Honkai Star Rail: All 7 Elements [Explained]

Take control over the Astral Express by learning about all the elements that Honkai Starrail has to offer!

Honkai Star Rail follows the same trajectory as its predecessors regarding the elemental system, such as in Genshin or Honkai Impact. Players might want to know which elements there might be in the game, how they might work, and what characters are associated with each element; therefore, an in-depth look into the Honkai Star Rail Elements is a sure help. 

Important: Players should know about the weak effect of each element and the type of damage it inflicts on a certain enemy if they are to master battles. 

Key Takeaways
  • There are a total of 7 elements that players can encounter in-game, ranging from Fire, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Physical, Quantum as well as Imaginary. 
  • Players can deal damage based on their corresponding elements, such as lightning characters will deal Lightning damage. 
  • The elements also cause their respective weaknesses to opponents. 
  • Each opponent has a toughness bar which is a white bar that can be depleted with the use of a specific element. 

The Fire element is the first element that players can come across. 

  • It causes the Burn weakness, which causes opponents to take increased fire damage at the beginning of each turn for 2 turns. 
  • There are 3 characters that have the Fire element ranging from Hook, Himeko as well as Asta. 

The physical element is the second element that players can see. 

  • Enemies that are inflicted with the Physical element take Bleed
  • Characters like Clara, Natasha, and Sushang are of the Physical element. 

The Ice element is the third element which is a DoT-based element. 

  • Whenever opponents are in the Break state, they get Freeze
  • Characters like March 7th, Pela, Yanqing, Herta, and Gepard are ice-based. 

The Lightning element is the fourth element players can encounter and has the highest number of units. 

  • Enemies are inflicted with the Shock weakness effect with Lightning. 
  • Arlan, Bailu, Jing Yuan, Kafka, Tingyun, and Serval belong to the Lightning line-up. 

The fifth element is the Wind element

  • Opponents intake the Shear weakness effect. 
  • Characters include Dan Heng, Sampo, Blade as well as Bronya

Quantum is the sixth element and has the following abilities. 

  • Opponents intake the Entanglement weakness effect once their weakness bar has been depleted. 
  • Characters like Seele, Qingyue, and Xuan, as well as Silver Wolf, are present in the Quantum unit lineup. 

The final element is Imaginary. 

  • Opponents get Imprisonment, their actions get deleted, and speed gets reduced. 
  • There are two characters such as Welt and Luocha

All Elements 

HS All Elements
All Elements

Kicking things off, the first thing that players might want to know about the Honkai Star Rail Elements is that in total, players are able to experience the game with 7 elements, and while five of these may seem like the regular elements, two of those haven’t been seen in any game of Hoyoverse other than Honkai Impact 3rd. 

  • The main elements that players will need to be concerned with include Physical, Fire, Lightning, Wind, Ice which are considered to be the basic elements that every other game has as well. 
  • Other than that, the Quantum and Imaginary bring in a whole new aspect for players that might have been coming new from playing a game like Genshin Impact
  • Players will be able to deal damage that corresponds to their specific element. For example, for players that are using a character that is of the Ice element, players will be able to deal Ice damage to the opponent at hand. 
HS White Bar
White Bar
  • Anytime players are fighting the enemies and they are able to break the toughness bar of an opponent and weaken them, all of these seven elements will end up offering a specific effect to the enemy. 
HS Wind Element
Wind Element
  • The physical element causes bleeding upon weakening the enemy and making their toughness bar dwindle down, while the Fire element causes enemies to burn. 
  • Alongside that, the Ice element causes them to freeze, Lightning causes them to be shocked, and Wind causes Shear, while the two elements that are Quantum causes Entanglement, and Imaginary causes Imprisonment. 

Weakness Mechanic

Now, while we’re on the topic of All Elements Honkai Star Rail, it might be worth noting how the weakness mechanic works as well since it is directly correlated to the elemental system at hand. 

  • The main thing that players need to know here is that there are no elemental reactions that can take place like there used to be in Genshin, where players could take elements like Hydro and Pyro to cause them to vaporize. 
  • Rather, each enemy has a specific toughness or white bar that is present on top of their main red HP bar. 
HS Toughness Bar
Toughness Bar
  • Right above the Toughness bar, there are a set of elements that players can see, and in this case, the two elements here might be Fire and Wind, which means that the enemy has a specific weakness to those two elements. 
HS Fire And Wind Weakness
Fire And Wind Weakness

Therefore, using a character with the element, such as using Himeko, who is Fire, might be worth it here since she will be able to deal extra damage to the opponent. 

HS Weakness Battle
Weakness Battle
  • Once the player uses the specific element that the opponent is weak to, their toughness bar starts to decrease, and once it goes to zero, it causes a Break to occur, after which the enemy becomes vulnerable and enters a weakened state, and players are then able to deal a lot more damage. 

