How to use credits in Honkai Star Rail

Character screen of Serval (Image via Honkai Star Rail)

Like multiple gacha titles in the market, Honkai Star Rail is also introduced with various currencies for players to manage. Amidst premium gacha currencies and materials, everything is tied to a universal credit system. This could be considered equivalent to Genshin's Mora or Honkai's Gold Coins.

Credits can be farmed from almost anywhere in the game, as each encounter with enemies or even looting a chest can drop a fair amount of credit. While such is the case in the ongoing closed beta, the numbers and sources may vary as the final version of the game releases.

This article lists the best ways to use your credits on the characters, their abilities, and additional add-ons to make each party powerful.

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Honkai Star Rail's primary currency and how to use it in the best ways

1) Sources of credits

As mentioned, credits can be earned through almost anything in Honkai Star Rail. To name a few, quest rewards, defeating enemies, opening chests, and events can drop credits.

Each tileset includes a specific number of encounters with enemies, including trash mobs and elite enemies. Typically, the drop rate varies based on the enemies' rank.

Credits earned by breaking objects (Image via HoYoverse)

You can also level up your Trailbaze level and talk to Pom Pom. Each group grants the following number of credits:

Level 2: 10,000 credits.
Level 3: 50 Stellar Jade, 5 Travel Encounters, and 10,000 credits.
Level 4: 5 Travel Encounters and 10,000 credits.
Level 5: 1 Star Rail Pass, 5 Travel Encounters, and 10,000 credits.
Level 6: 10 Travel Encounters and 10,000 credits.
Level 7: 4 Sparse Aether and 10,000 credits.
Level 8: 50 Stellar Jade, 10 Travel Encounters, and 10,000 credits.
Level 9: 4 Sparse Aether and 10,000 credits.
Level 10: 1 Star Rail Pass, 10 Travel Encounters, and 10,000 credits.
Level 11: 4 Sparse Aether and 20,000 credits.
Level 12: 1 Fuel, 4 Adventurer's Log, 10 Energy Drink, and 20,000 credits.
Level 13: 50 Stellar Jade, 10 Sparse Aether, and 20,000 credits.
Level 14: 1 Fuel, 4 Adventurer's Log, and 20,000 credits.
Level 15: Star Rail Pass, 10 Sparse Aether, and 20,000 credits.
Level 16: 1 Fuel, 4 Adventurer Logs, and 20,000 Credits.

Trailbaze level (Image via Honkai Star Rail)

You can level up to 12 or 13 before the end of the main story's first arc. From there, you will have enough credit from the above sources to spend on building multiple characters and ascending them.

2) How to spend credits

Now that you have earned enough credits to spend, it is time to put them to use and make your party more substantial for the upcoming foes in the arcs after level 14.

To start, you can maximize the level of your main character alongside their Light Cones. The latter works like an artifact from Genshin or a Stigmata from Honkai.

Credits required to level up characters (Image via Honkai Star Rail)

You will need Light Cones matching the character's path, with Honkai Star Rail's main character being on the Destruction path.

Head to the character screen and click "Level up" from the bottom. Choosing one of the materials or clicking on "Auto add" will reveal the number of credits the entire process will consume.