Aboard the Herta Space Station in Honkai Star Rail, Herta is the real top dog. She may appear as an adorable puppet in a cute little dress, but this sharp-tongued, ice hammer wielder is a top member of the Genius Society, known to have the highest IQ in The Blue. And our HSR Herta guide not only takes a look at who she is, but also her best build, light cones, and relics, as well as all of her eidolons.
To get familiar with the rest of the faces you meet on your trailblazing adventure, check out our list of Honkai Star Rail characters and Honkai Star Rail tier list. We also have other build guides just like this, including Honkai Star Rail’s Sushang, Honkai Star Rail’s March 7th, and Honkai Star Rail’s Tingyun, along with a list of all the latest Honkai Star Rail codes.
Now, prepare to be enlightened, as we dive into our Honkai Star Rail Herta build guide.
What’s the best Honkai Star Rail Herta build?
Herta is a four-star ice character who treads the path of the Erudition, meaning she specialises in dishing out AoE damage. She also delivers shattering follow-up attacks which can certainly turn the tide of battle to your favour.
She makes for a great sub-DPS, especially when you’re taking on large groups or waves of enemies in modes such as the Forgotten Hall and the Simulated Universe. All of her attacks have the ability to freeze enemies, disabling them for a set amount of turns, which offers great utility to her team.
We recommend pairing her up with a strong DPS from the path of The Hunt or The Destruction and a buffer to form an enemy-shattering team that makes the most of her kit and enables your main DPS to shine.
Which light cone should I use for Honkai Star Rail’s Herta?
As with other Honkai Star Rail characters, Herta has her own light cone called the Birth of the Self, which is tailor-made to suit her kit. As such, it’s generally her best-in-slot for most situations.
However, if you’re looking for an alternate, be sure it aligns with the path of Erudition. Before Dawn is a very strong five-star option that enhances her follow-up attacks, and Sagacity or Data Bank are good three-star options.
| Light cone | Effect | How to obtain |
| The Birth of the Self | Increases damage dealt by the wearer’s follow-up attacks. If the current HP of the target enemy is below 50% of the wearer’s max HP, damage dealt by follow up attacks increases further | Gacha |
| Before Dawn | Increases the wearer’s crit damage by 32%, and their ultimate damage by 20%. After the wearer uses their skill or ultimate, they gain Somnus Corpus. Upon triggering a follow-up attack, they consume Somnus Corpus and their follow-up attack damage increases by 48% | Gacha |
| Sagacity | When the wearer uses their ultimate, their attack increases by 24% for two turns | Gacha |
| Data Bank | Increases the wearer’s ultimate damage by 28% | Gacha |
Which relics should I use for Honkai Star Rail’s Herta?
You can equip Herta with a total of six relics – four from a standard set, and two from the Simulated Universe sets.
When it comes to boosting her ice attack, the best standard relic set for Herta is Hunter of Glacial Forest. Musketeer of Wild Wheat is also a good alternative as it boosts her attack and speed. In terms of planar ornaments, we recommend Space Sealing Station.
Find out more about the different relic sets and our recommendations in our Honkai Star Rail relics guide.
| Relic | Effect | How to obtain |
| Hunter of Glacial Forest | Two equipped: increases ice damage by 10% Four equipped: after Herta unleashes her ultimate, her crit damage increases by 25% for two turns |
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Gelid Wind in Herta Space Station’s Storage Zone |
| Musketeer of Wild Wheat | Two equipped: increases attack by 12% Four equipped: increases Herta’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
| Relics | Effect | How to obtain |
| Space Sealing Station | Two equipped: increases Herta’s attack by 12%. When Herta’s speed reaches 120 or higher, her attack increases by another 12% | World 3 of the Simulated Universe |
Relic stat recommendations
When picking out relics for Herta, we recommend prioritizing the following stats.
Main stats:
- Feet: attack% or speed
- Neck: ice damage bonus or attack%
- Article: attack% or crit rate/damage
Sub-stats:
- Attack%
- Ice damage
- Crit rate/damage
What are Honkai Star Rail’s Herta’s abilities?
