Honkai Star Rail tier list May 2023 – best characters

Looking for a Honkai Star Rail tier list? Judging the best Star Rail characters is tricky. After all, the game’s only just launched, 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. However, there are already some clear front runners to watch at launch.

The real point of a Honkai Star Rail tier list is to rank your pulls against the consensus from the free PC game’s already burgeoning community. Players have already begun speculating who will be the top characters overall, who will excel against bosses, and who’s great when farming for materials. Of course, with more banners set to arrive in future, similar to Genshin Impact, we’ll see new Honkai Star Rail characters appear in the tier list. You can also redeem Honkai Star Rail codes to get some free pulls, but for now, here are the initial tier list rankings for the best Honkai Star Rail characters at present.

Honkai Star Rail tier list and best characters

Here’s the latest Honkai Star Rail tier list featuring all characters:

Tier	Honkai Star Rail tier list
S+	Bronya, Jing Yuan, Seele, Tingyun, Bailu, Trailblazer (Fire)
S	Himeko, Welt, Sushang, Gepard, March 7th
A	Pela, Asta, Yanqing, Natasha, Clara
B	Sampo,  Serval, Hook, Dan Heng
C	Trailblazer (Physical), Qingque, Arlan
D	Herta

This tier list above will give you a launching point to try and build the best Honkai Star Rail team. As soon as you pick one character, try to choose three others that complement their skills, so if they specialise in DPS, pick crew members who enable them to do the most damage possible.

We’re still waiting for more players to get their hands on the game to see if these rankings will hold, but we plan to keep this list updated with the latest info, not just for the launch period but for every upcoming Honkai Star Rail banner.

S+ tier characters

Five 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 isn’t coming until phase two of Banner 1.0, but he is worth getting if you can. He specialises in multi-target damage thanks to his brutal combo of the Lightning element and the Erudition path.

On the other hand, Seele is the starring character of phase one of Banner 1.0. She 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.

As for the evergreen characters, 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 Warps.

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.

Finally, your chosen Trailblazer influences what element and path your character goes down. The feminine character is Trailblazer (Fire), a Fire element defender who can protect allies with defensive abilities while stacking Magma Will to increase damage.

S-tier characters

Welt is currently the best character in this tier, boasting effective debuffs of the Imaginary element. 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. Sushang is also a four-star character, so they are easier to get for most players.

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.

Himeko is a Fire element multi-target DPS Erudition path character with the power to burn enemies. She’s not so great at single-target fights, but against larger numbers, her abilities are somewhat explosive. Meanwhile, March 7th, one of the free characters you get during the tutorial, uses her powers to protect her allies from powerful lock-on attacks while also countering enemies whenever they attack her allies.

A-tier characters

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 a decent Fire character to feature here right now, and with her Harmony path influencing her skill list, her ultimate packs a real punch by boosting the speed of her allies, making them act more often.

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. Clara is a Physical Destruction multi-targeting DPS character who can also decrease the damage she takes from attacks.

B-tier characters

Any of the 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. She’s only 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, one of the free characters you get during the tutorial, who is a Wind element Hunt character that can buff his attacks while avoiding damage with his Hidden Dragon major trace.

C-tier characters

Towards the other end of the scale, 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).

Finally there’s Arlan, a good if unspectacular Lightning element character to pull and has the Destruction path. His attacks ensure lots of damage and great survivability.

D-tier characters

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, her main issue 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.

Honkai Star Rail DPS tier list

The best Honkai Star Rail DPS characters specialise in doing as much damage as possible in record time.

Tier	Honkai Star Rail DPS tier list
S+	Seele, Sushang
S	Himeko, Clara, Yanqing, Jing Yuan
A	Dan Heng, Hook, Sampo
B	Serval, Trailblazer (Physical)
C	Arlan, Qinque
D	Herta

Unlike other specialities, Honkai Star Rail offers a healthy number of strong DPS picks at launch. Some excel when going head-to-head with a single target, while others can perform sweeping attacks that catch out several enemies at once. Seele and Sushang are the strongest for single-target DPS, while Himeko and Clara are the best for multiple targets.

Also, an honourable mention is Dan Heng, who is a free character, yet does fantastic singe-target DPS, while those lucky to get Serval for pre-registering or through the gacha will find a powerful lightning element character that does great DPS to all enemies.

Honkai Star Rail Support tier list

The best Honkai Star Rail Support characters excel in aiding party members with buffs, enabling them to damage enemies as much as possible.

Tier	Honkai Star Rail Support tier list
S+	Bronya, Tingyun
S	Pela, Welt
A	Asta

Bronya has some incredibly helpful abilities that dispel debuffs from allies or increases attack and critical damage stat for all allies. Tingyun’s abilities don’t target all allies but are powerful enough for the single target to use their special abilities more often or deal additional lightning damage on top of a buff to their attack stat.

Pelt supports allies by crippling enemies with her abilities, including buff removal. Welt goes for a more stat-based defence by reducing attack and speed stats. Asta’s buffs aren’t quite as good as the others, but she is essentially a free character.

Honkai Star Rail Tank tier list

The best Honkai Star Rail Tank characters specialise in absorbing as much damage as possible or keeping allies healthy while the rest of the party takes on the enemy.

Tier	Honkai Star Rail Tank tier list
S+	Bailu, Trailblazer (Fire)
S	Gepard, March 7th
A	Natasha

Bailu’s healing ability is flat-out better than Natasha’s, but both will keep your team healthy. Trailblazer (Fire) is more suited for tanking damage than actually preventing it, but she can at least take the heat away from the rest of your party.

Gepard and March 7th fulfil similar roles, with March 7th’s shielding ability handy for two-turn moves that do significant damage, while Gepard prefers to go for a blanket approach that targets everyone.

Who are the best Honkai Star Rail characters?

The best Honkai Star Rail characters are:

• Bronya
• Seele
• Tingyun
• Bailu
• Trailblazer (Fire)

These five characters are among the best of their type. Bronya and Tingyun are both great support characters, but each one fulfils a different role. The same goes for the healer Bailu and the tanky Trailblazer (Fire). Seele is currently the best DPS character but may be unseated from the top as soon as Jing Yuan appears in-game.

And that’s our Honkai Star Rail tier list and best characters guide. Do check back often, as the wider community will have access to the Honkai Star Rail 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. We can also run you through the Honkai Star Rail download process on PC.

Honkai Star Rail tier list May 2023 – best characters
Source: Maharot News