Honkai Star Rail Chracter Tier List for 5* - by EODGamer
This Honkai Star Rail 5* Tier List ranks all 5* characters and goes into detail about why they are ranked this way, its split into 2 sections - Limited 5* and Standard Banner 5*.
(updated 25th Feb 2023)
Disclaimer
Good Tier Lists aim to commit to 2 best characters at the top, and explains the ranking list clearly for players to make their own informed judgment. This Site encourages readers to read from multiple perspectives, but the author shares his thoughts transparently for us to read
Limited 5 Star Tier List Video
5* Standard Tier List Video
Honkai Star Rail 5* Tier List (Text)
SS Tier Units
SS Tier units will single handedly carry most accounts while also having very little alternatives and/or are a notch higher than other similar characters in the game. They must also be versatile and can be built around almost any team.
Seele (5* Limited, Quantum) - SS TIER
Top tier single target DPS with high base speed. Requires some investment to pop off but once invested well she trivalises content. Her ability to attack again after defeating a target makes her less "single target" than most units of The Hunt Class. Her high speed and self speed buff in her Skill makes her an extremely independent DPS and not reliant on speed buffers like Bronya or Asta. Her only downside is that she is one of the squishiest characters in the game - glass canon style.
Silver Wolf (5* Limited, Quantum) - SS TIER
Silver Wolf's high rating is largely due to her ability to implant weaknesses onto enemies that are of your party's elements. This allows you to run a duo element team with Silver Wolf and tackle any content - significantly improving account/resource efficiency as it largely reduces the strain of having to build different elements to beat content. Not to mention she also provides strong single target debuffs and decent damage as well. Fits into most teams easily and synergises well with meta units. However, its useful to note that the more characters and resources you have, the less key is the implanting weaknesses ability. For most small spenders or F2P, Silver Wolf is S tier even at E0.
Clara (5* Standard, Physical)
Tank, DPS, Support all in one. Ridiculous stats except for Speed which is largely made redundant due to her Counter attacking style. Her Ultimate gives her further damage reduction and enhances counter damage. Works best when coupled with Sustain type teammates who can protect the rest of the team and sustain Clara. Her Technique is also useful as when it is used in the field draws aggro towards her when combat starts. The only issue of Clara is current gamestate, currently the meta revolves around speed and bursting enemies down. Clara value will be seen clearly when battles become more drawn out or heavy sustain teams are needed.
S Tier Units
S Tier units are solid picks all around and you generally won't regret building them. They fail to make SS Tier due to either strong competition or are more niche in function.
Blade (5* Limited, Wind)
Solid AOE DPS with good stats overall and inbuilt lifesteal. Allowing him more leeway to be paired with or without shielders/healers. Other units of The Destruction Class generally do not have self sustain and needs good protection. Relatively independent DPS that allows him to be slotted into most team comps and works well as a pair to most single target damage dealers. His high rating is also thanks to his Wind Element, as he makes full use of the best Relic set in the game. (Fun fact: His E6 is also one of the most broken Eidolons of the game)
Kafka (5* Limited, Lightning)
By class she is an AOE Debuffer whose kit is centered around the Shock debuff and damage over time. In practice, when built for speed does significant amounts of AOE damage and single target Lightning damage as well. Her kit and traces gives her significant amounts of stats balanced between sustain, utility and damage, making her a reliable damage dealer that is not squishy like a glass canon. If not built with speed, might feel quite lacklustre and clunky. Check out Kafka Character section for more indepth guides.
Welt (5* Standard, Imaginary)
One of the Best standard units and great for players in the long run - only 2 Imaginary units at Honkai Star Rail launch and the only AOE Speed down unit in the game. His closest alternative is Dan Heng, who is more of a damage dealer with a single target speed down in his kit. Turn based games generally emphasise significantly on speed and Honkai Star Rail is no different. SS Tier is currently reserved for units that are with that special something, and Welt indirectly competes with a strong "Speed Up Buffer" (Bronya/Asta) roster for an offensive support slot.
