Ever since Genshin Impact was released by Mihoyo in 2021, everyone has been hotly anticipating the launch of their next new game.
The game shares a similar graphics engine and art style as Genshin Impact, but with 1 key difference - combat is turned-based, as you battle it out with a team you assembled together. Some say its like Epic 7 but with Genshin's graphics, but you should just try it out!
Our Honkai Star Rail Tier list highlights the best characters at launch, and what they specialise in. We think that having both of these factors are important for players to decide what they need to form an OP team.
You can skip all the random gacha rolling, and get your dream team in our market section for Honkai: Star Rails in ZeusX here, or continue to read along for more information!
In the table below, every Honkai Star Rail character has been assigned a tier. The characters placed in the S tier are the strongest while the ones in the D tier are the weakest:
Honkai Star Rail Tier List (Apr 2023):
Why are these characters S-Tier?
Bailu
Bailu is an excellent defensive support character for your teams. She’s able to significantly heal a single ally with her skill, and heal the whole team using her ultimate. Bailu can also invigorate characters so they receive 10% less damage. Overall, Bailu can keep your team in the fight for a long time.
Bronya
Bronya is the best offensive support available right now, massively improving the effectiveness of her allies. She can cleanse an ally from a debuff, speed up their actions, and increase their damage for a single turn, all with her skill. Meanwhile, her ultimate will boost the ATK and Crit DMG of all allies for two turns, dialling up the damage against the enemy. Bronya is at the top of the Honkai Star Rail tier list for a reason.
Gepard
For pure defence, Gepard is the best in his class as a Preservation Path character, and he’s also the top Ice element character so far. Just don’t rely on him for farming, as he isn’t all that good at it, given that his skills target either single enemies or all allies with no wiggle room.
Jing Yuan
Jing Yuan is perhaps the best damage dealer in the game right now, though with stiff competition from Seele in the tier list of best characters. This is largely due to the power of the Lightning-Lord follow-up attacks from his Talent, which is empowered by all of his other abilities, both active and passive. Jing Yuan is an easy character to get to grips with, yet capable of massive Electro damage.
Luocha
Luocha is another excellent healer and support character, though they are no slouch in the damage department either. With their healing effects scaling on their ATK, Luocha can heal allies while dishing out damage. He’s also capable of cleansing enemy buffs and ally debuffs, a useful skill to have in harder content.
Seele
Seele is the other candidate for best damage dealer in Honkai Star Rail, toe to toe with Jing Yuan. This Quantum DPS character excels thanks to having both a great suite of abilities and good scalings. Her skill can not only deal a staggering amount of damage, but will also increase her speed stat for two turns. Furthermore, her passives boost her effectiveness in other ways, such as increased damage, stealth, and advancing actions. Seele is definitely a character you’ll want to add to your collection.
Every Path (Class) in Honkai: Star Rail and what they mean
Honkai: Star Rail has a similar Element system to Genshin Impact, where there are a total of seven Elements available. However, unlike its predecessor, Honkai: Star Rail won't have a specific weapon system. This means characters in the game can use any weapon (Light Cone) available.
However, what differentiates the Light Cone system is the character's Path. Path in Honkai: Star Rail is pretty much a "class", where each unit has a predetermined role they can follow. Even though a character can equip any available Light Cones, its passive will not be effective if it's used by a unit from a different Path. For example, Dan Heng can use a Erudition Light Cone, but its passive will be ineffective, so he should use a Hunt Light Cone whenever available. In short, here's how each Path works in Honkai: Star Rail.
There are a total of 7 Paths in Honkai: Star Rail:
The Destruction: Damage dealer with decent survivability
The Hunt: Single-target DPS that deals large damage, but is often squishy
The Erudition: AoE DPS
The Harmony: Buffer
The Nihility: Debuffer
The Preservation: Defensive unit; provides protection like taunt or shield for the team
The Abundance: Healer
Unlike in Genshin Impact where players must figure out the role of each character themselves, Honkai: Star Rail immediately hints to the players about the role of each unit with the Path system. Nevertheless, despite having a specific Path, there’s nothing stopping players from using a support as a DPS, just like in Genshin Impact. However, note that the Light Cone (weapon) system of Honkai: Star Rail doesn’t allow each Path to exchange the equipment’s passive.
For example, March 7th can freely use a Destruction weapon, but its passive will not activate. So she’s limited to only benefiting from Preservation Light Cone’s passive.
Destruction Path in Honkai: Star Rail
Characters of this class is a great DPS that can hold their ground in battle. Trailblazer may be a starter character, but their power shouldn’t be underestimated. Players can rely on the MC for both single-target and multi-target scenarios. She’s also great at breaking the enemy’s weakness.
Three 5-star and two 4-star characters are available in the Destruction Path:
Trailblazer (5-star, Physical)
Blade (5-star, Wind)
Clara (5-star, Physical)
Arlan (4-star, Lightning)
Hook (4-star, Fire)
Hunt Path in Honkai: Star Rail
Seele (5-star, Quantum)
Yanqing (5-star, Ice)
Dan Heng (4-star, Wind)
Sushang (4-star, Physical)
Dan Heng would be players’ first Hunt character, and it’s easily noticeable that he deals great single-target damage. In this Path, Yanqing is available via the Standard Banner while Seele is an event-limited unit. It’s highly recommended to pull for Seele on the release of Honkai: Star Rail as her high single-target damage is extremely handy against bosses.
Erudition Path in Honkai: Star Rail
There are five AoE DPS available in Honkai: Star Rail:
Himeko (5-star, Fire)
Jing Yuan (5-star, Lightning)
Herta (4-star, Ice)
Qingque (4-star, Quantum)
Serval (4-star, Lightning)
Erudition characters are great in an AoE scenario. Herta is obtainable via the Simulated Universe, Serval for playing, and Qingque for completing the Forgotten Hall. Players will also get to try Himeko in the story, although very briefly.
Some of these Erudition units have a follow-up mechanic, where certain scenarios will make them hit the enemy automatically. This can come in handy in many situations, but at times, it can also cause them to get killed by accident.
Harmony Path in Honkai: Star Rail
There are only three Harmony units in Honkai: Star Rail:
Asta (4-star, Fire)
Bronya (5-star, Wind)
Tingyun (4-star, Lightning)
Nihility Path in Honkai: Star Rail
The five Nihility characters known are:
Kafka (5-star, Lightning)
Pela (4-star, Ice)
Silver Wolf (5-star, Quantum)
Sampo (4-star, Wind)
Welt (5-star, Imaginary)
Preservation Path in Honkai: Star Rail
Among the Preservation Path in Honkai: Star Rail, two of them are available for free:
Fu Xuan (5-star, Quantum)
Gepard (5-star, Ice)
March 7th (4-star, Ice)
Trailblazer (5-star, Fire)
The Preservation version of Trailblazer can be unlocked by progressing through the main story. It’s possible that the MC will eventually get all versions of the Path, similar to the Traveler in Genshin Impact.
Abundance Path in Honkai: Star Rail
There are three characters in the Abundance class:
Bailu (5-star, Lightning)
Natalia (4-star, Physical)
Luocha (5-star, Imaginary)
Since there’s currently only one 4-star healer, Natalia is the only one easily obtainable. Fortunately, she’s also granted for free by progressing through the story.
You can skip all the random gacha rolling, and get your dream team in our market section for Honkai: Star Rails in ZeusX.
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