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Honkai: Star Rail's latest major update also brings with it the game's new top-tier Erudition character.
Honkai: Star Rail version 3.0 is finally here and with it comes the arrival of the game's second playable Emanator: The Herta herself, Genius Society member #83 and Emanator of Erudition.
Just like her 4-star puppet version, The Herta wields the Ice element and follows the Path of Erudition. But unlike her puppets, The Herta's combat effectiveness is not limited to high enemy count encounters like Pure Fiction. While she still excels against large waves of enemies, The Herta's sheer damage output also lets her demolish Elite-level enemies and bosses with ease. Truly, The Herta's combat prowess and beauty are undeniable.
If you were lucky enough to have pulled The Herta, read on as we breakdown her kit as well as her best build, gear, and teammates:
The power of Erudition
The Herta's kit is a bit more complicated than most other characters, so we'll have to start our breakdown of it with her Talent, Hand Them Over. The Herta's Talent lets her inflict stacks of Interpretation on enemies, which increases the amount of DMG received by enemies from her enhanced skill (more on this later) by 8% and 4% at level 10 for the primary target and any adjacent enemies, respectively. If there is another character following the Path of Erudition on the field alongside The Herta, then the DMG bonus granted by Interpretation stacks is doubled.
The Herta inflicts 1 stack of Interpretation on all enemies that enter battle, with one random enemy receiving 25 stacks at the start of battle, prioritising Elite-level enemies and above. Interpretation can stack on a single enemy up to a maximum of 42 times. If an enemy is defeated while having Interpretation stacks, those stacks will be transferred to another, with Elite-level enemies and above getting prioritized.
The Herta's skill, Big Brain Energy, lets her inflict 1 stack of Interpretation on its primary target while also dealing Ice DMG to it and any adjacent enemies. This effect repeats 2 times, meaning that the main target will get hit three times, the two adjacent enemies to it get hit twice, while the two farthest enemies from the main target get hit once – assuming there are five enemies present on the field, of course.
The Herta's ultimate, Told Ya! Magic Happens, has a hefty 220 energy cost and lets her rearrange the number of Interpretation stacks on enemies, prioritising the transfer to Elite-level enemies or above. At the same time, she will deal Ice DMG to all enemies, increases her own ATK by 80% for 3 turns at level 10, immediately take action once again, and gains 1 stack of Inspiration. Inspiration enhances The Herta's skill and can have a maximum of 4 stacks.
The Herta's enhanced skill, Hear Me Out, consumes 1 stack of Inspiration upon use and basically works the same as her normal skill, but with increased multipliers and an additional attack at the end that deals DMG to all enemies.
The Herta's Major Traces facilitates the buildup to her powerful ultimate-enhanced skill combo while also letting her gain strong self buffs and energy.
Her A2 Trace, Aloofly Honest, lets her allies inflict 1 stack of Interpretation on every enemy hit by their attacks. At the same time, every enemy hit by an ally's attack regenerates 3 fixed energy for The Herta, counting up to a maximum of 5 enemies hit. In addition, she also gains a 50% Ice DMG bonus when using her enhanced skill if its primary target has 42 stacks of Interpretation.
Her A4 Trace, Message from Beyond the Veil, increases the Crit DMG of all allies by 80%, if there is another character following the Path of Erudition on the field alongside The Herta. In addition, it also causes every ally attack to make her A2 Trace calculate at least 3 targets getting hit (meaning The Herta always regenerates at least 9 energy), apply 1 additional stack of Interpretation to the enemy with the highest amount of existing stacks, and apply 2 more additional stacks of Interpretation if the ally performing the attack follows the Path of Erudition.
Meanwhile, her A6 Trace, Starved Landscape of Vacua, lets The Herta gain 1 permanent stack of Answer for every stack of Interpretation inflicted on enemies. Answer has a maximum of 99 stacks and increases her ultimate's DMG by 1% for every stack.
Finally, The Herta's Technique, Vibe Checker, lets her gain a 60% ATK bonus for 2 turns at the start of the next battle. When used in the overworld, it will also mark the locations of up to 3 basic treasures on the map. And if used in the Simulated Universe or Divergent Universe game modes, this Technique will also deal True DMG equal to a percentage of the Max HP of enemies, with the amount scaling on whether they are above or below Elite. Enemies below Elite level get dealt 99% of their Max HP as True DMG, while enemies that are Elite-level and above get dealt 30% of their Max HP as True DMG.
In battle, always keep an eye on the number of Interpretation and Answer stacks active to maximise The Herta's DMG output. Focus the entire party's attacks on enemies that are Elite-level and above to ensure that the brunt of The Herta's DMG gets dished out to the priority target. Once The Herta's energy is full, use her ultimate, followed by her enhanced skill, to wipe the battlefield clean in a magical and dazzling display of power by an Emanator of Erudition.
When leveling up The Herta's abilities, make sure to max out her skill, ultimate, and Talent as soon as possible. You can choose to leave her basic attack at level 1 to save resources as she will ideally only use her skill, ultimate, and enhanced skill whenever she takes her turn.
The Herta's best Light Cones
The Herta's best Light Cone is, of course, her signature: Into the Unreachable Veil. This Light Cone increases its wearer's Crit Rate by 12% and, upon using their ultimate, boosts the DMG of their skill and ultimate by 60% for 3 turns. In addition, if the wearer consumed at least 140 energy to use their ultimate (The Herta uses 220), then this Light Cone will also regenerate 1 skill point for the party.
