I've included every possible method to get the maximum amount of Crystals that can be obtained without any form of microtransactions!
#the_f2p_way[emoji]
Summery:
1. Stages
2. Open World
3. Abyss
4. Memorial Arena
5. Dorm
6. Armada
7. Ai-phone
8. Missions
9. "Events" Page
10. Bonuses
11. Mails
12. Announcements/News
13. LTO Shop
14. Sensei and Cadets
15. Achievements
16. Birthday and Redemption Codes
17. Trial Plays
18. Event
19. Shop
20. Inventory
21. Gacha
22. Special Events
1. First method is stages.
1.1: Story
Enter the story chapter that is not yet 100% complete.
Select the incomplete stage and check the unachieved challenges.
After entering the stage if you're likely to forget what the challenges were, you can pause the stage to recheck those challenges.
Completing all of the challenges of a whole "Act" will reward in extra crystals!
Expedition stages also have crystal challenges!
1.2: Chronicles
Same as 1.1 except there is a challenge mode in every "Chronicles" chapter.
Challenge modes have a few more stages.
But if you look closely on the upper left side of the picture above, it has a 100% "File" completion reward that includes crystals! Getting 100% "File" completion will take up a significant amount of time and stamina. So whenever you have extra stamina that you don't know where to spend, you can spend those all over here to get those crystals faster!
1.3: Material Event
Every page has stages that have crystal challenges. Solo and co-op stages have different challenges meaning MOAR crystals! The First and Third resets daily while the Fifth resets weekly. These 3 event stages have a repetitive cycle. Meaning, you can do the stages over and over again within the limited given attempts but you can only get the crystals once.
1.4: Co-op raids
Same as 1.1 check the stages that have unachieved challenges.
*If you don't know how to create a team click here -> How to create a team in co-op
You can also check the challenges by pressing on "Stage info"
2. Second method is Open world.
After entering the open world lobby, you have to do some story quests in order to unlock Adventure Level and Tasks.
Increasing your Adventure Level will give you milestone rewards some of which are crystals! (Unfortunately the game doesn't show previous records of milestone rewards for "Sakura Samsara" and "Schicksal HQ" so I had to use a picture of "A Post-Honkai Odyssey". You'll unlock it as you level up. It's pretty much the same as the other Open worlds.)
After that, if you're lucky enough you might get Adventure Tasks that rewards crystals! And in order to get lucky you must have to use up all of your free "Refresh" attempts. Don't haste refreshing or you might just miss the task that had crystals on it. Adventure Tasks resets every 3 days. (I had already used up all of my free "Refresh" attempts as of making this guide)
(Old picture of me getting super lucky!)
3. Third Method is Abyss.
We might not have the same Abyss but it's pretty much the same thing with just different names and mechanics.
There are 2 ways you can get crystals from Abyss.
First is the completion reward. You get crystals by completing certain amount of stages in Abyss. (Note that It will look different in your case if you're not level 81+. But it works almost the same way as every other Abyss.)
Second is the rank rewards. Ranking is based on how good your knowledge and equipment is in terms of gameplay mechanics. The more you know on how to deal better damage with team compositions, the higher rank you can achieve. And the higher your rank is, the more crystals you can get! Abyss resets every 3 (2.5) days.
You can get both completion and ranking rewards every reset!
4. Forth method is Memorial Arena.
Enter Memorial Arena.
And just defeat bosses. You don't have to worry about ranking higher like in Abyss because there are no crystal rewards for ranking higher. You just have to somehow defeat the bosses and get the completion rewards, which includes crystals. Memorial Arena resets every week and you get 5/3 attempts depending on your level everyday. You can get completion rewards every reset!
5. Fifth method is Dorm.
Dorm has a "Errands" feature that can also give you crystals! Just tap on "Errands".
Keep in mind that the requirements to do each task in "Errands" will scale up as you level up. And crystal tasks are luck based and have the highest requirements.
6. Sixth method is Armada.
Joining an Armada for the first time rewards you crystals! After joining an Armada check "Contributions".
Reaching 5000 contribution milestone will reward you crystals! Contribution is shared between all Armada mates. Contribution progress resets weekly.
You can get contribution rewards every week!
7. Seventh method is Ai-phone.
1.1: Collection
Open your Ai-Phone and press on "Collection".
Press on the illustration on the very left of the screen.
And get crystal rewards upon reaching "Collection Rating" milestones!
1.2: Database
Press on "Database".
Switch to the "Academy" tab.
These are extra tutorial stages that have crystal challenges!
