Honkai Star Rail has seven different elements, including Physical, Fire, Imaginary, Ice, Lightning, Wind, and Quantum. Every enemy in the game has an elemental weakness that can be exploited to deal more damage and apply debuffs. Correctly using the Elements and their effects in HSR is part of the core combat loop. However, players new to Honkai Star Rail or turn-based combat often face trouble understanding the core mechanics. So, here is a complete guide to all the Honkai Star Rail Elements and their effects.
All Honkai Star Rail Elements and Effects
| Element | Debuff | Effects |
|---|---|---|
 Physical | Bleed | – Deals Physical damage – Bleed deals damage over time based on max HP for 2 turns |
 Fire | Burn | – Deals Fire damage – Burn deals consistent damage over time for 2 turns |
 Imaginary | Imprisonment | – Deals Imaginary damage – Imprisonment delays the enemy action based on Break Effect stat and the enemy’s speed is reduced by 10% for 1 turn |
 Ice | Freeze | – Deals Ice damage – Freezes the enemy for 1 turn, and once the enemy gets unfrozen, they skip their turn, but their next action advances forward by 50% |
 Lightning | Shock | – Deals Lightning damage – Shock deals consistent damage over time for 2 turns |
 Wind | Wind Shear | – Deals Wind damage – Wind Shear deals consistent damage over time for 2 turns, but can stack up to 5 times |
 Quantum | Entanglement | – Deals Quantum damage. – Entanglement delays enemy actions based on Break Effect Stat – Also applies a stack up to 5 times that allows dealing additional Quantum damage at the start of their next turn when hit |
HSR Weakness Break and Break Effect Explained
In Honkai Star Rail, every enemy comes with a set of Elemental Weaknesses and a Toughness bar. Both the Toughness and Elemental Weakness can be seen above the enemy’s health. The first one is represented with a white bar, while the latter is represented through elemental icons.
The Toughness bar of an enemy reduces when dealing damage to them with the element of their weakness. Once the Toughness bar is depleted, it triggers a Weakness Break. After the enemy goes through a weakness break, it is debuffed based on the element used to deplete the Toughness to zero.
Other than applying a debuff, the enemy receives an additional instance of damage called Break Damage. Both the Break Damage and the potency of the Weakness Break Debuffs are based on the ‘Break Effect’ stat. The higher the Break Effect stat of the character, the more Break Damage is dealt or a stronger debuff is applied to the enemy.
How to View Enemy Weakness Before Battle
Players can check the enemy’s weaknesses before entering battle. This way, they can use a team with the correct elements suited to fight the enemy. Here is how you can view enemy weaknesses before battle in Honkai Star Rail:
- For overworld enemies, their elemental weaknesses appear above their heads, right below the enemy name tag. Initiate the fight by using an attack from the corresponding elements to deal Toughness damage from the very start of the battle.
- For in-game modes, you will be able to see the common elemental weaknesses of the enemies in the team selection area.
How to Apply Elemental Weakness in HSR
Every enemy comes with a predefined set of elemental weaknesses. Most characters have to adhere to the default elemental weaknesses. However, there are a few exceptional characters that can apply additional Elemental Weaknesses to enemies.
Characters like Silver Wolf and Anaxa excel at applying Elemental Weakness on enemies. Their skill can apply a new Weakness type on the enemies, with Anaxa going one step further by being able to apply all seven weaknesses on an enemy in one turn.
Excluding these two, HSR characters like Firefly and Phainon can also apply Elemental Weakness on enemies based on their elements. Firefly’s Technique applies Fire weakness for two turns, while Phainon’s Ultimate always applies the Physical weakness on all enemies present.
Furthermore, characters like Acheron and Feixiao can deal Toughness damage irrespective of the elemental weakness of the enemies. Another thing to note is that there are blessings or buffs inside the Simulated or Divergent Universe game modes that can apply different Elemental Weakness to enemies.
How to Increase Break Damage
Break damage is the additional instance of damage received by an enemy once their Toughness bar reaches zero. The Break damage scales based on the Break Effect stat. The higher the Break Effect of the character, the more Break Damage they will deal to the enemy.
Other than Break Effect, Defense reduction and Resistance reduction also increase the Break Damage received by the enemy. One thing to note is that Break Damage cannot Crit, so Crit Rate and Damage has no effect on it.
There are many ways to increase Break Damage, the easiest being to increase the Break Stat for the character. Certain support characters also specialize in increasing Break Damage received by enemies, like Ruan Mei, Fugue Lingsha, and Gallagher. DPS units like Boothill, Rappa, and Firefly also excel at dealing increased Break Damage compared to other DPS units in the game.
Use Relics and Planar Ornaments that increase Break Effect, like Thief of Shooting Meteor, or add Break Effect main and sub stats to increase Break damage. Certain Light Cones also increase Break Effect for characters.
All Honkai Star Rail Characters for Every Element
All Physical Characters in Honkai Star Rail
- Argenti
- Boothill
- Clara
- Hanya
- Hysilens
- Luka
- Natasha
- Phainon
- Robin
- Sushang
- Destruction Trailblazer
- Yunli
All Fire Characters in Honkai Star Rail
- Asta
- Firefly
- Fugue
- Gallagher
- Guinaifen
- Himeko
- Hook
- Jiaoqiu
- Lingsha
- Topaz & Numby
- Preservation Trailblazer
All Imaginary Characters in Honkai Star Rail
- Aventurine
- Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae
- Dr. Ratio
- Luocha
- Hunt March 7th
- Mydei
- Rappa
- Sunday
- Harmony Trailblazer
- Welt
- Yukong
All Ice Characters in Honkai Star Rail
- Geopard
- Herta
- The Herta
- Jingliu
- Preservation March 7th
- Misha
- Pela
- Ruan Mei
- Remembrance Trailblazer
- Yanqing
All Lightning Characters in Honkai Star Rail
All Wind Characters in Honkai Star Rail
All Quantum Characters in Honkai Star Rail
Now you should know everything about Honkai Star Rail elements, weakness break, and break effects. If you have any doubts, do let us know in the comments section below.
