Credit: HoYoVerse

Part of what helped to make HoYoVerse’s Genshin Impact distinct from other sandbox adventure games is its multiplayer component. You could have someone else join your world (albeit with lesser interactivity) and help you out in your quests and battles. As Honkai Star Rail is HoYoVerse’s next big project, it’s understandable to wonder if you’ll be riding the rails solo or with your buddies. So, is Honkai Star Rail multiplayer?

Is Honkai Star Rail Multiplayer? Answered

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no, Honkai Star Rail is not a multiplayer game, at least not in the same way as Genshin Impact. While you can connect with other players via the in-game friends list, they cannot join your game world to play with or against you in any way. Since Honkai Star Rail is primarily a turn-based RPG, as opposed to Genshin’s action RPG format, there wouldn’t really be a realistic way to work cooperative play into the mix.

However, while you can’t have your friends join you in real-time in Honkai Star Rail, there is a small way they can assist you: Support Characters. Players can designate Support Characters to loan out to friends, who can then join their party on a temporary basis and contribute their skills. It’s a handy feature if you’ve got a character that would be beneficial for your friend who, for whatever reason, they cannot obtain themselves.

How do Support Characters Work in Honkai Star Rail?

Credit: HoYoVerse

At any time while playing Honkai Star Rail, you can open your in-game menu, bring up your Trailblazer profile, and select a character from your inventory to designate as a Support Character. You can still use a character yourself while they’re designated as a Support; your friends will just get a duplicate of them.

Speaking of, if your friends want to utilize your selected Support Character, they can do so at the entrance to dungeon areas like a Calyx. From the Calyx challenge menu, they just need to click the Support icon on the character select screen, and they can choose any Support Character from anyone on their friends list to add to their party. Not only do Support Characters offer assistance to your friends, but any victories they have while using your Support Character will in turn reward you with freebies like items and Credits.

There are only three rules you need to be aware of when it comes to Support Characters. Firstly, Support Characters can only be used in the aforementioned dungeon settings like a Calyx, a Cavern of Corrosion, an Echo of War, and so on. You can’t use them to complete regular story missions. Secondly, Support Characters automatically scale to the level of their users. You may have the character in question leveled to the stars and back, but they’ll only be as strong as the friend you lend them to. Finally, you can’t borrow a Support Character if the character in question is already on your team. No duplicates allowed.

So while Honkai Star Rail doesn’t offer multiplayer in the traditional sense, there’s still plenty of incentive to chat up the game with your friends. Who knows, maybe someone will be nice enough to lend you that five-star character you’ve been whaling on the gacha for.