Signs point towards Arlecchino becoming playable in Genshin Impact
Ever since all Fatui Harbingers were revealed in a Genshin Impact story teaser last year, players have been hoping that most of the villains would become playable characters later on like Childe and Wanderer. Arlecchino has emerged as a particular fan-favorite thanks to her cool design and now more and more signs are pointing towards her becoming obtainable during the game’s next big story arc.
This will take place in Fontaine, which will be added to the ever-growing world of the role-playing game with update 4.0, expected later this year. Several leakers have come out of the woodworks recently, indicating that Arlecchino would not only play a role during the Fontaine story arc as an antagonist, but also join the roster of playable characters during the 4.X versions. That would put her release date into late 2023 or the first half of 2024.
Three different sources have given soft confirmation that Arlecchino will become playable, all of them coming from the Chinese community, which is informed about what’s going on behind the doors of MiHoYo better than any other external group. A source named Uncle A said they’d read the design drafts and saw partial modeling for the 5-star characters of Fontaine, confirming that the Fatui Harbinger was among them.
HutaoLover77, who translates leaks coming from the Chinese community, stated that Arlecchino is “for sure” a playable character and estimates that she should become available in Fontaine for “a certain reason” – that could be story-related, but we simply don’t know.
Finally, Keikakutori, who recently made a name for themselves by correctly stating unexpected banner compositions, claimed that a “highly-anticipated” villain would join the playable roster after the release of the Hydro Archon, Focalors, and specified that it wasn’t going to be Dottore. They later clarified that they didn’t mean Sandrone either, hinting at Arlecchino.
You should take all of these soft confirmations with a barrel full of salt, since the release of 4.0 is likely still about half a year away and a lot could change in that timeframe. Uncle A specifically stated that they’d seen design drafts and partial modeling, which are very early steps in getting a character into the game and could easily be discarded for a great many reasons.
Take this as fodder for your hopes of Arlecchino joining the playable roster, but don’t get hyped for her addition just yet. It’s a long road to Fontaine and we have a lot to look forward to until the time to visit the Hydro Archon’s realm has come, such as the 3.6 character banners or the 3.7 release with Kirara.
