HSR Tier List – Best Characters for Pure Fiction
Welcome to our HSR Tier List for Pure Fiction. We’ll be giving every character an overall tier based on their in game performance in Pure Fiction specifically.
- Updated Version 3.2.
- Characters are not ordered within Tiers.
HSR Tier List by Role (Table Version)
| Tier |
Damage Dealer |
Support / Sustain |
|
EX |
The Herta, Jade, Herta, Argenti. | Tribbie, Lingsha, Robin. |
|
SS |
Rappa, Jing Yuan, Acheron, Castorice, Anaxa. | Sunday, Aventurine, Ruan Mei, Huohuo, Fugue, Gallagher, Jiaoqiu, Remembrance MC. |
|
S |
Aglaea, Yunli, Black Swan, Kafka, Serval, Himeko. | Sparkle, Fu Xuan, Tingyun, Luocha, Bronya, Bailu, Pela, Imaginary MC. |
|
A |
Mydei, Blade, Firefly, Feixiao, Seele, Clara. | Asta, Gepard, Hanya, Lynx. |
|
B |
Dan Heng IL, Jingliu, Qingque, Sampo, Dr. Ratio, Topaz, Hunt March 7th, Xueyi. | Guinaifen, March 7th, Fire MC, Natasha. |
|
C |
Boothill, Yanqing, Dan Heng, Luka, Arlan, Hook, Misha, Physical MC, Sushang, Moze. | Yukong, Silver Wolf, Welt. |
State of the Meta in Honkai Star Rail
Pure Fiction is one of the 3 main endgame modes in Honkai Star Rail alongside Memory of Chaos and Apocalyptic Shadow. Unlike the other two modes, Pure Fiction mainly favors AoE Damage Dealers and also the ability to spread team’s damage output into multiple small attacks instead of focusing on big bursts of damage. Pure Fiction also tends to have very dominant blessings that favor certain playstyles each cycle, meaning that units that can take advantage of multiple different types of blessing tend to excel in this mode.
From 2.7 patch onward, Pure Fiction also changes its format, having the new Grit mechanic that grants incredible buffs for a brief period of time once certain mechanics are triggered. Furthermore, enemy layout is changed to an Elite/ Boss + 4 small mobs that continuously get replaced while also inflicting massive damage onto the boss as they get defeated. This gives a huge priority to Damage Dealers with Cleave-type attacks, and putting pure Single Target and Blast-type Damage in much lower demand.
With Patch 3.2, two new units – Castorice and Anaxa will be released. Both of these units are strong AoE Damage Dealers with decent attack frequency, but they do not shake up the Pure Fiction hierarchy in any notable way.
HSR Tier List Methodology
Assumptions/Baseline
- All 5 Star characters are judged at E0S1 with their Signature Light Cone and in their best possible team.
- All 4 Star characters are judged at E6 with S5 4 Star Gacha Lightcone.
- Characters should be compared within their role, and not with another role.
- Characters will be judged on not only their performances and synergy but also versatility, ease of use, splash-ability onto different teams or archetypes, and ability to benefit from different types of endgame buffs.
Criteria
Performance in their best team – Units Ceiling
How good are they in their possible team at E0S1 level in Memory of Chaos. Units that can clear faster with a similar level of investment and team will be rated higher. Units that can brute force elements with their best team will also score higher as it shows they are resilient to different environments.
How flexible is their team comp and synergy with non-optimal teammates – Units Floor
Units that are capable of synergizing with a wide variety of teammates will score higher. As Honkai Star Rail is a gacha-based game, sometimes one cannot guarantee the best setup for their favorite characters, hence units who have natural synergy with various team comps are more often than not more valuable.
Relative power to their replacement
Some units have significant overlap in the role and the gap between them is considered when placed on the tier list. Conversely, units that are easily replaced in their roles will also score lower.
Ability to benefit from various Memory of Chaos blessings
As this endgame mode often features exceptionally powerful blessings that power up different archetypes, units that can take advantage of these blessings often will be rated higher than ones that only benefit from very specific blessings.
