Honkai Star Rail Beginner Tips and Essential Guide for New Players

Aboard the Astral Express, every choice shapes your path through dazzling worlds and dangerous encounters. Before you take your first turn in Honkai: Star Rail, here are eight things that can make your adventure smoother, smarter, and far more rewarding.

The game itself is a perfect mash-up of both of Hoyoverse’s popular titles: Honkai Impact 3rd and Genshin Impact. While not open world à la Genshin, the character advancements, weapons and equipment systems, and riveting story bring together some of the greatest things from both games. Sprinkle in turn-based combat, rather than the games’ action combat, and now you have Honkai: Star Rail.

Below, we list out some tips for both those familiar with Hoyoverse’s games and new players looking for something interesting to add into their daily rotation of games to play.

Carefully seek out chests and puzzles

Chests and puzzles in Honkai: Star Rail often hide rare materials, credits, and relics that can strengthen your team early on. Take time to check every corner of each area and interact with objects that seem out of place-many contain hidden rewards or lead to small challenges. Some puzzles reset daily or require specific characters or abilities, so revisit locations later as your roster expands. Gathering these rewards consistently will keep your crew better equipped for tougher stages ahead.

Most maps have a set number of puzzles to complete and treasure to find, which you can see in the top left corner of your map. These chests do not respawn, but they contain tons of useful loot, including premium currency (Stellar Jade). As you run around for the story, don’t be afraid to wander down the wrong corner – you’ll probably find a treasure chest waiting for you at the end of the path.

Weaknesses aren’t just for show

Every enemy in Honkai: Star Rail has its own weakness type, and targeting it can turn the tide of a fight. Breaking an enemy’s toughness bar not only interrupts their attack but can also inflict extra damage or special effects depending on the element used. This system rewards strategy over brute force-choosing the right team to exploit these weaknesses often matters more than raw stats. Learning each foe’s vulnerabilities early will save you plenty of time and turns later.

There are many games where you can brute force through enemies while not focusing on actual provided weaknesses. Sometimes, Star Rail is like this. Other times, it’s not. When it comes to boss fights and higher-scale enemies, you’ll do better if you have one or two characters that can exploit weaknesses.

Big enemy? No problem, just come back later

Some enemies in Honkai: Star Rail can feel overwhelming early on, especially if your team is under-leveled or missing the right counter elements. Instead of forcing a fight and wasting resources, it’s smarter to retreat, upgrade your characters, and return stronger. The game rewards patience and strategy, so taking time to build your roster and refine your setup can turn a tough boss into an easy win.

If you follow the above tip, you’ll see lots of huge, looming enemies standing in front of chests. Their names may glow red, indicating that they are much higher level than you. It is possible to finesse these monsters and beat them when you’re lower leveled, but it’s easier to just come back later. Make a mental note and come take them down after powering up a bit.

You’ll need lots of leveled up characters to complete the endgame content

Endgame stages in Honkai: Star Rail test your roster more than any earlier challenge. You’ll need a deep bench of heroes raised to high levels, with upgraded gear and well-developed skills. Many battles require switching teams to counter different enemy types or fight under specific conditions. Having several strong characters across various Paths ensures you can adapt to these tougher missions and make the most of every strategic option.

When you hit endgame content, like the Simulated Universe and Forgotten Hall, you’ll need lots of characters leveled up. Forgotten Hall actually requires two teams of four (similar to Genshin Impact‘s Spiral Abyss), so you’ll need at least eight leveled-up characters, all with their own equips and light cones, so don’t go tossing away all your extra equips right away.

Diversify your team with different elements and character types

Building a strong team in Honkai: Star Rail means mixing characters with varied roles, paths, and combat types. Balance attackers, defenders, healers, and support units so you can handle different enemy resistances and scenarios. Experiment with combinations that complement each other’s skills, such as pairing characters who boost energy regeneration with those using powerful ultimates. Diversity in your lineup will make battles smoother and give you more strategic flexibility as challenges become tougher.

All the above said, you should maintain at least one fully leveled character per element. You don’t need to worry about this very much in the early game, as you won’t have many characters to work with. However, as you progress further and hit end-game content, you’ll want to make sure you can adapt to any type of enemy and weakness.

You’ll also want to make sure that beyond elements, your characters functionally do different things. You’ll want supporters to heal and shield your team, keeping them healthy, while other characters focus on dealing all the damage.

Don’t forget about Techniques before you start a battle

Before charging into battles, take time to understand the different combat techniques available to your characters. Each technique can set the tone for the fight-boosting allies, weakening enemies, or triggering special conditions at the start. Using them wisely can give you a strong advantage and sometimes decide the outcome before the first turn even begins.

Each character has a special ability, labeled a “technique,” that they can use outside of battle. These may buff a character or attack enemies from afar, freezing them at the start of battle. You can only use these a few times before having to refill your technique gauge, but you should make sure to take advantage of these skills before tough battles.

