If players know how to use them, 4-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail can be great DPS and helpers.
Some of the 4-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail are like the 5-star characters in Genshin Impact, the game that came before Honkai: Star Rail. In the same way, a good 4-star unit’s Eidolon is easy to get, which is one of the best things it has over them. In Honkai: Star Rail, it gives them more passives to work with and more ways to improve their kits and jobs.
Getting the most use out of every 4-star unit has to do with how they are built and how they are used in team compositions. So, it can be hard to rank 4-star units for their personal kits because their performance changes depending on how they are set up. But, in a nutshell, here’s how each 4-star in Honkai: Star Rail compares to the other 4-stars.
Qingque
It’s not very useful to use Qingque, especially in auto-battle. Her damage is only good if she gets four of the same Jade Tiles, which is completely random. Every time she rerolls her tile, she uses up one Skill Point. Trying to increase Qingque’s damage will quickly drain the team’s Skill Point, which can be dangerous, especially in hard content where Point management is important.
Herta
Herta isn’t the AoE DPS that players need to beat hard Honkai: Star Rail content because she has a niche Talent and a very simple kit. Instead, she is more of a boring DPS that players can use to farm materials. With her Talent and Technique, she is great at killing weak enemies in one hit. Once one of the enemies’ HP drops below 50%, Herta will use her Hammer to hit everyone with a follow-up attack.
Natasha
In Honkai: Star Rail, Natasha is one of a small group of nurses. Natasha is a 4-star unit, but her Supportive kit is so good that she can carry her team’s survival on her own. Natasha has a good Base HP, which is great for all of her healing skills since they mostly depend on her HP. Natasha is only good at healing, which is a shame because there are other units, like March 7th and Fire Trailblazer, that can protect the team and do more useful things.
Arlan
In Honkai: Star Rail, Arlan’s kit is simple, but it gets the job done. Arlan’s damage goes up as he uses his own HP to use his Skill or take damage. This is because of his Talent. As a Destruction unit, Arlan can do a good amount of damage to both single targets and targets in an area of effect. He loses and gains HP in a good way with his gear, and his Talent will always be useful because it increases damage based on how much HP he loses.
Dan Heng
Dan Heng definitely does his job in the beginning of the game, but players will get better characters as the game goes on. Even in version 1.0, he was quickly replaced by Seele, the first character that could only be used in that game. Dan Heng makes up for what he lacks in stats with his high SPD. It makes sense for a Hunt unit to have such SPD. But SPD alone isn’t enough to put him at the top. If players brought a character that could keep Dan Heng’s stats up, his attacks would keep getting through the Wind defense of his enemies, letting him keep doing a lot of damage.
March 7th
Free-to-play characters are often thought to be weak, but in Honkai: Star Rail, they’re more than enough to beat the hardest material in the early to mid game. March can do more than just give a shield and freeze with her Ultimate. She can also clean the unit she protects. Also, if an ally with a shield is attacked, March will hit back, which is useful against enemies who are weak to ice.
As a defense unit, though, it’s easy for her to lose her usefulness. For example, players might like a “Taunt” unit like “Fire Trailblazer,” or they might just get a better defender like “Bailu” or “Gepard.”
Hook
Hook is a good choice for players who want a strong unit that can deal a lot of damage and always put DoTs on enemies. As a Destruction Path unit, Hook’s Skill and Ultimate can do a lot of damage, especially if the enemy has a Burn DoT. Hook’s kit gives her the ability to stay alive, to deal damage, and to be useful. Players in Honkai: Star Rail can gain from having her on their team in many different ways.
Sampo
Even though DoT teams aren’t popular early on, a Nihility walker like Sampo will be useful in a DoT setting once players have enough characters to play with. His Ultimate makes enemies take 20% more damage from DoT, which helps his team and also increases his own damage. Sampo’s Talent lets him cause Wind Shear with his attacks, and since his Skill is a Bounce type that can hit multiple enemies (or the same enemy multiple times), he is sure to apply the damage to the target.
Serval
In Honkai: Star Rail, Serval has a high Base ATK. With this much ATK, Serval can scale her attacks much better, which lets her do a lot of damage. Serval has a 100% chance for every enemy she hits with her Skill to get a DoT, which adds to her total damage. Now that Serval’s enemies are Shocked, her damage, especially with her Ultimate, goes up even more.
Even though Serval is a free unit, she is a very good AoE character who shouldn’t be taken lightly and can do well in many situations. For example, players can use her to do full damage or add her to a team that uses DoT.
Sushang
As a Hunt unit, Sushang’s main job in Happy Wheels is to break the Toughness of enemies. Sushang is the best character to use when fighting a boss who is weak to physical attacks. As long as there are enemies on the field whose weaknesses have been broken, Sushang becomes fast, which is a great way to break more Toughness. Obviously, her play style uses a lot of Skill points, and players have to adjust to how aggressive she can be in fights.
Asta
Harmony characters in Honkai: Star Rail work as Supports. With their buffs and utilities, they can change the mood and pace of fights. With her ATK% buffs, a character like Asta turns her friends into fast units that can play more often and do more damage to opponents.
Asta is also a good Toughness breaker against enemies with a weakness to fire because her Skill can make a lot of hits, especially on her E1.
Pela
In Honkai: Star Rail, Pela’s kit is the only one of its kind. Pela is one of the few characters who can destroy an enemy’s DEF and take away buffs from them. Not only that, but she can also break down an enemy’s resistance to ice even more, which makes her an important Support for an Ice DPS.
Tingyun
The best 4-star unit in Honkai: Star Rail might be Tingyun. Her ability to make allies do better when she buffs them with Benediction is like the skills of 5-star units. Tingyun’s Ultimate lets her act as a battery and boost a friend’s damage by a huge amount for two turns. Running Tingyun with any DPS is a blessing for them because she lets them shine and lets them show off some big numbers.
Honkai: Star Rail is now available for Android, iOS, and PC. A version for the PlayStation is in the works.
