Honkai: Star Rail Tier list (July 2025)

Categories

• DPS - Characters that mainly focus on dealing damage and being the main source of it in the team they are placed in,
• Support DPS - Characters that fall within this category are very rarely played as the primary or sole damage dealer of the team and instead almost always play alongside another character that fills that role instead. Support DPS are still built with the intention to deal damage themselves but also have a kit containing buffs/debuffs to bolster their team's performance and/or have abilities that are directly dependent on others in order to function.
• Amplifier - Characters that do not focus on dealing damage but instead amplify the damage other teammates deal by granting allies buffs or debuffing enemies,
• Sustain - Characters who are capable of keeping the team alive with their abilities.

Special tags

Tags are split into 3 categories: Pros, Cons and Archetype which represent the most defining features of a character's kit and the current meta archetypes they fit into. Archetype tags indicate a connection between characters with that tag e.g. Acheron requires debuffs to work and Silver Wolf applies them. Here is a full list of all current tags and what they mean:

• Break - the character belongs to the Break archetype focusing on Break Effect and Break Efficiency,
• Debuff - the character belongs to the Debuff archetype applying one or many debuffs or has a kit that directly relies on them to function,
• DoT - the character belongs to the Damage-over-Time archetype specializing in applying and/or amplifying DoT effects,
• FuA - the character belongs to the Follow-up Attack archetype benefitting from, buffing or delivering powerful Follow-Up Attacks.,
• Summon - the character fights alongside summons or other entities,
• Advance - the character can manipulate the turn order by either action advancing their allies or themselves,
• Buff - the character can apply various Buffs to help their teammates,
• Delay - the character can delay enemies and hinder their actions in battle,
• Energy - the character can recover the teammates energy,
• SP-Friendly - the character is substantially more skill point friendly than other characters in their role.
• SP-Unfriendly - the character is substantially more skill point un-friendly than other characters in their role.
• Partner - the character is incredibly reliant on being partnered with one specific character in order to function at the highest level. Characters marked with this tag will perform one (but sometimes even more) tiers lower than their listed position on the tier list without those characters alongside them.
• Expert - Characters with this tag require careful team planning and tuning. In game action changes based on differing combat scenarios and are overall harder to play than others. When not played effectively their tier list placement can be considered lower.

Meta Lines

Meta Lines categorize each section of the tier list into a power bracket. Here are the four brackets:

• Apex Characters (T0 & T0.5) - characters in this bracket are the cream of the crop. They can do outrageous amount of damage, provide massive buffs (or debuffs) or keep the team alive no matter what the enemy throws at them. They simply can achieve the best, most consistent and accessible results in their best teams, allowing you to easily clear the content,
• Meta Characters (T1, T1.5, T2) - characters in this bracket make clearing the content a breeze, but compared to the Apex characters they require more work from your side. Either their team options are more restrictive, they require bigger Relic investment or they possess a notable weakness or downside. Still, they are all great and won't disappoint you if you give them what they need to shine,
• Niche Characters (T3 & T4) - characters in this bracket are lacking in one or many fields of their role. These characters still possess the ability to clear all content with the right build, endgame blessing, team or enemy line-up but have much lower play rates and success rates than Meta and Apex characters,
• The Forgotten Ones (T5) - characters in this bracket struggle. A lot. Either their kits simply don't work in the mode or they require a ton of investment and love to be able to work. Just avoid them unless your husbando or waifu landed here and you believe in the power of love.

Half tiers

To further define the tier list and correctly represent the power level of each character in relation to each other we have added half tiers to the higher tier brackets. Under our previous system a tier rating jump of 1 tier rating made it difficult to position characters accurately, often leading to multiple characters ending up in the same tier despite a clear power and utility difference.

Criteria

• Manual play,
• Using optimal team composition/support characters,
• Character level 80,
• All Major Traces unlocked and skills upgraded to level 10,
• Character equipped with level 80 non-limited 4★ or 5★ Light Cone (including the 'standard' Light Cones),
• Battle Pass Light Cones aren't taken into account because you can't obtain them without spending,
• Character equipped with 5★ upgraded gear with optimal Main Stats and Sub Stats (with 24 desired sub stats out of a possible 54),
• Eidolon level 0 for 5★ characters,
• Eidolon level 0/6 for 4★ characters.

