Should you pull for Kafka in Honkai: Star Rail?

When players first began their Honkai: Star Rail journey, they started off playing as Kafka in the prologue trial, who is a Lightning character and generally antagonistic force. Now, Kafka is finally recruitable for real with the debut run of her “Nessun Dorma” banner for the second half of the Version 1.2 update, so you may be wondering whether she is worth pulling for.

Is Kafka worth pulling for in Honkai: Star Rail?

Kafka is a ruthless force that dishes out both intense damage and debuffs which means you should absolutely pull for her. The Lightning character is one of the best recruits you can pull for overall, so if you have any Stellar Jade or Star Rail Special Passes at all then you should try to recruit Kafka to your team.

The five-star Lightning character Kafka is a member of the Nihility path. Characters who are part of this path are overall debuffers who focus on rendering enemies weak by applying effects that reduce their combat capabilities. Generally, these effects are more focused on chipping away at opponents over time rather than knocking them down right away.

Kafka has five different abilities you’ll want to learn about when deciding whether or not you want to add her to your roster.

• “Midnight Tumult” basic attack: Deals 50 percent to 110 percent of Kafka’s attack as Lightning damage against the targeted enemy.
• Caressing Moonlight skill: Deals 80 percent to 176 percent of Kafka’s attack as Lightning damage against a single enemy plus Lightning damage equal to 30 percent to 66 percent of Kafka’s attack against adjacent opponents. If the targeted foe is already under the effects of a damage over time ability, this skill immediately deals damage equal to 60 to 78 percent of the original damage.
• “Twilight Trill” Ultimate: Deals Lightning damage equal to 48 percent to 86.4 percent of Kafka’s attack against all foes. Additionally, her Ultimate has a 100 percent base chance of causing all opponents to become shocked and instantly take 80 percent to 104 percent of the damage over time. The shock lasts for two turns and while shocked, enemies are hit with Lightning damage equal to 116 percent to 318.275 percent of Kafka’s Lightning damage at the start of the next two turns.
• “Gentle But Cruel” passive: After one of Kafka’s teammates strikes a basic attack on an opponent, Kafka launches a follow-up attack that deals 42 percent to 159.6 percent of her attack as Lightning damage against the enemy.
• “Mercy Is Not Forgiveness” technique: Launches an immediate attack on the enemy to enter battle. Right as the battle begins, Kafka deals Lightning damage equal to 50 percent of her attack against a random opponent. All foes also have a 100 percent chance to become shocked for three turns. While shocked, opponents receive Lightning damage over time equal to 50 percent of Kafka’s attack at the beginning of each turn.

The debuffs Kafka applies against foes are quite potent and the damage she inflicts over time is efficient. While some Nihility characters like Silver Wolf are focused on applying debuffs so that the damage dealers on the team can then deal damage more efficiently, Kafka is a Nihility character more like Sampo who focuses on dishing out her own damage, but this damage is delivered slowly over time rather than upfront all at once.

Kafka is a unique recruit since she can actually be a DPS unit with the right team lineup. She’s quite versatile in this way since her skills are technically built for a supporting role but can also deal efficient damage to the point that she will also work as your primary damage dealer.

As powerful as Kafka is, players will want to keep in mind that the playable version of her is not quite as impressive as the boss version you may have faced in the main storyline and Simulated Universe. Her relentless “Dominated” ability is only a feature the boss version of her can use, so the recruitable Kafka is a little less impressive than the formidable boss variation of her—but only just a little.

Related: Best Light Cones for each character in Honkai: Star Rail

Should you pull for Kafka or Blade in Honkai: Star Rail?

Based on my experience with both recruits, Kafka and Blade are two of Honkai: Star Rail’s best characters overall so far. This means you can’t go wrong with pulling for either, although most players will likely only have the means to obtain one.

While Kafka applies decent damage, her strength is slowly chipping away at enemies’ defenses and health points over time. You should only pull for Kafka if you are willing to be patient with her skillset as she won’t really deal a ton of damage upfront but will instead apply debuffs and drain her foe’s health points over time.

Blade is capable of dishing out high and brutal damage frequently, so if you want a dedicated damage dealer then you may prefer him instead. But he is only suited for a damage-dealing role and lacks the versatility Kafka has.

Because Kafka and Blade are completely different types of characters, you can’t really directly compare them. Kafka is more of a support unit dedicated to debuffing enemies and rendering them helpless, although she can also deal efficient damage over time, while Blade is a damage-dealing focused character who strikes opponents with everything he’s got.

Between the two, I personally would choose Blade over Kafka because I enjoy his playstyle a bit more and find Destruction characters to be incredibly unstoppable, but I think they’re both extremely powerful and that it’s worth pulling for both of them if you can. With this banner matchup, it ultimately comes down to your own personal preference because Kafka and Blade are two of Honkai: Star Rail’s best characters so far which means you’ll be adding one of the strongest recruits to your team no matter what.

We gathered this information by playing Honkai Star Rail Version 1.2 “Even Immortality Ends” on PC.