Honkai: Star Rail, the turn-based adventure game from HoYoverse, has attracted tons of new players thanks to its immersive story, uniquely designed characters, and easy-to-learn gameplay. But many brand new players often have no idea which character to aim for with their first pulls, or how to plan their early game resources. This guide breaks down core early game strategies and recommends the best first pull characters to help new players skip the learning curve and get started quickly.
Core Early Game Strategies for Honkai Star Rail
Prioritize Main Story Quests to Unlock Key Game Modes
When you first load into the game, don’t waste time wandering around exploring aimlessly. Instead, focus on pushing through main story quests first. The main questline doesn’t just help you quickly learn the game’s world and lore—it also unlocks important resource-gathering game modes like Simulated Universe and Forgotten Hall as you progress. Unlocking these modes earlier lets you start building up your pulling resources faster, and boosts your overall team strength much sooner.
Focus Your Resources, Don’t Level Every Character Evenly
Early game credit and experience materials are pretty limited, so you shouldn’t spread your resources thin by leveling every character you get. Focus all your resources on building one core team, and that’s enough to get you through almost all early game content. This keeps you from running out of resources when you want to level up a strong meta character later on. Generally, you only need to level one damage dealer, one support, and one survival-focused character to keep your progress moving smoothly in the early game.
Use Free Characters to Cut Down on Reroll Pressure
Honkai Star Rail gives you plenty of high-quality free characters right at the start of the game. For example, you get March 7th and Dan Heng for completing early main story quests, and you can claim the healer Natasha for free through the Departure Traces event. All of these characters are strong enough to handle early game content once leveled up, so you don’t need a 5-star character to have a good start.
Best First Pull Characters for Honkai Star Rail
Top 5-Star Characters to Prioritize
If you’re planning to reroll for a great starting character, these 5-stars are the highest priority, and pulling any of them will give you a super smooth early game experience:
Seele / Jing Yuan: Both are top-tier, all-purpose damage dealers. Seele has high speed and devastating single-target burst damage, making her flexible enough for almost any content. Jing Yuan excels at AoE damage, and feels incredible when fighting multiple enemies in later stages of the game. Pulling either one means you’re ready to start your adventure right away.
Bronya: Bronya is currently the strongest general-purpose support in the entire game. She doesn’t lock you into any specific team composition, can boost your teammates’ damage and advance their turn order, and works perfectly with any damage dealer you get later on. She has incredible long-term investment value, and pulling her at the start is like getting a permanent “get out of trouble free” card for your entire account.
Gepard / Bailu: Both are top-tier survival-focused characters. Gepard can give your entire team a massive shield, while Bailu has the ability to revive downed teammates. Pulling either at the start eliminates the risk of your team wiping early, and drastically cuts down the difficulty of clearing early content for new players.
Strong 4-Star Characters Worth Building Early
If you don’t get your ideal 5-star, don’t get discouraged. These 4-star characters are more than strong enough to be your early game core, and offer incredible value for the low investment they require:
Tingyun: Tingyun is an incredibly strong all-purpose support that boosts your damage dealer’s attack and regenerates energy for them. She works well with any damage dealer, never falls out of meta even as the game adds new content, and you should prioritize leveling her immediately if you pull her.
Qingque: Qingque is a fan-favorite 4-star damage dealer for free-to-play players. She has extremely low building costs, and at full Eidolons, her damage output matches or even beats most 5-star characters. If you get her accidentally from an off-banner pull, she’s ready to use immediately, making her one of the best value early game damage options for new players.
March 7th: March 7th is a free shield character you get early on. Her shield is more than strong enough for the early game, and she can freeze enemies for crowd control. If you don’t pull a 5-star survival character, leveling March 7th will meet all your early game survival needs.
Overall, Honkai Star Rail is very friendly to new players. You don’t have to force yourself to reroll for a top-tier 5-star to have a good start. Just stick to the three core rules: prioritize main story progression, focus your resources on a core team, and make good use of free characters. Even a 4-star starting team can clear all early content smoothly, and you can slowly accumulate resources to pull your favorite characters later on.