Honkai: Star Rail – Cipher build and ascension guide

Craft the greatest lie in history with the best Honkai: Star Rail Cipher build and save the world in your own way. This 5-Star character dealing Quantum DMG follows The Nihility and focuses on debuffing enemies as well as executing Follow-Up Attacks.

Cipher’s Skill, Hey, Jackpot for the Taking, deals Quantum DMG based on Cipher’s ATK to the primary target and a little less Quantum DMG to adjacent enemies. It also has a chance to inflict the Weaken debuff on them, reducing their damage and increasing Cipher’s ATK for two turns.

Cipher’s Ultimate, Yours Truly, Kitty Phantom Thief!, deals Quantum DMG based on her ATK to the primary target and a little less Quantum DMG to adjacent enemies. In addition, all targets suffer True DMG based on the amount of Coins Cipher currently has, with more True DMG being allocated to the adjacent targets than the primary one.

Cipher gains Coins whenever the enemy designated as the Patron gets attacked. The amount of Coins is based on the amount of damage that is inflicted (True DMG is not counted). The enemy with the highest HP automatically gets marked as the Patron at the start of combat, though Cipher can manually designate the primary target of her Skill and Ultimate as the Patron. The amount of Coins Cipher holds is reset after she uses her Ultimate. One of her Traces allows her to also gain Coins based on the damage dealt to enemies aside from the Patron.

Once per turn, Cipher makes a Follow-Up Attack against the Patron, if they are attacked by an ally, dealing Quantum DMG based on her ATK.

Obtaining duplicates of Cipher increases her Eidolon Level and unlocks additional capabilities:

HSR – Cipher: best Light Cones

Cipher follows traditional DPS lines when it comes to the stats she craves: ATK, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, and SPD. SPD isn’t just crucial to get her into the action earlier, but synergizes with one of her Traces, which increases her CRIT Rate and DMG-to-Coin conversion rate based on hitting certain SPD thresholds. 

Her signature Light Cone, Lies Dance on the Breeze, comes with a significant SPD boost and enables her to inflict a debuff on enemies that lowers their DEF. Additionally, if the wearer has 170 or more SPD, they can inflict another debuff that shreds DEF.

Best Light Cones for Cipher in HSR:

• Lies Dance on the Breeze (5-Star)
• Incessant Rain (5-Star)
• Along the Passing Shore (5-Star)
• In the Name of the World (5-Star)
• Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat (4-Star)
• Good Night and Sleep Well (4-Star)
• Holiday Thermae Escapade (4-Star)

HSR – Cipher: best Relics

You’ll want to reach a minimum SPD of 170 with Cipher to maximize the use of her Trace as well as her signature Light Cone, if you have it. Ideally, though, you’d want to crack 200 SPD to fully use Cipher’s potential. ATK, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG are the other big stats for her, as we’ve touched on above — prioritize CRIT DMG over CRIT Rate, since she already gains a lot of CRIT Rate through her Trace. 

Effect Hit Rate is a good filler stat to enhance Cipher’s debuff capabilities.

Best Relic Sets for Cipher in HSR:

• [General] Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters (4) – +12% DMG against enemies with at least one debuff, +4% CRIT Rate, +8%/12% CRIT DMG against enemies with at least 2/3 debuffs; these effects double for one turn, if the wearer inflicts a debuff on an enemy.
• [vs. Quantum Weakness] Genius of Brilliant Stars (4) – +10% Quantum DMG, attacks ignore 10% of enemy DEF and an additional 10% of DEF when the enemy is weak vs. Quantum.

Best Planar Ornaments for Cipher in HSR:

• [General] Firmament Frontline: Glamoth (2) – +12% ATK, +12%/18% DMG when the wearer’s SPD is 135/160 or higher.
• [FUA Team] Duran, Dynasty of Wolves (2) – +5% Follow-Up Attack DMG per stack of Merit, +25% CRIT DMG when five stacks of Merit are present; Merit is gained whenever an ally makes a Follow-Up Attack and stacks up to five times.

Best stats for Cipher in HSR:

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

HSR – Cipher: best teams

Cipher is primed for a Sub DPS position on a variety of teams thanks to her useful debuffs — even her sheer presence is enough to make enemies more vulnerable to damage.

• Feixiao (Main DPS), Cipher (Sub DPS), Robin (Support), Lingsha (Support)

Cipher is a strong addition to Follow-Up Attack compositions led by Feixiao, replacing the likes of March 7th (Hunt), Moze, and Topaz — or taking a spot by their side, if you don’t have Robin. The galactic superstar remains the best option to support FUA Teams from the sidelines, while Lingsha is an excellent healer with enormous damage capabilities in her own right.

• Acheron (Main DPS), Cipher (Sub DPS), Pela (Support), Gallagher (Support)

Although she doesn’t quite match the value of Jiaoqiu in an Acheron team, Cipher is certainly capable of playing a central role in the Nihility Emanator’s retinue as a debuffer, but you’ll have to equip her with a debuff-inflicting Light Cone (ideally her signature Light Cone) to make this work. Pela takes up her usual role as a secondary debuffer and Gallagher heals the team by punching the enemy as hard as he can.

Don’t consider yourself limited to these compositions, though: Cipher is a robust debuffer with value for any team you can build (such as Aglaea or Castorice), making her universally useful.

HSR – Cipher: ascension materials

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

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

• Credits x308,000
• Ethereal Omen x15
• Echoing Wail x15
• Eternal Lament x15
• Darkveil Moonlight x65

You can collect Ethereal Omen, Echoing Wail, and Eternal Lament from enemies in Amphoreus 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, or gain them as a byproduct from farming Golden Calyxes on Amphoreus. 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.

Cipher requires the following materials to upgrade her combat abilities and Traces:

• Credits x3,000,000
• Ethereal Omen x41
• Echoing Wail x56
• Eternal Lament x58
• Fiery Spirit x18
• Starfire Essence x69
• Heaven Incinerator x139
• Daythunder Anamnesis x12
• Tracks of Destiny x8

For the materials already mentioned, check above. Fiery Spirit, Starfire Essence, and Heaven Incinerator can be farmed in the Crimson Calyx (Alchemy Commission). As usual, you can create the high-level materials by using up lower-level materials in the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express.

Daythunder Anamnesis is rarer material only gained from the Echo of War (Eye of Twilight – Fortress of Dome) 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.