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Honkai Star Rail: How to get free characters

Here's how to unlock F2P characters in Star Rail.

Artwork showing some of the free characters in Honkai Star Rail including March 7th, Natasha and Serval.
Image credit: HoYoverse

Honkai: Star Rail is the latest gacha game from HoYoverse, the masters of this style of free-to-play game. When you jump into one of these games, you'd usually expect the best and most powerful characters to be locked behind micro-transactions.

And as our Honkai Star Rail Tier List explains, there are plenty of powerful five-star characters you'll want to use your Stellar Jades to Warp for. But Star Rail also offers some great F2P characters to have in your party, including a seriously powerful one that rivals some of the best five-stars.

Here's a full list of all the Honkai Star Rail free characters and details on how to unlock them.

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Honkai Star Rail free characters list

Here's a full list of the free characters in Honkai Star Rail:

  • Trailblazer
  • March 7th
  • Dan Heng
  • Serval
  • Asta
  • Herta
  • Natasha
  • Qingque

Your Trailblazer, which unlocks first, is the only five-star character in this list.

How do you unlock free characters in Honkai Star Rail?

To unlock the majority of free characters in Honkai Star Rail, you simply have to progress through the main story. Different characters unlock entirely for free at different stages of the campaign as you work your way through Trailblaze Missions. The exceptions to this rule are Serval and Qingque.

We've got exact details on how to unlock each character below.

Trailblazer

Honkai Star Rail artwork showing the main Trailblazer characters.
Image credit: HoYoverse

The Trailblazer is the MC of Honkai Star Rail. You get to choose between a male and female version after completing the opening section of HSR where you play as Kafka and Silver Wolf briefly.

The Trailblazer is a 5 star character. Initially, your Trailblazer - which you can name yourself - deals Physical damage and walks the path of Destruction. Later, your Trailblazer can switch to the Preservation path and the Fire element.

The Fire Trailblazer is one of the best characters in Honkai Star Rail. For more details on how to get this version visit our page on how to unlock the Fire Trailblazer. We've also got a guide on the best Trailblazer Physical build.

March 7th

Honkai Star Rail character March 7th wearing an outfit with a clipped to it camera and waving while smiling.
Image credit: HoYoverse

After choosing your Trailblazer, you'll meet March 7th and Dan Heng aboard the Herta Space Station. The bubbly March will then join your party, and is the first character to fight alongside your Trailblazer.

She's a four-star character, like all the other characters on this list apart from the Trailblazer. March 7th is an Ice character, who offers support with defensive shields, but also has an offensive Ultimate that deals ice damage to all enemies. Once you've unlocked March 7th, you might want to check-out our guide for the best March 7th build.

Dan Heng

Artwork showing Honkai Star Rail character Dan Feng posing, looking at the camera deep in thought.
Image credit: HoYoverse

Dan Heng also becomes available to play in the opening stages of HSR when you're aboard the Herta Space Station. He joins your party not long after March 7th.

A Wind character on the Hunt Path, he's one of the most highly rated DPS (damage per second) characters in Honkai Star Rail. His Ultimate deals a huge amount of Wind damage to a single enemy.

Serval

Artwork showing Honkai Star Rail character Serval smiling while sitting next to a weapon.
Image credit: HoYoverse

Unlike other free characters, you don't unlock Serval by progressing through the main story. While you will meet her for the first time on Jarilo-VI, you can add Serval to your party before then. Serval was offered as one of the stretch goals for pre-registration, which was easily hit as Honkai Star Rail got a whopping 10 million pre-registers

.

You can claim this Lightning character via the in-game Mail system, even if you didn't pre-register. You can access your inbox via the Phone menu, and the message to claim Serval will be the first one sent to you.

Asta

Artwork showing Honkai Star Rail character Asta with a huge telescope.
Image credit: HoYoverse

You will be able to unlock Asta after reaching the Master Control Zone area of the Herta Space Station for the first time. Asta unlocks as part of the Warp tutorial. So, you'll technically use a Star Rail Pass to pull for her but it's all part of the tutorial.

Asta is a strong support character that deals Fire damage. Her Ultimate ability, called Astral Blessing, increases the speed of all allies for two turns.

Herta

Artwork showing Honkai Star Rail character Herta.
Image credit: HoYoverse

Herta is available to add to your party after you finish jumping into the Simulated Universe for the first time. She's a colourful character with a distinct personality that makes quite the impression.

However, she's arguably the weakest character in the game so it's best to use one of the other available characters. She does have a pretty cool animation for her Ultimate though, which deals ice damage to all enemies. Her Skill also attacks all enemies with ice damage.

Natasha

Honkai Star Rail healers: An anime woman with green hair, wearing a flowing red and white dress, is standing in a sunny room surrounded by plants.

Natasha becomes available after you reach the Underworld in Jarilo-VI. At launch, she's one of only two healers available in HSR to start with - the other being Bailu who you'll have to Warp for.

This means Natasha is a great F2P option, especially for version 1.0 of the game. Her Skill heals a single ally while her Ultimate, Gift of Rebirth, heals all allies. Her Basic attack deals physical damage to a single enemy.

Qingque

Artwork showing Honkai Star Rail character Qinque alongside tiles that look like pieces from the game mahjong.
Image credit: HoYoverse

Qingque can be unlocked for free after reaching Trailblaze Level 21 and clearing stage 3 of the Forgotten Hall. This Quantum character uses mahjong-style tiles in her attacks, and is affiliated with the Xianzhou Luofu.

Like Herta, she's not one of the strongest characters around. But she's a Quantum character, which is a rare element in Honkai Star Rail so there's times when she could come in handy. Her Ultimate (which is called A Quartet? Woo-hoo!) deals Quantum damage to all enemies.


Honkai Star Rail promo art
Image credit: Hoyoverse

Looking for more help with Honkai Star Rail? Head to our Honkai Star Rail codes page to get useful in-game freebies and visit our Honkai Star Rail Walkthrough which rounds up all of our guide pages. For more handy tips and advice check out Honkai Star Rail Simulated Universe guide as well as pointers on how to increase your Trailblaze Level.

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