Honkai Star Rail Pity System Explained: Rates, Soft Pity, Hard Pity and More

The pity system in gacha games like Honkai Star Rail refers to an in-game mechanic that guarantees you drops when summoning. The system in place is very similar to Genshin Impact and you are guaranteed to get a character or light cone, depending on the banner, in 90 pulls or less. You cannot exceed 90 pulls no matter what as the drop rate increases to 100% on your 90th summon.

Honkai Star Rail pity 

The “hard pity” of Honkai Star Rail is 90 but there is a “soft pity” which is when the drop rate is very high that it almost guarantees you a light cone or character. This happens around the 70-80 summon mark and you can expect to get a 5-star drop by then. If you are really unlucky, it can take up to 90 pulls but it should be a rare occurrence. For 4 stars, you are guaranteed to get one character or light cone within every 10 pulls on every banner in the game.

On the rotating banners, the featured character is not the only drop you can expect when you roll a 5-star. You can get one of the non-featured 5 Star characters as well, which include: 

• Himeko

• Welt

• Bronya

• Gepard

• Clara

• Yanqing

• Bailu

If you happen to roll one of these characters it is called losing a “50-50” because you have a 50% chance to get the featured character and a 50% chance to get one of the above-mentioned Standard 5 Star characters. If you get unlucky and don’t get the on-banner drop, your next 5-star is guaranteed to be whoever is featured on the banner.

This “pity” carries over across all rotating banners. For example, if you do not get a 5-star on Seele’s banner and Jing Yuan comes around. If you roll one of the other 5-star  characters on the banner, you are 100% guaranteed to get Jing Yuan. A lot of players use this to their advantage and save up summons to get guaranteed characters of their choice.

Honkai Star Rail light cone and Standard banners explained

The light cone banner works differently from Genshin Impact’s weapon banner. You have a 75% chance to get the featured light cone in Honkai Star Rail and if you get unlucky, the next drop will be an on-banner light cone. Just like the rotating banner, the pity count carries over.

Finally, we have the Standard banner which features the previously mentioned Standard characters and their best-in-slot light cones only. No other 5-star drops are available in this pool. It has the same soft pity and hard pity as the rotating banners but it is permanently available and there are no rate-ups. If you do 300 summons on the Standard banner, you get to choose a Standard character of your choice for free. This does not count towards your pity and it is considered an exclusive drop.