Honkai Star Rail tier list: Best characters ranked

❘ Updated: 2024-10-30T17:06:32

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Having the most powerful characters in our Honkai Star Rai tier list on your team will help you gain a huge advantage over enemies in battle.

While every fighter in Honkai Star Rail is useful on the battlefield, some are undoubtedly better than others. With over 50 characters to get for free or on banners, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out who the must-have units are, so we’ve got all the information you need below.

Best Honkai Star Rail characters tier list

Rank	Characters
S	Feixiao, Sparkle, Bronya, Acheron, Firefly, Luocha, Kafka, Tingyun, Fu Xuan, Jingliu, Huohuo, Ruan Mei, Rappa, Robin, Imbibitor Lunae, Aventurine, Boothill, Gepard, March 7th
A	Moze, Jade, Blade, Topaz, Jing Yuan, Clara, Welt, Yukong, Bailu, Himeko, Lynx, Dr. Ratio, Argenti, Black Swan, Gallagher, Yunli, Jiaoqiu, Hook, Hanya
B	Serval, Yanqing, Qingque, Luka, Sushang, Pela, Asta, Natasha, Sampo, Guinaifen, Misha, Xueyi
C	Dan Heng, Herta, Trailblazer, Arlan

Our tiers explained

Here’s a full rundown of exactly how our tiers work:

S: Best of the best, you can’t go wrong with having these units in team comps
A: Strong to use providing you’ve got the best possible build
B: Can be useful but there are better alternative options
C: We’d suggest avoiding these characters completely unless you’re particularly drawn to them

S-tier Honkai Star Rail characters

Feixiao

Feixiao is a Wind The Hunt unit in Honkai Star Rail and primarily functions as a single-target damage dealer. She has a powerful ultimate ability in addition to follow-up attacks that synergize with Aventurine and Topaz.

Feixiao is one of the strongest characters in the game and she can easily be termed as a single-target version of Acheron. Her raw damage numbers are absurd and she will clear any content in the game as long as it is a boss.

In fact, she also works well against multiple enemies on account of her ability to chain follow-up attacks.

Sparkle

A screenshot from the game Honkai Star Rail

Sparkle is one of the best support units in Honkai Star Rail. She can enhance the damage output of every unit in the game. She can also increase the total number of usable skill points for the party. Ideally, you have five skill points, but Sparkle increases that to seven. This game changer in parties consists of units like Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae, Bronya, Jingliu, and more.

She is an upgrade over Bronya and a meta-changer. Therefore, you must pull for her whenever you get a chance. If you do, check out our detailed Sparkle guide for additional information.

Bronya

Bronya can play a great support role in any team comps thanks to her powerful Wind attacks and abilities that can increase the strength of her teammates. With her Skill Attack granting her allies an additional turn in combat, she can pair perfectly with fast fighters like Seele.

Check out our dedicated guide for everything you need to know about Bronya’s build Honkai Star Rail.

Acheron

Acheron is an extremely powerful 5-star Lightning character on the Path of Nihility. Acheron’s Ultimate has a zero-energy cost, unlike any other character’s ability. Instead, debuffing enemies causes her to gain stacks of Slashed Dream, unleashing the power of her Ultimate that ignores all weaknesses.

Check out our build guide if you’re hoping to add Acheron to your team.

Firefly

Firefly is a formidable 5-star character who follows the Path of Destruction. In combat, her specialty is dealing massive amounts of Break DMG in exchange for a percentage of her HP. However, she regains that health by attacking in her Complete Combustion state. Firefly can also reduce enemy Toughness and apply a Fire weakness.

Check out our build guide to add Firefly to your team.

Rappa

Rappa is the only new character who arrived in the version 2.6 update. She’s a 5-star Imaginary unit who excels at dealing AoE Break damage in combat. She’s a powerful DPS who can deal with groups of enemies extremely effectively.

She works best alongside Ruan Mei as your main support unit as she can buff the entire team’s attacks, and give Rappa more Charges by aiding the team. If you want to run Rappa as a sub-DPS pairing her up with Boothill is a solid option as well.

Loucha

Loucha is an Abundance unit. This 5-star is an extremely versatile fighter. He’s an Imaginary user who can use his abilities to debuff enemies, as well as heal his allies which makes him an excellent support option in any team comp.

For a full breakdown of the best Loucha builds, check out our dedicated guide.

