How do Relics work in Honkai: Star Rail

Relics allow you to boost your characters significantly in Honkai: Star Rail, giving you the ability to deck each member of your team out with different buffs that complement their abilities. They basically function as armor and can have a big impact on how you play. They're the main way you can customize your team. Here's what you need to know about Relics in Honkai: Star Rail.

Relics are items you can equip on your characters for stat boosts, as well as other potential bonuses, such as HP, attack damage, etc. All Relics have bonuses that are useful to any character, but they're best when you match their effects with the character’s abilities. For instance, you wouldn't want to put a Relic that boosts healing abilities on a character who doesn't have any healing powers.

Relics are a great way to maximize a character's specific traits or abilities, or to boost them in an area where they're lagging. You can equip up to six Relics on each character, but they're broken into two kinds: Cavern Relics for your Hands, Head, Feet, and Body; and Planar Ornaments: Planar Sphere and Link Rope.

Just like weapons and characters, the rarity of a Relic is a good shorthand for how good it is. Relics have a rarity up to five stars, with rarer Relics tending to have more bonuses with bigger values on them. You'll eventually want to chase down five-star Relics to make your characters the strongest they can be.

Relics are kind of like your character's clothes, and having a complete "outfit" of a certain type comes with additional advantages. These are called "set bonuses" and unlock as you equip more Relics from a specific group on a suitable character. Usually, you'll unlock a set bonus with two Relics from a set equipped, and a second bonus with four Relics from the set equipped.

Set bonuses can provide really useful effects, some of which trigger under specific circumstances--like giving you bonus Attack damage when your character's Speed is at a certain level. That means you'll want to pay attention to set bonuses to make sure they synergize with a given character's strengths and abilities.

Early in the game, your Relics will mostly be rewarded from missions you complete as you work through Honkai: Star Rail's story. You can also purchase them from some vendors, but generally, you won't need to worry about them much at lower levels. As you near the late game, however, you need to start chasing better Relics to boost your team's power to take on greater threats.

The best way to get new Cavern Relics is by playing through the Caverns of Corrosion, a gameplay activity that unlocks as you work through the story and reach Trailblaze Level 24. For Planar Ornaments, you need to challenge the Simulated Universe.

You can also level up your Relics to make them even more powerful, increasing their stat bonuses significantly. Save your leveling materials for four- and five-star Relics, unless you need a power boost to get through a tough fight at a lower level. Relics can be upgraded using Lost Lightdust, Lost Gold Fragments, and Lost Crystals, and by salvaging other Relics you don't want or need.