List of the coolest Honkai characters: division by levels (shooting ranges), description of abilities, synergy with other heroes, and instructions on how to get free characters
It may seem premature to someone to divide all the Honkai: Star Rail characters into tiers, since many are still leveling heroes, unlocking their bonus abilities, which can certainly show someone in a better or worse light. It will take some time before the final understanding of who should be assigned to the S-tier, and who should be lowered from the S-tier to A or B is established. However, some characters are already clear leaders in their roles.
If I may say so, then the characters in Honkai: Star Rail are much more understandable and clear than in Genshin Impact. This is mainly due to the Path system, which determines the specific role of each member of the squad and gives an idea of how useful this or that hero is. For example, using the character of the “Erudition” Path to deal damage to single targets is pointless. Instead, it is better to give preference to the hero of the “Hunting” Path.
In any case, in Honkai: Star Rail you will have to upgrade a lot of characters, creating different squad combinations in order to destroy the most difficult bosses and exploit their specific weaknesses. But pumping everyone at once is a bad idea, so you need to decide on a specific list of heroes who, at least in version 1.0, should be maxed out. As with the Genshin Impact, any character will be strong in their role if you invest resources in upgrading them and unlocking the special abilities of the Eidolon branch.
Best Honkai: Star Rail Characters
We decided to separate the characters as follows:
- S-Tier – Cheetah, Zele, Clara, Bailu, Armor
- A-level – March 7, Himeko, Welt, Yanqing, Pathfinder (Preservation), Pela, Sushan, Tingyun
- B-Tier – Pathfinder (Destruction), Dan Heng, Asta, Serval, Natasha, Qing Que, Sampo
- C-level – Hook, Hertha, Arlan
S-tier
Cheetah
- Path: Save
- Damage: Ice
The Cheetah is an upgraded version of March 7. A support character that can create a shield for the entire group with his Strong Bulwark ult and potentially freeze enemies with his Intimidating Strike skill. He also has a self-healing ability similar to Bailu’s, although it works exclusively for the Cheetah himself, restoring 25% of his health the moment he is about to receive a killing blow. Like Zhong Li in Genshin, Cheetah is the best support choice for increasing squad survivability.
Cabbage
- Path: Hunting
- Damage: Quantum
This five-star member of the Wildfire group is an extremely powerful single-target damage-dealing character. After killing an enemy or using an ult, Zele gains an additional turn with increased damage. Combined with a decent support like Armor with her Combat Relocation skill allowing Zela to immediately attack with increased damage, she can keep repeating this combo and gain a lot of energy to use her ult. Zele has a skill that increases her speed by 25% for 2 turns, allowing her to attack even earlier.
Clara
- Path: Destruction
- Damage: Physical
Anyone who has played Himeko or Mart 7 knows how important counterattacks are in terms of getting extra energy and dealing more damage. Clara is assisted by her eternal companion, the robot Svarog, who performs a counterattack whenever the girl takes damage. Svarog also places a mark on enemies that will take damage when using the Svarog Protects You skill. Her ult “Promise, not Order” causes all attacks on Clara (only increases the chance of an attack on her, while the girl receives reduced damage), while Svarog counterattacks enemies who attack any member of the squad.
Bailu
- Path: Abundance
- Damage: Electric
While she doesn’t get any damage bonuses, this tiny Dragon Healer is Star Rail’s best healer right now. Bailu heals allies with his Singing Among the Clouds skill and can give them Vigor with the help of the ult “Dragon Riding in the Pool”; an effect that partially heals allies every time they are attacked (in addition, they receive reduced damage). This is especially effective if the character has a shield, as he won’t take damage, but will still be healed. Baylu is the only character who can revive an ally by electrifying his hands and using them as defibrillators.
Armor
- Path: Harmony
- Damage: wind
Strong offensive support. Armor’s most important ability is her Combat Relocation skill, which removes a debuff from an ally and allows them to immediately walk and deal increased damage. She is excellent at fueling fast characters like Zele and Sushan, allowing them to deal more damage. Constantly using her basic attack at the cost of a talent advances her next action by 15%. Finally, she has a very strong ultimate – increases attack power and critical damage to all allies.
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March 7
- Path: Save
- Damage: Ice
March 7 – Something like Noelle from Genshin Impact – a free character that you get at the very beginning and who is a real “workhorse”. Until you get Natasha’s free healer (and even after that), March 7 will ensure the squad’s survivability with her Pretty Power shields while charging her ult with Maiden Power counterattacks. She also freezes and slows enemies with Glacier Cascade.
