All Free Characters Available in Honkai Star Rail

Honkai: Star Rail offers you various characters for free. Find out who you can get for free, how to unlock the free characters, and if the free characters are worth investing in or not.

Last updated on Jun 20, 2025 at 22:00 by Jaymo

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Free Characters in Honkai: Star Rail

Honkai: Star Rail offers a pretty good selection of free characters to help new and free-to-play players build a strong team early on. These characters can be unlocked through story progression, special events, and game content like the Simulated Universe or Forgotten Hall. This guide lists all the currently available free characters, and characters confirmed to become free in future updates.

We will also let you know which characters are worth investing your resources in, and which ones might be less efficient. That said, keep in mind these recommendations are based purely on gameplay efficiency. If there is a character you enjoy or simply like playing, go for it! All characters can clear endgame content with enough investment. Just know that some may require more resources and effort to reach their full potential than others.

As of right now you can obtain the following characters for free, either by progressing through the story or getting through some small event.

List of Permanently Obtainable Free Characters

Dan Heng March 7th Asta Natasha Serval Herta Qingque Lynx Yukong Xueyi Trailblazer

Dan Heng has two versions: a 4-Star and 5-star called Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae. The version you get for free is a 4-Star. You obtain him through the Eye of the Storm Main Quest when you start the game. Dan Heng can help you through the very early stages of the game, until you get another DPS. While he does ok against single targets, he does struggle against multiple enemies.

Element: Wind
Path: The Hunt
How to Obtain: Automatically joins during the early story at Herta Space Station.
Should you Invest? Not Recommended.

2.1.

March 7th

Similar to Dan Heng, March 7th has different versions. Currently there are two different 4-star March 7th characters. More versions may be added in the future. Unlike Dan Heng, so far all her current versions are free to play! We will go over all of them bellow.

Element: Ice
Path: Preservation
How to Obtain: Automatically joins as part of the initial party.
Notes: Strong early-game shielder and counterattacker. Good synergy with follow-up teams.
Should you Invest? Not Recommended. While she is a good early shielder, you can quickly get a better one.

Element: Imaginary
Path: The Hunt
How to Obtain: You need to complete the side quest Trailblaze Continuance - March to Mastery: A Star is Born. You will obtain March 7th's new Path and Element, as well as all of her Eidolons.
Notes: March 7th Imaginary is a rather versatile and a good hybrid between support and DPS.
Should you Invest? Recommended. She is still currently used in various endgame content, and works incredibly good with Feixiao for example.

Element: Fire
Path: Harmony
How to Obtain: Rewarded through your first pull.
Notes: Great support that increases both Speed and ATK for Allies.
Should you Invest? Not really. While she is a great support for the beginning, you can quickly get better.

Element: Physical
Path: Harmony
How to Obtain: Received during the Jarilo-VI main story.
Notes: The first healer you will get.
Should you Invest? No. She help with early healing, but she quickly lacks behind even compared to other easy to obtain 4-Star Characters such as Lynx or Gallagher.

Element: Lightning
Path: Erudition
How to Obtain: Free via pre-registration rewards or via mail (still available) for new players.
Notes: Pretty good AoE DPS.
Should you Invest? Yes. She can still be pretty useful, especially if you have The Herta.

Herta also has another 5-Star version called The Herta. Of course only the 4-star is gifted for free. Herta remains one of the best damage dealers of the game to this day for the endgame mode called Pure Fiction.

Element: Ice
Path: Erudition
How to Obtain: Earned through Simulated Universe progression. You will even get multiple copies of Herta through Simulated Universe progression, which allows you to increase her Eidolons.
Notes: Best AoE damage dealer for Pure Fiction. Not recommended to play against single targets.
Should you Invest? Yes. If you want to clear Pure Fiction early on, she is your best pick.

Element: Quantum
Path: Erudition
How to Obtain: Forgotten Hall reward (Memory Stage 3).
Notes: RNG-heavy but can hit extremely hard with the right rolls.
Should you Invest? If you like the gambling Mahjong yes, otherwise, not recommended. Right now she does lack behind compared to other DPS.

Element: Quantum
Path: Harmony
How to Obtain: Clearing Pure Fiction Stage 2 the first time, and completing Youci's Clever Decor quest.
Notes: Great healer. The issues lies more in the fact that if you just start the game, you need to complete quite a lot of the main story to be able to get her free copy.
Should you Invest? Yes. She is still a great free healer.

Element: Imaginary
Path: Harmony
How to Obtain: Reward for completing Memory of Xianzhou Stage 1 of the Forgotten Hall.
Notes: Hard to use, especially early game.
Should you Invest? No. Not really worth the trouble unless you really like the character.

Element: Quantum
Path: Destruction
How to Obtain: You get one free copy when you complete the second difficulty of the Apocalyptic Shadow.
Notes: Good damage dealer against Quantum weakness.
Should you Invest? No. She has a hard time when enemies aren't weak to quantum.

2.2.

Trailblazer Options

The Trailblazer is your main character, and similar to other HoYoverse games, you can unlock various Elements and Paths for you Trailblazer. These are completely free, with the Eidolons also being free. Note that you may need to complete some side quests in order to unlock all the Eidolons.

Element: Physical
Path: Destruction
How to Obtain: Your main character, starts with the Physical element.
Notes: Is ok and you get free Eidolons from story progression.
Should you Invest? Not really. While it is your main character and tempting to invest in them, this one is not worth it outside of initial story requirements on Jarilo-VI.

Element: Fire
Path: Preservation
How to Obtain: You unlocks Fire during the Jarilo-VI arc.
Notes: Can serve as an early game support.
Should you Invest? No. It is useful early game, but you technically can get way better.

Element: Imaginary
Path: Harmony
How to Obtain: Unlocks during the Penacony arc.
Notes: One of the best variants of the Trailblazer.
Should you Invest? Yes, but only if you use Break specific characters. The Harmony Trailblazer is one of the best supports for Break teams with his Super Break mechanic.

Element: Ice
Path: Remembrance
How to Obtain: Unlocks during the Amphoreus arc.
Notes: Very good support for characters who have Memosprites.
Should you Invest? Yes. They are a really great support that can be used in many teams.

Who Are the Best Free HSR Characters to Invest Into?

If you're just starting out or want to build a solid F2P team, prioritize investing in the following:

Trailblazer Harmony and Remembrance
Herta
March 7th Imaginary
Asta
Serval
Lynx

These units can carry you through most of the early and mid-game content without needing to spend Stellar Jade on banners.

Time-Limited Free Characters

The following characters are offered for free during a limited period, either through specific event or collaborations:

Archer - He is a limited-time character offered through the Fate collaboration. You can claim Archer from July 11, 2025 until the end of version 3.6.

Old Free Characters

The following character was once offered for free, but can currently not be obtainable anymore. It is unknown whether they will be gifted again or not:

Dr. Ratio - He was send to your in-game mail for free during version 1.6 until the beginning of version 2.1.

Jaymo

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Written by Jaymo, a longtime gamer who spends way too many hours exploring open worlds, grinding in MMOs, and pulling for his favorite gacha characters. He covers news and guides for all kinds of games, and just likes helping people enjoy them more. You can find him hanging out on Twitch or chatting in Discord (jaym0).