If you’ve spent weeks grinding Calyxes just to see your main DPS fall short in Memory of Chaos floor 10, you’ve probably wondered if there’s a better way to boost their damage than pulling for limited 5-star weapons. That’s where knowing how to forge divine weapon Honkai Star Rail comes in. I’ve been maining HSR since launch, and I’ve forged over 12 divine weapons for my roster, cutting my gacha pull needs for weapons by almost 70% as a low-spending player. This guide walks through every step of the process, common mistakes to avoid, and how to pick the right weapon for each unit so you don’t waste rare resources on niche picks you’ll never use.
Prerequisites You Need to Forge Divine Weapon Honkai Star Rail
Before you can craft your first divine tier weapon, you’ll need to unlock a few core features and gather specific materials that don’t drop from regular open-world or Calyx runs. First, you have to complete the main Jarilo-VI story arc to unlock the Omni-Synthesizer, the in-game menu where all forging takes place. You won’t see the divine weapon forging option at all until you hit this story checkpoint, so don’t stress if you’re still on Herta Space Station and can’t find the menu.
The full list of required materials for any divine weapon is as follows:
- 1x fully ascended 4-star prototype weapon of the matching path type (earned from Forgotten Hall clears, weekly boss drops, and limited time event rewards)
- 50x highest tier Weapon Ascension Material for the weapon’s type, plus 20x mid-tier ascension materials left over from leveling the base prototype
- 100,000 Credits, plus 10x Tracks of Destiny (the rare purple crafting material earned from duplicate 5-star pulls or premium event rewards)
- Base prototype weapon leveled to at least 50, ascended to phase 3 before forging
You don’t have to refine the base prototype before forging, but refining it first will carry over to the divine weapon and save you extra prototypes later. Tracks of Destiny are one of the rarest resources in the game, so only use them for weapons you’ll use for 6+ months on your core roster. I’ve seen new players waste their first set of Tracks on a weapon for a trial unit they only used once, and they end up waiting 3+ months to get enough materials for a weapon they actually need.
Step-by-Step Forging Process for Divine Weapons
Once you’ve met all prerequisites, you’re ready to forge divine weapon Honkai Star Rail without any extra hoops to jump through. First, open your inventory and select the Omni-Synthesizer tab, then filter for the “Weapon Forging” submenu. You’ll see all available craftable weapons sorted by path type, and divine tier weapons will have a gold border around their icon to set them apart from regular 3 and 4-star craftable weapons.
Select the divine weapon you want to craft, and the menu will automatically pull the matching base prototype from your inventory if you have one available. Double check that the passive effect matches your unit’s playstyle before confirming: for example, the Hunt divine weapon’s passive of extra crit damage on enemies below 50% HP is perfect for Seele or Dan Heng IL, but completely useless for a support unit like Bronya that doesn’t focus on direct damage.
Hit the craft button, and the divine weapon will be added to your inventory immediately. You don’t lose any level or ascension progress from the original prototype weapon, so you can level it up first to save materials later. I made the mistake of waiting to level my prototype until after forging my first divine weapon, and I wasted 20+ high-tier weapon XP materials that I could have saved by leveling the base first.
How to Pick the Right Divine Weapon for Your Roster
The biggest mistake new players make when crafting divine weapons is picking the weapon that sounds the coolest, instead of the one that gives the most value to their current roster. Prioritize weapons for your main DPS units first, as they get the most value from the higher base ATK and unique passive effects that divine weapons offer. Support units get almost no value from divine weapons, as most of their utility comes from their skill and ultimate effects, not their raw attack stat.
For F2P and low-spending players, you can only get around 2 Tracks of Destiny per year without pulling duplicate 5-star characters or weapons, so your first pick matters a lot. If you run a Hunt main DPS, the “Cruising in the Stellar Sea” divine weapon is the best all-around pick, beating most 4-star gacha weapons by 15-20% damage output for single-target content. If you run an Erudition main DPS, the “Before Dawn” divine weapon gives extra AoE damage that’s perfect for clearing swarm content in Simulated Universe and new event stages. Avoid crafting divine weapons for Nihility or Harmony units first, as even 3-star weapons are usually enough to unlock their full support utility.
You can test the passive effect of any divine weapon before crafting by using the base 4-star prototype in Simulated Universe runs. The passive effect of the divine weapon is just a stronger version of the base prototype’s effect, so you’ll get a clear idea of how it fits with your unit’s rotation before you spend rare materials.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Forging Divine Weapons
One of the most costly errors you can make when you forge divine weapon Honkai Star Rail is picking a weapon that doesn’t align with your current roster. I’ve seen players craft the Preservation divine weapon before they even have Gepard or Fu Xuan, and it just sits in their inventory collecting dust for months while their main DPS struggles to clear endgame content. Only craft a weapon if you already have a level 80 unit that can use it effectively.
Another common mistake is using lower tier prototypes to try and forge divine weapons. Only 4-star prototypes can be upgraded to divine tier, so don’t waste ascension materials leveling 3-star weapons hoping you can turn them into divine tier later. Refining a divine weapon to rank 5 can boost its passive effect by up to 50%, so it’s worth saving extra prototypes of the same type for your core weapons. I refined my Hunt divine weapon to rank 5 last month, and it added almost 10% extra damage to my Seele’s clear time for MoC floor 12.
Don’t forget to level up your divine weapon’s superimposition after crafting, either. You can use any 4-star weapon of the same path type to level up the superimposition, not just matching prototypes, so you can use extra 4-star weapons you pull from standard banners to boost your divine weapon’s power. If you’re unsure which weapon to craft first, run a quick damage test in Simulated Universe with the base prototype to see if the passive fits your unit’s rotation. It only takes 10 minutes, and it can save you from wasting months worth of rare resources on a weapon that doesn’t work for your playstyle.
At the end of the day, learning how to forge divine weapon Honkai Star Rail is one of the best ways to boost your roster’s power without spending money on limited gacha banners. You don’t need to pull every 5-star weapon to clear all endgame content, and forged divine weapons are often just as strong as their gacha counterparts for most units. Take your time picking your first weapon, don’t waste rare resources on niche picks, and you’ll be clearing the highest MoC and Simulated Universe floors in no time.