Roles

We compare characters within their role - so DPS are compared to other DPS and the ratings are adjusted based on their performance within the role. Don't try to compare characters between roles (for example an Amplifier with a DPS), because their ratings mean different things.

• DPS - Rating is heavily influenced based on the characters ability to deal enough damage to achieve the 3-star objective, the easier and more quickly achieved the higher the rating,
• Support DPS - Rating is heavily influenced based on the damage they provide, the buffs and debuffs or efficiency boost these characters create or the utility they provide against certain encounters,
• Amplifier - Rating is influenced based on the damage amplification abilities of the character and the utility they provide to the team,
• Sustain - Rating is influenced based on the characters ability to keep the team alive and the utility they provide. The more utility and higher the safety, the higher the rating.

Other criteria affecting the ratings

Each tier list rates characters based on their average value in the specific game mode it represents. The higher a character is rated on the tier list the greater their power and more widely they can be used effectively in the mode, helping the players in getting all rewards every cycle. We aren't looking at 0-cycle potential. We consider:

• Flexibility - how the characters kit functions against various enemy types, amounts of enemies and their ability to perform when not fighting against enemies vulnerable to their element,
• Investment - some characters require specific limited 5★ units, heavy investment in certain relic sets or an abundance of sub-stats in order to function at the highest level. Each of these points impacts the rating in a negative way. - the more the character requires to perform well, the bigger the impact,
• Utility - recently released characters possess abilities that lie beyond their defined role, for example Amplifiers/Sustains that can deal decent damage. The more a character helps the team outside of their role, the bigger positive impact on their rating it has.

11/07/2025

In this update we’re adding

Archer

• 
  Phainon release has caused quite a stir among the community with some having incredible success with him and others less so. In response to this, we felt it necessary to proceed with an early round of data collection to look at Phainon specifically (it's available on his profile, but not on the MoC/AS/PF pages yet). What we found is the following:
• Players using sustains had worse scores across the board, most often significantly worse.
• Players with Phainon’s signature performed significantly better (to be expected).
• Certain supports and team compositions overwhelmingly outperform others.
• Based on the data we now have, as well as community feedback and testing, we’re making a few adjustments to Phainon’s ratings:
• PF: Phainon is a polarizing character in Pure Fiction. If you’re able to clear without the need for a sustain he performs well to very well, but if your gear and team can’t manage and you must run a sustain, his performance takes a massive hit. Phainon’s signature is also more impactful in PF than it is in other modes, contributing to the gulf in performance some players may be observing. With that said, based on data from the current Pure Fiction we agree he is strong enough to sit alongside Anaxa and Argenti when assessed as pure DPS. We’re moving Phainon to T0.5 for now, but will continue to monitor him.
• MoC & AS: As expected Phainon has proven himself worthy of T0 in MoC but in addition to this has also performed incredibly well in AS. Based on this we’re watch listing him to move up in the mode, pending his results in the next released phase we’ll be covering in a few days.
• Unfortunately outside of Phainon, the interim data we collected is not useful for assessing other recently changed characters as their pre and post buff data is mixed together in players' clear histories.

Archer

• With
  
  Saber and
  
  Archer releasing, two more top DPS enter the fray and as expected both are strong. Based on our testing we found Archer to excel in MoC and AS, earning him to tier placements. For Saber we found her to be a little less specialized but more well rounded being serviceable in all three modes.
• 
  Archer - While we had great success with Archer and found him to be an absolute beast in MoC and AS, we feel he is strongest when accompanied by Sparkle thanks to the SP generation and SP cap increase she provides. We’re starting him off with the Partner tag because of this as we feel he isn’t as strong without her.
• MoC: T0
• PF: T5
• AS: T0
• 
  Saber - We found Saber to be significantly more challenging to play than Archer and most other top tier characters. This is due to the nature of her action advancement and the fact it triggers from energy, which can be gained in differing amounts randomly based on the encounter. If you’ve played The Herta with Sunday, or another action advancer you’ll be familiar with her challenges - only they’re quite a bit more tricky. With that said, when played effectively we feel she’s able to compete with the characters in the tiers we’ve placed her alongside albeit with a bit more effort needed.
• MoC: T0.5
• PF: T1
• AS: T0.5

Other Changes:

• 
  Cipher - Based on community feedback we’re moving Cipher from Support DMG to Amplifier instead. The reason behind this is that many consider Cipher’s ultimate damage to be a form of team wide amplification instead of her own damage. We understand this argument and agree - we’re moving her to amplifier in all three modes.
• 
  Tribbie - Tribbie and Cipher share some similarities and while we have discussed moving Tribbie to amplifier before, we feel she does enough personal damage to justify her place in Support Damage for the time being. Let us know what you think about this.

