Almost every page you will read about the Genshin 7.1 release date arrives at its answer the same way: count six weeks from the last update and hope HoYoverse keeps the pattern. That usually works, but it is still a guess dressed up as a date.
There is a better source, already published. HoYoverse's own in-game announcement system stamps an expiry on the Version 7.0 version notices, and that expiry is the moment 7.0 stops being the live version. It is readable right now, in-game.
Quick answer: Version 7.1, "A Rekviem for the Underworld," is expected to begin update maintenance at 06:00 on 23 September 2026 on the Asia server, which is the same global instant as 17:00 on 22 September on the America server and 23:00 on 22 September on the Europe server (22:00 UTC on 22 September). That is 13 days out from this article's 9 September check, 14 on the Asia server calendar. Maintenance on the last update took an estimated five hours, so expect to be playing 7.1 roughly five hours later. All three Version 7.0 Phase II Event Wishes — Flins, Ineffa and Epitome Invocation — close earlier, at 14:59:59 local server time on 22 September. HoYoverse confirms the details at the Version 7.1 Special Program on 12 September 2026 at 08:00 UTC-4.
Article status: verified 9 September 2026 against the live in-game announcement data for Genshin Impact (hk4e_global, queried across the Asia, America and Europe server endpoints), the official Version 7.0 Update Details notice, and the Version 7.1 Special Program announcement. No leaked information is used anywhere here, and nothing below depends on a leak being true.
Genshin 7.1 release date: when does the update come out?
Genshin maintenance is a single global moment, not a server-by-server rollout — so the "release date" is genuinely a different calendar day depending on where you play. Asia gets 7.1 on the 23rd; America and Europe get it on the evening of the 22nd. That one instant, converted:
| Server / time zone | Version 7.1 maintenance begins |
|---|---|
| Asia server (UTC+8) | Wednesday 23 September, 06:00 |
| Europe server (UTC+1) | Tuesday 22 September, 23:00 |
| America server (UTC-5) | Tuesday 22 September, 17:00 |
| UTC | Tuesday 22 September, 22:00 |
| US Pacific (PDT) | Tuesday 22 September, 15:00 |
| US Eastern (EDT) | Tuesday 22 September, 18:00 |
| UK (BST) | Tuesday 22 September, 23:00 |
| Central Europe (CEST) | Wednesday 23 September, 00:00 |
| India (IST) | Wednesday 23 September, 03:30 |
| Sydney (AEST) | Wednesday 23 September, 08:00 |
One trap catches North American players every patch: the America server runs on a fixed UTC-5 and ignores daylight saving. In late September the US East Coast is on EDT, or UTC-4 — so the in-game clock reads 17:00 while your phone reads 18:00. Trust the in-game countdown.
How do we know the date if HoYoverse has not announced 7.1 yet?
This is the part other release-date pages skip. The date is not a community estimate — it comes from data HoYoverse has already published inside the game.
Every in-game announcement carries a start and end timestamp. The Version 7.0 notices — the "Everwinter Without Mercy" Update Details post and the "Snezhnaya is now available!" post — expire at the exact moment quoted above. Those notices expire at 06:00 Asia server time — the exact hour of day Genshin maintenance always begins, and the same hour 7.0's own maintenance started — which makes the expiry the cleanest first-party marker of the changeover available before the maintenance notice goes up.
Three independent details line up behind it:
- The announcement expiry converts to one global instant. Queried on 9 September 2026, the Version 7.0 notices return three expiry stamps — 06:00 on 23 September, 17:00 on 22 September and 23:00 on 22 September — which map onto the Asia (UTC+8), America (UTC-5) and Europe (UTC+1) server clocks. Those are the same moment, 22:00 UTC — the signature of an update maintenance window, not a regional event.
- The banner phase closes into it. All three Version 7.0 Phase II Event Wishes end at 14:59:59 on 22 September, the standard pre-update cutoff.
- It is exactly six weeks. Version 7.0 maintenance began on 12 August 2026 on the Asia server. To 23 September is 42 days — the cadence HoYoverse has been holding.
The honest caveat: HoYoverse has not yet published the standalone Version 7.1 maintenance notice, and that notice is the only thing that makes a date final. Patches have slipped before. Treat 23 September as strongly evidenced rather than carved in stone, and expect confirmation at the Special Program.
When is the Version 7.1 Special Program?