Himeko
- Path: Erudite
- Damage: Fire
Although Himeko is not the same counter-attack machine as Clara’s Svarog, she can fight multiple enemies at the same time, gaining a charge for each Vulnerability (Toughness) reduction and performing a powerful attack on all enemies when the number of charges reaches 3. As with March 7, these counters mean she can use her ult a lot more often, and she also gains 5 energy for every enemy she kills, making her the strongest character on the path of Erudite.
Welt
- Path: Nothingness
- Damage: Indicative
Velt’s real strength lies in his ability to slow down enemies with Void’s Edge, causing them to move less frequently. He can also deal additional damage to slow enemies thanks to the Time Warp talent. Considering that his Synthetic Black Hole ultimate inflicts Confinement on enemies, slowing their speed and delaying their turn, and that Confinement is cast on enemies with a Phantom Damage Weakness and a Penetrated Vulnerability, Velt almost always deals additional damage and slows opponents .
Yanqing
- Path: Hunting
- Damage: Ice
Yanqing is a true crit machine, getting a huge increase in critical strike chance and damage thanks to the Rain Swallow Chase ult and Sharpened Companion talent. While active, Yanqing has a 50% chance to continue attacks, potentially freezing the enemy. The only downside is that Yanqing can lose this condition when taking damage, but you can avoid it with the same March 7 shield.
Pathfinder (Save)
- Path: Save
- Damage: Fire
The best form of the Pathfinder, thanks to which he becomes a hybrid, is able to create a shield and deal damage. Can taunt with his Everburning Amber skill, gaining damage reduction and 1 Magma Will. This resource stacks up to 8, and once the Pathfinder has 4, his normal attack becomes stronger, allowing him to deal damage to multiple enemies and apply a small shield to all allies for 2 turns. With the Pathfinder’s max damage and shields scaling with defense, you’ll be able to deal more damage with ease and provide protection for the rest of the group.
sang
- Path: Nothingness
- Damage: Ice
Pela is a great attacking support that can weaken the opponent’s defense by using the Preemptive Strike technique and the Suppression Zone ult. If an enemy receives a debuff after Pela attacks, she regenerates 5 energy, allowing her to recharge her ult. This is one of the few characters that can remove a buff from enemies with the Frostbite skill, which comes in handy in some Elite and Boss fights.
Sushan
- Path: Hunting
- Damage: Physical
Sushan is a strong single target physical DPS character who relies on Vulnerable Break to increase her speed and ensure that her Mountain Fall skill deals additional Sword Stance damage to enemies. When she casts her Dawnbringer ult, she gains one more turn, and for 2 turns she gains an attack buff and an additional chance to trigger Sword Stance bonus damage. Sushan consumes skill points to combo with her ultimate and then with another skill for a lot of single target damage. In this sense, it is somewhat similar to the four-star Zele.
Tingyun
- Path: Harmony
- Damage: Lightning
Tingyun is one of Star Rail’s best support characters, mostly because of the Blessing buff she applies to an ally with her Soothing Melody skill. It enhances the attack and allows you to deal some electrical damage in addition to the character’s default. When Tingyun attacks an enemy, the ally with Blessing also deals lightning damage. The good news is that Blessing also works on counterattacks, so you can use March 7 and her Maiden Strength talent. Although Tingyun’s ult is not based on dealing damage, it effectively restores the target ally’s ult and increases their damage for 2 turns.
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Pathfinder (Destruction)
- Path: Destruction
- Damage: Physical
While the physical Pathfinder deals decent damage, his overall set of abilities is somewhat weaker compared to other characters. One of the biggest advantages of this character is how easy it is to master. The base Pathfinder is also pretty versatile in terms of damage output, with his Burial Home Run skill that hits multiple targets and the Stardust Trump ult, which has both single-target and multi-target DPS modes.
Dan Heng
- Path: Hunting
- Damage: wind
Dan Heng is a decent starter character that can be used for most of the game if build is right, but most of his usefulness comes from getting critical hits through Heavy Rain to slow down enemies and then dealing more damage with his Ultimate Sleep about the unearthly grotto.” It takes some time to get your critical damage up early in terms of getting the right relics, and by the time you do, you’ll probably have picked a better character along the Hunt path. Sushan, for example, has a speed buff that isn’t locked behind a bonus ability, and her ult fully pushes her action forward. However, Dan Heng is a free and strong hero.
