Some of the 4-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail are comparable to the 5-stars unit, like in their predecessor, Genshin Impact. Similarly, one of the best advantages a good 4-star unit has over them is how easy it is to get their Eidolon. It gives them more passive to work with and more utility to improve their kits and roles in Honkai: Star Rail.
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Stellar Jades is a crucial currency in Honkai: Star Rail as players need them to get new characters in the game.
Utility-wise, getting the most out of every 4-star unit is strictly related to the way players build them and use them in team comps. Therefore, ranking 4-star units for their personal kit can be quite tricky as their performance changes in the correct setup. However, in summary, here's how every 4-star in Honkai: Star Rail ranks compared to their equal.
Updated on April 3, 2024, by Nahda Nabiilah: The list of 4-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail continues to grow with each update. From version 1.3 to 2.1, five new characters were added, namely Guinaifen, Xueyi, Hanya, Gallagher, and Misha. Despite the apparent powercreeping on 5-star units, thankfully this isn't the case for 4-star characters, where the top unit remains the same compared to the game's debut on version 1.0.
21 Arlan
Currently has no place in the meta
 Arlan |  Lightning |  Destruction |  4-Star |
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Simple but effective, that’s how Arlan’s kit works in Honkai: Star Rail. As he consumes his own HP to cast his Skill or take hits, Arlan’s damage is increased through his Talent. As a Destruction unit, Arlan can deal a decent amount of damage to both single and AoE targets. He has a good synergy of losing and regenerating HP through his kit and that will always make his Talent useful since it increases damage based on his lost HP.
20 Misha
Needs teammates who consume Skill Points often
 Misha |  Ice | Destruction | 4-Star |
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It's not very clear who Misha is meant to pair with in Honkai: Star Rail. While the idea is there, the execution may seem odd as SP-heavy characters are usually excellent on their own and don't need a DPS like Misha to begin with.
The way he plays is that when he uses his Skill or other allies use Skill Points (SP), his Ultimate gains one extra hit. The minimum hit is three, and the maximum is 10. Each hit has a low chance of freezing the target. The only notable thing about his best move is that it's great at breaking Toughness, especially against a single target.
19 Hook
Can DoT but not greatly
 Hook |  Fire | Destruction | 4-Star |
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If players want a sturdy unit that can deal damage while reliably planting DoTs on enemies, then Hook is a strong choice. As a Destruction Path unit, Hook can deal decent damage with her Skill and Ultimate, especially if the enemy has a Burn DoT on them. Hook combines survivability, damage, and utility all in one kit, and players can benefit from running her with many team comps in Honkai: Star Rail.
18 Dan Heng
Good early character
 Dan Heng |  Wind |  Hunt | 4-Star |
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Dan Heng definitely fulfills his role in the early game, but it's inevitable that players will get better characters later on in the game. For example, even in version 1.0, he was quickly replaced by the first exclusive character, Seele. What he lacks in stats, Dan Heng makes it up with his high SPD. As a Hunt unit, it’s understandable to have such SPD, but unfortunately, SPD is not enough to rank him at the top. If players bring along a character that can keep buffing Dan Heng, he’ll keep penetrating enemies’ Wind resistance with his attacks, and that allows him to consistently dish out large numbers.
17 Qingque
RNG reliant
 Qingque |  Quantum |  Erudition | 4-Star |
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Qingque is rather impractical to use, especially in auto-battle. Her damage is only good if she obtains four-of-a-kind Jade Tiles, but for this, players have to fully rely on RNG. Each time she rerolls her tile, she'll consume one Skill Point, so attempting to maximize Qingque's damage will quickly drain the team's Skill Point, which can be dangerous, especially in hard content where Point management becomes crucial.
16 Herta
Limited kuru-kuru
 Herta | Ice | Erudition | 4-Star |
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As a character with a niche Talent and a very simple kit, Herta isn’t the AoE DPS players are looking for to defeat hard Honkai: Star Rail content. Instead, she’s more of a grinding DPS where players can take her to farm materials, and she’ll do great one-shotting weak enemies with her Talent and Technique.