If you don't have the Stellar Jade to get The Herta's signature, don't fret as she has plenty of strong alternatives.
Among the limited 5-star Light Cones, Jing Yuan's signature, Before Dawn, will be your best bet as it gives its wielder a 36% Crit DMG buff and boosts the DMG of their skill and ultimate by 18%. Among the standard 5-star Light Cones, Himeko's signature, Night on the Milky Way, is also a great choice for its stacking 45% ATK bonus, though it falls off in value against low enemy count combat encounters.
For 4-star Light Cones, your best pick will be Today is Another Peaceful Day from the Battle Pass for its DMG bonus that scales with its wearer's max energy. In the case of The Herta, this Light Cone gives her a 32% DMG bonus at S1 and a whopping 64% DMG bonus at S5.
The Herta's free-to-play options include Eternal Calculus and The Seriousness of Breakfast, both of which can be acquired and Superimposed for free through the Simulated Universe's Herta Store and the Forgotten Hall's Light Cone Manifest, respectively.
The Herta's best relics
The Herta's go-to Cavern of Corrosion relic set is the 4-piece Scholar Lost in Erudition set, which increases her Crit Rate by 8% and boosts the DMG dealt by her ultimate and skill by 20%. In addition, this relic set will also give her skill an additional 25% DMG boost after she uses her ultimate.
As for The Herta's Planar Ornament relic set, go for the 2-piece Izumo Gense and Takama Divine Realm set. This set increases her ATK by 12% while also granting a nice 12% Crit Rate boost if there is at least one teammate following the same Path as its wearer, which will always be active as The Herta always wants another Erudition character alongside her.
The main stats you should go for in The Herta's relics are Crit Rate/DMG for the body, ATK% or Speed for the feet, Ice DMG boost or ATK% for the Planar Sphere, and ATK% for the Link Rope. Substats to go for include Crit Rate, Crit DMG, ATK, and Speed.
Stat goals for The Herta will vary depending on if you're running her on a low or high Speed build. For a low Speed build with ATK boots, aim for at least 3,000 ATK. But for a high Speed build with Speed boots, aim for around 2,500 to 2,800 ATK. The Herta's Speed breakpoints will either be her base Speed of 99 or 134 Speed.
With The Herta's many self buffs in mind, you should also focus on having as much Crit Rate as possible since the 80% Crit DMG bonus from her A4 Trace will give you an easily achievable 120% Crit DMG baseline before buffs.
The Herta's best teammates
The Herta should always have one other character following the Path of Erudition on her team, ideally those that can frequently attack enemies to help her charge her ultimate or provide her with some buffs.
Among the 5-star Erudition characters, your best bet will be Jade, who is notably getting her rerun alongside The Herta's debut. Jade can designate The Herta as her skill's Debt Collector to give her a nice Speed boost and create a feedback loop that lets Jade unleash frequent follow-up attacks while The Herta charges up her ultimate. You can also do this with Argenti, though it requires him to have a support build with the 4-piece Eagle of Twilight Line set and the 3-star Passkey Light Cone.
The Herta's best 4-star Erudition teammate will be Serval, who will also have to run a support build with the 4-piece Eagle of Twilight Line set and the 3-star Passkey Light Cone. Of course, you can run The Herta alongside her 4-star puppet version Herta, though this combo won't be as effective as the ones with the three aforementioned characters.
The third slot in The Herta's team should go to a Harmony support, with your best options being Robin and Sunday. Robin gives stronger party-wide buffs and can advance the action of the entire team while Sunday can only buff and advance the action of The Herta, though he also has the added benefit of helping her regenerate energy with his ultimate. While not a Harmony character, the new Remembrance Trailblazer is also a strong pick for this role as they can also buff and advance the action of The Herta.
The fourth slot in The Herta's team should then go to a sustain character that can help The Herta regenerate energy either through frequent multi-target attacks or by direct energy regeneration.
Both Lingsha and Aventurine provide top-tier sustain while also helping The Herta regenerate energy with frequent attacks. However, we will have to give the edge to Lingsha as she attacks more frequently with her summon Fuyuan, while also having better synergy with Jade as the Debt Collector if the latter is the second Erudition character in a The Herta team.
Meanwhile, Huohuo can directly regenerate The Herta's energy with her ultimate while giving a nice ATK buff on top of her strong healing. If you don't have any of those 5-star sustain characters, then your best 4-star option will be a high Speed build Gallagher. Of course, you can always go with a sustainless composition with either an additional Erudition or Harmony character if you're brave enough.
Honkai: Star Rail version 3.0 released on January 15, bringing with it the new world of Amphoreus as well as three new characters: the Trailblazer's new Remembrance version for free by playing through the main story, as well as The Herta and Aglaea through the gacha banners of the version's first and second halves, respectively. The update will also see reruns for a total of six 5-star characters, namely Jade, Feixiao, Robin, Boothill, and Silver Wolf.
The first half of this version features the debut of The Herta alongside reruns for Jade, Feixiao, and Lingsha. If you're still on the fence on who you should pull for in the version 3.0 banners, check out our pull guide and we'll help you decide.
