Guide to leveling up characters in Honkai: Star Rail. Includes Light Cones, Relics, max level, raising level cap and other character upgrades.
Table of Contents
How To Upgrade Your Character
| Category | Effects |
|---|---|
 Level Up/Ascension | - Base HP/ATK/DEF increase - Level cap increase (Ascension) |
 Light Cone | - Equip to increase Base HP/ATK/DEF - Unique effects for each Light Cone |
 Trace | - Consume items to unlock skill tree - Various effects such as increasing stats |
 Relic | - Equip to increase stats - Unique effects for each Relic Set |
 Eidolon | - Obtain by pulling the same character - Unique effects for each character |
Check Which Upgrade You Need Most
When you are defeated, the game shows you which upgrades your characters may need. You can use this info to decide what you need to upgrade.
Level Up And Ascension
Level Up To Increase Stats
Level up each character to increase their stats. HP, ATK and DEF will increase when you level up. To level up, you can consume credit and items that give you EXP.
EXP for each Material
 Traveler's Guide |  Adventure Log |  Travel Encounters |
| 20,000 EXP | 5,000 EXP | 1,000 EXP |
"Ascension” Increases Level Cap
When your character reaches the level cap, you won't be able to level up beyond that. When you hit the level cap, use "Ascension" to raise the level cap. For Ascension, you will need Character Ascension Materials for each character and required "Equilibrium Level".
How To Obtain Items Needed For Ascension
 Ascension Materials |  Enemy Drops |
| Stagnant Shadow Rewards (Unlock at Equilibrium Level 2) | Obtain from enemies (Normal enemies/Simulated Universe) |
Ascension Also Increases Stats
Once you ascend your character and the level cap rises, the character's stats will increase even if you don't level up the character. If you want to raise the stats just a little bit, simply ascending your character may be enough.
How To Increase Your "Equilibrium Level"
To increase the Equilibrium Level, you first need to raise your "Trailblaze Level" to the required level. When you reach the required Trailblaze Level you will unlock the Trial of the Equilibrium, so complete the trial as soon as you can to raise your Equilibrium Level.
| Required Trailblaze Level to Unlock the Trial | |
| Trial of the Equilibrium - Part One | Trailblaze Level: Unlock at Level 20 |
| Trial of the Equilibrium - Part Two | Trailblaze Level: Unlock at Level 30 |
| Trial of the Equilibrium - Part Three | Trailblaze Level: Unlock at Level 40 |
| Trial of the Equilibrium - Part Four | Trailblaze Level: Unlock at Level 50 |
| Trial of the Equilibrium - Part Five | Trailblaze Level: Unlock at Level 60 |
| Trial of the Equilibrium - Part Six | Trailblaze Level: Unlock at Level 65 |
Equilibrium Level Guide - How To Increase & Trials
Equipping "Light Cones"
Path For Character And Light Cone Need To Match
By equipping Light Cones, you can increase character stats and activate Light Cone Abilities. The Path of the character and Light Cone need to match for the Light Cone Ability to take effect.
Choose A Light Cone That Matches The Character
Light Cones have different abilities, such as ones that increase DMG/DEF and ones that boost healing. Check what skills the character has to find a Light Cone that suits them, for example ones best for DPS/Healer etc.
Level Up Light Cones To Increase Stats
By leveling up Light Cones, characters will have more HP, ATK and DEF. To Level-up, you need Credit and Light Cone Upgrade Materials.
Materials And EXP
 Refined Aether |  Condensed Aether |  Sparse Aether |
| 6,000 EXP | 2,000 EXP | 500 EXP |
Ascend Light Cones To Raise Level Cap
Much like the characters, you can also "Ascend" Light Cones once it reaches its highest level to increase the level cap. To ascend Light Cones, you will need ascension materials for that Light Cone and also reach the required "Equilibrium Level".
"Superimpose" To Increase Effect Multiplier
By consuming the same Light Cone as the one you have you can increase the multiplier of the Light Cone Ability. Use the "Superimpose" function if you have more than one.
| Note | You may want to use the same Light Cone for multiple characters if they have a similar role in the party. Be careful not to superimpose Light Cones that you may still use, especially 5 star Light Cones. |
Unlocking "Traces"
Unlock Each Character's Traces
Traces are abilities you can unlock for each Character. Each character has their own skill tree with unique effects. By unlocking them, characters obtain passive abilities, increased stats etc. You can level up some Traces, increasing the multiplier of the ability etc.
