Honkai: Star Rail has a lot of things to learn and grow accustomed to as you begin your Trailblazing journey across the universe. One of the most important things to learn for the sake of character-building is the Relic system. These function similarly to Genshin Impact’s artifacts, providing your characters with bonus stats, special effects and more. Things are a bit different in Star Rail, though, and between Caverns of Corrosion, Planar Ornaments and more, there’s a lot that can be confusing at first glance.
Here is your ultimate guide to Relics in Honkai: Star Rail. That includes a look at how Relics work, every method of obtaining Relics, how to unlock the Caverns of Corrosion and the best Relic sets in the game right now.
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What Are Relics?
Relics are Honkai: Star Rail’s equivalent to Genshin Impact’s Artifact sets. They function as additional pieces of gear that you can equip your characters with, providing them with bonus stats and even additional abilities.
To start, there are 4 types of basic Relics – Head, Hands, Body and Feet – and each character can slot one of each type. When examining a Relic, you’ll see several stat buffs. The stat at the very top is considered the Main Stat and it is guaranteed to increase every time you level up that Relic. Depending on the type of Relic, the Main Stat may be the same on every piece:
- Head | Always HP
- Hands | Always ATK
- Body | Random
- Feet | Random
Underneath that are up to four substats, which provide smaller bonuses: unlike the Main Stat, only one random substat will increase every 4 Relic levels, giving each piece a bit of randomness regarding what bonuses you’ll get at the max level.
Relic Breakdown
If you manage to equip Relics from the same set onto one character, you can trigger Relic set bonuses. These will provide the wearer with a unique additional ability or bonus, which changes depending on the Relic set. For example, the Musketeer of Wild Wheat set two set bonuses, depending on whether you have 2 pieces or 4 pieces currently equipped:
- 2-Pc: ATK increases by 12%
- 4-Pc: The wearer’s SPD increases by 6% and Basic ATK DMG increase by 10%
Most Relics work the same way, with a 2-Pc and 4-Pc bonus. For some characters, going whole-hog on a 4-Pc Relic set is the best way to go, whereas others will benefit more from mixing and matching two separate 2-Pc bonuses. There is a good deal of sets to choose from, so mix and match to see what works best for you and your team composition.
Complete Relic Set
Relic Rarity
The other thing about Relics is their rarity. There are four types of Relics, each designated by a different background colour:
- 2-Star: Green
- 3-Star: Blue
- 4-Star: Purple
- 5-Star: Gold
The rarity of a Relic determines a few things, primarily how many levels and substats it can gain. The lower the rarity, the fewer times you can actually up your Relic: this limits how many substats you can get and how many times they’re upgraded. This translates to lower-tier Relics providing fewer stats at lower percentages than higher-tier Relics.
In general, the only Relics you should focus on levelling completely are 4-Star and 5-Star Relics. 4-Star Relics can reach level 12, giving you a healthy amount of stats early on in your adventure. Meanwhile, 5-Star Relics are the best of the best and will allow you to completely build out your characters: these won’t be available until higher Equilibrium levels, though, so stick to using lower-tier ones until you can farm out better Relics.
Relic Rarity
How to Get Relics
There are various ways to obtain Relics in Star Rail, from finding them via exploration to buying them to farming them using Trailblaze Power. Some of these methods are better than others at finding specific pieces.
An important thing to note, though, is when you unlock access to Relics. You won’t be able to slot Relics, or even find them until you progress enough of the main story. Specifically, you’ll need to reach Belobog on Jarillo-VI until you hit the Trailblaze Mission Ones Fallen into the Abyss. At the beginning of this mission, Natasha will give you your first two Relics, unlocking the feature and opening up opportunities to find them around the world.
With that out of the way, here’s how to obtain Relics in Honkai: Star Rail.
Just Relics…
Exploration
The first (and most common) way of obtaining Relics is to find them while exploring. These drop from chests, as quest rewards and even from some enemies. Considering that a large part of the gameplay loop in Honkai Star Rail is wandering around looking for loot and enemies to bash, you’ll quickly rack up a large selection of Relics to choose from.
