Foreword
To learn about the Relic system in Honkai: Star Rail we suggest checking our other guide first, because this one will skip the explanation and instead focus on other aspects - what you should do with your Relics, when to farm them and other things, etc. Here's the introduction guide to Relics:
Priorities
Usually in a lot of games, gear sets have a huge impact on your character's performance. While this is also true for Honkai: Star Rail, in the early game, you actually ignore the sets and focus on the Main stat instead. Why? Let's check an example Relic piece.
The first stat line marked with yellow color is the Main stat. As you can see you can get 43.2% ATK just from one piece of Relic - which is massive. Obviously in the early game, you won't be able to obtain 5★ Relics and will have use lower rarity ones (that have smaller values).
The substats - white lines - are generated randomly for each Relic piece and their values also increases while you level up an Relic. Still, compared to the Main stat that always increases at a set rate, the substats not only gain a random amount of stats, but actually you need to hit the right stat too. So it's a double RNG every time the Relic is upgraded by 3 levels.
Now let's look at the bonuses a set gives:
Musketeer of Wild Wheat
Type: Relic Set
ATK increases by 12%.
The wearer's SPD increases by 6% and Basic ATK DMG increases by 10%.
As you can see, for equipping 2 Relics from the Musketeer set, you will only obtain 12% ATK - and a +9 upgraded 3★ Relic already gives you 17.2% ATK alone just from the Main stat.
Keep in mind that Head and Hands gear pieces always roll the same Main Stat (Flat HP and Flat ATK), so you can consider those your flex pieces that make it easier to complete the sets.
Overall, as you progress, here's how you will rate your gear and use it:
- Initially, just look for Relics with the right Main stat for the character and equip them - that's what will only interest you in the first few days,
- Once your characters have Relics with the Main stat you want and you upgraded them a bit, it's time to look for Relics that have both the Main stat you need and that belong to the set you want,
- Focus first on completing 2-piece bonuses, before moving to 4-piece ones,
- This is the mid-game of gearing,
- Once your characters have Relics with both the Main stat and Set you need, you start searching for items that on top of that have substats you desire.
On top of the Main Stat > Set > Substats priority order, you also have to worry about the rarity of the Relic. Higher rarity means better Main and Substats, but also the cost of upgrading them increases drastically.
That's why in the early game, you should be careful with upgrading. Here's the general rule of thumb:
- 2★ Relics (caps at +6) you can equip, but don't bother with upgrading them,
- 3★ Relics (caps at +9) you can upgrade to +6,
- 4★ Relics (caps at +12) you can upgrade to +6/9,
- 5★ Relics (caps at +15) you can upgrade to +9 and stop there - the cost to go to +12 and 15 is simply too high. It's only worth to go past that if the piece has great substats that also rolled well till that point.
Below's video explains the gearing priority in more details.
Gear farming
Considering the importance of the rarity we suggest to avoid spending any stamina on farming Relics until you've increased your Equilibrium Level high enough. Initially in the Cavern of Corrosion you will be only able to farm 3★ Relics with a chance to get 4★ Relics. Only once you reach Difficulty 3 of the Caverns you will have a chance to drop 5★ Relics which goes up to 100% drop on Difficulty 4 - and you will need a few weeks of playing to reach that point.
But do not worry! You will get enough 3★ Relics and 4★ Relics from the Main Story rewards, treasure chests and leveling rewards and this will easily allow you to progress.
So the TL;DR is that:
- Below TL 40 focus on farming Ascension/Traces materials and Character/Cone EXP,
- Once you reach TL 40, start farming CoC and SU as you've just unlocked Gold rarity.
Who wants what?
Overall, each character has a preference when it comes to both Sets and Main stats, but in the early game you can't be picky. So we will group them in roughly 4 categories:
| Category | Main stat | Notes | Example Characters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classical DPS | ATK %, Ele DMG % | The classical DPS (damage dealer) want the holy trifecta of stats: ATK%, Crit Rate and Crit DMG. Still, in the early game reaching enough Crit to make the investment worth is simply impossible, so instead you will focus only on ATK% and Ele DMG % wherever possible. | Physical MC, Dan Heng, Seele, Jingliu, Herta |
| Break DPS | ATK %, Break Effect % | Break DPS rely on breaking enemies to deal massive amounts of damage, but if they can't break - they are useless. So you always need to bring them against enemies with matching weakness. Since Crit doesn't have any impact on the Break damage, going for ATK% and Break Effect % is the way for them. | Fire MC, Sushang, Xueyi, Luka |
| Buffer | Speed | With the way the combat system works in Honkai: Star Rail, Speed is king for everyone, but especially for buffers. As it allows them to keep their buffs up for a longer period of time and generate more Skill Points for the team (or stay SP Neutral). Still, don't forget to give them some defensive stats (HP% and DEF%) as a dead character can't support the team. | Bronya, Tingyun, Asta, Yukong |
| Healer | HP, Speed | Since the amount of healing a Healer does scaled with the their own HP (in the most cases - Luocha is an exception as his heals scale with ATK instead), it's a no-brainer to just focus on that stat. | Natasha, Bailu, Lynx, Huohuo |
| Shielder | DEF, Speed | While Healers scale with their own HP, Shielders scale with their own DEF. So just stack the DEF stat and see your Shielding numbers go up. | March 7th, Gepard |
Detailed build information
To find out the best Relics and what stats to focus on every character, check their Profiles!