“Four-Star Comeback” How Do F2P Players Hit 36 Stars? A Low-Investment Revolution Rewriting Chaos Memory Rules

Have you ever been in this spot? You open Floor 12 of Chaos Memory, and all you see is endless content featuring guides built around Huohuo, Jing Liu, and Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae. You look at these guides that start at a 0+1 build (character + signature Light Cone), with many even calling 2+1 the “minimum” for a half-competent 5-star powerhouse, then glance at your own character roster, which only has Tingyun, Pela, Qingque, and Lynx.

You fall into the despair of old-school thinking, convinced that no 5-star powerhouse means you can kiss your full 36-star reward goodbye. You mistakenly write off the game’s endgame content as nothing more than an arms race for rare 5-star characters.

But at the same time, another Trailblazer with the exact same set of 4-star characters is pulling off a win. They poured all their limited resources into Qingque, supported by Tingyun and Pela, and built a second break-focused team centered around Xueyi. After dozens of attempts, they cleared both sides in under 10 turns and walked away with a full 36 stars. They had no 5-star powerhouse, but they beat raw stats with smart strategy.

The gap here isn’t how deep your character roster is—it’s how smart you allocate your limited resources. This low-investment clear guide will fully break down how the 4-star comeback F2P revolution is playing out in Chaos Memory right now.

The Challenge of Low-Investment Clears: Why 5-Star Worship Hides 4-Star Value

Chaos Memory was never designed to lock F2P players out—it’s designed to test how well you manage your resources. If you’re stuck in the old mindset of 5-star worship, you’ll ignore the most powerful asset you already own: 4-star characters with unique mechanics and fully upgraded Eidolons.

The Stat Paradox: The Illusion of 4-Stars’ Lower Base Values

The biggest mistake new players make is directly comparing base character stats (base attack, base defense). 5-star characters naturally have higher base stats than 4-stars, which creates the illusion that 4-stars have a lower damage ceiling, leading players to skip investing in them entirely.

Case Example: Player Xiao Ming has an E0 Jing Yuan, and also owns an E6 Qingque. He assumes a 5-star has to be stronger than a 4-star, so he dumps all his resources into Jing Yuan. But in actual combat, this Jing Yuan lacks a signature Light Cone and high crit stats, and his damage ends up being lower than a fully built, properly played E6 Qingque. He forgot that E6 Qingque’s massive damage boost, defense ignore, and consistent SP regeneration more than make up for her lower base stat gap.

The Mechanics Blind Spot: The Unreplaceable 4-Star Support Gods

The question “No 5-star powerhouse?” already has a built-in flaw. In Honkai: Star Rail’s team building logic, the real powerhouses are often support characters that bring unique mechanics to the table—and these characters are almost always hidden in the 4-star roster.

Case Example: Player Xiao Hong pulls a lucky E0 Huohuo, but complains her damage is too low, because she just threw together a random mismatched team. Another player also has an E0 Huohuo, but pairs her with E6 Pela (consistent defense down) and E6 Guinaifen (consistent debuff application). Huohuo’s damage ends up being twice as high as Xiao Hong’s. This proves that the ceiling of your team isn’t determined by your 5-star main DPS—it’s determined by whether you’ve invested in 4-star god supports like Tingyun and Pela.

The Resource Trap: Spreading Your Resources Too Thin Chasing Everything

The biggest mistake low-investment players make is spreading their resources across too many characters. You have limited resources, but you try to level every new 5-star you pull. You get E0 Jing Liu to level 70, then E0 Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae to level 70. The end result? Every 5-star you own is half-built, with mismatched Relics and unfinished Traces, and their total combat power is lower than a fully completed 4-star.

How 4-Star Comebacks Rewrite The Rules: The Role of Mechanic Value and Eidolon Bonuses

To pull off a low-investment clear, you have to accept the new rule: A 4-star powerhouse with multiple Eidolons has a far higher return on investment than a low-Eidolon 5-star situational character. Your core strategy should be building teams around mechanic value and Eidolon bonuses.

Mechanic Value: 4-Star God Supports No 5-Star Can Replace

Your team can get by without a 5-star main DPS, but you can’t win without these 4-star god supports. They’re the real foundation of any 4-star comeback, and the core of every successful low-investment clear guide. Their mechanics are completely one-of-a-kind:

• Tingyun (T0 Tier Support): The entire game’s “energy engine”. She packs attack buffs, damage boosts, and energy regeneration all into one kit. She speeds up your main DPS’s ultimate rotation by 30%-50%, a level of energy support no 5-star Harmony character can match.
• Pela (T0 Tier Nihility): The game’s most efficient skill point (SP) producer and AoE defense shredder. Her ultimate provides 40% AoE defense down, and she can consistently generate SP and regenerate energy just by auto-attacking.
• Asta (T0 Tier Utility Support): The master of team-wide speed. Her ultimate gives the entire party a massive speed buff, her talent boosts party-wide attack, and her skill is the most efficient fire toughness break tool in the entire game.
• Lynx (T0 Tier Survival): The F2P answer to crowd control. Her ultimate provides party-wide ongoing healing and full team cleanse, making her the best pick for control-focused bosses like Kafka.

