Honkai: Star Rail – Hook build and ascension guide

Unleash the mighty Diggertron with the best Honkai: Star Rail Hook build and show your foes what Pitch-Dark Hook the Great can do. Following the Path of the Destruction, the Moles’ leader deals Fire DMG to her enemies and excels at inflicting the Burn effect to keep things heated in battle.

Hook’s Skill, Hey! Remember Hook?, deals Fire DMG based on her ATK to a single target and has a chance to inflict Burn. After using her Ultimate, Hook’s Skill becomes enhanced for its next activation, transforming into an area-of-effect attack that additionally hits any adjacent enemies to the main target.

Aside from that effect, Hook’s Ultimate, Boom! Here Comes the Fire!, deals a lot of Fire DMG to a single opponent based on her ATK. Her Talent, Ha! Oil to the Flames!, allows Hook to restore five Energy and deal additional damage when attacking foes afflicted by Burn.

Raising Hook’s Eidolon level by pulling duplicates of her is a great way to get additional benefits. Level 1 lets her Enhanced Skill deal more damage. Level 2 extends the duration of Burn caused by her Skill for another turn. Level 4 gives her Talent a 100% base chance to inflict Burn on any adjacent enemies to the target. Level 6 further boosts her damage against foes suffering from Burn.

Honkai: Star Rail – Hook: best Light Cones

You’ll definitely want to stack more ATK on Hook to increase her overall damage output. On the Fall of an Aeon, a 5-Star Light Cone you can obtain from Herta’s Shop, is a great way of doing that. It boosts the wearer’s ATK up to four times whenever they make an attack and also buffs their damage for two turns when they inflict Weakness Break on an enemy.

Best Light Cones for Hook in HSR:

• On the Fall of an Aeon (5-Star)
• The Moles Welcome You (4-Star)
• Woof! Walk Time! (4-Star)
• Nowhere to Run (4-Star)
• Collapsing Sky (3-Star)

Honkai: Star Rail – Hook: best Relics

It’s pretty much the usual set of offensive Relic stats for Hook, as she requires more ATK, CRIT DMG, and CRIT Rate. SPD is always a plus and more Effect Hit Rate will allow you to increase the odds of inflicting Burn, overcoming enemy status effect resistances.

Best Relic Sets for Hook in HSR:

• Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters (4) – +12% damage to enemies with at least one debuff, +4% CRIT Rate, +8%/12% CRIT DMG to enemies with at least two/three debuffs; after the wearer inflicts a debuff on enemies, the above effects are doubled for one turn.
• Firesmith of Lava-Forging (4) – +10% Fire DMG, +12% Skill DMG, and +12% Fire DMG for the next attack after activating the Ultimate.

Best Planar Ornaments for Hook in HSR:

• Rutilant Arena (2) – +8% CRIT Rate, +20% Basic Attack and Skill DMG when the wearer’s CRIT Rate is 70% or higher.
• Space Sealing Station (2) – +12% ATK, and another +12% ATK when the wearer’s SPD reaches 120 or higher.
• Pan-Galactic Commercial Enterprise (2) – +10% Effect Hit Rate, ATK increases by up to 25% of Effect Hit Rate.

Best stats for Hook in HSR:

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

Honkai: Star Rail – Hook: best teams

Hook is a specialist damage dealer that’s best combined with some Nihility characters to extract the best possible performance out of her.

• Hook (Main DPS), Guinaifen (Sub DPS), Ruan Mei (Support), Lingsha (Support)

Guinaifen complements Hook very well, as she’s another Burn-focused character with the ability to inflict this status effect easily. This increases the odds of Hook dealing optimal damage to her targets. Ruan Mei increases the party’s Weakness Break Efficiency, further enhancing its ability to inflict Burn. Lingsha is a great healer for this composition thanks to her own synergies with the Break-heavy playstyle — she’s both a sustain and a secondary damage dealer.

Fugue or Trailblazer (Harmony) can take over for Ruan Mei in the Support slot, adding Super Break DMG into the mix, while Huohuo or Gallagher are great alternative healers. Gallagher focuses on aggression, while Huohuo provides offensive buffs and helps by restoring Energy.

Honkai: Star Rail – Hook: ascension materials

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

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

• Credits x246,000
• Ancient Part x12
• Ancient Spindle x13
• Ancient Engine x12
• Endotherm Chitin x50

You can collect Ancient Parts, Spindles, and Engines from Automaton enemies in the Robot Settlement or the Great Mine as well as the Simulated Universe. You can create or exchange them through the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express, too. Ancient Parts 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. 

Endotherm Chitin is dropped by the Stagnant Shadow (Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone) or gained through exchange. The best source of Credits are the Golden Calyxes found across the universe.

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

• Credits x2,400,000
• Ancient Part x28
• Ancient Spindle x42
• Ancient Engine x42
• Shattered Blade x12
• Lifeless Blade x54
• Worldbreaker Blade x105
• Guardian’s Lament x12
• Tracks of Destiny x5

For the materials already mentioned, check above. Blades can be farmed in the Crimson Calyx (Storage Zone). As usual, you can create the high-level materials by using 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.