Honkai Star Rail Kafka best build, Ascension materials, Traces, and Light Cone
Everything you need to know about Kafka in Star Rail.
Kafka is a 5-Star Lightning character of The Nihility path who was added to Honkai: Star Rail during version 1.2.
While Kafka is featured as the boosted 5-Star character on her Nessun Norma Banner in version 1.6, she will eventually return to Honkai Star Rail at some point in the future when the Banner schedule cycles back to her.
Whether you have her, or want to prepare for if you do Warp for her successfully, it's good to know the best Kafka build, including her best Relics and best team. It's also handy to learn what her Eidolons are, and what Ascension materials and Trace materials are needed to level up Kafka to her full potential.
Kafka materials and stats:
Kafka build:
Honkai Star Rail Kafka kit
Kafka is a 5-Star Lightning character of The Nihility path, and is best at providing Shock DOT (damage over time) and lowering enemies' Lightning toughness bars, and works particularly well with other characters who produce DOT effects.
All of the percentages mentioned below are based on Level 1 Traces.
Here's a summary of Kafka's kit in Honkai Star Rail:
- Element: Lightning.
- Path: The Nihility.
- Rarity: 5-Star.
- Banner: Nessun Norma.
- Basic Attack: Midnight Tumult (deals Lightning damage equal to 50% of Kafka's attack stat to a single enemy).
- Skill: Caressing Moonlight (deals Lightning damage equal to 80% of Kafka's attack stat to a single enemy and Lightning damage equal to 30% of Kafka's attack stat to adjacent enemies. If the target enemy is already affected by DOTs, these DOT effects immediately damage them for 60% of the DOT's original damage).
- Ultimate: Twilight Trill (deals Lightning damage equal to 48% of Kafka's attack stat to all enemies, with a 100% chance to Shock enemies, and enemies immediately take damage equal to 80% of the DOT. Shock lasts for two turns, and while enemies are Shocked, they receive Lightning damage equal to 116% of Kafka's attack stat at the beginning of each turn).
- Talent (passive ability): Gentle but Cruel (after an ally Basic attacks an enemy, Kafka immediately launches one follow-up attack and deals Lightning damage equal to 42% of her attack stat to that enemy, with a 100% chance to inflict Shock equivalent to that applied by her Ultimate to the attacked enemy for two turns. This effect can only be triggered one time per turn).
- Technique (overworld ability): Mercy Is Not Forgiveness (immediately attacks enemies in a set range and deals Lightning damage equal to 50% of Kafka's attack stat to all enemies. Each enemy also has a 100% chance to become Shocked for two turns, equivalent to that applied by her Ultimate).
- Bonus Trace 1: Torture (when Kafka uses her Ultimate, enemy targets will now immediately receive damage from all currently applied DOT sources instead of immediately receiving damage from only the currently applied Shock state).
- Bonus Trace 2: Plunder (if an enemy is defeated while Shocked, Kafka additionally regenerates 5 Energy).
- Bonus Trace 3: Thorns (The base chance for Kafka's Ultimate, Technique, and the follow-up attack triggered by her Talent to inflict Shock increases by 30%).
Honkai Star Rail Kafka Ascension materials
You need to use Kafka Ascension materials to upgrade her health, attack, defence, and critical hit effectiveness.
You need to get a lot of Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff and Thief's Instinct-based materials for Kafka to fully upgrade her capabilities.
In total, the Kafka Ascension Materials in Honkai: Star Rail are:
- x15 Thief's Instinct
- x15 Usurper's Scheme
- x15 Conqueror's Will
- x65 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff
- 308,000 Credits
For more details, here's what Kafka Ascension materials you need per level:
| Kafka Ascension level | Kafka Ascension materials | Credit cost | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 20 | x5 Thief's Instinct | 4,000 | x1 regular Star Rail Pass |
| Level 30 | x10 Thief's Instinct | 8,000 | None |
| Level 40 | x6 Conqueror's Will, x3 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff | 16,000 | x1 regular Star Rail Pass |
| Level 50 | x9 Conqueror's Will, x7 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff | 40,000 | None |
| Level 60 | x6 Usurper's Scheme, x20 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff | 80,000 | x1 regular Star Pass |
| Level 70 | x9 Usurper's Scheme, x35 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff | 160,000 | None |
Honkai Star Rail Kafka Trace materials
Just like Ascension, to get the most out of using Kafka you will have to level-up her attacks and passive abilities by using Trace materials, which vary from character-to-character.
