Honkai Star Rail pity explained - How to get rate up bonuses

The odds of gacha games may seem stacked against you (and they are), but most know you won't stick around if there's no guarantee you'll ever get the character you're after. That's where the Honkai Star Rail pity system comes into play. Some say it's a little better than the studio's last game, but it isn't without its downers. Here's how it works.

Before we jump into things, we'll explain now that the pity system in Honkai Star Rail works incredibly similar to the one in Genshin Impact. So if you're not a fan of that particular bad luck clause, you may want to refrain from getting too invested into this Hoyoverse title.

Honkai Star Rail pity explained - How it works

Honkai Star Rail employs a pity system designed to ensure you get a four or five-star pull after a specific number of three-star pulls. Not sure who to aim for? Our Honkai Star Rail banners page can tell you who is just over the horizon.

These two pity milestones are independent of one another. Your four-star pity won't break until you pull a four-star, and a five-star pity won't break until you pull a five-star.

Here's a general breakdown:

• Departure Warp banner (disappears after 50 pulls)
  • Guaranteed four-star Character or Light Cone every 10 Warps (chosen at random).
  • Guaranteed five-star character every 50 Warps (randomly selected from Himeko, Welt, Bronya, Gepard, Clara, Yanqing, or Bailu).
• Stellar Warp (permanent banner)
  • Every ten warps guarantee a four-star or above Character or Light Cone.
• Butterfly on Swordtip limited-time Character banner
  • Warps that have not resulted in a 5-star character in any Character Event Warp will carry into the next limited-time character banner.
• Brilliant Fixation
  • Warps that have not resulted in a 5-star Light Cone in any Light Cone Event Warp will carry into the next limited-time Light Cone banner.

Though there's no word on if it's true yet or not, it's generally understood that the Honkai Star Rail pity system will work like Genshin Impact in that if you don't get the rate-up character or Light Cone from a pity break, you're guaranteed to get it from your next pity break.

Can I break pity in another banner?

Permanent banners

With permanent banners like Stellar Warp, which includes both characters and Light Cones from a fixed, rarely-changing loot table, pulls in this banner will build up pity in this banner only.

As the banner will never disappear, neither will your pity until you break it with a four or five-star pull. Pulls made in this banner will not affect, or be affected by, pulls in other banners.

Limited-time event banners

For exampe, pulling in the first limited-time banner "Butterfly on Swordtip" will build up pity, If you don't break pity during its run, it will carry over into the next limited-time Character Event Warp banner.

The same is true for limited-time Light Cone Event Warp banners. These will use a separate pity system that works identically to the others.

So while pity will carry over from one limited-time Light Cone banner to another, building (and breaking) pity in the Light Cone banner will not build up or break your pity on the Character Event Warp banners.

For more Honkai Star Rail guides, check out the tier list and Twitch drops to get some freebies and find your next teammate. And for even more free rewards, Honkai Star Rail codes can't be slept on.