As soon as you start playing Honkai: Star Rail, you’ll get introduced to its turn-based combat system. This system is at the heart of the game, and most of the endgame content relies on it, making it important to have a bunch of good DPS characters in your account.
There are about three to four paths in the game that can have DPS characters, but Destruction shines out the most out of all of them. This path has seen one of the most limited character releases in the game, and it was also the second path to have a character for each combat type.
Updated on February 07, 2023, by Sanyam Jain: During the version 2.0 update, the first four-star from Penacony was released in the form of Misha. Unfortunately, this character’s overall kit and the shared combat type with the best Destruction character in the game makes him not-so-good in the overall meta.
9 Arlan
Rarity – Four Star Combat Type – Lightning
If you’re a veteran player in Honkai: Star Rail, you might’ve already guessed that Arlan would be in the last position on this list. This character takes away his own HP to deal damage to the enemies with his Skill, however, this HP drain doesn’t give him enough DMG boost since he can get a maximum of 36 percent.
Even with all six Eidolons, Arlan is one of the worst DPS characters in the game. However, that’s not to say that you can’t beat the hardest content with him. It’s just that you’ll need a lot more investment in this character, and you can get much higher value from other characters with lesser investment.
8 Misha
Rarity – Four Star Combat Type – Ice
Even after being the first four-star character from Penacony, Misha might have been one of the few Destruction characters who didn’t have as much hype around his release. He has a synergistic kit where using his Skill or the team using Skill Points gives him an extra hit for the Ultimate. This Ultimate can freeze enemies and reduce their DEF with certain Eidolons.
Unfortunately, it feels like HoYoverse wasn’t sure what they were doing with this character. You need to build some Effect Hit Rate on him to make use of the freeze chance, which takes away from his damage. On the other hand, the debuffs provided by this character even at higher Eidolons aren’t good enough to use him as a Support.
7 Physical Trailblazer
Rarity – Five Star Combat Type – Physical
The Trailblazer’s Destruction path is the first one you unlock when you start playing the game, and it’s quite phenomenal to get past the early game. However, the overall abilities and damage from this unit fall off as you progress, and the Preservation version is far more valuable than the Destruction.
The unique part about Physical Trailblazer is that you can use their Ultimate in two ways to either deal high single-target damage or lower AoE damage, which makes it perfect against both boss fights and small hordes.
6 Hook
Rarity – Four Star Combat Type – Fire
Hook is one of the original four-star Destruction characters in Honkai: Star Rail, and despite her low ranking on this list, it’s important to mention that she’s likely the best choice for a Fire DPS unit. She deals AoE DMG with her Skill, which can get enhanced once after her Ultimate is used.
Her DMG further increases if she attacks an enemy with the Burn effect, which can be applied from her abilities or if she breaks an enemy’s shield. While she’s completely viable to clear endgame content, her overall DMG fizzles out when compared to the other Destruction units in the game.
5 Clara
Rarity – Five Star Combat Type – Physical
This character’s name might be Clara, but you’re essentially playing as Svarog while using her in combat. When Clara gets attacked, Svarog shields her and reduces the DMG taken while also launching a follow-up attack on the enemy. This follow-up leaves a mark on this enemy that lets the AoE skill do extra DMG to them.
Moreover, once her Ultimate is used, Svarog launches a follow-up attack twice even if any other ally gets attacked. Clara can be a great unit when used with the likes of March 7th or Lynx since they can increase her chances of getting attacked, but there’s a lot of RNG involved with her kit.
4 Xueyi
Rarity – Four Star Combat Type – Quantum
Xueyi was the first four-star in Honkai: Star Rail who wasn’t in the game from the beginning. She might not have too many aspects that can usually be found in the Destruction unit, but what she does have is a unique kit. This is mostly because of one of her abilities that gives her a direct DMG boost based on her total Break Effect.
This means that if you have around 50 percent Break Effect, all her abilities get a direct 50 percent DMG boost, which is staggering because of how easy it is to get. Unfortunately, even after all these buffs, she might not be the best until you get her to Eidolon Six since this makes her deal much more DMG.
3 Blade
Rarity – Five Star Combat Type – Wind
Arlan was already quite a terrible unit at the start, but the release of Blade rubbed salt in his wounds since this character also loses HP from his abilities, but he gets a direct buff based on the HP lost. Moreover, his attacks scale on his HP, which allows him to easily have over 7,000 HP and become self-sustaining.
Blade enters a buffed state with his Skill, and the next three Basic Attacks he uses are buffed to deal more DMG in a larger AoE. He also launches a follow-up attack whenever he loses HP by any means a certain number of times, making him a great pick with the best Destruction character in the game.
2 Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae
Rarity – Five Star Combat Type – Imaginary
The community had mixed feelings when Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae was first introduced to the game. On one hand, he needed to consume three Skill Points to deal the most damage to the enemies, but on the other hand, he could also provide a bunch of Crit DMG and DMG buff to himself simply by existing.
Thankfully, his Ultimate gives you two stacks for free, and these stacks can be used as Skill Points for his next attack. Imbibitor Lunae was already a great unit at launch, but he also keeps getting indirect buffs with the release of support characters like Yukong and Hanya.
1 Jingliu
Rarity – Five Star Combat Type – Ice
It’s no surprise that the five-star Ice Queen is the current crown-holder for the best Destruction character in the game. She was released soon after Imbibitor Lunae for the first time, and quickly climbed up the meta because of her massive damage and low Skill Point usage.
If you pair Jingliu with the right supports, you’ll easily see her deal over 100,000 DMG every turn, which usually happens every couple of turns for Imbibitor Lunae. However, she does need some specific supports like Tingyun or Ruan Mei to keep her buffed state for as long as possible.