HSR Character Roles Explained
DPS/Sub-DPS/Damage Dealer
These units are focused on dealing damage. As of right now, there is not a clear distinction between characters who are DPS and Sub-DPS just yet. Thus, we decided not to separate DPS and Sub-DPS until we have a wider pool of characters.
Supports
These characters focus on bringing damage amplification for the team as well as utility via buffs and debuffs.
Sustains
These characters focus on protecting their teammates via healing, shielding, dispelling, crowd control protection, damage mitigation.
Notable / Recent Changes
- Castorice: Placed into SS Tier- Castorice has good AoE Damage and decent attack frequency, but her damage is more in a burst rather than spread out. Furthermore, Castorice’s damage is quite reliant on her Ultimate window, with strict team options that limit her potential in Pure Fiction.
- Anaxa: In Pure Fiction, Anaxa’s double skills is essentially a 140% Multiplier Value AoE attack on 5 targets. This is a great base to work with, considering the baseline of most Erudition on their AoE skill is 100% MV. Anaxa can also work as both a main Damage Dealer as well as a sub-DPS for someone like The Herta, giving him many opportunities to demonstrate his capacity. However, Anaxa does not have as high an attack frequency as some of his peers like Herta, Jade, or The Herta. This is due to the fact that his AoE damage is solely dependent on his Skill and Ultimate, while the top tier Pure Fiction Damage Dealers often have out-of-turn mean of attacking, or just a spammable Ultimate like Argenti.
Units That Gained Tiers Jump With Tribbie Release:
- Jade: Moved to EX Tier. Jade was already a powerhouse in this mode before patch 3.0, but with Tribbie and The Herta released back to back, she solidified her place as one of the most potent Pure Fiction clearer in the game.
- Argenti: Moved to EX Tier. Argenti is very versatile in Pure Fiction. He can work as either the hypercarry for Pure Fiction or as a Sub-DPS / Battery for The Herta team. In both roles, Argenti will fulfill his duty remarkably.
- Herta: Moved to EX Tier. Herta’s damage was slightly falling off before 3.0 in Pure Fiction, but her AoE Attack frequency was still stellar. With both The Herta and Tribbie released back to back, she has gained enough relevancy to ascend to her old position once again.
- Serval: Moved to S tier. Amongst the commonly used The Herta’s Erudition battery, Serval is the weakest in Pure Fiction as her skill and basic attack are both Blast-attack, but she still has a very spammable Ultimate which can charge both The Herta and Tribbie.
- Pela: Moved to S Tier. With The Herta and Tribbie, Pela gains another team where she can provide notable value. Her versatility and usefulness has been proven time to time and until we get a Limited Defense Shredder debuffer with a spammable Ultimate and SP Positivity, Pela is hard to completely replace.
Units That Are Revisited and Lowered in Rating:
- Ruan Mei: Moved to SS Tier. The release of Tribbie has created a clear gulf between her and Robin to the other amplifiers in this mode. While Ruan Mei is still a great generic buffer for any Pure Fiction team, Tribbie provides a much better alternative in the mode, and the difference in performance is enough to warrant a tier drop.
- Gallagher: Moved to SS Tier. Gallagher has seamlessly fit into the AoE meta thanks to his cheap AoE Ultimate that hit everyone. He also has high Toughness Damage and moves much more often than most sustain, allowing him to charge the new Grit mechanic in Pure Fiction fast and efficiently.
- Yunli: Moved to S Tier. Recent Pure Fiction layouts have been a bit unkind to Yunli. Even though she is still a great Pure Fiction unit, it has been shown that there are various ways that this mode can still screw her over, either via a horde of non-aggressive enemies or the appearance of elites in the other positions other than center.
- Feixiao, Seele: Moved to A Tier. With Pure Fiction getting further and further catered to full AoE characters, Feixiao and Seele are the last of the Single-Target characters that can somewhat function in Pure Fiction, but they have definitely found it harder to find success.
