Honkai Star Rail Relic Farming Guide: Sets, Stats, and Sources

Relics are the backbone of character optimization in Honkai Star Rail. A well-rolled relic set can push a character from serviceable to genuinely dominant in endgame content like the Forgotten Hall and Apocalyptic Shadow. The problem is the system has a lot of moving parts: two relic categories, dozens of sets, six gear slots, and a sub-stat lottery that will test your patience. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to farm smarter.

What are relics in Honkai Star Rail?

Relics function as the game's equipment system. Each character has six slots, and filling them with the right pieces from the right sets provides passive stat bonuses that scale with your build. According to the game8.co relic guide, relics are split into two distinct categories: Cavern Relics and Planar Ornaments.

Cavern Relics occupy four slots: Head, Hands, Body, and Feet. Each Cavern Relic set comes with both a 2-piece and a 4-piece bonus, so you can run a full set for the stronger effect or mix two different 2-piece bonuses depending on what your character needs.

Planar Ornaments fill the Planar Sphere and Link Rope slots. These sets only provide a 2-piece bonus, and the Planar Sphere is the exclusive source of elemental damage boost main stats. You cannot get Fire DMG Boost or Quantum DMG Boost from any other slot.

Cavern Relic slot overview

How do relic stats work?

Main stats vs. sub-stats

Every relic has one main stat that scales up as you level the piece, and up to four sub-stats that are added or upgraded at random when you enhance it. The main stat is fixed by slot, so you always know what you're targeting before you even pick up a piece.

Here's a quick reference for which main stats appear on each slot:

Sub-stats are drawn from a shared pool that includes HP (flat and percent), ATK (flat and percent), DEF (flat and percent), Speed (flat), Break Effect%, Effect RES%, Effect Hit Rate%, CRIT Rate%, and CRIT DMG%. When you enhance a relic, one of the existing sub-stats gets boosted at random, or a new sub-stat slot unlocks if you haven't hit four yet.

Relic tier and enhancement limits

Not every relic can be leveled the same amount. The enhancement ceiling scales with rarity:

For endgame builds, you want 5-star relics at +15. That's the only tier that hits the stat ceiling and gives you the most sub-stat upgrade chances. Enhancing lower-tier relics is useful early on, but treat them as temporary.

Where to farm relics

Caverns of Corrosion

The primary farming spot for Cavern Relics is the Caverns of Corrosion, which unlocks after progressing through the Jarilo-VI storyline. There are 6 difficulty tiers tied to your Equilibrium Level. Higher Equilibrium Levels increase your odds of pulling 5-star relics, so pushing your Equilibrium Level before grinding seriously is worth the effort.

Each Cavern of Corrosion run drops relics for the Head, Hands, Body, and Feet slots. Different caverns drop different relic sets, so check which cavern carries your target set before spending Trailblaze Power.

Simulated Universe

Planar Ornaments come exclusively from the Simulated Universe, located in Herta's Office on the Herta Space Station. You unlock relic drops after reaching World 3. After defeating an Elite Enemy inside a run, you can interact with the Immersion Rewards node, which costs either 1 Immersifier or 40 Trailblaze Power to claim.

Different Simulated Universe worlds drop different Planar Ornament sets, so the same principle applies: know your target set and farm the right world.

Simulated Universe ornament reward

Other sources

Relics aren't only obtainable through grinding. According to the game8.co guide, several additional sources exist:

• Operation Briefing tasks (Interastral Peace Guide) reward relics for completing objectives
• World Shops in each area sell a full 4-piece relic set using that world's currency
• Treasure Chests scattered across exploration areas sometimes contain relics
• Trailblaze Missions (main story quests) occasionally reward relics
• Trailblaze Level milestones grant reward packages from Pom-Pom that can include relics

World Shops are especially useful early on. Buying a complete 4-piece set gives you a guaranteed starting point for a build while you farm for better-rolled pieces.

How to enhance relics

Enhancing relics requires either feeding lower-tier relics as fodder or using dedicated upgrade materials: Lost Lightdusts, Lost Gold Fragments, and Lost Crystals. These materials drop from the Forgotten Hall and from salvaging relics you don't need. The Salvage function in your inventory converts unwanted relics into these upgrade materials, so don't just delete bad pieces outright.

For a broader look at character optimization strategies and more Honkai Star Rail content, browse more guides on GAMES.GG.

All current relic sets at a glance

Notable Cavern Relic sets

With over 25 Cavern Relic sets available as of version 4.1, here are some of the most relevant for current endgame builds, based on the game8.co relic database:

Notable Planar Ornament sets

Planar Ornament set selection

What's the best way to target specific sub-stats?

There's no way to directly control which sub-stats appear on a relic. The system is random. What you can control is how efficiently you evaluate pieces and when to stop investing in a bad one.

A few practical rules after testing relic rolls across multiple characters:

• Stop enhancing at +9 or +12 if the sub-stats that appeared are completely off-build. Continuing to +15 on a piece with four useless sub-stats wastes enhancement materials.
• Head and Hands main stats are always fixed (flat HP and flat ATK respectively), so sub-stat quality matters more on those two slots than anywhere else.
• Body and Feet are your biggest priority targets because the main stat pool is widest and a wrong main stat (like DEF% on a DPS character's Feet) is a hard disqualifier regardless of sub-stats.
• Use the Relic Scorer tool referenced in the game8.co guide to evaluate whether a piece is worth continuing to invest in before spending more materials.

Relic farming in Honkai Star Rail is a long game. The goal isn't perfect relics immediately; it's building a pipeline of decent pieces that you gradually replace as better rolls appear. Spending Trailblaze Power consistently on your target cavern or Simulated Universe world is more efficient than hoarding it for a single session.