Only Upgrade Characters You Will Use
To unlock Traces, you will be consuming rare items such as ones you can obtain from "Echo of War". It will be difficult to obtain many of these items early game, so we recommend only using them for characters that you often include in your party.
Equipping "Relics" And Set Effects
You Can Equip 6 "Relics"
Cavern Relics (Head/Hands/Body/Feet)
| Type | Main Effect | Set Effect Requirement |
 Head | - HP | Equip multiple Relics of the same set to activate 2-Piece Set/4-Piece Set Effects |
 Hands | - ATK | |
 Body | - HP% - ATK% - DEF% - CRIT RATE - CRIT DMG - Effect Hit Rate - Outgoing Healing | |
 Feet | - HP% - ATK% - DEF% - SPD |
Equip both ”Planar Sphere" and "Link Rope" for a Set Effect
| Type | Main Effect | Set Effect Requirement |
 Planar Sphere | ・HP% ・ATK% ・DEF% ・Elemental DMG | Equip both, Planar Sphere and Link Rope for a 2-Piece Set Effect |
 Link Rope | ・HP% ・ATK% ・DEF% ・Break Effect ・Energy Regeneration Rate |
| Note | You can obtain Relics for the Head, Hands, Body and Feet during the tutorial early game. Planar Sphere and Link Rope can be obtained after completing Chapter 1: Jarilo-VI. |
Set Effects Further Enhances Your Character
There are many Set Relics such as "Thief of Shooting Meteor" and ”Musketeer of Wild Wheat". You can activate additional effects by equipping multiple Relics from the same set. They can further increase stats or add other effects.
| Note | Basically you want to equip Relics all from the same set, but for some characters having two 2-Piece Sets may work better. |
Enhance Relics For Additional Stats
There are 2 types of stats; The ones written in orange are the main stats. You can enhance Relics to increase these stats.
For the sub stats, for every 3 times you enhance the Relic you get an additional stat. Up to 4 stats can be added. If the Relic already has 4 stats, one random stat will increase.
| Note | The type and value of the sub stats that get added are random. Once you are done upgrading your character, we recommend farming for the ideal Relic. |
| Sub Stats |
| ・HP(Basic/%) ・ATK(Basic/%) ・DEF(Basic/%) ・CRIT RATE ・CRIT DMG ・Effect Hit Rate ・Effect RES ・Break Effect ・SPD |
Upgrade Materials And EXP
 Lost Crystal |  Lost Gold Fragment |  Lost Lightdust |
| 1000 EXP | 500 EXP | 100 EXP |
Use "Eidolons" To Ascend Characters
Enhance The Character's Advantages
Pull the same character to Ascend
You can obtain "Eidolons" by pulling a character you already have, and by using it you can upgrade your character. You can use up to 6 Eidolons and each time you use one, the character gets passive abilities, increased stats etc.
| Note | This is the so-called constellation system in other games. You need to obtain the same character, and it will take some time to ascend a 5 Star Character. 4 Star Characters on the other hand, will receive a much needed boost. |
Trailblazer Obtains Eidolons During The Story
You do not need to pull gachas for the Trailblazer; instead you receive them as rewards for increasing your Trailblaze Level. You won't need to rely on luck and won't need too many materials so we recommend upgrading the Trailblazer from early game.
 Physical Trailblazer |  Fire Trailblazer |
Honkai: Star Rail Related Guides
Recommended For Beginners
Early Game Tips
 Early Game Guide | |
 Daily To Do's |  Reroll Tier List |
Character Builds And Leveling Up
 Character Build Guide | |
 Level Up Guide |  Ascension Guide And Materials |
 How To Reroll Relics |  Upgrade Light Cones |
Game Mechanics
 Trailblaze Level Guide |  Best Team Comps |
| Settings Guide | Consumables Guide |
| How To Change Profile | How To Add Friends |
| Data Bank Explained | Messages Guide |
Database
| Characters & Equipment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 All Characters List | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 All Light Cones |  Relic Sets List |  Max Stats List | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Character Tier List |  Best Relics For Character |  Upgrade Materials List | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Voice Actors List | Characters By Rarity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5-Star | 4-Star | Characters By Combat Type | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Physical |  Fire |  Ice |  Lightning |  Wind |  Quantum |  Imaginary | Characters By Path | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Destruction |  Hunt |  Erudition |  Harmony |  Nihility |  Preservation |  Abundance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