MoC:

• 
  Anaxa T0.5 T0: We’re following through on Anaxa’s watch list from last time and moving him to T0.
• 
  The Herta T0 T0.5: With the introduction of Archer and Saber and Anaxa taking his place in T0, we’re once again adjusting T0 and similar to Mydei we’re moving the lowest of the T0 performers down a rank - this time that’s The Herta.
• 
  Bronya T1.5 T1: After the release of Phainon, Bronya has seen a significant uptick in performance and usage in MoC. Based on this we’re raising her to T1.
• 
  Tingyun (Watchlist UP): Similar to Bronya, but to a much lesser extent, Tingyun has also gained some ground thanks to Phainon - we’re watch listing her to move up.
• 
  Sparkle (Watchlist UP): With Archer releasing and Sparkle being his best teammate, we expect her to improve her scores and usage considerably. Before moving her though we want to see exactly how much by first. We’re placing her on the watch list to move up.

02/07/2025

Patch 3.4’s arrival brings us

Silver Wolf

Blade

Jingliu

Kafka

We’ve tested each of the four newly buffed characters in endgame but as they’re the first of their kind we’re placing watchlists on all of them to indicate their placements may move up or, while unlikely, possibly down as well.

• 
  Blade - As of late, Blade has already been performing quite well in endgame, earning him multiple improvements to his tier list placement. It should be no surprise then that with a sizeable buff in the form of improved multipliers and drastic mechanical improvements, consisting of the introduction of a pseudo-Taunt and better ultimate damage consistency, that Blade will be moving up yet again in both MoC and PF. We’re holding him in T1.5 in AS for now, but pending future results he may improve there as well.
• MoC: T1.5 T1
• PF: T1.5 T1
• AS: No changes.
• 
  Silver Wolf - Of all the buffed characters, Silver Wolf has seen the most improvement. Her kit has received an absurd amount of Quality of Life, too much to list here in fact, all while gaining a significant amount of power as well. All the changes turned Silver Wolf into one of the best amplifiers in modes that contain high priority targets like MoC and AS where her bugs, implant and ultimate can all shine at once. It’s true a substantial amount of Silver Wolf’s kit is now AoE, but her implant still isn’t, causing her to lose significant value in PF compared to her peers, but we still raised her from T5 to T2. Based on Silver Wolf’s Sub DPS potential we’re also considering moving her to the Support Damage category with Tribbie and Cipher, let us know what you think of this.
• MoC: T2 T0.5
• PF: T5 T2
• AS: T1.5 T0
• 
  Kafka &
  
  Black Swan - Both Kafka and Black Swans ratings are being updated together based off of Kafka’s buff. New Kafka is closer to a Support Damage dealer than a pure damage dealer now - because of this we’re changing the category she resides in as well as updating her ratings. Kafka’s new buff positions her as the go to DoT enabler - the only downside is the only DoT character she has to enable right now is Black Swan, which while potent, isn’t a combo quite on the power level of 3.x characters based on our initial testing. With that said, the increase in power is undeniable, so we’re raising both Black Swan and Kafka’s tiers in MoC and PF. Also, worth highlighting is the imminent arrival of Hysilens - a character all but confirmed by Hoyo themselves via the Simulated Universe to be affiliated with DoT, thanks to her portrait based buff being dedicated to the DoT archetype. If she indeed will belong to the archetype, we expect great things of Kafka.
• MoC: T2 T1
• PF: T3 T1
• AS: No changes.
• 
  Jingliu - Like Blade, Jingliu has received the full HP kit conversion treatment, resulting in a sizable overall buff to her damage. In addition to this, Jingliu’s gameplay has changed from a bursty character usually with some downtime, to a character that once enhanced, aims to remain so for the entire duration of the fight - something that’s possible with the right team and gameplay. Based on these improvements, we’re raising Jingliu’s rating across the board.
• MoC: T2 T1.5
• PF: T4 T3
• AS: T3 T1.5

