Which Free 5-Star Should You Pick in Honkai: Star Rail? – Answered

Honkai: Star Rail caught some newcomers by surprise when they saw they could get a free 5-star of their choice after 300 pulls on the Stellar Warp banner. The Additional Rewards gift you either Himeko, Welt, Bronya, Gepard, Clara, Yanqing or Bailu, but which one should be your pick?

Which 300 Pulls Character Should You Pick in Honkai: Star Rail?

While the usual (and objectively correct) response to this is just pick your favorite, that’s probably not the answer you were looking for. So for all purposes, this article will recommend the best character you should pick from a meta point of view. But there’s no point in playing meta if you’re not having fun with the characters you’re playing with, so choose wisely.

With that being said, consider the following rules before setting your pick in stone. They’re made considering an average player scenario of a F2P/low spender player (Supply Pass/Nameless Glory only) who doesn’t have most Stellar Warp characters yet:

• Pick a character you don’t own (Eidolons are less impactful than a whole new character);
• Pick a character that attends to your account’s needs (Elemental DPS, extra healer/buffer, etc);
• Pick a character with good synergies with the ones you already built.

Without further ado, let’s evaluate all characters ranked in order of their overall usefulness for all accounts. If you happen to own number one, consider picking number two and so on. When in doubt about two close options, think about which characters you already own. There’s no big reason to pick Yanqing over Himeko if you already have Seele, for example.

1 – Bronya

One of the best characters not only in the Stellar Warp banner but also in the whole game. She’s the only 5-star Harmony in the game prior to Ruan Mei’s release, which already puts her in a very interesting spot. Not only she have many damage buffs, but she also gives Advance Forward to her Skill target, one of the most broken things a DPS can get.

This gives her notable synergies with hypercarries like Seele, Blade, Dan Heng IL and any other damage dealer the game might release eventually. This makes her timeproof and definitely the best pick (meta-wise) for anyone who hasn’t got her yet on a lost 50/50.

2 – Gepard

Initially thought to be one of the worst characters in the banner, his true value was revealed once people started noticing how strong his shields can get given some investment. Gepard is generally Skill Point positive (will generate more Skill Points than consume them) and has access to many Light Cones that redirect attacks to him.

And he can protect your whole team with little to no difficulty in higher Memory of Chaos stages, making it a prime choice if you don’t feel like running healers. He’s fairly easy to build too, so he ends up being one of the best characters for both early and late-game content. Consider him unless you have other premium sustainers like Fu Xuan, Luocha or Huohuo.

3 – Clara

Svarog (the real character, let’s be honest) is unironically one of the heaviest hitters in the game. Follow-up attacks have been receiving more and more support with the release of characters like Topaz and Relic sets like Archeduke, so it’s safe to say they’ll only get stronger with time. And Clara has a ton of those without even needing a turn.

She has good F2P LC options and respectable damage even without a perfect build and can easily carry you through difficult content like Swarm Disaster thanks to her insane synergy with various Paths. She’s a worthy DPS even if you already own a few others thanks to her uniqueness. She also absolutely doesn’t need Speed, which makes her easier to build. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t wear shoes.

4 – Bailu

Supports are tied higher here because people usually roll for DPS, so getting units that fortify them from Stellar Warp is always a good choice. And Bailu is a good pick as she can make any team almost invincible with just a few relics of investment. The randomness portion of her healing isn’t actually as bad as it seems, and if the worst ever comes, she’s the only character in the game with a revive in her kit, something invaluable for harder content such as Swarm Disaster or Memory of Chaos.

Bailu only ranks slightly lower because her lack of cleanse really hurts her as a sustainer when all other Abundance units (including 4-stars) have it in their kit somewhere. I don’t think it’ll take too long until Hoyoverse gives us another free Abundance character too, so that desperate need for two healers might be over soon.

5 – Welt

Welt’s kit can be a bit confusing at first, but you’ll rarely see someone regretting building him. His gameplay revolves around not letting the enemy have a turn, having access to many delays, slows and quick Breaks with his bouncing Skill. Grandpa’s also a powerhouse and it’s definitely not lacking in the damage department. His Eidolons are some of the best among the base 5-stars too, so losing another 50/50 to him still counts as winning in a certain way.

Him being Imaginary also makes him valuable as we only have a single 4-star with that element, making Welt automatically more valuable. He can also apply more debuffs through some LCs and work in many types of teams that aren’t just hypercarry-focused, so he’s quite versatile.

6 – Himeko

Himeko has been seeing better days compared to the game’s release era now that we have the already-mentioned new Relics/Supports dedicated to her. Her follow-ups require Breaking the target, so she really shines against fire-weak enemies, but she does deal some respectable damage by herself too.

With more AoE requirements coming up in the latest Memory of Chaos and the upcoming Pure Fiction mode, she’s more useful than ever and can be a reliable source of damage, especially if you’re lacking any DPS Fire unit. Other Erudition characters can probably outdamage her, but she’s still far from being weak.

7 – Yanqing

Yanqing’s only ranked last because the other options are just too good, not because he’s weak. Although he has certain particularities that make running him a bit more complicated, he’s a very solid DPS that’s easier to build since he doesn’t really need that much critical rate thanks to his Ultimate. His single-target potential is amazing once he gets some good relics and a useful Light Cone running.

But to keep up with his powerful assaults, you must guarantee that he won’t be damaged, which can be challenging to do without other units like Gepard or March 7th, which aren’t always what you were willing to run in this specific team. This makes him less desirable than others in this list, which are mostly easier to slot in most teams.

And that’s a wrap-up. As previously stated, the correct pick is your favorite character, so just feel free to choose them when you finally hit 300. If you somehow own all of them by this point, I’d go with Eidolons for the one you use the most, although Welt and Clara’s Eidolons are particularly great. And please don’t spend your Jades here. You have shiny limited banners just around the corner, so give those a chance!