Honkai: Star Rail – Archer build and ascension guide

Be the bone of your sword with the best Honkai: Star Rail Archer build and unleash Unlimited Blade Works. In HSR, Archer is a 5-Star follower of The Hunt and deals Quantum DMG, making use of extra Skill Points and executing Follow-Up Attacks.

Archer’s Basic Attack,  Kanshou and Bakuya, deals Quantum DMG based on his ATK to a foe.

His Skill,  Caladbolg II: Fake Spiral Sword, deals Quantum DMG based on his ATK to a foe and puts Archer into the Circuit Connection state. When Archer already is in Circuit Connection, the turn doesn’t end after he’s used his Skill. Instead, his Skill DMG is increased (can be stacked up to two times) and he can use his Skill up to five times, as long as he has the Skill Point for it.

Archer’s Ultimate, Unlimited Blade Works, deals Quantum DMG based on his ATK to a foe and grants him two Charges (up to a maximum of four).

Archer can consume a Charge to make a Follow-Up Attack whenever an ally attacks an enemy, dealing Quantum DMG based on his ATK and recovering a Skill Point. One of Archer’s Traces increases the team’s maximum Skill Points by two. Another provides Archer with CRIT DMG if allies recover a Skill Point and there are at least four Skill Points available.

Obtaining duplicates of Archer upgrades his Eidolon Level and unlocks additional power-ups:

Honkai: Star Rail – Archer: best Light Cones

Naturally, Archer’s best fit is The Hell Where Ideals Burn, his signature Light Cone. It provides additional CRIT Rate and ATK, plus a stacking ATK buff whenever the wearer uses their Skill. Archer can access that pretty much immediately, thanks to his ability to rapidly fire his Skill.

Best Light Cones for Archer in HSR:

• The Hell Where Ideals Burn (5-Star)
• I Venture Forth to Hunt (5-Star)
• Cruising in the Stellar Sea (5-Star)
• Worrisome, Blissful (5-Star)
• Baptism of Pure Thought (5-Star)
• See You at the End (4-Star)
• Final Victor (4-Star)
• Swordplay (4-Star)

Honkai: Star Rail – Archer: best Relics

Archer’s main concerns are CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, and ATK to maximize his damage output. If you have trouble with Ultimate uptime, you can get an Energy Regeneration Link Rope, though having ATK on it is usually the way to go.

Atypical for a Main DPS following The Hunt, Archer is not reliant SPD at all — you want him to go after your other characters have filled the Skill Point gauge, so that he can unleash a whole barrage of shots. Unfortunately, his base SPD of 105 is too high to enable him to make full use of the Poet of Mourning Collapse set, which would have been quite good on him.

Best Relic Sets for Archer in HSR:

• Genius of Brilliant Stars (4) – +10% Quantum DMG, wearer’s attacks ignore 10% DEF; wearer’s attacks ignore an additional 10% DEF if the target has Quantum Weakness.*
• Scholar Lost in Erudition (4) – +8% CRIT Rate, +20% Skill and Ultimate DMG, +25% Skill DMG after Ultimate use.
• Wavestrider Captain (4) – +16% CRIT DMG, +1 stack of Help (up to two 2 stacks) when the wearer is targeted by an ally’s ability; when the wearer uses their Ultimate and has 2 stacks of Help, they consume all stacks of Help to gain +48% ATK for 1 turn.

*Genius of Brilliant Stars is fantastic against enemies with Quantum Weakness. By extension, it gets a lot better if you have Archer’s Eidolon Level 2 or team him up with Silver Wolf, as either will allow the set to be fully effective against enemies without natural Quantum Weakness.

Best Planar Ornaments for Archer in HSR:

• Rutilant Arena (2) – +8% CRIT Rate, +20% Basic Attack and Skill DMG when the wearer’s CRIT Rate is 70% or higher.

Best stats for Archer in HSR:

• Head – HP (Primary), CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK %, ATK
• Hands – ATK (Primary), CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK %, Break Effect
• Body – CRIT DMG or CRIT Rate (Primary), CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG, ATK %, ATK, Break Effect
• Feet – ATK % (Primary), CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK, Break Effect
• Planar Sphere – Quantum DMG (Primary), CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK %, Break Effect
• Link Rope – ATK % (Primary), CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK, Break Effect

Honkai: Star Rail – Archer: best teams

Archer’s hunger for Skill Points means that he prefers allies who can either restore these or at least don’t need as many.

• Archer (Main DPS), Sparkle (Support), Sunday (Support), Gallagher (Support)

That requirement makes Sparkle a natural ally for Archer. Their Skill Point capacity increases do stack with each other, allowing the team to store up a massive amount of them — perfect for the Main DPS’ Skill salvos. Naturally, Sparkle can also get Archer into action despite his low SPD on top of buffing his offensive power. Sunday provides similar benefits, aside from the Skill Point aspect, while Gallagher pretty much doesn’t require Skill Points at all unless the team is in truly dire straits.

Hanya is another excellent fit for Archer, assisting with a lesser version of Sparkle’s potent Skill Point recovery. Luocha or Lingsha are solid healer alternatives, as they are relatively low on Skill Point consumption. Finally, Silver Wolf and Cipher are a strong duo of debuffers that might be used instead of the second Support — Silver Wolf comes with the advantage of enabling Archer to use Genius of Brilliant Stars to full effect against any enemies.

Honkai: Star Rail – Archer: ascension materials

Here’s everything you need to know to get Archer ascended to the maximum level and upgrade all of his talents.

Archer requires the following ascension materials to get to level 80 in addition to the necessary XP:

• Credits x308,000
• Extinguished Core x15
• Glimmering Core x15
• Squirming Core x15
• Darkveil Moonlight x65

You can collect Cores from enemies on Herta Space Station as well as the Simulated Universe. You can create or exchange them through the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express. They are one of the materials you can easily farm through the Daily Assignments to your characters, making for a steady income of the material. Darkveil Moonlight is dropped by the Stagnant Shadow (Grove of Epiphany, Murmuring Woods). The best source of Credits are the Golden Calyxes found all over the cosmos.

Archer requires the following materials to upgrade his combat abilities and Traces:

• Credits x3,000,000
• Extinguished Core x41
• Glimmering Core x56
• Squirming Core x58
• Meteoric Bullet x18
• Destined Expiration x69
• Countertemporal Shot x139
• Guardian’s Lament x12
• Tracks of Destiny x8

For the materials already mentioned, check above. Meteoric Bullet, Destined Expiration, and Countertemporal Shot can be farmed in the Crimson Calyx (Scorchsand Audition Venue) on Penacony. As usual, you can create the high-level materials by using up lower-level materials in the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express.

Guardian’s Lament is a rarer material only gained from the Echo of War (Everwinter Hill) domain, while Tracks of Destiny can be obtained during time-limited events, the Embers Exchange, the Nameless Honor, or as a Simulated Universe Points Reward.