Information
As you progress through the story in Honkai: Star Rail you will obtain quite a lot of free 4★ characters. This guide will list all the free characters and also let you know when you will be able to obtain them - so you can easier plan your early game progression team!
Also keep in mind that a lot of the 4★ characters are actually really strong and can be the backbone of your team for quite a long time.
Free characters
| Character | Rarity | Role | Source | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5★ | DPS | Starter character | The first free character that you will obtain during the Prologue is the main character - Trailblazer. You will for sure him/her in your team for a long time as the Prologue and Jarilo-VI (first planet) are filled with enemies weak to the Physical element. Also, the Traiblazer is 5★ rarity which translates to higher stats, but also the ability to get free Eidolon to make her/him even stronger! Sadly, outside of the early game, the Physical Trailblazer falls behind most of the other damage dealers in the game, and you will rarely use him - so don't invest into him too much. Worth investing? No! | |
| 4★ | Sustain | Tutorial | Right after you obtain the Trailblazer character, you will meet March 7th and Dan Heng and they will join your team! March 7th is a support character that can provide allies with Shields and freeze enemies. A bit good combo that makes March 7th great in a variety of content, especially Simulation. She's a decent choice for the early game, but you will quickly replace her when you manage to get a proper healer - while March 7th shields are strong, she can only target one ally at a time, which isn't enough later on to keep the team alive. Worth investing? No! | |
| 4★ | DPS | Tutorial | Right after you obtain the Trailblazer character, you will meet March 7th and Dan Heng and they will join your team! Dan Heng is a damage dealer who specializes in murdering elite enemies and will help you a lot early in the game against them. Sadly, he's struggling against multiple enemies and because of that it's easier to use someone else as the main carry since you always fight 2 and more enemies at the same time. Worth investing? No! | |
| 4★ | Amplifier | Gacha (first summon) | Asta is a great support that can increase Speed and ATK of her allies but she's also a great Toughness breaker. You will use her a lot if you lack limited Harmony characters, especially against enemies weak to Fire and she scales really well with dupes which makes her relevant from early to the endgame. Worth investing? Yes! | |
| 4★ | DPS | New player reward (mail) | Serval is a decent damage dealer who focuses on dealing AOE damage, but she still holds her ground against a single enemy. Worth investing? Yes! | |
| 5★ | DPS | Special event (mail) | If you've started playing the game between 1.6 and end of 2.1, you will receive a free copy of Dr. Ratio in your mail the moment you unlock the feature. He is one of the best single-target damage dealers in the game and he will make progressing through the early game easier and will cover your Imaginary DPS needs. Worth investing? Yes! | |
| 4★ | DPS | Clear Simulated Universe World 1 | Herta is a AoE specialist who is one of the best damage dealers you can bring to Pure Fiction, but struggles against lone enemies. You can also get 5 Eidolons for her from Simulated Universe. Worth investing? Yes! | |
| 4★ | Sustain | Clear Jarilo-VI main story (Lying in Rust) | Natasha is the first real healer every player will receive and she will do a decent job at keeping your team alive. Even if you will obtain another healer, keep in mind that you will need 2 of them for Memory of Chaos, Pure Fiction and Apocalypse Shadow - so the current endgame modes - as there you need to use 2 teams. Worth investing? Yes! (only if you don't have any other healers beside her and Lynx) | |
| 4★ | DPS | Clear Forgotten Hall - Memory 3 | Qingque is one of the best 4★ damage dealer in the game who relies on RNG to deal a lot of damage. While she's a bit underwhelming and hard to play without her Eidolons (dupes), if you manage to obtain a few, you can safely use her as your main carry from early to endgame. Worth investing? Yes! | |
| 5★ | Specialist | Clear Jarilo-VI main story (Roads to the Past Have Long Been Closed) | Once you finish the Jarilo-VI main story, you will unlock Fire specialization for your Trailblazer which is superior to his Physical one. While back in the day, the Fire Trailblazer was used as a Sustain character, nowadays there's a lot of better options in that role and he pivoted into a Breaker role - so a damage dealer who specializes in dealing with enemies of the same element. Worth investing? No! | |
| 5★ | Amplifier | Clear Jarilo-VI main story (Roads to the Past Have Long Been Closed) | An important member of the Break meta team who possesses the Super Break mechanic. The third and the best variant for the MC character that you should invest into as priority. Worth investing? Yes! | |
| 4★ | Amplifier | Clear Forgotten Hall - Memory of Xianzhou 1 | Yukong is a buffer who is hard to use and master, but when you do, she will server you really well. Still, it will be really hard to make use of her early in the game as you need to properly speed tune your team which can be only achieved later down the line when you start farming Relics. Worth investing? No! | |
| 4★ | Sustain | Clear Pure Fiction stage 2 (TL 34 required to unlock the mode) | Lynx is a great 4★ healer who is easy to use and also works really well with multiple damage dealers. Her only issue is that it will take you roughly a week of playing to obtain her for free as you need to be reach the second planet and Trailblaze Level 34. Worth investing? Yes | |
| 4★ | DPS | Clear Apocalyptic Shadow stage 2 | A great damage dealer who is a Break/Crit DPS hybrid. She shines in content with Quantum weak enemies, but struggles otherwise. Worth investing? Yes |
