As you play through Honkai: Star Rail, you might pick up a Light Cone or two. These are the equivalent of weapons in the game, which means that leveling them up and ascending them will drastically improve your party’s performance in battle. However, keep in mind that you can only equip a Light Cone on a character if they share the same Path.
In lore, Light Cones are characters’ memories, but in a physical form. The Garden of Recollection, who worship the Aeon Fuli, are the ones behind this technology. So every Light Cone is actually somebody’s memory. Recognizable characters start to appear from 4 and 5-star rarities. This is very similar to how Craft Essences work in fellow mobile game Fate/Grand Order. Unlike in Fate/Grand Order though, HoYoVerse has not commissioned any guest artists to illustrate Light Cones for Honkai: Star Rail.
While Light Cones are attainable through the gacha, you can also get them through Nameless Honor or Simulated World. They also appear as drops from the weekly boss fights. In order to level them up, you will need materials from Golden Calyxes. Thankfully, the Golden Calyxes, as well as the domains for ascension materials, are open every day.
Choosing what Light Cone to use really depends on what you want a character to do, as well as if you’re willing to make some sacrifices. Some three-star Light Cones might have a really good passive ability. But in terms of stats, it will almost always lose to a four or five-star rarity Light Cone at the same level. You can choose either to prioritize the passive ability or to use the Light Cone as a stat stick instead.
Honkai: Star Rail is available on mobile devices and Windows PC. It will come out on the PS4 and PS5 in the near future.
