A game with plenty of complex mechanics like Honkai: Star Rail can come off as overwhelming for new players. There are a lot of things people need to learn when playing this game, where even the basic mechanic can lead to several mistakes.
If Trailblazer is planning to dive into Honkai: Star Rail, then it's best for them to first learn some mistakes made by beginner players. For those who are already playing, it'd also be fun to see if they make the following common mistakes in Honkai: Star Rail.
5 Using Light Cone Of Other Path
There are some 5-star weapons players can get for free in Honkai: Star Rail. For example, three Light Cones are obtainable via Herta’s Store; for Destruction, Hunt, and Preservation. Just like weapons in Genshin Impact, these high-rarity pieces of equipment in Honkai: Star Rail also comes with a higher base stat and a better passive.
Since a character can equip any Light Cone, it may tempt players to equip a 5-star Light Cone on a random unit. However, this is a mistake as Light Cone’s passive will only work if equipped by a character of the corresponding Path. This means the Destruction MC can’t use the 5-star Light Cone Cruising in the Stellar Sea as it’s a Hunt weapon.
4 Ignoring Starter Characters
Unlike starter characters in Genshin Impact which are mostly underwhelming, the same can’t be said about Honkai: Star Rail characters. It’d be a grave mistake if players ignore them and instead solely raise gacha characters. The MC and Dan Heng are both great damage dealers, while March 7th and Natasha are the easiest sources for debuff cleansing (after unlocking the required Trace). Players can totally rely on March 7th and Natasha’s protection even for mid-game content as their performance is sufficient (although not superfluous like Bailu or Luocha).
Apart from their utility, however, it’s also important to note that early-game enemies are mostly weak to the starter character’s Element, which means raising them will allow players to progress with ease.
3 Not Aiming An Attack
It’s obvious that players should aim a single-target hit, but there are also some multi-target attacks that demand proper aiming. For example, even though the MC’s Skill deals the same damage to enemies they hit, the primary target takes a far higher toughness break. It’s also worth noting that if players aim at an enemy on the side, only one extra enemy will be hit, while if the enemy has two allies (on their left and right), both of them will be hit along with the MC’s Skill. Knowing when to hit the "middle" enemy and when to sacrifice damage to execute a weakness break can help immensely in tough battles.
Meanwhile, for some other moves like Arlan’s Ultimate, aiming a primary target is important as the main target will take higher damage than the adjacent enemies. The "primary target" is indicated by a larger red circle.
2 Not Learning The Enemy
It’s not just weakness break that makes a difference in battle. By pressing Z or tapping the enemy’s name on top of the screen, players can learn more about their opponent. This is important as some enemies have certain immunity, while others have dangerous/helpful features. For instance, attacking the Automaton Spider should be prioritized in battle. If not destroyed, this opponent will self-destruct on the team, dealing damage. Meanwhile, if they’re defeated before they can do this, the enemy will instead explode on their own teammate, which means players will get free damage and toughness breaks.
Other enemies like the Guardian Shadow are also worth paying attention to. Guardian Shadow would place a debuff on the players, and it can be either:
- Punish if the Guardian is attacked
- Punish if the Guardian is hit by a Skill
- Punish if the Guardian is hit by a Basic Attack
These debuffs should be taken seriously as the boss can deal deadly damage if players choose to defy the punishment.
1 Hesitate To Farm
Unlike in Genshin Impact where players can halt Artifact farming until AR45, it’s not that simple on Honkai: Star Rail. If players choose to settle with low-level equipment and Relics, they may find some enemies are too hard to beat. Therefore, it's best to not delay character progression by constantly farming Character EXP, Weapon EXP, or Path materials whenever Trailblaze Power is available. Players can start getting 5-star Relics at Equilibrium 3 (Trailblazer Level 40 to 49), so it won't be too long before people can enter the Relic RNG hell.
Some content like Forgotten Hall and Simulated Universe will experience a massive delay if players choose to wait until a higher Trailblazer level to farm Relics. This can be quite a waste as a large sum of content can be finished at Equilibrium 2 and 3. For example, all six stages of Simulated Universe can be cleared at E2, while all 15 Forgotten Hall challenges are doable at E3. However, of course, none of it is possible if players choose to not farm until later levels.
Honkai: Star Rail is currently in development for Android, iOS, and PC, with the game being expected to release in spring 2023, most likely on April 26.