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 Jing Yuan, Honkai Star Rail’s March 7th, and Honkai Star Rail’s Sushang.
So let’s take a look at everything in our Honkai Star Rail Kafka build.
When is Honkai Star Rail Kafka’s release date?
Hoyoverse is yet to confirm when Kafka will get her debut banner, but we think it’s likely it will come quite soon – perhaps even in the Honkai Star Rail update, if we’re lucky. Nothing’s set in stone just yet, though, so we’ll be sure to update this guide as soon as we get solid confirmation.
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 specialises 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?
Curently, the best light cone for Kafka is In the Name of the World, which boosts the damage she deals to enemies effected 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 |
| In the Name of the World | Increases the wearer’s damage to debuffed enemies by 24%. When the wearer uses their 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 the wearer’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 |
| 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 prioritise 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
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 o n 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 affect 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, Genshin Impact codes, Genshin Impact banner, and Genshin Impact events guides.
