When you take your initial steps into the enthralling world of Honkai Star Rail, Kafka is the first one to meet you - and she definitely makes an impact. And in this Kafka build, we're here to help you make the most of this powerful, five-star lightning Nihility character, including her best light cones, relics, team comps, and more.
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.
Here's everything in our best Honkai Star Rail Kafka build:
What's the best Honkai Star Rail Kafka build?
Kafka is a five-star lightning character who treads the path of the Nihility. She excels at debuffing her enemies and reducing their overall powers.
Here's a brief overview of our best HSR Kafka build:
| Rarity | ★★★★★ |
| Element | Lightning |
| Path | Nihility |
| Best light cone | Patience Is All You Need |
| Light cone substitute |
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| Best relic set | Prisoner in Deep Confinement |
| Best planar ornament set | Firmament Frontline: Glamoth |
| Main stats |
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| Sub-stats | Speed = energy regen > attack% > break effect |
Kafka's best light cone is her signature five-star, Patience Is All You Need. Her best relic set is four pieces of Prisoner in Deep Confinement paired up with two pieces of the planar ornament set Firmament Frontline: Glamoth.
When choosing relics for Kafka, we recommend boosting her speed, attack%, energy regen, and break effect. When leveling up her skills, you should prioritize her ultimate, then her skill, then her talent, then her basic attack. When upgrading her major traces, you should prioritize Torture (A2), then Thorns (A6), then Plunder (A4).
How to use Kafka
Kafka specializes in AoE attacks that can inflict enemies with shock, which sees them take lightning damage each turn. As such, Kafka makes for a strong sub-DPS who can weaken enemies so her main DPS can swoop in and finish them off.
Due to her ability to apply great shock damage over time and her attack-scaling skills, 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.
What's the best light cone for Kafka?
Kafka's signature light cone is Patience Is All You Need which increases the duration and attack of DoT. Of the ones currently available in the game, the best light cone for Kafka is In the Name of the World, which boosts the damage she deals to enemies affected by a DoT, while also increasing her effect hit rate and attack after she uses her skill.
Eye of the Prey is a great four-star option as it also boosts her effect hit rate and the damage she deals with her DoT. Alternatively, feel free to try out any light cones that align with the path of the Nihility.
| Patience Is All You Need | Kafka deals 16% more damage to enemies inflicted with DoT. For every attack, increases Kafka's speed by 4%, up to five times. Meanwhile, enemies receiving attacks take 20% more DoT for one turn |
| In the Name of the World | Increases Kafka's damage to debuffed enemies by 24%. When Kafka uses her skill, the effect hit rate for this attack increases by 18%, and attack increases by 24% |
| Eyes of the Prey | Increases Kafka's effect hit rate by 20% and increases DoT by 24% |
What are the best relics for Kafka?
Kafka's best relic set is four pieces of Prisoner in Deep Confinement. It suits her DoT-heavy kit perfectly, allowing her to shred through enemy defenses and dish out extra damage.
Alternatively, Band of Sizzling Thunder is a good set for Kafka. It offers her a nice boost to her lightning damage and base attack, increasing her damage out put quite a bit.
The best planar ornament set for Kafka is Firmament Frontline: Glamoth. It boosts her attack by a flat 12%, and also offers a damage boost when her speed hits a certain threshold.
Space Sealing Station is also a strong planar ornament set for Kafka. It once again increases her attack, with the boost increasing when her speed reaches 120 or higher.
Here are the best HSR Kafka relics:
| Prisoner in Deep Confinement | Two equipped: increases attack by 12% Four equipped: for every DoT the target enemy is afflicted with, Kafka ignores 6% of the target's defense when dealing damage to them. This effect is valid for a maximum of three DoTs |
| Band of Sizzling Thunder | Two equipped: increases lightning damage by 10% Four equipped: increases Kafka's attack by 20% for one turn after she uses her skill |
Planar ornaments
| Firmament Frontline: Glamoth | Two equipped: increases Kafka's ATK by 12%. When her speed is equal to or higher than 135/160, Kafka deals 12%/18% more damage |
| Space Sealing Station | Two equipped: increases Kafka's attack by 12%. When Kafka's speed reaches 120 or higher, her attack increases by another 12% |
Relic stat recommendations
When you're picking relics for Kafka, we recommend that you prioritize the following stats.
Main stats:
- Feet: speed or attack%
- Planar sphere: lightning damage bonus
- Body: attack%
- Link rope: attack%
Sub-stats:
- Lightning damage bonus
- Effect hit rate
- Attack%
- Crit rate/damage
What are Honkai Star Rail Kafka's skills?
