If you’ve ever stared down a brutal Echo of War boss that wiped your team three runs in a row, you’ve probably wondered if you can bring a friend along to turn the tide. Co-op is one of Honkai Star Rail’s most underrated features, letting you team up with pals to take on high-difficulty content, farm materials faster, or even just mess around while exploring open-world maps. Figuring out how to join friends in Honkai Star Rail is way simpler than most players think, even if you’re still new to the game’s menus and progression systems. Before you jump into co-op, there are a few small prerequisites you’ll need to tick off first, but we’ll walk you through every part of the process so you don’t waste time clicking through random menus.
Prerequisites to Unlock Co-Op Play in Honkai Star Rail
You won’t have access to co-op as soon as you start the game, and that’s intentional. HoYoverse locks co-op behind a small progression gate to make sure you understand the core combat mechanics before you team up with other players. You don’t need to grind for dozens of hours to unlock it, though most new players hit the requirements within 3 to 4 hours of starting their first playthrough. The full list of requirements you need to meet before you can join or invite friends is below:
- Reach Trailblaze Level 16 by completing main story quests, opening Trailblaze Power chests, and finishing small side quests across Herta Space Station and Jarilo-VI
- Finish the "Frosty Trailblaze" main story quest arc on Jarilo-VI to unlock the co-op tab in your main game menu
- Ensure both you and the friend you want to join are playing on the same regional server (e.g., America, Europe, Asia, SAR/HK/MO/TW) – cross-server play is not supported as of the latest game update
- Add the friend to your in-game friend list first, or have them send you a direct co-op invite using your unique 9-digit UID
One common mistake new players make is trying to join friends on a different server, even if they added their UID correctly. If you can’t see your friend’s profile when you search their UID, double check that you both selected the same server when you created your accounts.
How to Join Friends in Honkai Star Rail: Full Walkthrough
Once you’ve met all the prerequisites, joining a friend’s session only takes a few clicks. You don’t need any extra items or currency to join, and you won’t lose any rewards for running content with other players compared to running it solo. Follow these simple steps to connect to your friend’s co-op session.
First, open your main game menu by clicking the phone icon in the top right corner of your screen (or pressing the ESC key if you’re playing on PC). Select the “Friends” tab from the menu, which will show you all of your currently online and offline friends. Find the friend you want to join from the list, and click on their profile to pull up their details. If they have an open co-op session, you’ll see a bright Join Team button on their profile page. Click that button, and your friend will get a pop-up invite to let you into their session. All they have to do is click accept, and you’ll load into their world within a few seconds.
If you don’t see the Join Team button, that usually means one of three things: your friend is in a single-player only instance like a main story cutscene or character trial, their session is set to invite-only in their privacy settings, or they’re running content that you don’t meet the minimum Trailblaze Level requirement for. In that case, just ask them to send you a direct co-op invite instead, which will pop up on your screen no matter what menu you’re in.
Best Content to Tackle With Friends in Honkai Star Rail
You can run almost all repeatable PvE content in co-op, and most of it is faster and more fun when you’re playing with friends. You won’t get fewer rewards for running co-op either – you’ll still get the same amount of relics, upgrade materials, and Trailblaze EXP as you would if you ran the content solo. Some of the best content to run with friends includes:
Calyxes are perfect for co-op runs, especially if you’re farming for large amounts of character or light cone upgrade materials. You can split your team roles to clear runs way faster than you would solo, and you can even take turns using your Trailblaze Power to save resources if you want. Echo of War (weekly boss) runs are another great option, especially if you’re struggling to beat high-level bosses like Cocolia or Phantylia on your own. Bringing a friend with a well-built Jing Yuan or Kafka can cut your run time down by 70% easily, and you won’t have to worry about your team getting wiped halfway through the fight.
You don’t have to run serious content if you don’t want to, either. I’ve spent way more time than I’d like to admit just running around Xianzhou Luofu with my friend, hunting down hidden chests and fighting random mara-struck soldiers for no reason other than it’s fun. Co-op is a great way to show off your newly built characters or explore parts of the map you might have missed when you were playing solo.
Common Co-Op Issues and How to Fix Them
Even if you follow all the steps we listed, you might run into small issues when trying to join your friends’ sessions. Most of these issues are easy to fix in a few seconds, and you don’t need to restart your game or contact support for most of them. Let’s go over the most common problems players face.
The most common issue is the Join Team button being greyed out even when you know your friend is online. If this happens, first double check that you’re both on the same server, and that you both meet the level requirement for the content they’re currently running. If that checks out, ask your friend to check their co-op privacy settings – many players accidentally set their sessions to invite-only without realizing it, which blocks random players (and friends) from joining without a direct invite.
Another common issue is lag or disconnects mid-run. If you’re getting constant lag spikes when playing co-op, try closing any background apps that are using internet bandwidth, and switch to a wired internet connection if you’re playing on PC. If you’re playing on mobile, try switching from mobile data to Wi-Fi for a more stable connection. You should also avoid running co-op during peak server hours (usually 7PM to 10PM local time for your server region) if you have unstable internet, as server congestion can make lag worse.
If you can’t find your friend when you search their UID, make sure you entered the full 9-digit UID correctly, and that you selected the right server from the dropdown menu in the friend search bar. UIDs are tied to specific servers, so even if you enter the right number, you won’t find their profile if you’re searching on the wrong server.
At the end of the day, Honkai Star Rail is a lot more fun when you’re playing with people you know, instead of grinding all your materials alone. Whether you’re stuck on a tough weekly boss or just want to explore new maps with a pal, taking a minute to figure out how to join friends in Honkai Star Rail is well worth the small effort. Don’t let the minor menu hurdles stop you from making the most of the game’s co-op features – once you get the hang of it, you’ll probably find yourself running most of your farm runs with friends to save time and have more fun. If you’re still running into issues, double check the prerequisites we listed earlier, and make sure both you and your friend have all the unlock requirements sorted before you try to connect.
