A Genshin Impact Version 7.2 leak describes an additional condition for Artifact Auto-Lock: a player could mark a selected substat as required, rather than merely including it among the substats that count toward a lock rule. A screenshot of the alleged interface shows selected entries with a second, star-like control. The explanation appeared on September 23 and remains unconfirmed.
The difference matters when an Artifact has several desirable rolls but one stat is non-negotiable for a particular build. Under the reported rule, an Artifact would have to satisfy both the configured number of selected substats and every substat designated as required before the automatic lock condition applies. This is a filter for which Artifacts get locked, not a method for changing their stats or guaranteeing upgrade rolls.
Selected and required are two separate checks
The newly described button sits to the right of a selected Minor Affix, the term used in the leaked explanation for a substat. Pressing it would make that affix a Required Affix for the lock rule. The visible illustration distinguishes an unselected row, a selected row and a selected row with the extra star highlighted. It does not provide readable English labels for every control.
Consider a player who selects CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG and Energy Recharge and sets the rule to require two of those three substats. If CRIT Rate is then marked required, an Artifact with CRIT DMG and Energy Recharge but no CRIT Rate would no longer pass, even though it meets the numerical count. An Artifact with CRIT Rate and either of the other selected stats could pass that part of the rule. This is an example of how the reported logic would work, not a leaked preset or a recommendation for every character.
The text also specifies a constraint on the count setting. The required number of selected substats cannot exceed the number selected, and it cannot be lower than the number marked required. In other words, a rule that demands three required affixes cannot simultaneously set the overall selected-affix threshold to two. The current leak does not state a maximum number of presets, whether existing rules migrate automatically or how the system treats Artifacts with different rarity and upgrade levels.
Why this is more than another lock preset
Artifact Auto-Lock already centers on conditions chosen by the player. The proposed distinction would tighten one condition within a preset: previously interchangeable desirable substats could be split into essential and optional ones. That would be useful for sorting farming results without manually examining as many borderline pieces, provided the feature works as described.
It could also make a preset too strict. A required substat would exclude otherwise promising Artifacts that lack that stat, even when they match the broader count. Players would need to choose the mandatory list deliberately rather than assume that a highlighted affix is only a visual priority. Nothing in the material indicates that a previously unlocked Artifact would be retroactively locked or that a locked Artifact would be modified.
HoYoverse has not confirmed this Version 7.2 interface or its final wording. The explanatory post is marked edited, so its current text can be checked but its original wording at publication cannot be reconstructed from the preview. The rule, labels and release timing may change before any official update.
