Should players skip Blade in favor of Kafka in Honkai Star Rail 1.2?

The Honkai Star Rail 1.2 update features Blade and Kafka as the new playable characters that will roll out on the limited-time warp in their respective banner phases. Both 5-star units have frequently appeared in the title, garnering a fair bit of attention from the community. Their secretive personalities and unique movesets have rendered them a coveted duo that works together as members of the Stellaron Hunter faction.

The release of Blade and Kafka in the same patch has stirred quite a bit of debate in the community since both of them are promising DPS units. In fact, many wonder whether they should skip the former in the current banner to acquire the other 5-star in version 1.2.

This article outlines the pull value of Blade in comparison to Kafka by analyzing their abilities.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinion.

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What are Blade’s abilities in Honkai Star Rail?

Blade is one of the best DPS as of version 1.2 (Image via HoYoverse)

Blade is an excellent 5-star unit from the Honkai Star Rail’s Wind roster that treads on the Destruction Path to unleash AoE damage during combat. The list below further details his abilities to provide a basic idea of what he is capable of during combat.

• Basic ATK: Deals Wind DMG to a target. When the Hellscape state is active, it inflicts AoE damage to enemies, which mostly scales on his max HP. He also loses a portion of his health to activate the ability.
• Skill: He consumes HP to enter the Hellscape state, which enhances his Basic ATK for a few turns, preventing him from casting his Skill. The ability does not generate any energy, and his HP will be reduced to one if he activates it at critical health.
• Ultimate: Sets his current HP to 50 percent, unleashing a massive AoE Wind DMG that scales with his HP and ATK. It also deals increased damage to opponents based on the amount of HP they have lost in the current battle.
• Talent: Blade gains one Charge stack every time he takes damage. After gaining five stacks, he unleashes a follow-up attack on all enemies.
• Technique: Attacks an enemy dealing Wind DMG to enter the battle. He further loses his HP and inflicts Wind DMG on all opponents.

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What are Kafka’s abilities in Honkai Star Rail?

Kafka will inflict DoT on enemies during combat (Image via HoYoverse)

Kafka is an upcoming Lightning unit in Honkai Star Rail that treads on the Nihility Path to inflict multiple instances of DoT. The following list outlines each of her movesets to provide insight into her combat potential:

• Basic ATK: Unloads Lightning DMG on an enemy.
• Skill: Deals AoE Lightning DMG to enemies. It further inflicts damage that scales with the target's existing DoT effect.
• Ultimate: Deals AoE damage and applies Shock to all enemies. They immediately take another instance of damage and receive Kafka’s ATK as a Lightning DoT at the beginning of their turn.
• Talent: Kafka launches a follow-up attack after an ally activates Basic ATK on a Shocked enemy.
• Technique: Attacks an enemy to enter the battle, dealing Lightning DMG to a random target. It also has a 100 percent base chance to apply the Shock effect to all opponents.

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Should you skip Blade to summon Kafka in Honkai Star Rail 1.2?

Image showing the Stellaron Hunter duo featuring in version 1.2 (Image via HoYoverse)

Simply put, Blade is an outstanding Wind DPS in Honkai Star Rail. He can deal nuking damage as long as you build him with sufficient CRIT Stats and other essential attributes. Despite scaling on HP, he boasts a pure hyper-carry playstyle that can efficiently utilize quite a bit of support from buffers and debuffers.

Hence, if your account needs a simple and powerful damage dealer, we recommend securing Blade instead of Kafka.

In contrast, Kafka will bring a unique DoT-based playstyle, with her damage output relying on CRIT and Effect Hit Rate attributes. She will likely be a more fun-to-play character that could shape the upcoming Honkai Star Rail meta.

That said, you might consider skipping Blade to deploy intricate DoT setups with Kafka.