HSR Tier List Character Explanations
EX Tier
The absolute best units of each role. They can be brought to pretty much all endgame modes and will perform great at the minimum.
The Herta
With one of the high AoE Attack Frequency while also dealing fantastic damage, The Herta is most definitely the strongest AoE Damage dealer released to date. In her best team with units like Lingsha, Jade / Serval and RMC, The Herta can easily dispatch any Pure Fiction side with ease. While her team limitation may be cumbersome in other modes, in Pure Fiction bringing another Erudition while buffing both of them altogether is not a downside to her performance at all.
Jade
Jade is easily one of, if not, the strongest Pure Fiction DPS as of the current environment. Her AoE frequency is absolutely stellar, and she has a wide array of good DPS to be her drivers (taking the Debt Collector buff). While Jade does not benefit from that many types of blessing, her base performance in Pure Fiction is so stable and strong it is not an exaggeration to say she can trivialize any Pure Fiction side for a foreseeable future.
Herta
Herta has proved herself throughout various Pure Fiction as an absolute powerhouse. The condition for her full AoE Follow-up attack is extremely easy to satisfy and can proc a lot of time throughout pretty much any Pure Fiction and clear weak mobs with ease. Herta is also very flexible, capable of working as both a hyper carry and sub-DPS for Pure Fiction, and is also blessings-friendly, as she can take advantage of any Follow-up attacks, Ultimate, AoE damage, or energy blessing related.
Argenti
Argenti has one of the most spammable AoE Ultimates in the game and a good mix of both true AoE and bounce damage, giving him a high-performance floor when it comes to Pure Fiction. He can work with a wide array of supports and can take advantage of energy and Ultimate blessings. He can also function as a very effective battery for other Pure Fiction powerhouses like Tribbie or The Herta
Tribbie
Tribbie has exceptionally generic buffs that benefit multi-DPS teams, which is a staple in Pure Fiction. Furthermore, she has incredibly high AoE attack frequency and perfect synergy with any AoE Damage Dealers. Tribbie not only carries her own weight in this mode, but it is not an exaggeration to say she can hard-carry any Pure Fiction side without difficulty.
Robin
Robin’s Ultimate is incredibly impactful in Pure Fiction. She offers the strongest team-wide damage amplification out of all current amplifiers, but also the 100% Advance Forward for the whole team is extremely valuable in a mode that highly values extra actions and damage instances. Furthermore, Robin’s damage proc can let her teammates kill mobs with their damage instances, even from weak hits like a basic attack from the sustain unit. Outside of the Break team, almost any archetype will want Robin in their team for an easier time reaching 40k points.
Lingsha
Lingsha can fill many roles exceptionally in Pure Fiction. She is a strong AoE Damage Dealer for both the Super Break Team and Jade Follow-up team, while also bringing comfy enough sustain capacity. Her performance is clearly a notch above most sustain since she provides so much offensive presence even as a sustain in this mode.
SS Tier
Top tier units that can brute-force the endgame with their best team, but lack a certain edge to reach the highest level.
Rappa
Rappa is a fantastic AoE DPS for Pure Fiction and is the go-to DPS choice of the Super Break team in this mode. Pure Fiction mobs generally do not have high Toughness which means Rappa can break them much more frequently than in Memory of Chaos and fuels her talent even when off element. Rappa does have a very limited amount of blessings that she can take advantage of, mostly Break-related blessings, but her performance in her best team in Pure Fiction is undeniable, especially when paired with Fugue who can supply her with even more stacks on her talent.
Acheron
Acheron has two team variants that do very well in most Pure Fiction, one is with the DoT duo Black Swan and Kafka, and the other with Jiaoqiu. In both cases, they increase her Ultimate availability by a lot which is way more valuable than having one big nuke in this mode. Acheron can also be played in Dual DPS teams that can afford a slot for a debuffer and frequently charge her Ultimate.
