Honkai: Star Rail players can equip their characters with a wide array of Light Cores, each capable of offering effects sure to make a difference while in battle. But what exactly are the light cores, and how exactly do they work? Now, here’s everything you need to know about the light cores featured in Honkai: Star Rail.
What Are Light Cones in Honkai Star Rail and How They Work
The Light Cores in Honkai: Star Rail work in the same way as the weapons in Genshin Impact, as equipping them will allow you to both increase your select character’s stats and imbue them with a passive. Each playable character will also have their own themed Light Cone.
But there are a few main points in which the Light Cones differentiate from the system featured on Genshin, as a character is only capable of equipping one at a time and only a character whose path matches that of the item will be able to make use of its passive. Light Cones will be available in rarities varying from 3 to 5 stars.
In Star Rail, you can level up your Light Cones by expending materials in order to ascend them, as well as increase their passive effects by Superimposing them to an upper rarity. You will need to expend one copy of the item in order to Superimpose it.
Related: All Honkai: Star Rail 4 and 5-star Characters And How to Get Them
How to Get Light Cones on Honkai: Star Rail
You can get Light Cones in Honkai: Star Rail by completing quests, taking part in events, completing other in-game activities as well as by pulling on the game’s Standard, Starter, and Event Warp banners. They will also be available as part of the in-game exchange shop.
Some 5-star Light Cones will only be available as part of their own Light Cone Event Warp banner, which will always run simultaneously with that of its featured character.
All 5-Star Light Cones and Their Effects
As the game has not been released yet, the only 5-star Light Cones we can say for sure will be available on release will be the ones related to the starter 5-star characters as well as to both Seele and Jing Yuan.
You can check out all 5-star Light Cones expected to be featured on Honkai: Star Rail’s version 1.0 as well as their base effects, below. The values of each Light Cone are based on their beta values. The list will be updated once the game debuts on April 26, 2023.
| Name | Featured Character | Path | Base Effect |
| Before Dawn | Jing Yuan | The Erudition | Increases CRIT DMG by 35% as well as its wielders’ Skill and Ultimate damage by 20%. The wielder will also receive the Somnus Corpus effect after using either. The effect will increase their follow-up attack damage by 48% and will be consumed after triggering one. |
| In the Name of the World | Welt | The Nihility | Increases its wielder’s effect hit rate by 28%. The wielder of the Cone will also gain an 8% Crit Rate increase after dealing additional damage. Up to three stacks can be gained this way. |
| In the Night | Seele | The Hunt | Increases CRIT Rate by 12% as well as its wielder’s Basic ATK and Skill damage by 15% and their Ultimate DMG by 8% for each 10 SPD exceeding 100. Can stack up to 8 times. |
| Moment of Victory | Gepard | The Preservation | Increases its wielder’s DEF and their effect Crit Rate by 20%, while also making them more likely to be targeted by enemies. During their turn, increases it’s wielder’s DEF by another 20%. |
| Night on the Milky Way | Himeko | The Erudition | Increases its wielder’s ATK by 8% (max 5 stacks) for each enemy on the field. Increases ATK by another 24% for one turn after an enemy suffers a Weakness Break. |
| Something Irreplaceable | Clara | The Destruction | Increases ATK by 20%. After the wielder of the light cone defeats an enemy, they will both restore their HP based on 6% of their ATK, as well as gain a 20% damage increase until the end of the turn. |
| The Battle Isn’t Over | Bronya | The Harmony | Increases its wielder energy regeneration by 8%. The wilder of the light cone will also regenerate one skill point after performing their Ultimate on an ally and increase the damage of the next ally taking action by 20% after using their skill. |
| Time Waits for No One | Bailu | The Abundance | Increase Max HP by 23% and healing by 12%. After healing your allies, the amount of healing will be stored. When an ally deals damage after the turn where the healing occurred, a randomly targeted enemy will receive damage equal to 50% of the healed value. Can only occur once per turn. |
| Sleep Like the Dead | Yanqing | The Hunt | Increases CRIT DMG by 32%. After a skill or a normal attack does not trigger a CRIT, increases the CRIT Rate of its wielder by 40%, Can only be triggered one time every 3 turns. |
All 3 and 4-Star Light Cones and Their Effects
Just like the 5-star ones, there’s no way to know which Light Cones, apart from the ones related to the set to be available 4-star characters, will be available in the final version. But rest assured, we will update the list at the moment version 1.0 drops.
You can check out all Light Cones confirmed to have been owned or directly related to the game’s starter (or rumored) 4-stars and their effects below, based on the values featured during the latest beta stage and currently present in the Honkai: Star Rail Wiki.
| Name | Featured Character | Path | Base Effect |
| A Secret Vow (4-star) | Arlan | The Destruction | Increases its wielder’s damage by 20%. Its wielder will also deal 20% more DMG to enemies with a higher HP percentage them theirs. |
| Day One of My New Life (4-star) | March 7th | The Preservation | Increase DEF by 16% and the DMG resistance of the whole team by 8%. |
| Only Silence Remains (4-star) | Dan Heng | The Hunt | Increase ATK by 16% when facing two enemies or fewer. The CRIT RATe of the character wielding this Light Cone will also be increased by 12%. |
| Eyes of the Prey (4-star) | Sampo | The Nihility | Increases its wielder’s attack effect hit rate by 20%, as well as their damage over time by 24%. |
| Good Night and Sleep Well (4-star) | Pela | The Nihility | Increases its wilder’s overall damage by 12% for every debuff the targeted enemy currently has. Can stack up to three times. |
| Make the World Clamor (4-star) | Serval | The Erudition | The character equipped with this item will regenerate 20 energy after entering battle. Their Ultimate damage is also increased by 24%. |
| Planetary Rendezvous (4-star) | Asta | The Harmony | Increases the wielder of the character equipping this Light Cone by 12% if all the characters in the party deal the same kind of elemental damage. |
| The Moles Welcome You (4-star) | Hook | The Destruction | The wearer of this cone will gain a stack of Mistiveus after performing either a normal attack, Skill, or Ultimate. Each stack will increase their ATK by 12%. |
| Swordplay (4-star) | Sushang | The Hunt | After hitting the same target, the wielder of this item will have their overall DMG increased by 15%. Can stack up to 5 times and will be reset once you change targets. |
Now that you know everything you need to know about the Light Cones set to be featured in the game, don’t forget to also check out All Honkai Star Rail Paths, Explained.
