Genshin Impact 7.1 Anniversary 5-Star Selector: What Changed in the Beta

The free 5-star character picker has been a fixture of every Genshin Impact anniversary since Version 5.0, and it has always worked the same way. You get one character from the standard Wanderlust Invocation pool, you confirm your choice, and that is that. The Version 7.1 beta has quietly broken that pattern, and the differences are big enough that players are now openly arguing about whether limited characters are on the table.

Quick answer: Nothing about the 7.1 selector is official yet. In the beta, the picker’s internal name changed from a permanent-banner reference to “invitation banner,” it holds six character slots instead of the eight standard 5-stars currently in the game, and its files carry animations for every element. HoYoverse confirms the real list during the Version 7.1 Special Program on September 11, 2026.

What changed in the 7.1 selector files

Three things stand out in the beta build. The first is naming. Internally, the reward was previously tied to the permanent banner, which is exactly how it behaved in practice. In 7.1 it is labeled as an invitation banner instead, and the player-facing button still reads Invite Character.

The second is the slot count. There are six character slots in the beta version of the picker. The standard banner has eight 5-stars in it right now, so either two names have been cut, or the roster is being assembled by hand rather than pulled automatically from the standard pool.

The third is cosmetic but telling. The banner’s assets include element animations for every element in the game, including Geo, which has no standard-pool 5-star at all. That detail is what pushed speculation toward manually chosen characters, and in some corners toward limited units or weapons being included. It is worth being blunt about this: an animation file is not a character list, and unused or placeholder assets are routine in beta builds.

The eight standard 5-stars the picker normally draws from

For reference, this is the pool the anniversary selector has used up to now. If the 7.1 picker really does ship with six slots, two of these names are missing.

Character	Element and weapon
Dehya	Pyro, Claymore
Diluc	Pyro, Claymore
Jean	Anemo, Sword
Keqing	Electro, Sword
Mona	Hydro, Catalyst
Qiqi	Cryo, Sword
Tighnari	Dendro, Bow
Yumemizuki Mizuki	Anemo, Catalyst

The separate older limited 5-star selector leak

Running alongside the beta findings is a claim about a second, entirely different picker that would hand out an older limited 5-star along with that character’s signature weapon. HoYoverse has not published anything about it. Treat every line below as unconfirmed until the stream.

Rule	What the leak claims
Reward	One older limited 5-star plus that character’s signature weapon
Relationship to the usual picker	Separate from the standard Wanderlust Invocation selector
Ownership	The character must not already be on your account; no constellations
Exclusions	Archons are out, including Venti, Zhongli, Raiden Shogun and Furina
Who gains most	New and returning accounts missing older limited units

Note: if that ownership rule holds and your account already has every eligible name, the reward is worth nothing to you. That is the single detail most likely to change between beta and launch.

Version 7.1 Special Program date and the anniversary calendar

The Special Program airs on September 11, 2026, on the official Genshin Impact Twitch and YouTube channels. That broadcast is the point where the selector stops being a leak and becomes a reward with a published list, and it also drops three livestream codes worth 300 Primogems in total.

Date	What happens
September 11, 2026	Version 7.1 Special Program and three livestream codes
September 22–23, 2026	Version 7.0 ends and Version 7.1 is expected to go live
September 28, 2026	Sixth anniversary; mail and login rewards open around this date
Mid-October 2026	Phase 2 banner swap (unconfirmed)

On the banner side, Vesna (Anemo) and Vodyanitsa (Hydro catalyst) are the two new 5-stars lined up for 7.1, with Skirk and Escoffier named as possible reruns. None of that is locked until the broadcast either.

Anniversary rewards that come with the update

The selector is one piece of a larger package that follows the same shape every year. Roughly 20 Event Wishes arrive between the mail drop and the login card, before you count anything you earn from events and exploration.

Reward	How it arrives
Free 5-star character selector	Events menu, Invite Character
Primogems x1,600	In-game mail around September 28
Intertwined Fate x10	Seven-day login event
Hero’s Wit, Mora, commemorative item	Login event days
Dust of Enlightenment, Sanctifying Elixir, Fragile Resin	Mail
Pet gadget and new wind glider	Mail and event track
Initial Top-Up Bonus Reset	Shop, after 7.1 maintenance

The top-up reset restores the double Genesis Crystal bonus on each pack tier. If you have unused first-purchase bonuses sitting on any tier, spend them before maintenance, because the doubles do not stack.

How to claim the selector when 7.1 goes live

Clear Prologue: Act I, The Outlander Who Caught the Wind. The Wish system and the Invite Character button stay locked until that part of the main story is done, so brand-new accounts should handle this before the update lands.

The Traveler walks toward Dainsleif with the Talk to Dainsleif quest objective on screen — Main story progress gates the Wish system and the Invite Character button. Image: HoYoverse

After the update’s maintenance ends, open the Events menu and find the anniversary event card. The picker sits inside it rather than on the Wish screen.

The in-game Events menu with an event tab selected to show its details panel — Event cards live in the Events menu, which is where the Invite Character button appears. Image: HoYoverse

Tap Invite Character, pick your character, and confirm. Read the pool carefully first, because the choice is final and cannot be undone once the confirmation goes through.

Check your character list to verify it worked. The unit should appear immediately after confirmation, and if you already own that character, the pick converts to a constellation instead.

Log in on every day of the seven-day card and open your mail after September 28. Missed login days do not carry over, and mail attachments expire 30 days after they arrive.

Challenge Rewards window with Claim buttons next to point milestones — Event reward windows use Claim buttons per milestone; unclaimed rewards do not carry over. Image: HoYoverse

What to do before September 11

Two things are worth clearing now. Finish the Version 7.0 Phase 2 events while they are still live, including the snowball activity, since event Primogems disappear with the patch rather than rolling forward.

A snowball being steered into enemies during the combat phase of the snowball event — The snowball activity’s combat phase, where the snowball is steered into opponents. Image: HoYoverse

Snowball Level objective displayed on screen while the player attacks opponents — Raising the Snowball Level is the scoring objective that gates the event’s rewards. Image: HoYoverse

Then redeem the codes that are still active. Livestream codes from the broadcast last around 24 hours, so plan to redeem the September 11 batch the same day rather than saving them.

Code	Rewards
MySnezhnayaCareer	160 Primogems, 20,000 Mora, 3 Hero’s Wit
2BJ64QRZ7RT8	60 Primogems, 5 Adventurer’s Experience
LEGEDILJKSGM	60 Primogems, 5 Adventurer’s Experience
GENSHINGIFT	50 Primogems, 3 Hero’s Wit (once per account)

You need Adventure Rank 10 to redeem, and rewards land in your in-game mail after the code goes through.

Redeem codes on the official gift page

Beta builds change, and anniversary rewards in particular have a history of being rewritten before they reach live servers. The six slots and the element animations are real findings in the current test data, but the names that fill those slots are not decided by anyone outside HoYoverse. Hold your expectations until September 11, when the reward wording gets published and the guessing ends.