Honkai: StarRail really offers an embarrassment of choice in terms of characters, with the cast also expanding from update to update, but at the same time the resources to obtain and upgrade them are limited, especially if you set yourself the goal of not even spending one euro between gacha mechanics and battle passes. For this reason on this page you will find the tier list with the best characters of the game, currently updated to the 1.10 version of July 2023, in which we explain which, in our opinion, are the strongest DPS, healers, buffers and debuffers in the Hoyoverse RPG and on which it is therefore advisable to invest more time and resources.
However, some prerequisites are necessary. It is certainly important to understand the difference between the various 5 and 4 star characters, especially when it comes to deciding whether to invest Stellar Jade in limited-time banners. The former are generally stronger (apart from a few exceptions), but we assure you that they are not absolutely necessary either to advance in the game or to tackle endgame content.
The really important thing in Honkai: Star Rail rather is to build a balanced team between offensive and support units, and depending on the type of activity to be carried out and the elemental weaknesses of the boss or group of enemies that must be faced.
Plus, it's much easier to unlock player passives eidolon for 4 star units, so much so that in some cases thanks to these bonuses they really have nothing to envy of the rarer characters. In short, take the tier list below as a general guideline, then compose your team based on your tastes and needs.
As mentioned at the beginning, we will update this page as new characters are added or there are significant changes in the meta. The same goes for our page with all active Honkai: Star Rail promo codes.
Honkai: Star Rail, the tier list of the best characters (version 1.10 July 2023)
Below we have listed what in our opinion they are better characters than Honkai: Star Rail via a tier list ranging from S to C.
We have drawn up this list for the moment without taking into account the Eidolon bonuses (i.e. those that are obtained with multiple copies of the same unit), since they depend on the luck factor and the game has only been available for a few months. However, as mentioned above, some 4-star characters become much more useful thanks to these passive skills. For example, we classified Sushang as an "A" tier character, but thanks to the aforementioned buffs he could very well compete with those of the "S" tier as far as we're concerned.
Animal S
- bronya - The Harmony - Wind: Bronya is currently the most useful and versatile support character in Honkai: Star Rail. His Skill eliminates an ally's debuff, increases his attack and makes him act immediately regardless of the turn order, needless to say how useful this proves to be in many different scenarios. Not only that, her Ultimate boosts the attack and critical hits of the entire party, while her passives increase damage and defense. And, as if that wasn't enough, her standard attack always deals critical damage and reduces the time until the next turn.
- Soul - The Hunt - Quantum: The Hunt class characters specialize in slaughtering single targets, but Seele represents the exception to the rule as he is at his best when facing multiple opponents at the same time. Thanks to her Resurgence talent she gains an extra turn every time she eliminates a target and a 40% buff to attack. This last bonus, among other things, is also activated when she uses the Ultimate, inflicting disproportionate damage to the unfortunate person in question.
- Silver Wolf - The Nihility - QuantumHands down the best debuffer out there. Each successful attack can inflict a random penalty that reduces the speed, defense or attack of the target hit, while its Ultimate enormously reduces the defense of a single target, an effect that proves very useful against the tough bosses of Forgotten Hall and Simulated Universe. Added to all this is his fantastic Skill, which adds an elemental weakness of the same type as one of the party members, paving the way for monoelemental themes of any kind.
- World - The Nihilty - Imaginary: One of the reasons we placed Welt in the S rank is that he is currently the only character in Honkai: Star Rail that uses the Imaginary element. Other than that, her kit isn't bad at all: Skill and Ultimate reduce the speed of multiple targets, one of the strongest debuffs in the game and one that comes in handy in almost every scenario.
- jingyuan - The Erudiction - Lightning: hands down the best multi-target DPS currently available on Honkai Star Rail. Jing Yuan's Skill and Ultimate inflict excellent damage to all targets on the field, but what really makes this character exceptional is his "Lightning-Lord", a sort of invisible fifth ally who unleashes lightning on enemies at regular intervals . Here's our guide to Jing Yuan.
