Honkai: Star Rail Battle Pass Light Cone Recommendations

Entry #1 of the KQM Recommendations series.

Image: HoYoverse

Table of Contents

What is the Battle Pass?

If you have played other games that have a Battle Pass, Nameless Honor is functionally the same feature. As a result, you may see players refer to Nameless Honor as the “Battle Pass” or “BP”. The Nameless Glory is a paid tier of the Battle Pass with an abundance of extra resources to ease your progression. Included in these rewards is the Treasure of Starry Seas, from which you can choose one of seven exclusive Light Cones.

This guide outlines every Light Cone obtainable from the Nameless Glory while offering perspectives on which ones may be a great choice to better inform your decision making. Because these Light Cones require purchasing Nameless Glory, are limited to being obtainable once per game version, and additionally have Superimpositions to take into consideration; it is important to choose your Light Cone wisely. Following is the list of Light Cones and our thoughts on each.

Nameless Glory Light Cones

Abundance – Warmth Shortens Cold Nights

Warmth Shortens Cold Nights

Light Cone Ability: Tiny Light
Increases the wearer’s Max HP by 16%. When using Basic ATK or Skill, restores all allies’ HP by an amount equal to 2.0% of their respective Max HP.

Currently, Abundance characters are not as Light Cone dependent as those of other Paths for their individual performance, and the free Abundance Light Cone options in the game currently are more than sufficient for most purposes. Even then, Warmth Shortens Cold Nights is on the lower tier of Abundance Light Cones. Max HP% increase does increase healing output for healers that scale with HP, but other Light Cones can provide Outgoing Healing Boost, which scales better if your sole goal is to maximize your healing, because there are relatively more sources of HP% than Outgoing Healing Boost – most notably Relic substats.

The second part of the passive is effectively useless, even with high superimpositions. Most properly invested characters will have about 3,000 HP, meaning they would only receive healing for about 60–120 HP (depending on superimpose) for every turn taken by the Abundance character equipped with this Light Cone. If allies aren’t low HP, they don’t really benefit from this passive. If they are low, 60–120 HP is not going to make a meaningful difference in most scenarios. The free 4★ Light Cone Quid Pro Quo serves as a superior option for utility in the form of Energy generation for the team. The 3★ Light Cone Multiplication is also quite good, at S5 providing a 20% Advance Forward every time the wearer uses Basic ATK.

Conclusion: Not recommended.

Generally outperformed in both healing function and utility by other 4★ Light Cones. Quid Pro Quo is a great F2P option that can be acquired from the Forgotten Hall shop and as a random drop from Echoes of War.

Hunt – Return to Darkness

Return to Darkness

Light Cone Ability: Raging Waves
Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 12%. After a CRIT Hit, there is a 16% fixed chance to dispel 1 buff on the target enemy. This effect can only trigger 1 time per attack.

With the highest Base ATK of any 4★ Hunt Light Cone and giving 12%–24% CRIT Rate depending on superimposition, this Light Cone has a strong baseline. The chance to dispel enemy buffs is low, but it can proc on every hit of a multi-hit attack, greatly increasing its consistency. Assuming a multi-hit attack hits 4 times, and the character has 70% CRIT Rate, the chances of successfully dispelling an enemy buff is about ~38% at S1, which can come in handy, especially if you do not have access to a dedicated buff dispeller like Pela or Luocha. The reliability shoots up to around 64% at S5 which can be attractive for players planning on purchasing Nameless Glory multiple times. Players should treat this Light Cone as a secondary option to deal with bosses with troublesome buffs or if you’re running a second Hunt unit, as Cruising in the Stellar Sea will generally offer more damage, and the other 4★ options will be close in damage output depending on the character and superimposition.

Conclusion: Recommended in certain cases.

Consider getting this if you have more than two Hunt characters that are fighting over a limited pool of Light Cones. Otherwise, stick with Cruising in the Stellar Sea from the Herta Shop and River Flows in Spring, acquired for free from the story, the Forgotten Hall Light Cone Manifest, and as a random drop from Echoes of War.

Preservation – This is Me!

This is Me!

Light Cone Ability: New Chapter
Increases the wearer’s DEF by 16%. Increases the DMG of the wearer when they use their Ultimate by 60% of the wearer’s DEF. This effect can only apply 1 time per enemy target.

Another situation similar to the Abundance BP Light Cone. Preservation units have a lot of serviceable options when it comes to Light Cones, and they generally do not need a specific one to perform well. Although the base stats on This is Me! are good (high Base DEF), the passive is mediocre and in some cases useless. It can give DEF-scaling Preservation characters a nice damage boost on their Ultimate if their Ultimate does damage, but it is not significant enough to warrant picking it for damage at this time. The general best 4★ tanking option is Landau’s Choice, as unconditional DMG% reduction is incredibly good, with the downside of it being gacha locked. Day One of My New Life (4★ gacha), We Are Wildfire (Forgotten Hall Light Cone Manifest and Echoes of War) and Amber (3★ gacha) are also completely serviceable options.