There are some big downsides to finding them via exploration, though. The first is that you cannot determine what Relic set they belong to, meaning that you could rack up a bunch of Relics that you don’t need or want. The other big problem is that the rarity of these items is typically far lower than what you need to fully build characters: in the early game, Relics you find by exploring are completely fine and will serve you well, but they will quickly grow obsolete once you reach higher levels and can consistently obtain 4-Star and 5-Star Relics.
Even still, exploring Relics is still great. Lower-tier Relics you find later in the game can be used to level up your higher rarity Relics, so don’t forget they’re there completely.
Get to Exploring
Purchasing Relics
The next way of getting your hands on some Relics is to simply buy them. Several shops around the system will sell a one-time purchase of a Relic, usually a Relic set. These can be purchased using World Currency and are a great way to get some powerful Relics early in your adventure.
- Wen Shiqi aboard the Herta Space Station will sell a 4-Star version of the full Musketeer of Wild Wheat for 100 Hertareum a piece
- Lauder on Jarillo-VI (Boulder Town) will sell a 4-Star version of the Champion of Streetwise Boxing set for 100 Shield a piece
The biggest problem with this method is that it’s finite. The vendors don’t restock their wares after purchase, meaning that you’ll only get one full set: if any of your substats are bad and you want new ones, you’ll be waiting a fair amount of time. Additionally, the sets offered are very slim in variety, with one per planet that may not help your team at all.
Still, as we said, these are a great way to get high-rarity Relics early. Heratrum and Shield are easy enough to come across that you can pick up these sets nice and early in your adventure, setting you up for a way easier time.
Buying Relics
Caverns of Corrosion
The final, and perhaps most important, way of getting Relics is via the Caverns of Corrosion. If you’re a fellow Traveler from Genshin Impact, think of Relic Caverns like Artifact Domains.
In these areas, you can spend 40 Trailblaze Power (the equivalent to Resin) to undertake a small challenge which, upon completion, will award a series of Relics. Each Relic Cavern offers a different set of Relics and you can repeatedly farm one Cavern over and over if you’re looking for a specific set.
Unlocking them takes a bit of time, though. Despite getting a tip for them as soon as you get your first Relics, Caverns won’t become available for another few hours. You’ll need to continue through the main Trailblaze Missions until you reach The Star Are Cold Toys. This mission requires you to be Trailblaze Level 24 or higher and will unlock all current Relic Caverns partway through.
Relic Caverns
An important thing to note is that, like Artifact Domains, the rarity of the Relics obtained from Caverns can be directly increased by playing on a higher difficulty. Each Cavern has a total of 6 difficulty options, with the rarity of Relics increasing at each level: at difficulty level 6, for example, you’re guaranteed a 5-Star Relic as well as a few 4-Star ones. You will unlock each new difficulty by raising your Equilibrium Level, meaning that it will take a fair amount of time and grinding to unlock the highest difficulties.
Despite this, Caverns of Corrosion are your best way of obtaining Relics in Honkai: Star Rail. You can target farm-specific sets for certain characters and are in control of what kind of rarity you obtain. There is a lot of grinding involved, especially if you want specific substats. However, Caverns are going to be a mainstay of endgame character building in Honkai: Star Rail so get used to seeing them around.
The Caverns of Corrosion
Planar Ornaments
You may have noticed that, alongside the 4 regular Relics, you can also equip two other types of Relics. These are called Planar Ornaments, special Relics that can only be obtained via the Simulated Universe.
Like with regular Relics, they come in sets of two, with unique bonuses if you use two Planar Ornaments from the same set. They also gain access to different stats than regular Relics, including the ability to roll Elemental DMG Boosts as main stats. The 2-Pc bonuses offered by Planar Ornaments are separate from those offered by regular Relics, meaning that you can run them at the same time.
