The Best DPS Characters In Honkai: Star Rail, Ranked (2024)

If you've played Honkai: Star Rail for a little while, you've probably already realized the need for a good DPS character in the game. It features a turn-based combat system where you can have up to four characters in the team at the same time. The game currently features a roster of over 30 phenomenal characters.

As you progress in the main story, you'll unlock harder content like Memory of Chaos, Simulated Universe, and Swarm Disaster. If you want to clear these game modes to get the rewards, it's important to know about some of the best DPS characters you can use.

Updated on August 02, 2024, by Sanyam Jain: During the Version 2.4 update of Honkai: Star Rail, you finally get to make a journey back to The Xianzhou Luofu and continue its story, which also brings along Yunli as a playable character during the first half. As a Destruction unit, it's not surprising that she serves as one of the best DPS units in the game.

22 Dan Heng

Who Needs To Build SPD

Dan Heng is the second free character you'll acquire while doing the main story of Honkai: Star Rail, and he's loved by the entire community due to his easy-going personality. He's a four-star Wind character following the path of The Hunt, and he can help you easily wipe out the hardest content in both the early and late game.

His Basic Attack, Skill, and Ultimate essentially perform high single-target damage, but there's a lot more that you have to understand if you want to use him properly. Dan Heng's Skill allows him to slow the enemies down, and he can deal higher damage to slowed enemies from his Ultimate and Basic Attack. Moreover, he can also increase his own SPD when he attacks an enemy.

21 Sushang

She Gets All The Turns

Honkai: Star Rail currently has a lack of Physical DPS characters, and that's where Sushang comes into play. Being one of the Cloud Knights on The Xianzhou Luofu, she also belongs to the path of The Hunt. Sushang excels at breaking an enemy's Weakness bar as long as they have Physical Weakness since her Ultimate deals a ton of damage to it.

In fact, the best way to use Sushang is by triggering a ton of Weakness Breaks as these allow her to deal extra damage and get more turns. If you manage to unlock her first Eidolon, she can also regenerate one Skill Point when you use her Skill on an enemy with their Weakness broken, which makes the Skill cost a net zero Skill Points.

20 Hook

Pitch-Dark Hook The Great!

Destruction is by far one of the strongest paths in Honkai: Star Rail since the characters on this path can deal a ton of damage while sustaining themselves to an extent. Little Hook is one of the characters on this path, and she excels at dealing high Fire damage to both single and multi-target enemies. Moreover, she has a chance of applying Burn on the enemies hit.

When she attacks an enemy with the Burn effect, she deals higher damage, regenerates some Energy, and heals herself. With a higher chance to resist Crowd Controlling debuffs from the enemy, Hook can easily sustain herself and carry you to victory in any battle.

19 Misha

Our Resident Hotel Bellboy

Misha was the first four-star that got released in the game from Penacony, and he's a Destruction character with Ice as the combat type. This character has one of the most synergized kits as all his active and passive abilities feed into the Ultimate dealing higher damage.

However, the fact that he's competing with the current best DPS in the game due to the shared path and combat type can't be ignored. Misha might not be good enough to clear the hardest content in the game without specific supports, but he is still one of the more fun DPS units.

18 Xueyi

You Said Cool Animations

Players have been seeing Xueyi here and there during the main story of Honkai: Star Rail ever since the game's release, but she was only released as a playable character during the Version 1.6 update. She's a Quantum Destruction character who took the community by surprise because of her phenomenal animations.

Be it her Technique or her Ultimate, no one will disagree with the fact that Xueyi has one of the best animations in the game. Thankfully, her damage and overall viability match these cool animations, making her one of the best DPS choices if you don't have the better units mentioned here.

17 Clara

But You're Really Just Using Svarog

Other than Sushang, Clara is your only choice for a Physical DPS character in the game at the moment. Being a five-star, Clara can easily be far more effective than her four-star counterpart, but you'll need to build her in a specific way. Clara's main damage comes from Svarog launching a follow-up attack whenever she gets hit.

The follow-ups also occur if any other teammate gets hit after she uses her Ultimate. This attack marks the target enemy, and her Skill deals extra damage to the marked enemies. If you put her in a team with support characters like Lynx or March who can increase the chances of her getting attacked, you'll be surprised by the free damage she can deal.

