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You might have many reasons to playHonkai: Star Railand one of them is probably the wide range of playable characters. Hoyoverse is known for making some of the most beautiful character designs in anime games, and the special part about this game is that it shares some characters with Honkai Impact 3rd.
The game has a set of four-star and five-star characters, and they’re divided by their respective paths and combat types. Each path has a specific job in the team, but the characters can still be ranked based on their overall value.
Updated on May 08, 2025, by Sanyam Jain:Amphoreus has seen quite a fantastic and meta-defining cast in Honkai: Star Rail, and the tier list has been updated to reflect the same.
Basis Of This Tier List
In Honkai: Star Rail, every character’s effectiveness is determined by various factors. Whenever you get a character bysummoning them, progressing in the game, or through a limited-time event, they’ll already have a set of five Traces (abilities):
Basic Attack
The basic attack of every charactercan be used both to start the battle and to deal damage to the enemies in battle. During the battle, each character’s basic ATK DMG is a percentage of their overall ATK.
This percentage is the same for every character at a certain level. For example, each character’s level one basic attackdeals damage equal to 50 percent of their ATK.
Skill
Every characterhas a unique skill that’s usually in line with their path. These abilities consume one skill point to trigger, and you may get skill points by using basic attacks.
The skill points of all characters are cumulative in battle, and they’re displayed beside your abilities at the bottom right.
Ultimate
You gain Energy by using your basic attacks and skills, or taking damage from the enemies.After getting enough energy, you can use your ultimate. Character ultimates can easily change the outcome of the battle.
Technique
This ability replaces your skill button if you’re roaming around in the open world. You canuse this before starting a battle to get advantages based on the character you’re using.
Talent
Talent isthe main passive that connects all of the character’s abilities. Apart from the main talent, you can still get three bonus passives on each character after ascending them a certain amount of times.
Apart from the level of a character’s Traces, their damage can depend on theLight Cone level, the type of Relics you give them, and the level of your Relics. There’s a variety of Light Cones and Relics you can use on each character, and the game gives this freedom to you.
The only thing you have to keep in mind is that a Light Cone’s abilityonly works if it has the same path as your character.
Because of the possible variety, this tier list focuses on a character’s value based on their Traces. Moreover, every tier list is subjective, andyou might not agree with all the character placements in this one. At the end of the day, you should always try to have the character that you’ll have the most fun with.
S+ Tier Five-Star Characters
The S+ Tier in this tier list represents the best five-star characters in the game in any given situation. These five stars can easily perform better than the rest of the characters, and they cancarry you through the endgame content like the Memory of Chaos or Swarm Disaster.
While there might be the highest amount of entries in this tier, it’s only because a lot of characters are viable in Honkai: Star Railwhen certain conditions are met for each one.
Castorice
Castorice was the second limited Remembrance DPS character to be released in the game after Aglaea, and she showed the path’s true potentialas her dragon shreds through the enemy’s HP.
The best part about this character is thather best support is Ice Trailblazer, who is completely free.
Tribbie
As soon as Tribbie was released, she quickly took over Ruan Mei’s spot in every team outside of Break teams,especially when you’re using a dual DPS composition. The overall buffs she provides with the extra damage is unbeatable.
The Herta
Released during the Version 3.0 update, The Herta not only brought the Erudition path into the metabut also became the best DPS to havewhen she was released.
You can consistently see her dealingover a million damage even with an F2P build, which is as broken as it sounds.
Remembrance Trailblazer
Honkai: Star Rail doesn’t shy away from making the paths of the Trailblazer strong. We saw that in Harmony and now the Remembrance Trailblazer. This charactercan deal up to 48 percent of a unit’s damageas extra True DMG.
Imagine a character like Argenti who already deals upwards of 700,000 with his full Ultimate, andhe’ll now deal over a millionjust because of Remembrance Trailblazer.
Sunday
For a long time, Jing Yuan has been quite a useless character. However, Sunday’s release brought him back up into the meta whilealso future-proofing your account if you have him.
