All 10 Light Cones in Honkai: Star Rail You Can Obtain for Free

Light Cones play a crucial role in the world of Honkai: Star Rail, serving as powerful weapons that enhance characters’ abilities and stats. Unlike Relic sets, which require pulling from gacha banners, there are a few free Light Cones that dedicated players can obtain through grinding. These Light Cones are permanently available and don’t require pulling from banners. Let’s take a look at each free Light Cone you can get in Honkai: Star Rail.

Where to Find Free Light Cones

At the start of Honkai: Star Rail, you’ll receive three-star Light Cones for your initial free units. These Light Cones can be easily enhanced by obtaining additional copies of the same item from banner pulls. Other free Light Cones can be obtained from two primary sources: Herta’s Shop and the Forgotten Hall.

Herta’s Shop

Herta’s Shop is connected to the Simulated Universe, where you can select randomized power-ups to battle through different worlds. Here, you can find three five-star Light Cones, custom-made Superimposers to strengthen those Light Cones, and Star Rail passes that can be purchased with Herta Bonds.

Here are the Light Cones available at Herta’s Shop:

On the Fall of an Aeon (The Destruction): Costs 8 Herta Bonds
Texture of Memories (The Preservation): Costs 8 Herta Bonds
Cruising in the Stellar Sea (The Hunt): Costs 8 Herta Bonds

To obtain Herta Bonds, you’ll need to clear new Worlds in the Simulated Universe and accumulate enough points to clear your rewards queue every week. While you won’t have enough Herta Bonds right away, with time, you can increase your Trailblaze Level, progress through the story, and level up your team. Eventually, you’ll become strong enough to complete every Simulated Universe World.

You’ll receive two Herta Bonds for clearing each World for the first time at the lowest difficulty level. By clearing each World up to World 7, you can already obtain 14 Herta Bonds. The remaining Herta Bonds come from weekly Point Rewards, which refresh regularly. By reaching 9,600 points, you can earn one Herta Bond per week, which should take about two to three runs through any level, even if you don’t complete it entirely.

It may take some time to unlock the second and third five-star Light Cones and even longer to strengthen them with superimpositions.

Light Cone Manifest Store

The Light Cone Manifest store becomes available after unlocking the Forgotten Hall through the Fleeting Lights mission. Shopping at the Light Cone Manifest requires Lucent Afterglow, obtained by completing stages in the Forgotten Hall and Echo of War challenges. In addition to Lucent Afterglow, the Forgotten Hall rewards you with Stellar Jade, XP books, Aether, and other resources necessary for leveling up characters and Light Cones.

Here are the Light Cones available at the Light Cone Manifest:

River Flows in Spring (The Hunt)
Woof! Walk Time! (The Destruction)
Fermata (The Nihility)
Past and Future (The Harmony)
We Are Wildfire (The Preservation)
Quid Pro Quo (The Abundance)
The Seriousness of Breakfast (The Erudition)

Each Light Cone in the Light Cone Manifest costs 200 Lucent Afterglow, and each stage completion grants you eight Lucent Afterglow. However, the majority of your Lucent Afterglow will come from completing the Echo of War challenges on a weekly basis.

Which Light Cone Should You Buy First from Herta’s Shop?

The choice depends on your personal preferences and the characters you have obtained from gacha banners. Eventually, you should aim to acquire every five-star Light Cone from Herta’s Shop. These Light Cones are the easiest to obtain for free, and they provide significant benefits to Destruction, Preservation, or Hunt characters.

Your initial pick should consider your main damage dealer and your team setup. For example, I chose “Cruising in the Stellar Sea” to strengthen my main damage dealer, Seele. I then acquired Texture of Memories to provide my shield, Gepard, with one of the most powerful Light Cones in the game. Since I lacked suitable Preservation Light Cones, aside from the three-star Amber, which fell short in late-game content, I left “On the Fall of an Aeon” for later. However, if I had decided to main a Destruction character like Arlan, my choice might have been different.

Which Light Cone Should You Buy First from the Light Cone Manifest?

Most Light Cones from the Light Cone Manifest store are better than their three-star counterparts but not as powerful as the five-star ones. If you already have a five-star Hunt Light Cone, you probably don’t need “River Flows in Spring.” The same applies to other Light Cones in comparison to their five-star alternatives.

Consider choosing “Past and Future” or “Fermata” if you don’t have better options for Harmony or Nihility characters. Herta’s five-star Light Cones are better choices for Destruction, Preservation, and Hunt characters. Abundance characters can make good use of a three-star Cornucopia Light Cone, especially when enhanced with additional copies.

Note: Light Cones from the Light Cone Manifest store can also appear in standard and limited-time banners. Therefore, there’s no rush to acquire them right away, especially when they can be obtained from multiple sources.

Farming for Light Cones in Honkai: Star Rail

Yes, it is possible to obtain other free Light Cones in Honkai: Star Rail through banner pulls and participating in limited-time events. However, the Light Cones listed in this guide can be farmed from permanent challenges without the need to pull from banners.

Technically, you can acquire five-star Light Cones for free from the Starlight Exchange. However, each of these five-star Light Cones costs 600 Undying Starlight.

Undying Starlight is obtained when drawing four- and five-star characters and Light Cones from banners. Accumulating enough Undying Starlight to acquire these Light Cones would require multiple pulls from banners. Farming enough Stellar Jade for these Light Cones will take significantly more time compared to obtaining the other free Light Cones mentioned in this guide.

Limited-time events may also offer free Light Cones as rewards for participation. For instance, the Starhunt Game event with Silver Wolf offered the Before the Tutorial Starts Nihility Light Cone, which became a popular choice for players who enjoyed using Nihility characters.

Honkai: Star Rail is available for PC, iOS, and Android.

Editors’ Recommendations: