[Top 5] Honkai Star Rail Starter Teams For Beginners

Updated:

21 Nov 2024

Dan Heng + Asta + March 7th (Pres) + Natasha

*What secrets lay beyond those red-highlighted eyes, Dan?*

The beginning of Honkai: Star Rail is, to be honest, the slowest part of the entire game. It’s fun and enjoyable, but it can be difficult to know what teams work well and which units work together. Hopefully this guide can provide you with an understanding of how beginner teams might look.

What It’s Good At

Progressing the story with low maintenance required for characters. You won’t need to worry about investing much into this team; just get them a few relics with the substats they need and you’re good.
Fighting “fodder,” enemies. Weak, or “regular,” enemies are quite easy to beat with this comp.
Shielding and healing. March shields, Natasha heals. Works like a charm.

How It Works

Dan Heng is the DPS. Although not a stellar DPS to be used in the mid to late game, Dan is still good at filling in the gaps early game. As a starter unit, he’s a manageable DPS.
March 7th Preservation shields. She provides shielding for an ally and also deals a follow-up attack when a shielded ally takes damage. Optionally, you could replace her with either Destruction Trailblazer or Preservation, depending how far into the game you are.
Asta buffs. Asta has buffs to offer the team (namely speed with ult and ATK if the enemy is fire weak with passive).
Natasha heals, which is a very valuable asset early game. Don’t make the mistake of neglecting sustain units in Star Rail or you’ll be regretting it later.
Low overall SP usage. This team doesn’t really take a lot of SP to work. Asta can be SP hungry with her skill, but don’t spam their abilities too much (unless you need to heal with Natasha or defend with March).

Team Build Details

Dan Heng (4 star):

Light Cone: Swordplay OR Only Silence Remains
Relics: Eagle of Twilight Line OR Musketeer of Wild Wheat
Ornaments: Rutilant Arena OR Space Sealing Station

Best Stats:

Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
Feet: SPD or ATK%
Sphere: Wind DMG
Rope: ATK%

Substats:

CRIT Rate: ★★★
CRIT DMG: ★★★
SPD: ★★★
ATK%: ★★
PRIORITY: SPD = CRIT RATE = CRIT DMG > ATK%

Dan Heng Stats To Aim For:

ATK: 2000-2500+
Speed: 100/134(recommended)/143/160
CRIT Rate: 60 to 70%+
CRIT DMG: 120 to 150%+

Asta (4 star):

Light Cone: Dance! Dance! Dance! OR Meshing Cogs
Relics: Eagle of Twilight Line OR Messenger Traversing Hackerspace
Ornaments: Sprightly Vonwacq OR Broken Keel

Best Stats:

Body: HP% > DEF%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: Fire DMG
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
HP: ★★
DEF: ★★
EFF RES: ★
PRIORITY: SPD > HP = DEF > EFF RES% (30% If Keel)

Asta Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3000-4000+
Speed: 134/143/160
Energy Regen: 19.44%

March 7th (4 star, preservation):

Light Cone: Day One of My New Life OR Landau’s Choice
Relics: Knight of Purity Palace
Ornaments: Broken Keel OR Lushaka, the Sunken Seas

Best Stats:

Body: Effect Hit Rate
Feet: SPD
Sphere: DEF%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

Effect Hit Rate: ★★★
SPD: ★★★
DEF% ★★
PRIORITY: Effect Hit Rate (Until ~60%) = SPD (breakpoint of choice) > DEF%

March 7th Stats To Aim For:

DEF: 2000+
Speed: 134
Effect Hit Rate 60-100%
Energy Regen: 19.44%

Natasha (4 star):

Light Cone: Post-Op Conversation OR Perfect Timing
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace OR Passerby of Wandering Cloud
Ornaments: Fleet of the Ageless

Best Stats:

Body: Outgoing Healing
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
HP%: ★★
EFF RES: ★
PRIORITY: SPD (breakpoint) > HP% > Effect Res

Natasha Stats To Aim For:

HP: 5000-6000+
Speed: 134(recommended)/143/160
Energy Regen Rate: 19.44%

March 7th (Hunt) + Harmony Trailblazer + Yukong + Gallagher

March 7th is, as some of you know, the only other character in the game which has a path change function similar to the Trailblazer. How that is, or the potential lore implications, we don’t really know! What we do know, though, is that March 7th the Hunt is absurdly powerful!

