Everything you need to know before you start playing: Jumps, Characters, Paths, Damage Types, Activities and more
Unlike previous Hoyoverse games, Honkai: Star Rail uses turn-based battles – opponents and your characters move in a given order based on speed attributes. Usually you have to fight with several enemies at once, while your team consists of four characters.
Each character has three abilities to choose from:
- Basic attack. This ability deals moderate damage and generates 1 skill point.
- Skill. Usually this is some more powerful and useful ability compared to the basic attack, while it consumes 1 skill point.
- Superpower. Using the previous two attacks and taking damage gradually generates energy. When the energy bar is filled to 100%, the characters can use their superpower (ulti). You can trigger your ult at any time, no matter whose turn it is. Below we will tell you more about the combat system.
Damage Type and Paths in Honkai Star Rail
Each character in Honkai: Star Rail deals a certain amount of damage and belongs to a specific Path:
- Damage type (elements): determines what elemental damage your character deals. Each enemy has vulnerabilities to specific elements, and you must use this to break through tenacity and deal devastating damage. In total, there are 7 types of damage in Star Rail – physical, electrical, fire, ice, quantum, imaginary, wind.
- Paths: Determines the character’s role, from damage dealer to healer or buffer. As with the elements, there are 7 Paths in Star Rail (Harmony, Erudition, Destruction, Preservation, Memory, Nothingness, Abundance).
Squad Composition
Having the right team composition is the key to winning most battles in Honkai: Star Rail. If you know who to fight in the next battle, choose characters with suitable elements based on the vulnerabilities of opponents. Otherwise, you can use a more versatile team with characters from four different elements.
The choice of the Path does not require an understanding of who is to be fought. In most cases, it is best to choose characters from the following Paths:
- One character of Abundance or Preservation to protect allies(healing, shields). Abundance is an easier path for beginners, since such heroes usually instantly restore the health of allies. The Save Path usually requires a bit more strategy. For example, the timely use of the shield.
- One or more characters of the Path of Destruction, Hunt or Erudite. Their task is simple – inflicting as much damage as possible. Erudite characters are especially handy for beginners as they can deal damage to multiple enemies at the same time, making it easier to deal with normal mobs.
- One or more Harmony or Oblivion charactersto increase allies’ attacks or reduce the strength of opponents.
At the beginning of the game, you will gradually and for free get four characters: Pathfinder (the main character on the Path of Destruction), March 7, Tribute to Heng and Asta. This team meets all of the above requirements, so it’s great for the early stage and beginners. If you want more characters, you’ll have to use the Jump system in Honkai: Star Rail.
Level Up and Ascension Materials
Be sure to assign light cones and relics to each character (relics are unlocked at Mastery level 14). The light cones in Honkai: Star Rail function as weapons in the Genshin Impact, and the relics provide significant stat boosts and other powerful effects when combined in a single set. Use the character menu to equip new equipment.
Once your starting gear is available, your next goal is to upgrade it. Focus on leveling up and ascending. Once you reach a certain level cap (for the first time – 20), you will have to invest certain valuable materials in order to ascend the character, and only after that you can continue to increase his level.
Here are the most important upgrade materials to look out for:
- Star Jade: Can be exchanged for Jumps, which in turn will unlock new characters and light cones.
- Pathfinder Experience: Increases the main account level.
- Character Experience Materials: Used to level up characters.
- Light Cone Experience Materials: Used to level up Light Cones.
- Relic Experience Materials: Used to level up Relics.
- Ascension Materials: Needed to ascend characters and light cones.
What to do in Honkai Star Rail
Honkai: Star Rail offers a lot of entertainment. Here is a quick overview of all the main game activities:
- Missions. These are standard missions in Star Rail. Open your smartphone and navigate to the Missions section to find a list of available Pathfinder Missions, Adventures, Companions, and Daily Quests.
- Sepals. In exchange for the energy of the Pathfinder (which is restored over time), you can take part in the battle. For successful completion, special rewards are due – from the experience of the Pathfinder and characters to resources for pumping and credits.
- Virtual Universe. Mission divided into several stages and battles. Available almost from the very beginning, it allows you to earn resources, relics and much more.
- Hall of Oblivion. Something like “Virtual Universe”, but its more complex version. Usually you need to win 2-3 battles against elite enemies. Offers great rewards. Only available at Pathfinder level 23.
- Time limited events. These events offer additional gameplay and only remain active for a few days or weeks. At the time of writing this article, there were no special events.
- Orders. It can hardly be called “activity”, but you can send characters on tasks that offer various rewards. This is a passive source of upgrade materials! Don’t worry, all characters sent on missions will still be available for battle.
So, if you’re new, try to focus on Pathfinder missions first. These quests will unlock more gameplay options, including access to the Virtual Universe and the Hall of Oblivion. Also, try doing daily missions, which (as the name suggests) are updated every day (one task per day). You will receive 200 activity points towards the guide, which will also reward you with Pathfinder experience, star jade, and credits.
Daily quests
Some activities in Honkai: Star Rail allow you to get more benefits than others. But if you have some 10 minutes at your disposal, then the priorities should be as follows:
- Send your characters on assignments. They will collect materials while you are offline and take less than a minute to start the process.
- Complete the daily task. This short mission is a good way to get rewards for daily activity points.
- Complete Sepals to spend all Pathfinder energy. If you are in a hurry, select the minimum difficulty, the maximum number of waves (six), speed up the battle and start the automatic battle.
