Honkai: Star Rail – Best Support Characters, Ranked

Highlights

• Support characters in Honkai: Star Rail are crucial for buffing, debuffing, healing, and shielding in battles.
• Their abilities vary based on their elements, paths, and unique skills, enhancing team strategy and gameplay.
• Characters like Ruan Mei, Sparkle, and Silver Wolf stand out for their unique support abilities and contribution to team success.

Honkai: Star Rail is a turn-based game that combines role-playing and strategy elements. The game features an intricate storyline and a diverse cast of characters, each with unique abilities and strengths. Among the characters, the support characters play a crucial role in battles. While they may not have the same level of firepower as some of the offensive characters, their abilities to buff, debuff, heal and shield their team members can turn the tide of a battle.

Support characters in Honkai: Star Rail are divided into four categories: The Harmony characters, The Nihility characters, The Preservation characters, and The Abundance characters. Each path has a specific focus, making it important for players to choose the right support character for their team’s strategy. For instance, The Harmony characters focus on buffing the team’s abilities, while The Nihility characters specialize in debuffing enemies. The Preservation characters provide defensive support with shield abilities, and The Abundance characters heal their teammates. It is important to note that different support characters excel in different situations. As such, players need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each character and choose the ones that complement their playstyle. In this regard, some units simply shine in combat in comparison to others, making it difficult to compare them to one another.

Updatedon March 8, 2024, byElara Leclair: Honkai: Star Rail has consistently introduced new characters in each update, featuring both 5-star and 4-star rarities. While many updates have focused on DPS-oriented characters like the back-to-back Destruction characters, as well as options like Topaz or Dr. Ratio from the Hunt Path or Argenti, who is an Erudition character. Nevertheless, with the latest two updates, which introduce Ruan Mei, as well as the 2.0 Penacony update which brings two more support characters, the support character list has grown significantly, especially since Ruan Mei and Sparkle are the first two limited Harmony characters. Interestingly, while this list typically does not include the DoT-oriented Nihility characters due to them functioning more like sub-DPS rather than support, there is the exception of Black Swan making it to the list for being an excellent hybrid between the two types of Nihility characters.

20 Natasha

• Element: Physical
• Path: Abundance

At present, the pool of healer characters, also known as The Abundance path characters, is quite limited in Honkai: Star Rail. During the story, Natasha is the only free healer unit that players can acquire. This makes her an excellent pick for players who prefer to have a dedicated healer on their team and who are playing the game without spending any money or haven’t gotten lucky with their Warps. Since healing is a crucial aspect of keeping team members alive in challenging content, Natasha is a viable option, even though she may be overshadowed as more Abundance characters are added to the game in the future.

19 Trailblazer (Fire)

• Element: Fire
• Path: Preservation

Compared to the Physical Trailblazer, the Fire Trailblazer is a defensive-oriented support unit that excels in providing shields to all allies while also dealing significant damage, making them particularly useful in breaking enemy toughness. Trailblazer’s damage output primarily comes from their normal attack and ultimate, making him an ideal character for conserving skill points. Moreover, they are the only character in the game with a full taunt ability, which means that when they use the skill, he becomes the primary target for enemies, making them an excellent defensive option, especially considering that their skills scale with DEF.

Additionally, March 7’s ultimate skill is not only useful for its DPS properties, but also for defensive purposes. It can freeze multiple enemies, giving the team turn priority. Against enemies with an ice weakness, March is particularly effective as her Ultimate AoE can quickly break it, and her follow-up skill after a shielded character is attacked can also help reduce their toughness meter.

18 Bailu

• Element: Lightning
• Path: Abundance

Bailu surpasses Natasha as a healer due to her ability to provide strong AoE healing effortlessly. Her standout feature, however, is her capacity to save a team member from being knocked down once per battle, which can potentially turn the tide of a fight. However, she doesn’t provide any other buffs or utilities, which may render her less future-proof and replaceable by other healers in the future. This being the case, unfortunately she falls behind Luocha, or even added 4-star characters like Lynx, as well as Huohuo.

