Himeko is one of the first few 5-star characters that came with the release of Honkai: Star Rail, and she quickly found herself filling the AOE DPS niche. She uses her high-tech weaponry to slice, burn, and completely obliterate groups of targets, making her one of the best farming characters in the game.
At first, Himeko can feel a little underwhelming. Her damage pales in comparison to someone like Seele, and she lacks the utility of support characters like Asta. However, with the proper build, any player can turn the navigator of the Astral Express into one of Honkai Star Rail's most efficient units when it comes to farming Calyxes and the Simulated Universe. Here's a guide to help get the most out of Himeko.
Honkai: Star Rail Himeko Build
Himeko's main job is to inflict as much damage to as many enemies as possible for faster combat resolution. With this in mind, players should focus on increasing her damage output by equipping the right Relics and Light Cones.
- Core Stat Priorities: CRIT Rate/DMG, ATK%, SPD
- Planar Ornament Stats: Fire DMG, ATK%
- Relic Sets: Firesmith of Lava-Forging (4PC), Space Sealing Station (2PC)
- Light Cones: Night on the Milky Way (5-star), The Seriousness of Breakfast (4-star), Geniuses' Repose (4-star)
This is a bog-standard build for many of Honkai: Star Rail's DPS characters. Players will almost always want to build CRIT stats on characters who deal direct damage to enemies. This will be hard to achieve early in the game, so until players can get Relics that have both CRIT Rate and DMG stats, they should focus on increasing ATK instead.
Both Firesmith of Lava-Forging and Space Sealing Station can greatly increase Himeko's damage output. However, Relic stats take priority over set bonuses—it's better to have a random combination of Relics so long as they have stats that meet the character's core priorities.
As for Light Cones, the most F2P-friendly options players have are Geniuses' Repose and Seriousness of Breakfast. Both effects trigger on-kill, but the former increases the wearer's CRIT DMG while the latter boosts raw ATK. Today is Another Peaceful Day can be a nice alternative to these since it will scale off of the 120 Energy cost on Himeko's ultimate.
Himeko Traces and Leveling Order
Himeko is very reliant on her Traces. She will most definitely feel weak at the beginning, but once her Traces and stats all fall into place, she'll start shredding through weak enemies with little effort. Prioritize leveling her skills up in this order:
- Heavenly Flare (Ultimate)
- Molten Detonation (Skill)
- Victory Rush (Talent)
- Basic attack
Victory Rush might be Himeko's signature skill, but it's not as reliable as her main abilities when it comes to inflicting damage. Molten Detonation is still going to be her bread-and-butter skill, while Heavenly Flare will mostly be used to execute low-health enemies for the sake of its Energy refund effect.
For her other Traces, players should get Starfire as soon as possible to make Himeko more reliable against single targets. It allows her attacks to inflict Burn for two turns, essentially giving her an additional source of damage. This makes Effect Hit Rate a viable sub-stat for Himeko, though CRIT and ATK should still be her main priority. After reaching Ascension 6, she'll gain access to The Standard, a priority Trace that passively grants 15% more CRIT Rate when Himeko's HP is over 80%.
Honkai: Star Rail is available now for PC and mobile devices. PS4 and PS5 versions are in development.