If you’ve been grinding through Honkai Star Rail’s early story and hit that annoying level cap on your characters around Trailblaze Level 20, you’ve probably seen references to the Equilibrium system pop up on your menu. I remember hitting this wall myself a few months back, confused why I couldn’t ascend my main DPS past level 50 even when I had all the materials saved. Learning how to get Equilibrium Level 1 Honkai Star Rail was the exact fix I needed to push past that block and access far better rewards from every activity in the game. This guide breaks down exactly what you need to prepare, how to beat the required trial, and what changes you’ll see once you unlock the first Equilibrium tier.
Pre-Requisites to Get Equilibrium Level 1 Honkai Star Rail
You can’t access the Equilibrium 1 trial as soon as you hit Trailblaze Level 20, there are a few small boxes you need to tick first. Most of these you’ll complete naturally as you play through the early game, but it’s worth double checking to avoid wasting time looking for the quest when it doesn’t appear. The full list of non-negotiable requirements is below:
- Trailblaze Level 20, earned from completing main story quests, Calyx runs, and daily training tasks
- Completion of the "Jarilo-VI: The Long Wait for the Blade's Edge" main story arc to unlock the trial quest access
- A full team of 4 characters at level 50 or higher, with at least one upgraded DPS and one sustain unit (healer or shielder)
- At least 3 pieces of level 40+ relics on your main DPS to deal enough damage to clear the trial within the time limit
You don’t need to drop all your resources maxing out every character for this trial, but skipping preparation will make the fight far harder than it needs to be. I tried to run it first with level 40 characters and got wiped in the second wave, so I’d definitely recommend taking 20 minutes to run a few Calyx runs for character EXP materials before you queue up. You don’t even need 5-star characters to clear it, I beat it with a full 4-star team of Dan Heng, March 7th, Natasha, and Asta on my first proper attempt.
How to Beat the Equilibrium Level 1 Trial Fight
Once you meet all the pre-requisites, the Equilibrium Trial Level 1 quest will pop up in your mission menu, and you’ll be directed to the Herta Space Station Supply Zone to enter the combat domain. The trial has two separate enemy waves, and a 10-minute time limit that is very generous for most properly built teams. The first wave consists of level 38 Automaton Hounds and a single Automaton Guard, which are easy to clear even if you only use basic attacks. Save all your character ultimates for the second wave, where you’ll face a level 40 Automaton Grizzly as the final boss.
Bring a Physical or Fire DPS for this fight, since the Grizzly is weak to both elements and that cuts the time you spend breaking its shield in half. If you only have an Ice or Imaginary main DPS, you can still clear the fight, but you’ll want to bring a sub DPS of the correct element to handle the shield phase faster. Don’t waste heals or shield skills on the first wave, even if your team takes a little chip damage, it’s not worth burning your support skills before the boss fight. I made that mistake on my first retry and had my main DPS get one-shot by the Grizzly’s charge attack before I could get a heal off.
If you die during the fight, you can retry as many times as you want with no penalty, so don’t stress if your first run goes badly. You can also adjust your team comp between retries if you realize you brought the wrong element types or don’t have enough sustain. Most players will clear the fight in under 5 minutes once they have a properly set up team.
Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Unlock Equilibrium Level 1
A lot of new players rush this trial as soon as it unlocks, and end up frustrated when they can’t beat the boss. The first and most common mistake is trying to run the trial before your team is leveled appropriately. It’s better to wait 1 or 2 days of completing daily tasks to get your main team to level 50 than to waste 30 minutes retrying the fight over and over with underleveled characters. The rewards you get from unlocking Equilibrium 1 aren’t going anywhere, so there’s no pressure to clear it the second the quest pops up.
Second, don’t forget to check enemy weaknesses before you enter the domain. Always check enemy weaknesses before you enter the trial so you can adjust your team comp accordingly. If your only leveled DPS is Ice, the Grizzly has high Ice resistance, so you’ll be dealing half damage the whole fight and might run out of time. Even if you have to level a low-rank Physical or Fire character to level 40 just for this fight, it’s worth the small investment of resources to make the run smooth.
Third, don’t ignore your light cones and relics. Even a level 50 character with a level 20 light cone will deal way less damage than a level 45 character with a level 50 light cone. You don’t need perfect relic substats, just make sure your main DPS has the correct main stats (ATK% chest, ATK% boots, corresponding damage type sphere) to get the most out of their attacks. It only takes 10 minutes to run a few Cavern of Corrosion runs to get basic level 40 relics for your main DPS, and it will make the fight feel trivial.
What to Do After You Unlock Equilibrium Level 1
As soon as you beat the trial, you’ll get a small one-time reward of Stellar Jade and credits, and the Equilibrium level of your world will update immediately. The first thing you’ll notice is that your character level cap increases to 60, so you can ascend your main team past level 50 now. All Calyx, Cavern of Corrosion, and Echo of War runs will drop higher rarity materials, including character ascension materials that are required to hit level 60 and 5-star relics from level 3 Echo of War fights. That’s a huge upgrade, since you can start building proper endgame sets for your main characters instead of making do with low-rank 3-star relics.
You’ll also get more Trailblaze EXP per activity, so you can level up faster to unlock the next Equilibrium tier at Trailblaze Level 30. But a quick heads up: all overworld enemies will also scale up to level 40+, so if you have underleveled side characters, they might struggle with open world fights for a little while. I’d recommend prioritizing ascending your main DPS and sustain first, then working on your sub DPS and support units over the next week. You don’t need to rush to the next Equilibrium level right away, take time to farm the new materials you have access to and get your team set up properly.
Unlocking the first Equilibrium tier is one of the biggest early game milestones in Honkai Star Rail, and it opens up a ton of new content and rewards you can't get any other way. As long as you take a little time to prepare your team and follow the tips in this guide, you won't have any trouble figuring out how to get Equilibrium Level 1 Honkai Star Rail on your first or second try. Once you unlock it, you'll wonder why you waited so long to push through that early level cap. If you have any trouble with the fight, try swapping out a support for another DPS, or farming a few extra levels for your main damage dealer before you retry.