17 March 7th

• Element: Ice
• Path: Preservation

Although March 7th may be overlooked by some players, she is a great support character who can be particularly useful in the early stages of the game despite being low on the list. Notably, she is given to players for free during the game’s story progression and even serves as the game’s mascot. As a defensive support character, March 7 can provide a long-lasting shield to a team member, making them less susceptible to enemy attacks. In addition, March 7 has the ability to remove harmful status effects from her teammates and redirect the enemy’s attention towards the shielded character, effectively absorbing the incoming damage for the rest of the team, which also activates her follow-up attack.

16 Yukong

• Element: Imaginary
• Path: Harmony

Yukong joins the Honkai: Star Rail roster as a Harmony character, specializing in increasing the ATK, Crit Rate, and Crit Damage of her allies. Her abilities make her a valuable addition to various teams. However, there are certain drawbacks to consider. One limitation is her action order management; she can only buff the next two allies with her elemental skill. This means players must pay close attention to her and her teammates’ speed values to maximize the effectiveness of her buffs. Additionally, Yukong is most effective in mono-Imaginary teams since she boosts Imaginary Damage, similar to how Asta enhances Fire Damage. Nevertheless, while characters like Bronya and Fu Xuan offer Crit Rate and Crit Damage buffs, Yukong serves as a solid 4-star alternative for teams in need of her specific support capabilities.

15 Pela

• Element: Ice
• Path: Nihility

Pela is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to reducing the DEF of all enemies, which makes them more susceptible to attacks. Her Technique and Ultimate skills both excel in this aspect, making her a valuable asset to have on the team. Additionally, her trace ability can provide allies with a 10% increase in effect hit rate when she is ascended, adding another layer of support to her kit.

14 Asta

• Element: Fire
• Path: Harmony

Asta can be a valuable addition to teams that focus on Fire DPS characters, particularly Himeko, as she can boost the Fire damage of characters when on field. As a Harmony character, she can also increase the speed of team members, providing them with priority turns against formidable enemies. In addition to her support abilities, Asta can deal Fire damage in many different occasions, making her a great utility character against enemies with fire weakness and a potential Sub-DPS character when built correctly. However, her use case may be more limited or simply not as unique, so she may not be as highly regarded as other support units on the list. However, in F2P teams, she still finds a good purpose, especially for characters that require some boost on ATK or Speed.

13 Gepard

• Element: Ice
• Path: Preservation

Similar to March 7th, Gepard is an ice element defensive support character who can shield the entire team, making him a valuable asset when confronting enemies with strong AOE attacks. In addition to his shielding ability, his skills have a high chance of freezing enemies, enabling them to take damage over time based on Gepard’s ATK, thus making him an effective combination of both defensive and offensive capabilities. Furthermore, Gepard possesses exceptional talent scaling, adding to his overall value as a team member.

12 Hanya

• Element: Physical
• Path: Harmony

Like Asta, Hanya is another character that can increase the speed and ATK of allies, albeit this time in a more single-player style through her Ultimate. Additionally, she can implement Burden on enemies, which will increase their DMG taken, making her a good support character. Furthermore, considering that Hanya is not skill point heavy due to her Skill not being a priority in her kit, she can work well with skill point-heavy characters like Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae. Otherwise, pairing her up with Physical DPS characters can also be a good option since she can make good use of the Penacony, Land of Dreams Planar Ornament set.

11 Welt

• Element: Imaginary
• Path: Nihility

Welt’s strength lies in his ability to slow down enemies, a crucial tactic in battles where bosses can deal massive damage if left uninterrupted. As a Nihility character, he excels in this regard. In addition, as he is one of the few Imaginary characters currently available, he has a unique role in breaking the weakness of certain enemies while also being an integral part of the mono-Imaginary teams. With his skills and ultimate, he can both debuff enemies (slow or imprison) and deal significant damage or break their toughness, making him a valuable sub-DPS option. Nevertheless, with the addition of more support characters to the list, there has been a significant drop in Welt’s popularity, especially with content like MoC or Pure Fiction, which require characters to go multiple turns with high speed rather than the opponents dropping in the speed order.

