Honkai: Star Rail – Saber build and ascension guide

Sing Excalibur’s holy name with the best Honkai: Star Rail Saber build and prove yourself worthy of being called the King of Knights. In HSR, Fate’s Saber follows The Destruction and deals Wind DMG. She’s a potent damage dealer who depends on her Ultimate.

Saber’s Basic Attack, Invisible Air: Barrier of the Wind King, deals Wind DMG based on her ATK to a single target.

Her Skill,  Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King, deals Wind DMG based on her ATK to a target and adjacent foes. If Saber has Core Resonance and can fully regenerate her Energy by using Core Resonance, she automatically consumes all stacks of it to restore Energy to herself and increase this attack’s damage. If these conditions are not fulfilled, the Skill restores three Core Resonance to Saber.

Saber’s Ultimate, Excalibur, deals Wind DMG based on her ATK to all enemies and additionally deals ten instances of Wind DMG based on her ATK to random enemies. Following this attack, Saber can only use the Enhanced Basic Attack,  Release, the Golden Scepter, on her next turn. It grants her two Core Resonance and deals Wind DMG based on her ATK to all enemies. This attack deals extra damage if there are only one or two enemies on the field in addition to giving her the Mana Burst effect. Mana Burst can be consumed alongside Core Resonance to restore one Skill Point for the team and give Saber an immediate turn.

Saber also gains Core Resonance when entering combat and when allies use their Ultimate. Allies using their Ultimate also increases Saber’s overall damage for two turns. Saber gains CRIT DMG for up to eight points of Core Resonance gained throughout a battle.

In a nod to how Saber’s Noble Phantasm works in Fate Grand Order, she can store excess Energy and restore an equal amount of Energy to herself after using an Ultimate.

Obtaining duplicates of Saber upgrades her Eidolon Level and unlocks additional power-ups:

Honkai: Star Rail – Saber: best Light Cones

Saber signature Light Cone, A Thankless Coronation, is naturally the best fit for her. It comes with a substantial amount of additional CRIT DMG and ATK on top of a mechanic that restores Energy to its wearer — this is perfect for the Ultimate-focused Saber and might end up saving you from having to fish for an Energy Regeneration Link Rope.

Best Light Cones for Saber in HSR:

• A Thankless Coronation (5-Star)
• Thus Burns the Dawn (5-Star)
• Brighter Than the Sun (5-Star)
• On the Fall of an Aeon (5-Star)
• Something Irreplaceable (5-Star)
• A Trail of Bygone Blood (4-Star)
• Under the Blue Sky (4-Star)
• Nowhere to Run (4-Star)

Honkai: Star Rail – Saber: best Relics

Saber desires the stats any classic damage dealer wants: CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, ATK, and SPD. 

She brings a good amount of Energy Regeneration as part of her kit and her Light Cone assists with this as well, so you should be able to get away without having Energy Regeneration as a main stat on your Link Rope. Since she’s a Main DPS destined to play the role of a hypercarry, she might also benefit from party members who can restore Energy to her.

Best Relic Sets for Saber in HSR:

• 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.
• Scholar Lost in Erudition (4) – +8% CRIT Rate, +20% Skill and Ultimate DMG, +25% Skill DMG after Ultimate use.

Best Planar Ornaments for Saber 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 Saber in HSR:

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

Honkai: Star Rail – Saber: best teams

When Saber shows up on the battlefield, she’s the star of the show. Her Energy hunger and the massive damage potential of her Ultimate make her premium hypercarry material, so it’s best to lend her any helping hand she can get.

• Saber (Main DPS), Sunday (Support), Tribbie (Support), Huohuo (Support)

Sunday enables Saber to take her turn immediately, increases her damage output, and restores Energy to her — three Charmony Doves, one stone. Tribbie increases the entire team’s All-Type RES PEN, which results in a massive damage boost, though it’s noteworthy that she can’t target Saber with an ability (as her Skill targets herself and her Ultimate is an attack), making her a little awkward to use with Wavestrider Captain (the same goes for Ruan Mei). Huohuo is the best healer for Saber, bringing an ATK buff as well as Energy restoration to the Roundtable.

Other Harmony characters have much to offer as well: Bronya is an excellent choice, as she provides offensive bonuses and immediate turns, which can also be said for Sparkle and Robin. Saber works extremely well with 4-Star Support characters, too — Tingyun is a superb choice, Hanya and Asta are very robust.

If you can’t fill the team with any of the above Supports, consider adding debuffers like Cipher, Silver Wolf, or Pela to the line-up. In this case, you should swap out Wavestrider Captain and run with Scholar Lost in Erudition instead, since it’ll be tough to trigger the set consistently.

Honkai: Star Rail – Saber: ascension materials

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

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

• Credits x308,000
• Thief’s Instinct x15
• Usurper’s Scheme x15
• Conqueror’s Will x15
• A Glass of the Besotted Era x65

You can collect Thief’s Instinct, Usurper’s Scheme, and Conqueror’s Will from Antimatter Legion 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, too. Thief’s Instinct is one of the base materials you can easily farm through the Daily Assignments to your characters, making for a steady income of the material. 

A Glass of the Besotted Era is dropped by the Stagnant Shadow (Penacony Grand Theater) or gained through exchange. The best source of Credits are the Bud of Treasures Golden Calyxes found across the cosmos.

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

• Credits x3,000,000
• Thief’s Instinct x41
• Usurper’s Scheme x56
• Conqueror’s Will x58
• Borisin Teeth x18
• Lupitoxin Sawteeth x69
• Moon Rage Fang x139
• Destroyer’s Final Road x12
• Tracks of Destiny x8

For the materials already mentioned, check above. Borisin Teeth, Lupitoxin Sawteeth, and Moon Rage Fang are available from the Crimson Calyx (Scalegorge Waterscape). 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 boss 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.