HSR Beginner Roadmap: Week 1 to Month 1, No Wasted Jade
Don't spend real jade in week one — just clear the main story to unlock game systems and stack up free jade first. Each pull costs 160 Stellar Jade (or 1 Star Rail Pass), hard pity lands at pull 90, and rates climb sharply from around pull 74 so most players get their 5-star near pull 77; if you lose the 50/50, your next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured character, so worst case is a maximum of 180 pulls. Daily Training alone (60 jade/day) plus weekly Simulated Universe (225 jade + 1 pass/week) already nets around 2,700 jade in your first month — almost 17 pulls — save it all for the limited banner. Hold off on serious relic farming until you hit Trailblaze Level 40 and have pushed Equilibrium Level up a fair bit.
Week 1: Clear the story first, don't touch your gacha jade yet
When you're brand new, resist the urge to spam-pull on anything. Your first job is to blitz through the main story (Trailblazer missions) as fast as you comfortably can, because every new chapter tends to unlock a whole game system — Simulated Universe, the relic dungeon (Cavern of Corrosion), the shop — and dumps a pile of free Stellar Jade, Star Rail Passes and skill books on you as a reward. The main story is by far the biggest free jade source in week one; skipping it to go grind side content instead is the single biggest waste of time a new player can make.
While you're at it, knock out every quest with an exclamation-mark icon (companion missions, area quests) as soon as you see them — most are one-time-only and pay out jade directly. Let them pile up past week two and you'll just forget about them.
As for pulling: leave your real jade alone this week. The game hands every new account its own one-time beginner banner (Departure Warp), which uses only the free passes you're given at the start, guarantees a 5-star within 50 pulls, and even gives a 20% discount on pass cost. Burn that free banner out completely before you even think about spending real jade.
Equilibrium Level is a double-edged sword — push it, but at your own pace
Equilibrium Level is the game's overall difficulty setting, capped at level 7, and it rises alongside fixed Trailblaze Level milestones (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 65) — each milestone requires clearing a Trial of Equilibrium quest before you can level up further. Raising it makes enemies tougher, but it also boosts rewards from Calyxes, the Cavern of Corrosion (relic dungeon), Simulated Universe, and Echo of War, plus your daily Trailblaze EXP gains.
So don't be scared of raising Equilibrium Level — it's not something to avoid, it's free extra loot. The real trap is the opposite: dragging an underleveled team into hard content (like Memory of Chaos) just to force your Equilibrium up faster. That just burns Trailblaze Power on repeated losses. Keep progressing the story and gearing your team at a steady pace, and Equilibrium Level will climb naturally on its own.
Level up FEW characters — commit to one main team
The classic new-player mistake is falling for every flashy character and trying to build all of them at once. Upgrade materials — EXP, credits, skill books — are scarce in month one, and spreading them across 8-10 characters leaves every single one under-built and unable to clear anything remotely difficult.
Pick exactly 4 characters for your main team, based on whatever strong 5-star/4-star units you already own or pulled, and pour every credit, skill book, and Light Cone upgrade material into just those four. Only once that core team is solid should you think about building a second squad for other content, like Pure Fiction or Apocalyptic Shadow.
Pull smart: skip the standard banner, save everything for limited ones
HSR runs two banner types: the standard banner (Stellar Warp — a fixed pool that never changes) and time-limited Character Event Warps. Every pull costs 160 Stellar Jade or 1 Star Rail Pass. The standard banner looks 'safe' because it's cheap to burn spare passes on, but never spend real jade there — the odds are identical to the limited banner, yet the characters are older and weaker.
Here's how pity works: pull 90 times and you're guaranteed a 5-star (hard pity), with rates climbing sharply from around pull 74 onward, so most players land their 5-star around pull 77 on average. Limited banners add the 50/50 rule on top: your first 5-star has a 50% chance of being the featured character and a 50% chance of being a random standard character instead (losing the 50/50); but if you lose, your very next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured character. Worst case, that's a maximum of 180 pulls to lock in one specific limited character.
Month-one rule of thumb: stockpile every bit of jade and spend it only on the limited banner of a character you genuinely want, finish that one banner before jumping to the next. Splitting jade across two half-finished banners at once is how you throw away a guaranteed pull.
Free jade income week by week — and when relic farming is actually worth it
There are four steady free jade sources to milk every week: (1) Daily Training — clear every daily task to hit the activity-point cap and you'll earn 60 Stellar Jade a day; (2) Simulated Universe — weekly points reset every Monday, and maxing them out nets 225 Stellar Jade plus 1 Star Rail Pass per week; (3) time-limited events tied to each patch, which usually throw in a few hundred extra jade per event; (4) redemption codes — HoYoverse drops codes with every major update livestream (roughly once every six weeks), typically 3 codes worth about 300 Stellar Jade combined, but they expire fast (often within a day or two), so redeem them the moment you see them instead of saving them.
Daily Training and Simulated Universe alone add up to around 2,700 Stellar Jade in your first month — nearly 17 pulls — before you even count story rewards, achievements, or codes. There's no need to rush spending or open your wallet; just farming these four sources consistently is more than enough to get through the early game comfortably.
As for relics — don't rush. The Cavern of Corrosion (where relics drop) only unlocks at Trailblaze Level 40, and 5-star relic odds are tightly tied to Equilibrium Level: the higher your Equilibrium Level, the higher the dungeon difficulty you can run, and the better the loot table (low difficulties still mix in 3-4-star junk, while the highest difficulties drop only 4-5-star pieces). So spend month one pushing story and Equilibrium Level first — once you're at Trailblaze Level 40 with a decent Equilibrium Level, that's when serious relic farming pays off. Farming too early just burns Trailblaze Power (each Cavern run costs 40, and it only regenerates 1 point every 6 minutes, capped at 300 a day) on relics you'll replace later anyway.
FAQ
Which banner should I save my jade for in month one?
The limited Character Event Warp for whichever unit you actually want on your team — never spend real jade on the standard Stellar Warp banner, since the odds are the same but the characters are weaker. Your free passes from the one-time Departure Warp beginner banner are separate and safe to spend freely.
How many pulls does it actually take to guarantee a specific limited character?
Hard pity is 90 pulls (guaranteed 5-star), but limited banners also have the 50/50 rule: lose it once and your next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured character. Worst case, that's a maximum of 180 pulls (about 28,800 Stellar Jade) to lock in one specific limited character.
What Equilibrium Level should I hit before farming relics seriously?
You need at least Trailblaze Level 40 to unlock the Cavern of Corrosion at all, but don't grind it hard right away — push your Equilibrium Level up first, since higher Equilibrium unlocks higher dungeon difficulty and much better 5-star relic odds. Farming at a low Equilibrium Level mostly just drops relics you'll replace anyway.
