Honkai: Star Rail – Cipher Ascension & Trace Materials (Pre-Farm Guide)

You can already start pre-farming Cipher’s materials in Honkai: Star Rail to ensure that you quickly Ascend and level up both her and her Traces as soon as you obtain her. Cipher is a 5-star Quantum character following the Path of the Nihility. Being added with Version 3.3’s Phase 2 banners, Cipher can operate as a sub-DPS or a main DPS, having her role influenced by her team comp rather than her build, directly. The main aspect of Cipher’s kit in Honkai: Star Rail is making enemies more susceptible to your team’s damage and dealing large amounts of damage herself.

Cipher’s Talent sees that the enemy with the highest Max HP score is marked as a Patron. She can also assign Patron to the target of her Skill and Ultimate. When the Patron is attacked by allies, Cipher launches a follow-up attack that deals damage. Additionally, she keeps a tally of the non-True DMG dealt to Patron. With her Ultimate, Cipher deals Quantum DMG to the target and then deals True DMG based on the DMG that was recorded via her Talent. With her Skill, Cipher can also Weaken enemies, decreasing the DMG they deal and boosting her own ATK.

Click here to view the leaks about Cipher’s materials.

All Cipher Materials In Honkai: Star Rail 3.3 Have Leaked

Only One Item Can’t Be Pre-Farmed Before Version 3.3

Before taking full advantage of her offensive capabilities, however, you’ll need to max out the character. Cipher’s materials in Honkai: Star Rail had already leaked, at least partially, but now new information has arisen, and these materials can be pre-farmed comfortably. The leak about Cipher’s materials was featured in the character’s page on Honey Hunter World, which also contains all the gameplay-related details about the unit, including her active abilities, her Traces, and even her different Eidolon levels.

As seen in the leak, the majority of the materials can be pre-farmed before the arrival of Version 3.3, in which Cipher will make her debut. These materials are mostly related to Amphoreus, with the exception of one item family that predates the release of The Eternal Land in Version 3.0. According to the leak and confirmed by developer HoYoverse, there is one Cipher material that can’t be pre-farmed prior to the release of Version 3.3. However, this new weekly boss material from Honkai: Star Rail 3.3 can be farmed before Cipher’s release in the update’s Phase 2 banners.

Ascension Materials To Pre-Farm For Cipher In Honkai: Star Rail

Face Black Tide Creatures On Amphoreus

Among the listed Ascension materials to farm for Cipher are Ethereal Omen, Echoing Wail, and Eternal Lament. These three materials, which are part of the same item family, drop from Black Tide Creatures found across several of the available Amphoreus maps, such as Murmuring Woods and Dragonbone City. However, the best way to farm Ethereal Omen is to face Calyx (Golden) activities on Amphoreus, as they are guaranteed drops and can be quickly mustered. It’s vital that you remember to use the Omni-Synthesizer to transform lower-grade materials into rarer ones as Cipher’s needs for item quality increase.

The table below lists all of Cipher’s Ascension materials in Honkai: Star Rail, divided by level threshold and condensed at the end:

In addition to Ethereal Omen, Echoing Wail, and Eternal Lament, the materials listed for Cipher include Darkveil Moonlight, a special Ascension material used exclusively by Quantum characters. Darkveil Moonlight can be farmed at the Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Gelidmoon activity located in the Murmuring Woods map within the Grove of Epiphany on Amphoreus. For reference, Darkveil Moonlight is listed among Tribbie’s and Castorice’s materials in Honkai: Star Rail, as both of these characters, who preceded Cipher, also deal Quantum DMG.

The last portion of Cipher’s Ascension materials includes 308,000 Credits, plus an extra 508,000 Credits to level up the unit with Character EXP Materials. This isn’t the most expensive aspect of maxing out the character, but if you are in need of more Credits, be sure to challenge Calyx (Golden): Bud of Treasures on Amphoreus. By doing so, you can rack up the required amount of Credits, and, in the process, also farm Ethereal Omen for Cipher’s Ascension in Honkai: Star Rail.

Trace Materials To Pre-Farm For Cipher In Honkai: Star Rail

Daythunder Anamnesis Requires Defeating Aquila In The Echo Of War

After you’ve successfully gone through all Ascension stages and maxed out Cipher’s level, you can start thinking about leveling up her abilities and unlocking her Traces. Much like in her Ascension process, Cipher also consumes Ethereal Omen, Echoing Wail, and Eternal Lament when leveling her Traces. A much larger quantity is needed here in comparison to the previous process. Aside from defeating Black Tide Creatures and running Calyx (Golden) activities on Amphoreus, you can obtain these items from Simulated Universe, Divergent Universe, and Assignments. You can also buy up to 40 Ethereal Omen from the Embers Exchange shop per month.

The table below lists all the materials needed to max out all of Cipher’s Traces in Honkai: Star Rail:

Cipher’s Trace-leveling process will also require you to farm Fiery Spirit, Starfire Essence, and Heaven Incinerator. These Nihility-exclusive Trace materials can be farmed at the Calyx (Crimson): Bud of Nihility activity located in the Alchemy Commission map on the Xianzhou Luofu. You can also purchase Fiery Spirit and Starfire Essence from Embers Exchange every month. For reference, Fiery Spirit, Starfire Essence, and Heaven Incinerator are listed among Fugue’s materials in Honkai: Star Rail – and she was the last Nihility character to use them before Cipher’s release.

As confirmed by HoYoverse, Cipher’s Trace-leveling process consumes a new weekly boss material called Daythunder Anamnesis. This material can be farmed by facing the Echo of War: Glance of Twilight activity, which features the fight against Aquila. This material cannot be pre-farmed ahead of the arrival of the patch itself, but can be farmed as soon as the update is released, leading up to Cipher’s release in Phase 2 banners for Honkai: Star Rail 3.3. At higher Trace levels, you’ll also need Tracks of Destiny, which can be obtained from the Divergent Universe, limited-time events, and reputation systems.

Lastly, you’ll need a whopping total of three million Credits to fully unlock and upgrade all of Cipher’s Traces. The best way of farming is, once again, via Calyx (Golden): Bud of Treasures activities, preferably on Amphoreus so as to optimize your farming efforts. The majority of Cipher’s materials could be pre-farmed, and nothing has really changed from the initial leaks to now, so players who pre-farmed back then could rest easy knowing they only need to invest in the new weekly boss material from Honkai: Star Rail 3.3.

Source: Honey Hunter World

Honkai: Star Rail

Systems

9/10

Released

April 26, 2023

ESRB

T for Teen

Developer(s)

HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)

Publisher(s)

HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)

Engine

Unity

Cross-Platform Play

Yes, Honkai Star Rail does have cross progression on PS5

Cross Save

yes