If you’ve hit a wall where your character level caps out, drops are underwhelming, and new story content is locked, you’re probably looking for how to increase equilibrium level in Honkai: Star Rail. I’ve been there too, stuck at Equilibrium Level 2 for three days straight because I kept forgetting to run the required trial, and missed out on tons of 5-star relic drops for weeks as a result. This guide draws from 100+ hours of gameplay and feedback from the official HSR community to walk you through every step of raising your Equilibrium Level, no unnecessary grind required.
What you need to do first to increase equilibrium level in Honkai: Star Rail
Every Equilibrium Level bump has a fixed Trailblaze Level requirement, starting at level 20 for Equilibrium Level 1, up to level 70 for Equilibrium Level 6. You won’t even see the Equilibrium Trial unlock in your quest menu until you hit that required Trailblaze Level, so prioritizing consistent Trailblaze EXP gains is non-negotiable if you want to progress quickly. Trailblaze EXP is the core requirement for every Equilibrium Level upgrade, so you’ll save a lot of time by focusing on high-EXP activities first instead of wasting power on low-reward tasks. The most reliable ways to farm Trailblaze EXP without wasting your Trailblaze Power are:
- Completing all daily training tasks every day, which give 1,200 Trailblaze EXP per day for just 10 minutes of play
- Running Calyx (Golden) stages when you have extra Trailblaze Power, as they drop far more EXP per power unit than any other activity
- Finishing unfinished main story and companion quests, which give lump sum EXP rewards that can push you over level caps in one go
- Doing weekly Simulated Universe runs, which bonus Trailblaze EXP alongside relics and upgrade materials
You don’t have to do all of these every day, of course. Even if you only log in for 20 minutes to knock out your dailies, you’ll hit the required Trailblaze Level for your next Equilibrium upgrade far faster than players who only grind for hours on weekends. Once you hit the required Trailblaze Level, the Equilibrium Trial quest will pop up in your mission menu, and completing it is the only official way to increase equilibrium level in Honkai: Star Rail.
How to beat the Equilibrium Trial without overgrinding
The Equilibrium Trial is a short, fixed-difficulty combat challenge that tests if your team is strong enough to handle the higher world difficulty after the upgrade. A lot of new players assume they need fully built 5-star characters to clear these trials, but that’s not true at all. You don’t need fully built 5-star characters to clear any Equilibrium Trial – I cleared my Equilibrium Level 3 trial with a full free-to-play team of Trailblazer, March 7th, Natasha, and Dan Heng, all with only 4-star relics and level 50 light cones.
So don’t waste days grinding relics just to beat the trial. Just make sure your main DPS has their level capped, their light cone is at the same level, and their core damage traces are unlocked, and you’ll be fine. The trial always has two phases: a first wave of regular mobs, and a second wave with a single boss. Bring at least one shielder or healer to keep your team alive through the boss’s big attacks, and check the enemy weaknesses before you enter to adjust your team comp. Elemental matching is far more important than character rarity for these trials, so swapping in a lower rarity unit that hits the boss’s weakness will make the run way easier than forcing a mismatched 5-star into your team. If you fail the trial, you don’t lose anything, so you can retry as many times as you want to tweak your strategy.
Key benefits of raising your Equilibrium Level (plus a few drawbacks to consider)
Many new players worry that when they increase equilibrium level in Honkai: Star Rail, all content will become too hard to complete, but the rewards far outweigh the temporary difficulty spike for 90% of players. First, you’ll unlock higher character level caps, so your units can hit harder, take more damage, and unlock more of their trace tree bonuses. You’ll also get far better drop rates for 4 and 5-star relics, upgrade materials, and credits from all game activities, so every bit of Trailblaze Power you spend gives you more value long term. Higher Equilibrium Levels also unlock exclusive limited event content, higher difficulty Forgotten Hall and Pure Fiction stages, and better weekly boss rewards.
That said, there are a few small drawbacks to keep in mind before you hit that upgrade button. All overworld enemies scale up to match your new Equilibrium Level immediately, so if your team is underleveled, you might struggle with open world farming for a few days until you catch up your builds. If you’re in the middle of a limited time event that requires farming open world enemies, you might want to delay upgrading your Equilibrium Level until the event ends, so you don’t make the farm harder than it needs to be. I did that last year when the Lantern Rite event was running, waited three days to upgrade to Equilibrium Level 4 so I could farm the required materials faster, and it saved me hours of extra combat. For example, once you hit Equilibrium Level 3, you can start getting 5-star relics from Cavern of Corrosion runs, which cut your character build time in half compared to using 4-star relics. But if you’re still working through a low level event that has you fighting lots of low level overworld mobs, the scaled up enemy health might make that farm take twice as long, so it’s okay to wait a few days.
Common mistakes to avoid when raising your Equilibrium Level
After helping dozens of new players through their Equilibrium Trials, I’ve seen the same small mistakes cost people hours of unnecessary grind over and over again. The first and most common mistake is wasting all your Trailblaze Power on relic farming before you hit your target Equilibrium Level. Relics you get at lower Equilibrium Levels are almost always obsolete once you upgrade, so save your relic farming for after you bump your Equilibrium Level to get higher rarity drops. I made this mistake when I first started playing, I farmed 4-star relics for my Dan Heng for three days right before I upgraded to Equilibrium Level 2, and all of those relics were useless a week later when I got 5-star drops. That wasted almost 300 Trailblaze Power I could have used to level up my characters faster.
The second mistake is forgetting to level up your light cones and traces before you run the Equilibrium Trial. Even if your characters are at the max level for your current Equilibrium Level, underleveled light cones can make your DPS 30-40% lower than it should be, which is enough to make you lose the trial even with a good team comp. The third mistake is upgrading your Equilibrium Level right before you take a break from the game for a week or more. You want to be able to farm the higher tier materials right after you upgrade, so you can catch up your team strength to match the new difficulty quickly. Never upgrade your Equilibrium Level if you don’t have at least a few hours of playtime planned in the next 3 days, or you’ll be stuck fighting scaled up enemies with an underpowered team for longer than necessary. If you avoid these common mistakes, you’ll be able to increase equilibrium level in Honkai: Star Rail far faster than most players who burn out on unnecessary grind.
Figuring out how to increase equilibrium level in Honkai: Star Rail doesn’t have to involve endless grind or expensive 5-star pulls. As long as you prioritize your Trailblaze EXP gains, prepare a balanced team for the trial, and time your upgrade to fit your play schedule, you’ll unlock all the high tier rewards and content you want without unnecessary frustration. Don’t rush the process if you’re still enjoying lower difficulty content, but don’t hold off too long either, since the higher drop rates make every minute of farming way more rewarding down the line.
