How To Beat Hoolay in Honkai Star Rail

The Borisin War Head Hoolay is an ancient enemy of the Xianzhou, especially the Foxian race in Honkai: Star Rail. Despite being tortured for many years within the Shackling Prison, the Borisin still manages to escape and is now ready to spread fear and terror in Xianzhou Luofu. Luckily, our heroes are prepared to fight back, culminating in an epic fight on the Skysplitter starship. Hoolay is not an easy boss to defeat, and you must use the correct team and units to take him down.

Honkai Star Rail Hoolay Boss Fight Guide

During the Hoolay story boss fight in Honkai: Star Rail, you are required to use Hunt March 7th to defeat this monster. Luckily, the game provides you with a trial version of this unit, so you don’t have to worry about building her.

However, the battle against this Borisin War Head will not be an easy challenge. I have a great team and fully built units, yet I have still failed to beat Hoolay twice. The biggest problem you will encounter is the sheer number of attacks the boss will cause you to suffer.

Initially, I thought that Luocha could easily handle sustaining my team, but he wasn’t good enough. This boss likes to target one character while still dealing AoE damage. The Borisin’s hits will quickly reduce your unit’s HP to zero if you are not careful.

Another tricky mechanic is the Lupine Chase Calls Bloody Gleam state. He will enter a berserk state, and whenever an enemy lands an attack, he will gain one stack of Irate. You must prevent Hoolay from unleashing his ultimate move by continuously attacking the boss and reducing the stack.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Hoolay can perform several hits at once during his turn, which lets him quickly gather several stacks of Irate. If you want to defeat this boss, you have to use a Follow-Up Attack team.

The Best Team Comps

In my first two failed attempts, I kept trying to use Firefly since she has been a great DPS so far. However, unless you have a broken unit that can deal ridiculously high damage, you definitely want to bring a Follow-Up Attack DPS.

During my third and final attempt, I decided to bring Clara which I rarely used. I have Dr. Ratio built but I picked her since Hoolay is weak against Physical, Fire, and Wind. Hunt March 7th is a great sub-DPS that synergizes well with Follow-Up Attack units. So, having to use her during this boss battle isn’t bad.

If you don’t have Clara, you can use Dr. Ratio. Unless you are a very new player, you will likely have him since he’s a free unit that you can claim from your mail. Although he won’t be able to break Hoolay’s toughness, his Follow-Up Attack can stop the Irate stacks from building up.

For the other two spots, I suggest bringing Aventurine if you have him since he can provide a strong team-wide shield. If you’re using Blade, it’s better to pick Luocha since that man wants to get hit.

I also recommend bringing Harmony units to beat Hoolay. Robin is the best option for FUA teams, but if you don’t have her, you can use other support characters. I chose Sparkle since she can generate Skill Points, but you can also bring Ruan Mei, Bronya, or even Asta.