Sunday provides an instant turn to an ally and their summon, makinghim perfect for the characters from the Remembrance path. He can also give them a massive Crit DMG boost, which is highly valuable.
Fugue
Fugue is essentially the limited version of Harmony Trailblazer as she can let her allies deal the extra Super Break DMG simply by existing. On top of that,she gives every enemy an extra Toughness bar.
The enemies are still considered Weakness Broken after breaking the first bar, but this second one lets you deal an additional Break DMGto them.
Lingsha
It is an undoubted fact that break-based teams involving Firefly and Boothill are at the top of Honkai: Star Rail’s meta, andLingsha serves as the perfect supportfor these teams with her consistent Toughness-reducing damage.
She’s also quite a phenomenal healer with her follow-up being triggered every few actions and it eventriggers automatically when your characters are low once every two turns, making her a good sustainer even outside of break-based teams.
Imaginary/Harmony Trailblazer
Thankfully, the developers have been taking care of the F2P players by giving units like the Harmony Trailblazer for free. This character’s Basic Attack or Skill might not be nearly as prominent,but the Ultimate is where it’s at.
After you use their Ultimate, whenever your allies attack a Weakness Broken enemy for the next three turns,the enemy takesextra damage based on the Break DMG and the Toughness reduction of that attack.
Robin
Harmony characters never disappoint in Honkai: Star Rail, and the same can be said for Robin. She’s a unique character who can not only increase your party’s DMG, ATK, and Crit DMG, butalso gives all three allies an instant turn when she uses her Ultimate.
Apart from all these, she alsodeals a ton of damageevery time a character launches an attack on the enemies.
Aventurine
Theimportance of a good sustainer can be seen quite frequentlyif you’re trying to beat the endgame content of Honkai: Star Rail, and this makes Aventurine invaluable.
The stackable shields he provides alongside the Effect RES and the extra DMG with the follow-up attackmake him almost too good of a character. He’s the best current sustainer in the game as long as an enemy can’t damage you through his shield.
Acheron
It’s no surprise that one of the most popular characters in various HoYoverse games gets a strong kit in Honkai: Star Rail as well. Apart from being strong,Acheron also has a unique mechanic for her Ultimate, which makes her quite fun to play.
Unfortunately, you do need some specific characters and Light Cones to get the most value from her. Thiswill get better as the game progressesand more characters or Light Cones get released.
Black Swan
Nihility was already in a decent place, but Black Swan’s release allowed it to compete with Destruction because of her free massive damage. She essentiallypunishes enemies for getting a turnusing her Arcana stacks.
You’ll commonly see over 100,000 DMG on a single target with this character, and the fact that she’s easy to build without any Crit requirement is a cherry on top.
Ruan Mei
Ruan Mei has one of the most unique kits in Honkai: Star Rail since it focuses on the weakness break aspect of combat. Her Skill can let her party membersbreak the enemy’s Toughness Bar much faster, while the Ultimate makes it harder for them to recover.
You can use her with almost every DPS character in the game, and the DMG Bonus provided from her Skill and Ultimate can increase their DMG monumentally.
Huohuo
Huohuo is the latest healer to be released in the game, and she can do absolutely everything. Apart from having the ability to solo-sustain the team,she can also increase your party’s Energy and ATK.
You need a total of two solo-sustainers on your account, so if you only have one or less, it’s definitelyworth getting this character since she also has Harmony elements.
Jingliu
Jingliu is a five-star Ice unit that enters a special state whenever you use her Skill or Ultimate twice. Youcan only use your buffed Skill in this state, but it destroys everything in its path. However, Jingliu does take quite a bit of skill.
For example, you need to remember that it’sbetter to use her Ultimate in the buffed state since she gets a DMG boost.
Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae
Hoyoverse does a decent job at balancing most of their characters around the same power, but they seem to like Dan Heng’s upgraded form a bit too much. This character is undoubtedly thestrongest DPS in the gamewith his third Enhanced Basic Attack.
