Honkai: Star Rail Shouldn't Keep One Element on the Back Burner for Long

As a long-time player of Honkai: Star Rail, I can’t help but feel a chill running down my spine every time I think about the current state of Ice characters in the game. With only eight Ice units and no significant additions for nearly a year, it feels like this cool Element is stuck in an icy wasteland.


As a dedicated fan, I’m excited about the upcoming Version 2.7 of Honkai: Star Rail, but I find myself wishing for a bit more diversity in the element types of the new supports, Sunday and Fugue. Both characters seem incredibly powerful, especially in hypercarry/follow-up and break compositions. However, their element types – Imaginary (shared by nine other characters) for Sunday, and Fire (shared by ten others) for Fugue – are already quite common.

In Honkai: Star Rail, when a character’s element aligns with an enemy’s vulnerability, they inflict strong damage on that foe. Once an enemy’s resistance is depleted, the player inflicts a single instance of ‘broken weakness’ damage and postpones the enemy’s action for at least one turn. Allied characters also deal slightly increased damage to enemies with broken weakness. Additionally, certain elements come with unique benefits such as persistent damage and extended delay in actions. Consequently, it is advantageous for players to focus on acquiring diverse character types.

Why Honkai: Star Rail Needs to Expand its Ice Roster

In the game HSR, the number of Ice characters currently stands at eight, making it equal with Lightning and slightly behind Wind’s seven units. Since Wind and Lightning have already received special treatment with Feixiao and Moze respectively, it seems fair to now focus on giving Ice its due recognition as well. There are numerous compelling arguments for why this icy Element deserves more attention and recognition.

Ice’s Limited DPS Units are Sparse

In simpler terms, the four-star Ice units Pela and Herta are quite beneficial. Nevertheless, there aren’t many excellent five-stars in this category, with Ruan Mei being the latest addition in Version 1.6 about a year back. It would be great to have a new limited unit for this Element Type soon, especially a DPS character, as our current main damage dealer Jingliu has become less effective recently. Characters newer to Destruction like Firefly and Yunli can consistently deal more damage than her, with fewer compromises.

It seems that HSR hasn’t introduced a support unit that complements Jingliu as effectively as Sparkle does for Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae or Jiaoqiu for Acheron. If they don’t plan to create such a unit soon, it would be strategic to introduce a new Ice DPS successor for Jingliu instead. Since there are already characters in this Type specializing in Hunt and Destruction, it would be logical for the next damage dealer to follow the Path of Erudition. A 5-star Herta could perfectly fill this role.

Ice’s Weakness Break Mechanic is One of the Best in the Game

In strategy for turn-based RPGs such as HSR, it’s beneficial to have your characters take action frequently, and if possible, postpone the opponent’s moves as long as you can. Characters with ice abilities tend to excel in the latter approach.

In simpler terms, when ice units shatter an enemy’s vulnerability, they become immobilized or frozen for the entire turn. Once thawed on their following turn, the frozen enemy endures extra ice damage and is unable to act. However, their next turn will be moved forward by 50%.

It’s intriguing to imagine contemporary characters leveraging the vulnerability-exploiting effect. An innovative Ice DPS could dish out massive damage or accumulate resources such as additional Energy upon striking frozen foes. Extending an enemy’s frozen state, slowing them when they thaw similar to Welt’s slow mechanic, would be engaging to observe. Ice could also explore the concept of damage over time (DOT) by introducing a frostbite mechanic. The potential applications for this Element are numerous, and it’s due for a comeback. Maybe Honkai: Star Rail Version 3.0 will bestow Ice with some remarkable new characters.

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2024-11-05 03:53