What It’s Good At

Good from start to end. Although it might take a little before you unlock March 7th: the Hunt (I suppose it depends on playtime and what level your account is), you’ll still have a character that’s good from then on until the peak of end-game content.
MoC champion?! Because March’s Hunt path can go either break effect or crit rate/crit damage, you have a very flexible character. It’s easy: if they’re IMG weak, go break. If not, crit. Although this requires you to be able to have two flex sets of relics, a feat not many of us can accomplish….
SimUni jade hunter. That’s right. Everyone loves follow-up attacks in the Simulated Universe! The best part is that this team covers three unique positions: Hunt, Harmony, and Abundance. Makes it easy to find something that works for your team, like weighted curios in Divergent Universe.

How It Works

March is buffed by Yukong. Yukong buffs imaginary units, making her great with Hunt March and Dan Il. She can also increase crit by quite a bit so long as Roaring Bowstrings is active when she ults.
Gallagher heals. And breaks. To be honest, Gallagher is great. Thrives against enemies who are fire weak because of his built in break-eff specialization. He’s good with Acheron. He’s an amazing healer to begin with.
HTB enables Superbreak. HTB is everything, really. HTB enables life and flourishing. Just make sure you’re ulting around when they’re weakness broken for maximum efficiency.
March 7th does FUA attacks, buffs a teammate. March’s Hunt path has the ability to buff a teammate by designating them “Shifu.” Shifu’s speed then increases by 10%; she provides another buff based on the path of the teammate, making them deal either an additional 20% of her ATK stat or increases the toughness-reduction of their next damage instance by 100%.
Team runs off break effect but may be changed to focus on crit. Because of the two characters, Gallagher and HTB, this is a break-centric comp (meaning it focuses mostly on break effect and superbreak). March may not seem like it, but she’s incredibly good at weakness breaking the enemy.

Team Build Details

March 7th (4 star, Hunt):

Light Cone: Swordplay OR Cruising in the Stellar Sea
Relics: Musketeer of Wild Wheat OR Wastelander of Banditry Desert
Ornaments: Rutilant Arena OR Talia: Kingdom of Beauty

Best Stats:

Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
Feet: SPD
Sphere: Imaginary DMG
Rope: ATK% >= Break Effect

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
CRIT Rate: ★★★
CRIT DMG: ★★★
ATK%: ★★
BREAK EFF: ★★
PRIORITY: SPD (Until breakpoint) > CRIT RATE% = CRIT DMG% > BREAK EFF = ATK%

March 7th Stats To Aim For:

ATK: 1800-2200
Speed: 123/133
CRIT Rate: 50-60%
CRIT DMG: 100%
Break Effect: 140%+

Harmony Trailblazer (5 Star)

Light Cone: Memories of the Past
Relics: Watchmaker, Master of Dream machinations
Ornaments: Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern

Best Stats:

Body: HP%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP%
Rope: Break Effect

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
BREAK EFF: ★★★
HP% ★
PRIORITY = SPD = Break Effect% > HP%

HTB Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3000-4000
SPD: 134
BREAK EFF: 150-250%

Yukong (4 star):

Light Cone: Memories of the Past OR Planetary Rendezvous
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace 2pc + Flex 2pc (Anything, or the new relic Sacerdos’ Revival; overall, go for best substat pieces
Ornaments: Broken Keel OR Inert Salsatto

Best Stats:

Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG (or whatever has the best substats)
Feet: SPD
Sphere: IImaginary DMG
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
DEF: ★★
HP: ★★
EFF RES%: ★
PRIORITY: SPD > HP = DEF > EFF RES%

Yukong Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3000-4500+
Speed: -1 or 2 from sustain (If Gallagher 134 = 132/133 SPD)
Energy Regen: 19.44%+

Gallagher (4 Star)

Light Cone: Quid Pro Quo
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace 2pc + Thief of Shooting Meteor
Ornaments: Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern

Best Stats:

Body: Outgoing Healing
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP%
Rope: Energy Regen

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
BREAK EFFECT: ★★★
EFF RES%: ★★
HP%: ★
DEF%: ★
PRIORITY = SPD (as much as possible) > Break Effect % (up to 150%) > Effect RES% > HP% = DEF%

Gallagher Stats To Aim For:

HP: 4000+
DEF: 800
SPD: 134/143/160
BREAK EFFECT: 60% (no more than 150%)

Sampo + Pela + Guinaifen + Lynx

*We do a little trolling–it’s called we do a little trolling.*

Sampo is everyone’s favorite miscreant jokester (aside from Sparkle, of course), and he’s always up to something no good or nefarious. At least, it seems that way. He even made a special cameo in Penacony! Woohoo Sampo, you go! He’s very good at applying DoT, which is what this team will be focusing on.

What It’s Good At

DoT. Sampo and Guinaifen apply different kinds of DoT (one is burn and the other wind shear) which makes them good for dealing chip damage to elites. This team should hold its own in MoC, although DoT is entirely backloaded (damage dealt at the beginning of the enemy’s turn, not yours) without a unit like Kafka.
AoE. Sampo and Guinaifen both have AoE abilities (though Sampo’s is a bounce), as well as AoE ults. Pela has an AoE ult as well that reduces defense.
Defense reduction. Pela, especially if she’s being run with the right lightcone, (Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat) can apply consistent defense-reducing debuffs.

How It Works

Burn. Guinaifen applies her AoE burn, dealing upwards of 200% of Guinaifen’s ATK as burn DoT.
Buffs vs burned units. Guinaifen deals increased damage to burned units.
Sustain. Lynx sustains the whole team with her wonderful heals, increasing their max HP and cleansing them of debuffs.
Wind shear. Sampo applies wind shear to units, making those afflicted with wind shear deal less damage to him with his A6 minor trace.
Increased DoT damage. Sampo’s ult increases the targets' DoT taken by 30% for 2 turn(s).

Team Build Details

Sampo (4 star):

Light Cone: Goodnight and Sleep Well
Relics: Prisoner in Deep Confinement
Ornaments: Firmament Frontline: Glammoth

Best Stats:

Body: EHR (Effect Hit Rate)
Feet: SPD
Sphere: Wind DMG
Rope: ATK%

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
EHR: ★★★
ATK%: ★★
PRIORITY: SPD (breakpoint) = EHR > ATK%

Sampo Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3000+
ATK: 2800+
Speed: 134/143
EHR: 60-70%+

Pela (4 Star)

Light Cone: Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace 2pc + Guard of Wuthering Snow, OR Eagle of Twilight Line 4pc (for the Action Advance after ulting)
Ornaments: Penacony, Land of the Dreams

Best Stats:

Body: EHR% > HP%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP% >= DEF%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

Effect Hit Rate: ★★★
Speed: ★★★
HP%: ★★
DEF%: ★
PRIORITY = EHR (until 57%) > SPD (Until Breakpoint) > HP% = DEF

Pela Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3500-4000+
Speed: 134/143/160
Energy Regen: 19.44%
Effect Hit Rate: 67%+

Guinaifen (4 star):

Light Cone: Resolutions Shines as Pearls of Sweat OR Eyes of the Prey OR Solitary Healing
Relics: Prisoner in Deep Confinement
Ornaments: Fleet of the Ageless

Best Stats:

Body: ATK%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: Fire DMG
Rope: ATK%

Substats:

EHR: ★★★
ATK%: ★★
SPD: ★★
HP: ★
PRIORITY: EHR (70-80%) > SPD (breakpoint) > ATK% > HP%

Guinaifen Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3000+
ATK: 2500-3000+
Speed: 134/143
Effect Hit Rate: 60 to 70%+

Lynx (4 star):

Light Cone: Post-Op Conversation OR Perfect Timing
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace
Ornaments: Broken Keel

Best Stats:

Body: Outgoing Healing
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
HP: ★★
EFF RES: ★
PRIORITY: SPD (breakpoint) > HP% > Effect RES

Lynx Stats To Aim For:

HP: 5000+
Speed: 134/143/160
Energy Regen: 19.44%

Misha + Pela + Gallagher + Hanya

Although most people who play Star Rail are obsessed about the 5 stars (and for good reason, I might add), there are still a lot of superb 4 stars that fly under the radar. In my opinion, Misha is one of them–he has his uses, and he’s a great story character. We stand with Misha here.