You don’t even need to have Imaginary Weakness on the opponent.Imbibitor Lunae destroys every single enemy equally, regardless of how tanky they are.
Fu Xuan
Fu Xuan is the first limited Preservation character in Honkai: Star Rail, and sheexcels at mitigating her team’s damage by taking it herself. She can single-handedly prevent your team from dying and particularly excels against enemies who deal single-target damage.
Kafka
Kafka was one of the most anticipated characters in the game, but she also had alot of debate around her usefulness due to the lackluster nature of DoT. On release, she shattered all expectations by making this play style one of the best.
Apart from dealing big damage, she’s also future-proof sinceany DoT character released in the future can be put with herto get extra damage.
S Tier Five-Star Characters
This tier contains all the characters thathave a great skill set, and they can work in a lot of teams. Overall, you will benefit from having these characters in your account no matter what. Genshin Impact players might be surprised by the placement of the main character in S-Tier,but the Trailblazer is actually quite strong in Honkai: Star Rail.
Each character’s Traces earns their place in this tier:
Hyacine
While you might have seen Hyacine’s memosprite dealing a ton of damage, she doesn’t quite fit the highest tier simply because she’s a sustain.Even though she provides massive boosts to HP-based characters, you can still do just fine with other sustainers.
However, once you do have her, you’ll see anoticeable difference in the overall value of your HP-based DPS.
Anaxa
Anaxa is one of the few characters in Honkai: Star Rail who works both as the main and a sub-DPS since he has a passive that can either give him amassive Crit DMG boost or a 50 percent DMG bonus to another Erudition unit.
This makes him a great character to have since you can use him as a sub-DPS with any Erudition character.
Mydei
While Mydei can already deal a ton of damage in his hypercarry team, one of the best parts about him is thathe can still hold his own even when he’s used as a sub-DPSwith the likes of Castorice, making him a great character to have.
Rappa
Rappa has received quite a lot of love when it comes to marketing from Honkai: Star Rail, withone of the best character trailersas well. Apart from that, she’s also a phenomenal unit to have on your account to get past the endgame modes.
Rappa can easily break multiple enemies' Weakness, and while it’s recommended, you still don’t even need Imaginary Weakness on these enemies, making her a good overall pick.
Feixiao
The second general from the Xianzhou fleet, Feixiao is a single-target character who works a lot like Acheron. Shedoesn’t have an energy barand instead recharges her Ultimate every time her allies attack.
She can also stack her Ultimate up to two times, which serves as the main source of her damage. While she’s good enough for all the bosses with Wind Weakness, thelack of single-target fights in the game bring her down a tier.
Yunli
Being a five-star limited Destruction character, it’s almost surprising to see Yunli in a tier lower than the best one because of how broken this path’s characters usually are. However, therequirement of getting enemies to attack her is the reason behind it.
However, if you can get lucky or trigger your Ultimate at the right time, you can easily circumvent this issue and get a ton of damage out of her. Sheworks especially well against enemies who have AoE damage.
Jade
Jade’s high position on this list might be surprising since her damage isn’t particularly outstanding, though the utility she brings to the table is the main focus. Jade can apply an effect on an ally, which gives her stacksbased on the number of enemiesthis ally attacks.
This perfectly synergizes with most Erudition characters, allowing her to be a secondary DPS on the team and making up for the lack of overall damage with this path. Furthermore,she’s the type of character that’ll only get better with time.
Dr. Ratio
Unlike most DPS characters in the game, Dr. Ratio brings in a unique gameplay where you’d want to use debuffers in the team instead of the meat Harmony characters. Herelies on the amount of debuffs on the enemyfor his DMG.
you’re able to see some staggering numbers from Dr. Ratio when you put him in the right time, but the only reason for him to be in a lower tier is the game being biased towards AoE units at the moment.
