Kafka Best Builds and Rating

Kafka is a Lightning Element character in Honkai: Star Rail. Check out Kafka's best builds, teams, Light Cones, Relics, Trace priority, kit, and gameplay guide here!

Kafka Character Guides
Build Guide	Materials	Warp Banner

Kafka Character Overview

Kafka Basic Info and Rating

Kafka Basic Information
Kafka	Rarity	5-star
	Element	Lightning
	Path	Nihility
General Rating		Endgame Rating
Overall DPS		MoC PF AS

Ratings are based on E0.

How do you rate Kafka?

Character Tier List

Kafka Stats

Should You Pull for Kafka?

Kafka is a DoT damage dealer who is best paired with another DoT character to maximize her utility. Though she could be played as a CRIT DPS or Solo DPS, this will go against her greatest potential.

Pull for Kafka if you need a Lightning DPS and if you enjoy Damage-over-Time gameplay!

Kafka's Best Builds

DoT DPS Build

Base Build

Alternative Cones

Best Light Cone	Relics and Ornament
Patience Is All You Need	Prisoner in Deep Confinement
	Firmament Frontline Glamoth
Main Stats		Sub Stats
Body: ATK% Feet: SPD Sphere: Lightning DMG Rope: ATK%		SPD ★★★ ATK% ★★ Effect Hit % ★★ Flat ATK ★

Alternative Light Cones
1	Reforged Remembrance
2	Good Night and Sleep Well
3	In the Name of the World
4	Fermata
5	Incessant Rain

This Kafka build specializes in increasing her DoT and Speed so you can maximize her damage and trigger more Skill attacks, which is the main focus of her Kit.

Kafka's Ascension 6 Trace and Effect Hit Rate stat bonuses let you apply her Lightning DoT on enemies reliably, so getting more Effect Hit Rate is not necessary.

Recommended Stat Values

Kafka should have at least 135 SPD to activate the Firmament Ornament's effect. The Effect Hit Rate from Kafka's Traces is already enough to guarantee the Shock DoT with her Follow-up attack at E0.

However, you may want to increase her Effect Hit Rate to 28% if you have her signature Light Cone and E1 unlocked since it applies a Debuff that increases the DoT that enemies receive.

Kafka's Best Teams

Kafka F2P Team (Free-to-Play)

DPS	Main DPS	Support	Healer
Kafka	Dan Heng	Asta	Natasha

This F2P (Free to Play) Team for Kafka focuses on applying DoT and buffing her Speed. Dan Heng is a good choice for this F2P Team since he can trigger Wind Shear when he triggers shield break, while Asta is also a nice choice since she provides ATK% and Speed buffs while also being able to apply Burn on enemies.

Kafka's DoT Team

DPS	DPS	Support	Healer
Kafka	Black Swan	Ruan Mei	Huohuo

A standard Kafka team will require an additional DoT character, one support character, and one healer or shielder.

Though you can just run Kafka with two other DoT units, it won't deal as much damage compared to having a support character who can reduce the DEF stat of enemies.

Other Recommended Characters

Character	Merits
Guinaifen	DPS Replacement Guinaifen is a great alternative for Black Swan especially against enemies who are weak to Fire. Guinaifen can also increase the DMG taken by an enemy.
Sampo	DPS Replacement Sampo can increase the enemy's DMG taken by DoTs and is especially useful for inflicting Weakness Break on enemies who are weak to Wind.
Luka	DPS Replacement Luka is a DoT unit that can replace Black Swan if you're up against an Elite enemy with a Physical Weakness. He's capable of high single-target DMG and can remove enemy buffs.
Serval	DPS Replacement Though not a true Nihility character, Serval can add more Lightning damage and DoT for the team.
Jiaoqiu	Support Replacement Jiaoqiu can provide his own DoTs and increase the DMG taken by enemies through Ashen Roast.
Silver Wolf	Support Replacement Silver Wolf is your support alternative if you don't have Ruan Mei and if you need Weakness Break for the party. Though her implant debuff requires a bit of RNG, it can be somewhat controlled through proper team comp planning.
Pela	Support Replacement Pela is a great alternative for Silver Wolf, especially if you need to apply a DEF debuff on multiple enemies.
Robin	Support Replacement Robin can increase the party's ATK and DMG. Robin can also advance everyone in the turn order after using her Ultimate.
Tingyun	Support Replacement Tingyun is generally just a great buffer for any damage dealer, including DoT characters like Kafka.
Bronya	Support Replacement Though DoTs can't CRIT, Bronya still provides incredible utility by enabling Kafka to take more actions per turn and while giving a DMG% buff.
Gallagher	Healer Replacement Gallagher can provide an ATK reduction debuff with his Enhanced Basic ATK. He can also heal the team as long as an ally attacks the debuffed enemy.
Any Abundance or Preservation Characters	Healer Replacement Any Defensive support characters like Luocha, Gepard, or Natasha can be good Alternatives for Huohuo. All you need is someone to keep the team alive.

