Honkai: Star Rail – Herta build and ascension guide

Add a little bit of magic to your party with the best Honkai: Star Rail Herta build. The puppet of The Herta, a member of the renowned Genius Society and owner of Herta Space Station, may be insufferable as a boss (thanks to a fantastic voice performance), but luckily she won’t be in a position to command you when she joins your team as a free character. Following the Path of The Erudition and dealing Ice DMG, Herta specializes in swirly Follow-Up Attacks.

Her Skill, One-Time Offer, is an area-of-effect move that deals Ice DMG based on Herta’s ATK to all enemies on the field. Foes with more than 50% of their HP take extra damage.

Herta’s Ultimate, It’s Magic, I Added Some Magic, is another Ice DMG ability based on ATK that hurts the entire enemy roster.

Her Talent, Fine, I’ll Do It Myself, triggers a Follow-Up Attack by Herta whenever an ally’s attack causes an enemy’s HP to fall below 50% of their Max HP. Like her Skill and Ultimate, this move hits every adversary on the field.

Herta’s Eidolon levels, which can be obtained by getting duplicates of her, further increase her offensive prowess. Level 1 allows her Basic Attack to deal extra damage to enemies below 50% of their Max HP and Level 2 adds a stackable CRIT Rate boost to Herta’s Follow-Up Attack. The follow-up receives a damage boost at Level 4, while Level 6 allows Herta’s Ultimate to buff her ATK for a turn.

Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: best Light Cones

Herta can make great use of Before Dawn, the signature Light Cone of Jing Yuan. Its boosts to CRIT DMG as well as Skill and Ultimate DMG are welcome benefits on their own, but the fact that using a Skill or Ultimate creates the Somnus Corpus effect, which is consumed by the next Follow-Up Attack to increase its damage, is the cherry on top.

Best Light Cones for Herta in HSR:

• Before Dawn (5-Star)
• Night on the Milky Way (5-Star)
• Yet Hope is Priceless (5-Star)
• Eternal Calculus (5-Star)
• The Birth of the Self (4-Star)
• Geniuses’ Repose (4-Star)
• The Seriousness of Breakfast (4-Star)

Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: best Relics

It’s all about going on the offense for Herta, so you want stats like ATK, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG on this ferocious puppet.

Best Relic Sets for Herta in HSR:

• Hunter of Glacial Forest (4) – +10% Ice DMG, +25% CRIT DMG for the wearer for two turns after activating their Ultimate.

Best Planar Ornaments for Herta in HSR:

• Inert Salsatto (2) – +8% CRIT Rate, +15% Ultimate and Follow-Up Attack DMG when the wearer’s CRIT Rate surpasses 50%.
• [Pure Fiction] Sigonia, the Unclaimed Desolation (2) – +4% CRIT Rate, +4% CRIT DMG whenever an enemy target is defeated (stacks up to ten times).

Best stats for Herta in HSR:

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

Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: best teams

Herta excels at defeating waves of weaker opponents thanks to her area-of-effect attacks, making her a fantastic option in Pure Fiction.

• The Herta (Main DPS), Herta (Sub DPS), Trailblazer (Remembrance) (Support), Lingsha (Support)

Herta is a useful addition to a team featuring The Herta, being able to refill her master’s Energy with her frequent area-of-effect attacks. Although Jade is a little better for this role, Herta has a cost advantage due to being a freely unlockable unit. Add a damage amplifier like Trailblazer (Remembrance), Fugue, or Ruan Mei into the equation and you’ve already got a powerhouse of a party going. Lingsha or Huohuo are excellent healers to round out the team, keeping everyone healthy and helping with Energy Regeneration.

Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: ascension materials

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

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

• Credits x246,000
• Extinguished Core x12
• Glimmering Core x13
• Squirming Core x12
• Horn of Snow x50

You can collect Cores from enemies in Backwater Pass and Rivet Town as well as the Simulated Universe. You can create or exchange them through the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express, too. Extinguished Cores are one of the base materials you can easily farm through the Daily Assignments to your characters, making for a steady income of the material. Horn of Snow is dropped by the Stagnant Shadow (Corridor of Fading Shadows) or gained through exchange. The best source of Credits are the Golden Calyxes across the cosmos.

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

• Credits x2,400,000
• Extinguished Core x28
• Glimmering Core x42
• Squirming Core x42
• Key of Inspiration x12
• Key of Knowledge x54
• Key of Wisdom x105
• Destroyer’s Final Road x12
• Tracks of Destiny x5

For the materials already mentioned, check above. Keys can be farmed in the Crimson Calyx (Rivet Town). As usual, you can create the high-level materials by using up lower-level materials in the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express.

Destroyer’s Final Road is a rarer material only gained from the Echo of War (Supply Zone) 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.