Sparkle
If you’re lucky enough to pull Sparkle in Honkai: Star Rail, your account is likely set to beat any possible endgame content. Her Skill canadvance one ally’s turn by 50 percent while also giving them a massive Crit DMGbonus.
Her Talent and Ultimate increase the overall DMG of your entire team,making her viable for two-DPS compositions too. The only reason for her to not be in a higher tier is because Sunday is simply better.
Firefly
If you’ve used Firefly in the game, you won’t be surprised by her position on this tier list. She’s a Weakness Break-based DPS, which means that you won’t get much value from hersimply by using her Skills on the enemy.
Instead, you have to focus on breaking their Toughness as fast as possible. Once you do that though, you’lleasily see over 100,000 DMG on each enemywhenever Firefly uses her enhanced Skill or Basic Attack on them.
Fire/Preservation Trailblazer
To unlock the Fire Trailblazer, you’ll have toreach close to the end of the main story in Jarilo-VI, which starts after you get past the Herta Space Station. You’ll be following the path of Preservation, which specializes in protecting your team from damage.
This is very important in the endgame content of Honkai: Star Rail like the Forgotten Hall. Moreover,Fire Trailblazer can also taunt every enemy on the field, diverting the damage from the DPS of the team.
Silver Wolf
Silver Wolf is one of themost game-changing characters in Honkai: Star Rail and she’s also immune to being powercrept. She’s a Nihility character who can decrease one opponent’s DEF with her Ultimate and implant a new Weakness with her Skill.
If you form a team around her correctly, you’ll be able to use the different debuffs from her skill set efficiently. However, all her debuffs have a certain percentage chance of taking effect,which means that you’ll need a ton of Effect Hit Rate on her.
Luocha
You can’t prevent your characters from taking damage due to the turn-based nature of Honkai: Star Rail. This makes it important to have at least one healer in your party, andLuocha does that job best by automatically healing characters.
He’s also great for Skill Point economy since you canjust use his Basic Attackswhile the Talent and automatic healing do their jobs. However, he can’t protect your party members from getting one shot.
Blade
Blade is one of the few characters in the game who can fit in almost every play style. He doeshigh AoE damage with his Enhanced Basic Attack, Follow-up, and Ultimate. He also manages his Skill Points extremely well since he only uses one every three turns.
Put him alongside a healer or a shielder who can keep him alive andhe’ll grant you victory in almost every battle.
Gepard
Gepard belongs to the Preservation path, which is supposed to have high defensive capabilities. His ultimate and technique gives a shield to all the allies, and his talent prevents him from being knocked down.
With the right Effect Hit Rate, you can also Freeze the enemy using his Skill. However, mostF2P and low-spending players would want to stack a ton of DEFon him so that his shield can be as tanky as possible.
Bronya
Bronya is a five-star character thatcan be acquired from the beginner and the standard banner. Her kit is entirely based on buffing her teammates. Not only does she provide extra damage to a character with her skill, but also removes one of their debuffs.
Moreover, the character instantly gets their turn again. All of this is just her skill, and her Ultimate gives even more buffs.
A Tier Five-Star Characters
The A-tier includes both the characters thatbarely missed getting into the S-tier and the characters that give significantly less valuethan the S-tier characters. Most of these characters are a part of the standard banner, so you can get them at any point.
Aglaea
Aglaea was the first limited Remembrance character in Honkai: Star Rail, and it felt like they barely missed the sweet spot with her. While she can dish out a ton of damage,she also needs a perfect team of Sunday, Huohuo, and Ice Trailblazerto do that.
If you replace any of these team members with another unit,she quickly fizzles out due to the lack of Energy Regeneration, lowering her overall placement in the meta.
Jiaoqiu
He might’ve been one of the best characters in the Xianzhou continuance quests, but he’s not quite as good during the battle with a few exceptions. Simply put,if you have Acheron, Jiaoqiu becomes S+ tierfor your account.
However, in most situations other than that, thedamage increase he provides is far lesserthan some of the other supports like Sparkle, Robin, Ruan Mei, or even Tingyun.