Jing Yuan
Even though he has a lot of problems with Lightning Lord’s attack frequency, those issues are completely solved when paired with Sunday. After Sunday’s release, Jing Yuan has fantastic attack frequency from all three of his main attacking moves, namely his Skill, Ultimate, and Lightning Lord. Furthermore, Jing Yuan can benefit from a wide range of blessings like Follow-up attacks and ultimate and Energy related ones.
Castorice
Castorice is an HP-Scaling Damage Dealer in the same vein as Mydei and Blade. Castorice has several means of dealing AoE Damage, from her joint-attack with her memosprite to her memosprite’s special attacks, both with notable damage output. One of Castorice’s main problems is her reliance on Healers to charge her Ultimate and open her Damage window. Furthermore, Castorice has a rather strict team requirement, with her performance dropping when paired with another Damage Dealer, which can be a hindrance in Pure Fiction seasons that want high attack frequency.
Anaxa
In Pure Fiction, Anaxa’s double skills is essentially a 140% Multiplier Value AoE attack on 5 targets. This is a great base to work with, considering the baseline of most Erudition on their AoE skill is 100% MV. Anaxa can also work as both a main Damage Dealer as well as a sub-DPS for someone like The Herta, giving him many opportunities to demonstrate his capacity. However, Anaxa does not have as high an attack frequency as some of his peers like Herta, Jade, or The Herta. This is due to the fact that his AoE damage is solely dependent on his Skill and Ultimate, while the top tier Pure Fiction Damage Dealers often have out-of-turn mean of attacking, or just a spammable Ultimate like Argenti.
Ruan Mei
Ruan Mei offers a vast range of strong buffs such as Break Efficiency, Speed, Damage% Buff, and Res Pen. All these buffs are incredibly potent in Pure Fiction, but Ruan Mei’s biggest value is her versatility, capable of slotting in practically any archetype and contributing with minimum consideration. Ruan Mei is also one of the linchpins of the Break Team, supporting notable AoE Break-related DPS like Himeko or Rappa.
Sunday
Sunday provides both Action Advance and Energy, two mechanics that have continuously proven to be influential in Pure Fiction. Sunday is splashable in practically any hyper-carry team (and even non-hyper-carry teams). It performs exceptionally well while also not hindering team building thanks to his massive SP positivity with his Signature Lightcone and a massive amount of utility. The main arguments against him in the EX tier are that his buffs are Single-Target and thus make him less valuable in multi-DPS teams which are generally more prevalent in Pure Fiction, and the current lack of high-profile Summon DPS for him to propel.
Fugue
Fugue’s unique power is her application of Exo-Toughness, which is an additional Toughness Bar on every enemy after their initial Toughness Bar. This mechanic is a massive improvement for several Break-related units in Pure Fiction such as Lingsha, Himeko, and most notably, Rappa. While Fugue has a much smaller application than Sunday, her impact in making the break archetype more powerful in Pure Fiction is undeniable.
Jiaoqiu
Jiaoqiu’s mechanics are well-suited to Pure Fiction. Not only does he offer powerful nigh permanent vulnerability debuff fields that bypass the biggest problem of Nihility units – reapplying debuff onto new enemies entering the field, he also packs good personal damage which softens them quite nicely for any AoE DPS to quickly dispatch them.
Remembrance Trailblazer
RMC’s buffs in advance forward and true damage are just as good in Pure Fiction as in other modes, but their capacity to deal damage while still providing buffs is also more valuable here. It helps them synergize with DPS like The Herta, Robin or Feixiao, while also contributing to team damage.
Aventurine
Aventurine provides not just comfortable sustain performance, but his damage from his Follow-up attacks and Ultimate are a lot more impactful in Pure Fiction than in other modes due to mobs in this mode being a lot weaker.
Huohuo
Huohuo functions almost similar to a Harmony unit in Pure Fiction for many energy-centric units, some of which are exceptional Pure Fiction Damage Dealers like Argenti or Yunli. The requirement for sustaining is also much lower in Pure Fiction than in Memory of Chaos or Apocalyptic Shadow, meaning her SP economy can be much better with more sparse skill usage.