Conclusion: Not recommended.

Not a high priority because the damage increase is generally not significant enough, leading to many other Light Cones such as Landau’s Choice and Day One of My New Life being a better option. This Light Cone can be situationally useful for Fire Trailblazer, but not enough to make buying Nameless Glory worth it.

Harmony – Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds

Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds

Light Cone Ability: Secret
At the start of the battle and whenever the wearer’s turn begins, one of the following effects is applied randomly: All allies’ ATK increases by 10%, all allies’ CRIT DMG increases by 12%, or all allies’ Energy Regeneration Rate increases by 6%. The applied effect cannot be identical to the last effect applied, and will replace the previous effect. The applied effect will be removed when the wearer has been knocked down. Effects of the similar type cannot be stacked.

A generalist Light Cone that stands out among the rest due to its universality. Any of the 3 effects are good, especially 12% extra CRIT DMG, but getting 6% Energy Regeneration Rate or 10% ATK can be useful as well, considering these are teamwide buffs. Its main issue is that Harmony has a lot of good or even game-changing Light Cones, with the caveat being that many of them are gacha locked. Bronya’s signature Light Cone generally provides more consistent utility while Dance! Dance! Dance! also works on any of the current Harmony characters due to its overwhelmingly powerful ability. Meshing Cogs, a 3★ Light Cone, can also just be a better option due to its high personal Energy generation, which is appreciated by Harmony units. At S1, Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds simply does not have the utility to perform better than the other options. However, if you are willing to superimpose it multiple times, Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds is a solid option.

Conclusion: Not recommended unless S5.

If you already have a lot of Harmony Light Cones such as Bronya’s signature, Dance! Dance! Dance!, or Meshing Cogs, you will likely use those over this one. Still a good generalist option if you are willing to superimpose it or do not have enough copies of Meshing Cogs for all your Harmony Characters.

Nihility – We Will Meet Again

We Will Meet Again

Light Cone Ability: A Discourse in Arms
After the wearer uses Basic ATK or Skill, deals Additional DMG equal to 48% of the wearer’s ATK to a random enemy that has been attacked.

An interesting Light Cone, but not in a good way. Nihility characters either want Light Cones that provide DMG buffs if they have significant damage (e.g., Good Night and Sleep Well, Fermata, Eyes of the Prey), Effect Hit Rate for debuff consistency if they apply significant debuffs (Eyes of the Prey, When the Tutorial Mission Starts) or Light Cones that provide extra utility or debuffs of their own (Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat). While this Light Cone does provide additional damage, it is not significant enough to bring it above any other available options. Even if an account only has 3-star Nihility Light Cones and Fermata, We Will Meet Again still does not provide any meaningful value, and should not be picked up.

Conclusion: Not recommended.

The passive is currently not relevant to most characters as they care about Effect Hit Rate or added utility/debuffs making it worse than other options.

Destruction – Nowhere to Run

Nowhere to Run

Light Cone Ability: Desperate Times
Increases the wearer’s ATK by 24%. Whenever the wearer defeats an enemy, they restore HP equal to 12%.

This Light Cone has high Base ATK, but the special effect is rather weak compared to other options. The 24–48% ATK buff is nice, but ATK% is plentiful. At 2500 ATK this Light Cone heals 300–600 HP for each activation, which may seem pretty good, except that the condition for triggering the heal is defeating an enemy. If a character is strong enough to proc this effect every time they need healing, the enemies likely are not strong enough that the character needs it. The free Herta Shop Light Cone On the Fall of an Aeon provides significantly more offensive power with a less restrictive condition. If you are building multiple Destruction units, there are several options better than Nowhere to Run, such as Woof! Walk Time! (the free 4★), A Secret Vow, or The Moles Welcome You.

Conclusion: Not recommended.

On the Fall of an Aeon from the Herta Shop and other 4★ options generally outclass this Light Cone.

Erudition – Today is Another Peaceful Day

Today is Another Peaceful Day

Light Cone Ability: A Storm is Coming
After entering battle, increases the wearer’s DMG based on their max energy. Damage increases by 0.20% per point of Energy, up to 160 Energy.

This Light Cone has the highest Base ATK of any 4★, with an incredible unconditional global DMG% boost. Currently the best-in-slot 4★ Light Cone for all Erudition characters, contesting even Night on the Milky Way on characters other than Himeko. Even on the lowest Energy Erudition characters (100 Energy), this Light Cone provides a 20–40% DMG Boost at all times. With higher Energy characters, the DMG% increase will be even stronger. If you use Erudition characters, this is a no-brainer to grab. It will likely keep its value well into the future and scales well with Superimposition, if you pick up Nameless Glory multiple times.

Conclusion: Heavily recommended.

A universal unconditional DMG% buff makes this an easy recommendation for any Erudition character.