If you’ve been grinding Honkai: Star Rail for a few weeks, you’ve almost certainly seen Pela pop up in meta team comps for Simulated Universe, Memory of Chaos, and even Pure Fiction. She’s a fan-favorite 4-star Ice Nihility support that cuts enemy defense, applies debuffs, and generates skill points faster than most other characters in her role. If you’re wondering how to get pela honkai star rail, this guide breaks down every available method, including free unlock paths, limited banner strategies, and what to do once you have her on your roster. I’ve mained Pela on my account for over a year, so I’ve tested every possible way to get her and her eidolons without wasting tons of Stellar Jade.
How to Get Pela in Honkai: Star Rail: All Unlock Methods
Pela is a 4-star character, so she’s far easier to get than limited 5-star units, and there are multiple paths to add her to your roster without spending real money. I’ve unlocked her on three separate alt accounts using different methods, so all of these are tested and reliable for all player types, no matter how much you play each week. The main ways to get Pela are:
- Limited-time event rewards: HoYoverse regularly adds 4-star character unlocks as event completion prizes, and Pela has been a free reward for three separate events since the game launched. These events usually require you to complete 6 to 8 short challenge stages, and you can claim Pela for free after 3 to 4 hours of casual play.
- Stellar Warp (standard banner): Pela is permanently added to the standard banner pool, so you can get her from any standard warp pull you earn from leveling, quests, or daily rewards. The drop rate for any 4-star character on the standard banner is 5.1%, with a 50/50 chance to get a character vs a light cone when you hit the 4-star pity.
- Limited character event warps: When Pela is featured as a rate-up 4-star on a limited 5-star banner, your chance to get her jumps drastically. 75% of all 4-star drops on these banners are one of the three featured 4-star units, so you can target her specifically when she’s on rate-up.
- Stellar Exchange shop: Every month, HoYoverse adds two 4-star characters to the Stellar Exchange shop, which you can purchase with Undying Starlight earned from duplicate pulls. Pela rotates into this shop every 4 to 6 months, and costs 140 Undying Starlight to purchase a copy or unlock her for the first time.
If you don’t want to wait for an event or a rate-up banner, the Stellar Exchange is the most reliable way to get her, but I only recommend this if you have extra Undying Starlight saved up and don’t plan to use it for limited 5-star light cones later. I’ve done this once on my alt account when I needed her for a Memory of Chaos stage, and it was worth it to clear the stage and get the extra Stellar Jade rewards.
Best Strategy to Pull Pela Without Wasting Stellar Jade
Most players will end up getting Pela from a limited banner pull, so it’s important to plan your pulls carefully to avoid wasting Stellar Jade you’ve saved for 5-star units. First, you should never pull on the standard banner with paid or saved Stellar Jade, because you can’t target specific characters there, and you’ll get plenty of standard pulls for free as you level up your account and complete quests.
When Pela is on a rate-up banner, wait until you see if the featured 5-star unit is one you want, or if you’re okay with possibly getting that 5-star when you hit pity. If you don’t want the featured 5-star, you can pull up to 40 times on the banner and stop before you hit the 5-star pity at 75+ pulls. That way, you have a very high chance of getting at least one copy of Pela, without risking getting a 5-star you don’t want.
You only need one copy of Pela for her to be viable, so you don’t need to pull for her eidolons unless you have extra Stellar Jade to spare. Her base kit already has 100% defense reduction uptime at E0, so extra eidolons just make her a little more efficient, not necessary. I’ve used E0 Pela to clear all endgame content, so I can confirm you don’t need higher eidolons to get value from her.
What to Do First After You Unlock Pela
Once you have Pela on your roster, you don’t need to level her up to 80 immediately, but there are a few quick steps to make her useful for your team right away. First, level her basic skill and ultimate to level 6 first, before you level her talent or normal attack. Her skill reduces enemy defense by up to 42% at level 6, and her ultimate removes all buffs from enemies, which is game-changing for endgame boss fights that stack defensive buffs.
Equip her with the 4-star "Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat" light cone if you have it, it’s the best F2P option for her, because it increases her effect hit rate and restores skill points when she uses her skill. If you don’t have that light cone, the 3-star "Void" works perfectly fine for early and mid-game content, as it also boosts effect hit rate.
For relics, the 4-piece Ice Relic set works for most builds, but if you don’t have that, the 2-piece effect hit rate set plus 2-piece energy regeneration set works just as well. You want to prioritize effect hit rate, energy regeneration, and speed on her substats, so she can use her ultimate as often as possible and her defense reduction never misses. Don’t make the mistake I did when I first got Pela, where I leveled her normal attack first and wasted tons of credits and exp materials. Her normal attack does almost no damage, so you can leave it at level 1 forever and you won’t lose any value from her kit.
Is Pela Worth Adding to Your Roster?
A lot of new players wonder if Pela is worth pulling for, especially if they already have other Nihility supports like Silver Wolf or Sampo. The short answer is yes, she’s worth adding to your roster even if you have other Nihility units, because she fills a unique niche that no other 4-star support can fill.
She works especially well with hypercarry teams that rely on single-target damage, like Jingliu, Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae, or Blade. Her defense reduction makes your main carry do up to 60% more damage per hit, which is a bigger damage boost than most other buffs you can get from 4-star supports. She’s also one of the only supports that can remove enemy buffs, which is required for a lot of endgame Memory of Chaos and Pure Fiction stages that have bosses that stack shields or damage reduction buffs.
The only time I don’t recommend pulling for Pela is if you already have E6 Pela, or if you’re saving all your Stellar Jade for an upcoming limited 5-star unit that you really want. Even then, if you get her as a side pull on a banner, you’ll definitely use her eventually, even if you don’t have a spot for her on your main team right now. I have E3 Pela on my main account, and I use her on two separate endgame teams every reset, so she’s never wasted space on my roster.
Pela is one of the most consistent, high-value 4-star units in Honkai: Star Rail, and she’s useful for every type of content from early-game questing to endgame challenge stages. Whether you unlock her for free from an event, get her as a side pull on a limited banner, or buy her from the Stellar Exchange, you won’t regret the time or resources you put into getting her. Now that you know how to get pela honkai star rail, you can plan your pulls or event grind to add her to your roster and start boosting your team’s damage right away.
