Right now there are 90 playable characters in Honkai: Star Rail, spread across 7 elements and 9 combat paths. That number grows by two or three every patch, and 4.4 was no exception. This page collects all of them in one place, with a link to the full build guide for each one. If you came here to figure out who to pull, the HSR tier list is probably the better starting point.
Every portrait below links directly to that character's guide covering light cones, relics, team compositions, and eidolon value. Use the search bar or element filters to narrow things down, or just scroll the full roster. The order here reflects current meta standing with the strongest characters toward the top.
Seven elements, each with its own weakness system. Click any element card to filter the roster below.
Paths are the combat archetypes that define what a character actually does in a team. There are nine of them: for single-target DPS, for self-buffing carries, for AoE damage, for debuffs and DoT, for shielding, for healing, for team-wide buffs, for the summon-style support playstyle, and — the newest path, added in version 4.0 — whose units share Punchline stacks to trigger team-wide burst windows and deal their own Elation damage type. Click any path name to filter the roster above.
Path matters less than you might think when choosing who to pull. A Nihility character can out-DPS some Hunt characters depending on team composition. The build guide for each character covers what their path actually means in practice. If you want to know which paths are strongest in 4.4, the tier list breaks it down by role.
The roster keeps growing. Version 4.4 brought the character count to 90, and 4.5 will push it further. If you bookmark this page it will be updated the same day new characters go live. And if the reason you came here was to figure out where to spend your Stellar Jade, the full tier list is the better place to start.
There are 90 playable characters in Honkai: Star Rail as of patch 4.4. The game adds roughly two new characters per patch on a six-week cycle, so the roster keeps growing. Himeko • Nova and the Fate collaboration units Rin Tohsaka and Gilgamesh are the most recent additions as of this version settled.
In 4.4, Evanescia is the strongest DPS in the game, with Silver Wolf LV.999 and Himeko • Nova right behind her and Mortenax Blade the standout support. In S+ tier you have Phainon, Sunday, Tribbie, Gilgamesh, Firefly, Acheron, and Kafka all clearing endgame content with room to spare. The HSR tier list covers all 90 characters with full rankings from SS down to C.
Honkai: Star Rail has 7 elements: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Quantum, Imaginary, and Physical. Each element exploits a specific enemy weakness in the toughness break system. Fire is the deepest element in 4.4, but Physical and Imaginary carry the top Elation DPS and have stayed near the top of the meta across multiple patches running.
Paths are the 9 combat roles in Honkai: Star Rail: The Hunt, Destruction, Erudition, Nihility, Preservation, Abundance, Harmony, Remembrance, and The Elation (added in version 4.0). Think of them as the game's class system. A character's path shapes their kit, but the actual playstyle varies quite a bit within each path depending on the specific character's design.
Free characters in Honkai: Star Rail include the Trailblazer (all story forms, the best of which is Trailblazer Imaginary for Harmony support), Gallagher (one of the best sustain characters in the game at zero cost), Pela (provides DEF shred unavailable anywhere else at her rarity), and a wide range of 4-stars through Stellar Warp and events including March 7th, Natasha, Dan Heng, Hook, Serval, Asta, Herta, Arlan, Sushang, Qingque, and Sampo. The F2P guide on the tier list covers which ones are worth the investment.
