Best The Herta Honkai Star Rail build: Relics, Light Cones, Eidolons, and Abilities

The Herta is Honkai Star Rail‘s first 5-star Ice Erudition unit and the second Emulator, bringing her own flair as a skill-focused DPS.

Her kit revolves around stacking Interpretation on enemies and unleashing it for big single-target and AoE damage. She really pops off when paired with another Erudition unit and thrives in fights against enemy mobs or bosses.

Let’s break down her build guide, including her kit, Eidolons, Light Cones, Relics, rotations, and team synergies.

Best The Herta build in Honkai Star Rail

Light Cone	Relic	Ornament	Stats	Team Comp
Before Dawn	Hunter of Glacial Forest (4-piece)	Inert Salsotto	Feet: SPD Body: Crit DMG Sphere: Ice DMG Bonus Rope: ATK% Substats: Crit DMG, Crit Rate, ATK%, SPD	Bronya, Tingyun, Pela/Silver Wolf

Best Light Cone

The best Light Cone for Herta is Before Dawn.

This powerhouse cone supercharges everything Herta cares about: massive crits, explosive ultimates, and bonus damage for those rare follow-up attacks. It boosts her Crit DMG right out of the gate, cranks up her ultimate damage, and adds a juicy bonus to follow-up attack damage for good measure.

The “Somnus Corpus” buff is the best part. Whenever Herta uses her skill, ultimate, or triggers a follow-up attack, she gets an extra boost to Crit DMG that sticks around until her next attack. It’s like giving her damage output a turbo button, perfectly tailored to make her feel as over-the-top as she looks.

Best Relic and Ornament set

Relic

The Herta’s best Relic set is the Scholar Lost in Erudition set. With its focus on boosting damage output, this relic set perfectly complements her skill-focused DPS role.

• 2-piece bonus: Increases her Crit Rate by 8%.
• 4-piece bonus: Increases damage dealt by her Ultimate and Skill by 20%, and adds a 25% damage boost to her next Skill after using her Ultimate.

Farming this set requires the Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Uncertainty domain on Xianzhou Luofu, and while it’s not ideal for characters who rely on follow-up attacks, it’s a perfect match for The Herta’s fast-paced, skill-reliant damage rotation.

Ornament

The best Ornament set for The Herta in Honkai Star Rail is Space Sealing Station. The set bonus for this Ornament set has been discussed below:

• 2-piece: Boosts her Crit Rate by 8%, which is vital for landing those higher-damage Crits.

The bonus Crit Rate ensures her follow-up attacks hit hard and often, complementing her DPS role.

Ascension and Trace level-up materials

Ascension

The Herta in Honkai Star Rail needs Extinguished Cores, Glimmering Cores, and Squirming Cores to Ascend. The exact number of materials she needs is as follows:

• Extinguished Core: x15
• Glimmering Core: x15
• Squirming Core: x15
• Dream Fridge: x65

Trace level-up

The Herta’s Traces in Honkai Star Rail need you will need Tracks of Destiny, Auspice Sliver, Rough Sketch, Extinguished Core, Glimmering Core, Squirming Core, Dynamic Outlining, and Exquisite Colored Draft. You can find the exact number of materials she needs below:

• Tracks of Destiny: x8
• Auspice Sliver: x12
• Rough Sketch: x18
• Extinguished Core: x41
• Glimmering Core: x56
• Squirming Core: x58
• Dynamic Outlining: x69
• Exquisite Colored Draft: x139
• Credits: 3 million

Best team comp for The Herta

If you’re running The Herta, pairing her with Himeko, Aventurine, and Robin is a peak strategy.

Himeko’s fiery blasts clear mobs and shred enemy toughness, setting the stage for Herta’s icy demolition. Together, they make an AoE dream team that wipes waves faster than enemies can blink.

Aventurine’s role is simple: keep everyone alive. His shields and defensive support let Herta stay laser-focused on her damage output. He’s the dependable anchor balancing the team’s offense-heavy chaos.

Robin turbocharges the team with action boosts and attack buffs, letting Herta use her skills more frequently. Her Concerto state layers additional damage, amplifying the carnage.

Abilities

Basic Attack

ABILITY NAME	DESCRIPTION
Did You Get It	Deals Ice DMG equal to 100% of The Herta’s ATK to one designated enemy target.

Skill

ABILITY NAME	DESCRIPTION
Big Brain Energy	Deals Ice DMG equal to 70% of The Herta’s ATK to one designated enemy, and inflicts 1 stack(s) of “Interpretation.” Deals Ice DMG equal to 70% of The Herta’s ATK to the target that has been hit by this instance of Skill and adjacent targets, repeating 2 times.
Hear Me Out	Consumes 1 stack of “Inspiration.” Deals Ice DMG equal to 80% of The Herta’s ATK to one designated enemy and inflicts 1 stack(s) of “Interpretation.” Deals Ice DMG equal to 80% of The Herta’s ATK to the target hit by this instance of Skill and adjacent targets, repeating 2 times. Finally, deals Ice DMG equal to 40% of The Herta’s ATK to all enemies.