Natasha
- Path: Abundance
- Damage: Physical
Natasha is the first free healer in Star Rail, and while she can’t be compared to Bailu’s ability to revive and inflict Vigor, she does her job well and is a good choice if you don’t have another healer. At the same time, it is capable of inflicting some kind of damage. Natasha has some great Eidolons, including the ability to continuously heal and deal additional damage, so she’s a great potential squad member to invest in long-term endgame content, especially if you don’t have Bailu.
Asta
- Path: Harmony
- Damage: Fire
While her buffs aren’t quite as game-changing as Armor, Asta is a decent free support, increasing the group’s offensive capabilities by up to five times per Charge level accumulated. Where Asta really shines is as a support specific to Fire Allies. She buffs fire damage to allies and can inflict burning on enemies as soon as you unlock her bonus abilities. If you are using Pathfinder (Save) along with Himeko, then an upgraded Asta will probably be the best choice to support them.
Serval
- Path: Erudite
- Damage: Electric
The serval is good in that it applies electrical damage to multiple enemies, dealing additional damage to them. Like most other characters in the Path of Erudite, with the possible exception of Himeko, she tends to deal damage to multiple enemies without being electrocuted. However, if you got it for free as part of the pre-registration rewards and you need a character with electric damage to deal with opponents with this Vulnerability, Serval will certainly do the job.
Qingtue
- Path: Erudite
- Damage: Quantum
Qing Que has one of the funniest and most unique playstyles of any Star Rail character: she collects dice of the same suit to transform a basic attack into an enhanced version that hits multiple enemies. Her Last Bone skill allows her to pull out two jade bones, increasing damage whenever she does so. The main problem with Qing Que is that she needs a whole bunch of skill points to use optimally, and as such she is highly dependent on team composition.
Sampo
- Path: Nothingness
- Damage: wind
Sampo is one of the best breakers in the game and a great farming character for skill points, so he is perfect for AoE oriented damage dealers like Serval or Himeko. Wind Daggers gives him a 65% chance to inflict Weathering on enemies, a powerful effect that deals damage over three turns. Can be triggered by skill and ult. On top of that, his ultimate is an AoE attack that places a debuff on opponents that increases damage over time – even from other characters. All you need to do is switch between his skills and ult and spam basic attacks.
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Pig
- Path: Destruction
- Damage: Flamed
If single damage groups become the subject of special difficult content, as was the case with Genshin Impact, then Hook would be a great addition to a Fire-based team. Her playstyle focuses on attacking enemies afflicted with Burning to deal additional damage and regenerate energy. While she can cast Burn on a single target with the Hey! Remember Hook?”, her effectiveness is largely dependent on other characters that cast Burn on the enemy group. In general, a rather situational hero.
Gerta
- Path: Erudite
- Damage: Ice
As is the case with most four-star characters in the Path of Erudite, Gert is not very effective against bosses and elite enemies, since her counterattack only works when the opponent’s health is reduced to 50% or less. Since the additional damage of her One-time Offer skill is based on the same condition, she is of little value in such battles. However, Gerta is one of the few four-star characters that you can get guaranteed Eidolon for – via the Virtual Universe – which will help her buff faster.
Arlan
- Path: Destruction
- Damage: Electric
In a game with few healers, where survivability is just as important as damage ability, Arlan is the least effective character. His Pain and Wrath talent can increase damage depending on how low the hero’s health is, while Shackle Breaker takes away his health points to deal damage. If you don’t have a good healer or shield, Arlan’s survivability will be quite difficult. You will have to act to the detriment of other characters who require healing and shields.
All free characters in Honkai: Star Rail
In addition to the Pathfinder, there are 6 free characters in Honkai: Star Rail. Here’s how you can get them:
- March: on the space station “Hertha” after passing the section for Kafka.
- Dan Heng: on the Hertha space station after passing the section for Kafka.
- Asta: Received from the first Jump after approaching Asta in the Hertha space station.
- [ Hertha: Obtained after completing the mission “Virtual Universe: Primary Test”.
- Natasha: Obtained after completing the quest “Lying in the Rust” in the second story chapter.
- Qing Que: Can be obtained after completing the third stage of Remembrance in the Hall of Oblivion.
