Honkai: Star Rail is a game of strategy and team building. With a stellar gacha system and countless characters to collect, it’s no surprise the game brings in countless new players every patch. As a new player, though, the game is confusing and difficult to navigate. For example, how do you know which units are meta? Which damage dealers output the highest numbers, and which DPS should you go for? AoE, Single Target, DoT, or something else?
One of the problems new players have is deciding which characters are the best for their account. As a new player, I think getting a powerful DPS is a game-changer. All the more if they’re a relatively low-investment but high-yield unit. Characters such as Jingliu or Blade fill this vacuum pretty well, and Seele isn’t the hardest to build (although you’ll still need to manage attack, crit rate, and crit dmg).
There are plenty of tier lists out there. Every new player understands the struggle of having different people putting units in different tiers, arguing and bickering about which is better and why. That makes it important to be aware of spaces in the community that provide good information.
In this article, I’ll be diving into some of the best tools (In-game and out of game) to help you on your journey unto the stars.
Hoyolab
Hoyolab is a website designed by Hoyoverse themselves, in which community members can discuss game mechanics. As you can see in the screenshot, there’s also a section (you can specify each game individually with the top drop-down arrow beside the game name) for in-game tools; the toolbox, interactive map, battle records, wiki, upgrade recommendations, and more.
It helps by providing players with much-needed information about the game, such as maps where treasure chests can be found, build guides, and an account overview to see all of your achievements and content completion. Here are some reasons you might consider using Hoyolab:
- Variety and functionality. Hoyolab is a multipurpose website. It’ll provide you all of the resources you need to thrive while playing the game, if a little less detailed than other sites.
- Interactive map. Out of all the resources and tools listed here, Hoyolab is the only that has a detailed, developer-curated interactive map of all the locations. You won’t find a better map of the Star Rail universe.
- Community. Not many tools or game resources can provide the opportunity for a community forum while also encouraging the creation of build guides and discussions. Hoyolab has a social media forum built-in, which allows you to make posts, ask for help, and create guides for new players yourself.
- Character stat spreadsheets. The Hoyolab website provides the option to see a stat spreadsheet of all your Star Rail characters. It will also show the preferred stats of characters.
- Login rewards. Because Hoyolab was created by the developers of Honkai: Star Rail, it offers another check-in system in which you can earn more rewards, namely materials, and even stellar jades, for your account.
Prydwen
Prydwen, or Prydwen.gg, is one of my favorite websites. It offers a character tier list that changes depending on which section of the game you’d like to know about (MoC, PF, AS) and gives users the ability to see the information of skills at different levels if they’d like to calculate damage output. It also provides recommendations for relics and lightcones.
Here are some reasons you might want to use this website:
- Updating tier lists. Prydwen is a website known for its updating tier lists, which can be specified and curated to whichever endgame content you’re curious about. For example, some characters may be “Tier 0,” or the best of the best, in Memory of Chaos, but not as good in Pure Fiction, while others may be the opposite.
- Build guides (with specific stat goals). Prydwen offers players the ability to see suggested relic sets for characters while guiding them on stat thresholds (such as speed, break effect, effect hit rate, crit rate/crit dmg, etc).
- Event timelines. The site lets players know which events are active and how long they’ll be active for (specified durations of events).
- Gameplay guides. Prydwen offers guides for players on various topics such as reroll guides (which 5 stars on the standard banner are best), early progression, and introductions to the game’s mechanics.
- Player analytics. Prydwen offers the ability to see the percentage of characters used in specific content. So, if I wanted to see stats of how many characters were used to clear Memory of Chaos 12, I can see that, alongside the rounds taken to finish MoC12. This may help in determining which teams are best or for players looking to know the meta characters.
HomDGCat Wiki
HomDGCat Wiki is a website teeming with information. It’s one of the few ways players might be able to look at characters that haven’t been released just yet (but have been made available to beta testers or have been attained through more sneaky methods).
Here are a few reasons why this website makes my top 10:
- Tracking updates and changes. HomDGCat offers the ability to see changes made during the beta to character kits (say, if a character has a function of their ult removed, then you can see it in the “track updates,” section) and light cones.
- Enemy catalog. HomDGCat is a good place to find important information about enemies and enemy types in Honkai: Star Rail.
- Almost too much info. A lot of sites skimp on useful information and tend to go a little short. HomDGCat certainly doesn’t. This site offers as much information as a player could need. So much so that new players might be advised to stick to the character and light cone sections.
- Tutorials. HomDGCat’s wiki gives us tutorials, but not in the way you might be thinking. Ever skip a built-in tutorial from some part of the game and wish you could go back to reread it? Well, HomDGCat lets you do exactly that; they catalog all these tutorials and guides.
- Dialogue line count. Yes, seriously. If this interests you (to know how many lines of dialog are in each patch/update to the story of Star Rail, or to see how many might be in future updates), then this category of the website might be of use to you in particular. Either way, it’s a fun, unique aspect of this wonderful website.
