Honkai Star Rail is Mihoyo’s biggest release yet this year, and in a game with so many powerful and cool characters, you’ll be wondering “Which is the strongest out of the starting characters?”
While Honkai Star Rail’s characters are incredibly diverse and fulfill different roles for different stages of the game, there are definitely some that can be more helpful to you most of the time, being great for general gameplay and farming, or boss fights. To help you with that here’s a guide on how to reroll for 5-star characters, and which ones you should go for to have the smoothest time with the game.
Keep in mind that Honkai Star Rail’s element system is the most important factor of the game, and some of these characters will generally be less useful than others if you’re fighting a boss that’s not weak to them. This tier list will be specifically for the game’s Starter Warp, and which among these characters you should ideally try to grab if you choose to reroll, or would be really nice to have when starting the game.
Should You Reroll? And How To Reroll
Unless you really want a specific character to start out with, you don’t need to reroll.
Honkai Star Rail has a system that lets you pick any 5-star character at 300 standard pulls of its regular banner, and at the start, you are guaranteed a 5-star from Honkai Star Rail’s beginner warp. So unless you’re really looking for someone in particular, it’s not really worth taking approximately 2+ hours per reroll, as you’d be better spent using that time upgrading your characters and actually enjoying the game.
If that’s not going to stop you though, here’s how to reroll the Honkai Star Rail’s Beginner Warp.
| 1. | Log in to Honkai Star Rail with a brand new Email / Username |
| 2. | Enjoy the game’s unskippable tutorials and combat sequences and character naming |
| 3. | Optional: You can level up the Trailblazer and Dan Heng earlier on to make dispatching enemies take a little less time. |
| 4. | Once you reach Asta, you unlock the option to Warp |
| 5. | Collect the pre-registration bonuses to get 20 Pulls |
| 6. | Play Honkai Star Rail a little more to each Trailblaze Level 5 Which grants you 10 more pulls, and then continue to Trailblaze Level 15 for 10 more pulls, giving you 40 total |
| 7. | Optional: The Simulated Universe mission from Herta is a good source of Trailblazer EXP |
| 7. | Use all 40 tickets you’ve collected to pull 50 times since the Beginner Warp is at a 20% discount. |
| 8. | Got the 5-Star you want? You’re done! |
| 9. | Didn’t get the 5-Star you want? Go back to step 1 |
Something important to note though, is Much like Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail’s Starter Warp never disappears. This means that you will be guaranteed one of the seven 5-star characters, at any time in Honkai Star Rail whenever you want. Because of this, it may be worth rerolling the standard banner first and if you happen to pick up a 5-star character or light cone within those first 40 or so pulls, then the Beginner Warp will always be waiting for you with another 5-star character to pickup
This does mean you can run the risk of getting a duplicate, but since you only have a 1/7 chance of getting a duplicate, the odds are definitely in your favor.
The Bronya Tier
Bronya is the only character in Honkai Star Rail that can currently make an ally take another action instantly, which opens up so many new possibilities in your strategy. She does this while also boosting their damage and removing debuffs, and this isn’t even her ultimate, as that is a powerful party-wide buff that increases the party’s Attack, Crit Rate, and Crit Damage for 2 turns.
If you invest in her she can even boost allies’ defenses by 20% at the start of the battle and just gives everyone a straight-up 10% damage increase by being on the field.
The only real problem Bronya has is her lack of damage. If you happen to be fighting multiple enemies weak to wind and Bronya is the only one that can cover their weaknesses, you’re going to be struggling to take down basic foes and bosses because her kit is entirely based on supporting others, and for some early portions of the game having a defensive buff is a little more useful. Thankfully that’s a quick remedy as it just means remaking your team with Bronya to fill in that gap with someone else.
If you’re looking to reroll a character just so you can have “The strongest in the game”, Bronya is definitely the one to go for, though if you’re looking for other characters with more immediate impact, you may want to consider the other ones below.
S Tier
These are for characters that you can bring to most encounters, being great for many encounters and general farming, while also having great handy utility when it comes to boss stages and certain game modes. Having any one of these will make big portions of Honkai Star Rail much easier.
