Should you pull for Luocha in Honkai: Star Rail?

Luocha, a new five-star character, is releasing in Honkai: Star Rail in the second phase of Patch 1.1, and many players are pondering whether they should spend Stellar Jade on him.

The merchant can bring something unique to your strategy, which makes him valuable for many players. He’ll be featured in the Character Warp alongside four-star characters Pela, Qingque, and Yukong.

Related: Forget Kafka, there’s another character Honkai: Star Rail fans are dying to play

But pulling for five-star characters is expensive in Honkai, and if you decide you want him in your collection, you might have to miss another five-star after Patch 1.1 due to a lack of resources.

If you’re unlucky, you’ll need a lot of Special Star Rail Passes to get Luocha since he’ll be a random drop. Although you’re guaranteed to get him using the gacha and Pity system, you’ll have to spend a lot of Passes to reach that cap.

Is Luocha worth pulling for in Honkai: Star Rail?

Luocha is a five-star character released on June 28, alongside the second phase of the update that first introduced Silver Wolf in the Character Warp. He’s replacing her and is remaining for three weeks before the rotation removes him.

He’s a valuable addition for many players even without considering his abilities: Luocha is a character who deals Imaginary damage, which is only possible with Welt at the moment and follows the Path of Abundance, which only includes two characters for now.

The healer will be less useful to you if you pulled Bailu, the other five-star Abundance character, but his Imaginary damage still makes him special.

Here are Luocha’s abilities, as revealed by the developer on June 24:

• Basic Attack: Thorns of the Abyss. Deals Imaginary damage to the enemy targeted.
• Skill: Prayer of Abyss Flower. Immediately restores a part of Luocha’s HP and gives him one stack of Abyss Flower. When the HP of an Ally gets lower than half, he’ll use his Skill on them automatically to heal them. The action doesn’t consume a Skill point but can only be used again Two turns after.
• Ultimate: Death Wish. Dispels one buff from all enemies while dealing damage to them. Luocha gains one Abyss Flower stack for each buff removed, providing even more healing to allies.
• Talent: Cycle of Life. Luocha consumes every skill stack (up to three) to deploy a Field against the enemy, which will restore HP to any ally who will attack an enemy located in the Field deployed. It will last for two turns.
• Technique: Mercy of a Fool. He’ll trigger his Talent when entering the fight.

Luocha looks like a less straightforward character to play than other healers, like Bailu and Natasha, but he also offers very strong debuffs, especially when using his Ultimate.

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

This is another important question to ask yourself if you’re thinking of spending your Special Rail Passes on Luocha.

If you still have Stellar Jade left after Silver Wolf, or you saved them, your question will be to know if you want to secure either Luocha or Kafka, who will release after him with Patch 1.2, according to leaks.

If you’re unwilling to spend money on Honkai, there’s a high chance you won’t be able to collect enough resources to pull for both of them.

Usually, you should be able to get one five-star character per update, which means you’ll have to miss one out of two five-star characters released with each update. So if you want Luocha, you might have to pass for Kafka.

If you’re unsure of who you want to add to your roster, knowing what they’ll bring you both strategically might help you make your decision.

Kafka is a Lightning five-star character following the Path of Nihility, which means she’s focused on applying debuffs. It’s a common ground between her and Luocha, except she can also deal decent damage while he is focused on healing.

Kafka’s abilities allow her to deal a lot of damage over time using the Shock effect, as well as targeting multiple enemies at once, according to leaks.

Overall, it depends on what you lack in your current best teams. If you don’t have Welt for Imaginary damage nor Bailu for heavy five-star heal, Luocha will add more to your overall strategy. If you do, Kafka will bring you more potential instead since her kit looks incredibly strong. Still, her abilities have yet to be confirmed by the developer, so you should take that advice with a grain of salt.

But more importantly, it’s all about your taste: the aim is to have fun and to get characters that you want regardless of their strategic potential. The meta in Honkai is well-balanced at the moment, and there are no bad characters.