Best Lightning characters in Honkai Star Rail as of August 2023

There are now six Lightning characters in Honkai Star Rail with the release of Kafka. The unit has certainly lived up to the hype, so let's look at how each character currently performs in the modern metagame. Note that everybody listed here is capable of beating the most challenging content, but the higher-ranked units will be the more valuable options and are thus recommended to use.

Metas always shift over time, so some Lightning characters may be more useful in later months. For example, it's always possible for Kafka to get better than she's currently listed below if more DOT characters or Light Cones are added. A tier list for reference is provided below.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective.

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Tier list of the best Lightning characters in Honkai Star Rail (August 2023)

A quick Tier List after Kafka's release (Image via Tier Maker)

Here are some reasons for each Lightning character's ranking:

• Tingyun: She's a fantastic 4-star (meaning it's easy to get copies of her for maxing out her Eidolons) who is splashable on many teams. Buffing an ally's ATK with a Skill is always helpful, not to mention Tingyun's Ultimate further buffs their DMG and even gives them a generous 50 Energy.
• Kafka: Kafka is capable of dealing amazing damage via her DOT-related abilities. She excels in both single-target and AOE situations. It is worth mentioning that she's very easy to use, with some of the highest-damage output in the game right now. Her usefulness is likely to grow once other great DOT characters are released.
• Bailu: She's one of the best healers in Honkai Star Rail and can even heal multiple allies with just her Skill. Bailu also has a revive mechanic, which is helpful in tough battles. There is very little competition for her as a unit.
• Jing Yuan: He has amazing overall damage, especially with his Lightning-Lord ability can hit up to ten times.
• Serval: Serval has some great AOE DMG in Honkai Star Rail, but she doesn't do much else. Not to mention, her single-target DMG isn't too noteworthy.
• Arlan: Has good damage potential, but his gimmick of being on low HP can be a detriment, especially since other DPS units work just fine in his place.

Tingyun is the best Lightning support option, while Kafka is currently the best DPS for this element. It is worth mentioning that both characters are superb, even when compared to the rest of the Honkai Star Rail cast.

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Should you pull for Kafka in August 2023?

Kafka is MID, they said. by u/Beautiful_Silver_731 in KafkaMains

Based on current first impressions, Kafka is absolutely a strong character worth pulling. Although she's a bit reliant on Skill points, Kafka has the best damage output in Honkai Star Rail right now. Note that the above infographic is against three enemies. Kafka is ranked third when only fighting a single foe, which is still very impressive.

Anybody in need of a powerful Lightning character cannot go wrong with summoning Kafka in Honkai Star Rail. The original "mid" accusations and theorycrafting do not appear to be accurate with Kafka based on her Day 1 performance. Not to mention, she'll likely get better with time.