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For some first-timers to the open-world gacha gaming genre, starting with games like Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail can be challenging. There are so many things to keep track of. Characters alone have Levels, Traces, Eidolons, Relics, and Light Cones to sort out. Relics and Light Cones even have their system of levels and enhancement.
Then, in the overworld, you can take some time to adjust to the combat system. It can be even worse for Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact players because the battle mechanics are widely different. This comes with choosing character combinations in the party and managing your turns.
All those things can be overwhelming, so here’s a guide to help you get started. It’ll help you figure out what’s wrong and help you solve it faster.
Honkai Star Rail UI Guide
The screen looks different depending on where you’re playing it. The game is currently available on PC and mobile devices (Android, iOS), but it will come to the PS4 and PS5. Still, there are common elements in whatever console you’re playing on.
On the upper left is a set of icons. It is dominated by the minimap, which tells you where you are in the area. However, it doesn’t show if you’re indoors (barring some particular circumstances).
To the upper left of the minimap is the menu button, which looks like a phone. It pauses the game and shows a menu. In the beginning, there will only be a few options to choose from, but the full range includes:
- Mail: You can get some notifications and redemption rewards from here.
- Notices: Get updated on current and future events in the game.
- Settings: Change graphics and other settings here.
- Photo Mode: Take screenshots without the UI and a few different options (filter, remove character).
- Store: Buy stuff with the various currency you’ve earned (and even with real money).
- Friends: Check up on your friends or add more here.
- Achievements: See what you’ve achieved and claim rewards.
- Travel Log (current events): Look at ongoing events in-game.
- Messages: Characters can send you texts (like the ones on common messaging apps). Check them or read back through this option.
- Warp: The game’s gacha mechanic
- Characters: This option lets you check your roster of characters and upgrade them.
- Interastral Guide: Gives you a set of tasks to do for rewards.
- Data Bank: An archive of various information.
- Bookshelf: Where you can read collected books
- Tutorials: A guide to the various mechanics in the game.
- Team Setup: Modify and change your team setups.
- Inventory: Check the items you’ve collected or use some consumables.
- Missions: A log of your current quests.
- Navigation: Opens the map (can also be opened by tapping or clicking the minimap or pressing M on PC)
- Bug Report: Where you can report bugs.
- Official Communities: See what other people are saying and creating.
- Special Events: Look at HSR events that are not necessarily in-game.
- Assignments: Send your characters to collect some items.
- Nameless Honor: The battle pass mechanic
- Synthesize: Create consumable items (healing, buffing, etc.) from the menu.
As you unlock more features, more options will appear in the menu. Aside from all that, it also shows your UID, profile picture, Trailblazer Level, Equilibrium Level, and bio. You can also edit your profile and redeem codes from it. Equilibrium is the ‘World Level,’ which governs the enemies’ strength.
From the edit Trailblazer Profile option, you can set a supporting character. Other players (your friends are a priority) can use the character you select to help them on their journey. This is a common mechanic for turn-based gacha games, so some will be familiar with it. You can earn credits as people use your support!
As a shortcut, some options can be seen on the main screen. Tutorials (lightbulb icon) can be found at the upper right of the minimap. Across from it (lower left) is the Missions page, the symbol that looks like a clipboard.
On the upper right will be a series of icons. When complete, it will show the Travel Log, Warp, Interastral Guide, Inventory, Team Setup, and Characters options. It’s like a quick bar to access those windows without going through the menu. Nameless Honor is the battle pass mechanic where you complete daily and weekly tasks for rewards.
Below the Characters icon, you’ll see a signal bar and a time in milliseconds (ms). This is your ping indicator. It shows how healthy the connection is and how likely you’ll lag. Depending on the connection status, it has a range of colors for easy identification. In general, you’ll want this to be as low as possible.
Below the set of icons is your party. You can set up to four characters to accompany you in battle. Under the party are buttons for attack, dash, and Technique. These can be activated by touching them (mobile) or pressing the corresponding button (other platforms).
How to Progress
Newbies don’t always grasp this, leading to issues as they progress. As mentioned at the beginning of this guide, there are many systems that you need to keep track of. Here are some explanations of each.
Trailblazer and Equilibrium Levels
Trailblazer Level is the equivalent of the Adventure Ranks in Genshin, or it can otherwise be called account level. It is your primary indicator of progress, and it unlocks more features as you level. Tied to this is the Equilibrium Level.
As you ascend and level up characters (to be explained in a section below), enemies will start getting weaker when compared to them. To combat this, increasing the Equilibrium will strengthen the mobs you encounter, keeping up with your progress. Sometimes the process is automatic, but it will occasionally need a quest to increase it.
The latter is for ensuring that you can handle the increase in Equilibrium. Otherwise, it’s okay to hold off from doing it until you’re sure your characters can survive in the strengthened world.