16 Yanqing

Don't Base His Power On The Main Story

Yanqing might not seem like one of the best DPS characters if you consider his battle record in the main story, but he can actually be quite decent if built correctly. One of the most important things you need to remember about Yanqing is that he's very Skill-Point-hungry. You'd want to use his Skill every time you get a turn to keep the Soulsteel Sync active.

When this effect is active, Yanqing gets a ton of buffs including Crit Rate and Crit DMG along with getting a chance to Freeze enemies with his attacks. Upon using his Ultimate, you can get even more Crit DMG if Soulsteel Sync is active.

15 Qingque

Gacha Within A Gacha Within A Gacha

What's better than playing as a Gacha character in a Gacha game? It's normal to feel like you want to try your luck while playing Honkai: Star Rail, and Qingque lets you do that without having to spend your hard-earned Stellar Jades. Her abilities are based around her favorite game called the Celestial Jade.

Whenever an ally gets a turn or you use her Skill, you'll pick out a certain number of Jade tiles from one of the three suits randomly. The main goal is to get four tiles from the same suit to get an Enhanced Basic Attack, which deals much more damage. However, as you can see, Qingque can be quite an SP-hungry character if you get unlucky.

14 Seele

Disappear Among The Sea Of Butterflies!

The first limited character released in Honkai: Star Rail, Seele also had the crown of the best DPS character for a long time. Unfortunately, her position on the DPS ranking has fallen quite a bit with the shift in the game's meta and the release of subsequent characters. Whenever Seele defeats an enemy, she gets an extra turn with a buffed state.

This state increases her DMG and doesn't count as a turn, which means that it makes use of all the buffs provided by other characters without reducing their stacks. However, the requirement to defeat an enemy holds her back quite a lot in the current state of enemies with high HP and some enemies even being able to resurrect themselves.

13 Jing Yuan

But You're Really Just Using The Lightning Lord

General of the Cloud Knights, Jing Yuan is a five-star Lightning character following the path of Erudition. Whenever you use his Skill or Ultimate, he can get two and three stacks for the Lightning Lord respectively. The Lord is a separate entity that has a specific amount of SPD, but it can get its turn faster whenever it gains some stacks.

When the Lightning Lord gets a turn, it can deal a huge amount of AoE damage based on the stacks provided. However, the Lightning Lord cannot take action if Jing Yuan is crowd-controlled and if there are multiple enemies on the floor, its attacks are completely random, which adds a layer of uncertainty to this character.

12 Dr. Ratio

Is He Seriously Free For Everyone?

The entire Honkai: Star Rail community was surprised when they learned that HoYoverse is giving a five-star limited unit for free for a certain period of time. Dr. Ratio is an Imaginary character on the path of The Hunt, which means that he mostly relies on single-target damage in the current AoE meta.

However, the reason for his high placement in this list even though his kit isn't suited for the meta is the sheer amount of damage he can deal. With the correct team, you can defeat a boss enemy with Dr. Ratio before they can even spawn additional enemies.

11 Argenti

The Ultimate Idrila Follower

The character that brought the Erudition path into the meta, Argenti is a five-star unit using Physical as the combat type. He's quite a simple yet one of the most fun characters to play because of the choices you can make with him. Unfortunately, you do need a specific team to make him work properly.

Argenti has two types of Ultimates, and you can activate the enhanced version if you get 180 Energy. However, this isn't possible in a timely fashion unless you use characters like Tingyun or Huohuo with him. Once you do have one of these characters with him, you'll see some of the highest damage numbers in the game.

10 Boothill

The Cowboy In Honkai: Star Rail

Boothill has a personality that's hard to ignore in Honkai: Star Rail, and so is his damage. In the right conditions, he can easily deal over 200,000 DMG to a single enemy. However, the reason for his low rank on the list is the sheer effort that it takes to get to that point, starting with his Pocket Trickshot stacks.

Most of his damage comes from these, but you need to first break at least three enemy Toughness bars or defeat them to get the maximum stacks. Moreover, you also need specific supports like Ruan Mei or Harmony Trailblazer since the value they provide is significantly higher than any other support.