Fire 

One of the first elements that players are able to encounter in the game is the Fire element. If players were to compare it to the element in Genshin impact, it could be considered the Pyro element, but how it works is different. 

HS Fire Gameplay
Fire Gameplay
  • Whenever any characters from the Fire element are used in combat, they will be able to deal Fire damage. 
  • Fire damage can also be considered a DoT since it ends up causing enemies to be burned for two turns after the weakness bar has been depleted. 
HS Fire Weakness
Fire Weakness
  • Anytime players use the Fire element and target an enemy with Fire weakness, and they will be able to cause the weakness bar to go down faster
  • Due to this, after the Break has been achieved, players can cause Burn to opponents, which causes them to take fire Damage at the beginning of each turn for a certain amount of turns. 

Characters

Now, let’s look at the characters that might have the Fire element. So far, as of the release coming soon, there are three characters ranging from Himeko, Hook, and Asta that have the fire element

HS Fire Characters
Fire Characters
  • Asta is essentially the Leading astronomy researcher that is mainly known to be responsible for the main events that occur in the Herta Space Station. She belongs to The Harmony Path and is affiliated with the Herta Space Station. 
  • Himeko is another Fire user (revived from Honkai Impact 3rd why Hoyoverse), and she belongs to The Erudition and is affiliated with the Astral Express. 
  • The hook is the final Fire user as of nearing release and is affiliated with The Moles and belongs to the Destruction path. 

Physical 

The next of the Honkai Star Rail Elements that we would like to discuss is known as the Physical element, and it can be directly correlated to the Physical element that used to be in Genshin. 

HS Physical Gameplay
Physical Gameplay
  • Any character that is of the Physical element will be able to inflict physical damage on opponents that are in a battle with them. 
  • The physical damage also causes DoT since it is going to be causing Bleeding to opponents. 
HS Physical Weakness
Physical Weakness
  • Whenever any opponent is weak to Physical damage, and a character deals physical damage to them, their white bar slowly starts to go down, eventually causing them to break. 
  • Once they have achieved the Break state, they become vulnerable and take Bleed, which causes them to take physical damage at the beginning of each turn for a short amount of turns. 

Characters 

Now, as far as the characters are concerned for these specific elements, there are a total of 3 characters such as Clara, Natasha as well as Sushang. 

HS Physical Characters
Physical Characters
  • Clara is the first physical unit, and she belongs to The Destruction Path and is affiliated with the Prospectors. 
  • Natasha is our second physical unit, and she belongs to The Abundance Path and is affiliated with the Wildfire. 
  • As far as Sushang is concerned, players can see her as being affiliated with the Xianzhou Alliance, as well as Cloud Knights, and she belongs to The Hunt path. 

Ice 

Moving on, the next element that players can interact with is Ice, which can be compared to the cryo element in Genshin.

HS Ice Weakness
Ice Weakness
  • Any character that is from the Ice element will be easily able to inflict Ice damage on opponents that are in the battle. 
  • Whenever an opponent is weak to the Ice element, they will be able to take increased damage from Ice elemental characters.
    HS Ice Gameplay
    Ice Gameplay
  • After the toughness bar has been broken and opponents are in the Break state, they are inflicted with Freeze, which ends up causing them to take in Ice damage at the beginning of each turn as well as for a certain number of turns; they cannot take action, since they get frozen. 

Characters 

Now, as far as the Ice-based characters in Honkai Star Rail are concerned, they will range from Gepard, Herta, Marth 7th, Pela, and Yanqing. 

HS Ice Characters
Ice Characters
  • Gepard is a male character that is one of the first Ice units, and he belongs to the Preservationpath, while he is concerned with the Silvermane Guards. 
  • Next, we have Herta, our very own Herta Space Station owner and boss girl, and while being a four-star, she is from The Erudition Path. 
  • March 7th (yes, that’s her actual name) is a female unit that happens to be four-star, and with her being one of the main units in-game, she belongs to the Preservation and is affiliated with the Astral Express. 
  • Pela is another female unit that first became playable in the Version 0.60 beta version and is a four-star character, belongs to the Nihility path, and is affiliated with the Union. 
  • Now one of our main Ice-based five-star units is Yanqing, and while being ice-based, he belongs to the Hunt Path and is affiliated with the Xianzhou Lofu. 

Lightning 

Next up, the next element concerned in Honkai Star Rail has to be the infamously beloved Lightning element. Both in Genshin and Star Rail, it seems like Lightning is well-loved, with both games providing the highest number of characters from this element. 

HS Lightning Gameplay
Lightning Gameplay
  • Players that main units that are Lightning Based will be able to output Lightning damage unto opponents they might be fighting. 
HS Lightning Weakness
Lightning Weakness
  • If an opponent is unfortunate enough to face your wrath and is weak to Lightning, then it takes the Shock weakness effect. 
  • For two turns, players can cause opponents to take in Lightning damage at the beginning of each turn for a certain amount of turns. 