Kafka

Kafka is a 5-star Lightning character who can stack up huge amounts of damage onto enemies in combat. Her overall Damage over Time can unleash some devastating attack stacks on the enemy so she’s a solid DPS or sub-DPS option to have in any team comp.

You can check out our best Kafka build guide here.

Seele

One of the strongest DPS units is Honkai Star Rail is Seele. This Quantum wielder excels at delivering single-target DMG and can easily clear non-boss encounters thanks to her speed buffs. When paired with the right support characters she can be an unstoppable force on the battlefield.

Check out our dedicated guide for everything you need to know about Seele’s build Honkai Star Rail.

Silver Wolf

Silver Wolf is the latest character to join Honkai Star Rail in the 1.1 Version update. She is a member of the Stellaron Hunters and a remarkable hacker who has mastered the skill of ‘Aether Editing’ which can temper with the data of reality.

Silver Wolf’s biggest skill is her Weakness Implant which will add a weakness to an enemy based on your current team. She can also bug the enemy which will lower their speed, attack, or defense, with an arsenal of effective debuff skills this hacker is a great support option in any team comp.

You can check out our full build guide for Silver Wolf right here.

Tingyun

Tingyun is the best support option currently available in Honkai Star Rail. Her Skill Attack ‘Soothing Melody’ applies an impressive Benediction Buff to one ally while also boosting their Lightning DMG output so when it’s used on a Lightning user like Serval, it results in a powerful combination.

For full details on how to create the best Tingyun build in Honkai Star Rail, make sure to check out our dedicated guide.

Fu Xuan

Recently added to the game, Fu Xuan is a powerful defense option for your team in Honkai Star Rail. Her versatility and tendencies to reduce damage, heal, and provide helpful damage boosts place her comfortably in S-tier.

To truly optimize her build, take a look at our best Fu Xuan build guide.

Jingliu

Jingliu is a powerful 5-star Ice unit on the Path of the Destruction. She can deal strong AoE damage that enters a special state, which can consume ally HP without using Skill Points. Pairing Jingliu with Bronya will allow her to take extra turns, which means she will enter the Spectral Transmigration State earlier.

You can check out our guide on how to build Jingliu effectively here.

Huohuo

Huohuo can provide incredible heals to your team as a Wind Abundance character. Additionally, her Ultimate can regenerate allies’ Energy and increase their ATK. This combination makes her an Abundance and Harmony unit simultaneously.

If you want to build Huohuo effectively, check out our build guide for her.

Ruan Mei

Ruan Mei is an impeccable support unit that can buff the entire party’s DMG, SPD, and Break Efficiency. Not only that, she can also delay an enemy’s actions after inflicting Weakness Break. To use Ruan Mei effectively, you’ll need to heavily invest in her Break Effect through, but ensure you have an Energy Regeneration rope instead.

Check out our build guide on Ruan Mei to add her to your team.

Robin

As a Support character, Robin can provide a DMG boost and CRIT DMG buff to the entire party. Additionally, Robin’s Ultimate can cause allies to immediately take action, which can be charged by her teammates attacking enemies. Therefore, Robin works best in a follow-up team, considering other characters can attack more than once per turn.

Check out our guide for the best Robin build.

Imbibitor Lunae

Imbibitor Lunae is undoubtedly one of the most powerful damage dealers in Honkai Star Rail. He’s got amazing DPS potential and, with the right build, can take down enemies with ease and efficiency. As an added bonus, he’s also a free-to-play character, making him perfect for any player’s team.

Take a look at our detailed guide for how to best build Imbibitor Lunae in Honkai Star Rail.

Aventurine

Aventurine can not only provide Shields to the entire party, but also deal a decent amount of damage. Both of these can increase depending on the amount of DEF Aventurine has and how often he can trigger his follow-up attack.

If you want to build Aventurine effectively, check out our guide on how to do so.

Boothill

Boothill is a great 5-star option if you are hoping to easily inflict Weakness Break onto enemies. As a member of the Path of The Hunt, Boothill specializes in dealing single-target Break DMG and, like Firefly, can inflict a Physical weakness on those who don’t have it.

Gepard

Check out our build guide if you want to add Boothill to your team.

Gepard is a great defensive unit in any team comp as he’s able to effectively protect his teammates. This particular shines when his Ultimate ‘Enduring Bulwark’ is used to shield the entire team from damage and also has the chance to freeze the enemy.

