Video Games

Honkai: Star Rail character tier list

Find the best characters in Honkai: Star Rail with our tier list

Marco Wutz

HoYoverse

Honkai: Star Rail has many characters to choose from and that variety is necessary, since you’ll face a wide range of adversaries with different weaknesses. Characters aren’t just separated by their looks and personalities, of course: Each one follows a different Path – roughly equivalent to the character classes you’d find in many other RPGs – and commands a different Damage Type, about which you can find out more in our Paths and Damage Types overview.

Table of Contents

  1. Honkai: Star Rail – Memory of Chaos tier list
  2. Honkai: Star Rail – Pure Fiction tier list
  3. Honkai: Star Rail – Apocalyptic Shadow tier list

Naturally, you’ll ask yourself what the best Honkai: Star Rail characters are as your collection is starting to grow. While the answer is almost always situational thanks to the combat system and the amount of possible combinations, a general ranking of strength is definitely possible. Some characters are more flexible than others, some simply offer more useful skills or naturally have a higher damage output. We've split this tier list into separate categories for the Memory of Chaos and Pure Fiction game modes, as both require very different skill sets, allowing various team compositions to shine.

This Honkai: Star Rail character tier list offers you a general overview of which characters you should look to add to your roster and train up with a high priority.

Honkai: Star Rail – Memory of Chaos tier list

Memory of Chaos challenges require a mixture of single-target damage and wave-clearing skills, though the focus is definitely on the first aspect. You’ll want to include sustains in your teams as well, as this mode’s tougher enemies can definitely eliminate members of your team and prevent you from clearing the stage with all stars.

S+-Tier

S-Tier

A-Tier

B-Tier

C-Tier

D-Tier

Honkai: Star Rail – Pure Fiction tier list

Pure Fiction challenges require wave-clearing capabilities above all else, which is why some of the characters that perform below expectations in Memory of Chaos can shine here. There often is no need to bring sustains in this mode, though it’s sometimes necessary in order to cleanse debuffs that may hinder characters from taking their turns.

S+-Tier

  • Main DPS: Argenti, Himeko, Herta, Jade, Rappa, Acheron, Yunli
  • Sub DPS: Kafka, Black Swan
  • Support: Robin, Ruan Mei, Jiaoqiu, Sparkle
  • Sustain: Aventurine, Huohuo, Fu Xuan, Lingsha, Gallagher

S-Tier

  • Main DPS: Blade, Clara, Firefly, Feixiao, Seele
  • Sub DPS: Topaz, March 7th (Hunt)
  • Support: Bronya, Tingyun, Pela, Asta, Hanya, Trailblazer (Harmony)
  • Sustain: Luocha

A-Tier

  • Main DPS: Jing Yuan, Jingliu
  • Sub DPS: Guinaifen
  • Support: /
  • Sustain: Trailblazer (Preservation), Lynx

B-Tier

  • Main DPS: Qingque, Xueyi
  • Sub DPS: Sampo
  • Support: Silver Wolf
  • Sustain: Gepard, Bailu

C-Tier

  • Main DPS: Dr. Ratio, Imbibitor Lunae, Serval
  • Sub DPS: Welt
  • Support: /
  • Sustain: March 7th

D-Tier

  • Main DPS: Arlan, Dan Heng, Hook, Yanqing, Trailblazer (Destruction), Misha, Boothill, Sushang
  • Sub DPS: Luka, Moze
  • Support: Yukong
  • Sustain: Natasha

Honkai: Star Rail – Apocalyptic Shadow tier list

Apocalyptic Shadow is focused on single-target damage, challenging you to take down modified versions of bosses from the story. There is little room to bring wave-clearing characters to these battles, as you’ll want as much firepower as possible to fight the bosses.

S+-Tier

  • Main DPS: Feixiao, Boothill, Firefly, Acheron, Dr. Ratio, Yunli, Rappa
  • Sub DPS: Topaz, March 7th (Hunt)
  • Support: Robin, Ruan Mei, Trailblazer (Harmony)
  • Sustain: Aventurine, Huohuo, Fu Xuan, Lingsha, Gallagher

S-Tier

  • Main DPS: Himeko
  • Sub DPS: Kafka, Black Swan, Moze
  • Support: Bronya, Sparkle, Jiaoqiu, Silver Wolf
  • Sustain: Luocha

A-Tier

  • Main DPS: Argenti, Imbibitor Lunae, Jingliu, Seele, Jade, Xueyi
  • Sub DPS: Luka
  • Support: Asta, Pela, Tingyun
  • Sustain: /

B-Tier

  • Main DPS: Blade, Clara, Jing Yuan, Qingque, Sushang
  • Sub DPS: Sampo, Guinaifen
  • Support: Hanya
  • Sustain: Gepard, Bailu

C-Tier

  • Main DPS: Yanqing, Herta, Hook, Misha
  • Sub DPS: Welt
  • Support: Yukong
  • Sustain: Lynx

D-Tier

  • Main DPS: Arlan, Dan Heng, Serval, Trailblazer (Destruction)
  • Sub DPS: /
  • Support: /
  • Sustain: Natasha, March 7th, Trailblazer (Preservation)

More characters are coming to Honkai: Star Rail soon, so we'll update this tier list with new entries once they've arrived.

Published |Modified
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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