Honkai: Star Rail offers plenty of characters to play with. However, not all of them are easy to obtain, especially if you don’t want to spend money on the game. Moreover, it might still be a little early to provide a definitive Honkai: Star Rail tier list, given that the game was released less than a month ago and the meta has not yet been fully defined. However, some characters are undoubtedly more effective than others in given situations, affecting how you choose to build your squad.
A team with a good balance between support and offensive characters will surely help you in the long run, especially against bosses and in the endgame content. Moreover, you need to consider enemies’ elemental weaknesses and choose the perfect comp before every battle. Plus, your team has to match your playstyle; otherwise, you will have a harder time mastering the party you created. If you invest in your characters and unlock their Eidolon upgrades, even those ranked lower will be able to perform well in most situations.
You can check our Honkai: Star Rail tier list in this guide. It will be updated regularly according to any changes in the meta and new additions to the roster.
| Tier | Characters |
|---|---|
| S | Bronya, Seele, Bailu, Welt, Gepard |
| A | Himeko, Clara, Yanqing, Asta, Natasha, March 7th, Sushang, Tingyun |
| B | Trailblazer (Fire), Dan Heng, Serval, Pela, Hook |
| C | Trailblazer (Physical), Qingque, Sampo |
| D | Herta, Arlan |
Tier S
The characters that fall under the S-Tier are the most powerful in the game and can quickly adapt to all types of enemies. Thanks to their unique abilities and skills, they also create powerful synergies with other party members.
Bronya
She is a great support who can make a real difference during any battle. With her Combat Redeployment skill, she can remove a debuff from a single ally, allowing them to make an immediate move regardless of the order of turns, also temporarily increasing their DMG. Moreover, Bronya can buff the whole party, and her basic attack is quite effective.
Path: The Harmony; DMG: Wind.
Seele
She is one of the most powerful DPS in Honkai: Star Rail. Seele deals significant single-target damage and has excellent speed stats. Her Talent allows her to play an extra turn and inflict even more damage if she has beaten an opponent with her Basic attack, Skill, or Ultimate. Her Sheathed Blade skill buffs Selee’s speed for two turns.
Path: The Hunt; DMG: Quantum.
Bailu
While she has no high-damage stats or abilities, she is a great healer in Honkai: Star Rail. She can either heal a single ally with her Singing Among Clouds skill or the whole party with her Ultimate. Moreover, team members will become Invigorated, meaning they will recover after being hit by a foe, and this will happen for two turns.
Path: The Abundance; DMG: Lighting.
Welt
If you want to debuff your enemies significantly, Welt is the perfect choice. He can slow them down, potentially affecting the order of the turns in your favor. Moreover, he also deals additional damage to slowed foes with his Time Distortion Talent.
Path: The Nihility; DMG: Imaginary.
Gepard
A valuable support character, he can apply a shield to all the party members with his Ultimate. His Technique also shields all allies when the next battle starts. Gepard has a pretty high base chance to freeze the enemy he hits with his Intimidating Strike skill. While Frozen, the enemy cannot move and takes extra damage for every turn in this status.
Path: The Preservation; DMG: Ice.
Tier A
They might not be the absolute best in the current meta, but they still are a great addition to most comps. Among them, there are also some characters you unlock for free by playing the game.
Himeko
She is an excellent offensive character who focuses on attacking multiple enemies simultaneously. Her Ultimate deals significant fire damage to her opponents and regenerates five Energy for each beaten foe. She can also perform follow-up attacks, meaning she can potentially damage opponents multiple times in a single turn.
Path: The Erudition; DMG: Fire.
Clara
Clara is a very versatile character, focused on counter-attacking any enemy offensive. Her robot ally Svarog will perform a counter every time she gets hit. With her Ultimate, Svarog’s protection is extended to the whole team.
Path: The Destruction; DMG: Physical.
Yanqing
He is an effective DPS, focused on dealing Ice damage to single targets. His Darting Ironthorn skill inflicts increased Ice damage to an enemy and activates Soulsteel Sync for one turn, leading to more powerful effects when combined with his Talent and Ultimate. Moreover, his Ultimate significantly increases his Crit rate.
Path: The Hunt; DMG: Ice.
Asta
She is a good support character you get for free quite early in the game, which earns her a good position in our Honkai: Star Rail tier list. Her Ultimate increases the speed of all allies for two turns. Her Talent lets her gain one stack of Charging for each enemy she hits, and every stack she has translates to an ATK buff for her allies.
Path: The Harmony; DMG: Fire.
Natasha
She is a valuable healer, and you will obtain her for free by advancing in the main storyline. She can either heal one ally at a time with her skill or all of them with her Ultimate. She can also weaken the enemies before starting a battle. With an adequate build, she can be a reasonable alternative to Bailu.