Know the difference between the standard and event gacha banners

The standard gacha banner features a permanent selection of five-star characters and Light Cones that remain available throughout the game, making it a steady option for long-term pulls. Event banners, on the other hand, rotate every few weeks and highlight limited characters or gear with increased drop rates that usually won’t return for months. Beginners should focus their Stellar Jade spending based on the characters they value most, as event banners offer exclusives, while the standard banner provides a reliable pool to build balanced teams over time.

Yes, as expected, Honkai: Star Rail uses a gacha system to distribute characters and weapons. Most new characters and weapons will be limited-time only for a few weeks at a time. These banners are labeled as “event warps.” If you miss one, don’t fret – they’ll likely return in the future. There is also a set of “standard warp” characters and weapons that you can pull all the time from a separate standard banner.

When converting your Stellar Jade into warp passes, you’ll want to get Star Rail Special Passes to spend on the event warp banner. You will accumulate regular Star Rail Passes to use on the standard banner, but strategically, the standard banner should not be your priority to pull on, since it will never go away. It’s possible to pull these standard characters on the event banner, so through constant gameplay, you’ll end up with a ton of these characters and weapons eventually anyway.

Honkai: Star Rail is still a mobile gacha game

Honkai: Star Rail may look like a full-scale RPG, but it’s still a gacha game built around collecting characters and light cones through randomized pulls. Progression depends heavily on resources gained from daily activities, events, and sometimes real-money purchases. While the game offers a strong story and stylish combat, players should expect the familiar grind for materials and the temptation of limited-time banners that encourage spending or patience.

After you finish what’s available in the story, the gameplay loop is the same as all the rest of these games: you spend your stamina to grind for better equipment and character upgrades. While you can totally just play the story and then log off until they release more, the bulk of your time in this game will be spent doing menial daily tasks and it’s important to remember that before you even start.

Best starter team compositions for beginners

For beginners in Honkai: Star Rail, the best starter team centers on free or early-obtainable characters like Trailblazer, March 7th, Dan Heng, and Natasha, balancing DPS, tanking, shielding, and healing for sustainable turn-based combat.​

These F2P-friendly comps leverage default story rewards and focus on weakness breaking, Skill Point efficiency, and elemental coverage.

Physical Destruction Team

• Trailblazer (Physical, Destruction): Main DPS with strong AoE and single-target hits; level first for early bosses.

• March 7th (Ice, Preservation): Shields the team and freezes enemies-pair with Physical for counterattacks.

• Dan Heng (Wind, Hunt): Single-target nuker to follow-up on breaks.

• Natasha (Physical, Abundance): Healer to sustain through tough fights; swap in as needed.

This handles most early content via shield uptime and healing.

Super Break Team (Early Viable)

• Trailblazer (Harmony, Imaginary): Switch to this Path ASAP for Super Break buffs on allies.

• March 7th (Ice, Preservation): Tank and freeze support.

• Dan Heng (Wind, Hunt): Consistent damage dealer.

• Natasha (Physical, Abundance): Essential sustain.

Unlock Super Break via Trailblazer’s Imaginary unlock-boosts team damage massively.​

Free-to-Play Balance

Prioritize relics for ATK% on DPS, HP/DEF on supports. Level to 40+ before Simulated Universe.​

How to build relics and light cones for March 7th Dan Heng team

For a March 7th and Dan Heng-focused beginner team in Honkai: Star Rail, prioritize relics boosting DEF/Shield for March (Preservation tank) and ATK/CRIT for Dan Heng (Hunt DPS), with Light Cones enhancing their roles for sustain and single-target damage.

March 7th Builds (Shield Support)

Equip relics emphasizing DEF% and Effect Hit Rate to maximize Ice freeze chance and shield strength, enabling safe Dan Heng turns.

Relics:

Best Sets: Knight of Purity Palace (4pc for shield boost) or 2pc DEF + 2pc Ice DMG.​

Light Cones:

• Moment of Victory (5-star): Top for team DEF and counterattacks.​

• Day One of My New Life (4-star): DEF + party DMG RES.​

• Landau’s Choice (4-star): Taunt-like aggro control.​

Dan Heng Builds (Main DPS)

Focus Wind DMG, CRIT Rate/DMG, and SPD to exploit weaknesses post-March freezes.

Relics:

Best Sets: Hunter of Glacial Forest (4pc for follow-ups) or Messenger Traversing Hackerspace.​

Light Cones:

• Cruising in the Stellar Sea (5-star): CRIT and team ATK on kills.

• Today Is Another Good Day (4-star): Energy + follow-up synergy.

• River Flows in Spring (4-star): Basic ATK boosts for early game.​

Team Synergy Tips

March shields/freeze setups → Dan Heng Skill/Ult nukes. Add Trailblazer/Natasha for energy and heals; level Traces: March Ultimate first, Dan Heng Skill/Talent.