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Honkai: Star Rail is the latest Gacha game released by Genshin Impact's HoYoVerse. With the global launch, we've been introduced to a new world of characters and gameplay that must be dissected. Punch your ticket and board the Astral Express because it's time to delve into the characters.

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Star Rail shares multiple similarities to Genshin, with the former having – among many other things – the same pity and wish system for obtaining characters. As of the global launch, there are 22 characters, including the MC, Trailblazer. Each character has a Skill, a move you use in combat to support an ally or attack a foe. Knowing where each character fits into Star Rail's turn-based combat is vital.

10 Arlan - Shackle Breaker

Honkai: Star Rail - Arlan splash art shows him sat with his dog

This ability depletes Arlan's HP by 15 percent of his maximum health. By doing this, he augments his lightning attack from the skill by 130 percent of his ATK stat. Arlan's skill is unique at the moment in Star Rail since it is the only one that doesn't cost a skill point.

In battle, you have five Skill Points shared between your party. Using a character's skill will spend one of those points. Since Arlan doesn't use one, having him in your party means you will have more skill points available for your three other party members. He does hurt himself, so a shield or healer is necessary, but he cannot kill himself attacking with his skill.

9 Sampo - Ricochet Love

Honkai: Star Rail - Sampo splash art

As a character, Sampo specialises in area-of-effect (AoE) and damage-over-time debuffs (DoTs). Due to this, his skill is considerably powerful if you invest enough time into him. Ricochet Love targets one enemy and then bounces between all of them, randomly hitting several of them. As it does, it has a chance to inflict Wind Shear debuff, which will periodically cause wind damage over time.

This is an excellent skill because Wind Shear can stack multiple times on each enemy. You may have seen foes do this to you in battle, stacking six instances of the blaze debuff. Now you can do it back to them with Wind Shear!

8 Tingyun - Soothing Melody

Honkai: Star Rail - Tingyun splash art shows her lying on the floor

Tingyun is shooting to the top of most Honkai: Star Rail character tier lists and this is down to her effectively being seen as Honkai's version of Bennett from Genshin Impact. Soothing Melody is a skill that increases the damage of any chosen ally while imbuing their attacks with an extra instance of lightning damage.

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The buff lasts three turns and scales from Tingyun's attack power. Using a decent Relic set on her, you can give a substantial damage bonus to all your allies during a fight. This will be especially useful in more challenging Simulated World levels and the Forgotten Hall.

7 March 7th - The Power Of Cuteness

Honkai: Star Rail - March 7th using her skill in battle

March is a free-to-play character you get at the start of the game, and despite this status, she is one of the better units. Her skill, the Power of Cuteness, imparts a strong shield to one character. Shields are beyond helpful in Honkai: Star Rail, as they effectively add an entirely new health bar to be depleted before taking HP damage.

March will be your sole shielder and tank for a while unless you get lucky on the gacha banners. Her shield scales on her defence stat, which is perfect for her role as a flexible DPS Tank. Despite March's somewhat grating personality, this skill will keep you safe as you progress through harder fights.

6 Clara - Svarog Watches Over You

Honkai: Star Rail - Clara orders Svarog to fire missiles at all enemies

Clara's robot friend, Mr Svarog, does not play around. The skill, Svarog Watches Over You, deals considerable AoE damage to every enemy on the field. These missiles count as physical damage, making Clara a brilliant option for breaking and lowering enemies' toughness bars.

Clara's role as a damage-dealing tank can be a bit random. She's reliant on being hit by enemies to deal more damage because, upon being hit, she will mark the target. These marked targets will be countered if they hit Clara, and the missiles will do more damage to any marked enemy. If Clara isn't the centre of everyone's ire, she might not perform as well.

5 Seele - Sheathed Blade

Honkai Star Rail Seele Looking At Screen

As one of the first limited-banner five-star characters in the game, Seele is suitably overpowered in Honkai: Star Rail. Her element is Quantum, a weakness for several enemies in the game, making her perfect for single-target nuking of bosses and mobs.

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When you use Sheathed Blade, Seele's speed increases for two turns, and she attacks a single target for massive damage. Not to mention, the attack is stylish to boot. The best part of her skill is if you kill an enemy, it will trigger her Talent, giving her another turn. Broken? Yes.

4 Natasha - Love, Heal, And Choose

Honkai: Star Rail - Natasha using her skill in battle

Natasha is one of two healers in the whole game at the moment, the other of whom is a five-star character. Unless you were lucky and pulled Bailu, Natasha will be your go-to healer for much of the game until more healers are released.

Her ability immediately restores HP to one character and provides a heal-over-time buff for two turns. Healing is crucial in Star Rail. As you might expect, in any game where you take damage, you need to have a way to recover lost HP in a pinch. Suffice it to say that this skill will be crucial for challenging battles.

3 Pela - Frostbite

Honkai: Star Rail - Pela prepares to use her skill in battle

Pela is another unique character at the time of writing this because she is currently the only one who can remove buffs from enemies. Her skill, Frostbite, targets a single enemy dealing frost damage and removing any buff they have. Her damage isn't the best, but you especially want Pela's skill in combat due to how many enemies buff themselves.

While Frostbite only removes one buff and targets one person, it is invaluable to any party. Without Pela, you'll find that some enemies are a huge hassle to deal with through their consistent attack buffs or one pesky mob that can self-revive.

2 Bronya - Combat Redeployment

Honkai: Star Rail - Bronya stands in the character menu

Bronya is another character who has quickly been identified as one of the best in the game as of the global launch. She's a support character, and her skill goes above and beyond. Using Combat Redeployment on an ally dispels one debuff, moves their turn up to act next, and gives them a damage-increasing buff for one turn.

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You can use this skill on Bronya, but she will not benefit from the turn-order manipulation. Due to this, it's far better to use it on a character who is lower down in the list or right before all the enemies have their turn. As a five-star character, her kit is exceptional, and the brokenness of her skill is the icing on the cake.

1 Bailu - Singing Among Clouds

Honkai: Star Rail - Bailu stands in the character menu

Due to there being just two healers currently in the game, Bailu is better than Natasha in almost every way. Her skill, Singing Among Clouds, not only has higher base multipliers than Natasha's heal, but it heals two characters in one go. While the second heal is entirely random, having the extra HP restoration thrown around is a huge help in any situation.

As a Lightning user, her attacks aren't anything to write home about, and this is where Natasha's attacks edge Bailu out. Due to this, Bailu is considered a full healer, while Natasha can do both.

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