For Kafka, you need to use a lot of Obsidian and Thief's Instinct based materials to fully upgrade her capabilities.
In total, to upgrade all of her abilities, the Kafka Trace Materials you need are:
- x8 Tracks of Destiny
- x12 Regret of Infinite Ochema
- x18 Obsidian of Dread
- x41 Thief's Instinct
- x56 Conqueror's Will
- x58 Usurper's Scheme
- x69 Obsidian of Desolation
- x139 Obsidian of Obsession
- 3 million Credits
Honkai Star Rail Kafka Eidolons
By getting duplicates of Kafka from Warping on Banners, you will receive her Eidolon. This material allows you to unlock Eidolon levels, with each upgrade either improving an existing attack or passive ability.
Here are all of Kafka's Eidolons in Honkai: Star Rail:
- Da Capo (E1): When Kafka's Talent triggers a follow-up attack, there is a 100% chance to increase the DOT received by the target by 30% for two turns.
- Fortississimo (E2): While Kafka is on the field, DOT dealt by all allies increases by 25%.
- Capriccio (E3): Increases the level of Kafka's Skill by two, with a maximum upgrade Level of 15, and increases her Basic attack by one with a maximum upgrade Level of 10.
- Recitativo (E4): When an enemy target takes damage from Shock inflicted by Kafka, she additionally regenerates two Energy.
- Doloroso (E5): Increases the level of Kafka's Ultimate and Talent by two with a maximum upgrade level of 15 for both.
- Leggiero (E6): Kafka's Ultimate, Technique, and the follow-up attack triggered by her Talent increases the damage multiplier of Shock damage dealt to enemies by 156% and extends the duration of Shock by one turn.
How to play Kafka in Honkai Star Rail
Kafka is a Nihility character who uses DOT (damage over time) attacks to damage both single and multi-targets. Her kit focuses on applying and boosting this damage as much as possible, while also enhancing other DOT effects applied by your team.
Due to this design, you'll want to have as many DOT effects applied to enemies as often as possible. DOT effects in Honkai Star Rail are: Shock, Wind Shear, Bleed, and Burn. You can achieve Shock with Kafka, but you should have at least one other character on your team who can also apply DOT.
As Kafka applies Shock with her Ultimate, you'll want to try and ideally activate her Ultimate every two turns, as this is how long her Ultimate Shock effect lasts. This can be a little hard to achieve, but activating her 'Plunder' bonus Trace can help with Energy Regeneration, as can Relics and teammates like Tingyun and Huohuo.
You'll likely have a healer, shielder, or Harmony buffer/Nihility debuffer on a Kafka team, so use them to build your Skill Points by Basic attacking an enemy, as Kafka's Talent applies Shock once per turn when an ally Basic attacks. You'll want this Shock on enemies as often as possible for both DOT damage, and to regenerate Kafka's Energy quicker when an enemy dies while Shocked.
In short, make sure the enemies are Shocked as often as possible and add other DOT effects with other characters to boost Kafka's damage. Prioritise using Kafka's Skill and other allies' DOT moves, and remember to try and activate Kafka's Ultimate every two turns for Shock application and lots of damage.
Best Kafka team comp in Honkai Star Rail
To maximise Kafka's DPS, you should pair her with at least one other DOT attacker. Two DOT attackers can cause even more damage, but you'll probably lose useful healing, shielding, or attack buffs by doing this. So unless another DOT character also provides one of these effects, we recommend Kafka with just one fellow DOT attacker for now.
We think Sampo is the best character to pair with Kafka due to how often he can apply Wind Shear to multiple enemies. Serval is another good option for her AoE Lightning and Shock damage, and Guinaifen has also proven that she can rival Sampo's success if the enemy is weak to Fire.
However, as a 5-Star Wind attacker, it's looking like the upcoming Black Swan will be the ideal character to pair with Kafka when she releases.
However, remember that winning battles is often dependent on what weakness an enemy has, so you might want to bring Luka instead for his Bleed DOT if you need a Physical character to break weaknesses instead - but he's more single-target focused.
With that said, Sampo, Guinaifen, or Serval will still generally be the best characters to pair with Kafka in most situations (until Black Swan releases).
To help implant a Lightning weakness you can put Silver Wolf in your team. This involves a bit of luck, but if most of your team are Lightning attackers it's easier to implant a Lightning weakness.
