I still remember being stuck on Simulated Universe World 3 during my first week playing Honkai Star Rail. My only 5-star character was underleveled, I had no good support units, and I thought I’d have to grind for two weeks to get strong enough to beat the final boss. That all changed once I figured out how to friend someone on Honkai Star Rail and borrowed a fully built Jingliu from a higher-level player, who carried me through the entire run in less than 10 minutes. A lot of new players miss out on the huge perks of the friend system, from free daily resources to access to some of the strongest characters in the game, because they don’t know how it works. This guide breaks down every part of the HSR friend system, from adding players to maximizing the benefits you get from your list.
How to Friend Someone on Honkai Star Rail: Exact Step-by-Step Process
First, you need to make sure you’ve unlocked the friend feature first. You won’t see the friend menu until you complete the Trailblaze Mission “Lingering Shadows, Departing Train” on Jarilo-VI, which usually happens around Trailblaze Level 15 for most players. Once you unlock it, adding friends is straightforward. Open the main menu by tapping the phone icon in the top right corner of your screen, then tap the friend icon that looks like two overlapping silhouettes. From there, tap the “Add Friend” tab in the top right of the friend menu.
You can add players two ways: by searching for their unique UID, or by searching for their display name. You can only add players on the same regional server as you, so if your friend is playing on the North America server and you’re on the Europe server, you won’t be able to connect, even if you have their correct UID. UID is the most reliable way to add someone, because display names can be duplicated, but each account’s UID is one of a kind. You can find your own UID listed under your profile name on the main menu. You can also send friend requests to players you meet in co-op lobbies, or players whose support characters you used in PvE content, by tapping their profile and selecting “Send Friend Request.” Once you send a request, the player will get a notification, and they can choose to accept or reject it.
If you receive friend requests from other players, you’ll see them in the “Friend Requests” tab of the friend menu. You can filter requests by level or recent activity if you get a lot of them, to make sure you’re adding active players. Most players will accept requests within 24 hours if they have open spots on their friend list.
Perks of Building Your Honkai Star Rail Friend List
A lot of new players think adding friends is just for playing co-op, but the system gives you a ton of benefits that make progressing through the game way faster, even if you never play co-op with anyone. These are the biggest perks you’ll get once you start building your friend list:
- Daily Stamina Gifts: You can send and receive 5 Stamina per friend every day, up to a maximum of 30 Stamina total per day from all friends. That’s equal to one extra Calyx run every day, which adds up to hundreds of extra upgrade materials and thousands of Trailblaze EXP every month, no extra grind required.
- Borrowed Support Characters: You can use a friend’s support character in almost all PvE content, including Simulated Universe, Forgotten Hall, Calyx runs, and even most event boss fights. If you have a friend with a fully built E6 S5 limited 5-star character, you can clear even the hardest endgame content without investing resources into pulling for or building that character yourself.
- Friend Credits: Every time you use a friend’s support character, you earn 20 Friend Credits, up to a maximum of 100 Friend Credits per day. You can spend these credits in the Friend Shop on 4-star relic sets, ascension materials, trace upgrade items, and even occasional limited-time rewards like light cone cones.
- Co-op Mission Access: Once you have at least one friend on your list, you can take on co-op specific missions that reward rare materials you can’t get from solo content, plus extra Trailblaze EXP to level up your account faster. Co-op is also a great way to meet other players who can give you tips for building your roster.
I’ve had a friend on my list for almost a year who has a fully built Ruan Mei, and I still use her support for every Simulated Universe run I do. It’s saved me thousands of Stamina that I would have spent trying to build my own Ruan Mei to the same level, and let me focus my resources on building DPS characters instead. For free-to-play players, this is easily one of the most valuable systems in the entire game.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Adding HSR Friends
Adding friends seems simple, but there are a few common mistakes new players make that lead to their requests getting rejected, or their friends removing them after a few days. First, don’t send blank friend requests. If you met someone in co-op or used their support to beat a tough boss, add a short note to your request like “Loved your Jingliu support, carried my World 7 run!” Most players are way more likely to accept a request with a personal note than a generic blank one.
Try to add players who are around your Trailblaze level first, instead of spamming requests to every level 70 player you see. A lot of endgame players have full friend lists, and they only accept requests from other active endgame players who send daily stamina gifts. Lower-level players around your level are far more likely to have open spots, and they’ll usually be more consistent about sending daily stamina back to you. I once added a level 70 player whose support was a level 20 Trailblazer, which was completely useless, so I removed them after a day.
Don’t forget to send daily stamina gifts to your friends! If you never send gifts back to the people on your list, most of them will remove you after a week or two to make space for active players. It only takes 10 seconds to send gifts to all your friends every time you log in, and it’s a small gesture that goes a long way. You can set your support character to your strongest build to make other players more likely to send you friend requests too, especially if you have a popular limited 5-star character that a lot of players don’t have.
How to Manage Your Friend List for Maximum Benefits
You only get 60 friend spots on your list, so you want to make sure every spot is used for an active player who gives you value. Every week, take five minutes to go through your list and remove any players who have been inactive for 7 days or more. Inactive players can’t send you stamina, accept your gifts, or let you use their support characters, so they’re just wasting space that could go to an active player.
Update your support character regularly, especially when you get a new strong 5-star or fully build a new unit. Set your support character to a type that’s commonly needed for current endgame content, like a Harmony or Nihility support unit, to get more friend requests and earn more Friend Credits every day. You can also add a note to your profile mentioning what support you have, like “E2 Ruan Mei support, send daily stamina!” to attract more active players to send you requests.
If you have friends you play co-op with regularly, you can mark them as “Favorite Friends” so they show up first in your support list, which saves you time when you’re picking a support for a tough fight. You can also adjust your privacy settings to only receive friend requests from players you’ve played with in co-op, if you don’t want to get random requests from strangers. I have mine set to accept all requests, because I like helping new players by letting them use my fully built Silver Wolf support, and I get a lot of nice messages from players saying my support helped them beat a boss they were stuck on for days.
Figuring out how to friend someone on Honkai Star Rail is one of the simplest but highest-impact things you can do to improve your gameplay experience, especially if you’re a new player still working on building your roster. You don’t need a huge friend list of 60 endgame players to get benefits, even 10 active friends will give you all the extra stamina and support characters you need to progress faster. Don’t be afraid to send a friendly request to the player whose support carried you through that tough boss fight you’ve been stuck on for days, most players are happy to add active, friendly teammates to their list.
