If you’ve ever spent hours running Cavern of Corruption runs only to walk away with a pile of useless flat stat relics, you know how frustrating the grind can be. Even if you have the best character builds planned, you can’t make your units hit their full potential without the right sets and substats. That’s why learning how to farm relic materials Honkai Star Rail the smart way is one of the most impactful skills you can pick up as a player. I’ve been grinding relics since launch, and I’ve tested every trick in the book to cut down wasted time and get more usable drops per trailblaze power spent. This guide covers everything from route planning to hidden tricks most players miss, so you can stop wasting stamina and start building the units you want.
How to Farm Relic Materials Honkai Star Rail Without Wasting Trailblaze Power
The biggest mistake new players make is farming relics too early, before they can get consistent high-rarity drops. You can start seeing 5-star relic drops at Trailblaze Level 40, but drop rates are only around 30% per run, so you’ll burn through a lot of stamina for very few usable pieces. Wait until you hit TL 50 to start serious relic farming, as you’re guaranteed at least one 5-star relic per run at that level, and you’ll get better substat rolls on average. Only farm relics when you have a specific unit build planned before you start spending stamina. It’s easy to get tempted to farm a popular meta set just in case you need it later, but you’ll end up with piles of unused relics and no progress on the units you actually play right now. Avoid farming relics for units you don’t plan to use for at least 2 months too, since meta shifts and new character drops often make older sets less relevant before you even get to use them. Save your reserved trailblaze power and fuel for double relic drop events, which run every few months. You’ll get twice as many drops for the same stamina cost, cutting your total grind time in half for any set you’re targeting. If you don’t have a specific set you need right now, spend your stamina on ascension and trace materials instead, since those give guaranteed power gains with no RNG involved.
Best Routes and Run Optimizations for Faster Relic Runs
Even small time savings per run add up to hours saved over weeks of farming, so it’s worth optimizing your run setup before you start a grind. First, turn off all unnecessary in-game features that slow you down: skip battle cutscenes, turn off auto-battle dialogue, and disable drop animations if you don’t care to see what you got mid-run. Use the fastest possible clear team for the specific cavern you’re running – don’t bring a sustain unit if the mobs can’t one-shot your carry, you’ll cut 10-15 seconds per run. For most caverns, a hypercarry paired with two speed/buff supports and a flex unit works best, with total clear times landing around 30 to 45 seconds per run. You don’t need a meta 5-star carry for this either; well-built 4-star units like Qingque or Dan Heng can clear most caverns just as fast if built correctly. You don’t have to teleport to the cavern entrance every time to start a run either. Use the Adventure Guide’s Cavern of Corruption tab to queue up runs directly from anywhere in the game, skipping the teleport loading screen entirely. If you can target two sets that drop in the same cavern, that’s even better: every drop you get will be usable for one of your units, so you won’t waste runs getting sets you don’t need.
How to Make the Most of Every Relic Drop You Get
Not every relic you get will be perfect, but you can cut down on future grind time by using unwanted drops smartly. Don’t immediately enhance every 5-star relic you get; first check if the main stat and first substat are usable for any of your units. If you get a body piece with ATK% when you’re farming for a HP% healer piece, you can salvage it immediately instead of wasting enhancement resources to roll it. Salvage unwanted relics to get relic remains, which you can use to buy specific relic pieces from the Omni-Synthesizer. Most new players don’t realize this feature exists, but it lets you pick the exact set, slot, and main stat you want, cutting out RNG entirely for that one missing piece you’ve been grinding for weeks. It takes 100 relic remains to craft one 5-star relic, which adds up fast if you salvage all your unwanted drops. Keep relics with double crit substats even if the set isn't what you're farming – you can use them on off-meta units or as fodder later, but sometimes they roll perfectly and work for a unit you didn’t plan for. If you’re not sure whether to keep a relic or not, use this quick checklist to decide:
- Main stat matches the unit you’re building (e.g. crit rate/crit damage for DPS, HP% for healers like Luocha, ERR% for supports that need to ult often)
- At least one useful substat for the target unit (crit, speed, or relevant % stat like ATK/DEF/HP)
- For planar ornaments, the set bonus aligns with the unit’s playstyle (e.g. Rutilant Arena for basic attack focused DPS, Space Sealing Station for units that stay above 80% HP)
Hidden Farming Tricks Most Players Overlook
You don’t have to spend all your trailblaze power on Cavern of Corruption runs to get good relics. There are tons of free, low-effort sources of 5-star relics that most players forget to take advantage of every week. Do your weekly boss runs first before spending stamina on caverns – the first discounted run of each weekly boss only costs 30 trailblaze power, and drops 5-star relics, ascension materials, and trace materials all in one run. That’s way better value than a regular cavern run that costs 40 power for only relic drops. The Simulated Universe is another great free source of relics, especially planar ornaments that you can’t get from caverns. Every week you get 4 free bonus drops from any Simulated Universe world you clear, no trailblaze power required. If you run World 6 or higher, you’ll get 5-star planar ornaments from these free drops, which can save you thousands of stamina over time. The Forgotten Hall also gives out free 5-star relics every time you clear a new stage, and the monthly reset gives you more rewards even if you already cleared all the stages. I once spent 3000 trailblaze power grinding for a Rutilant Arena set for my Jing Yuan, only to get a perfect crit damage piece from a login event two weeks later. That’s why you should always check current and upcoming event rewards before you start a long relic grind. Most events give out complete 4-star sets or even 5-star pieces for free, so you can skip farming entirely if the set you need is available as an event reward.
At the end of the day, relic farming doesn't have to be the soul-crushing grind most players make it out to be. The difference between players who have fully built teams in months and players who grind for a year and still have bad relics is all about smart resource management and knowing where to focus your effort. Once you master how to farm relic materials Honkai Star Rail the efficient way, you'll spend less time running the same cavern over and over, and more time testing new teams and clearing endgame content. Don't forget to adjust your plan as new units and sets drop, and don't be afraid to skip a grind if an event is giving out the set you need for free. Happy farming, Trailblazer.