9 Jade

The Erudition Buffer

Even though Jade has an entry on this list, it's important to understand that she's not going to be the main DPS on your team. She can apply the Debt Collector status on an ally and get stacks from that ally depending on the number of enemies they attack, which means you'd usually want this effect on your AoE main DPS unit.

Once you get enough stacks, Jade launches a follow-up attack, which essentially means that she works as a sub-DPS to provide extra damage, making up for the lack of damage in most Erudition units currently. Jade's kit is also set in a way that she'll only get better with time, since upcoming AoE characters will directly buff her.

8 Kafka

The Community's Favorite... For Certain Reasons

When you first start playing Honkai: Star Rail, you'll get to play as Kafka before you awaken the main character. She's a five-star Nihility character who makes the damage-over-time play style viable in the game. This is because of her ability to instantly trigger all DoT instances on an enemy with her Skill and Ultimate.

However, if you want to get the most value from Kafka, you'll have to put her in a team with one or two more DoT-based characters. Ideally, you'd want to have a ton of Break Effect on these characters since the Weakness Break also applies a DoT that can be triggered with Kafka.

7 Blade

The High Cloud Quintet Consumed By Mara

Introduced as one of the Stellaron Hunters, Blade is a Wind Destruction character hailing from The Xianzhou Luofu. He has a self-sacrifice play style where he consumes his own HP to increase the damage dealt from his Enhanced Basic Attacks, Ultimate, and follow-up attack.

Whenever Blade gets attacked or reduces his HP, he gains a stack for his Talent. Upon reaching five stacks, he launches a follow-up attack that deals damage to all the enemies on the field and regenerates his own HP. It's highly recommended to use Blade with characters like Lynx or March 7th to increase his chances of getting attacked.

6 Yunli

Don't Let Her Run Into Yanqing

Once the story of Penacony ended, HoYoverse casually released a bunch of characters hailing from The Xianzhou Luofu that no one saw before, and the first character to become playable out of these was Yunli during the Version 2.4 update. Her kit is quite similar to Clara, who she also shares the combat type and path with.

To make full use of Yunli, you have to make the enemies attack her, which is always a double-edged sword. If you get lucky and get the enemies to attack you a ton, she can deal some staggering damage without even getting a turn. However, if you don't have the correct supports built to do that, you may find her quite lacking.

5 Black Swan

Punishing Enemies For Getting A Turn

Black Swan was first revealed quite early by HoYoverse during one of the most popular trailers on their YouTube channel. She finally got released alongside Penacony in the Version 2.0 update with a Nihility Path and Wind combat type. One look at her damage numbers and you'll realize that this character is not to be messed with.

She can apply Arcana stacks on enemies through various means, and these stacks deal staggering damage when the enemy gets a turn. She also has a ton of DMG and DEF ignore built into her kit, which can be stacked with various Relics and Light Cones, bringing her into the top three DPS that Honkai: Star Rail currently has to offer.

4 Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae

Use Him And Smash Everything Into Pieces

Nobody knows what the developers were thinking when they released Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae to the game because he single-handedly destroys every combat scenario. He can deal a ton of damage even if the enemy doesn't have Imaginary Weakness.

Imbibitor Lunae's Skill can be used up to three times to enhance his Basic Attack, which in turn deals higher single-target or AoE damage. Using his Ultimate or Technique gives you some special Skill Points, which can be used instead of normal Skill Points as well.

3 Jingliu

The Game Plays Itself For You With Her

No one thought this was possible, but Hoyoverse actually released a character even stronger than Imbibitor Lunae. Jingliu is a five-star Ice Destruction character who hails from The Xianzhou Luofu. Whenever she uses her normal Skill, she gains a stack of Syzygy, and goes into a buffed state when she has two stacks.

Entering this state increases the maximum stacks you can have to three, and you can only use her Skill when she gets a turn. Instead of using a Skill Point, this Skill consumes a bit of HP from all allies and deals massive damage to three targets. The less Skill Point consumption and continuous big damage arguably make her a top DPS in the game.