Quick Introduction to the Relic System
In Honkai: Star Rail, Relics are the core system that boosts your character’s combat power. Mastering the right farming and upgrading strategy lets you make far more progress with the same amount of playtime. This guide breaks down main stat priority, sub stat priority, and the most efficient farming routes, so you can easily build your ideal endgame gear set.
Main Stat Selection Guide
A Relic’s main stat is the foundation of your character’s overall power. Choosing the correct main stat for each slot directly impacts your character’s damage output, survivability, and support utility. Below is our main stat priority recommendation for all five Relic slots, to help you quickly decide which pieces are worth keeping and upgrading.
Head and Hand Slots
Head and hand Relics have fixed main stats: heads always come with HP, and hands always come with Attack, with no random variation. This means selecting pieces from these two slots depends entirely on sub stat quality. Prioritize keeping pieces with high-value sub stat rolls, so you can focus all your upgrade resources on growing those strong sub stats.
Body Slot Main Stats
Body slot main stats offer the most variety. For damage-dealing characters, you will almost always prioritize Crit Rate or Crit Damage. Support and survival-focused characters can opt for Healing Bonus, Effect Hit Rate, or HP Percentage. If your character relies heavily on single-target skill damage, Attack Percentage is also a solid choice here.
Feet Slot Main Stats
Feet slot main stats usually come down to a choice between Attack Percentage, Speed, and HP Percentage. In the current meta, Speed boots (Relics with Speed as their main stat) are extremely valuable, especially for characters that need to take the first turn in fights. Damage dealers typically pick Attack Percentage, while survival characters go with HP Percentage.
Planar Sphere and Link Rope
For Link Ropes, Attack Percentage is a versatile all-purpose main stat that works for any character. However, characters with high energy regeneration needs will prioritize Energy Regeneration Rate instead. For Planar Spheres, you will usually choose between Attack Percentage or Elemental Damage Bonus. For specific damage dealers like Jing Yuan and Himeko, a matching Elemental Damage Bonus main stat is always the better option.
Sub Stat Priority Breakdown
Sub stats are the deepest, most time-consuming part of building out Relics. A great combination of sub stats can boost your character’s power by a huge margin. Below is a sub stat priority breakdown by character type, to help you decide which Relics are worth investing your hard-earned resources into.
Damage Dealer Sub Stats
The priority order for damage dealer sub stats is: Crit Rate / Crit Damage > Attack Percentage > Speed > Elemental Damage Bonus. The ideal endgame state is high-value rolls on both Crit Rate and Crit Damage. If you get a Relic with high rolls on both critical stats, hold onto it no matter what the main stat is – it could end up being perfect for a different character later on.
Support and Survival Character Sub Stats
Support characters like Tingyun and Asta should prioritize Speed, Effect Hit Rate, and Energy Regeneration Rate. Survival characters like Natasha and Bailu should prioritize HP Percentage, Effect Resistance, and Speed. The quality of a support’s sub stats often determines your entire team’s overall rhythm and combat stability.
Most Efficient Farming Route
Your choice of Relic Cavern and the order you farm them directly impacts how quickly you gain usable resources. Smart route planning helps you avoid wasting resources and complete your endgame sets much faster. Below are phase-by-phase farming recommendations and resource management tips.
Early Game (Trailblaze Level 20-40)
We do not recommend spending Trailblaze Power farming Relic Caverns at this stage. Main story quests give you plenty of usable 4-star purple Relics that are more than enough to clear all early game content. Save your Trailblaze Power for Trailblaze Level breakthroughs and leveling up your characters instead. Always complete the daily Simulated Universe run, as this is your main source of Relic enhancement materials and credits.
Mid Game (Trailblaze Level 40-50)
Once you hit Trailblaze Level 40, 5-star Relics unlock in Relic Caverns. At this point, we recommend first farming the two highly versatile sets: Thief of Wandering Desert and Genius of Brilliant Stars, to build a solid foundation for your main damage dealer. Prioritize getting an attack-focused set for your main DPS first, and let supports use mismatched mixed pieces to transition through this phase. We still do not recommend chasing perfect sub stats at this stage – focus on putting together a usable 2-piece + 2-piece set first.
Late Game (Trailblaze Level 50+)
After level 50, the drop rate for 5-star Relics increases, and this is when you can start serious Relic farming. We recommend first farming the full optimal endgame set for your core damage dealer: for example, Jing Yuan runs Genius of Brilliant Stars, and Himeko runs Firesmith of Lava-Forging. Stop once you get a transitional piece with decent sub stats, then shift your Trailblaze Power to character breakthroughs and Light Cone leveling to avoid getting stuck in the endless trap of chasing perfect Relic rolls.
Final Thoughts and Key Reminders
Building great Relics is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t need perfect pieces early on, and late game you only need patience and smart strategy. Remember that a good main stat plus passable sub stats is more than enough to handle almost all challenges in the game. Knowing when to stop grinding and allocate resources to character levels, Light Cones, and Traces is the secret to steady long-term progress in Honkai: Star Rail.