- Items and events. Any new items added to the game you can expect to find here. The same is true of ongoing, previous, and upcoming events!
Stardb.gg
Starbd.gg is another of the countless sites that help you keep track of and record your progress throughout the game. It offers interesting features like a competitive achievement leaderboard (to show you how many players have the most achievements) and a wonderful UI for its wish tracker. With that out of the way, let’s talk about why I’d suggest this website to a new player, or even a returning one:
- Achievement leaderboard. Yeah, that’s right. Stardb.gg is one of the only sites I’ve ever encountered which offers a direct “achievement leaderboard,” for some competition. Here you can see which players using the website have the maximum number of achievements.
- Achievement tracker. You’d need one to have a leaderboard, right? Stardb.gg has a wonderful achievement tracker that lets you sort by difficulty, order, series, and even which have been completed and which haven’t. You can even find those pesky hidden achievements and see the total number of Jades you can get from them, making it an incredibly useful tool for new players looking to make some quick and easy Stellar Jades.
- Warp tracker.Stardb.gg has one of my favorite warp trackers. To be honest, I’ve been using it since I started the game. Maybe I’m biased, but it has everything I could ever need or want laid out so simply. Oh, and if you’re coming from another site, you can import your wishes pretty easily.
- Game versatility. Stardb.gg gives you three options: ZZZ, HSR, and Genshin. Which, if you’re a fan of the Hoyoverse titles, you might be playing all three. Now you’ll never need to worry about going back and forth between websites!
- Shortcuts to additional resources. Under the “shortcuts,” tab, you’ll find some very, very nice shortcuts to farming routes, completionist checklists, and HSR reward alerts. Ditto for the other games.
Star Rail Station
This is a beautifully designed website that gives you a little bit of everything, from story information to the in-game data bank to achievements and material calculations. Let’s talk about why I’d suggest this site:
- Character catalog. Star Rail Station has a pretty little character compendium that’s frequently, and quickly, updated. Here you can see all the details you could ever need for the character you’re interested in.
- Warp tracker. As with many other sites, this one has a built-in warp tracker you can use at any given moment. And, to be honest, it’s quite tempting; the UI is good, the site offers other resources, and they’ve even got beautifully designed text for the character names.
- Ascension planner. Ever wanted to get a character to level 80 right away, the second they launch? Ever felt confused or just not wanted to do the math to calculate how many materials you need to get them to max level? Well, fear no more, because Star Rail Station is here, and they’ll do all the math for you free of charge.
- Achievement tracker. Another site on the list with an achievement tracker, this one is a little less in-depth than Stardb.gg’s. It still lets you search by achievements that have been added in a particular version like, say, 1.1, or 2.1. They also show you how many Jades each achievement gives you. If you’re ever in a pinch and just need 5 more Jades for a pull, why not check out Star Rail Station’s achievement tracker?
- Character skill information & material calculations. You can see all of a character’s most juicy details. Damage multipliers, what percentages look like at certain trace levels, how many materials it’ll cost you to get, say, an ult from level 9 to 10.
Game8
Need an easy-to-use website with lots of articles and information? Want a place that has a message board and allows players to discuss anything related to the game? Well, Game8 offers all the above and more. Let’s talk about what makes the site so good.
- News and updates. Game8 is a fantastic guide site; it always updates, always has news about the game, and even has a message board to top it all off. There’s a section for upcoming rerun characters, too. About everything you could ask for, all in one place!
- Active redemption codes. Ever wanted to immediately find all the active redemption codes in HSR? Like, right now? Well, Game8 has you covered on all fronts!
- Relic scorer. Wanna know the rankings of your relics and how good they are on a certain character? Head over to Game8’s relic scorer, put in all the information you need, and find out just how good that triple crit rolled relic is.
- Builds. Game8 has some very nice, easy-to-read build guides. They even offer information about which characters synergize the best with the one you’re looking to build.
- Tier lists. While they don’t have the best tier lists, they’re still quite good, and it’s understandable why they rank characters the way they do. Besides, it’s quite useful regardless; you’ll want to head on over and take a peek to see who they put where.
- Livestream reviews. Did you miss a livestream or just don’t want to sit through one in its entirety? Game8 has your back with the best of intentions. Just head on over, find the livestream summary for the latest patch, and voila! You’re set.
Keqingmains
The crown jewel of Genshin has just reached escape velocity. The math fiends, those algebraic goblins, are here to save the Hoyoverse one game franchise at a time. They’re the best of the best, but that goes without saying. Why, you ask, are they the best? Let me tell you.
- Stylish infographics. This site has some of the best, most delicious, information-packed infographics and character cards you’ll ever find.
- The best builds, like, ever. Build guides abound, and oh me oh my, they’re the best around. You probably won’t find as interesting or informative guides as these anywhere else on the internet.
- Theorycrafting. Ever wanted to try something weird, not meta at all? Don’t worry; KQM has an army of math nerds happy to serve, with calculations, spreadsheets, and all kinds of mathematical war crimes to remind you of that time you almost cried in pre-calc. You’ll find your silly off-meta picks here. If not now, then someone will inevitably make a guide for it in the future.
