Honkai Star Rail Kafka build

Boom! Honkai Star Rail's Kafka is a fierce fighter, and it's time for you to harness that power with our build guide, featuring relics, light cones, and more.

Honkai Star Rail Kafka looking to the side and smiling

When you take your initial steps into the enthralling world of Honkai Star Rail, Kafka is the first one to meet you – playing air violin as the space station around her falls into chaos. Needless to say, she’s a total badass, and is certainly the type of gal you want at your side as you’re fighting through the cosmos. So, if you want to kit Kafka out with the best light cones and relics, and get familiar with her attacks and abilities, this Honkai Star Rail Kafka build guide is the perfect place for you. Before long, you really ‘won’t remember a thing except her’.

To get familiar with the rest of the faces you can meet aboard the Astral Express, head over to our Honkai Star Rail tier list and Honkai Star Rail characters guides. We’ve also got more individual build guides just like this one, including Honkai Star Rail’s Luka, Honkai Star Rail’s Imbibitor Lunae, and Honkai Star Rail’s Blade.

So let’s take a look at everything in our Honkai Star Rail Kafka build.

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When is Honkai Star Rail Kafka’s release date?

Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka joins the warp in phase two of version 1.2, alongside Honkai Star Rail’s Luka. Head over to our Honkai Star Rail banner guide for the full details.

What’s the best Honkai Star Rail Kafka build?

Kafka is a five-star lightning character who treads the path of the Nihility, meaning she excels at debuffing her enemies and reducing their overall powers. She specializes in AoE attacks that can inflict enemies with shock, which sees them take lightning damage each turn. As such, Kafka makes for a strong sub-DPS who can weaken enemies so her main DPS can swoop in and finish them off.

Due to her ability to apply great shock damage over time and her attack-scaling skills, we recommend aiming for relics that increase both her damage and her lightning damage boost. We also recommend teaming her up with other characters who inflict DoT, like Honkai Star Rail’s Sampo or Honkai Star Rail’s Jing Yuan, to make the most of her skill.

What’s the best Honkai Star Rail Kafka light cone?

Kafka’s signature light cone is Patience Is All You Need which increases the duration and attack of DoT. Of the ones currently available in the game, the best light cone for Kafka is In the Name of the World, which boosts the damage she deals to enemies affected by a DoT, while also increasing her effect hit rate and attack after she uses her skill.

Eye of the Prey is a great four-star option as it also boosts her effect hit rate and the damage she deals with her DoT. Alternatively, feel free to try out any light cones that align with the path of the Nihility.

Light cone Effect How to obtain
Patience Is All You Need Kafka deals 16% more damage to enemies inflicted with DoT. For every attack, increases Kafka’s speed by 4%, up to five times. Meanwhile, enemies receiving attacks take 20% more DoT for one turn Brilliant Fixation gacha
In the Name of the World Increases Kafka’s damage to debuffed enemies by 24%. When Kafka uses her skill, the effect hit rate for this attack increases by 18%, and attack increases by 24% Gacha or from the Starlight Exchange store 
Eyes of the Prey Increases Kafka’s effect hit rate by 20% and increases DoT by 24% Gacha

What are the best Honkai Star Rail Kafka relics?

You can equip Kafka with a total of six relics – four from the standard sets, and two from the Simulated Universe sets. For the standard sets, Band of Sizzling Thunder is a good option for boosting her lightning damage. 

As for the Simulated Universe sets, we recommend Space Sealing Station as it boosts her attack. You can also use Celestial Differentiator if you want to boost her crit damage.

Relic Effect How to obtain
Band of Sizzling Thunder Two equipped: increases lightning damage by 10%
Four equipped: increases Kafka’s attack by 20% for one turn after she uses her skill
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Holy Hymn in the Xianzhou Luofu’s Cloudford
Musketeer of Wild Wheat Two equipped: increases attack by 12%
Four equipped: increases Kafka’s speed by 6% and her basic attack damage by 10%
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Drifting in Jarilo-VI’s Corridor of Fading Echoes

Planar Ornaments

Relic Effect How to obtain
Space Sealing Station Two equipped: increases Kafka’s attack by 12%. When Kafka’s speed reaches 120 or higher, her attack increases by another 12% Immersion Reward devices in World 3 of the Simulated Universe
Celestial Differentiator Two equipped: increases Kafka’s crit damage by 16%. When Kafka’s current crit damage reaches 120% or higher, after entering battle, her crit rate increases by a further 60% until the end of her first attack Immersion Reward devices in World 5 of the Simulated Universe

Relic stat recommendations

When you’re picking relics for Kafka, we recommend that you prioritize the following stats.

Main stats:

  • Feet: speed or attack%
  • Neck: lightning damage bonus
  • Article: effect hit rate

Sub-stats:

  • Lightning damage bonus
  • Effect hit rate
  • Attack%
  • Crit rate/damage

Honkai Star Rail Kafka holding her weapon

What are Honkai Star Rail Kafka’s abilities?