Characters

Let’s see which characters players might be able to play whenever they decide to use the Lightning element, as the characters include Arlan, Bailu, Jing Yuan (my future main frfr), Kafka, Serval Tingyun. 

HS Lightning Character
Lightning Character
  • First, Arlan is a four-star Lightning character that belongs to the Destruction Path and is affiliated with the Herta Space Station. 
  • Bailu is a smaller five-star character that is also lightning-based. She is a female unit that belongs to the Abundance path and is affiliated with the Xianzhou Luofu. 
  • Jing Yuan is another five-star Lightning unit, and he is a male character that belongs to the Erudition path and is affiliated with the Xianzhou Alliance, Cloud Knights, as well as the Six Charioteers. 
  • With Kafka, she is yet another five-star character that is a female, belongs to the Nihility path, and is affiliated with the Stellaron Hunters. 
  • Getting into another four-star unit, we have Serval, who is a female, belongs to the Erudition path, and is affiliated with the Union. 
  • Tingyun is another four-star character that belongs to the Harmony Path and is affiliated with the Xianzhou Luofu. 

Wind 

As far as the next element is concerned, we have the Wind element, which is comparable to the anemo element in Genshin.

HS Wind Gameplay
Wind Gameplay
  • Players that belong to the wind element will be able to deal wind-based damage to opponents that are infront of them.
  • Opponents that are weak to Wind will have their toughness bar depleted anytime they are attacked with wind attacks and will eventually be weakened with the Shear effect.
HS Wind Weakness
Wind Weakness
  • With shear, for two turns, enemies will end up intaking wind damage at the beginning of each turn for a certain number of turns. 

Characters 

When it comes to the characters that are Honkai Star Rail Elements Wind-Based, they include of Blade, Bronya, Dan Heng, and Sampo. 

HS Wind Characters
Wind Characters
  • The blade is one of the first wind-based units that happen to be male and a five-star unit, and with that, he also belongs to the Destruction path and is associated with the Stellaron Hunters. 
  • Bronya (risen from the ashes from Honkai Impact 3rd) is a female unit that happens to be a five-star character, belongs to the Harmony path, and is affiliated with the Silvermane Guards. 
  • Dan Heng is a four-star male character that belongs to the Hunt Path and is affiliated with the Astral Express. 
  • Sampo is another male unit that is four-star, belongs to the Nihility path, and is affiliated with the Wildfire. 

Quantum 

Moving on, the next element is Quantum, and whenever players can use it, they can inflict damage on opponents.

 HS Quantum Gameplay
Quantum Gameplay
  • Anytime some opponents are in active combat with you, and they are weak to Quantum, and you use a unit that is of the Quantum element, they will have their white bar depleted over time, and it causes them to take Quantum damage too.
HS Quantum Weakness
Quantum Weakness
  • Once the weakness bar has been broken, it causes them to receive the Entanglement effect, which causes their actions to be delayed, and they end up taking bonus Quantum damage upon the next turn.  

Characters 

There are a total of 4 characters belonging to the Quantum element, including Fu Xuan, Qingque, Seele, and Silver Wolf. 

HS Quantum Characters
Quantum Characters
  • Fu Xuan is one of the first quantum-based units, an upcoming character that belongs to the Preservation and is affiliated with the Xianzhou Luofu. 
  • Qingque is a four-star female character that belongs to the Erudition path and is affiliated with the Xianzhou Luofu. 
  • Seele belongs to the Hunt Path, is affiliated with the Wildfire, and is a five-star unit.
  • Last but not least, Silver Wolf is a five-star unit that belongs to the Nihility Path and is affiliated with the Stellaron Hunters. 

Imaginary 

The final element is Imaginary in Honkai Star Rail Elements, and with it, players can cause Imprisonment to enemies. 

HS Imaginary Weakness
Imaginary Weakness
  • Whenever players make opponents break, and their toughness barf has been broken, they cause Imprisonment to opponents, through which their action gets delayed, and their Speed ends up being reduced. 

Characters 

There are currently only two characters that are available that have the Imaginary element, and they are Luocha and Welt. 

HS Imaginary Characters
Imaginary Characters
  • Luocha is a five-star male unit that belongs to the Abundance and is affiliated with the Intergalactic Merchant Guild. 
  • Welt is a five-star male unit that belongs to the Nihility Path and is with the Astral Express. 

Summary 

And there we have it! All that players need to know about the Honkai Star Rail Elements, and with that, we will wrap up our guide!

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Mina Anwar


Mina is a Gacha games guides writer at Exputer with years of writing experience. Xianzhou Luofu and Liyue Harbor are her second homes~ ~Jing Yuan/Mikito main <3

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