Like Bailu, he also possesses a revive ability but it can only be used on himself. If you want to boost your team’s survivability, Gepard is a great option.

For a full rundown of the best Gepard build in Honkai Star Rail, check out our dedicated guide.

March 7th

This Ice user can provide solid defense in battle by slowing and freezing enemies while also dealing some powerful damage through counterattacks. While not the very best sub-DPS option, March 7th is still a great fighter to have on your team, especially as she’s one of the very first characters you obtain in the game.

You can check out our Best March 7th build guide for more details on this Ice Weilder.

A-tier Honkai Star Rail characters

Moze

Moze is a 4-star The Hunt Lightning unit in Honkai Star Rail that also functions as a follow-up unit. He is a sub-DPS who has pretty good synergy with Feixiao.

Moze’s damage numbers are quite good and at Eidolon 6 he can match the likes of Topaz pretty easily. However, he is a bit limited due to his energy problems and inability to work in any other team that does not involve Feixiao.

Jiaoqiu

Jiaoqiu is an amazing unit in Honkai Star Rail. He can deal Fire DMG, inflict DoT, and increase the Ultimate damage for the team. He is also very easy to use and SP (Skill Point) efficient. He is also free-to-play and can work without much investment.

The only issue with Jiaoqiu is that he does not work very well with many teams apart from Acheron. As such, his versatility is reduced significantly.

Yunli

Yunli is an interesting unit in Honkai Star Rail. She is a mix of Blade and Clara and primarily relies on counter-attacks for damage. Whenever she is attacked by an enemy, she lands a counter-attack with a massive boost to her ATK.

However, she is not very consistent as if enemies are not targeting her, she loses out on a lot of damage. This can happen in Memory of Chaos or other end-game activities which will make it difficult for the player to make the most out of Yunli’s abilities.

Jade

As a 5-star Erudition character, Jade excels at dealing AoE follow-up Quantum DMG in boss fights like Pure Fiction. However, she lacks in her inability to dish out single-target DMG and requires a second DPS to have any viability in combat.

To maximize Jade’s potential, check out our build guide on how to do so.

Blade

Blade is a powerful Wind user who can deal great AoE damage, making him an extremely good DPS option in Honkai Star Rail. This 5-star Destruction path worker can be a deadly force on the battlefield, especially if he’s paired with a good healer.

For a full rundown of the best Blade build in Honkai Star Rail, check out our guide here.

Topaz

Topaz is a Fire sub-DPS character on the Path of The Hunt. She can deal damage to single targets and increase the power of allies’ follow-up attacks. Clara makes a great counterpart to Topaz due to the amount of her follow-up attacks.

To maximize Topaz’s potential, you can check out our build guide for information.

Jing Yuan

While perhaps not quite as powerful as Imbibitor Lunae, Jing Yuan can certainly pack a punch on the battlefield. His lightning punch is fantastic for taking down single enemies and his many other Lightning skills allow him to dominate the fight with fantastic damage potential.

Check out our guide on the best Jing Yuan build for more details.

Welt

The ability to delay enemy turns in combat by reducing their speed is enough to warrant their place in the S-tier. It can turn the tide of a battle and will essentially mean more turns for your characters, meaning more damage, healing, or support. Using this means you can capitalize on all the other powerful characters.

Check out our build guide for Welt in Honkai Star Rail.

Yukong

With the ability to increase the attack stat of all your other teammates, Yukong is a fantastic support character in Honkai Star Rail. She’s able to expertly and easily buff other allies and can even hold her own as a DPS.

Check out the best build for Yukong in Honkai Star Rail here.

Clara

Clara is an effective Sub-DPS, thanks to her counter-attacking ability. Every time this fiery fighter is damaged she performs a counterattack. With the help of her robot guardian, Svarog, Clara can also mark enemies to make them receive additional damage with her Skill Attack.

Check out our dedicated guide for everything you need to know about Clara’s build in Honkai Star Rail.

Bailu

If you’re looking for a healer in Honkai Star Rail then Bailu is by far the best option. As well as providing lifesaving heals during combat, she’s also the only character in the game who can completely revive allies. What Bailu lacks in damage, she certainly makes up for in healing and she can greatly enhance the survivability chances of any team she’s on.

Check out our dedicated guide for everything you need to know about Bauilu’s build Honkai Star Rail.

