All Honkai Star Rail currencies explained: How different currencies work in Star Rail

What do all the currencies in Honkai: Star Rail actually do? Free-to-play games like Honkai: Star Rail have a tendency to throw a lot of different currencies at the player, the idea being to confuse you to the point where you're not entirely sure what you've really spent and/or how much time you're going to have to put in to get the stuff you want for free. Honestly, HoYoverse's gacha games aren't the worst offenders I've ever seen, but they are still ridiculously over-complicated.

If you're unsure as to what all the various tokens in your digital wallet actually do, here's an explainer as to what every Honkai: Star Rail currency can be used for in the game.

Honkai: Star Rail currencies explained

Credits

Credits are the main in-story currency in Honkai: Star Rail. They accumulate pretty much constantly whenever you complete activities in the game, and can be used to buy items from merchants, as well as to buy upgrades for your characters and Light Cone weapons.

Stellar Jade

You're going to want lots of Stellar Jade if you intend to engage with Star Rail's gacha, since this is the currency F2P players will use to purchase pulls for characters and equipment. You earn Stellar Jade whenever you complete some sort of milestone in the game, such as completing quests, taking part in events, and most other forms of progression.

Oneiric Shards

Oneiric Shards are the premium currency of Honkai: Star Rail, the ones you buy with real-world money from the in-game store at a frankly ridiculous mark-up. They can then be converted into Stellar Jade at a rate of 1:1.

Star Rail Pass

One Star Rail Pass can be exchanged for one pull on a permanent banner in Honkai: Star Rail's gacha. They can be purchased for 160 Stellar Jade each, and are very occasionally gifted to the player as part of a special event or promotion.

Star Rail Special Pass

One Star Rail Special Pass can be exchanged for one pull on a limited-time event banner in Honkai: Star Rail's gacha. They can be purchased for 160 Stellar Jade each, and are very occasionally gifted to the player as part of a special event or promotion.

Undying Starlight

You earn a small amount of Undying Starlight for every gacha pull that results in a 3-star or lower item being received. Starlight can then be used to purchase low-value items from the in-game store, such as levelling materials.

Undying Embers

You earn a small amount of Undying Embers for every gacha pull that results in a duplicate of a 4-star or 5-star item or unit you already own. In sufficient quantities, Embers can then be used to purchase higher-value items from the in-game store, such as additional characters.

Honkai: Star Rail's gacha and currency conversion system is basically identical to the currencies featured in HoYoverse's previous game, Genshin Impact. For players already familiar with the latter, here's a brief cheat sheet to help you quickly get to grips with Star Rail's currencies:

If you need some help deciding which characters to spend your precious free currencies pulling for, check out our Honkai: Star Rail character tier list to see who our top picks are. For the latest news on the game's Version 1.0 release, take a look at our Honkai: Star Rail release date page.