Want to equip the best Honkai Star Rail light cones? Unlike traditional weapons, Hoyoverse’s epic intergalactic adventure dispenses with swords and bows in favour of abstract memory cards you can equip for passive benefits to your characters.
As a result, wishing for the best Honkai Star Rail characters at the top of our tier list will only get you so far in the free PC game. For characters to perform at their best, it’s essential that you equip them with the best Honkai Star Rail light cones relevant to their kit. That’s easier said than done, so here are the best light cones available, as well as how to find and upgrade them in the turn-based game.
What are the best Honkai Star Rail light cones?
Honkai Star Rail light cones contain the memories of specific characters, represented by the character portraits that appear on their icon. As luck would have it, this also doubles as a clear indicator of the best light cones for each character, since their effects are specifically designed to complement their attributes.
However, you may find that you don’t have a perfect match for your light cone. While you’re free to equip a character with any light cone in the open-world game, you can only activate the light cone’s powerful passive ability by equipping it to a character with a corresponding path. Characters with a different path will still benefit from the boost to health, attack, and defence that all light cones provide, but this is the least optimal use for them. Thankfully, our list features the best light cones in Honkai Star Rail for each path, so you never have to worry about making a perfect match.
Here are the best Honkai Star Rail light cones:
| Light Cone | Path | Ability |
| Time Waits for No One | Abundance | Increases the wearer’s maximum health and outgoing healing by 12 to 24%. When the wearer heals allies, record the amount of outgoing healing. When any ally launches an attack, a random attacked enemy takes additional damage equal to 50 to 100% of the recorded outgoing healing value. This additional damage is of the same type as the wearer’s, is not affected by other buffs, and can only occur one time per turn. |
| On the Fall of an Aeon | Destruction | Whenever the wearer attacks, increase their attack by 8 to 16% in this battle, up to four times. When the wearer inflicts Weakness Break on enemies, the wearer’s damage increases by 12 to 24% for two turns. |
| Before Dawn | Erudition | Increases the wearer’s critical damage by 32 to 64%. Increases the wearer’s Skill and Ultimate damage by 20 to 40%. After the wearer uses their Skill or Ultimate, they gain Somnus Corpus. Upon triggering a follow-up attack, Somnus Corpus will be consumed and the follow-up attack damage increases by 48 to 96%. |
| The Battle Isn’t Over | Harmony | Increases the wearer’s energy regeneration rate by 8 to 16% and regenerates one skill point when the wearer uses their Ultimate on an ally. This effect can be triggered after every two uses of the wearer’s Ultimate. When the wearer uses their Skill, the next ally taking action deals 30 to 60% more damage for one turn. |
| Cruising in the Stellar Sea | Hunt | Increases the wearer’s crit rate by 8 to 16%, and increases their crit rate against enemies with health less than or equal to 50% by an additional 8 to 16%. When the wearer defeats an enemy, increase their attack by 20 to 40% for three turns. |
| Texture of Memories | Preservation | Increases the wearer’s effect resistance by 8 to 16%. If the wearer is attacked and has no shield, they gain a shield equal to 16 to 32% of their maximum health two turns. This effect can only be triggered once every three turn. If the wearer has a shield when attacked, the damage they receive decreases by 12 to 24%. |
How to get Honkai Star Rail light cones
You can acquire light cones as quest and exploration rewards, or by purchasing them with Undying Starlight on the Starlight Exchange. However, if you’re looking for the very best Honkai Star Rail light cones the anime game has to offer, then Honkai Star Rail Warps are your best bet. While there’s only a small chance to pull ultra-rare five-star light cones from Honkai Star Rail banners, their potency leaves their three-star and four-star counterparts in the dust.
How to upgrade Honkai Star Rail light cones
Once you’ve got the best Honkai Star Rail light cones in your possession, upgrading them should be your first priority. You can level them up by consuming enhancement materials, credits, and even low-value light cones – but be aware of occasional level caps that require light cone ascension materials to surpass. Finally, you can increase the effect of your chosen light cone’s passive ability via Superimposition, an upgrade process that can only be initiated by consuming a duplicate light cone.
Now that you have the best Honkai Star Rail light cones, we recommend ensuring your characters can also ascend by increasing your equilibrium levels. A character is only as good as the team they’re on, so check out our guide to building the Honkai Star Rail team comps, as well as our list of the active Honkai Star Rail codes for currency to pull more powerful characters.