All free Honkai Star Rail characters & how to get them

Shreya Paul
Honkai star rail character artwork

Honkai Star Rail is a free-to-play RPG that features a lot of characters with unique abilities and backgrounds, but not all units are available for free. Here’s a list of all the free characters in Honkai Star Rail and how to get them.

Honkai Star Rail is a turn-based RPG with an ever-expanding roster of characters, and unlocking them all requires a lot of time and money. However, you can unlock specific characters using Star Rail Passes and Special Passes, but even then there’s no guarantee that you will get the ones you want from the banners, especially if you want the game’s five-star units.

Luckily, Honkai Star Rail does have some free characters for you to unlock, which can save you a lot of time and Stellar Jade. So, without further ado, here’s a list of all the free characters in Honkai Star Rail and what you need to do to get them.

Honkai Star Rail: All free characters

honkai star rail character artworkYou can pick any of the 4-star characters that are available for free.

In Honkai Star Rail, there are currently nine free characters that players can unlock. With the arrival of the 1.6 update, players can unlock Lynx through a new game mode. Additionally, they’ll get Dr. Ratio for free when the second phase of the update launches on January 17, 2024.

CharactersRarityElementPath
Trailblazer5-starAdaptiveAdaptive
March 7th4-starIceThe Preservation
Dan Heng4-starWindThe Hunt
Asta4-starFireThe Harmony
Herta4-starIceThe Erudition
Natasha4-starPhysicalThe Abundance
Qingque4-starQuantumThe Erudition
Serval4-starLightningThe Erudition
Yukong4-starImaginaryThe Harmony
Lynx4-StarQuantumThe Abundance
Dr. Ratio5-starImaginaryThe Hunt

Although there are more deadly 5-star characters in-game, most of the free characters that you get are comprised of some of the finest 4-star characters belonging to various paths and elements.

The Trailblazer is the main character in Honkai Star Rail, so all you have to do to get it is to start the game and choose the gender of preference. For the rest of the free Honkai Star Rail characters, here’s how you can unlock them:

Honkai Star Rail characters in Herta Space Station
The first storyline unlocks many free characters in Honkai Star Rail.

How to get March 7th, Dan Heng & Asta for free in Honkai Star Rail

Players can get March 7th, Dan Heng, and Asta very early in Honkai Star Rail. The first two are part of the Astral Express crew, meaning they join the Trailblazer very early in their adventure and can stay as companions from there.

Asta, on the other hand, is a guaranteed pull during the gacha tutorial in Honkai Star Rail, so all players can get this interesting support unit very early as well.

How to get Herta for free in Honkai Star Rail

Herta is the main responsible for the Simulated Universe in Honkai Star Rail, and players can get her by completing World 2 of this game mode. Players can also unlock her Eidolons by beating Worlds 4 and 6, where Herta is one of the main rewards.

Serval in Honkai Star Rail
Players meet Serval in the Belobog storyline but can get her earlier.

How to get Serval for free in Honkai Star Rail

Honkai Star Rail players can get Serval right after starting their adventure in Honkai Star Rail since she’s a reward for a pre-registration milestone. All you have to do is go to your mailbox once it’s available, and you’ll find her there.

How to get Natasha for free in Honkai Star Rail

Natasha can join your Honkai Star Rail adventure once you reach the first half of the Jarilo-VI/Belobog storyline. You’ll need to be Trailblazer Level 14 and talk to her to clear the first objective of the “Lying in Rust” mission.

How to get Qingque for free in Honkai Star Rail

Honkai Star Rail rewards players with Qingque after they complete Memory Stage 3 of Forgotten Hall. You’ll need to be Trailblazer Level 21 to be able to clear that game mode that acted as endgame content when HoYoverse’s RPG just came out.

Yukong in Honkai Star Rail
Yukong has a tragic background that players get to know in the Xianzhou Luofu storyline.

How to get Yukong for free in Honkai Star Rail

To get Yukong in Honkai Star Rail, players need to complete the first stage of Forgotten Hall: Memory of Xianzhou which unlocks after clearing the mission titled “A Dragon Gallant, Its Ocean Distant” in the Xianzhou Luofu storyline.

How to get Lynx for free in Honkai Star Rail

Update 1.6 of Honkai Star Rail finally added a new game mode titled Pure Fiction, giving players the chance to get Lynx by completing its second stage after clearing the “Youci’s Clever Decor” mission. While Lynx is Serval and Gepard‘s sister, she doesn’t play an important role in the Belobog storyline. However, she’ll now get more recognition as the second free-to-acquire healer in the game.

Dr. Ratio in Honkai Star Rail
Dr. Ratio is the latest free character in Honkai Star Rail.

How to get Dr. Ratio for free in Honkai Star Rail

All players need to do to get Dr. Ratio is log into the game before the end of version 2.1 and complete the mission The Blue – A Moment of Peace. This five-star unit is another reward Honkai Star Rail players can get after the RPG won in the Best Mobile Game category of The Game Awards 2023.

That’s all you need to know about the free characters in Honkai Star Rail. In the meantime, make sure to check out our Honkai Star Rail content for all the latest guides and updates:

Honkai Star Rail The Adventurous Moles quest guide All Honkai Star Rail Administrative District Treasure Chest locations Honkai Star Rail PC and mobile requirements How to unlock daily missions in Honkai Star Rail | Honkai Star Rail To The Faint Star Quest guide: Missing piece locations | Honkai Star Rail The Adventurous Moles quest guide: All page locations & solutions

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About The Author

Shreya started gaming back in school, with Clash of Clans in 2006. After that, she moved on to different FPS titles on mobile, and RPGs on PC. Her favorite games include the Dark Pictures series, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Hogwarts Legacy, and Fortnite. She has previously worked at Pro Game Guides as a Freelance Contributing Writer. Currently, she is working as a Games Writer for Dexerto since April, 2023.