Path: The Abundance; DMG: Physical.
March 7th
She is a solid support character you get for free at the start of your journey in Honkai: Star Rail, and quite a good one to rely on. Her Skill provides an ally with a shield for three turns. If a shielded team member gets hit by an enemy, she will counter-attack the foe, dealing them Ice damage.
Path: The Preservation; DMG: Ice.
Sushang
A great 4-star DPS who is almost as good as a 5-star character. She has a powerful single-target Ultimate which deals significant damage to the enemy. She becomes even more potent against a weakness-broken opponent, and her Technique allows her to attack a foe instantly, also dealing additional damage to all the opponents as soon as the battle starts.
Path: The Hunt; DMG: Physical.
Tingyun
She is a valuable support, and her Skill enhances the damage done by a single party member, also dealing additional Lightning DMG to foes for three turns. Her Ultimate regenerates 50 Energy for the selected ally and enhances the damage they inflict on opponents for three turns.
Path: The Harmony; DMG: Lightning.
Tier B
They could be better, but they are still a solid addition to most teams. A worthy pick for players that don’t spend money on the game and have limited chances to get new characters.
Trailblazer (Fire)
The Fire version of the main character is pretty good at supporting their allies and dealing damage. They can shield all the other party members for two turns thanks to their Talent, but also deal Fire damage to all enemies with their Ultimate. Moreover, they can taunt foes, temporarily reducing the damage they take from them.
Path: The Preservation; DMG: Fire.
Dan Heng
He is a free character and a decent addition to the team with a good build. His Skill deals Wind damage to enemies, and with a critical hit, he reduces the foe’s speed for two turns. His Ultimate deals significant Wind damage to a single enemy; the attack is even more potent if they are slowed.
Path: The Hunt; DMG: Wind.
Serval
She is a DPS that heavily relies on dealing additional damage to Shocked enemies. Her Technique deals Lightning damage to a casual opponent after entering the fight and applies the Shocked effect to all foes for three turns. However, if enemies aren’t weak to Lightning, her offensive potential is not the best.
Path: The Erudition; DMG: Lightning.
Pela
She is a valuable support in Honkai: Star Rail. Her Skill removes one buff from the target enemy and deals Ice damage, while her Ultimate allows her to hit all opponents with Ice damage. Moreover, this attack triggers the Exposed status for the enemies, meaning their defense is lowered for two turns.
Path: The Nihility; DMG: Ice.
Hook
She heavily relies on inflicting Fire damage on foes. Her Skill is quite interesting, as it deals Fire damage to a single target. Plus, it inflicts Burn for two turns, meaning the afflicted foe will suffer from additional Fire damage at the beginning of each turn. Her Technique deals Fire damage to a random opponent and inflicts the Burn status on all foes for three turns.
Path: The Destruction; DMG: Fire.
Tier C
These characters aren’t as good as higher-tier picks or too tricky to master right from the beginning of the game. However, they can still perform quite well if placed inside well-built comps.
Trailblazer (Physical)
The Physical version of the Trailblazer deals decent damage overall, but they are not as good as other available characters in Honkai: Star Rail. Their Technique, however, is pretty interesting, especially at the beginning of the game, because it partially heals all party members.
Path: The Destruction; DMG: Physical.
Qingque
She is a DPS capable of dealing extensive damage to enemies. However, this is mainly based on luck, so we haven’t placed her higher in our Honkai: Star Rail tier list because of that. She becomes a powerful character with strong attacks if everything goes as planned. If not, she doesn’t make any meaningful difference in the battle.
Path: The Erudition; DMG: Quantum.
Sampo
This character deals decent Wind damage to enemies. His Technique lets him throw a Flash Bomb at an enemy, turning them Blind for 10 seconds. This means they won’t notice your team for a brief time. Moreover, attacking a foe hit by this type of bomb slightly delays all opponents’ moves once the battle has begun.
Path: The Nihility; DMG: Wind.
Tier D
There are far better alternatives than the characters that fall under this tier, even if you don’t have a vast pool to choose from.
Herta
She focuses on dealing AoE damage to enemies, but her attack power is not the best in the game. There are far better characters that deal Ice damage in Honkai: Star Rail. However, you get her for free quite early in the story, and you can rely on Eidolon bonuses to slightly power her up.
Path: The Erudition; DMG: Ice.
Arlan
Arlan’s Skill drains his HP, so he’s not the best character to play unless you build a team around this character. He needs constant healing, yet his damage increases the lower his HP is. He’s definitively not an easy pick.
Path: The Destruction; DMG: Lightning.
If you are looking for additional help with the game, you can check our beginner’s tips and all the Honkai: Star Rail codes available this month.