Ultimate

ABILITY NAME

DESCRIPTION

Told Ya! Magic Happens

Rearranges the number of “Interpretation” stacks on all enemies, prioritizing the transfer of a higher number of “Interpretation” stacks to Elite-level targets and above. Then, deals Ice DMG equal to 200% The Herta’s ATK to all enemies. When using Ultimate, increases The Herta’s ATK by 80%, lasting for 3 turn(s). After using the Ultimate, The Herta immediately takes action and gains 1 stack of “Inspiration.” “Inspiration” can stack up to 2 time(s). While having “Inspiration,” enhances Skill to “Hear Me Out.”

Talent

ABILITY NAME

DESCRIPTION

Hand Them Over

When enemy targets enter battle, The Herta inflicts 1 stack of “Interpretation” on them. When the Enhanced Skill’s primary target has “Interpretation,” the multiplier for the DMG dealt increases, with each stack granting an increase of 8%/4% on the primary target/other targets respectively. If at least 2 characters follow the Path of Erudition in the team, each stack grants an additional increase of 8%/4% on the primary target/other targets respectively. “Interpretation” can stack up to 42 time(s). When using the Enhanced Skill, resets the number of “Interpretation” stacks on the primary target to 1. After the enemy target leaves the battle or gets defeated by any unit, “Interpretation” will be transferred, prioritizing the transfer to Elite-level targets and above.

Technique

ABILITY NAME

DESCRIPTION

Vibe Checker

After using Technique, increases The Herta’s ATK by 40% at the start of the next battle for 2 turn(s). Applies 25 “Interpretation” stack(s) to one random enemy target at the start of each wave, prioritizing Elite or rarer targets. If there are Basic Treasures in this current map, using Technique will mark up to 3 Basic Treasures’ locations. After entering battle by using Technique in Simulated Universe or Divergent Universe, deals True DMG equal to 99% of the target’s Max HP to enemy targets lower than Elite-level, and True DMG equal to 30% of the target’s Max HP to enemy targets at Elite-level and above.

Passives

ABILITY NAME	DESCRIPTION
Aloofly Honest	When ally targets attack, inflicts 1 stack of “Interpretation” on the hit enemy target. After attacking, for every 1 target hit by this attack, regenerates 3 fixed Energy for The Herta, counting up to a maximum of 5 targets. When using Enhanced Skill and if the target’s “Interpretation” stack is 42, increases Ice DMG dealt by The Herta by 50% until the end of this instance of Enhanced Skill.
Message From Beyond the Veil	When entering battle, if the team has at least 2 characters following the Path of Erudition, then increases all allies’ CRIT DMG by 80%, calculates at least 3 targets when the Trace “Aloofly Honest” calculates hit targets, applies 1 stacks of “Interpretation” to the target that has the highest existing stacks of “Interpretation” among the hit enemy targets after attacking, and additionally applies 2 stacks of “Interpretation” if they are a character following the Path of Erudition.
Starved Landscape of Vacua	For every 1 stack of “Interpretation” inflicted on enemy targets, The Herta increases her Ultimate’s DMG multiplier by 1%, stacking up to 99 time(s).

Eidolons

• Level 1 – Night at Shorefall: When using Enhanced Skill, calculates Interpretation and adds 30% of the stacks from the 2 highest-targeted enemies. Resets Interpretation stack to 10 if the primary target’s stack is 10 or higher.
• Level 2 – Wind Through Keyhole: If Interpretation reaches 42 when applied or transferred, The Herta gains 1 stack of Inspiration. Enhanced Skill advances her action by 15%, and if Interpretation is 42, it advances by 25%.
• Level 3 – Door into Summer: Skill Level increases by +2, up to a max of Level 15. Talent Level increases by +2, up to a max of Level 15.
• Level 4 – The Sixteenth Key: Increases SPD of Erudition Path characters by 12% in the team.
• Level 5 – Bitter Pill of Truth: Ultimate Level increases by +2, up to a max of Level 15. Basic ATK Level increases by +1, up to a max of Level 10.
• Level 6 – Sweet Lure of Answer: Increases Ice RES PEN by 20%. Ultimate DMG multiplier increases based on the number of enemy targets:

The Herta pros and cons

The Herta is an exceptional unit but she has a few flaws as well. Here are the pros and cons of using her.

Pros	Cons
High single-target and AoE damage with stacked Interpretation and Ultimate scaling.	Requires good management of Interpretation stacks to maximize damage.
Works excellently alongside other Erudition units to boost team performance.	Lacks defensive capabilities and can be vulnerable without good positioning or support.
Can deal massive bursts of damage with her Ultimate.	Her Ultimate needs frequent energy recharge, which may hinder performance in some situations.

The Herta Trailer

On January 7, 2025, HoYoverse released the official trailer for The Herta 3.0 on their YouTube channel. If you missed it, you can check it out below:

This is all you need to learn about The Herta in Honkai Star Rail. If you want to learn more about the gacha game, check out our guides for codes, Twitch drops, and voice actors.