- Social community. If you’re someone who loves playing HSR and creating builds, or even just learning about builds, or, for whatever reason, you like to suffer through math and numbers…well, here’s your paradise; KQM has a discord and other social media to bring you one step closer to your calculus fantasies.
- Plethora of character information. You’ll find things about characters you never realized existed or mattered. There are all kinds of things on this site, juicy fruits of knowledge from people who just adore a certain character. You’ll find the mains of all the characters making build guides here.
Honkai.gg
We’ve got a bit of a jack of all trades here with Honkai.gg.Tier lists, builds, guides, events, codes, characters, and more; this site is something you need in your arsenal if even just to browse it from time to time and see what’s new.
- Builds and guides. They’ve got pretty stellar builds and guides for all kinds of characters. Character guides are good for learning how to play a character, what stats to get, which relics, and what team comps to run them in. A high-quality, versatile, and functional component of the site.
- Codes. Yep, yep, yep! Those pesky little Jade-giving codes have finally been pinned down once and for all. You won’t have to go searching very far to find the list of active codes.
- Livestream reviews and news. They’ll post just about everything here, going over what happened in the most recent livestreams, talking about social media posts, and even calculating how many Stellar Jades you can bring home in different versions of the game. If you’re looking to grab Sunday or Fugue, you might want to see their calculation for version 2.6.
- Upcoming events and gamemodes. Want to know what’s hot in HSR but too lazy to pull up a video or go through some pesky Reddit? Here you are, then; Honkai.gg will give you everything you need to know about future events and gamemodes. The ones that have been confirmed by Hoyo, at least.
- Tier lists and databases. Every site needs its tier list. Honkai.gg is no stranger to them. They’ve got databases and tier lists that’ll fit all your needs and satisfy every desire!
Genshinlab
Genshinlab, although primarily centered around Genshin, has some wonderful resources for HSR players. There aren’t too many, and it’s definitely not the best site on this list, but although limited, it does what it sets out to do good enough.
- Multiple games in one. Most of these sites have something similar. Genshinlab’s is out in the open and easy to find. You can see in the above screenshot that there’s a whole category dedicated to different games; ZZZ, HSR, Genshin, WUWA.. If that tickles your fancy, dive right in!
- Tier lists, guides, and more. Wanna know the best units and how to build them? Try out Genshinlab’s wonderful tier lists. They have sections for MoC, PF, and SU. You can see eidolons, trace information, stats, and how many materials it takes to get a character to max level.
- Team building guides. Like fire? Wanna know what the best fire teams are in HSR? Well, Genshinlab has the option to see team comps, sort by gamemode, AND sort by element so you can collect all your silly little wind characters or fiend for mono-quantum.
- Character information. Want to know all about Kafka, and then quickly pivot over to her builds and team comps? Genshinlab makes it easy for you. Just click on the character you want to know about and you’ll have access to everything you could ever need.
- Revenue infographics, popularity charts, and more. This might sound like an odd thing to want to know about or even a peculiar reason to list a website, but it’s true. Though it’s much more limited for HSR, since Genshinlab is a primarily Gensin-centered website, you can still see data for the revenue of the iOS China market.
Hakush.in
Hakush.in is an incredibly powerful, fast, and versatile site. It lets you see all the inventory items in the game, lightcones, and relics, gives you access to beta testing information you might not otherwise have, and offers other relevant character information. Why would I recommend this to HSR players?
- Beta changelog. Wanna know how the next released character gets changed a whole patch in advance? Well, with Hakush.in you can do just that! Pop on in, take a look around the site, and you’ll find the “diff,” section which, when clicked on, will let you see variations in the upcoming character’s kit. You can see how they’re changed, be it the wording of skills or the percentages and scaling.
- Memory of Chaos Changelog. Ever thought it might be nice to know what the next patch’s Memory of Chaos is going to look like? Oooh boy, is Hakush.in the website for you! One of the few websites that provides information from the testing beta servers, here you’ll find the ability to see both the current MoC and the upcoming one, all while being able to see any changes made.
- Relic, light cone, enemy, and achievement database. It’ll blow your socks off, man. They’ve got everything. Wanna know which items go into the inventory? Bam. Item section. Relics or light cones? Boom. Right there! Enemy information and achievements, too!
- Beautiful UI, incredibly fast site. No, seriously. This website is absolutely incredible and one of the fastest I’ve ever used. It’s super accessible, too, which brings us into our next point.
- Easily accessible information. Everything is all neatly arranged just for you, friend. Don’t be shy! Hakush.in has everything you could ever want, all at the tips of your fingers.
- Eidolon information, traces, build guides, and more. With a beautiful UI, Hakush.in gives players the chance to see eidolon information, traces, and even delivers specially curated build guides. If you need to know what stats to get on boots for Lingsha, or what substats she wants to get the most bang for your buck, you’ll adore Hakush.in’s approach to builds.
And that’s all, folks! Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ve found some resources to help you in your Star Rail journey.
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