Honkai Star Rail tier list – best characters in 1.2 (July 2023)

Find out who to spend your precious Rail Passes on with our Honkai Star Rail tier list of best characters in the game right now on PC, mobile, PS5, and PS4.

Honkai Star Rail tier list: Himeko holding a book in her right hand, a blurred image of the Astral Express cabin is in the background.

What are the best Honkai Star Rail characters? Our Honkai Star Rail tier list will be the one-stop shop for the question of ‘who is the best character in Honkai Star Rail?’. This can have quite a complex answer, as there are already tons of interesting characters to choose from, each with their own roles. Thankfully, we’ve prepared a rundown so you know which characters are the best in our ranked Honkai Star Rail tier list.

When thinking about a Honkai Star Rail tier list, it’s important to first know all the Honkai Star Rail characters in the game. Of course, getting new characters in the RPG game requires pulling on the Honkai Star Rail banner schedule, so be sure to nab those free Honkai Star Rail Stellar Jade using Honkai Star Rail codes so you don’t miss out.

Honkai Star Rail tier list – best characters July 2023

The Honkai Star Rail tier list of best characters for July 2023 are:

Rank Character
S-tier Bailu, Blade, Bronya, Clara, Jing Yuan, Luocha, Seele, Tingyun
A-tier Gepard, Kafka, Natasha, Silver Wolf, Trailblazer (Fire), Welt
B-tier Dan Heng, Himeko, March 7th, Pela, Sushang, Yanqing, Yukong
C-tier Arlan, Asta, Hook, Qingque, Serval, Trailblazer (Phyiscal)
D-tier Herta, Sampo

The tier list of best characters in Honkai Star Rail is bound to change over the course of future updates, with new characters shaking up the roster over time. This happened recently with the arrival of Blade, who quickly took a top spot on the Honkai Star Rail tier list.

As players learn more about the inner workings of turn-based combat, there’s also room for characters to move up and down the ranks as they form some of the top Honkai Star Rail team comps with each other. We’ll update this guide whenever that happens so you’re always on top of who to go for next.

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Honkai Star Rail best characters

The best characters in Honkai Star Rail are Bailu, Blade, Bronya, Clara, Jing Yuan, Luocha, Seele, and Tingyun. If you’re able to get your hands on these characters and create a build for them, then you’re ready for even the toughest content. We’ve got all the best Honkai Star Rail builds already prepared for you too.

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Bailu

Bailu is an excellent defensive support character for your teams. She’s able to significantly heal a single ally with her skill, and heal the whole team using her ultimate. Bailu can also invigorate characters so they receive 10% less damage. Overall, Bailu can keep your team in the fight for a long time. Don’t miss out on the best Honkai Star Rail Bailu build to get full use out of her supportive capabilities.

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Blade

Alongside Seele, Blade is one of the best single-target damage dealers in the game since his introduction in version 1.2. His unique health scaling and self-damage skills result in a completely different playstyle than you might be used to, but it’s capable of incredible damage. Unfortunately, the best Honkai Star Rail Blade build isn’t the easiest to set up, as there are few Destruction Light Cones that benefit him significantly.

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Bronya

Bronya is the best offensive support available right now, massively improving the effectiveness of her allies. She can cleanse an ally from a debuff, speed up their actions, and increase their damage for a single turn, all with her skill. Meanwhile, her ultimate will boost the ATK and Crit DMG of all allies for two turns, dialling up the damage against the enemy. Bronya is at the top of the Honkai Star Rail tier list for a reason. Look no further for the best Honkai Star Rail Bronya build right now.

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Clara

Clara is a fun and unique Counterattack based physical DPS and tank. While Jing Yuan and Seele will no doubt deal more damage overall, Clara has a great balance between tankiness and damage to create a potent bruiser. Additionally, thanks to the Counterattack mechanic, her damage is also consistent and able to be applied without making an extra action. Make sure you have the best Honkai Star Rail Clara build ready.

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Jing Yuan

Jing Yuan is perhaps the best damage dealer in the game right now, at least in AoE, though with stiff competition from Seele and Blade in the tier list of best characters. This is largely due to the power of the Lightning-Lord follow-up attacks from his Talent, which is empowered by all of his other abilities, both active and passive. Jing Yuan is an easy character to get to grips with, yet capable of massive Lightning damage. Find out the best Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan build here.

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Luocha

Luocha is another excellent healer and support character, though they are no slouch in the damage department either. With their healing effects scaling on their ATK, Luocha can heal allies while dishing out damage. He’s also capable of cleansing enemy buffs and ally debuffs, a useful skill to have in harder content. Be sure you check out the best Honkai Star Rail Luocha build to take full advantage of his power.

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Seele

Seele is another candidate for best damage dealer in Honkai Star Rail, toe to toe with Blade and Jing Yuan. This Quantum DPS character excels thanks to having both a great suite of abilities and good scalings. Her skill will not only deal a staggering amount of damage, but will also increase her speed stat for two turns. Furthermore, her passives boost her effectiveness in other ways, such as increased damage, stealth, and advancing actions. Seele is definitely a character you’ll want to add to your collection. Check out the best Honkai Star Rail Seele build.

Tingyun

Tingyun is the only four-star character to feature on our at the highest ranks of our Honkai Star Rail tier list, and for good reason. The Lightning Foxian is an incredibly-powerful buffer, boasting the ability to juice up an ally with energy, ATK, and DMG, while also granting them Lightning as a secondary damage type. Though she’s typically played alongside Bronya in a hyper-carry comp, Tingyun slots nicely into most comps that run a strong damage dealer.

Do you need the best Honkai Star Rail characters?

No, having the characters at the top of the Honkai Star Rail tier list certainly makes things easier, especially when you need two teams in Simulated Universe, but it is never a necessity. All of the content in the game can be completed with whichever characters you’d like, even Simulated Universe if you are skilled enough. There is never a necessity to spend real money to acquire the best characters or Light Cones.

With that said, we recommend at least picking up a few of the best characters at the top of the tier list when they roll around in the banners. If you’re a full free-to-play player, then this could take you some time. Pick your characters wisely and you’ll soon have powerful teams that can breeze through all the content in the game once they’re well equipped.

Nevertheless, the characters at the top of the Honkai Star Rail tier list are incredibly potent and will inevitable deal more damage or support the team more effectively than those below them. Furthermore, some characters also don’t have more accessible counterparts. For example, Natasha is a great replacement for Bailu, even being more effective than Bailu in certain situations. On the other hand, Luocha is currently a one-of-a-kind character, so there’s no four-star alternative that fills the same gap.

And that’s the Honkai Star Rail tier list and details on the best characters in the game right now. Find out all about Honkai Star Rail Undying Starlight to help you get these characters quicker. Gear up and get ready to take on the Honkai Star Rail Forgotten Hall once you’ve got your hands on some of these characters. Good luck, Trailblazer.