What is the Pity System in Honkai: Star Rail? A Comprehensive Guide
The pity system in Honkai: Star Rail is a crucial mechanic designed to guarantee players will eventually obtain rare items when using the game’s gacha system, known as “Warp.” Essentially, it acts as a safety net, ensuring you’re not endlessly spending your precious Stellar Jade without receiving any high-tier characters or Light Cones. It’s a progressive guarantee that increases your chance to pull 4 and 5-star items as you perform more Warps, significantly impacting your strategy and resource management within the game. The pity system is structured around both a fixed guarantee and a softer, increasing chance, making it more player-friendly than a purely random draw system.
Understanding the Basics of Pity
The core concept revolves around the idea that each “Warp” (pull) you make on a banner incrementally increases your odds of getting better items. This is broken down into two main components: hard pity and soft pity.
Hard Pity: The Guaranteed Drop
The hard pity is the most straightforward aspect. In Character Event Warp banners, if you haven’t pulled a 5-star character by your 90th attempt, you’re guaranteed to receive one on your 90th pull. This is a fail-safe, preventing worst-case scenarios where players experience extremely bad luck. For Light Cone Event Warp banners, this hard pity is reduced to the 80th pull, making it slightly more generous. Additionally, you are guaranteed to get a 4-star item at least once every 10 pulls, regardless of whether you get a 5-star item.
Soft Pity: The Increasing Odds
The soft pity mechanic begins to kick in around the 75th pull on Character Event Warps. As you approach the 90th hard pity mark, your chances of pulling a 5-star item increase dramatically with each subsequent pull. While the base rate for a 5-star is 0.6%, soft pity gradually ramps up this probability, making it more and more likely that you’ll get that 5-star character before hitting the actual hard pity at 90 pulls. This helps to avoid lengthy streaks of bad luck. For Light Cone Event Warp, Soft Pity starts around the 65th roll.
The 50/50 System: Feature Character or Standard
Beyond the pity system, Honkai: Star Rail also employs a “50/50” system, specifically for event banners featuring limited 5-star characters. When you finally pull a 5-star character on an event banner, there’s a 50% chance that it will be the featured character of that banner. If you lose the 50/50 (meaning you pull a different 5-star character from the standard pool), the next 5-star pull is guaranteed to be the featured character. This ensures that if you are chasing a specific character, you’ll be able to get them eventually with enough pulls.
Pity Carryover
One of the most player-friendly features of Honkai: Star Rail’s pity system is that it carries over between banners. If you perform 75 Warps on a character banner and it concludes, those 75 attempts will be remembered. When a new banner goes live, your pity count will remain at 75 and the odds will continue to increase. This avoids wasting any of your pulls and allows players to strategically save and use their Stellar Jade. This carryover applies specifically to character and light cone event banners and does not impact the standard banner pity.
Implications for Players
Understanding the pity system is essential for efficient resource management. It allows players to make informed decisions about when and how much they should pull. Knowing that soft pity increases the chances of a 5-star drop after 75 pulls lets people choose whether to go all the way to 90 or stop at 75 if they are on a budget. The 50/50 also encourages users to take risk and possibly pull the character that they wanted.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Pity in Honkai: Star Rail
1. What is the base 5-star drop rate in Honkai: Star Rail?
The base drop rate for a 5-star item is 0.6%. However, this dramatically increases with soft pity.
2. Does the pity system apply to both character and Light Cone banners?
Yes, the pity system applies to both Character Event Warp banners and Light Cone Event Warp banners. Though, each of them have different numbers. Hard pity for character banners is 90 and 80 for Light Cone.
3. Is there a difference between single pulls and 10 pulls regarding pity?
No, there’s no difference in pity mechanics between doing single pulls and 10-pulls. Pity count is the same.
4. What happens if I get a 5-star item before reaching hard pity?
If you receive a 5-star character before your 90th (or 80th for Light Cone), the pity count resets back to zero.
5. Does the pity system reset with new banners?
No, your pity count carries over to the next character or Light Cone event banner (whichever you were pulling from before).
6. Does the pity carryover if I switch between character and Light Cone banner?
No, the pity carryover is specific to the type of banner. Character pity carries over to a new character banner and Light Cone pity carries over to a new Light Cone banner. The two are separated.
7. What is the 50/50 system, and how does it work?
The 50/50 system determines whether your first 5-star pull on an event banner is the featured character (50% chance) or a random standard 5-star character (50% chance). If you fail the 50/50, your next 5-star is guaranteed to be the featured character.
8. What happens if I lose the 50/50 multiple times in a row?
Losing the 50/50 only affects the first 5-star character you obtain on an event banner. If you miss the first 50/50, your next 5-star is the featured character; you can not lose the 50/50 twice.
9. Is the pity system in Honkai: Star Rail better than in Genshin Impact?
Many players feel that Honkai: Star Rail’s pity system is slightly more forgiving than Genshin Impact’s because it includes a soft pity that increases the chances as you get close to hard pity, making it a bit easier to obtain the coveted 5-star characters or Light Cones.
10. How can I check my pity count?
You can check your current pity count within the Warp menu of the game. The number of pulls is tracked automatically.
11. Do four-star characters also have their pity system?
Yes, there is a soft pity for 4-star characters every 10 pulls. If you have not received any 4-star characters, you are guaranteed one at your 10th pull.
12. Has anyone ever reached the full 90 hard pity?
Yes, while rare due to the soft pity system, there are instances of players reaching the full 90 pity before getting a 5-star. It is considered extremely unlucky, as soft pity increases the probability of getting a 5-star well before the 90th pull.
13. What is soft pity, and how does it impact my chances of getting a 5-star character?
Soft pity is an invisible mechanic that gradually increases your chances of pulling a 5-star item as you get close to hard pity, especially after the 75th pull for character banners or the 65th for Light Cone banners.
14. If I obtain a 5-star character on my 70th pull, does the pity reset?
Yes, receiving a 5-star character resets your pity count back to zero, regardless of when you receive it.
15. Is it better to do single pulls or 10-pulls in Honkai Star Rail?
From the perspective of the pity system, there is no difference between single pulls and 10-pulls. Both count toward your pity, so choose whichever method you prefer.