Materials

Every material and currency in Honkai: Star Rail falls into one of six groups, each serving exactly one upgrade purpose:

• Credits: the base currency for every upgrade track — leveling characters, unlocking Ascension milestones, upgrading Light Cones, and enhancing Relics all draw from it.
• Character/Light Cone/Relic EXP: three separate EXP systems, each split into three rarity tiers — Character EXP, for instance, runs Travel Encounters, Adventure Log, and Traveler's Guide, each book worth more EXP than the last.
• Ascension materials: unlock each level cap milestone, dropped mainly from Stagnant Shadow by region, split across three rarity tiers.
• Trace materials: unlock and level a character's passive skill tree (Trace), farmed mainly from Calyx (Crimson) and regular enemies.
• Monster-drop materials (common and weekly boss): enemy-family items, mostly used to synthesize higher-tier Trace materials; the rarest tier only drops from Echo of War (weekly boss), capped per week.
• Crafting materials and miscellaneous items: converted through the Omni-Synthesizer or picked up from Assignments and destructible map objects — mostly there to cover you when you're short on the exact tier you need.

Knowing the right group lets you filter the item board below fast, instead of scrolling past hundreds of unrelated names.

Each material group has exactly one or two main farming sources — knowing them upfront saves your Trailblaze Power:

• Calyx: the cheapest source, only 10 Trailblaze Power per run, and multiple runs can be stacked into one tap. Calyx (Golden) drops Character EXP, Light Cone EXP, and Credits; Calyx (Crimson), spread across several regions, drops Trace materials.
• Stagnant Shadow: the main source for Ascension materials, with each region dropping its own material used by a specific group of characters.
• Echo of War (weekly boss): the only source for the rarest Trace materials, refreshing every Monday with a capped number of attempts per week — clear them all before the reset, since unused ones don't carry over.
• Assignment: send idle characters on background tasks for Credits and materials at zero Trailblaze Power cost — the free source most players forget to check.
• Daily Training: clearing your daily tasks adds roughly 30,000 Credits a day (single-source, unverified), and stacking it steadily beats grinding it all at once on the weekend.
• Simulated Universe and the endgame modes: secondary sources for Credits, materials, and Stellar Jade every week or cycle.
• Omni-Synthesizer: trade 3 lower-tier materials for 1 higher-tier one — use it when you're stuck on exactly the tier you need without another farming run.

Not sure which type the character you're raising actually needs? Use the page's materials calculator to get an exact list instead of farming blind on a guess.

Ascension has 6 level-cap milestones, each requiring a growing amount of Credits — get this table straight before committing to a new character:

• 6 Ascension milestones: Lv20/30/40/50/60/70, each one unlocking 10 more level cap up to Lv80; at the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Ascension you also get 1 free Warp pass.
• Cost per milestone: Lv20 = 4,000 Credits, Lv30 = 8,000, Lv40 = 16,000, Lv50 = 40,000, Lv60 = 80,000, Lv70 = 160,000 — all 6 milestones total roughly 308,000 Credits, matching the page's overall item stockpile.
• The LEVEL track alone (not counting Ascension, Trace, or Light Cone): roughly 580,000 Credits to bring one character from scratch to Lv80. If you see a much higher figure elsewhere (like 887,800), that writeup folded Ascension Credits into the same total — not a measurement error.
• EXP-to-Credit ratio when leveling a character: roughly every 10 EXP consumed costs an extra 1 Credit under the EXP-book spending formula — this figure only has one source so far, unverified, good enough for a quick estimate only.

Since each milestone always costs more Credits than the one before it, spreading Credits evenly across milestones always beats trying to rush straight to Lv80 in one go.

A few figures below have been cross-checked across multiple languages, reliable enough to plan a long farming run around:

• ~3.0-3.6 million Credits to fully raise one character (level, Trace, Ascension, and its Light Cone) — the figure varies by character and cone, not a fixed number that applies to everyone.
• 15/15/15 Ascension materials (across three rarity tiers) to fully clear one 5-star character's Ascension track. If you see 154 somewhere else, that's the TOTAL including Trace materials too, not Ascension alone.
• ~65 Echo of War materials (weekly boss) to max out a character's entire Trace tree — this one swings quite a bit by character, so treat it as a reference rather than a fixed number.
• EXP books for 1→80: roughly 290 Traveler's Guide (the top tier) if you only use one kind, or a mix of about 128 Travel Encounters, 640 Adventure Log, and 41 Traveler's Guide if you blend all three tiers — both add up to the same total EXP, not a contradiction.
• Omni-Synthesizer's 3-for-1 trade: a fixed crafting mechanic — use it the moment you're short on exactly the tier you need, saving an extra farming run.

Gathering enough materials to fully raise one 5-star character usually takes about 28 days of steady grinding (an estimate for one specific playstyle, not an official figure) — use the page's materials calculator to work out your own exact timeline.

A few common mistakes waste new players' Credits, EXP, or Trailblaze Power without them noticing:

• Farming Relics before EXP and Ascension are settled: EXP, Credits, and Trace all land guaranteed value, while Relics drop random stats — pouring Trailblaze Power into Relics too early just slows down your main character's actual leveling.
• Missing weekly Echo of War attempts: the attempt count is capped and does NOT carry over — skip a week and that week's rare Trace material is gone for good.
• Dumping Credits and EXP into a character you're not sure you'll keep using: neither can be refunded once spent, so think it through before leveling anyone outside your main roster.
• Forgetting Assignment every day: a free source of Credits and materials that costs zero Trailblaze Power, but only pays out if you actively send characters — skip it a few days and that passive reward is gone.
• Farming blind without checking what you actually need: plenty of players grind at random and still come up short right when an Ascension milestone hits — checking the page's materials calculator before a farming session tells you exactly where to farm from the start.

Learn these five traps and you save yourself a whole week of wasted farming down the line.