When you take your initial steps into the enthralling world of Honkai Star Rail, Kafka is the first one to meet you – playing air violin as the space station around her falls into chaos. Needless to say, she’s a total badass, and is certainly the type of gal you want at your side as you’re fighting through the cosmos.
If you want to kit Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka out with the best light cones and relics, and get familiar with her attacks and abilities, you’re in the right place. In this guide, we clue you in with everything you need to know about this electrifying lady, and before long, you ‘won’t remember a thing except her’.
To get familiar with the rest of the faces you can meet aboard the Astral Express, head over to our Honkai Star Rail tier list and Honkai Star Rail characters guides. We’ve also got more individual build guides just like this one, including Honkai Star Rail’s Jing Yuan, Honkai Star Rail’s March 7th, and Honkai Star Rail’s Dan Heng.
Who is Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka?
Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka may be the first notable character you see, and the first one you take the rails as (pun intended), but she still remains shrouded in mystery. She’s featured on the Interastral Peace Corporation’s wanted list, where her entry only states her name, along with a single sentence – ‘likes collecting coats’. She’s a Stellaron Hunter, and one of Destiny’s Slave Elio’s most trusted members, who sets out to achieve Elio’s envisioned future.
When you first select your main trailblazer, she’s there to guide you through, but leaves shortly after a series of cryptic messages. She appears to know you from a previous life – and may hold secrets as to how you ended up aboard the space station and, in turn, hurtling through space on the Astral Express.
Kafka’s English voice actor is Cheryl Texiera, whereas her Japanese voice actor is Itoh Shizuka. She treads the path of Nihility.
What’s the best Honkai Star Rail Kafka build?
As the Honkai Star Rail release date is not yet upon us, all the information we have on kickass Kafka is based on the second closed beta, meaning that some details are subject to change. However, what we do know is that she’s a lightning character skilled in the use of knives, swords, and light guns, and that she specialises in AoE attacks that can inflict enemies with shock. Shocked enemies take lightning damage each turn.
Due to her ability to apply great shock damage over time, and her abilities hinging on her attack stat, we recommend aiming for relics that increase both her damage and her lightning damage boost. We also recommend teaming her up with other characters who inflict DoT, like Honkai Star Rail’s Sampo or Honkai Star Rail’s Jing Yuan, to make the most of her skill.
Which light cone should I use for Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka?
The following light cone is a five-star piece catered to Honkai Star Rail Kafka’s abilities. However, if you can’t get hold of this one, make sure to equip her with a light cone that aligns with the path of Nihility in order to activate the skill.
| Light cone | Effect | How to obtain |
| Patience is All You Need | The wearer deals more damage to enemies inflicted with DoT. For every attack, the wearer’s speed increases by a set percentage, up to five times. Meanwhile, enemies receiving attacks take 20% more DoT for one turn. | Gacha |
Which relics should I use for Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka?
There aren’t many relic sets available in the current beta, but we found the Band of Sizzling Thunder, which increases lightning damage and focuses on Kafka’s shock damage, to be the best set for her. You don’t unlock this set until you progress quite far through the Jarilo-VI storyline, so feel free to use any set that focuses on attack damage until you can snag these ones.
| Relic | Effect | How to obtain |
| Band of Sizzling Thunder | Two equipped: increases lightning damage by 12% Four equipped: the enemy receives 40% more shock damage from Kafka. Kadka also deals 18% more damage to enemies inflicted with shock Five equipped: increases lightning damage by 12% |
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Roaring Thunder, Jarilo-VI, Everwinter Hill |
What are Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka’s attacks?
Active:
| Skill | Effect |
| Basic attack: Midnight Tumult (single attack) | Deal 50% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to your target enemy |
| Skill: Caressing Moonlight (blast) | Deal 70% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to a target enemy, and 25% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to enemies adjacent to the target. If the target enemy is already taking DoT, immediately deal damage equal to 100% of all current DoT effects the enemy has |
| Ultimate: Twilight Trill (AoE attack) | Deal 36% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to all enemies. There’s a 100% base chance for the enemies you hit to be shocked and immediately take damage equal to 80% of the received damage. Shock lasts for three turns. When shocked, enemies receive 40% of Kafka’s attack as lightning DoT at the start of their turn |
Passive:
| Skill | Effect |
| Talent: Gentle but Cruel | After an ally uses a basic attack on a shocked enemy, Kafka immediately deals 75% of her attack as lightning damage to that enemy. This effect can only be triggered once per turn |
Technique:
| Skill | Effect |
| Mercy is Not Forgiveness | Kafka immediately attacks the enemy, and deals 50% of her attack as lightning damage to a random enemy upon entering battle. Additionally, all enemies have a 100% base chance to be shocked for three turns. While shocked, enemies take 50% of Kafka’s attack as lightning DoT at the start of each turn |
What are Kafka’s eidolons?
Honkai Star Rail eidolons are similar to Genshin Impact’s constellations, and require you to obtain multiple copies of the same character to activate them. Here are all of Kafka’s eidolons.
| Eidolon | Effect |
| Level one – Recitativo | Upon Kafka being hit, if the attacker isn’t currently shocked, there’s a 100% base chance of inflicting Kafka’s ultimate’s shock effect on them |
| Level two – Leggiero | Kafka’s talent can trigger twice each turn |
| Level three – Fantasia | Increase the level of Kafka’s ultimate by three, up to a maximum of level fifteen. Also increases the level of her basic attack by one, up to a maximum of ten |
| Level four – Da Capo | When you use Kafka’s ultimate, enemies go from immediately receiving the current shock damage, to immediately receiving damage from all current DoT effects |
| Level five – Doloroso | Increases the level of Kafka’s skill by three, up to a maximum of level 15. Also increases the level of her basic attack by one, up to a maximum of ten |
| Level six – Fortississimo | When you trigger Kafka’s talent for the first time each battle, its damage deal increases by 120% and immediately deals damage equal to 100% of the current shock damage |
And that’s everything we’ve got on Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka for now. Keep in mind, that this info is based on the closed beta, and may change when the game reaches its full release – but we’ll be sure to update this page when we get to that! In the meantime, check out our list of the best games like Genshin Impact for more adventures to explore.