Kafka's Best Relics and Ornaments

Relics	Rating & Merits
Prisoner in Deep Confinement x4	★★★★★ - Best - Gives Kafka the highest DPS increase out of all other Relics. - Increases Kafka's DoT DMG and gets stronger if there are a lot of DoTs applied on an enemy.
Band of Sizzling Thunder x4	★★★★☆ - 2nd Best - Increases Kafka's Lightning damage and ATK%.
Band of Sizzling Thunder x2 Messenger Traversing Hackerspace x2	★★★☆☆ - Early Game Set - Increases Kafka's Lightning damage. - Slightly Increases Kafka's SPD.
Ornaments	Merits
Firmament Frontline Glamoth	★★★★★ - Best - Provides Kafka with the highest DPS increase out of all other Ornaments, even if you only manage to reach the 135 SPD Breakpoint.
Space Sealing Station	★★★★☆ - 2nd Best - Provides Kafka with a high DPS increase compared to most Ornaments. - Greatly increases Kafka's ATK%, which improves DoT Damage.

Relic List & Guide

Kafka's Best Light Cones

All Recommended Light Cones

Light Cone	Why We Recommend It
Patience Is All You Need	★★★★★ - Best Patience Is All You Need is best for Kafka due to its generally high base stats and it also increases her DoT Damage. Also, the Light Cone has a stackable SPD buff that allows her to use her Skill more often, and the Erode debuff which is an additional Lightning DoT.
Reforged Remembrance	★★★★☆ - Great Reforged Remembrance is also great for Kafka since it increases her Effect Hit Rate and allows her to utilize the Prophet buff, which increases her ATK and enables her DoT to ignore a percentage of the target's DEF.
Good Night and Sleep Well	★★★★☆ - Great Good Night and Sleep Well is a great 4-Star Light Cone for Kafka since it gives her a stacking DMG boost for every debuff the enemy has.
In the Name of the World	★★★☆☆ - Good In the Name of the World is a good Light Cone for Kafka since it allows boosts her DMG to debuffed enemies, which synergizes well with her kit and increases her ATK when she uses her Skill.
Fermata	★★★☆☆ - Good Fermata is also a good option for Kafka since it increases the damage she and her DoT deal against Shocked enemies. It also increases her Break Effect.
Incessant Rain	★★★☆☆ - Good Incessant Rain is a good Light Cone for Kafka since it increases her Effect Hit Rate and also provides the Aether Code debuff, which increases the enemy's damage taken. However, Kafka does not benefit much from the CRIT Rate boost as most of her damage comes from DoT.

Light Cone List & Guide

Kafka Gameplay Guide

Back to Kafka Builds ▲

Kafka's Trace Priority

See All Traces ▼

Kafka's Recommended Eidolons

See All Eidolons ▼

Kafka's Talent Effects

If another party member uses a Basic ATK, Kafka will initiate a Follow-up attack on the targeted enemy. This Follow-up attack has a chance to apply a Shock status on enemies.

This Effect only triggers once, but it will refresh after Kafka takes her turn (whether she uses her Basic Attack or Skill).

E1 Effect Hit Rate Requirement

Kafka's E1 applies a debuff on enemies that increases the DoT they receive by 30%.

This debuff only has a 100% base chance to be applied on enemies, meaning you will need 67% Effect Hit Rate if you want to guarantee this debuff applies on any enemy that's level 75 and above.