Character Progression
You can do everything from the Character screen. When you open it, you’ll see your roster on the left, some options, the selected character in the middle, and their stats and level on the right. There are several things you can do to improve your companions:
- Level up and ascend
- Enhance Light Cones
- Equip and upgrade Relics
- Unlock Traces
- Unlock Eidolons
Each method will require different items and resources. Leveling up will need books. You must sacrifice others of its kind to upgrade Light Cones and Relics, but there are enhancement items for them. Traces are like the skill trees of the characters. Nodes can be unlocked depending on their ascension level and require some resources and Credits to open.
Eidolons can be unlocked if you have duplicates of the character. This is something for the whalers, as you’ll need to use the Warp mechanic a lot to unlock everything on it. However, this is not true for the Trailblazer, as you can get their Eidolons from quests and shops. Some events and quests may reward these for some 4-star characters. Most Light Cones are obtained through the Warp, so it’s worth it to keep pulling for them.
Many new Trailblazers might get confused with this and wonder why they can’t defeat some enemies. Usually, they focus on one aspect of character progression but forget or don’t notice the rest. Good team compositions can defeat enemies several levels above them with good enough strategies, Light Cones, and Relics.
Other Things Beginners Need to Know
Warp Pity Mechanics
Warp is the gacha mechanic and your primary source of new characters. When you start, there are four banners:
- Character Event Warp
- Light Cone Event Warp
- Stellar Warp
- Departure Warp
The Event ones are limited banners that provide availability to some characters and Light Cones for a specific period. When it ends, you can’t get those anymore. At least, not until it comes for a rerun in the future.
Stellar Warp is the permanent banner, which will always be available. Departure Warp is a special limited banner. You can only pull on it 50 times, guaranteeing a 5-star character on your 50th pull. If you’re lucky, you can get a 5-star before getting the guaranteed one. Also, the 10x Warp is discounted, as you can do one with only 8 passes.
For this gacha mechanic, there is something called pity. At the most basic, it gives you a guaranteed 5-star if you pull enough times. The limit is 90 (or 80 in Light Cone banners), meaning on your 90th (or 80th) Warp, you get a 5-star, provided you did not get one beforehand.
Here are some mechanics to remember:
- Every 10 pulls, you get a guaranteed 4-star (or higher)
- The 90 (or 80) pity resets every time you get a 5-star
- Event pity carries over to the new banner.
- For the event banners: there’s a 50% (75% in Light Cone banner) chance the five-star you get is not the one featured but comes from the standard banner. This guarantees that the next 5-star you get will be featured, whether for the current or a future one. This is called ‘50/50.’
For an example and to clarify:
If on the Seele banner, a player receives Himeko on their 76th pull:
- The 90 pity counter will be reset
- The 10-pull 4-star or better guarantee will be reset
- If they’ve been pulling by tens, their next 4-star or better will come on the 86th or earlier
- The player will get Seele (or a future featured 5-star) on their next 5-star pull
- This does not affect their Warps on the Light Cone, permanent, or Departure Banners.
The above example is called ‘soft pity,’ as the rates to get a 5-star climb steadily higher from the 70th pull (60th for Light Cones). If you had to reach 90 (or 80), that’s ‘hard pity.’ It is also called ‘losing 50/50,’ as they did not get Seele, the featured character in the banner.
HSR has a one-time guarantee of a 5-star character of your choosing. When you reach 300 pulls on the standard/permanent banner, you can choose one of these characters to add to your roster:
- Himeko
- Welt
- Bronya
- Gepard
- Clara
- Yanqing
- Bailu
Once you’ve made your choice, this opportunity will not come again.
Read the Tutorials!
Unless you’re a veteran gamer and know how to figure things out, you must read and comprehend the tutorials as they appear. Of course, there’s an option to read through tips you’ve collected through the ‘Tutorial’ option, but reading them the first time saves you time and effort. Although, you might want to do that anyway because you get Stellar Jades when you read them.
Technique Points are Shared Between Characters
These are indicated by a number and filled diamonds on the Technique button. The maximum number of points is three. When you use one up, it doesn’t come back when you switch characters, meaning you only have those three points unless you can find a barrel to replenish it.
The object looks like a health barrel but is colored purple. You can also eat Trick Snacks to replenish them.
Strategize and Think
The shift in combat style makes battles more strategic and puzzle-like. There are mechanics and tricks you can’t do in an action-oriented style, such as in Honkai 3rd or Genshin. One easy example is putting enemies with the same weaknesses together.
If two enemies weak to physical are separated by one weak to wind, have Dan Heng defeat the one in the middle so the Trailblazer can use their skill on the two. There is other fun stuff, such as using a character’s ability to make allies’ turns come faster or stacking Breaks with Freeze. The latter sometimes makes enemies recover from the other status first before being able to take a turn after Break wears off.
As more characters and abilities come to light, more of these small and handy tricks will appear. Explore them all to get an edge in battle!
Enjoy Honkai Star Rail
There’s no judgment in thinking that the game is not for you. However, try it for a few hours, do the main quests, and give it a chance. It might surprise you. The most important thing is to enjoy playing it!