Welt
Welt is a powerful character and as of the launch of the game, is the only one that can deal Imaginary Damage, at least until Luocha arrives. Because of that, Welt lands himself in the unique spot of being the only character that can cause Imprison, a status effect that can delay an enemy’s action, while also reducing their speed.
Being able to delay an enemy’s attack is an incredibly useful tool to have in a turn-based RPG, as it can sometimes mean you get to move an extra time before your opponent does, letting you heal, buff, or defeat them before they can even act. His overworld technique also slows enemies significantly, giving you quite the edge in combat.
He’s good at a lot of roles, being a fairly decent damage dealer while fulfilling the role of a debuffer. The only reason he isn’t on the same level as Bronya is that her buffs have a much larger impact during the moment-to-moment gameplay, allowing her to do what Welt kind of does while also boosting the damage output of other characters. Welt is still a great character to have, and being currently the only one to deal Imaginary damage makes him highly valuable.
Bailu
On the other side of the spectrum is Bailu, a healer and currently the only one in the game aside from the free 4-Star Natasha
Bailu has a buff tied to her ultimate called Invigorate, that heals allies every time they get hit based on her max HP, and she grants allies 2 stacks of this buff. If you stack some HP onto Bailu with relics, invigorate can heal them for more damage than they take!
Bailu is also the only character in Honkai Star Rail that can revive an ally during combat, giving you a second chance during tough encounters, and making up for any critical mistakes you’ve made.
Yes, her damage is basically non-existent, but having a character that can do great amounts of healing, and buff the party’s survivability while having a revive is an invaluable tool. You’ll also want Bailu because the Forgotten Hall game mode has you bringing two teams into combat, and with only two healers, you’ll be needing both Natasha and Bailu unless you’re really confident in your team.
Himeko
Himeko is a character who excels at farming and dealing damage to multiple enemies. Her talent lets her deal damage to all enemies immediately after building enough charges of her passive, which is easy enough as long as you exploit the enemy’s weakness. If there are multiple fire enemies on the board, it’s basically a free follow-up attack for Himeko, tearing apart waves of enemies in a single turn
Since her ultimate even gets energy back if it takes down an enemy, she can take down scores of enemies without any problems. Himeko also has some really good traces, further boosting her damage output significantly if the enemy is burned, which is incredibly easy for her as she can also apply burn off her basic attacks.
Sadly this does mean her single-target damage is on the weaker side, and while her traces are really strong, it’s more of a necessity as without them her damage potential is lacking when it comes to tougher foes.
Regardless Himeko is just so much fun to have at your party, and when it means you can grind out farming stages in a flash, you won’t regret getting her at all.
A Tier
Gepard
Gepard’s specialty is providing shields for your allies, making them shrug off damage based on his defense plus a flat amount. His skill also lets him deal damage with a good chance to freeze enemies, though it’s fairly weak so you you may end up not using this too much, instead opting to build up Skill Points in combat.
Gepard also has the bizarre talent of reviving himself once during combat, which later on can also instantly refill a charge of his ultimate. That might sound useful but keep in mind that Gepard is supposed to be the tank of your party, and if Gepard is dying, you’re probably doing something wrong. In fact, he should be the last person to die given all of his stats and his kit, so if you’re struggling to keep him alive, his talent is definitely not going to help you out.
Thankfully that shouldn’t happen too much at all, and despite having a fairly weak talent, Gepard’s survivability and buffs go a long way and he’ll be a great unit to have when it comes to Honkai Star Rail’s harder bosses and the Forgotten Hall. It’s just a shame that his shields don’t get to shine much outside of that.
Clara
Clara’s role in a team is that of a hyper-damage dealer/tank, with probably the highest damage potential in the entire game under the right conditions. That being every time Clara gets attacked, her buddy Svarog will come out and deal damage to foes, and if she uses her ultimate, she’ll taunt enemies and Svarog will apply a mark called Svarog’s Counter, greatly increasing the damage she deals to them.