MoC Update:

• DPS:
• 
  Mydei T0 T0.5 - What constitutes T0 continues to be pushed higher and higher with each new release. With such increases in power, comes the need to ensure we continually re-evaluate the characters at the top. This time we’ve identified that other characters currently (or being newly added to T0) hold a slight edge over Mydei in the current meta - based on this we’re adjusting his rating for now, but have made other changes to ensure his power level is still accurately represented.
• 
  Anaxa (DPS) added to watchlist. Anaxa continues to impress as a dedicated DPS character, so we’re watch listing him to move up next phase pending its results.
• 
  Rappa T0.5 T1 - Superbreak has been experiencing difficulties in endgame as of late, and MoC is no exception with even Rappa and her usually successful sustainless teams facing resistance. Based on this, and with Mydei moving down to T0.5, we’re adjusting Rappa’s rating to T1.
• 
  Acheron T0.5 T1 - While Silver Wolf is a new teammate for Acheron to make use of. we aren’t confident she’s able to match either Mydei or Anaxa even with that power boost - we’re moving her to T1 for now, but she may return if Silver Wolf surprises us.
• 
  Firefly &
  
  Boothill T1 T1.5 - Same as Rappa, Firefly and Boothill are also struggling and with two previously Apex characters moving to T1, we’re moving Firefly and Boothill down to T1.5 based on their subpar average performance over the last three phases.
• 
  Jing Yuan T1 T1.5 - Acheron arriving in T1 makes remaining in T1 difficult for Jing Yuan - since she currently holds the edge over him and is receiving a new teammate to play with Silver Wolf. Based on Acheron’s movement we’re adjusting Jing Yuan to T1.5 for now.
• 
  Dr. Ratio &
  
  Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae &
  
  Clara T2 T3 - For characters to remain above the “Meta” line, they must maintain a certain play rate and or performance in at least one of the three phases we use to assess the meta. All of Dr Ratio, Imbibitor Lunae and Clara have fallen below that threshold for now, as such we’re lowering them to T3 until they rise again
• Support DPS:
• 
  Argenti T0.5 T1 - While Argenti is still a great partner for The Herta, both Anaxa and Jade outperform him in the recent phases - both have shown they better can adapt to the everchanging bosses in this mode. So we’re dropping Argenti half a tier for now.
• 
  March 7th • The Hunt T1 T1.5 - Over the past three phases we assess, Topaz has gained an edge over March 7th Hunt - based on this we’re adjusting her rating for now.
• 
  Serval T1 T1.5 - With Argenti moving to T1 and being the better choice for The Herta teams, Serval has to move down as well. We still feel Mini Herta has a place in more AoE focused MoC phases.
• 
  Moze T1.5 T2 - March (Hunt) still holds the edge for most players over Moze, as a result of her moving down we’re also moving Moze down.
• Amplifier:
• 
  Jiaoqiu T0.5 T1 - With Acheron dropping, we’re also moving the foxian ‘healer’ out of the Apex tier.
• 
  Tingyun • Fugue T0.5 T1 - Fugue lives or dies based on the success of the Superbreak archetype - an archetype that is currently struggling across the board. We’re lowering her rating for now for this reason.
• 
  Trailblazer • Harmony T1 T2 - Like Fugue, Trailblazer Harmony is tied at the hip to the success of Superbreak which is not doing well.
• 
  Pela T1 T1.5 - With Jiaqiu relocating to T1 for now and Silver Wolf raising the bar when it comes to DEF SHRED, Pela is being attacked on two fronts. We’re lowering her rating for now.
• Sustain:
• 
  Lingsha T0 T0.5 - Another victim of the struggling Superbreak archetype. Even if Lingsha tried to escape her fate by trying to worm herself into other teams, she struggles there compared to both Hyacine and Huohuo - the two strongest sustains in the recent MoC phases. Because of that, we’re dropping her by half a tier.

20/06/2025

Some characters are receiving buffs in 3.4, the tier list changes made in this update are not being made with those buffs included. Expect changes to all buffed characters after 3.4 releases - the changes now are intended to reflect characters current performance.

The Aeon of Voracity Ica… Ekhm.