The best Harmony characters to have on your team are Bronya, Ruan Mei, or Tingyun for their attack buffs, with Bronya also letting you switch to other characters, and Tinyun helping with Energy regeneration. Bring Tingyun over Bronya if Silver Wolf is on the team to help implant a Lightning weakness.
Ruan Mei is fantastic for helping Kafka teams break enemy weakness bars to keep them out of the action while your DOT effects cause increased damage while they're Weakness Broken. However, if you want more speed, or need to inflict Burn as well, then Asta can help too.
Best Kafka Relics in Honkai Star Rail
We recommend the 4-piece Prisoner in Deep Confinement as the best Relics for Kafka. The 2-piece increases her attack by 12%, with the full 4-piece ignoring 6% of an enemies defence when dealing damage to it for every DOT the enemy is afflicted with. This effect is valid for a max of three DOTs.
If you don't have good stats for the 4-piece Prisoner in Deep Confinement, then pairing its 2-piece with either the 2-piece Band of Sizzling Thunder or 2-piece Musketeer of Wild Wheat set is a good substitute while you farm.
There are a few options for your Planar Ornaments, depending on the focus of your Kafka build, but generally we recommend Space Stealing Station to increase Kafka's attack by 12%, and an additional 12% when her speed reaches 120. The Firmament Frontline: Glamoth set can be better if you can reach 160 Speed, but this is much harder to do, and won't be worth swapping in the long run if the pieces don't have good substats.
However, if you need more Energy Regeneration for your build then the Sprightly Vonwacq set can substitute, but if you're running another Shock DOT applicator, then Penacony, Land of the Dreams can work for your Energy Recharge needs even better, as it also increases damage dealt if it's the same as the wearer.
Best Kafka Light Cone in Honkai Star Rail
As it's her signature, the 5-Star Patience Is All You Need Light Cone is Kafka's best weapon in Honaki: Star Rail, however she actually has a very good 4-Star option too.
Sticking to her signature for now, at Level 80 and Superimposition 1, Patience Is All You Need increases damage dealt by Kafka by 24%. After every attack, Kafka's Speed also increases by 4.8%, stacking up to three times. If Kafka hits an enemy not afflicted by Erode, there is a 100% base chance to inflict Erode on them. Enemies afflicted with Erode are also considered Shocked, so will receive Lightning DOT at the start of each turn equal to 60% of the Kafka's attack stat, lasting for one turn.
For another 5-Star option, as DOT effects count as debuffs, we recommend Welt's signature, In the Name of the World as another Kafka weapon. It increases damage when debuffs are applied, and increases attack when Kafka's skill is used.
Solitary Healing is a decent 5-Star option, and can be bought from the Simulated Universe Shop. It gives Kafka more Break Effect, but more importantly, it increases DOT dealt by the wearer for two turns, and when the target suffering from Kafka's Shock is defeated, she regenerates Energy.
As for 4-Star F2P options, Good Night and Sleep Well is a fantastic Light Cone pick for Kafka for the increase to damage when attacking enemies with debuffs. If you don't have this, you can also use Fermata for the increase to Break Effect damage and Wind Shear and Shock DOT damage. Eyes of the Prey can also work for its increase to DOT damage.
Version 2.2 with Robin and Boothill is nearly here! Meanwhile, in version 2.1 we have Aventurine and Jingliu running, so make sure to redeem those new codes for Stellar Jade if you want them or future characters - and check all characters out on our regularly updated tier list. For everything else, we have pages on the next Banner, Ministry of Education quiz answers, how to get more Star Rail Passes, and an English voice actors list.
Best Kafka build in Honkai Star Rail
Keeping in mind that the best team comps in Star Rail are very situational, if you want to take advantage of her huge DOT damage potential while keeping her alive, we have compiled what we think is currently the best Kafka build in Honkai Star Rail:
- Kafka Best Light Cone: 5-Star Patience Is All You Need.
- Kafka Best Relics: 4-Piece Prisoner in Deep Confinement.
- Kafka Best Planar Ornaments: Space Stealing Station.
- Kafka Best team comp: Sampo, Tingyun, Luocha.
Remember that Black Swan will probably replace Sampo when she releases, and that Ruan Mei, Asta, or Bronya can fill in for Tingyun if you think they will work better for a particular situation, as can other healers or shielders in Luocha's slot.
It's entirely up to you whether you want to spend your Stellar Jade to Warp on Kafka's Banner, but she's a fantastic pick if you like Nihility characters and want AOE damage or to boost the damage you can apply from other DOT effects.
Good luck levelling up Kafka in Honkai: Star Rail!