Himeko

Himeko can be a deadly DPS with the right build in place. Her fiery kit is great at taking down multiple enemies on the battlefield, and she can pull off frequent follow-up attacks that can be invaluable when it comes to turning the tide of a fight. To top it all off, when Himeko defeats an enemy, she regenerates five energy.

For a full breakdown of the best build for Himeko, check out our guide.

Lynx

Lynx is an effective 4-star healer to Honkai Star Rail’s small roster of available options. As a Quantum support unit, she can increase the maximum HP of allies, and her Ultimate can cleanse debuffs from your party. Lynx can also raise the aggro of Preservation and Destruction characters.

If you’re hoping to pull Lynx from a banner soon, check out our build guide here.

Dr. Ratio

Recently, Honkai Star Rail generously gifted players a free copy of Dr. Ratio, and he can make a great addition to anyone’s team. As a member of The Hunt, Dr. Ratio excels at dealing single-target DMG, but also can dish out follow-up attacks that scale on the number of enemy debuffs.

If you’re looking to build your free Dr. Ratio, check out our guide here.

Argenti

Argenti is a Physical character on the Path of The Erudition who specializes in dealing AoE damage. This unit can be a great asset in terms of the sheer power of his Ultimate and his ability to hit multiple targets. However, he will need someone like Tingyun to regenerate Energy faster to activate his next-level Ultimate.

Here is our build guide for Argenti if you are interested.

Black Swan

Black Swan is arguably one of the most powerful DoT units in Honkai Star Rail. When paired alongside Kafka, their combination can make a team absolutely unstoppable. Black Swan can apply Arcana stacks on enemies, which will increase the power of her DoT.

If you’ve already pulled Black Swan, check out our build guide here.

Gallagher

Gallagher is another healer option in Honkai Star Rail. He restores teammates’ health by inflicting the Besotted debuff on enemies. Gallagher starts being worth it after obtaining his second Eidolon, which allows him to cleanse.

If you want to have another healer in your collection, check out our guide on how to build Gallagher.

Hook

Hook can deal additional damage to enemies on the battlefield who are already inflicted with the Burn status, so in theory, she would pair perfectly with other Fire users but depending on your individual playstyle, having a team comp consisting of mainly Fire wielders may not be ideal. If you’re keen to have a team full of fire starters, however, Hook is a solid fighter to have.

For a full guide to the best Hook build, you can check out our guide.

Hanya

Hanya in Honkai Star Rail

Hanya is a great support unit to have if you’re looking to buff your party’s SPD and ATK. Additionally, her ability to apply Burden on enemies will restore the team’s Skill Points, which is especially useful for characters who love to hog your Skill Point supply. We’re looking at you, Imbibitor Lunae.

If you’re hoping to maximize Hanya’s potential, check out our build guide for her here.

B-tier characters in Honkai Star Rail

Serval

Applying the Shock debuff to multiple enemies is what Serval does best in battle but she’s only really effective on the field when she’s up against enemies who are weak to Lightning. Against anything else, Serval’s damage output will be minimal, so there are definitely better multi-target options available. As a free-to-play character, however, it can’t hurt to give her a try.

If you’re wondering what the best Serval build is in the game, our guide has you covered.

Qingque

The most unique aspect of Qingque is her ability to enhance her Basic Attack into a stronger move that damages multiple enemies. Keeping this Quantum user effective on the battlefield requires a lot of skill points, however, so players will have to carefully plan their team comp if they want to use Qingque.

For a full rundown of the best Qingque build, you can check out our guide.

Luka

Luka can inflict Bleed on enemies.

Luka is a 4-star Physical unit in Honkai Star Rail, he can inflict the Bleed status on enemies with his attacks which is a great method for chipping away at the opponent’s health in battle. Luka is a fairly strong fighter on his own but he really shines when paired with Kafka, so if you’ve got both characters on hand, running them in the same team comp is a great option.

You can find our dedicated guide for the best Luka build in the game right here.

Sushang

If you’re looking for a single-target damage dealer, Sunshang is a capable fighter who can increase her speed after enemies have been hit with weakness breaks. Her ‘Dawn Herald’ Ultimate is particularly powerful as it grants her an additional turn and an attack buff. She makes for a great sub-DPS alternative to rarer characters like Seele.

You can find our dedicated build guide for Sushang here.

