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Honkai Star Rail pity system explained

Work out when your next four-star or five-star is guaranteed using the Honkai Star Rail pity system to get your favorite characters and Light Cones.

Honkai Star Rail pity system: A headshot of Himeko looking to the side.

How does the Honkai Star Rail pity system work? Many gacha games feature a pity system of some sorts to guarantee players a top tier item after a certain number of pulls. The top question on many people’s minds is ‘Does Honkai Star Rail have a pity system?’. Luckily, we’ve got all the answers you need. This guide will cover everything you need to know about the Honkai Star Rail pity system, including how it works, the pull rates, and whether pity carries over between banners.

If you’re diving into the Honkai Star Rail pity system, then you’ll also want to know all you can about Honkai Star Rail 1.0 banners so you know what characters you can get at launch. Understanding Honkai Star Rail Undying Starlight can also help you get the characters you want without rely on the pity system. On that note, checking out the Honkai Star Rail tier list will give you an idea of what characters are the best in the RPG game right now. And to get more pulls on Event banners, you are going to want to know about Honkai Star Rail Stellar Jade and how to get it.

Does Honkai Star Rail have a pity system?

Yes, Honkai Star Rail features a pity system to guarantee five-star and four-star items after a certain number of pulls.

Like Genshin Impact, you are given pity with each pull to eventually guarantee you can get the valuable characters and Light Cones available in whichever banner you are wishing on. Read on to find out more about the system so you don’t miss out.

How does the pity system work in Honkai Star Rail?

Banner Four-Star Pity Five-Star Pity
Character Event Warp 10 Warps 90 Warps (limited to characters)
Light Cone Event Warp 10 Warps 80 Warps (limited to Light Cones)
Stellar Warp (standard banner) 10 Warps 90 Warps
Departure Warp (starter banner) 10 Warps 50 Warps (limited to characters)

In Honkai Star Rail, you are given pity with each warp that is not a five-star or four-star item, with pity tracked individually. When you reach the hard pity cap for either, you will be guaranteed one of these drops.

As the table shows, the pity system varies depending on the banner type. For example, in the Character Event Warp banners, a five-star character is guaranteed on the 90th pull, though you could get one on any pull before this if luck is on your side. On the other hand, in the Light Cone Event Warp, you will be guaranteed a five-star Light Cone on the 80th pull, though again, you could get one earlier.

However, in all banners, every 10th pull is guaranteed to be a four-star item so you’ll always have that to look forward to. Likewise, you can also get a four-star before the 10th pull.

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Note that once you receive your five-star drop, your pity will reset back to zero before starting again. Receiving a four-star drop will not reset your five-star pity count.

Hard pity refers to the maximum number of pulls it will take to guarantee a rarity item drops. For instance, the hard pity in the Character Event Warp banners is 90. Meanwhile, soft pity refers to the point at which getting a rarity drop increases in probability before reaching the hard pity cap. This is usually around 60-70 pity, though this could change.

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Does pity carry over between banners in Honkai Star Rail?

Yes, pity does carry over between banners of the same type in Honkai Star Rail. This means that if you don’t get the character or Light Cone you wanted in the event banner, your pity will continue into the next event banner of the same type.

It’s worth noting that your pity will not carry over between different banner types. For instance, Standard banner pity is counted individually from the Character Event Warp or Light Cone Event Warp banners. This is likely because they require different currencies to acquire.

What are the banner pull rates in Honkai Star Rail?

Banner Four-Star Pull Rate (%) Five-Star Pull Rate (%)
Character Event Warp 5.1 0.6
Light Cone Event Warp 6.6 0.8
Stellar Warp (standard banner) 5.1 0.6
Departure Warp (starter banner) 5.1 0.6

These are the banner pull rates for each type in Honkai Star Rail. This can be paired with the percentage chance to get the featured item in Event Warps:

  • Character Event Warp – 50% chance of five-star drop to be the featured character
  • Light Cone Event Warp – 75% chance of five-star drop to be the featured Light Cone

This means that, when you do get your five-star drop from the pity system, there is a percentage chance that it will be the featured item on that banner. Taking the Character Event Warp as an example, there is a 50% chance that the five-star drop will be the featured character. If you ‘lose’ the 50/50, then your next five-star drop will be guaranteed to be the featured five-star character.

It will take an absolute maximum of 180 pulls to get the featured five-star character in the Character Event Warp banner. Similarly, it will take a maximum of 160 pulls to get the featured five-star Light Cone in the Light Cone Event Warp banner.

That’s everything you need to know about the Honkai Star Rail pity system and banner rates. If luck is on your side then you’ll add another five-star to your collection of Honkai Star Rail characters before taking on the Honkai Star Rail Forgotten Hall endgame activity. Good luck, Trailblazer.