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Erudition characters in Honkai: Star Rail best perform in battles with multiple enemies as they excel in AoE hit.
Once one of the enemies’ HP goes under 50%, Herta will launch a follow-up attack against everybody, slamming them with her Hammer. This follow-up is great, but since it only triggers at 50% HP, it basically won't trigger often against bosses.
15 Natasha
Great early game healer
 Natasha |  Physical |  Abundance | 4-Star |
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Natasha is part of a small group of healers in Honkai: Star Rail. Although she’s a 4-star unit, Natasha possesses a strong Supportive kit that allows her to carry her team’s survivability on her own. As a character who mostly scales with her HP, Natasha has a decent Base HP, which is great for all her healing abilities. Sadly, healing is the only thing Natasha is good for, which causes her to fall short since there are other units that can protect the team and offer more utility, like March 7th and Fire Trailblazer.
14 Gallagher
A more niche healer
 Gallagher | Fire | Abundance | 4-Star |
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Although not as good as Natasha in terms of healing, Gallagher has his own thing where he can plant debuff on enemies with his Ultimate and enhanced Basic Attack.
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Acheron is a special Nihility character in Honkai: Star Rail, where her Energy is non-existent, and her damage feels like a Hunt character.
Typically, this isn't crucial, since his debuff debuffs are underwhelming, but his purpose is to be paired with Acheron, who desperately needs her team to place debuffs on enemies.
13 March 7th
Viable even after the early game
 March 7th | Ice |  Preservation | 4-Star |
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F2P characters are often underestimated as weak, but in Honkai: Star Rail, they're more than enough to beat the hardest content in the early-to-mid game. Other than a continuous shield and her ability to freeze through her Ultimate, March can also cleanse the unit she shields. Additionally, when any shielded ally is attacked, March will counter-attack, which is handy against enemies with Ice weakness.
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Sadly, as a defensive unit, it's easy for her to lose viability. For instance, players may prefer a Taunt unit like Fire Trailblazer, or people simply obtain a better protector like Bailu or Gepard. Don't underestimate her, though, as her shield is still viable even at the top level of Memory of Chaos.
12 Serval
Not a Nihility but great DoT
 Serval | Lightning | Erudition | 4-Star |
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Serval has a large Base ATK in Honkai: Star Rail. With this much ATK, Serval is able to scale much better with her hits, and in turn, allows her to inflict great damage. Serval can also apply DoTs on all enemies she hits with her Skill with a 100% chance, adding more to her overall damage. Now that enemies are Shocked, Serval’s damage is further increased, especially with her Ultimate.
Although she's a free unit, Serval is a really solid AoE character that should not be underestimated and can perform in various cases. For example, players can play her on full damage, or bring her in a DoT team.
11 Sushang
Speedy Physical breaker
 Sushang | Physical | Hunt | 4-Star |
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As a Hunt unit, Sushang’s kit revolves around breaking enemies’ Toughness in Honkai: Star Rail. Whenever a boss has a Physical weakness, Sushang is the perfect character to take to that fight. As long as there are enemies with weakness broken on the field, Sushang becomes speedy, which is super useful to break more Toughness. Of course, her gameplay heavily consumes Skill points and players have to adjust and adapt to how aggressive she can be during battles.
10 Hanya
Complex Skill Point recovery
 Hanya | Physical |  Harmony | 4-Star |
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Hanya has so much potential, but sadly, her mechanics are too complex for no reason. Hanya can boost the damage of a DPS, increase their SPD, and restore Skill Points to the team. However, this SP-restoration mechanic is clunky and terrible to benefit from, which puts her on the lower end of the Harmony characters in Honkai: Star Rail. Her clunky mechanic becomes even worse with the existence of Sparkle, who can restore Skill Points effortlessly and smoothly.