10 Lynx

• Element: Quantum
• Path: Abundance

Lynx, as an Abundance character, offers players the opportunity to tackle challenging content like Forgotten Hall with dual healers if they haven’t been fortunate enough to obtain 5-star characters like Bailu or Luocha. However, Lynx brings more to the table than just healing capabilities, making her a versatile addition to various team compositions. One of Lynx’s standout abilities is her Ultimate, which can dispel a debuff from all allies while simultaneously healing them. This is a unique feature, as most other debuff-dispelling characters in the game can only target a single character. Additionally, Lynx’s Skill not only provides healing but also increases the aggro of Destruction and Preservation characters while boosting their HP. This makes her an ideal healer for teams that utilize Blade or Fu Xuan in particular.

Furthermore, Lynx proves to be skill point positive, meaning she doesn’t need to rely heavily on her skill and can contribute slightly to DPS with her Basic ATK, which scales with HP, just like her other abilities. This makes her a well-rounded character with both healing and support capabilities. As of now, Lynx is still the best healer option when it comes to 4-star, as well as F2P options.

9 Tingyun

• Element: Lightning
• Path: Harmony

Tingyun is considered by many to be the top offensive support character among the 4-star units available in Honkai: Star Rail. Her Skill enables her to boost an ally’s attack by a percentage based on her own attack, while her Ultimate further enhances the damage output of the targeted ally and grants them 50 energy to unleash their own Ultimate.

Obtaining her Eidolons is relatively easier, as she is a 4-star unit, which can further amplify her already formidable buffs. These Eidolons provide additional benefits, such as speed boosts, increased DMG multiplier to blessed alies, and more energy generation, making Tingyun an excellent choice for players who prioritize offense. Suprisingly, while she is only a 4-star character, she finds purpose in challenging content even more than some 5-star support characters up to date, making her not only one of the best support characters, but also the best 4-star support character.

But what sets Pela apart from most other support characters is her ability to remove a buff from an enemy, which can prove invaluable in challenging boss fights. Pela’s versatility in debuffing enemies and allowing team to deal more damage makes her a strong addition to any team composition.

8 Black Swan

• Element: Wind
• Path: Nihility

DoT-focused characters typically do not make it to the support list, since they are sub-DPS oriented rather than supporting the team, but in Black Swan’s case, she gets an exception considering how much she can boost DoT-oriented teams, especially alongside characters like Kafka. This is because not only can she stack Arcana to deal significant DoT damage to enemies, but she can also allow the team to ignore DEF on enemies with enough Arcana stacks. Furthermore, like some other Nihility characters such as Pela or Silver Wolf, she can reduce enemies’ DEF through her Skill, while she can enable increased DoT damage with her Ultimate. Overall, Black Swan combines the best of both worlds by having a DoT-oriented playstyle as well as debuffing enemies.

7 Bronya

• Element: Wind
• Path: Harmony

Bronya is a beloved and versatile returning character from Honkai Impact 3rd, offering unique and powerful buffs that make her a difficult unit to replace. Her skills include an ATK% boost for the entire team after using her technique, a Skill that grants a turn and DMG increase while also removing negative effects from allies, and an Ultimate that increases ATK, Crit Rate, and Crit DMG. Bronya’s skillset makes her an exceptional pick for an offensive team that aims to boost their damage output. However, she lacks significant damage utility on her own, and players may find it challenging to manage her skill points while also focusing on other characters, especially if they don’t have access to her Eidolons.

6 Silver Wolf

• Element: Quantum
• Path: Nihility

Silver Wolf, a Nihility character in Honkai: Star Rail, shares a trait with Pela by reducing the defense of enemies. However, what truly sets her apart and makes her one of the best support characters is her unique ability to impose a weakness on the enemy. This figuratively empowers any elemental team composition, allowing them to excel against any kind opponent.

Her capability is especially advantageous for mono-Quantum teams, but she can extend her support to other elements as well. This means that players don’t necessarily need to invest in building a DPS character from each element, offering flexibility for those who may have limited resources or characters. Especially with Sparkle being added to the playable roster, allowing for an optimized mono-Quantum team, players are highly recommended to experience the synergy between these two characters, if they have access to them.

5 Fu Xuan

• Element: Quantum
• Path: Preservation

Fu Xuan, the latest addition to the Honkai: Star Rail roster, brings unique support abilities as a Preservation character. Unlike other Preservation characters who can generate shields, Fu Xuan, unless equipped with specific light cones like the Texture of Memories, specializes in mitigating and distributing damage among the team. Additionally, when her HP drops below 50%, she can heal herself, adding to her overall durability and reducing the need for dedicated healers in some situations.

