Honkai Star Rail tier list: Who is the best character?

Who are the best characters in Honkai: Star Rail final closed beta? Honkai: Star Rail is still some weeks away from its anticipated full launch, but those with access to the final closed beta test have already had the opportunity to meet several of the strategic RPG's leading characters.

As a gacha game, Star Rail's main monetisation strategy is throwing a huge and ever-expanding selection of playable characters out there for players to try to collect. In this respect it's very similar to developer HoYoverse's last game, blockbuster ARPG Genshin Impact. However, Star Rail streamlines Genshin's complex approach to character builds, and while all of Star Rail's characters are perfectly serviceable, there's a little bit more riding on adding good characters to your roster this time around. (Or you could just set out to collect your favourite husbandos and waifus, which is another approach I wholeheartedly endorse.)

If you're wondering where to start when putting your Star Rail party together, look no further, as below we've put together a thorough ranking of the best (and worst) characters the game has to offer.

Honkai: Star Rail best characters

Bronya

Continuing a time-honoured HoYoverse tradition, Bronya is a Wind-wielder who proves excellent in a support role. Bronya's ult buffs her teammates in an AoE that allows all of them to benefit, lending a 30% increase to ATK and a 20% CRIT increase to the whole party for the next two turns. Her attack is no slouch either, but it's her rare and powerful second regular ability that really shines, allowing her to remove a debuff from an ally while increasing their ATK power and movement speed in the next turn.

Himeko

You'll have the opportunity to trial Himeko early on, as she temporarily joins your party during Star Rail's prologue. You can see why the devs chose to showcase her just at the point where most players will be thinking about making their first gacha pulls: as a Fire-wielding AoE damage specialist, her attacks are impressive both visually and in the amount of damage they can deal. Her ult deals 120% of her ATK as Fire damage to every enemy within a wide range, making her more than capable of finishing entire battles in one turn.

Luocha

Healers are hard to come by in Star Rail right now, and while all three candidates have something going for them, Luocha the best one currently on offer. His healing passive scales with his attack, meaning that he's able to provide good all-round combat support and perform his specialised role at the same time, which is incredibly useful when you're limited to four characters in your active party. He's also one of only two current characters to wield the Imaginary element, allowing him to fill a particularly tricky niche on your team.

Honkai: Star Rail meta

As yet a Honkai: Star Rail meta hasn't really emerged in terms of path and element, but rarity is already an obvious factor in character performance. Unsurprisingly, the higher tiers are dominated by harder-to-obtain 5-star characters, while the lower tiers are occupied by 4-stars (especially those who are available freely in the early hours of the game).

While in Genshin Impact you can build even the lowest-tier characters up to godlike levels of power with patience and the right equipment, Star Rail's least impressive contenders aren't so flexible. There is a limit to how much this matters in a game with no PvP, and I never recommend plugging actual real-world cash into a gacha for this reason. (I also never recommend doing that if you feel you need to pay-to-win, incidentally.) However, Star Rail is pretty generous with its free in-game currencies and gacha pulls, and using these effectively to nab yourself some of the best characters in the game will undoubtedly improve your experience of Star Rail's frequent turn-based combat encounters.

We're eager to see just how Star Rail's meta shifts once the game releases in full, so be sure to keep an eye on this page to see who sits in the S-Tier once Version 1.0 goes live! In the meantime, if you're wondering how to distribute your precious free gacha pulls to optimum effect, check out our guide to Honkai: Star Rail currencies to help you understand just what the heck is going on with those.