Pela

With the ability to debuff enemies and also remove buffs, Pela is a brilliant support who can also provide good offensive backup. Her ‘Zone Supression’ Ultimate reduces the enemies’ defenses while her Skill Attack deals Ice damage and removes one buff from the target, which can be extremely helpful during boss encounters.

Check out our dedicated guide for the best Pela build in Honkai Star Rail.

Asta

Asta is the lead astronomer at the Herta Space Station. She’s a Fire user who follows The Harmony path. Asta can provide a variety of buffs to her teammates in combat, which makes her a good support option if you’re in need of a character to fill that role.

She can also be obtained for free in the game simply by completing the game’s gacha mechanics tutorial, so she’s a good support character for new players to use.

If you’re looking for a full breakdown of the best Asta build, you can find our guide here.

Natasha

Natasha is a Physical fighter in Honkai Star Rail who follows The Abundance path. She’s a support character who can buff and heal her allies in battle.

She’s one of only three healers currently in the game, and players can obtain her for free, so she’s a great option to have in your team if you haven’t managed to pull Bailu or Loucha on banners.

For a full rundown of Natasha’s abilities, you can check out our build guide here.

Sampo

Sampo is an AoE wind wielder who excels at building up skill points during combat and he thrives as a Sub-DPS with over multi-target units like Himeko. Sampo’s talent ability also provides him with a 65% chance of applying Wind Sheer – a DoT effect that consecutively hits enemies for 3 turns.

Check out our dedicated guide for the best Sampo build in Honkai Star Rail.

Guinaifen

Despite being a 4-star character, Guinaifen specializes in applying Burn to several enemies. She can also increase the damage given to enemies affected by Burn. Kafka is the best unit to pair with Guinaifen based on their DoT damage.

Check out our guide for the best Guinaifen build if you’re interested in adding her to your team.

Misha

Releasing as a 4-star character on Black Swan’s banner, Misha has an interesting kit that revolves around using his Ultimate. The more Skill Points a party uses, the more powerful Misha’s Ultimate becomes. Therefore, we highly recommend using Misha alongside Hanya to regenerate Skill Points.

Check out our build guide if you’re looking to add Misha to your team.

Xueyi

Xueyi is unlike other characters in Honkai Star Rail due to her damage scaling off her Break Effect. She has the ability to reduce enemy toughness and uses Karma stacks to activate her follow-up attacks. We recommend using her as a sub-DPS with characters who can inflict Weakness Beack on enemies to trigger Xueyi’s follow-up attacks.

Check out our build guide if you want to add Xueyi to your team.

C-tier characters in Honkai Star Rail

Dan Heng

Dan Heng is one of the first characters Trailblazers meet in the game alongside March 7th, and like March, he can remain incredibly effective with the right build. He excels at dealing single-target damage and can also slow enemies with his Skill Attack, despite this however, he isn’t as powerful as other DPS units in the current meta.

If you’re wondering what the best Dan Heng build is in the game, our guide has you covered.

Herta

While Herta can easily hold her own in basic encounters, she struggles in boss battles due to the fact her follow-up attacks can only be activated if the enemy’s HP drops below 50%, other skills in her arsenal also need the same requirement to be used and this, unfortunately, makes Herta difficult to recommend for those harder battles and endgame content.

Check out our dedicated guide for the best Herta build in Honkai Star Rail.

If you’re wondering exactly how to build Arlan, you can check out our guide here.

TrailBlazer

Honkai Star Rail main character raising his hand

Honkai Star Rail’s main protagonist, the TrailBlazer can have three in-game forms: Physical, Imaginary, and Fire, but its Fire form is the most optimal. Once you’ve unlocked the Fire Trailblazer, this self-insert character can deal decent DMG on the battlefield, as well as apply a shield to the entire party. They may not be a go-to option once you’ve obtained more characters but don’t underestimate how effective this protagonist can be.

Arlan

In the current meta, Arlan simply isn’t worth choosing over other DPS characters. Arlan is certainly a strong fighter but keeping your entire team alive in Honkai Star Rail is just as important as high-damage dealing and this LIghtning-wielder may not be worth the risk.

Arlan’s skill attack costs HP to use and unless you’ve got a healer or support running alongside him there are simply much better DPS units in the game.

If you’re wondering exactly how to build Arlan, you can check out our guide here.

For more about Honkai Star Rail, take a look at these guides on banners, redeem codes, and each character’s height.

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