Starter tips for Honkai: Star Rail

There are a whole lot of things to keep in mind as you make your way through the interstellar adventure of Honkai: Star Rail. From elemental damage types to character Paths and Warps, we've got everything you need to know to get started.

As with other RPGs, you gain experience points in Honkai: Star Rail by completing quests and activities throughout the game. Those Trailblaze experience points (EXP) won't level up your characters, but instead will increase the level of your whole account, known as your Trailblaze Level.

You'll need to advance your Trailblaze Level to unlock different aspects and activities within the game. Early on, you'll want to focus on it so you can quickly access elements like Warps, Daily Trainings, and Ascensions for your characters. When deciding which quest to do next, pay attention to the rewards and prioritize the ones that give you Trailblaze EXP.

The best way for you to acquire new, powerful characters and Light Cones is through the reward system called Warps. With each Warp you purchase, you’ll get items and characters that you can either use or exchange for currency. Warps are divided into different banners that provide specific rewards, like a certain slate of characters.

To buy a Warp, you'll need a Star Rail Pass. While you'll get some Star Rail Passes just for completing activities and quests, the more reliable way is to buy them in Honkai's shop with the Stellar Jade currency. Make sure to complete Daily Training missions for a reliable way to earn more Stellar Jade each day – these unlock as you make your way through the story on Jarilo-VI.

Each character in Honkai: Star Rail is devoted to a specific "Path," which determines their role on a team. For example, The Destruction characters are flexible damage dealers, while The Hunt characters focus on a single opponent, and The Abundance characters can heal teammates.

There are seven Paths in total, so you’ll want to put together balanced teams that include both damage dealers and support characters that can heal and protect your squad.

Characters in Honkai: Star Rail don't automatically gain experience points and level up. Instead, you have to use specific EXP items to level up your characters individually. These items are Travel Encounters, which gives 1,000 EXP, Adventure Log, which gives 5,000 EXP, and Traveler's Guide, which gives 20,000 EXP.

You can earn these items by opening chests, completing story missions, and taking on Calyx challenges. You can also equip Light Cones to characters based on their Paths. You can level these up as well, and you'll want to be sure to do so, as your characters get major bonuses from them.

Every character in your party has a specific elemental alignment for their attacks, marked by a colored icon. When you encounter enemies, you'll see these icons aligned next to their name and health bar, indicating their weaknesses to certain elements.

Hitting those enemies with attacks aligned with their weaknesses can break them, leaving them vulnerable to additional damage, inflicting status effects, and sometimes canceling their attacks or actions. You can even hit enemies with your elemental attacks before you start combat, exploiting their weaknesses and starting the battle with an advantage.

As you advance through the story in Honkai: Star Rail, you'll start to discover golden trees called Calyx. These give you access to combat challenges that can dish out a lot of rewards, but you'll need to spend a special currency called Trailblaze Power to access them, which puts a limit on how many challenges you can do at a time.

Trailblaze Power replenishes over time, so you can spend it generously. If it reaches its limit of 300 points, you'll stop earning any more, essentially wasting what you otherwise could be gaining. As a general rule, even if you're not using up all your Trailblaze Power, you should at least try to keep from reaching the limit, so that you don't limit yourself on the rewards you could be earning.