Here are all of Kafka’s attacks and abilities. Generally, we recommend using her skill and ultimate as frequently as possible, especially in multi-target situations. It’s also a good idea to apply any other DoT through her allies before you use her skill to make the most of that secondary effect.

Active:

Skill Effect
Basic attack: Midnight Tumult Deal 50% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to your target enemy
Skill: Caressing Moonlight Deal 70% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to a target enemy, and 25% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to enemies adjacent to the target. If the target enemy already has a DoT, immediately deal damage equal to 100% of all current DoT effects the enemy has
Ultimate: Twilight Trill  Deal 36% of Kafka’s attack as lightning damage to all enemies. There’s a 100% base chance for the enemies you hit to be shocked and immediately take damage equal to 80% of the received damage. Shock lasts for three turns. When shocked, enemies receive 60% of Kafka’s attack as lightning DoT at the start of their turn

Passive:

Skill Effect
Talent: Gentle but Cruel After an ally uses a basic attack on a shocked enemy, Kafka immediately deals 75% of her attack as lightning damage to that enemy. This effect can only be triggered once per turn

Technique:

Skill Effect
Mercy is Not Forgiveness Kafka immediately attacks the enemy, and deals 50% of her attack as lightning damage to a random enemy upon entering battle. Additionally, all enemies have a 100% base chance to be shocked for three turns. While shocked, enemies take 50% of Kafka’s attack as lightning DoT at the start of each turn

Traces:

Trace Effect
Thorns When Kafka uses her basic attack on a shocked enemy, the shocked state immediately deals damage equal to 40% of the original damage received
Plunder If you defeat an enemy affected by shock, Kafka regenerates ten energy
Fear Shocked enemies deal 20% less damage to Kafka

What are Honkai Star Rail Kafka’s eidolons?

Honkai Star Rail eidolons are similar to Genshin Impact’s constellations and require you to obtain multiple copies of the same character to activate them. Here are all of Kafka’s eidolons.

Eidolon Effect
E1: Recitativo When an enemy hits Kafka there’s a 100% base chance of her inflicting shock on them. This shock state has the same effect as the one applied by Kafka’s ultimate
E2: Leggiero Kafka’s talent can trigger twice each turn
 E3: Fantasia Increase the level of Kafka’s ultimate by two (max level 15), and her basic attack by one (maximum level ten)
E4: Da Capo When you use Kafka’s ultimate, instead of enemies immediately receiving damage from the shock state, they immediately receive damage from all current DoT sources
E5: Doloroso  Increases the level of Kafka’s skill and talent by two (up to a maximum level of 15)
E6: Fortississimo When you trigger Kafka’s talent for the first time each battle, its damage dealt increases by 120% and immediately deals shock damage equal to 100% of the original DoT multiplier

What are Honkai Star Rail Kafka’s ascension materials?

You can level Kafka all the way up to 80 but, in addition to the EXP logs, you also need a set of materials to ascend her at certain intervals. Here are all of the materials you need to fully ascend her to max level. Keep in mind that this info is from previous betas, and we will update it accordingly if any changes arrive in Kafka’s full release.

You can get thief’s instinct, usurper’s scheme, and conqueror’s will from multiple places, including reaver enemies aboard the Herta Space Station, from Honkai Star Rail Simulated Universe and assignment rewards, and from the Embers Exchange and Herta Space Station world stores. As for the shape shifter’s lightning staff, you can earn these by taking on the Honkai Star Rail stagnant shadow in the Xianzhou Luofu’s Stargazer Navalia.

Required level Credits Ascension materials
20 4k Five thief’s instinct
30 8k Ten thief’s instinct
40 16k Six usurper’s scheme, three shape shifter’s lightning staff
50 40k Nine usurper’s scheme, seven shape shifter’s lightning staff
60 80k Six conqueror’s will, 20 shape shifter’s lightning staff
70 160k Nine conqueror’s will, 35 shape shifter’s lightning staff

Who is Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka?

Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka may be the first notable character you see and play as, but she still remains shrouded in mystery. She’s featured on the Interastral Peace Corporation’s wanted list, where her entry only states her name, along with a single sentence – ‘likes collecting coats’. She’s a Stellaron Hunter, and one of Destiny’s Slave Elio’s most trusted members, who sets out to achieve Elio’s envisioned future.

When you first select your main trailblazer, she’s there to guide you through but leaves shortly after a series of cryptic messages. She appears to know you from a previous life – and may hold secrets as to how you ended up aboard the space station and, in turn, hurtling through space on the Astral Express.

Kafka’s English voice actor is Cheryl Texiera, whereas her Japanese voice actor is Itoh Shizuka.

And that’s everything we’ve got on Honkai Star Rail’s Kafka. If you want to keep up with Hoyoverse’s other hit RPG, check out our Genshin Impact tier list and Genshin Impact codes, as well as build guides for characters like Genshin Impact’s Xingqiu, Genshin Impact’s Chongyun, and Genshin Impact’s Keqing.