Honkai Star Rail tier list April 2023 – the best characters

Looking for a Honkai Star Rail tier list for launch? Judging the best Star Rail characters is tricky. After all, the game’s not properly out yet, and balancing will likely differ between recent beta tests and the first public version. In addition, its gacha mechanics make it challenging to circle in on getting the characters you want in your party outside of sheer luck. However, there are already some clear front runners to keep an eye on at launch.

The real point of a Honka Star Rail tier list is to rank your pulls against the consensus from the free PC game’s already burgeoning community. Even before the Honkai Star Rail release date, they’ve already begun speculating who will be the top characters in general, who excel against boss battles, and who’s great when farming for materials by grinding against enemies. Of course, with more banners in the future, similar to Genshin Impact, we’ll see more Honkai Star Rail characters appear in the tier list. In the future, you’ll be able to redeem Honkai Star Rail codes to get some free pulls potentially, but for now, here are the initial rankings for the launch cast.

Honkai Star Rail tier list

Here’s a ranked list of the Honkai Star Rail characters at launch:

This list is based on the beta build of Honkai Star Rail and is subject to change upon the anime game’s release date. We’re still waiting for all players to get their hands on the game to see if these rankings still hold, but we plan to keep this list constantly updated, not just for the launch period but for every upcoming Honkai Star Rail banner update.

SS-Tier

Four characters are generally agreed to be at the top of the tier list at launch. Jing Yuan and Seele are the best damage dealers in the game. Jing Yuan specialises in multi-target damage thanks to the brutal combo of using the Lightning element in his skills and the Erudition path. On the other hand, Seele has the Hunt path, which does lots of damage to a single target, making her great against Elite enemies, especially those weak to the Quantum element. Bronya and Tingyun are Harmony characters who give your team offensive support by buffing their abilities with their Wind and Lightning skills, respectively. Tingyun is especially notable as she is a four-star character, meaning she’s easier to get from the gacha. Finally, Bailu is the only top-tier character that isn’t as good at farming as the rest of her tiers, but that’s probably because she’s the best healer in the game.

S-Tier

Welt is currently the best character of this tier, with the power to use effective debuffs of the Imaginary element against enemies. He will be a great support, but his skills also make him an outstanding overall character to put in your party. Sushang is only slightly worse in comparison but is still an effective Physical element DPS attacker with the Hunt path. Arlan is yet another excellent Lightning element character to pull and has the Destruction path, ensuring lots of damage and great survivability. Both Arlan and Sushang are four-star characters, so they are easier to get. For pure defence, Gepard is the best in his class as a Preservation Path character, and he’s also the top Ice element character so far. Just don’t rely on him for farming, as he isn’t all that good at it, given that his skills target either single enemies or all allies with no wiggle room.

A-Tier

Just like the S-Tier characters, the best of the A-Tier comes from the offensive support category. Pela is a fantastic Ice element character who specialises in freezing her enemies and inflicting other debuffs with her Nihility path, leaving them vulnerable to ally attacks. Asta is the top Fire character to feature here right now, and with her Harmony path influencing her skill list, the notable key ability for her is her ultimate, which boosts the speed of your allies, making them act more often.

Trailblazer (Fire) is a Fire element defender who can protect allies with defensive abilities while stacking Magma Will to increase damage. Yanqing is a DPS specialist, using Ice element damage against a single target to inflict critical hits. Natasha is a Physical healer who can even remove debuffs from allies, which is something Bailu can’t do. March 7th is a weaker Ice defender than Gepard but can still remove debuffs from allies, while Clara is a Physical Destruction multi-targeting DPS character who can also decrease the damage she takes from attacks.

B-Tier

Any of B-Tier characters are good options for DPS, so don’t be too discouraged if you land one of them, as they’re perfectly serviceable. Here, there’s only one five-star character on the list, Himeko. From what we can gather, she is a Fire element multi-target DPS Erudition path character with the power to burn enemies. She’s only really outclassed in this tier by one four-star character, Sampo. He is a Wind-based Nihility character who can inflict blind status ailments on enemies with his bombs. Serval and Hook also have decent potential, with Hook excelling against bosses and Serval being a great farming character. Lastly is Dan Heng, a Wind element Hunt character that can buff his attacks while avoiding damage with his Hidden Dragon major trace.

C-Tier

Towards the other end of the scale, we have Qingque and Trailblazer (Physical). While Qingque has a unique combination of Quantum and Erudition, her gameplay is somewhat complex compared to other multi-targeting DPS characters on the roster because of her tiles. That said, the more players understand her gameplay, the better her chance of going up in the rankings. As for Trailblazer (Physical), he is currently the lowest-ranking five-star character. Clara, a four-star character, outclasses him as she does very similar things in the same element and path (Physical and Destruction).

D-Tier

Poor Herta. She never really stood a chance with her skill set. She should be decent as an Ice element focusing on multi-target damage. However, the main issue with her is that her skills are conditional. One-Time Offer’s power increases if the enemy is at half health or lower, while the I’ll Take a Swing talent triggers when another ally causes an enemy to fall to under 50% max HP. One of her major traces causes her Ultimate to deal more damage to frozen enemies, yet she can’t freeze them herself. She has to be paired with Gepard or March 7th to stand a chance at triggering this perk.

Who are the best Honkai Star Rail characters?

The best Honkai Star Rail characters at launch are:

• Bronya
• Jing Yuan
• Seele
• Tingyun
• Bailu

And that’s our Honkai Star Rail tier list and best characters guide. Do check back often, particularly around the release date, as the wider community will have access to these characters and get more details on their effectiveness in battle. If you’re curious about who the space game’s voices are, we have a complete Honkai Star Rail cast list with all of the currently known actors. Plus, it seems that Honkai Star Rail crossplay is implemented, so you don’t have to worry about losing progress or characters.