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Talents in Honkai: Star Rail are special passive abilities held by each character. Every character in the game has their own unique Talent, and the ability's utility ranges from giving a unit an extra turn to counter strikes and damage buffs. Not all of them are made equally, however.

Related: Honkai: Star Rail - The Best Character Skills, Ranked

Like characters' Skills and Ultimates, Talents can be upgraded through the Traces option in the main character menu. Doing so will increase their efficacy, while also granting additional effects for each Talent. With 22 characters at the time of the global launch, including the Trailblazer, you'll find many Talents more impressive than others.

Warning: Minor spoilers regarding the Trailblazer are discussed lower down.

11 Dan Heng - Superiority Of Reach

Honkai Star Rail Dan Heng Splash Art and Menu

As a free-to-play character you get as part of the story, Dan Heng will be a mainstay for many of your teams. He's one of the few Wind elemental units unless you get Sampo through the banners. As such, it's crucial to understand how his talent works.

Whenever Dan is the target of an ally's ability, whether the effect is a heal or buff, he will get a buff to his Wind Resistance Penetration, allowing him to deal more damage. Due to this, you should consider using a buffing support character in your teams with Dan to really up his damage.

10 Himeko - Victory Rush

Honkai: Star Rail - Himeko in the preview character menu showing her abilities

Himeko is a five-star character who is a little underwhelming in most instances. She has decent fire damage and specialises in AoE attacks, which can be helpful. Arguably, the best thing about her kit is her Talent, Victory Rush. This ability triggers when you break three opponents during a fight.

Each Break inflicted adds to a stack on Himeko, and when that reaches three Himeko will follow up with an AoE attack after another character performs an attack. This follow-up attack does a lot of damage and has a nice modifier on it, but you need to inflict a break to benefit from it.

9 Asta - Astrometry

Honkai: Star Rail - Asta holds up her staff to use her Skill in battle

Overall, Asta's kit is a little bit overwhelming. With that in mind, she will be one of two fire characters you get for free, the latter of which will unlock later in the story. Asta's talent increases each party member's attack by seven percent each time she hits an enemy. If the foe has a weakness to fire this will add an additional stack by default.

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This means she effectively gives each party member a stackable attack buff just for attacking. It decreases over time, but it can help you get a little more damage out without having to do much to earn it.

8 Trailblazer (MC) - Treasure Of The Architects

Honkai: Star Rail - Trailblazer MC prepares to use her ultimate in battle

This might be considered a slight spoiler, but the Trailblazer eventually gets access to the Fire element. This means you can change them from Physical damage-dealing to Fire, and it changes up their entire kit when you do it. This is similar to how the Traveler in Genshin can change elements at the Statues of the Seven.

Fire Trailblazer is better than the Physical one for several reasons: their role changes to a tank, and their skill increases damage reduction. With the talent, each time the MC is hit, they will gain a stack of Magma Will, which can stack eight times. When at fewer than four stacks, the MC's attack deals more damage, and their skill, attacks, and ultimate applies a shield to all allies.

7 March 7th - Girl Power

Honkai: Star Rail - March 7th uses her talent Girl Power

March is a great shield tank in Star Rail, and as a free-to-play unit, she can be used by anyone early on. Her skill in battle creates a sturdy shield for one ally, and her talent works in tandem with shielded characters. Whenever an enemy hits a party member who is protected by any shield, March will butt in and counter the attack with a follow-up strike.

The attack doesn't do a ton of damage, but it triggers two times each turn, which is a helluva lot if you're against a large party of enemies. Her counter does ice damage, which is perfect if any foes are weak to that element.

6 Gepard - Unyielding Will

Honkai: Star Rail - Gepard in the main character preview menu

A lot of talents are beneficial for the whole party, but Gepard's ability only does anything for himself. Once per battle, Gepard can revive himself. The Unyielding Will skill will trigger if he's killed in combat, where he will instantly restore HP, getting himself back in the fight. This can be upgraded like other talents, letting him revive with more HP. As a tank, this ability is incredibly useful for a defensive character.

Related: Honkai: Star Rail - FAQ Guide

Gepard won't restore much HP, and it can only trigger once, but despite this is one of the stronger talents in the game. Realistically, someone as tanky and defensive as Gepard shouldn't be dying too often, but this is a lovely failsafe in case he gets bullied too hard in a fight.

5 Herta - Fine, I'll Do It Myself

Honkai: Star Rail - Herta uses her talent to perform a follow-up attack during combat

Overall, Herta isn't a great unit when compared to many others. One of the best things about her kit is this ability, which will let her perform several AoE follow-up attacks in each fight.

The ability triggers when an enemy's HP falls below half or lower, which prompts Herta to come in swinging. Each hit will count as Ice damage and its power scales from her attack stat. If you can get the correct setup for Herta, you can deal with crowds of enemies in no time, more so if you use the auto battle function.

4 Bailu - Gourdful Of Elixir

Honkai: Star Rail - Bailu stands in the character menu

As ever, healing is one of the most vital factors in Honkai: Star Rail, mostly because there are currently only two healers available in the game. Between Bailu and Natasha, the former is entirely dedicated to healing party members, with her Ultimate complementing this ability greatly.

When using Bailu's Ultimate, she will grant the Inigoriation buff to all party members. Crucially, her Talent will trigger whenever an ally with the Invigoration buff is hit, restoring their HP in response. This effect can activate three times. The best part of this talent is that any Invigorated ally who suffers a killing blow will be saved from death once per battle.

3 Seele - Resurgence

Honkai Star Rail Seele Looking At Screen

As the first limited-time banner's five-star character, Seele is a powerhouse. She's a tough damage dealer, and her ability lets her mess with the turn order. Whenever Seele kills an enemy with her attack, skill, or Ultimate, it will trigger Resurgence.

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With this, Seele will be granted another turn immediately after hers and before whoever is next. This lets you finish enemies who might be close to death in one fell swoop. The turn order is a huge aspect to combat in Star Rail, and manipulating it like this makes Seele incredibly strong.

2 Bronya - Leading The Way

Honkai: Star Rail - Bronya during a cutscene of the main story

When Bronya uses her normal attack, she bumps up the turn order, bringing her next turn around faster than usual. This talent is a huge part of what makes Bronya's kit so good. She is designed to bring allies' turns closer while pushing the enemy's turn back. Within reason, of course, otherwise, she'd be able to stop the enemies from acting.

Due to the turn-based nature of Honkai: Star Rail, this is extremely broken. Put this way, consider this a normal pattern for Bronya: bring herself closer to acting after a normal attack, and then use her skill to give another ally a turn next. Using this to effect allows her to dominate the turn order at every opportunity.

1 Clara - Because We're Family

Honkai: Star Rail - Clara prepares to use her ultimate attack

Clara, who is, by all accounts, too precious for this world, is under constant protection by the large and intimidating robot, Mr Svarog. As a five-star character, her talent is suitably strong in several situations. The talent, Because We're Family, triggers every time Clara is hit.

Considering that her whole kit is focused towards tanking and taking hits, this ability will activate often. Better yet, this ability is buffed when Clara uses her Ultimate, increasing her damage resistance and powering up Svarog's counter beam to do splash damage to nearby foes.

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