The livestream is officially confirmed. HoYoverse announced that the Version 7.1 Special Program premieres 12 September 2026 at 08:00 UTC-4 — 12:00 UTC — on the official Genshin Impact Twitch and YouTube channels. The announcement art names the version "A Rekviem for the Underworld."
| Time zone | Version 7.1 Special Program starts |
|---|---|
| UTC-4 (official listed time) | Saturday 12 September, 08:00 |
| UTC | Saturday 12 September, 12:00 |
| US Pacific (PDT) | Saturday 12 September, 05:00 |
| UK (BST) | Saturday 12 September, 13:00 |
| Central Europe (CEST) | Saturday 12 September, 14:00 |
| India (IST) | Saturday 12 September, 17:30 |
| Asia server (UTC+8) | Saturday 12 September, 20:00 |
That broadcast is also where the redemption codes drop. HoYoverse's announcement confirms codes and other rewards, but not how many, what they are worth, or how long they last — so do not plan around the "three codes, 300 Primogems" pattern until the stream airs. We track the strings live in our Genshin 7.1 livestream codes page.
How long is Genshin update maintenance, and what do you get for it?
Use the last update as your baseline. The official Version 7.0 Update Details announcement states, verbatim:
"Update maintenance begins 2026/08/12 06:00 and is estimated to take 5 hours."
If 7.1 follows the same shape, servers return roughly five hours after the times in the first table — around 11:00 on 23 September on Asia, and 22:00 on 22 September on America.
You are paid for the downtime. The same Version 7.0 notice set maintenance compensation at Primogems ×300, credited at 60 Primogems per hour the servers are down, for anyone at Adventure Rank 5 or above by the moment maintenance began. HoYoverse sends it by in-game mail within five hours of maintenance ending, and the mail expires 30 days later — which is where most players lose it. Note that 7.0 actually paid ×600 in total, because a separate Issue Fix Compensation of ×300 landed alongside it. Expect a similar structure for 7.1, but treat the figures as unconfirmed until the 7.1 notice is published.
What ends before Version 7.1?
This is the practical half of a release date. Several Version 7.0 deadlines land before the update, and the rewards attached to them do not come back — even where the content itself reruns later. All times are local server time.
| Ending | Deadline | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Version 7.0 maintenance compensation mail | Around 11 September (30 days after it was sent on 12 August) | The notice says maintenance compensation must be claimed before the end of Version 7.0, and the mail itself expires 30 days after it is sent |
| "Genius Invokation TCG" Heated Battle Mode: Tactical Formation | 14 September, 03:59:59 | Earliest event deadline on this list |
| "Great Expeditionist Challenge" | 14 September, 03:59:59 | Awards Diona |
| "Trial of the Bastion" event | 17 September, 03:59:59 | One trial unlocked per day over the event's first five days from 7 September, so all five are open from 11 September; each also needs the previous one cleared |
| "Frostfarer" Battle Pass | 21 September, 03:59:59 (purchases close 02:59) | Intertwined Fate plus your choice of one of fifteen 4-star Battle Pass weapons at Gnostic Hymn Level 30 — the paid tier, not the free Sojourner's Battle Pass |
| Stygian Onslaught | 22 September, 03:59:59 | Last call on the challenge and its one-time clear rewards; the Disturbance Outbreak that paid extra Resin-funded rewards already closed on 29 August |
| Archon Quest "Everwinter Without Mercy" bonus reward | 22 September, 14:59:59 | Time-limited completion bonus |
| "When We Look Up at the Moon" exploration missions | 22 September, 14:59:59 | Additional reward of Primogems ×400 for finishing the Version Luna VIII exploration missions — Dunanna Pit, Lunar Highlands, Moontide Sea and the Dark Side of the Moon |
| Version 7.0 Phase II Event Wishes | 22 September, 14:59:59 | "The Lone Light Knocks at Night" (Flins), "Astral Actuation" (Ineffa), the Aino/Iansan/Lan Yan 4-stars and the Epitome Invocation weapon banner (Bloodsoaked Ruins and Fractured Halo) all leave |
Two useful exceptions. "The Godforsaken Frostlands" exploration event, worth an additional Primogems ×400, runs to 3 November 2026 — it crosses the version boundary, so it is not a pre-update panic. Neither is the Spiral Abyss: the Version 7.0 notice confirms Phase 2 updates on 16 September, so that cycle continues into the new version.