Unlike regular Relics, Planar Ornmanets only come from one place: Herta’s Simulated Universe. Once you unlock World 3 of the Simulated Universe, you’ll begin running into things called Immersion Devices after defeating each Elite enemy. You can spend 40 Trailblaze Power to obtain a random assortment of Planar Ornaments, just a Cavern of Corrosion. Immersion Devices on higher floors will give you higher rarity Planar Ornaments.
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- Planar Ornaments
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- Simulated Universe Rewards
Best Relic Sets
To close, let’s discuss some of the best Relic sets currently in Honkai Star Rail. These will be separated by Path and, while there certainly are some exceptions, these will generally fit each character well enough.
Paths of Destruction, Erudition and The Hunt
Destruction, Erudition and The Hunt are all Paths focused on dealing high damage. The way they deal damage is different, but they are all united by this main damage dealer status.
The first recommendation for each of these Paths is to use Relic sets that boost the capabilities of their Element. Several Relic sets have 2-Pc and 4-Pc bonuses that enhance certain Elements and damage types, greatly enhancing your damage-dealing potential. These sets are:
- Champion of Streetwise Boxing (Physical)
- Firesmith of Lava-Foring (Fire)
- Hunter of Glacial Forest (Ice)
- Eagle of Twilight Line (Wind)
- Band of Sizzling Thunder (Lightning)
- Genius of Brilliant Stars (Quantum)
- Wastelander of Banditry Desert (Imaginary)
The 2-Pc bonus on each of these sets will increase the damage of the associated Element by 10%. Meanwhile, the 4-Pc bonuses are unique to each set and increase a variety of different bonuses. These are a bit more random and don’t always directly enhance the Element of the set. Still, most of them are very useful so consider them well.
Other Relic sets that work on Destruction, Erudtiion or The Hunt characters include Musketeer of Wild Wheat and Thief of Shooting Meteor sets. The former is a great way to increase your ATK and SPD, letting you hit harder and faster. Meanwhile, the latter set is focused on increasing Break Effect damage and giving you extra utility on said Break.
Destruction, Erudition and The Hunt Recommendations
Paths of Harmony and Nihility
Harmony and Nihility are two sides of the same coin, as one deal with buffs and the other with debuffs. Currently, there aren’t any sets that directly enhance each of these effects. At least not in the same way as with the DPS Paths.
At the moment, the best recommendation for Harmony and Nihility is to either use Guard of Wuthering Snow or Thief of Shooting Meteor. The former gives you additional DMG reduction and the ability to heal up at the beginning of a turn, which can come in very handy considering that support characters tend to be very squishy. The Thief set, on the other hand, enhances your potential to Break enemies, which can be useful in increasing your Elemental coverage on certain enemies.
Harmony and Nihility Recommendations
Path of Preservation
The Path of Preservation actually has a lot of viable options when it comes to Relics. As the tanky, defensive Path, a lot of Relics cater towards being able to take hits well and defend your allies, making them a surefire pick for Preservation.
We recommend going with either Guard of Wuthering Snow or Knight of Purity Palace, depending on your character’s kit. For characters who predominantly focus on generating shields like March 7th, go for Knight of Purity as it increases their survivability while also increasing the strength of their shields. Meanwhile, if your Preservation character is like the Fire Trailblazer and focused on pure defence, Guard of Wuthering Snow is a better investment at making them a true tank who can suffer a lot more hits before going down.
Preservation Recommendations
Path of Abundance
Lastly, we have the healing Path, Abundance. Despite there only being two Abundance characters in the game, they are a vital part of a lot of compositions and their recommended Relics make them even better.
Like with Preservation, Abundance has a perfect Relic set in the form of Passerby of Wandering Cloud. The 2-Pc increases all outgoing healing by 10%, which is very good for our healing character as they can get more mileage out of their kit. The 4-Pc, though, lets them ascend to a new type of support by instantly generating an additional Skill Point at the start of battle: with certain pairings, this is an essential and excellent addition to an already good kit.
Abundance Recommendations
These recommendations are purely just suggestions, though, and you should use whatever Relics best suits your needs and preferences.
That was everything you needed to know about Relics in Honkai: Star Rail.