Here are all of Kafka's attacks and abilities. Generally, we recommend using her skill and ultimate as frequently as possible, especially in multi-target situations. It's also a good idea to apply any other DoT through her allies before you use her skill to make the most of that secondary effect.
Active attacks:
| Basic attack | Midnight Tumult Deal 50% of Kafka's attack as lightning damage to your target enemy |
| Skill | Caressing Moonlight 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 already has a DoT, immediately deal damage equal to 100% of all current DoT effects the enemy has |
| Ultimate | Twilight Trill 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 60% of Kafka's attack as lightning DoT at the start of their turn |
Passive skill and technique:
| 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 | 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 |
Major traces:
| A2 | Thorns When Kafka uses her basic attack on a shocked enemy, the shocked state immediately deals damage equal to 40% of the original damage received |
| A4 | Plunder If you defeat an enemy affected by shock, Kafka regenerates ten energy |
| A6 | Fear Shocked enemies deal 20% less damage to Kafka |
What are Honkai Star Rail 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 HSR Kafka's eidolons:
| E1 | Recitativo When an enemy hits Kafka there's a 100% base chance of her inflicting shock on them. This shock state has the same effect as the one applied by Kafka's ultimate |
| E2 | Leggiero Kafka's talent can trigger twice each turn |
| E3 | Fantasia Increase the level of Kafka's ultimate by two (max level 15), and her basic attack by one (maximum level ten) |
| E4 | Da Capo When you use Kafka's ultimate, instead of enemies immediately receiving damage from the shock state, they immediately receive damage from all current DoT sources |
| E5 | Doloroso Increases the level of Kafka's skill and talent by two (up to a maximum level of 15) |
| E6 | Fortississimo When you trigger Kafka's talent for the first time each battle, its damage dealt increases by 120% and immediately deals shock damage equal to 100% of the original DoT multiplier |
What are Honkai Star Rail Kafka's ascension materials?
You can level Kafka all the way up to 80 but, in addition to the EXP logs, you also need a set of materials to ascend her at certain intervals.
Here are all of Kafka's ascension materials:
| 20 |
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| 30 |
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| 40 |
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| 50 |
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| 60 |
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| 70 |
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Here's where to get each of Kafka's ascension materials:
- Thief's instinct / usurper's scheme / conqueror's will - drops from voidranger enemies aboard the Herta Space Station, Honkai Star Rail Simulated Universe and assignment rewards, or purchase from the Embers Exchange and Herta Space Station world stores
- Shape shifter's lightning staff - drops from the Honkai Star Rail stagnant shadow in the Xianzhou Luofu's Stargazer Navalia
What are Kafka's trace materials?
You can upgrade Kafka's skills and abilities and unlock special passives by leveling up her traces, but you need certain materials in order to do this.
Here are all of Honkai Star Rail Kafka's trace materials:
- 41 thief's instinct, 56 usurper's scheme, 58 conqueror's will
- Obtain from voidranger enemies enemies in Herta Space Station or the simulated universe, assignment rewards, the embers exchange store, the Herta Space Station world shop, or the golden calyxes in Jarilo-VI
- 15 obsidian of dread, 72 obsidian of desolation, and 139 obsidian of obsession
- Obtain from the crimson calyx in Jarilo-VI's Great Mine, the ember's exchange store, or from the Herta Space Station and Jarilo-VI world shops
- 12 regret of infinite ochema
- Obtain from the Regret of Infinite Ochema boss in the Scalegorge Waterscape Echo of War located in the Xianzhou Luofu
- 11 tracks of destiny
- Three million credits
Who is HSR's Kafka?
The first person we meet on our Trailblazing adventure, Kafka is a calm, collected, and drop-dead gorgeous member of the Stellaron Hunters. She's on the Interastral Peace Corporation's wanted list, where only her name and "interest in collecting coats" are listed.
Little is known about her aside from her the next-in-command of "Destiny Slave" Elio's most trusted members who works in order to achieve Elio's envisioned future. Kafka has an ability called Spirit Whisper that allows her to hypnotically manipulate others through language.
When we see her aboard the Xianzhou Luofu, we learn that she's searching for fellow Stellaron Hunter, Honkai Star Rail's Blade. She appears quite familiar with the broody man, affectionately referring to him as "Bladie".
And that's everything we've got on Honkai Star Rail's Kafka. If you want to keep up with Hoyoverse's other hit RPG, check out our Genshin Impact tier list and Genshin Impact codes, as well as build guides for characters like Genshin Impact's Xingqiu, Genshin Impact's Chongyun, and Genshin Impact's Keqing.