If you’ve ever stared at your Honkai Star Rail inventory wondering why you’re short of 200 Trace Materials right when you’re about to ascend your favorite 5-star, you’re not alone. Most new players burn through stamina on random nodes without a clear plan, leading to weeks of delayed character builds and underperforming teams. Learning how to farm in Honkai Star Rail the right way cuts your grind time in half, lets you hit progression milestones faster, and eliminates the frustration of running out of key resources right when you need them most. I’ve been playing since launch, and I’ve tested every farming route, stamina spend hack, and priority list to find what works for both casual players who log on 30 minutes a day and grinders who clear every event reset.
How to Farm in Honkai Star Rail: Core Stamina Priority Rules First
Stamina (officially called Trailblaze Power) is the most valuable resource in the game, and wasting it on low-priority nodes sets your progression back by days or even weeks. Before you spend a single point of stamina, write down your next two to three immediate progression goals, like ascending your main DPS or maxing your healer’s ultimate skill. If you’re still figuring out how to farm in Honkai Star Rail for your specific team comp, start by sorting all required materials by how hard they are to obtain, and follow this universal priority order:
- Ascension materials for your core 4-team characters first: You can’t level a character past 20, 40, 60, or 80 without these, so they always come before trace materials or relics.
- Trace materials for key active and passive skills: Skip low-impact minor traces until your core skills (basic attack, ultimate, talent) are maxed for your DPS and support units.
- Relics only when your core team is fully ascended and traced: Relic farming is the most stamina-heavy, low-RNG-return activity, so don’t touch it until you have a stable team that can clear high difficulty calyxes.
- Credit and experience books only during double drop events: You’ll get more than enough of these from weekly bosses, simulated universe, and event rewards if you plan ahead.
I see so many new players dump 100 stamina a day into relics for a level 50 character, and then they can’t ascend that character when they hit the level cap a week later. That’s a total waste of stamina that you can’t get back, unless you want to spend real money on replenishment packs. Stamina regenerates 1 point every 6 minutes, so you get 240 points a day for free. That’s not a lot, so every point counts, especially if you don’t spend money on the game.
Best Calyx And Crimson Route Rotations For Faster Farming
Once you have your priority list sorted, you can optimize your run routes to cut down on travel time and get extra free resources along the way. You don’t have to run the same node 10 times in a row if you need multiple materials that drop in different zones. For example, if you need both Silvermane Badges and Ancient Parts for different characters, plan a route that runs between the two elite enemy spawn points, picking up small chests and stray materials as you go instead of teleporting back and forth.
Auto-run is your friend for calyx runs, but you should always check the team composition before you start: make sure you have a unit that can break the enemy’s weakness type to cut run time down by 30% or more. For crimson routes, if you’re farming for elite enemy drops for character ascensions, you can reset the instance by teleporting to a nearby waypoint and coming back, instead of waiting for the daily reset. I used to wait for full resets before I figured that trick out, and it cut my ascension material farm time from 3 days to 1 for most 5-star characters.
Note that some trace and ascension materials only drop on specific days of the week, so mark your in-game calendar so you don’t miss the window for the materials you need. If you miss a day, you can always use a Trailblaze Power Reserve item, but those are better saved for emergency cases, not for poor planning.
Hidden Free Resources You Don’t Have To Spend Stamina On
A lot of players don’t realize that you can get tons of rare materials without spending a single point of stamina, and these free sources cover almost 40% of my monthly resource needs. First, the Simulated Universe: you get relics, credits, trace materials, and even 5-star light cones from running it every week, no stamina required. You can also run it on auto-pilot while you do other things, so it’s basically free resources for almost zero effort.
Weekly bosses give you 3 free reward pulls a week that drop ascension materials for both characters and light cones, and you only have to spend a small amount of weekly regenerating fuel to claim them, not regular stamina. Wait until you can clear the highest difficulty level available to you before claiming these rewards, because the drop rates for 5-star materials are way higher at higher difficulties.
Then there’s the Forgotten Hall: clearing stages for the first time gives you tons of stellar jades, credits, and trace materials, and you can farm the recurring stages for extra rewards every reset for free. Wandering the open world, opening chests, completing side quests, and doing daily training missions also gives you a steady stream of resources that adds up over time. I rarely have to farm credits or experience books outside of double drop events, because I get so many of them from these free sources.
Common Farming Mistakes That Waste Your Time And Stamina
Even if you follow the priority list, there are a few common mistakes that can slow down your progression significantly. The biggest one is farming relics too early. Low-level relics have terrible stats and drop rates, and you’ll replace all of them as soon as you can clear higher difficulty calyxes, so there’s no point in wasting stamina on them until your core team is at least level 70.
Ignoring event rewards is another big mistake. Most events give you way more resources per minute of play than regular stamina farming, so always prioritize event tasks before you spend your daily stamina. Even if you only have 30 minutes to play a day, knock out the event dailies first, then spend any remaining time on your regular farming goals.
Don’t level up every character you pull. A lot of new players get excited when they pull a new 4-star and dump all their experience books and credits into them, only to realize they don’t use that character at all. Stick to leveling your core 4-team first, then work on secondary teams for Forgotten Hall and Simulated Universe once your main team is fully built.
Finally, don’t waste double drop events. When there’s a double drop event for calyxes, that’s the only time you should spend large amounts of stamina on credits, experience books, and trace materials. You get twice the reward for the same stamina cost, so stock up during these events so you don’t have to farm them during regular weeks. I once saved up 10 Trailblaze Power Reserves for a double trace material event, and I got enough materials to max 3 characters’ traces in one day, which would have taken me 2 weeks during a regular week.
Farming in Honkai Star Rail doesn’t have to be a tedious, never-ending grind if you plan ahead and follow these simple rules. Once you learn how to farm in Honkai Star Rail with a clear priority list and optimized routes, you’ll spend less time grinding and more time playing the parts of the game you actually enjoy, whether that’s testing new team compositions, clearing endgame content, or just exploring the open world. Don’t be afraid to adjust your plan as your goals change: if you pull a new DPS unit you want to build, shift your priority list to get their ascension materials first, and hold off on relic farming for a week. At the end of the day, the goal is to have fun, not to check off every progression milestone as fast as possible, so don’t burn yourself out grinding for hours every day if you don’t want to.
