Honkai Star Rail Physical character tier list (January 2025)

Physical characters in Honkai Star Rail fill a particular void in the game's combat mechanics. They help players inflict bleed DoT status on enemies and break their weaknesses. Everyone could initially start their journey with the Physical power on Trailblazer, alongside Dan Heng's Wind and March 7th's Ice. With time, the roster kept increasing, with new characters and abilities coming into the mix.

This article lists all the characters wielding the Physical element in Honkai Star Rail and ranks them based on their usage and prowess as of January 2025. Note that the Physical element has all paths covered except Preservation, with multiple characters that will be, or have been, available for free.

Disclaimer: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinion.

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Tier list for Physical characters in Honkai Star Rail in January 2025

Honkai Star Rail tier list for January 2025 (Image via Tier Maker)

The image above showcases the Physical characters' respective tiers as of January 2025. Note that the article does not aim to diminish any character. The list is purely based on their usage and the player's convenience regarding investment, rarity, DPS, and support.

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SS tier

Boothill and Robin (Image via HoYoverse)

The SS tier represents the best in the business, as these characters are essential to have when it comes to endgame content:

• Robin
• Boothill

Robin is one of the highly coveted support characters in Honkai Star Rail who can change the tide of a battle using the powerful buffs in her arsenal. For starters, she passively increases the entire team's CRIT DMG, meaning allies will benefit from her companionship. Robin can also use her Ultimate ability to advance her squad's turn and enter a special stance to unleash additional attacks, which are useful tools to have during extended fights.

If there’s any other Physical character deserving the top spot, it's Boothill since he introduced Break Teams into the meta. This space ranger can inflict massive single-target damage thanks to The Hunt Path. He can also implant elemental weakness, which makes him self-sufficient.

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S tier

Yunli and Argenti (Image via HoYoverse)

Honkai Star Rail characters from the S tier do their job well and can comfortably find their place in any team. Here are the Physical units that deserve this rank:

• Yunli
• Argenti

Yunli is one of the newest 5-star characters who utilizes the counterattack mechanics to deal damage. She can be a force to be reckoned with when played properly. Needless to say, her damage output is on par with some of the top-tier DPS characters, which comes at a steep learning curve.

In contrast, Argenti is easy to play and can be used with different team compositions. As an Erudition character, he can tackle multiple enemies since his abilities are tailored to inflict AoE damage, which makes him a dominating force in Pure Fiction.

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A tier

Physical units in A tier have some usage in teams but there are better characters that you can equip.

• Clara
• Natasha
• Hanya

Among them, Clara stands out for her indomitable survivability and high damage output. She used to be a strong pick for the endgame content, but her limitations have hindered her growth. Clara heavily relies on getting hit to unleash her follow-up attack, which is difficult to manage in-game modes with finite turns.

Natasha and Hanya can be used to build free-to-play teams in Honkai Star Rail. However, they aren't effective for optimal compositions as their kit is dated.

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B tier

The B-tier units are ineffective against modern bosses, and their kit is underwhelming even for the overworld activities. Unless you like the following Physical units, building them is futile:

• Physical Trailblazer
• Luka
• Sushang

With the addition of Trailblazer’s Harmony kit in Honkai Star Rail, almost everyone stopped using the Physical build. The former has a robust set of abilities that benefits the Break teams.