Every game, and indeed every character in every game, has a following - fans that will go to bat for their main, and interact with all their content. Honkai Star Rail's fans are the subject of today's battle of the bias.
A user on Bilibili, a Chinese video platform, has collated data about the most popular Honkai Star Rail characters on the site, all the way from the game's release back in April 2023, to October 2025. The content that makes up the data includes videos of the characters in Star Rail, and considers versions of the same character as one. So Evernight and March 7th fall under March 7th, and Dan Heng's three versions become one.
The top results may actually surprise you here. We have the ranks of the top 25, and coming in at number one - HSR's Firefly. Of course, the golden child and darling of the Penacony quests herself. Number two, though… is the Trailblazer. Genshin Impact could never, and even Zenless Zone Zero's Proxies probably wouldn't break the top five. Well done, TB, you're the best Hoyoverse main character out there.
March 7th takes third place, with Dan Heng at fifth - they're separated by a rare choice: HSR's Kafka. Despite not appearing for multiple patches, she clearly made a good impression on the fandom. I also agree, I think she's neat.
Other mentions include Phainon, Jing Yuan, and Blade at nine, 10, and 11, respectively, with Acheron surprisingly all the way down at number 12. The last character coming in at number 25 is Yunli. This, to me, is also a surprise as the community didn't seem too fussed about her release. But then maybe my social media algorithms just showed me what I'd agree with.
There's some contention in our team about who deserves the top spot of the most popular character, and if you want to voice your opinions, why not hop into our Pocket Tactics Discord? Plus, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list to see who's the best in the game.