Honkai Star Rail currencies explained: Everything you need to know

Updated on September 27, 1:11 p.m. (GMT+8): Added more relevant links.

Updated on April 27, 12:52 a.m. (GMT+8): Improved accuracy upon game release.

Free-to-play games are extremely accessible and widely popular, yet only a handful of titles have become truly global games.

HoYoverse’s Genshin Impact is one of them. Released in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, it gained massive popularity worldwide, garnering an enormous following, many of whom are still active players today. It’s so big that each event banner has the potential to earn millions every run.

Three years after their hit title, they’re hoping to capture a new market of gamers in F2P turn-based game, Honkai Star Rail.

Set in an entirely different universe from Genshin Impact that’s quite literally out of this world, Honkai Star Rail adapts a handful of systems from its sister — which is why learning about its six currencies and what to do with them is paramount for any player.

Honkai Star Rail currencies: There are many, so let’s find some clarity

Before we begin, it’s important to note that F2P players won’t get any less out of the game. HoYoverse has designed all of their titles to be fully accessible and enjoyable without you needing to spend a single cent. There are plenty of ways to build an effective team with a diverse cast of free characters. You can also earn in-game currency that lets you roll for 5-stars.

That said, spending money to enhance your experience by pulling on Warp or Light Cone banners is an open option.

First things first — there may be many currencies used in-game but you can only buy one currency called Oneiric Shard.

I repeat, the only currency your credit card swipes to is Oneiric Shard, the blue and pink four-leaf sigil shown in the image below. If you played Genshin, these are your Genesis Crystals.

By themselves, Oneiric Shards lets you purchase basic bundles in the store that aid you on your interstellar journey, and perhaps even character outfits in the future.

You get the most value out of them, however, when you convert them one-for-one into Stellar Jades, the pink and blue color crystal shown in the above image.

Stellar Jade is the highest, most valued currency in Honkai Star Rail — the equivalent to Primogems in Genshin, which even non-players might have heard of.

Why? Because Stellar Jade is the only unlimited currency you can use to exchange for Star Rail Special Passes, which lets you pull on time-limited 5-star banners.

You see the golden ticket next to Stellar Jade at the top right hand corner? That’s the number of Star Rail Special Passes you own.

At the bottom, Warp x1 allows you to pull once, while Warp x10 is a 10-pull. Rolling once or 10 times with each click do not affect your chances of getting a character or item. For a detailed explanation of Honkai Star Rail’s pity system, read our comprehensive guide here.

Now, two in-game currencies will be automatically generated when you roll on banners: Undying Starlight and Undying Embers.

Look at the top right hand corner of the screenshot below. The blue gem surrounded by gold represents the Undying Starlight. It is rarer than Undying Embers, meaning, less of this currency is generated when you roll on banners.

The items you can exchange with Undying Starlight are more valuable compared to Undying Embers. As you can see, 20 Undying Starlights can be exchanged for Star Rail Special Passes and Star Rail Passes, which lets you go back and roll on 5-star banners.

There’s no limit on how many you can exchange — the only limit is how many Undying Starlights you have, which is capped by how much you roll (and willing to spend) on 5-star banners.

The more you spend, the more Undying Starlights you’ll generate, which can in turn be exchanged for more Star Rail Special Passes. It’s an incentivizing cycle. Simple.

You can also exchange Undying Starlight for 4-star characters and selected Light Cones, which will refresh with each store cycle, giving you new offerings.

Note that The Starlight Exchange will never offer 5-star characters. The only way to get them are via banners.

Alright, now for Undying Embers. You’ll get much more of these when you roll. In the screenshot below on the top right hand corner, you can see that this account has 2,560, which can be exchanged for a variety of things.

The most valuable of course, are your Star Rail Special Pass and Star Rail Pass. However, these are only limited to a quantity of five, which will refresh with each store cycle.

You can also exchange Undying Embers for materials that help characters or Light Cones level up.

All these materials can be farmed from mobs or bosses for free in the game. If you’re rich in Embers and you don’t have the time, you can simply get them from here. There’s a quantity limit too, of course, which will refresh.

Now the only thing I haven’t explained is the Star Rail Pass.

The Star Rail Special Pass is gold in color, and obviously highly prized because they allow you to gacha on time-limited 5-star character and Light Cone banners.

The Star Rail Pass is grey in color, and lets you roll on the Standard Warp banner, which doesn’t disappear. Ever. HoYoverse decided that a handful of selected 5-star characters will always be available on this standard banner.

In all, remember that Star Rail Special Passes and Stellar Jades can be earned in-game. You don’t have to buy them if you don’t want to. You can still play through the game, save up enough, and use them on limited 5-star event banners.

For Genshin Impact players, you will find this table helpful:

To help you become more familiar with the game, read our tailored Honkai Star Rail guide for Genshin Impact players here.

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READ MORE: 3 compelling reasons why Honkai Star Rail is the next best RPG for Genshin players