Honkai Star Rail has attracted many players with its character designs and turn-based combat, but it remains fundamentally a Gacha game. Like other games of this type, players must spend premium currencies on various banners and hope to get the characters they desire.
The game employs different currencies that enable players to pull on banners, ascend characters, and advance in game modes. It is worth noting that this is a HoYoverse Gacha game, which means that most of the rules and user interface will resemble those of previous entries.
This article will walk you through each currency required for Gacha and provide brief descriptions of the currencies in terms of their Genshin equivalents. This will make it easier for players to understand the overall pulling system.
1. Stellar Jade
Stellar Jade is a premium Gacha currency that can be obtained by completing objectives or looting chests in the game. This currency is comparable to Genshin Impact's Primogems, and 160 of them can be used to buy either a Star Rail Pass or a Star Rail Special Pass.
Although events and weekly missions are the primary sources of acquiring Stellar Jades, they can also be found in Story Mission rewards, chests, Operation Briefing, Trailblazer level-up rewards from Pom-Pom, and other sources.
Unlike Star Rail Passes, Stellar Jades do not have restrictions on specific banners and can be used for anything, including Stamina replenishment. However, players are advised to use them wisely because earning Stellar Jades becomes increasingly difficult as the game progresses.
2. Star Rail Pass
The Star Rail Pass is a type of Gacha currency that can only be used in Honkai Star Rail's standard or beginner banners, which are called Standard Warp and Departure Warp, respectively. These passes are equivalent to Acquaint Fates in Genshin Impact and can be obtained by exchanging Stellar Jades in shops, quests, and events.
In celebration of reaching 10 million pre-registrations, HoYoverse has gifted many Star Rail Passes to players via in-game emails. It is recommended that players use these passes first in the Departure Warp banner to increase their chances of obtaining a 5-star character, before spending any remaining passes on the Standard Warp banner.
3. Star Rail Special Pass
Star Rail Special Passes are Gacha currency that can only be used on time-limited banners for characters or Light Cones. These passes are comparable to Genshin Impact's Intertwined Fates and can be obtained by exchanging Stellar Jades. As a beginner, it is suggested that players spend their Stellar Jades only on Special Passes.
This is because time-limited characters are rare in the game and can be powerful and valuable units in challenging game content.
4. How does pity work in Honkai Star Rail
Limited character event warp banners in Honkai Star Rail offer the opportunity to pull for a specific character. The gacha rates for these banners are as follows:
- 0.6% chance of obtaining a five-star character
- 5.1% chance of obtaining a four-star character or Light Cone
- A guaranteed five-star character after 90 pulls
When obtaining a five-star character for the first time from the banner, there's a 50% chance it will be the featured promotional character. If not, the next five-star pull will guarantee the promotional character.
Similarly, four-star characters have a guarantee of obtaining every 10 pulls. If a promotional four-star character is not obtained within 10 pulls, the next 10 pulls will guarantee one.
Hard cap and soft cap
Honkai Star Rail's pity system has both a hard and soft cap. The system operates differently depending on the banner you choose to pull from. If you're aiming for a specific character, 5-star promotional banners are the ones you should target. If you obtain a 5-star character from this banner, there's a 50% chance that it will be the featured character.
The featured 5-star character will be available on the subsequent 5-star draw from the same banner if you don't receive the highlighted 5-star character instead of the featured character. It's crucial to remember that until you reach the hard cap, you are not promised a 5-star character. The frequency of obtaining high-rarity characters before the hard cap is purely based on luck.
The hard pity system guarantees a 5-star character after every 90 pulls, while the soft pity system will probably kick in around the 70-pull mark if you haven't obtained a 5-star character by then. It's also essential to remember that certain special warp banners offer boosted chances for specific characters, such as the Butterfly on Swordtip banner, which has a higher chance to get Seele. However, standard warp banners don't have the 50-50 system since they don't have any featured 5-star characters.
Line cones
In Honkai Star Rail, the pity system for obtaining light cones is distinct from that of characters. If you pull from a promotional banner for light cones, there is a 75% probability that you will receive the featured light cone. Meanwhile, if you happen to obtain a 5-star light cone from a standard banner, the next 5-star light cone you obtain will be guaranteed to be the highlighted one.
>>> Read more: Honkai Star Rail Free Codes: Launch Events, How To Redeem, And More!