Bronya (5* Standard, Wind)
Highly regarded by many for being one of the best-in-class supports in the game. Her Skill allows her to select an ally and let them move next AND buff their attack. She excels at buffing slow units or damage dealers, her ultimate buffs both Attack and Critical Damage, making her scale well into end game as more characters gain more critical rate from gear later on. The only thing keeping her from being SS Tier is strong competition from Asta (a 4* Support), who offers AOE Speed up, Attack buff and strong fire break damage... strong competition from an otherwise excellent offensive support.
A Tier Units
A Tier units are strong characters by design and their presence in teams can definitely be felt. Strong competition from even 4* competition or strong power creep possibility limits a higher tier rating
Luocha (5* Limited, Imaginary) - A TIER
Luocha by category is the rarest typing - only 2 healers and 2 Imaginary characters in the game so far. His offensive kit will benefit players who dont require a full dedicated healer like Natasha to minimize DPS loss from the Sustain slot in your team. He synergises very well with Blade for his Auto heal Talent . Luocha biggest issue is that his healing is not as reliable as Natasha especially when faced with a strong AOE nuke. His healing is indirect as you need to attack to regenerate with his passive, and his auto cast heal is for a single target unit and goes onto cooldown. Many times he competes with Tanks (The Preservation Class) who mitigates damage instead and keeps squishy characters alive.
Jingyuan (5* Limited, Lightning) - A TIER
Very high multipliers for an AOE damage unit whose kit mostly revolves around his Thunder Lord mechanic. Works well with debuffing units like Welt to slow enemies down, effectively letting Thunder Lord act more frequently. Rare character with Traces that give plenty of Crit stats. Jingyuan rating is due to 2 reasons... (1) Competition - AOE damage is not uncommon and Kafka can act as a solid replacement for AOE Lightning DPS and she is also much more flexible - fitting into much more teams. (2) Versatility - Jingyuan teams build around him rather than him fitting into most teams easily and quickly, his entire kit is all about damage and does not offer much outside of this area - although noting he can put out tremendous AOE numbers. For players who like Jingyuan, he is a solid character and definitely one of the best. But AOE DPS characters generally suffer the quickest from powercreep, especially when an existing more flexible lightning AOE damage dealer exists (Kafka), players should be prepared for a high risk of powercreep. This tier list weights characters on efficiency for accounts and factors in competition, and A tier characters are not bad by design, just better alternatives may exist.
Gepard (5* Standard, Ice)
Best-in-class tank/sustain type with AOE shield in his ultimate. Shielding is generally better than healing especially against harder content as it increases the equivalent HP of squishier characters to survive attacks. He has inbuilt aggro drawing in his kit and gains ATT based off his defence. Also has a revive-with-max-energy passive, which makes him excellent to tackle content that players should otherwise have not been able to clear with other units. Teams with Gepard will the key for speedrunners in the earlier days of launch and he scales well with time. Versatile and can be played both in Bruiser teams and teams that rely on glass canons. (See: Team Building Guide)
B Tier Units
B Tier units are not bad units and may be incredibly strong in a particular niche. But better alternatives exist for a game with limited resources.
Himeko (5* Standard, Fire) - B TIER
Decent multipliers with 5 star stats to boot (one of the highest base attacks in the game), Himeko will definitely breeze through majority of the games content. The biggest issue of her kit is both the strong fire competition and a lack of versatility in her kit. Fire MC and Asta offers strong fire weakness breaking damage and offers versatility being defensive and offensive supports, this allows you to play any other elemental AOE DPS and are able to tackle more content. Her biggest advantage is being Fire element and able to benefit fully from Asta's buffs, but reliance on Asta will restricts Asta's versatility. Her multipliers compared to a similar pure AOE DPS Jingyuan (Lightning), is much more modest. A character that can only be played as AOE DPS is also at high risk of being powercrept in future as its a highly lucrative/contested role for game developers to market.
Not Ranked
Fuxuan (5*, ???) - ? Tier
(coming soon)
Cheers
EODGamer