The banner deadline is the one that actually costs Primogems. Both Character Event Wishes share a guarantee count, so pity carries between them — but the featured characters still leave at the phase boundary. If Flins or Ineffa is your target, 14:59:59 on 22 September is the wall. Our Genshin banner schedule for September 2026 has the full phase breakdown.
What is actually confirmed about Version 7.1, and what is not?
Version 7.1 is rumour-heavy right now, so it is worth drawing the line hard.
Officially published: the Special Program date and time, the broadcast channels, the version title "A Rekviem for the Underworld," the fact that codes are coming, and the Version 7.0 end-of-window timestamps used throughout.
Not published: the banner line-up, the new or rerun characters, the event list, the code strings, the reward amounts, the code expiry times, and the standalone maintenance notice. Every "7.1 banners" list circulating now traces back to leakers, not HoYoverse — frequently right, occasionally very wrong, with no way to tell which from the outside. That is why none of it appears here. You will know on 12 September.
One thing you can plan around without any leak: Version 7.1 contains the game's anniversary. Genshin Impact launched on 28 September 2020, so the sixth anniversary falls on 28 September 2026 — five days into the 7.1 window. Anniversary rewards are historically announced at or around the version livestream, so 12 September is the date to watch for that too.
What should you do before the update goes live?
A short pre-patch checklist, in the order that actually matters:
- Clear the deadline events above, earliest first. The 14 September pair is what people lose.
- Finish your Battle Pass. The Frostfarer Battle Pass closes at 03:59:59 on 21 September, two days before the update on the Asia server, and Gnostic Hymn, Gnostic Chorus and Travel Notes purchases stop an hour earlier at 02:59.
- Spend down your Original Resin before maintenance. It regenerates one per eight minutes and stops at the cap, so a five-hour downtime costs you roughly 37 Resin if you were already sitting full.
- Decide your banner position before 22 September, 14:59:59. If you are near a guarantee and want the current featured character, that is your last window.
- Claim any outstanding in-game mail, including old compensation.
- Pre-install when it opens, usually a few days before an update. It means you play at maintenance end instead of queueing behind a download.
To spend the run-up productively, our character guides cover the units you can still pull for this phase:
- Flins build guide for Version 7.0
- Ineffa build guide for Version 7.0
- Aino build guide for Version 7.0
- Active Genshin Impact codes for September 2026
FAQ
When exactly does Genshin 7.1 come out? Maintenance is expected to begin at 06:00 on 23 September 2026 on the Asia server — 17:00 on 22 September on America, 23:00 on 22 September on Europe, 22:00 UTC. Based on the previous update, expect roughly five hours of downtime.
Is the 23 September date official? The underlying timestamps are — they come from HoYoverse's own in-game Version 7.0 announcements, which expire at that exact moment. What has not been published is the standalone Version 7.1 maintenance notice, which is what makes a date final. Strongly evidenced, not formally announced.
When do the Flins and Ineffa banners end? All three Version 7.0 Phase II Event Wishes end at 14:59:59 local server time on 22 September 2026 — hours before maintenance begins. Do not assume you have until the update itself.
How many Primogems do you get for update maintenance? Version 7.0 paid Primogems ×300, calculated at 60 Primogems per hour of downtime, to players at Adventure Rank 5 or above by the moment maintenance began. The 7.1 amount has not been published yet, and the compensation mail expires 30 days after it is sent.
Will there be Version 7.1 codes? Yes. HoYoverse's Special Program announcement confirms the broadcast will drop redemption codes, without saying how many or what they are worth. Livestream codes are short-lived — the 7.0 stream codes stayed valid under three days — so redeem them the same day.
Is Version 7.1 the anniversary patch? Yes, in the sense that the game's anniversary falls inside it. Genshin Impact launched on 28 September 2020, so the sixth anniversary falls on 28 September 2026 — five days after Version 7.1 is expected to begin, putting it inside the 7.1 window.
Should a returning player wait for 7.1 or come back now? Come back now. Genshin's returning-player system, Stellar Reunion, runs on its own 14-day timer once it triggers rather than on the patch cycle, so it is not something you have to wait for a new version to get — and several current Version 7.0 events with real Primogem payouts expire on or before 22 September. Returning early also means you clear the catch-up content before the new version stacks more on top of it.