- Tingyu - The Harmony - Lightning: Tingyun is a 4 star character who has nothing to envy of the 5 star ones. His Skill applies a blessing that boosts a teammate's ATK for three turns and deals additional thunder damage when attacking, while his Ultimate restores 50 points of energy to a selected ally and boosts their damage. Furthermore, between one blessing and another, he can generate Skill Points at will with his basic attack, which inflicts more than decent damage thanks to one of his passive talents. Here is our guide to Tingyun.
- luocha - The Abundance - Imaginary: with the right setup this character is able to keep the entire team healthy without spending even a single Skill Point, thanks to his Talent which creates a healing field that restores the HP of the entire team when attack, and his Skill which can be activated automatically if an ally is in difficulty. Added to all this is the Ultimate, which deals decent damage and removes a buff from all opponents. Here is our guide to Luocha.
- Gepard - The Preservation - Ice: This character's Ultimate activates a shield for the entire party. If this skill is already very useful in itself, Gepard thanks to his passive talents also takes on the role of tank by attracting enemy attacks and can survive a fatal blow while restoring part of his health and all the energy necessary to launch his attack. Ultimate. Furthermore, his Skill has a good chance of freezing targets, while his out-of-combat technique activates a shield for all allies. Depending on the task you need to perform, Gepard may very well make the presence of a healer on the team unnecessary.
Tier A
- himeko - The Erudiction - Fire: A character who deals excellent damage to multiple targets and can unleash extra attacks when the team causes weakeness breaks to opponents. He can also cause the Burn effect on enemies, a penalty that causes damage over time, and increase critical hit chance when his health is above 80%. All tasty bonuses but a little inconsistent, which is why we decided to place Himeko I am in tier A.
- Clara - The Destruction - Physical: if you are looking for a tank, Clara is for you. After activating her Ultimate she attracts all the attention of her opponents and every time she is hit the Svarog robot marks her enemies and performs a counterattack. This character's Skill instead hits in an area and inflicts additional damage to targets previously marked by his robotic ally.
- Bailu - The Abundance - Lightining: healers are always useful in Honkai: Star Rail and in this sense with Bailu you are in an iron barrel. In fact, with her Skill she heals multiple characters at once, while the Ultimate restores the HP of the entire team and activates the "Invigorate" buff, which increases defense and provides extra healing every time an ally is hit. Not only that, one of her passive bonuses automatically resurrects an ally who has fallen in battle, but only once per battle.
- yanqing - The Path - Ice: Yanqing specializes in taking out targets weak to ice, but in general he has a high offensive potential thanks to his active and passive abilities that increase the chance and damage of critical hits and to perform extra attacks that can also freeze the unfortunate person on duty. He doesn't end up in the S tier only because the chance for bonus hits and freezing isn't fixed, which makes this character a bit hit and miss.
- Yukong - The Harmony - Imaginary: this character is a cross between a support and sub-DPS character. He can provide high bonuses to the entire team's ATK, chance, and critical hit damage, as well as dealing substantial damage with his Ultimate and basic attack, which gets a buff to attack power and the ability to drain the attack bar. resistance of enemies thanks to his Talent. He would end up straight in Tier S if it weren't for the fact that to make the most of his buffs it is necessary to calibrate the turn order to the millimeter. Here is our guide to Yukong.
- Auction - The Harmony - Fire: Asta's Ultimate increases the speed of all allies and, since all the bonuses relating to this statistic are very useful, we decided to reward this character with rank A. He deals mediocre damage, but makes up for it with speed with which he can inflict weakness breaks and the Astrometry talent, which increases the attack stat of the entire team.
- Natasha - The Abundance - Physical: We placed Natasha in tier A basically because she is currently the only 4-star rarity role-playing healer in Honkai: Star Rail. Her Skill eliminates a debuff and restores an ally's health points immediately and for the next three turns, while the Ultimate heals the entire team. She is not particularly useful in terms of damage, but it is certainly not a priority aspect for a character of this class.