What It’s Good At

Pure Fiction and other gamemodes where you’re fighting multiple enemies at once are fun for Misha and this team.
Surprisingly good against bosses. Despite what people might think, Misha is good vs bosses because, first and foremost, freeze is a wonderful effect, and secondly, because Misha has a lot of freeze in his kit, and a lot of hits per ult.
Preventing enemies from getting turns. As mentioned briefly beforehand, Misha’s freeze means that he’s able to keep enemy units from getting consistent turns in. Couple that with his ultimate’s passive, which states that while frozen, enemy targets cannot take any actions, and at the start of their turn, they receive additional Ice DMG equal to 30% of Misha’s ATK.

How It Works

Misha deals the damage. Remember, Misha’s ult requires your allies to have used skill points so that it has more hits per action.
Gallagher heals with his E and ultimate inflicting besotted state, enabling your entire team to heal. He’s an incredible healer with plenty of AoE damage.
Gallagher has built in debuff cleanse and is capable of getting turn resets with ultimate.
Pela debuffs and helps freeze with Misha; if you run this team against enemies with ice weakness, you’ll be able to freeze enemies consistently, and if you have high eidolon Pela, you can even reduce their ice resistance.
Hanya buffs with speed and increases damage. One of the coolest things about Hanya is that she increases both speed AND damage. Although she’s not the best, she’s still an incredible unit regardless.

Team Build Details

Misha (4 star):

Light Cone: On the Fall of an Aeon OR The Moles Welcome You
Relics: Pioneer of Dead Waters OR Hunter of Glacial Frost
Ornaments: Inert Salsatto

Best Stats:

Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
Feet: SPD
Sphere: Ice DMG
Rope: ATK%

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
CRIT Rate: ★★
CRIT DMG: ★★
ATK%: ★
PRIORITY: SPD (Breakpoint) > CRIT Rate = CRIT DMG > ATK%

Misha Stats To Aim For:

ATK: 2000-2500+
Speed: 100/134
CRIT Rate: 60-70%+
CRIT DMG: 120%+

Pela (4 Star)

Light Cone: Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace 2pc + Guard of Wuthering Snow, OR Eagle of Twilight Line 4pc (for the Action Advance after ulting)
Ornaments: Penacony, Land of the Dreams

Best Stats:

Body: EHR% > HP%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP% >= DEF%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

Effect Hit Rate: ★★★
Speed: ★★★
HP%: ★★
DEF%: ★
PRIORITY = EHR (until 57%) > SPD (Until Breakpoint) > HP% = DEF

Pela Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3500-4000+
Speed: 134/143/160
Energy Regen: 19.44%
Effect Hit Rate: 67%

Gallagher (4 Star)

Light Cone: Quid Pro Quo
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace 2pc + Thief of Shooting Meteor
Ornaments: Forge of the Kalpagni Lantern

Best Stats:

Body: Outgoing Healing
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP%
Rope: Energy Regen

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
BREAK EFFECT: ★★★
EFF RES%: ★★
HP%: ★
DEF%: ★
PRIORITY = SPD (as much as possible) > Break Effect % (up to 150%) > Effect RES% > HP% = DEF%

Gallagher Stats To Aim For:

HP: 4000+
DEF: 800
SPD: 134/143/160
BREAK EFFECT: 60% (no more than 150%)

Hanya (4 Star):

Light Cone: Dance! Dance! Dance!
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace
Ornaments: Broken Keel

Best Stats:

Body: HP%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

CRIT Rate: ★★★
CRIT DMG: ★★★
ATK%: ★★
SPD: ★★
PRIORITY: SPD > HP = DEF > Break Effect = EFF RES%

Hanya Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3000+
Speed: 165-175
Energy Regen: 19.44%

Qingque + Tingyun + Pela + Lynx

*A prodigy of slacking, gambling, and snacking!*

Gambling? Gambling? Gambling! Everyone likes QQ, because you can gamble without any stakes! Wanna test the waters and see if today is a lucky day? Have no worries, QQ is here! She’s a stellar DPS, still a top-tier character despite the countless new additions to HSR since launch.

