Combat Basics and Overview for Honkai: Star Rail

Honkai: Star Rail combat uses a turn-based action system, where you take turns doing actions between each character and enemy on the field. There are various features that contribute to information during combat, such as the Action Order, Buffs and Debuffs, the Toughness Bar, Shield Effects, and more. These are all features that can help you conquer many combat-related challenges.

This guide teaches you the basics of every combat or battle you will encounter in Honkai: Star Rail. As it does not cover specific game modes, such as Forgotten Hall or Pure Fiction, players can further review on other guides respectively.

The general recommendation for a good team is to build with four goals:

1. At least one strong damage-dealer
2. How to sustain
3. How to support the team (increase to DMG, Energy, Speed...)
4. Does the Combat Type match with the Enemy Weaknesses

Every team with a different damage-dealer or levels of investment will build, well, differently. In addition, each character's Path have their own strengths and weaknesses.

For example, you can have "hypercarry/no sustain" teams where there is only one damage-dealer and everyone else's job is to support them. If you have no sustain characters built, the team may struggle to survive long battles over many turns.

Another example are Combat Types and Weaknesses: do they correspond or "match" each other? Enemies have weaknesses and resistances, so characters with non-matching Combat Types will have a harder time fighting. There are also characters that can break Toughness without matching Combat Types.

To learn more on how to build effective teams, or learn how each character Paths work, consider reading the guides below:

If you are unsure on how to play a character or build a team around them, you can consider reviewing our character guides on IcyVeins. Alternatively, you can also test in-game with the current Aptitude Showcase or Character Trials available.

Players can initiate combat in the world by getting close to an enemy target. If you are within proximity, a target ring will appear. You can use either your Basic ATK or a damaging Technique to preemptively attack the enemy.

As Technique Points cannot recover naturally, you will have to destroy purple destructible objects or use Technique-recovering items. One of the cheapest and earliest recovery items you can craft are Trick Snacks. Technique Points are shared between everyone on the team, regardless if you switch them out or not.

The maximum number of Technique Points you can have is 5. You reach this limit after reaching Trailblaze Level 30 and Equilibrium Level 2.

If there are multiple waves of enemies, they can be identified by a "connecting string" between the enemies. You can only target one enemy at a time.

If the attacking character's Combat Type matches one of the Weakness(es) listed on the enemy target, they can also deplete a part of the enemy's Toughness bar in advance. If there are multiple enemies with the same Weakness Type, their Toughness bar will also deplete equally. There are some exceptions to this, such as Break DMG characters who can ignore the Toughness bar's Type restrictions.

Players can also review the enemies' info in advance, such as what Weakness Types they have, their Level, any Technique-related debuffs applied, or its story lore.

There are a few key points on the combat's User Interface in Honkai: Star Rail. You should know how to read the following:

• Target Details (for both characters and enemies)
• Action Order
• How to Break Toughness

When selecting an enemy target, players can review the following information:

• Current HP value
• Current Toughness Bar value
• Current Gauge value (unique to each enemy)
• Current Buffs, Debuffs, and/or Other Effects
• Available Abilities
• Story (unique to each enemy)

You can also review your characters' information on:

• Current HP value
• Current Shield value (if applicable)
• Current Energy value (out of their Max Energy)
• Basic Stats (Combat Modifiers are added in blue)
• Current Buffs, Debuffs, and/or Other Effects
• Available Abilities
• Equipped Light Cone information

Some of this information is condensed at the bottom (allies) or top (enemies) when viewing the main combat screen. For example, if an ally is afflicted with a debuff or effect that CCs (crowd controls), they may not be able to attack on their next action. This would be indicated by a crossed out Ultimate for the character.

The Action Order on the side of the screen determines which character or enemy goes first, next, and subsequently last in combat. It can also list the current wave number, when a turn ends, and the target's available effects at the time of their action.

If a character or enemy have a follow-up action, it will immediately initiate after the specified action. This also includes characters' Ultimates, which upon initiating, will activate immediately after the current action finishes.

To determine the order of actions in a turn, the game uses an Action Value system. It works in numerical order, based on the target's current Speed. For example, the above Action Order can be the following:

• The Herta (Action Value: 1)
• Luocha (Action Value: 2)
• Herta (Action Value: 4)
• Automaton Direwolf (Action Value: 10)
• Automaton Direwolf: Follow-Up Action
• etc.

The above Action Order indicates The Herta would go first, as her Action Value is the lowest (or fastest). The Automaton Direwolf would go fourth, but if Tribbie's Speed suddenly increased and her action's new Action Value became anywhere from 5 to 9, she would act before Automaton Direwolf.

This is also how "taking another action" works. If a character has enough Speed, they can act twice or more times in one turn. There are also character kits that allow them (or other characters) to take another action via Skill or Talent.

Though this guide will not cover how to speed tune, if you want your characters to act faster, you can obtain more speed through certain upgrades (such as relic substats, or light cone abilities). Alternatively, you can also pair the slower character with a Harmony character who can manipulate the Action Order.

As discussed previously in How to Start Combat, characters can cause Type Breaks to occur on enemies. When a Type Break occurs, the enemy's current or upcoming action will be delayed in the Action Order. They cannot recover or attack until their next action.

Each attack has its own Toughness Depletion value. If the attack's value is not enough to break the target's Toughness bar, then they will not enter the Type Break status. Only characters with the correct Combat Type for the enemy's Weakness Type can deplete the Toughness bar. However, some characters' skills can also ignore Weakness Types altogether, allowing them to break the Toughness bar regardless.

Piyo

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Piyo is possibly recovering from a gambling addiction, but that does not stop her from playing gacha games. If you like her content, feel free to check her Twitch streams for more Honkai: Star Rail and other games. Praise Madam Herta!