Buffs and debuffs are core mechanics of Honkai: Star Rail's gameplay. Managing buff windows and perfecting cast timings is important when it comes to maximizing damage. Not every character can provide such effects, though, while others can do both.
Pela is one of the original cast members included in Honkai: Star Rail's launch version. She's a 4-star unit who specializes in making everyone else in the team hurt more while making the enemy team hurt less. Her playstyle is relatively straightforward, but to get the most out of her unique kit, players will need to get all the right stats and effects working together according to the nuances of Pela's abilities.
Honkai: Star Rail Pela Build
Pela is a Nihility character, which means her focus is on debilitating targets. Her kit includes a single-target, buff-removing nuke as well as an AOE blast that reduces enemy DEF. While players will mostly play Pela for the latter, it's important to build her according to her actual strengths. Use the following setup to turn Pela into a high-utility secondary DPS unit.
- Core Stat Priorities: CRIT, ATK%, Effect Hit Rate, SPD
- Planar Ornament Stats: Ice DMG, ATK%
- Relic Sets: Thief of Shooting Meteor (4PC) OR Hunter of Glacial Forest (4PC), Sprightly Vonwacq (2PC)
- Light Cones: Good Night and Sleep Well (4-star), Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat (4-star), In the Name of the World (5-star)
Early on, players should prioritize stacking ATK on Pela, so she can break Toughness bars more easily and contribute more to the team's damage output. Her main skill, Frostbite, scales decently with Pela's ATK stat, and it can help take out enemies that are debuffed or low on health. Later on, supplement this with a high CRIT Rate and DMG for even stronger attacks.
Having high offensive stats is especially important for players who have Pela's E1 bonus, which makes her restore energy every time she defeats an enemy. This lessens the need for her to build for Energy Regen Rate, making Pela a great option for boss fights that include a lot of weak summons or minions like W6 Cocolia.
Effect Hit Rate isn't as important on Pela compared to other characters. Frostbite doesn't rely on this stat—it will always remove a buff from an enemy when it hits. Meanwhile, her ultimate ability Zone Suppression has a 100% base chance of inflicting the Exposed status. It won't always debuff targets due to enemy Effect RES, but the high base chance means players don't need to take as much Effect Hit Rate on their Relics to make her ultimate usable.
Take note that Pela's personal damage output is still relatively mediocre compared to other specialized characters unless players get perfectly rolled Relics, the right Light Cones, and Pela's E6 bonus. She's best used as a debuffer, Toughness breaker, and low HP executioner.
Pela Trace Leveling Order
Much of Pela's value comes from her ability to shred enemy DEF, which enables the team's hyper-carry to deal massive damage. Her leveling order is as follows:
- Zone Suppression (Ultimate)
- Frostbite (Skill)
- Data Collecting (Talent)
- Basic attack
Take her Ascension passives whenever they're available, and take the floating Ice DMG and Effect Hit Rate nodes whenever the need for more stats arises.
Pela becomes significantly more effective with Eidolon bonuses. Her E4 effect's Ice RES shred, in particular, makes her an excellent support for Ice DPS characters like Yanqing. Additionally, as mentioned above, E6 Pela can deal good damage on her own as long as she's targeting debuffed enemies.
Honkai: Star Rail was released on April 26th for PC and mobile devices. PS4 and PS5 versions are in development.