- Trailblazer (Fire) - The Preservation - Fire: The Fire version of the protagonist is an exceptional tank and a great support character for the whole team. Thanks to his kit, he can attract enemy attacks, provide a shield to the whole team and strengthen their defense. It's not bad at all from an offensive point of view either, as it deals more than decent damage to single and multiple targets weak to the Fire element. Here's our guide to the Trailblazer (Fire).
- Pela - The Nihility - Ice: This little guy not only deals decent ice element damage, but can also remove an opponent's buff and decrease their ice element resistance. But the crown jewel of his kit is the Ultimate, which reduces the defense of all enemies for two turns, one of the most useful debuffs in the game.
- Sushang - The Hunt - Physical: We included this 4-star character in Tier A thanks to her excellent damage multipliers and her Ultimate, which deals high damage to a single enemy and earns her a bonus turn. Additionally, causing a Weakness Break to opponents increases her speed and also has a chance to gain an attack buff every time she uses her Skill. In general, her offensive potential has little to send to 5-star characters, especially if you unlock the Eidolon bonuses. Here is our guide to Sushang.
Tier B
- And Heng - The Hunt - Wind: considering he's a free character, we can't really complain about Dan Heng, although obviously there are much better single-target DPS options. His Skill deals good damage and if he lands a critical hit it also reduces the target's speed. A slowed target also takes increased damage from its Ultimate, which already has a high offensive multiplier. Thanks to one of the passive bonuses he has a 50% chance to increase his speed stat after a successful attack.
- March 7th - The Preservation - Ice: also in this case we are talking about a character that is offered free of charge to all players, but equipped with a more than good kit. March 7th with his Skill applies a barrier to an ally, removes a debuff and increases the chance of him being targeted, subsequently performing a counterattack if he is hit. His Ultimate doesn't deal particularly high damage, but it hits all targets and has a good chance of freezing them. Here is our guide to March 7th.
- Serval - The Erudiction - Lightning: basically its offensive potential is not among the best around, but Serval on the other hand can activate the Shocked status on multiple enemies, which cause additional damage every turn. She is currently also advantaged by the fact that many enemies in version 1.00 of Honkai: Star Rail are weak to the Lightning element.
Tier C
- Trailblazer (Physical) - The Destruction - Physical: the basic version of the protagonist of Honkai: Star Rail is not generally the strongest of DPS, but still has the advantage of being versatile, given that the Ultimate can be used to demolish single or multiple targets at will.
- Hook - The Destruction - Fire: Hook can cause more than decent damage to single targets and can attack multiple enemies after using his Ultimate. It also inflicts the negative burn status on opponents, which causes damage over time. He isn't higher on this list because there are simply more all-around useful Fire or DPS characters.
- Sampo - The Nihility - Wind: Sampo's Skill hits multiple random targets and has a chance to apply a DoT effect that causes damage over time. He manages to quickly deflate the stamina bar of enemies, but unfortunately his damage is not exceptional and the debuff applied by his Ultimate (increases DoT-type damage) is not particularly useful, at least in the current meta.
- qingque - The Erudition - Quantum: we decided to place Qingque in tier C because his abilities are partly linked to the element of luck. In fact, she reaches her maximum potential only by activating her Celestial Jade talent, which requires you to extract four dominoes of the same type (as the turns progress or by using her Skill). If she plays well she has nothing to envy of the characters of the higher tier, but otherwise her offensive potential is limited.
- Arlan - The Destrucion - Lightning: we placed Arlan in tier C because his Skill reduces his HP and in general he is at his best when his health is low, which makes him impractical to play without a dedicated team and build hoc for this character. That being said he is a hard hitting character and could rank up in the future depending on what Relics and Light Cones are added in future updates.
Tier D
- Herta - The Erudition - Ice: do you know the role that Amber plays in the Genshin Impact meta? Here Herta is practically the equivalent of her in Honkai: Star Rail. Let's be clear, we are not talking about an objectively weak character, in some cases, in fact, her AOE attacks are useful and there are always Eidolon bonuses to take into consideration, but in general her damage leaves something to be desired.