Eidolon Bonuses: When E6 4-Stars Surpass E0 5-Stars

4-star Eidolons are the key to pulling off a comeback. Many 4-stars are unremarkable at E0, but hit a massive qualitative power spike at E4 or E6, with combat power that rivals E0 or even E1 5-stars.

[Community Q&A] Can a 4-star main DPS really get a full clear of Chaos Memory?

Absolutely. The answer lies in Eidolon bonuses. For example:

• Qingque (E4/E6): After E4 unlocks her “Self-Sufficiency” follow-up attack and E6 adds card draw SP refund, she transforms from an SP-hungry gimmick into a high-burst main DPS. Her damage ceiling on a single enhanced auto attack is higher than most 5-stars can reach.
• Xueyi (E6): E6 unlocks ultimate toughness break that ignores enemy weaknesses and adds one extra follow-up attack, turning her into a high-ceiling sub-DPS or even main DPS for break and hyper-break teams in Version 2.0.
• Sushang (E1/E6): E1’s SP refund after breaking toughness and E6’s speed stacking let her pull off incredibly smooth, high-damage infinite combos when facing enemies with physical weakness.

Beyond 5-Star Powerhouses: 4 Proven Comeback Team Comps For Low-Investment Clears

Now that you understand the foundation of god supports and the power of Eidolon bonuses, we can put together actual working low-investment team comps. The core rule for all these comps is simple: focus all your resources to build a fully completed 4-star.

Four-Star Comeback Team Comp Dashboard (V1.0)

• Qingque Nuke Team
  • Core DPS: Qingque (E4 or higher)
  • Core Supports: Tingyun (E0 or higher) + Pela (E0 or higher)
  • Core Survival: Lynx / Natasha
  • Core Logic: This is the ultimate 3-support-1-DPS build. Pela provides AoE defense down, Tingyun handles energy recharge and damage buffs, and Qingque uses both buffs to land a devastating “Self-Sufficiency” enhanced auto attack.
• F2P Break Team
  • Core DPS: Xueyi (E6)
  • Core Supports: Asta (E0 or higher) + Harmony Trailblazer (E6)
  • Core Survival: Gallagher (E0 or higher)
  • Core Logic: This is the new meta pick from the Version 2.0 era. The entire team stacks break effect, Asta provides speed buffs and toughness breaks, the Trailblazer adds hyper-break damage, and Xueyi handles cleanup and toughness breaks that ignore enemy weaknesses.
• Physical Speed Clear Team
  • Core DPS: Sushang (E1 or higher)
  • Core Supports: Tingyun (E0 or higher) + Asta (E0 or higher)
  • Core Survival: Natasha / Lynx
  • Core Logic: Built specifically for enemies with physical weakness. Asta provides speed and fire toughness breaks, Tingyun speeds up Sushang’s ultimate rotation, and Sushang uses break mechanics and E1 SP refund to pull off back-to-back burst damage.
• F2P DoT Team
  • Core DPS: Sampo (E4 or higher) + Guinaifen (E1 or higher)
  • Core Supports: Either Asta (E0 or higher) or Pela (E0 or higher)
  • Core Survival: Gallagher / Natasha
  • Core Logic: Two DoT dealers trigger each other’s effects (Guinaifen applies vulnerability, Sampo applies wind shear), Asta provides speed and attack buffs, resulting in a low-investment sustained damage comp with a healthy SP rotation.

The Future of Low-Investment Clears: A Choice Between Resource Management and Strategy

“No 5-star powerhouse?” This was never a question of whether you can clear content—it’s a question of what strategy you choose to play with. The full 36-star reward in Chaos Memory is the highest prize for good strategy and resource management, not a handout for good luck or heavy spending.

This ultimately comes down to a core choice about your personal approach to the game: Will you be a resource complainer, forever waiting for the next “perfect” 5-star that doesn’t exist to save your account? Or will you be a smart resource manager, pouring your limited resources into the high-Eidolon 4-stars you already own, and pulling off a glorious comeback with smart strategy and clever team building?

There are no useless characters in your roster, only comeback combos you haven’t unlocked yet. Start planning your team today, Trailblazer.