What It’s Good At

MoC. QQ deals an absurd amount of damage. Need to clear a tanky enemy, or just wanna have a breeze with the hard things? Well, build your QQ or invest into her early! She’s a real monster.
Focusing on sustain with as little SP usage as possible. Lynx is, more or less, a 4 star version of Luocha. Part of why Luocha is so viable is because he’s so SP friendly. Lynx is much the same.
Pure Fiction is just one of many kinds of endgame content this team excels in. Because QQ deals so much AoE dmg, she’s a fun, viable option for PF–if a little intense on the SP consumption.

How It Works

Energy & Ults. Tingyun regenerates energy for QQ, who needs it to make use of her ult and thus consume less overall SP to deal huge amounts of damage. Tingyun’s ult also increases all damage by a very large amount.
Damage. QQ deals all the damage you could ever need.
Debuffs, such as a defense reduction, thanks to Pela, are applied onto the enemy.
Sustain, which Lynx offers with her abilities and ultimate ability.
Debuff cleanse and DMG increase. With Tingyun’s E and Lynx’s ult, you can increase the damage output of allies AND cleanse debuffs.

Team Build Details

Qingque (4 Star)

Light Cone: Night on the Milky Way/Geniuses’ Repose
Relics: Genius of Brilliant Stars
Ornaments: Rutilant Arena

Best Stats:

Body: Crit Rate >= Crit DMG
Feet: ATK% > SPD
Sphere: Quantum DMG
Rope: ATK%

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
CRIT DMG: ★★★
HP%: ★
DEF%: ★
EFF RES%: ★
PRIORITY = SPD (breakpoint) > CRIT Rate = CRIT DMG > ATK%

Qingque Stats To Aim For:

ATK: 2500-3000
CRIT RATE: 65-75%+
CRIT DMG: 150%+
SPD: Base SPD/134

Tingyun (4 Star)

Light Cone: Dance! Dance! Dance!
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace
Ornaments: Broken Keel

Best Stats:

Body: ATK%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: ATK%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
ATK%: ★★★
HP%: ★
PRIORITY = SPD (Until Breakpoint) = ATK% (Until Recommended) > HP

Tingyun Stats To Aim For:

ATK: 2500
Energy Regen: 19.44%+
SPD: 134/143/160

Pela (4 Star)

Light Cone: Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace 2pc + Guard of Wuthering Snow, OR Eagle of Twilight Line 4pc (for the Action Advance after ulting)
Ornaments: Penacony, Land of the Dreams

Best Stats:

Body: EHR% > HP%
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP% >= DEF%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

Effect Hit Rate: ★★★
Speed: ★★★
HP%: ★★
DEF%: ★
PRIORITY = EHR (until 57%) > SPD (Until Breakpoint) > HP% = DEF

Pela Stats To Aim For:

HP: 3500-4000+
Speed: 134/143/160
Energy Regen: 19.44%
Effect Hit Rate: 67%

Lynx (4 star):

Light Cone: Post-Op Conversation OR Perfect Timing
Relics: Messenger Traversing Hackerspace
Ornaments: Broken Keel

Best Stats:

Body: Outgoing Healing
Feet: SPD
Sphere: HP%
Rope: Energy Regen Rate

Substats:

SPD: ★★★
HP: ★★
EFF RES: ★
PRIORITY: SPD (breakpoint) > HP% > Effect RES

Lynx Stats To Aim For:

HP: 5000+
Speed: 134/143/160
Energy Regen: 19.44%

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Grady Webb

A rogue dwarf from the mid-lands of Missouri, Grady is full of a love for caves, rune-covered swords, mountainhomes, and libraries full of ancient wisdom.

Gamer Since:

2012

Favorite Genre:

MOBA

Currently Playing:

Honkai Star Rail

Top 3 Favorite Games:

League of Legends, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn, DOOM

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