This article is part of a directory: Honkai: Star Rail - Complete Guide
Table of contents

Quick Links

Honkai: Star Rail features a turn-based combat system, which means all your characters will be on the field at all times, and they'll all take damage from the enemy. This makes healers, tanks, and shielders an integral part of the game since you have to protect your squishy DPS characters.

5:20
Related
Honkai: Star Rail - Best Builds And Light Cones For Fire Trailblazer
Fire Trailblazer is a free Preservation character given to every player in the game, and you can do wonders if you build them correctly.

Gepard is one of the tank/shielders in the game who has Ice as the combat type. He can be acquired from the Stellar Warp banner or Character Event banner if you lose your 50:50. It can be quite easy to build this character because his stat requirements are easy to meet.

Updated February 22, 2024, by Sean Murray: Gepard can really set your Honkai: Star Rail team up for success, but only if you give him the best Relics and Ornaments. This guide will teach you how best to build Gepard, and also give you tips for other Honkai: Star Rail topics thanks to the new links.

Best Relics And Planar Ornaments For Gepard

Honkai Star Rail DEF Artifact Screen-1

Relics and Planar Ornaments are unlocked after progressing in the game for a bit, and they can be farmed from Caverns of Corrosion and Simulated Universe respectively. When you have two or four pieces from the same set of Relics and Planar Ornaments, you'll get a special bonus ability unique to the set.

Here are some of the best set bonuses for Gepard in Honkai: Star Rail:

Type

Name

Reason For Synergy With Gepard

Relics

Knight Of Purity Palace

This is the best in slot Relic Set for Gepard as it increases your DEF by 15 percent and the damage that can be absorbed by your shield is also increased by 20 percent. This effect applies to all the characters shielded by Gepard.


Moreover, you'll also get a complete four-star set of this Relic by leveling up and collecting rewards from Pom-Pom.

Guard Of Wuthering Snow

This Relic set is more focused on keeping Gepard alive than his shielding capabilities. It reduces the damage taken by the character by eight percent and regenerates your health and Energy if you're below 50 percent Health.


This is great during the early game since you won't have a lot of DEF on him, which leads to his shield not being as tanky.

Messenger Traversing Hackerspace

If you're confident in the amount of DEF you have on Gepard just from the Relic and Planar Ornament stats, you can use this set to let him give your team some extra buffs.


Whenever your Ultimate is used on allies, this set provides everyone a SPD boost to all allies for one turn. This can be quite good in limited-cycle content like the Forgotten Halls.

Planar Ornaments

Fleet Of The Ageless

While this Ornament set might not be the best for Gepard, you can farm it quite early since it's available in World Three itself. It increases your maximum HP and your allies' ATK if you have over 120 SPD, which is necessary.

Sprightly Vonwacq

Even though this set doesn't have any DEF to buff Gepard's shield strength, it can still be considered best in slot for him. The set gives you some Energy Regeneration Rate along with advancing your actions forward.


Gepard can only trigger his shield through the Ultimate, and both of these stats will help you get this ability much faster. Your shield might be a little weak, but you can trigger it more often.

Belobog Of The Architects

This set can only be acquired in the sixth world of Simulated Universe, which makes it quite hard to get. It increases your DEF by up to 30 percent if you have enough Effect Hit Rate, which is one of the most important stats on Gepard.


This DEF increase will also increase your shield strength, and it might just make your shield last until you get your Ultimate back.

Each Relic and Planar Ornament will have its own main and sub-stats that are more important than the set bonuses during the early game. Here are all the main stats you should look for when it comes to Gepard:

Type

Main Stat Priority

Head

HP

Hands

ATK

Body

DEF Percent / Effect Hit Rate

Feet

DEF Percent

Planar Sphere

DEF Percent

Link Rope

Energy Regeneration Rate / DEF Percent

It's recommended to have at least three items with DEF Percent as the main stat since you'd want your shield to be as tanky as possible.

Getting an Energy Regeneration Rate on Link Rope might be better than Effect Hit Rate on Body since it'll let you shield more often.

