Honkai Star Rail Calyx Farming Guide: Best Materials to Prioritize

After pulling a new character and saving up all your gacha resources to get them, you’re ready to rush to max their level and upgrade their Traces, only to realize you’re missing a ton of required upgrade materials? Most Honkai: Star Rail players have definitely run into this frustrating material bottleneck. The vast majority of character leveling and upgrade materials in the game can be earned from the Calyx game mode. This guide breaks down complete farming recommendations, tells you which materials to prioritize at different character progression stages, and helps you avoid wasting your valuable Trailblaze Power.

What Is Calyx: The Main Source of Character Upgrade Materials

Calyx are dedicated dungeons in the game that drop fixed character progression materials. They are split into three main categories based on the type of material they drop, each matching different character building needs:

1. Character EXP and Credit Dungeons

These Calyx drop all sizes of character experience materials, plus Credits (the game’s main currency), which players almost never have enough of. These are core base materials you’ll need every time you level up a new character.

2. Trace Upgrade Material Dungeons

These Calyx drop Trace upgrade materials that correspond to different character elements. No matter if you’re upgrading a character’s talent, Ultimate ability, or passive skill, you’ll need to consume Trace materials matching the character’s element. The higher your character’s level, the more of these materials you’ll need.

3. Light Cone Upgrade Material Dungeons

If you want to level up your Light Cone and unlock higher stat bonuses, you’ll need the materials that drop from these Calyx. You’ll always need these materials right after switching to a new Light Cone for your character.

Recommended Calyx Farming Priority Order

Many new players with a full stock of Trailblaze Power (the game’s stamina system) often have no idea which dungeon to run first. Below, we’ve organized a general farming priority order sorted by overall combat power gain, which works for players at all progression levels:

Highest Priority: Trace Materials for Your Current Active Build

Trace levels give the most direct boost to a character’s damage and overall functionality, and Trace materials for different elements can’t be used interchangeably. If you’re actively building a new main character right now, you should always farm the Calyx that drops the matching element Trace materials for that character first. Maxing out Traces for your character’s core skills gives the most noticeable boost to your entire team’s combat power, making this the highest value farming route available.

Second Priority: Light Cone Upgrade Materials

If you’ve already maxed your main character’s Traces to their current level cap, or you already have a full main team with completed Traces, your next priority should be farming Light Cone upgrade materials. The stat bonuses from Light Cones have a huge impact on a character’s overall combat power. Leveling your main character’s 5-star damage or support Light Cone to max gives a far better overall return than hoarding unused, idle materials.

Last Priority: Credits and Character EXP

Even though most late-game players are always short on Credits, you should never default to farming EXP and Credit dungeons every time you have leftover Trailblaze Power. Unless you’re leveling 3 to 5 new characters all at once and your current inventory stock is completely empty, the EXP and Credits you get from daily missions and events are usually enough to cover regular progression needs. Saving your Trailblaze Power for other materials gives a much better overall return on investment.

Common Farming Mistakes to Avoid

Many new players hoard large amounts of Trace materials that don’t fit their current character building plan, only to end up missing the right materials for a new character they pull later, wasting tons of hard-earned Trailblaze Power for nothing. We recommend only farming materials for the character you’re currently building, and not blindly hoarding materials you won’t use any time soon. Additionally, if you haven’t cleared this week’s weekly boss dungeon yet, make sure you finish that before spending your Trailblaze Power on Calyx. The character Ascension materials that drop from weekly bosses are also essential resources for leveling up your characters.

As long as you plan your Trailblaze Power spending around your current character building needs, you’ll be able to max out new characters quickly and never get stuck waiting on materials again.