Honkai: Star Rail Relics and Light Cones Guide (2026): Stats, Sets, and Priorities

The Short Answer

In Honkai: Star Rail, your Relics and Light Cone matter as much as which character you pulled. You equip six gear pieces: a four-piece Cavern Relic set and a two-piece Planar Ornament set, plus a Light Cone that should match the character's Path. Get the main stats right on the four flexible slots, prioritize Speed, CRIT, and your scaling stat in substats, and pick a Light Cone that fits the role, and any character becomes endgame-ready. The details are below.

If you still need to pick your team, start with the HSR best characters guide, then gear them here.

Relics vs Planar Ornaments

Your six pieces come from two different systems:

Cavern Relics (4-piece set): Head, Hands, Body, and Feet. Farmed in Caverns of Corrosion. These give a 2-piece and a 4-piece bonus.
Planar Ornaments (2-piece set): Planar Sphere and Link Rope. Farmed in the Simulated Universe. These give a single 2-piece bonus.

So a finished build is a 4-piece Relic set plus a 2-piece Ornament set, chosen so both bonuses serve the character's role.

Main Stats Per Slot

Two slots are fixed and four are flexible. The flexible slots are where your build is decided:

Slot	Type	Main stat
Head	Relic	HP (flat, fixed)
Hands	Relic	ATK (flat, fixed)
Body	Relic	CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, Healing, Effect Hit Rate, or DEF/HP%
Feet	Relic	Speed, ATK%, HP%, or DEF%
Planar Sphere	Ornament	Elemental DMG%, ATK%, HP%, or DEF%
Link Rope	Ornament	Energy Regen Rate, ATK%, HP%, or DEF%

The big decisions:

Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG for damage dealers, Effect Hit Rate for debuffers, Outgoing Healing for healers.
Feet: Speed is the default on almost everyone who wants more turns; use ATK% only when you have hit your Speed breakpoint another way.
Planar Sphere: the character's Elemental DMG% for carries. This is usually your biggest single damage stat.
Link Rope: ATK% for most DPS, or Energy Regen Rate for supports that need their Ultimate up constantly.

Substats and Stat Priority by Role

Substats win or lose a build. Priorities depend on the character's job:

Damage dealers: CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG (toward a 1:2 ratio), then Speed, then ATK%.
Supports and buffers: Speed above almost everything, then Energy Regen and the stat their buff scales from.
Debuffers (Nihility): Effect Hit Rate to land debuffs, then Speed.
Sustains (healers and shields): enough Speed to act early, then HP% or DEF% and Effect RES.

Intel

[!NOTE] Speed is the most valuable substat in the game for almost every role. An extra turn over a long fight is worth more than a few percent of damage. Tune Speed first, optimize the rest second.

Speed Tuning: The Hidden Endgame

HSR's turn order runs on Speed, and tuning it is what separates a good account from a great one. Common targets to aim for with Relics, the Feet main stat, and Speed substats:

Fast supports want to act before the carry to buff in time, often aiming for high Speed breakpoints.
Carries want enough Speed to keep pace without overshooting and wasting turns.
Sustains want enough Speed to heal or shield before danger lands.

You do not need to memorize exact numbers to benefit. Just treat Speed as a priority stat on the Feet slot and in substats, and check the character pages on the wiki for any unit with a specific breakpoint.

Light Cones and Superimposition

A Light Cone is HSR's weapon, and it should match the character's Path (a Harmony cone on a Harmony support, and so on) so the passive applies. Key points:

Match the Path first. An off-Path cone loses its passive entirely, which is usually a bigger loss than a higher base stat.
Superimposition (ranks 1 to 5) strengthens a Light Cone's passive by feeding it duplicates. Many free and battle-pass cones are excellent precisely because they are easy to superimpose to rank 5.
You rarely need the signature five-star cone. A well-chosen four-star or event cone covers most characters; save your pulls for characters unless a signature is a huge multiplier.

For free and low-investment options, several three-star and four-star cones carry early accounts comfortably. Spend on characters, gear them well, and let Light Cones come from events and the battle pass.

Farming Gear Efficiently

Relics are the long game. Keep it efficient:

Farm Caverns and the Simulated Universe for the specific sets your team needs, not whatever is convenient.
Use the Relic Synthesizer to convert spare gear toward sets and slots you actually want.
Stop early on bad pieces. Level to a low threshold, check the substat rolls, and only push to max if Speed, CRIT, or your scaling stat showed up.
Trailblaze Power is your bottleneck. Spend it where it improves the most characters, and use reserve power so it never caps and wastes.

Quick Build Checklist

Before a character is "done," confirm:

A 4-piece Relic and 2-piece Ornament that match the role.
Correct Body, Feet, Sphere, Rope main stats.
Speed tuned for their job, plus a healthy CRIT ratio on carries.
A Path-matching Light Cone, superimposed if it is a free or event cone.

Keep Building

Gear your core team first, then improve the bench over time. Pair this with the best characters and team guide and the Honkai: Star Rail review, keep the HSR wiki and tier list open for per-character priorities, and grab free Stellar Jade from the codes page.