9 Yukong
Amazing buff but demands proper management
 Yukong |  Imaginary | Harmony | 4-Star |
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Compared to other support characters in Honkai: Star Rail, Yukong is among the trickiest to use. This is because her buff only stays for two turns after the cast, so only two characters that move after Yukong will benefit from it. Additionally, her Ultimate also demands this buff to be available if players wish to gain the Crit bonus from Yukong. In exchange for these complicated mechanics, however, Yukong offers massive buff that can be insanely beneficial if players properly adjust the team's rotation and SPD so that the Helm Master will always buff the right characters.
8 Xueyi
Break Effect master
 Xueyi | Quantum | Destruction | 4-Star |
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Unlike her sister, Hanya, Xueyi is far more offensive in her gameplay. Xueyi is a Break Effect character who deals damage by depleting the enemy's Toughness regardless of the Type they're weak to. This means if she's paired with the correct character like Ruan Mei, Xueyi's power can be formidable.
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One downside is that Break Effect characters can be tricky to use, since players must strategically plan their moves to ensure Xueyi is the one triggering the Weakness Break.
7 Guinaifen
The less demanding version of Sampo
 Guinaifen | Fire |  Nihility | 4-Star |
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Guinaifen, Sampo, and Luka are toe-to-toe with each other, given they're about the same in terms of power, but each has a place where they excel better. For example, Guinaifen is more stable in terms of her AoE hits compared to Sampo's RNG attacks. However, in single-target cases, both fall short compared to Luka. Unlike Sampo, Guinaifen also demands fewer Skill Points, although Luka is still the most SP-friendly among the three.
6 Luka
Single-target destroyer
 Luka | Physical | Nihility | 4-Star |
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Luka may seem underwhelming at first glance, but that's because he's a character specifically for single-target scenarios. This means against a group of enemies, he's not so useful, but for a boss fight, he can be an incredible debuffer. Additionally, the Bleed effect Luka provides also pairs well with Kafka. Both Luka and Kafka can trigger the debuff early, and in return for his incapability to hit in an AoE, his single-target damage is high enough to hurt tough bosses.
5 Lynx
Healer with utilities
 Lynx | Quantum | Abundance | 4-Star |
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Lynx is an Abundance character that also provides extra utility to her team. Other than healing with her Skill, Talent, Technique, and Ultimate, she can also cleanse the entire team when she uses her Ultimate, which is great since most units can only cleanse one ally.
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Blade can become an exceptionally strong DPS character when built right.
Additionally, when Lynx uses her Skill on a Destruction or Preservation character, she'll increase the affected character's chance of being hit by the enemy. This can greatly help in protecting the team and ensuring the correct units are taking the hits, and can even be manipulated to cause characters like Blade, who benefits from losing HP, to trigger his follow-up attack Talent more often.
4 Sampo
Amazing DoT support
 Sampo | Wind | Nihility | 4-Star |
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Although DoT team is not popular in the early game, once players have enough characters to play with, a Nihility walker like Sampo is sure to come in handy in a DoT setup. His Ultimate causes enemies to take 20% extra damage from DoT, which doesn't only help the team, but also his own damage. Sampo's Talent allows him to inflict Wind Shear with his attacks, and considering his Skill is a Bounce type that can hit multiple enemies (or hit one enemy multiple times), he's sure to apply the debuff on the target.
3 Asta
SPD is a large part of the meta
 Asta | Fire | Harmony | 4-Star |
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Harmony characters in Honkai: Star Rail operate as Supports and are able to control the atmosphere and pace of battles with their buffs and utilities. A character like Asta turns her allies into fast units that can play more frequently and cause more harm to opponents with the ATK% buffs she also grants.
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Additionally, Asta is a reliable Toughness breaker against enemies with Fire weakness because of the number of attacks her Skill can produce, especially on her E1.
2 Pela
Reliable AoE debuff
 Pela | Ice | Nihility | 4-Star |
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Everything about Pela’s kit is unique in Honkai: Star Rail. Pela is one of the very few characters who can shred enemies’ DEF and strip them from buffs. Not only that, but she can also further shred enemies’ resistance to Ice, which makes her an essential Support to take when playing an Ice DPS.