It's generally not worth it to sacrifice an ATK% Body piece to get this amount of EHR, so try to make-do with what you can through substats instead.

Kafka's Skill Effects

Kafka's Skill deals AoE Lightning damage to enemies. If an enemy has a Damage-over-Time effect (like Shock or Wind Shear) currently applied, the effect of the DoT will trigger be triggered.

Kafka's Ultimate Effects

Kafka's Ultimate deals DMG to all enemies and applies Shock. If enemies are already shocked, then the Shock status will immediately trigger and will receive additional Lightning DoT each turn.

Kafka's Technique Effects

Kafka's Technique causes her to deal Lightning damage in an AoE around her with a chance of inflicting Shock on them which will last for 2 turns.

Kafka Traces (Skills and Passives)

See Trace Priority ▲

Active Abilities

Basic ATK is maxed out at Level 6.

Technique and Bonus Abilities

Kafka's Eidolons

See Recommended Eidolons ▲

All Eidolon Resonance Effects

Kafka Ascension and Trace Materials

Total Ascension Materials

Ascension Materials	Total
Thief's Instinct	15
Usurper's Scheme	15
Conqueror's Will	15
Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff	65
Credit	308,000

Materials Per Ascension Level

Lvl.	Character Ascension Materials
20 ➔ 30	Thief's Instinct x5 Credit x4,000
30 ➔ 40	Thief's Instinct x10 Credit x8,000
40 ➔ 50	Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff x3 Usurper's Scheme x6 Credit x16,000
50 ➔ 60	Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff x7 Usurper's Scheme x9 Credit x40,000
60 ➔ 70	Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff x20 Conqueror's Will x6 Credit x80,000
70 ➔ 80	Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff x35 Conqueror's Will x9 Credit x160,000

Total Trace Materials

All Trace Node Materials	Total
Obsidian of Dread	15
Thief's Instinct	41
Obsidian of Desolation	72
Usurper's Scheme	56
Obsidian of Obsession	139
Conqueror's Will	58
Regret of Infinite Ochema	12
Tracks of Destiny	11
Credit	3,000,000

Materials Per Trace Level

Lvl	Basic ATK Ascension Materials
2	x3	x6	x5000
3	x3	x3	x10000
4	x5	x4	x20000
5	x3	x3	x45000
6	x8	x4	x160000

Lvl	Skill, Talent, & Ult Ascension Materials
2	x3	x2500	-	-
3	x3	x6	x5000	-
4	x3	x3	x10000	-
5	x5	x4	x20000	-
6	x7	x6	x30000	-
7	x3	x3	x45000	-
8	x5	x4	x80000	-
9	x1	x1	x8	x160000
10	x2	x2	x14	x300000

Nodes	Bonus Stat and Abilities Materials
Ability 1	x2	x4	x4000	-
Ability 2	x4	x1	x1	x16000
Ability 3	x6	x1	x1	x128000
Stat 1	x2	x2500	-	-
Stat 2	x3	x6	x5000	-
Stat 3	x3	x3	x10000	-
Stat 4	x3	x3	x10000	-
Stat 5	x5	x4	x20000	-
Stat 6	x3	x3	x45000	-
Stat 7	x3	x3	x45000	-
Stat 8	x8	x8	x160000	-
Stat 9	x8	x8	x160000	-
Stat 10	x8	x8	x160000	-

Additional Kafka Information

How to Get Kafka

Limited Banners
Nessun Dorma

Kafka was previously available in the Character Warp banner called Indelible Coterie. The banner ran from September 09, 2024 to October 02, 2024 (UTC-5).

Indelible Coterie Banner Schedule and Rates

Kafka's Voice Actors

Kafka's In-Game Lore

Honkai: Star Rail Related Guides

▶︎ All Playable Characters

Characters by Rarity

Characters by Path

Character Paths
Destruction	The Hunt	Erudition	Harmony
Nihility	Preservation	Abundance	Remembrance

Characters by Element

Character Elements
Fire	Ice	Lightning	Wind
Quantum	Imaginary	Physical

All Lightning Characters

Lightning Characters
Tingyun	Serval	Kafka	Jing Yuan
Bailu	Arlan	Acheron	Moze
Aglaea