Gazing World Quest are permanent additions rather than event content that disappears at the end of Version Luna VIII.

Final Thoughts

Version Luna VIII closes out the Song of the Welkin Moon arc with a genuinely full patch rather than a placeholder before the next major version cycle, pairing one mechanically dense new character in Sandrone with a reaction, Stellar-Conduct, that meaningfully changes how older Cryo and Electro units perform together. Sunny Summer Fontinalia gives the update its seasonal identity and a free character on top of the usual banners, while the Frost Moon is the more durable addition, since it stays in the game long after the event calendar moves on.

For most players, the practical order of operations is straightforward: decide on Sandrone, Citlali, or the Lightrace Wish before July 21, clear Sunny Summer Fontinalia for the free character and outfit, claim the limited-time event rewards, and spend any remaining exploration time in the Frost Moon rather than saving it for later, since none of that permanent content carries the same expiration risk as the Phase I banners or Fontinalia minigames.