One of her standout features is her ability to boost the entire team’s Crit Rate for up to three turns with her skill. This not only makes her skill point-efficient but also versatile, combining aspects of both Abundance and Harmony characters. While Fu Xuan is effective on her own, her support capabilities significantly improve with her early eidolons. Her first eidolon allows her to increase the team’s Crit Damage, while her second one prevents allies from being knocked down once per battle, providing extra utility and survivability to the team. Fu Xuan is an excellent choice for tackling challenging content, offering both protection and increased damage output.

4 Huohuo

• Element: Wind
• Path: Abundance

As the second limited 5-star Abundance character, Huohuo excels as a healer, particularly for players who haven’t invested in characters like Fu Xuan or Luocha. Huohuo’s skill provides exceptional healing and dispels debuffs for all allies, while her Ultimate boosts the ATK of characters and provides additional energy. This makes Huohuo an excellent fit for teams that heavily rely on frequent Ultimates, especially for hyper carry characters who benefit from the ATK buff.

Some players may find Huohuo to be a better support unit than Fu Xuan or Luocha, but this ultimately depends on personal preference. Each of these characters brings unique aspects to the table, making them suitable for a wide variety of content individually.

3 Luocha

• Element: Imaginary
• Path: Abundance

Luocha is currently the top healer character in Honkai: Star Rail. What sets him apart is his ability to consistently heal all allies without the need to utilize skill points. His healing prowess comes from the field he deploys after accumulating two Abyss Flower stacks, which can be generated by using either his Skill or Ultimate. Luocha can automatically trigger his skill every few turns when an ally’s health drops below 50%, allowing him to maintain the healing field effortlessly. As a result, he can primarily focus on using basic attacks.

In addition to his exceptional healing abilities, Luocha’s Skill can remove a debuff from an ally, and his Ultimate skill can dispel buffs from enemies in an AoE fashion. This versatile utility makes Luocha an outstanding support character, even when compared to other support utilities. Players can expect Luocha to maintain his position as one of the best healers for a long time, ensuring his relevance in the game’s future updates, much like other top-tier characters such as Fu Xuan.

2 Sparkle

• Element: Quantum
• Path: Harmony

As a member of Masked Fools, Sparkle stands out with her visibly unhinged personality, yet she surprises many by assuming the role of a support character, focusing on buffing her allies. At first glance, her kit bears significant resemblance to Bronya’s, allowing her to increase allies’ damage and Crit DMG based on her own Crit DMG value, albeit with a diminished Advanced Forward mechanic of 50% compared to Bronya’s 100%. On the other hand, she makes up for the Advance Forward by having a significantly higher Crit DMG buff than Bronya’s, which enables players to optimize their DPS characters’ stats more easily. Furthermore, if Sparkle herself is built at 161 speed, this advance forward becomes almost a non-issue since she can still enable characters to perform twice in a turn.

While these all still sound quite similar to Bronya, what makes her excellent and unique support is her ability to generate skill points with her Ultimate, a crucial feature for maximizing efficiency in many team compositions. For example, characters like Qingque or Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae greatly benefit from this due to their heavy skill point usage. Furthermore, she seamlessly integrates into mono-Quantum team compositions, further boosting all Quantum characters’ ATK with her trace, making other options like Seele also benefit highly from pairing up with herself.

1 Ruan Mei

• Element: Ice
• Path: Harmony

The best support character in this list as of the 2.0 update is none other than Ruan Mei, who, as a Harmony character, offers one of the most unique utilities and has the most versatility in terms of team compositions compared to characters like Sparkle, who may not benefit certain DPS characters like Kafka as much. This is because Ruan Mei typically focuses on Speed, DMG, and Break Efficiency, while also delaying enemies after a weakness break, all of which can be quite useful in any kind of content. Additionally, Ruan Mei’s buffs last for 3 turns, making her quite skill-point friendly, while she cannot surpass Sparkle on this behalf.

All things considered, both Sparkle and Ruan Mei are excellent harmony options that can work well together in the same team. As harmony characters, they are less likely to be power-crept compared to some limited DPS characters, making them solid choices to invest in.