Here are all of Herta’s attacks and abilities. Her normal attack only hits one enemy, whereas both her skill and ultimate are multi-target, and we’ve found that her skill has a higher chance of freezing enemies than her basic attack.
As such, when you’re facing more than one enemy, we recommend saving skill points to pop her skill points as often as possible. Outside of that, just sit back and watch her ‘I’ll Take a Swing’ talent dish out follow-up attacks.
Active:
| Skill | Effect |
| Basic attack: What Are You Looking At? | Deal ice damage equal to 50% of Herta’s attack to a target enemy |
| Skill: One-Time Offer | Deal 50% of Herta’s attack as ice damage to all enemies. If a target’s HP is 50% or higher, damage dealt to that target increases by 20% |
| Ultimate: It’s Magic. I Added Some Magic | Deal ice damage equal to 120% of Herta’s attack to all enemies |
Talent:
| Skill | Effect |
| Fine, I’ll do it myself | When any ally attack causes an enemy’s HP to fall to 50% or lower, Herta launches a follow-up attack dealing 25% of Herta’s attack as ice damage to all enemies |
Technique:
| Skill | Effect |
| It Can Still Be Optimized (Enhance) | After using her technique, Herta’s attack increases by 40% for three turns in the next battle |
Traces:
| Trace | Effect |
| Efficiency | The damage boost effect of Herta’s skill on enemies with high HP increases by an additional 25% |
| Puppet | Herta’s resistance to crowd control debuffs increases by 35% |
| Icing | Herta’s ultimate deals 20% more damage to frozen enemies |
What are Honkai Star Rail Herta’s eidolons?
In Honkai Star Rail, eidolons are similar to Genshin Impact’s constellations, where gaining more than one copy of a character grants you boosts and upgrades for that character. Here are all of Herta’s eidolons.
| Eidolon | Effect |
| E1: Kick You When You’re Down | If the target enemy’s HP is less than or equal to 50% of its max HP, Herta’s basic attack deals an additional 40% of her attack as ice damage |
| E2: Keep the Ball Rolling | Every time Herta’s talent triggers, her crit rate increases by 3%. This effect can stack up to five times |
| E3: That’s the Kind of Girl I Am | Increases the level of Herta’s skill by two (to a maximum of level 15), and her basic attack by one (to a maximum of level ten) |
| E4: Hit Where It Hurts | Herta’s damage increases by 10% when her talent triggers |
| E5: Cuss Big or Cuss Nothing | Increases the level of Herta’s ultimate and talent by two (to a maximum of level 15) |
| E6: No One Can Betray Me | After using her ultimate, her attack increases by 25% for one turn |
What are Honkai Star Rail Herta’s ascension materials?
You can level Herta 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.
You can get extinguished, glimmering, and squirming cores from fragmentum monsters such as flamespawns on either Jarilo-VI or in the Honkai Star Rail simulated universe, from assignment rewards, or the embers exchange store. The horn of snow drops come rom the Honkai Star Rail stagnant shadow in Jarilo-VI’s Corridor of Fading Echoes.
| Required level | Credits | Ascension materials |
| 20 | 3.2k | Five extinguished cores |
| 30 | 6.4k | Ten extinguished cores |
| 40 | 12.8k | Six glimmering cores and three horn of snow |
| 50 | 32k | Nine glimmering cores and seven horn of snow |
| 60 | 64k | Six squirming cores and 20 horn of snow |
| 70 | 128k | Nine squirming cores and 35 horn of snow |
Who is Honkai Star Rail’s Herta?
Honkai Star Rail’s Herta is known as the human with the highest IQ in The Blue, and the Herta Space Station’s true master. She’s number 83 of the Genius Society and only does what she’s interested in – dropping whichever project she’s working on as soon as something new comes along. She typically appears in the form of a ranged puppet, which is about 70% similar to how she looked as a child.
Herta’s English voice actor is PJ Mattson, who you may recognize as Sylvanas Windrunner from World of Warcraft, and her Japanese voice actor is Yamazaki Haruka, who has voiced many characters in a huge range of anime.
And that’s all we’ve got in our Honkai Star Rail Herta build guide. If you’re looking for more Hoyo content, check out our Genshin Impact tier list, Genshin Impact codes, and Genshin Impact events guides.
