If you’ve ever stared at your character’s stats wondering why they’re getting one-shot by the latest Forgotten Hall boss, odds are you’re missing high-quality relics. Relics are the backbone of every viable Honkai: Star Rail build, boosting everything from attack damage to effect resistance and energy recharge rates. Figuring out how to get relics in Honkai: Star Rail efficiently can cut your farming time in half, so you can spend more time testing new team comps instead of running the same domain on repeat. I’ve spent over 300 hours grinding relics for my own account, and I’ve had my fair share of bad runs where I spent 200 Trailblaze Power and didn’t get a single usable drop, so I know how frustrating the grind can be if you don’t have a clear plan.
How to Get Relics in Honkai: Star Rail: Core Farming Sources
There are multiple ways to get relics in the game, but some sources are far more efficient than others, especially if you’re working with limited Trailblaze Power. You don’t have to grind every available source right away, either. Prioritize the ones that drop the exact sets you need for your current team to avoid wasting resources. The core free and low-cost farming sources you’ll use 90% of the time are:
- Caverns of Corrosion: Primary source for 4-piece body, feet, head, and hand relic sets, cost 40 Trailblaze Power per run, with double rewards available during limited drop events
- Simulated Universe World Clears: Drops Planar Ornament sets and occasional full relic pieces, no Trailblaze Power cost for first clear of each world difficulty
- Weekly Boss Fights: Drop exclusive 5-star relic sets and planar ornaments, cost 60 Trailblaze Power per run, limited to 3 weekly rewards
- Forgotten Hall & Pure Fiction Rewards: Give relics as clear rewards for hitting specific star thresholds, no Trailblaze Power cost to claim
You don’t have to grind 5 star relics early on, either. 4 star relics are more than enough to get you to Trailblaze Level 50, and you can level them up to +9 without wasting too much materials, since you can feed them to 5 star relics later for 80% of the experience back. Double drop events are the best time to stock up on relics, so save your Reserved Trailblaze Power for those periods if you can. I usually save 2-3 full fuel tanks for double drop events, and I can get enough relics to build 2 full characters in one weekend during these events.
Smart Tips to Cut Relic Farming Time
The biggest mistake new players make is farming every relic set they see, just because they heard it’s good for some character they might build in 6 months. First figure out exactly what sets your main 4-person team needs, so you only run the relevant caverns. For example, if your main DPS is Jing Yuan, you only need the Band of Sizzling Thunder set, so you don’t waste power running the cavern that drops the Ice set for Yanqing if you don’t even use him.
You don’t need perfect substats right away, either. A 5 star relic with 3 usable substats is good enough for most endgame content, you only need to chase perfect rolls for your top 3 characters if you’re pushing high difficulty Pure Fiction or Apocalyptic Shadow. Also, use the Omni-Synthesizer to craft specific relic pieces you’re missing. If you have 10 junk relics of the same rarity, you can convert them into a relic from a set you actually need, and you can even pick the slot. I used this feature to get the last missing crit rate body piece for my Seele build after 30 runs of the cavern with no luck, so it’s worth saving up your junk relics for.
Don’t skip limited time events, either. Almost every event gives out free 4 or 5 star relics as login rewards or clear rewards, and many even give full sets with pre-selected main stats that are perfect for new characters. I got my full set of Musketeer relics for my Trailblazer from a login event last year, and I didn’t have to run the cavern once for that set.
How to Prioritize Which Relics to Keep and Upgrade
A lot of new players make the mistake of keeping every 5 star relic they get, which fills up their inventory fast. I made this mistake when I first started playing, I kept every 5 star relic I got, and I had to spend 20 minutes deleting junk relics to make space for new drops after a week of farming. You only need to keep relics that fit the characters you are actively building, no exceptions.
Main stats are always more impactful than substats for 90% of builds. For example, a DPS character needs an attack or elemental damage body piece, not a defense or HP one, so even if a 5 star body piece has godly substats, if the main stat is HP, it’s useless for your DPS. The priority order for keeping relics is simple: first, correct main stat for the character you’re building, then at least 2 relevant substats. For DPS characters, relevant substats are attack, crit rate, crit damage, speed. For support characters, it’s speed, energy recharge, effect hit rate, HP or defense depending on the kit.
Don’t level a relic to +15 right away, either. Level it to +3 first to see what the first substat roll is, if it rolls a useless stat, you can stop leveling it and use it as fodder later, so you don’t waste relic exp on bad rolls. Relic exp is one of the rarest resources in the game, so don’t waste it on relics you won’t use long term. I usually only level a relic to +15 if it has 3 relevant substats and rolls at least one good stat when I hit +3.
Endgame Relic Farming Hacks for Faster Build Completion
Once you hit Trailblaze Level 65, all Caverns of Corrosion runs guarantee at least one 5 star relic, so that’s when you can start serious farming for your main team. Before that, focus on just getting usable 4 star sets to progress through the story and unlock higher difficulty content. You don’t need perfect 5 star sets to beat the main story, so don’t waste time grinding for them early.
You can use the Auto-Battle function to farm relics while you do other things, just make sure your team is strong enough to clear the domain in under 2 minutes without dying, so you don’t have to sit and watch the runs. I usually farm relics while I’m watching TV or working on other tasks, so it doesn’t feel like a chore at all. If you’re farming for Planar Ornaments, run the Simulated Universe on the lowest difficulty that drops the set you need, it’s faster and you get the same drop rate for 5 star ornaments as higher difficulties. I used to run World 7 on difficulty 4 for the Rutilant Arena set, but I switched to difficulty 2 and cut my run time in half, and I got the same number of 5 star ornaments over 10 runs.
Also, save your Relic Remains for the specific set selector in the Omni-Synthesizer, you can get a guaranteed 5 star relic of the exact set and slot you need after collecting enough remains, which is perfect for that last missing piece of your set. I’ve used this feature three times now to complete sets for my main team, and it saved me dozens of hours of grinding.
At the end of the day, relic farming doesn’t have to be a tedious grind that takes over all your play time. Once you know how to get relics in Honkai: Star Rail efficiently, you can build your dream team in a fraction of the time, without wasting resources on drops you don’t need. Don’t rush for perfect relics right away, take it slow, and focus on upgrading your main team first before you start building side characters. You’ll be clearing even the hardest endgame content before you know it.