• In PF we’re adjusting
  
  Lingsha rating from T0 T0.5.
• In AS we’re adjusting
  
  Aventurine and
  
  Lingsha rating from T0 T0.5.
• We’ll address MoC after the next phase has released.

Let's go over the Pure Fiction next:

• DPS:
• 
  Castorice T0.5 T0 - Castorice has now shown over multiple phases she’s capable of scoring incredibly well in the current PF endgame. We acknowledge she’s not quite at The Herta levels but she’s also a step above those currently in T0.5, leaving her in between both. Despite this we’re raising her to Tier 0 for now as we feel she’s closer to The Herta than Anaxa and Argenti - if she loses her edge expect her to make a return to T0.5.
• 
  Anaxa T1 T0.5 - We’re following through on Anaxa’s watchlist and moving him to T0.5 in both DPS and Support Damage. Anaxa’s performance has certainly dipped a bit with the loss of his on release buff (which was perfect for him) but not enough that we’re willing to keep him in T1. Anaxa deserves his spot in T0.5.
• 
  Rappa T0.5 T1 - The past two phases of PF have not been kind to Rappa with even her sustainless team compositions struggling to produce apex level results consistently. This combined with other characters moving further into the limelight is why we’re adjusting her rating for now.
• 
  Aglaea T1 T1.5 - Aglaea hasn’t done enough to maintain her place in T1, we’re following through on the previous watchlist placed on her and moving her to T1.5.
• 
  Blade T2 T1.5 - Blade continues to exceed expectations in the HP stacking meta alongside Castorice in the Support Damage role and as a dedicated damage dealer with Hyacine. Based on this we’re raising his ranking in both categories from T2 to T1.5.
• 
  Mydei T2 T1.5 - Similar to Blade, Mydei has also been able to take advantage of all the HP focused support in endgame recently allowing him to perform above his previous levels. We’re raising Mydei to T1.5 for now.
• 
  Himeko &
  
  Yunli T1.5 T2 - Neither Yunli nor Himeko are performing as consistently or highly as Mydei or Blade in the current meta, so we’re adjusting their rating to better reflect the increase in performance of both HP stackers and lower than expected performance of themselves.
• 
  Kafka &
  
  Black Swan T2 T3 - Kafka and Black Swan continue their descent down the tier list… for now. A hasty re-ascent may be in store for both in 3.4.
• SUPPORT DPS:
• 
  Cipher - Based on Cipher’s initial performance in PF we feel her current placement on the tier list is suitable, so we’re removing the watch list placed on her for now.
• AMPLIFIER:
• 
  Robin &
  
  Sunday T0 T0.5 - This time, Robin and Sunday are a victims of Trailblazer Remembrances absolute dominance in Pure Fiction. Both characters retain a strong position in the meta and have top teams alongside one or multiple apex characters, they just aren’t quite as dominant right now as the Trailblazer. With 2 new destruction characters (Phainon and Saber) and one new Hunt character (Archer), it’s possible they may return soon should new synergies arise.
• 
  Tingyun • Fugue T0.5 T1 - With Rappa, the last hold out of the superbreak archetype in PF moving down, it’s no surprise that Fugue is as well, as her scores have similarly been suffering these past phases.
• 
  Tingyun T1.5 T2 - Just as her 5-star version, Tingyun has seen less play and decreasing performance in the last few phases of Pure Fiction.

And finally it's time to go over Apocalyptic Shadow changes:

• 
  Acheron T0.5 T1 - Acheron has been outperformed in the Lightning niche over the last three phases of AS by Aglaea while also falling below the performance of other characters in T0.5. Based on this we’re adjusting her rating down for now.
• 
  Jing Yuan T1 T1.5 - Similar to Acheron, Jing Yuan has also had some trouble keeping pace these past few AS phases with the competition. This combined with the fact Acheron is moving to tier 1 and performing above him currently is why Jing Yuan will be moving down a tier this update.
• 
  Blade T2 T1.5 - Similar to his performance in PF, Blade has also shown enough to move up a placement in AS.

11/06/2025

We have added

As for Cipher's rating, please keep in mind that she's most likely the character that has biggest performance difference between playing on manual and playing on auto - while the tier list is focused on manual play, we still feel it's important that people are aware of this. We have also watchlisted her for PF - we've placed her in T1 initially but may update her placement based on her results in a few days.