She’s incredibly tanky and incredibly powerful, sadly Star Rail is a team game, not a solo game, and because she relies on getting hit while her ultimate is up, her damage output is fairly weak if there are no Svarog’s counters around. She also doesn’t pair well with certain characters, like Gepard and a free, very useful 5-star you get later in the game because they’ll be fighting for who gets hit, meaning if you want the most out of her, you’re kind of limited in your team options.
She also pairs very well with everyone’s favorite March 7th, whose single targeted shield can help keep Clara alive for a lot longer. Clara is really strong, and if you manage to get her you’ll be in good hands, but since her damage output isn’t immediately powerful, she won’t get to shine until after she gets hit, and by then you may even have taken care of the enemies. Still, under the right conditions, Clara is an absolute monster.
Yanqing
Yanqing’s bread and butter are his Skill and Ultimate. Every time he uses them he gets charged with Soulsteel Sync, which increases his Crit Damage, and Crit Rate, and has a chance to freeze enemies on the next attack during that turn, while giving him a chance to do follow-up attacks.
Those are incredible buffs and make him excellent at boss killing, except that on his skill, Soulsteel Sync activates after it attacks, so it won’t grant him increased damage on that attack but can be used to buff his ultimate immediately after. You could also wait for his next turn, but Soulsteel Sync has a penalty where if Yanqing takes HP damage, the buff is immediately gone.
This means Yanqing is at times vulnerable to getting his buff removed before he can do any real damage. Thankfully while Soulsteel Sync is up he’s much less likely to get attacked, but if an enemy has an AOE attack, it won’t matter. Because he has to take HP damage though, any shielder like March 7 can cover his health, making the risky part of his kit a non-issue.
Whether that’s worth the effort and team slot is up to you, but with the right support, Yanqing is an incredibly powerful, and consistent damage dealer.
4-Star Recommendations
Below are some honorable mentions for very strong 4-Stars, to the point where if you manage to pull a few of these during your rerolls, you’ll be in very good shape.
Tingyun
Tingyun specializes in buffing a single ally to insane heights. Her skill increases their attack by a whopping 55% of their own, and by 27% of her own attack, and lets them deal additional lightning damage, which is pretty insane for a skill. Meanwhile her ultimate lets her buff an ally’s damage by another 56%, and regenerates energy so they can use their ultimate again.
Now that’s a lot of damage, and if you use her overworld technique she gets 50 energy back right away, so she you can pretty much always get her ultimate off at the start of a fight, which makes it incredibly easy for an ally to get off their ultimate twice in any fight.
Tingyun’s very strong, to the point where if you were hoping to get Bronya but you snag her instead, you can pretty much count yourself lucky and just take whichever other 5-star you get, and count that as a successful reroll.
Sushang
There isn’t really a whole lot to say about Sushang, other than that she’s just a really strong physical damage dealer, a lot more so than the Trailblazer using the Destruction Path. Even more so if the enemy is weak to it, as she has the ability to instantly inflict even more damage if she breaks an opponent’s weakness, thanks to her skill Mountain full, dealing up to a whopping 341% of her attack in damage off a single skill.
Her ultimate is no joke either, as it deals heavy damage to an enemy and moves her action forward by 100%, buffs her own attack, and the power of her follow-ups, making her a physical damage monster
Sushang’s easily one of the strongest and most consistent damage dealers in the game with a more aggressive playstyle than Clara, without needing to get hit. The only problem being since her damage is frontloaded into her skills and ultimate, she’s fairly resource hungry and can sometimes cause your party to run out of Skill points, which can be a problem in longer fights.
Pela
Pela’s a debuffer, reducing the enemy’s defense so the rest of your party can dish out even more pain. On top of that, she can get rid of a buff from an enemy, which is also very nice to have in tough encounters or to stave off damage from a big attack.
Pela’s debuff is solid, and being able to deal more damage to an enemy is always a great boon to have, though she herself lacks damage and is reliant on others to do it for her. While skill doesn’t have that much utility outside of removing buffs, it does mean you can have her build up skill points to let allies use their skills. Pela’s a great unit, and while her individual performance is lacking, her utility and enemy debuffs are great for making fights easier.