Boothill
You can see some of the highest damage numbers while playing Boothill in Honkai: Star Rail, but the requirements for that are also relatively high. Firstly, to get the most damage out of him,you’ll have to use Harmony Trailblazer in the team.
Other than that, you also need Physical Weakness on atleast some characters on the field, and he becomes completely useless if theenemy can hide their weakness like Stellaron Hunter Samor Bronya.
Argenti
Erudition has been suffering as a path in Honkai: Star Rail, but Argenti picked it up a little by being able to deal big damage if you get his second Ultimate. However,you need quite a setup if you want to use this character.
If you’re not using Tingyun or Huohuo with him, he’llnot be able to do much in battle. His best team involves the two mentioned characters and Sunday.
Topaz & Numby
This duo was the first Hunt character who was mainly a support for follow-up-based characters in the game. However, therearen’t a lot of reasons to use follow-up unitsat the moment since they can be a little irregular.
However, Topaz & Numby have the potential of becoming one of the best supports in the game ifHoyoverse decides to focus on indirectly buffing follow-up attacks.
Seele
During the early game, Seele felt quite amazing to play as the mobs had relatively low health, and it was easy to get use out of her Talent. However, this hasbecome increasingly difficult with timesince even the smaller mobs have a ton of HP.
Unfortunately, this has brought down Seele’s position in the meta quite a bit, and there are characters who can do better than herin almost every instance.
Bailu
At release, Bailu was one of the two healers in the game. Healers are heavily rated in Honkai: Star Rail during the mid to late game,but you get one healer for free during the story. Much like Bailu, Natasha can also heal characters through her Skill and Ultimate.
The only difference is that Bailu canprevent a character from getting knocked down once in each battle. She’s a decent character to have, but you can work without her.
Physical/Destruction Trailblazer
The best part about Trailblazer is thatthey’re given to every player for free. They belong to the path of Destruction, which means that they’re self-sufficient. The damage output from the Trailblazer is quite huge from the very start of the game.
Though their DEF only increases after you unlock the Perseverance bonus ability. Trailblazers can deal both single and multi-target damage to the enemy,and they’re a great replacement if you don’t have Clara or Sushang.
Yanqing
Yanqing is one of the characters that barely missed an entry into the S-tier. The outshining part about this character isthat he’s self-sufficient when it comes to damage. He can increase his own Crit Rate, Crit DMG, and overall DMG just by using his abilities.
This makes the stats from your Relics less important during the late game.
Welt
Welt is one of the standard characters thatyou can acquire both from thestarter banner and the Stellar Warp banner. He was the only Imaginary character at launch, which gave him the Imprisonment effect.
This effect delays enemy turns and slows them down by quite a bit. Welt’s entire kit is based around these two effects, and they can help you avoid a lot of damage.Enemies will have very high SPD when they’re higher level, and this lets you keep up with them.
Clara
Clara is an adorable Destruction character in the game. It might not look like Clara has a lot going for her, but themain damage from her kit comes from Svarog whenever she or her allies take damage. She also takes ten percent less damage from the enemies.
Her skill set is quite good, but the overall numbers prevent her from reaching S-Tier.
Jing Yuan
Jing Yuan looked quite promising when he was released for the first time since Lightning Lord dealt a ton of damage to everyone on the field. Unfortunately, with newer characters coming into play,he might not be the best when it comes to damage per second.
Of course, you can still use him to clear all the content in the game andhe’s arguably one of the most fun characters to use.
B Tier Five-Star Characters
Unfortunately, there’s only one character in the B-tier in Honkai: Star Rail, which is the lowest tier.Himeko has a phenomenal set of abilities and ultimate animations, but other characters easily outshine her in almost every way.
Both her skill and ultimate deal damage to a group of enemies, but it doesn’t quite feel enough. Moreover, the game gives you Asta for free,which is another great Fire character. A bunch of things come together to make Himeko not as strong. However, that doesn’t mean that she’s not viable.