The Daily Mission and the Sepals will earn you 300 Activity Points. To quickly reach the maximum of 500, you can level up the relic and use consumables. In addition, Sepals are the most effective way to level up in Mastery, as you will receive 50 Pathfinder XP for each battle. You have 180 units of energy available, which means that in just 5 minutes you can earn 900 Pathfinder experience points. And this is regardless of the chosen level of difficulty.
Use technique
Before starting the battle, use the technique. It is activated with the E key, and each character has their own technique. They can buff themselves, the team, or apply debuffs to the enemy (if he is in the affected area). And be sure to attack enemies in the open world first, choosing the right vulnerabilities. Initially, you will have no more than 3 vehicle points, but then their number will increase. Keep an eye out for purple containers scattered around the environment to replenish vehicle points.
No need to build your team, focusing on technology. Since the technique points are distributed to everyone, it is enough to have at least one ally with a strong technique that strengthens all members of the squad.
No need to use DPS with 4 stars
While 4-star support characters have unique abilities that make them useful for the endgame, 4-star DPS heroes’ attacks will be weaker than 5-star ones due to the large difference in stats. Therefore, once you unlock a 5-star hero, you should forget about using a 4-star one.
I’m not saying that you don’t level up your 4-star DPS characters at all (you need them, especially in the early game), but still save the most valuable and rare resources for other heroes.
Fixed goals
Sometimes opponents will “attach” to one of your characters. Whenever this happens, you will see a small glowing red icon above that character’s head. It’s easy to miss it! As soon as the enemy has fixed on one of the characters, then on his next turn he will attack it, and you can take preventive measures to minimize the damage. For example, use March 7 and create a shield on the desired hero.
Don’t underestimate the impact of speed
Of course, attack power, critical hit chance and health points are the most important stats, but don’t forget about another important parameter for Honkai Star Rai – speed. In turn-based combat, speed affects the order in which you and your opponents move. The higher the speed, the more often you attack! Also, if your characters attack first at the beginning of the battle, chances are that the entire squad will be the first to attack and be able to destroy the opponents before it’s their turn.
Check the status of opponents
If you press the Z key or click on the name of the enemy at the top of the screen, you will see his statuses and abilities. This is very useful information, as it will allow us to predict the next attack. In addition, you can see active status effects, what they do and how long they last.
Honor of the Nameless
Honor of the Nameless is a battle pass system in Honkai: Star Rail. Players can level up the Honor of the Nameless to receive various rewards. The Honor of the Nameless event will run until June 5, 2023, ending at 03:59 server time.
To join the event, you need to upgrade to Mastery level 13 and complete the Pathfinder’s task on Yarilo-VI “The Long Wait for the Edge of the Blade”.
After unlocking the Honor of the Nameless, you will be able to receive various rewards. You will be able to level up the Honor of the Nameless by completing today’s quests, weekly quests, and general quests. Reach certain levels to earn Star Passes and other rewards.
The Today’s Tasks section will reset daily at 04:00 server time. The Missions of the Week section resets every Monday at 04:00 server time.
jumping
Jumping in Honkai: Star Rail is based on a gacha mechanic and allows players to unlock new characters and light cones. Some jumps are available all the time, while others will be limited in time.
Jumps come in a variety of types, and each use allows players to unlock random new characters or items. Depending on the banners in which you jump (use passes), you can receive certain rewards from a pre-compiled list. There is also a chance of getting certain items/characters.
Starting jumps are available for an unlimited time until you complete all 50 jumps. This guarantees a random 5-star character, and you also get a 20% discount on jumping for Star Jade. Every 10 jumps also guarantees a random character or cone with four stars.
Available 5-star characters:
- Himeko (Erudition, Fire Damage)
- Veklt (Non-Being, Imaginary Damage)
- Armor (Harmony, Wind Damage)
- Cheetah (Save, Ice Damage)
- Clara (Destruction, Physical)
- Yanqing (Hunting, Ice Damage)
- Bailu (Abundance, Shock Damage)
star jumps
Star Jump (or Standard Jump) is a permanently available banner with no time limit. All exclusive non-event characters and light cones are available in Star Jump. Each set of 10 jumps is guaranteed to contain at least one item with 4 stars or higher.
The drop chance distribution in Star Jump is as follows:
- 5-star character or light cone -0.6%, 1.6%.
- 4-star character or light cone – 5.1%, 13%.
- 3-star light cone – 94.3%, 85.4%.
Time Limit Jumps
Time jumps usually focus on either specific characters or light cones, and can only be accessed for a limited period of time. These jumps require special passes.
Butterfly on the edge
This event will run until May 17, 2023 5:59 PM Server Time. During the Butterfly on the Edge of a Sword event, pioneers can use special passes. The drop chance of limited 5-star characters Zele (Hunting, Phantom Damage) and 4-star characters Natasha (Harmony, Physical damage), Hook (Destruction, Fire damage) and Sel (Non-existence, Ice damage) will be much higher.
Sparkling fixation
This event will run until May 17, 2023 5:59 PM Server Time. During the event, Pathfinders can use special passes. The limited chance of dropping the limited 5-star In the Night Light Cone (Hunting) and the 4-star Post-Operation Conversation (Affluence), Moles Salute You (Destruction) and Good Night and Peaceful Sleep (Non-existence) cones will be significant higher.
