In a game like Honkai: Star Rail where combat plays a major part in progression, it's always important for a team to have a damage dealer. In Honkai: Star Rail, this is typically someone that follows either the Hunt or Erudition Path. Most of the time, Hunt units are best against bosses, but Erudition plays massive role in the gameplay too.
Unlike Hunt which focuses on single-target damage, Erudition is adept against multiple enemies, which makes them more effective than Hunt units against a large line-up. Some Erudition characters also excel in a single-target scenario, while others may be underwhelming in both single-target and AoE cases. To understand better, here are all Erudition characters ranked based on their strengths in Honkai: Star Rail.
5 Qingque
Qingque has one of the most unique skill moves in all of Honkai: Star Rail since most of her gameplay revolves around her Jade Tiles. To play Qingque, players have to keep drawing her Jade Tiles until they collect four Tiles with the same symbol. Then, Qingque will get her Basic ATK enhanced to deal the AoE damage that fits her path as an Erudition character. However, that task is not easy since using her Skill to line up the same symbols is going to consume many Skill points.
Instead, players should count on her other passive that passively draws a Jade Tile every time an ally gets a turn until Qingque gets her turn with the same Jade Tiles. Playing her like that takes away her constant need for Skill points and turns her into a character who saves these valuable Skill points for her allies. Of course, either way, Qingque can’t be as effective as the other Erudition character in Honkai: Star Rail, which is why she places last in the ranking.
4 Herta
A member of the Genius Society who is cursed with a low base ATK but blesses everyone with her Kuru Kuru noises. Herta is a reliable Ice character that can constantly attack all enemies because of her Talent’s passive that allows her to launch a follow-up attack every time one of them goes under 50% max HP. Even her Skill and Ultimate both let her attack all enemies to deal some raw Ice damage without any extra effects.
Since Herta and some of her Eidolons are free to get from the Simulated Universe, players can easily benefit from them. For example, her E2 and E4 both improve her performance when her Talent’s effect is triggered. As for her Traces, they don’t really offer that much, but they offer a little bit of extra damage alongside Crowd Control resistance on her A4 Trace.
3 Serval
As a 4-star character in Honkai: Star Rail, Serval is a strong and reliable AoE unit with very simple mechanics. One of her best features is her ability to apply Shock DoT on enemies with her Skill and further improved by her A2 Trace. Not only that but Serval’s Talent ensures her Lightning damage increases when attacking a Shocked enemy with any of her abilities. When using her Ultimate, Serval will extend the duration of her Shock DoTs in order to keep her Talent’s passive active every time she attacks.
The most effective way to use Serval is by unlocking her A4 Trace Which regenerates 15% of her energy at the start of each battle, allowing her to quickly cast an Ultimate. Players can start by casting Serval’s Skill to apply DoTs and then immediately follow it with her Ultimate to increase their duration and amplify its damage.
2 Himeko
Many fans like to point out how underwhelming Himeko’s kit considering how popular she is, but although she may be mediocre in some battles, in specific cases, she can be incredibly strong.
First, Himeko possesses one of the highest base ATK in Honkai: Star Rail. That massive ATK is accompanied by a lot of abilities that take full advantage of it. For instance, Himeko can continuously attack all enemies when players apply a weakness break on them. Unlike Herta’s follow-up attacks, these attacks have high scaling with Himeko’s base ATK and her damage is further boosted by her A2 Trace that inflicts Burn DoT on enemies she attacks. As a 5-star character in Honkai: Star Rail, Himeko enjoys the big stats and compliments them with her great kit.
1 Jing Yuan
Despite the long text on his Talent, Jing Yuan is a very simple and strong Lightning character in Honkai: Star Rail. Basically, at the start of any battle, Jing Yuan summons Lightning-Lord who will have their own action during combat, and their stats change based on which Skills Jing Yuan uses. To make the most of Lightning-Lord, players must always ensure to cast Jung Yuan’s Skill and unleash his Ultimate. By doing so, Lightning-Lord will get stacks. These stacks dictate the number of hits the follow-up attack will perform, so more stacks equal higher damage.
Even though he’s an Erudition Path unit in Honkai: Star Rail, Jing Yuan and his Lightning-Lord can hit single-target as hard as AoE. The trick here is in Lightning-Lord’s hits that can all land on one enemy if it's the only one on the field. This makes Jing Yuan an amazing character to take against both hordes of enemies and bosses in Honkai: Star Rail.
Honkai: Star Rail is now available on Android, iOS, and PC. A PlayStation version is in development.