1.3: Download
Downloading the complete game will give you crystal rewards.
8. Eighth method is Missions.
1.1: Story
Completing the missions in "Story" tab gives you tons of crystals!
1.2: Dailies
Completing daily missions will reward you crystals as you reach each "Daily Duty" milestone.
Milestone rewards resets daily.
You can get crystals everyday!
1.3: BP Rewards
By Completing BP(Battle Pass) missions you can get crystals off of the respective levels.
9. Ninth method is "Events" page.
1.1: Event tabs
Sometimes Event tabs has mini events that can include crystal rewards.
1.2: Web events
Web events appears from time to time inside the "Events" page. Includes crystal rewards.
Or it'll take you to a web browser. Also includes crystal rewards.
10. Tenth method is Bonuses.
Log in and get bonuses. You have to at least log in for 29 days to get all of the crystal rewards from the log in bonus page within a month. Aside from the daily log in, event log in bonuses can sometime also include crystals. Daily log in bonuses resets every month. Event log in bonuses appears only once.
You can get daily log in rewards every month!
11. Eleventh method is Mails.
Ai-chan(Honkai dev team) will send you crystal mail depending on what you did to receive the rewards. Could be in game events or offline events.
You also get tons of crystals after every version update!
12. Twelfth method is Announcements/News.
There is always at least 1 version overview survey that'll give you crystal rewards. Aside from that there can also be offline event links within the "Announcements/News" page that might have crystal rewards. So read the announcements carefully!
13. Thirteenth method is LTO Shop.
"LTO" shop can sometimes have free rewards including crystals. Usually after a version update. So don't forget to check it out after a version update!
14. Fourteenth method is Sensei and Cadets.
It's a teacher/student feature if you're not familiar with what the term means. Press on "Friends" on bottom left.
Switch to "Sensei"/"Cadet" on upper right.
There should be options down below on getting a Sensei/Cadet.
*Note that Sensei's can only get crystal rewards from achievements, while cadet's can get tons of crystal from completing "Sensei Tasks".
15. Fifteenth method is Achievements.
Press on your player profile. Then on "Achievements".
Be sure to check and complete achievements to get tons of crystals!
16. Sixteenth method is Birthday and Redemption Codes.
Go to your player profile and then switch to "Account" located on the very right.
1.1: Birthday
You can add your own birthday or a fake birthday.
Just like how I did on my 2nd account to get the crystal reward immediately! You can only get this reward once a year! So think carefully if you want it on your special day or not! (Comes with a special message from Ai-chan.)
1.2: Redemption Codes
Open your Ai-phone and follow their social medias. Discord is recommended because discord has a dedicated channel only for codes. You can also join armada or a group on a social media platform that uploads codes whenever it's out.
To use a code you need to go to your player profile and then "Account", same way you added birthday.
17. Seventeenth method is Trial play.
"Trial Play" updates itself every now and then.
"Trial Play" stages have crystal achievements.
18. Eighteenth method is Event.
Main event is in the "Event" tab.
Latest story chapters also unlocks as an event on the time of it's release.
1.1 Progression
Event progression rewards can sometimes include crystals.
1.2: Event Currency
By playing the event you can get event currency, with which you buy crystals!
*Note that sometimes both 1.1 and 1.2 can be In a single main event.
19. Nineteenth method is Shop.
Go to shop and then switch to "Event Shop".
The only part of the shop you can use to buy crystals is the "Event Shop" tab.
20. Twentieth method is Inventory.
Check Equipment inventory "Materials" and then "Supplies". Chances are, you already have some crystals lying around here.
Switch to "Event". Some of the consumable items might just have crystals in it. Check carefully!
*Note that consumable items have a blue dot on the upper right side of it's item box.
21. Twenty-first method is Gacha.
There is a gacha banner with random materials and crystals as it's prizes. Works the same way as every other gacha. But it appears very rarely. (Used picture is not of the mentioned gacha banner. I was unable to find a picture of that specific banner as well as not having any screenshots from myself.)
22. Twenty-second method is Special Events.
A special event can appear from time to time within these boxes. The content of the purple box is an overview of ongoing events though it sometimes contains an extra event tab. So swiping through all of it once In a while is not a bad idea!
The contents of the red box will have something similar to a "pop up" message so it's kinda hard to miss.
Both events can reward crystals!
I believe I've wrapped up every possible way there is on how to get crystals without any microtransactions.
If you find any trouble understanding a part or if you find any grammatical errors, do let me know in the comments and I'll gladly edit the part to make it look more appealing.
