Like in HoYoverse’s other RPG, you can get a handful of free Honkai Star Rail characters to form at least two parties with – and you don’t even have to wait long to get them. Honkai Star Rail’s free characters help your party cover most of the elements and all of the combat Paths. A few characters are locked behind certain story quests and combat challenges, though your starting party of March 7th and Dan Heng are enough to carry you through these challenges without having to spend a single Stellar Jade.
The Trailblazer
The Trailblazer is your main character, and once the opening sequence with Kafka ends, you automatically take control of the Trailblazer. They start on the Path of Destruction as a Physical Damage character, but once you progress the story and finish the Jarila-IV chapter, you unlock a new form for them. That one follows the Path of Preservation and has fire as their element. You can swap between elements at any time from the character menu.
Assuming Star Rail treats its protagonist like Genshin Impact’s Traveler, you’ll probably unlock more Trailblazer versions in future story updates, likely one for each path and element.
March 7th
March 7th is the first character who joins your party during the prologue, and she does so automatically as part of the story. March follows the Path of Preservation and divides her skills between providing strong shields for allies and freezing enemies with her ultimate. March 7th is an excellent support character who can even trigger follow-up attacks when allies are hit. She’s not the strongest defender, but since freezing enemies makes them vulnerable to physical damage, she pairs well with the Trailblazer’s first form.
Dan Heng
Dan Heng joins shortly after March 7th, and you only need to progress through the prologue to recruit him. He follows the Path of the Hunt, which means his skills are built to deal heavy damage to single targets. Dan Heng wields the power of wind and can inflict Wind Shear on his targets. Wind Shear deals incremental damage at the start of an enemy’s turn, so he’s handy to keep around.
Asta
Asta is a Path of Harmony character who uses fire and buffs the party’s speed. You automatically get her from the Warp system after reaching the master control zone as part of the game’s Warp tutorial. She’s excellent against enemies who have a fire weakness, and her ultimate raises the entire party’s speed for several turns. When you exploit a fire weakness, Asta gains stacks of Charging, which can raise the party’s attack by up to 35 percent. It’s handy, though not very useful if your foes don’t have fire weaknesses.
Serval
HoYoverse gives out Serval for free as a reward for reaching pre-registration milestones. Serval is an Erudition character who uses Lightning attacks, and her specialty is hitting multiple enemies at once. Once you get the inbox feature, after arriving in the master control zone, you can open the message from HoYoverse and add Serval to your team. She’s not the strongest character, but her skills deal continuous lightning damage and help take down enemy groups faster.
Natasha
Natasha deals physical damage, but more importantly, she follows the Path of Abundance, which means she can heal your party. Natasha features in the first Star Rail banner, but you can get her for free after completing the Trailblaze Mission – the story mission, in plain speak – “Lying in Rust.” This is a permanent offer, so you don’t have to worry about rushing to get this done. Natasha is the second-best healer behind Bailu, so she’s definitely worth keeping around.
Herta
You also get Herta after completing a Trailblaze Mission – “Simulated Universe: First Closed Beta,” which sends you into a set of combat simulations. Herta is another Ice character and follows the Path of Erudition. She’s not the most powerful character, but she can raise her attack to deal more damage over time.
Qingque
Qingque follows the Path of Erudition as well and uses Quantum power. You can recruit her by completing Stage 3 in the Forgotten Hall, which is Star Rail’s version of Genshin Impact’s Spiral Abyss. This is a permanent offer, so feel free to complete it at your leisure. Qingque is a tough character to use well, since her power depends on randomly rolling certain suits at the start of her turn.
If you’re wondering how these compare to other characters, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list!
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