Gallagher
Gallagher is very versatile as a sustain thanks to his high SP positivity, high Toughness Damage, great action economy to stack the Grit mechanic, and being the best holder of Quid Pro Quo Light Cone to supply the team with energy. He also fits into various compositions with ease, and being a very low maintenance healer with great utility is a fantastic niche to have.
S Tier
Powerful character in a specific niche, can perform on the same level as SS Tier when certain conditions are met, but lacks certain edge to reach SS tier.
Yunli
The large number of enemies in Pure Fiction means Yunli gets a significant amount of energy from them hitting her, resulting in extremely frequent counters. Her damage profile consisting of mostly Blast and a lot of Bounce hits from her Ultimate let her handle both strong Elites/Bosses as well as hordes of weaker mobs. Yunli is also a beneficiary of a wide array of buffs, namely any Follow-up attacks, Ultimate, AoE damage, energy, or counter blessings can be utilized by Yunli.
Himeko
Himeko is very similar to Herta in that she has a high-frequency full AoE Follow-up attack that is valuable against an ongoing stream of weak enemies, but she has a much stricter activation requirement compared to Herta, depending on her team to break enemies fast and often. Himeko does have a wide range of blessings she can take advantage of, and she is surprisingly effective when paired with the Break team, but she lacks the consistency needed to be a higher tier.
Aglaea
Aglaea has extremely high attack frequency which lets her kill mobs quickly, but since Blast-type attacks can only attack 2 mobs at most in the newer Pure Fiction layout, she is less efficient than true AoE DPS like many Erudition units.
Black Swan & Kafka
At the moment, Black Swan and Kafka are practically joined to the hip as a duo for the DoT archetype. Black Swan’s strong AoE capacity and Kafka’s ability to detonate her DoT with a spammable and true AoE Ultimate make them a stable Pure Fiction team that can get respectable scores independent of blessing and go ballistic in any DoT-related Pure Fiction.
Serval
On her own Serval is not a particularly noteworthy AoE Damage Dealer, but she shines when paired with Tribbie or The Herta. This is thanks to her extremely spammable Ultimate allowing her to work as a great battery for these units.
Sparkle
As a support unit, Sparkle provides a lot of comfortability to most hyper-carry units in Pure Fiction with her SP frontloading and strong buffing power. Some of her more prominent teammates are powerhouses in this mode like Argenti, Yunli, or Seele.
Tingyun
Tingyun’s comparatively lower amplification is less of a problem in Pure Fiction compared to Memory of Chaos. Being an SP positive Energy battery unit is a huge boon in Pure Fiction due to the presence of strong energy users such as Yunli, Argenti, Robin, or Clara.
Bronya
Bronya is a lot harder to utilize well than Sparkle and Tingyun due to her high SP consumption but when she is played to her strength, she essentially acts as another copy of a DPS, which is exceptionally strong when this mode favors as much attack frequency as possible.
Harmony Trailblazer
Harmony Trailblazer (or HMC) is a core character in the Super Break archetype, which contains two very strong Pure Fiction specialists in Rappa and Lingsha. HMC also has a very spammable Ultimate, allowing her to abuse strong Light Cone like Dance Dance Dance or Ruan Mei’s Signature Light Cone very effectively.
Pela
Pela has good AoE Debuff uptime and good SP economy that make her a great F2P option for Pure Fiction, especially for units like Acheron and The Herta.
Fu Xuan
Fu Xuan is a comfy sustain for single-target-centric Pure Fiction. Her Crit Rate buff is teamwide so she can be played with dual DPS and she can contribute in damage with her AoE Ultimate.
Luocha / Bailu
The selling point of these units is their SP positivity when well-built compared to other Sustainers and they are effective abusers of Quid Pro Quo to help energy-based teams.
A Tier
Middle-of-the-pack characters who can perform decently with the right circumstances/blessings, but are generally outclassed by S and A Tier.
Mydei
Mydei is a Blast Damage Dealer that scales off HP and the amount of HP losses he accumulates throughout the battle. Mydei has very high Damage output in his premium team, but the auto-targeting of his Enhanced Skill and Blast-type Damage are both massive hindrance to him in this mode.