As for the sub-stats, you should look for DEF Percent, DEF, Effect Hit Rate, Effect RES, and SPD, in that order. Effect RES can be very important on Gepard since you wouldn't want him to get immobilized when you desperately need his shield.

Related
Honkai Star Rail: All Origami Bird Locations In The Reverie Dreamscape
Tweet tweet, is it all a dream? Here's where you can find the Origami Birds in the Reverie Dreamscape.

Best Light Cones For Gepard

Honkai Star Rail Gepard Light Cone Screen

Gepard can only use the Light Cones with the Preservation path if you want to trigger its special ability. Though you still have plenty of choices for him:

Moment Of Victory

Of course, Gepard's signature Light Cone takes the crown for being his best in slot. As soon as you put this Light Cone on him, he gets a 24 percent DEF and Effect Hit Rate boost on Superimposition One. Moreover, your chances of getting attacked are increased.


This stacks with one of his Bonus Abilities, and it also increases his DEF even further if he's attacked.

Landau's Choice

This can somewhat be considered a four-star variant of Moment of Victory as it also increases the chances of Gepard getting attacked. Instead of increasing your DEF, this Light Cone reduces the DMG taken by the character.

Day One of My New Life

This is a simple Light Cone that gives Gepard some extra DEF while also increasing all-type RES for all the party members. It allows Gepard to protect his teammates a little even when the shield isn't active.

This Is Me!

You'll get a 16 percent DEF bonus as soon as you put this Light Cone on Gepard. Moreover, your damage increases based on your DEF every time you trigger your Ultimate, which is the main part of Gepard's kit.


You can only attack a particular enemy once with the increased DMG.

Amber

Thankfully, Gepard also has some good three-star Light Cone choices in case you don't have any of the Light Cones mentioned above. This Light Cone gives you a straight boost of 32 percent DEF if you have it on Superimposition Five.


Moreover, if your HP is below 50 percent, you get another 32 percent DEF boost. This makes it go up to 64 percent in total, which is phenomenal. The only downside of this Light Cone is the lower base stats since it's a three-star.

Related
Honkai: Star Rail - All Chest Locations On Golden Hour
Golden Hour? More like Treasure Hour!

Gepard Traces Overview And Priority

Honkai Star Rail Gepard With Eyes Close

Much like every other character, Gepard has a set of eight main Traces that include active and passive abilities. However, his Traces work more as specific abilities to make the character better rather than working together. Here's what they do:

Ability Name

Type

Description

Fist Of Conviction

Basic Attack

Deals a certain amount of Ice DMG to a single enemy based on Gepard's ATK.

Daunting Smite

Skill

Deals multiple instances of Ice DMG to a single enemy, and also has a 65 percent base chance to freeze them. Frozen enemies can't take action on their next turn and take additional damage.

Enduring Bulwark

Ultimate

Gives a shield to all your allies based on your DEF.

Unyielding Will

Talent

If Gepard loses all his HP, he doesn't get knocked down. Instead, he instantly regenerates a certain percentage of his HP. You can only trigger this effect once per battle.

Comradery

Technique

Gives a shield to every character based on your DEF when you start the next battle after using the Technique.

Integrity

Bonus Ability

Gepard has a higher chance of getting attacked in battle

Commander

Bonus Ability

If the Talent is triggered, Gepard also gets his Ultimate for free.

Fighting Spirit

Bonus Ability

Gepard's ATK is increased based on 35 percent of his DEF. This effect refreshes every turn.

Your Technique is already unlocked when you get the character, but you have to spend some materials to unlock his Bonus Abilities once you have the required ascension. Moreover, you can upgrade his Basic Attack, Skill, Ultimate, and Talent as you ascend the character constantly.

Out of all the abilities, Gepard's Ultimate takes priority since you need his shield to be as strong as possible. Follow this up with his Skill and then Talent. It's important to note that your chances to freeze the enemies don't increase as you upgrade your Skill. Moreover, you don't have to upgrade his Basic Attack.

If you want to deal some damage, you can upgrade his Basic Attack to level three or four.

Next
Honkai: Star Rail - Complete Sealed Sector Guide
Sealed Sector is a special mission that can be done up to four times at varying difficulties to get a bunch of Stellar Jades.