Every erudite character in Honkai: Star Rail, ranked

Key conclusions

• Erudition's new character, Rappa, brings a Break-based playstyle to Erudition's path, bringing it back into the meta.

• Serval, a favorite from the early games, has lost a level due to new characters surpassing her abilities, such as Kafka's DoT application advantage.

• With the addition of new characters like Ruan Mei and Harmony Trailblazer, previously overlooked characters like Himeko have become decent options for clearing content.

If you've been around the Honkai: Star Rail community for a while, you probably already know how everyone feels about the erudition path. Since the game's launch, it's been one of the least popular paths alongside The Hunt, and much of that has been due to the lack of good characters.

However, as more characters came into the game, some of these Erudition characters were often updated indirectly, bringing them back into the meta. Here are the best Erudition characters you can upgrade to get long-term use.

Updated on October 27, 2024 by Sanyam Jain: With the release of the 2.6 update, some striking differences have been made when it comes to Erudition's position in the current meta due to the release of Rappa. While other characters from this path may still not be as good, she serves as one of the best units in the game.

8

Serval

• Rarity – Four stars
• Region – Yarila-VI

Serval was one of the main characters in Belabog's story, and she was also a pretty phenomenal character to upgrade in the early game due to her high AoE damage. However, as more characters appeared in the game, she gradually faded into the background and ended up being a rather forgotten character.

Anything Serval can do, there's a character who can do it better. For example, Kafka is much better at applying and launching DoTs on enemies, while there are various Lightning characters like Acheron who excel at dealing Lightning AoE damage with much more ease.

7

Himeko

• Rarity – Standard five stars
• Region – Unknown

At the launch of Honkai: Star Rail, Himeko was considered one of the worst characters even after you got a bunch of eidolons and a great light cone on her. This was mainly due to the lack of overall damage and the difficulty in getting her next attack to work, especially during late game content with high durability enemies.

However, this gradually changed when characters such as Ruan Mei or Harmony Trailblazer appeared in the game along with the Pure Fiction game mode. All of this made Himeko a decent character, and while she's still not the best, she can at least help you clear content from a few enemies easily.

6

Tinke

• Rarity – Four stars
• Region – Xiangzhou Luofu

Qingque has been quite a fan favorite character since the beginning because she allows endless free gacha. You can use her skills multiple times in one turn until you have all four tiles of the same type. The number of times you use your skill and the number of similar tiles determines the damage of your next basic attack.

If you need Quantum DPS and don't have any of the five-star options, Qingque can be a phenomenal pick, especially if you have her eidolons, as they add to the gacha, giving her a chance to trigger a follow-up attack with every basic attack.

5

Herta

• Rarity – Four stars
• Region – Hertha space station

Herta is one of the geniuses that come from her station, and she was noted as one of the least valuable characters in the early days of the game. With that said, her rise and return to the meta was almost unexpected, as she is one of the best characters to get for the Pure Fiction game mode.

This game​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​states plays is is is is is is is is is this game mode that this game is focused on the following attacks and has a weakness on the ice, which makes it the perfect playing field for Hertha. To add even more synergy, the mode usually includes a bunch of smaller enemies that you can easily get down to 50 percent HP or below to trigger her next attack.

While Herta is awesome and probably S-level in Pure Fiction, she still is almost useless in any other content.

4

Jing Yuan

• Rarity – Limited to five stars
• Region – Xiangzhou Luofu

The beautifully designed General Luofu has seen a roller coaster ride when it comes to his position in Honkai: Star Rail. Starting out as one of the most popular characters at launch, he quickly moved down the method due to how long it took to activate his follow-up as the damage output didn't justify the time.

However, with characters like Spark and Jade being added to the game, he had some value in his set. He's definitely still not the best character without these specific supports, though you can push him to great lengths with them.

3

Argenti

• Rarity – Limited to five stars
• Region – Unknown

When it comes to characters who need some support on their team, Argenti is probably the worst offender. HoYoverse gave it a pretty interesting kit with the ability to Ultimate stack it up to two times, giving players the option to either single-stack it or save it for much more damage.

Unfortunately, it has some obvious problems with energy regeneration, particularly with the existence of supports like Tingyun or Huohuo. You see Argenti reach great heights with these characters, but he's mediocre without them. You can also try building it with a character that evolves actions like Spark or Armor.

2

jade

• Rarity – Limited to five stars
• Region – IPC

This beautiful character from IPC not only took one of the top spots on this list, but also elevated many other Erudition characters higher in the meta. She can apply a debt collection effect to an ally and gain stacks of charges based on the number of enemies that ally is attacked.

Of course, this makes applying the effect to AoE units like Argenti or Herta the best option. The best thing about Jade is that she will get better over time as the game will always have AoE units coming out.

1

Rappa

• Rarity – Limited to five stars
• Region – Penakonia

Rappa's top position here should come as no surprise given that her primary style of play is break, one of her best styles of play. Not only does this allow you to consistently break the enemy's toughness, making them unable to attack, but it also allows you to deal various instances of Super Break DMG with free support, such as Harmony Trailblazer.

Ultimate Rappa is an important part of her kit, as it allows for multiple special basic attacks, each of which significantly lowers the opponent's stamina. As long as the main enemy on the field has an apparent weakness, this character can easily win your battle in a few turns.