Seele
Despite being a completely Single Target DPS, Seele can hold her own in Pure Fiction thanks to her ability to chain kills from one mob to another, and this mode has no lack of those. Seele’s main problem is she will visibly struggle in Pure Fiction where the sturdier elite enemies make up a bigger proportion of the enemy lineup. Furthermore, she needs both high investment and good manual play to showcase her potential in this mode, as getting kills continuously is everything for her.
Feixiao
Similar to Seele, Feixiao can be played in many Pure Fiction thanks to her high attack frequency. She can be played in a dual DPS team and handle the tanky enemies so that her AoE-focused teammates can deal with the mobs. She can also be an effective driver for Jade.
Clara
Pure Fiction is where Clara shines best amongst the 3 endgame modes. She is similar to Yunli in that she scales well against enemies’ attack frequency, and she can brute force off-element Pure Fiction side quite competently as long as the enemies are aggressive enough. However, Clara’s performance can fluctuate often since unlike Yunli, she is a complete sitting duck against non-aggressive enemies. Clara does take advantage of a good amount of common blessings such as follow-up attacks, energy, and counter-related blessings.
Blade
Blade shines in hyper-aggressive Pure Fiction, but unlike Clara and Yunli he can benefit even when enemies do not attack directly but instead via HP loss mechanics like DoT. He also makes a great partner with Jade and together they are not lacking in AoE damage. Blade’s problem is that his modifier makes him very lackluster against beefy elite enemies and he does not scale very well with the current cast of amplifiers.
Firefly
Firefly by herself is quite mediocre in Pure Fiction. However, her AoE Fire implant is incredibly valuable for units like Himeko or Lingsha, and thus she can act as an enabler for these PF powerhouses.
Asta
Asta damage amplification may be lackluster compared to top-tier Harmony, but a teamwide Speed buff is still an excellent way to squeeze in more DPS actions over the battle.
Hanya
Hanya is the single target version of Asta with a better SP economy and damage boost. She can be played as a substitute if stronger Harmony units are not available like Sparkle.
Gepard / Lynx
Both are passable sustain for Pure Fiction. Lynx has some synergy with units like Blade, Clara, or Yunli but can also backfire in stages with hard-hitting enemies, while Gepard has poor synergy with units that act again a lot due to the shield falling off.
B Tier
Lackluster characters who got powercreeped / have been underpowered compared to their peers. Need a lot of help to perform.
Dan Heng IL / Qingque
Both have good Blast / AoE damage output but consume too much SP for those big hits while Pure Fiction favors multiple strong small hits and is more efficient with SP.
Dr. Ratio / Hunt March / Topaz
These Follow-up attack single target DPS are usable on stages with follow-up blessings but hard to use when not since their attack frequency is not as great as Feixiao or Seele.
Sampo / Guinaifen
F2P DoT options with decent AoE capacity. They are mainly good in mostly just DoT Pure Fiction and lackluster when not.
Xueyi / Jingliu
They have Blast-type damage but don’t have anything else notable that makes them strong options for Pure Fiction.
March 7th / Fire MC / Natasha
These units can sustain a team in Pure Fiction provided the enemies are not too hard hitting, but they cannot match the level of higher level sustainers.
C Tier
The worst characters of their niche, require significant investment to stay relevant.
Yanqing / Boothill / Dan Heng / Luka / Sushang / Moze / Silver Wolf
These units are all hard Single Target locked with not enough damage distribution into a lot of small hits to handle the high number of enemies in Pure Fiction.
Arlan / Hook / Misha / Physical MC
They have some AoE damage in their kits but are just too lackluster modifier/base kits to stand out.
Yukong / Welt
Both are not SP positive support. Yukong mostly is good with burst DPS which is not favored in Pure Fiction while Welt just doesn’t do anything well enough for the resources he consumes.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to let us know what you think. To check out more resources, be sure to check out our other HSR Guides.
