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Out of every role in Honkai: Star Rail, DPS is the one that has the most and best characters, which isn’t a surprise. Ultimately, all we want is to beat enemies faster to reap our rewards and that currency that will let us pull for even more party members. It is a vicious cycle but an enjoyable one nonetheless. In any case, players should know which are the ones that stand at the top as the best damage-dealers in HSR. So, we’ve made a list of the best DPS characters as of version 2.3.
Explaining Our Tier List
[Updated on August 29, 2024 – Updated the guide’s information and images]
Before we delve into how we evaluated each DPS character in Honkai: Star Rail and deemed some the best while others the worst, we want to clarify that this information includes opinions from the community, our own experience, and the ever-useful Prydwen statistics. Also, we’ll focus on MoC only, as we already have a guide for Pure Fiction, which you can check here. So, without further ado, let’s start with our best damage dealers in MoC.
Best DPS Characters for MoC
| Rank | Character(s) |
|---|---|
| S | Acheron Firefly Boothill Kafka |
| A | Dr. Ratio Black Swan Jingliu |
| B | Imbibitor Lunae March 7th (Imaginary) Topaz Yunli |
| C | Clara Jing Yuan Qingque Argenti Misha Serval Jade Sampo Welt Yang |
| D | Seele Blade Himeko Xueyi Luka Dan Heng Herta Hook Sushang |
S-Rank Explanation
Let’s start with our S-Rank characters. There’s no one better to begin with than our dear Acheron. Acheron is, by far, the best DPS in the game. While it takes a lot to build and is very situational, it really takes the crown as the most destructive unit in the game. The downside is that she needs a lot of 5-star characters to function, and you need at least two other Nihility characters on the team. It’s a lot of work to build her, but once you have her, she’s a force to be reckoned with.
On the other hand, Firefly, the queen of the Path of Destruction, took Jingliu’s crown away. She has a tremendous DPS output, and due to her innate skills, she can delete almost any enemy regardless of its weakness. However, just like Acheron, building her is difficult, and she has very specific choices for an ideal team, one of them being the Trailblazer (Harmony. Without them, Firefly won’t do much.
When we thought the Path of the Hunt was a bit stale, Boothill arrived to save the day, or the Path rather. He is the best DPS of this Path; he’s easy to build and fits almost everywhere. However, he relies a lot on his Ultimate, and if he doesn’t spam the skill, he’ll struggle a lot to keep good DPS numbers.
Last but not least, we have the queen of DoT, our dear Kafka. Even months after her release, she’s still as relevant. No other character can apply damage-over-time effects as reliably and fast as she can. However, building her can be expensive, and she has only a few party members that help her shine.
A-Rank Explanation
Our A-Rank characters are still great DPS party members in Honkai: Star Rail, but not the best. They are great alternatives if you don’t have any S-Rank ones and can perform well with the right team.
For example, despite being given away for free to all players at a time, Dr. Ratio is quite the killer unit. He is perfect in FUA teams and can break enemies’ toughness bar with ease. Sadly, it’s a bit slow-paced during a fight and needs many buffs to perform well.
Black Swan is an excellent Nihility character with great DoT capabilities that go perfectly alongside Kafka. According to some users, she is able to do so much damage that sometimes she won’t even use her kit completely, which can be good or bad depending on how you see it. However, she needs a lot of things to perform well, and you need to get her mechanics right to get the most out of her.
Even if Firefly is the top Destruction DPS now, Jingliu is still perfect in many scenarios. Her AoE damage is amazing, and paired with someone like Sparkle, she’ll have infinite SPs. However, you need to learn how to use her skills properly, especially when firing up her Ultimate, as her rotation is a bit finicky.
B-Rank Explanation
B-Rank characters aren’t bad by any means and are great for beginners who want to start building a proper team and don’t have enough 5-star characters with specific Eidolons or premium Light Cones. Also, there’s one 4-star who made it to this rank, so it isn’t too bad to include characters from here.
Starting with Imbibitor Lunae, he is still a great Destruction character with outstanding AoE damage. Many players still use him nowadays as their primary Imaginary DPS, and that still works perfectly. Sadly, he isn’t too friendly when it comes to skill points, and bad management of them will spell doom for your team.
Surprisingly, March 7th, in her Imaginary version, is a killing machine. There are a few cons to her, some of them being the lack of utility for content such as Pure Fiction. On the other hand, her pros are great, and the only reason why she isn’t higher up on the list is because she doesn’t do as much damage as other characters. Yet, she’s still great due to her break capabilities, build versatility, and ease of pairing with other party members.
Topaz is a great DPS, but she feels more like a FUA enabler than anything else. Her numbers aren’t as high as other damage dealers, but she’s paramount for any team that focuses on follow-up attacks. Sadly, that’s also her downside. You can only use her on an FUA team, making it a bit difficult for her to pair with others.
Yunli is one of the newest kids in the block, and she has quite a varied kit. She isn’t the best DPS in Honkai: Star Rail, especially because many see her as Clara 2.0, but she still does well in most things. She can counterattack, taunt enemies, and do a lot of damage. However, if she doesn’t have the enemy’s attention, she won’t do much.
C and D-Rank Explanation
We won’t delve much into these ranks because, well, no one uses these DPS characters much in Honkai: Star Rail. Yes, some are great for F2P players, but as soon as anyone gets a premium one that ranks higher, they can ditch any of these. Still, if you are starting the game and building a team, characters such as Serval or Sampo are great as 4-stars. Qingque can also do a lot of damage despite her RNG reliability, and even Xueyi, who is at the bottom of the list, is a great Quantum damage dealer. However, it is better to avoid any of the characters in these ranks.
While we’d like to say the skill makes the player, in a gacha, the character makes the player most of the time. Yes, you can finish most content with 4-star characters and even push your luck with some of the MoC’s hardest challenges. Still, it is better to have your S and A-ranks around to finish every type of content effortlessly.
