Kafka Build Guide, Abilities, and Best Teams - Honkai: Star Rail Guide - IGN (2024)

You probably remember Kafka from Honkai: Star Rail’s prologue – after all, who could forget this dashing, self-assured Stellaron Hunter? As a playable 5-star character, Kafka deals multi-target Lightning damage. Her damage-over-time (DoT) attacks in particular are shockingly perfect.

If you’re looking for the best Honkai: Star Rail Kafka build, or are just curious about this rebellious Stellaron Hunter’s abilities, this extensive Kafka guide will help you out.

How to Get Kafka

Kafka is released as a playable 5-star character in Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2. Beware that she can only be obtained from a limited-time Character Event Warp banner. If she’s not featured on the current banner, you’ll have to wait until the next Kafka rerun, which may take a few months.

Kafka Stats

Kafka Abilities

• Basic Attack: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 50% of Kafka’s ATK to a single enemy.
• Skill: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 80% of Kafka's ATK to a target enemy plus Lightning DMG equal to 30% of Kafka's ATK to adjacent enemies. If the target enemy is currently receiving DoT, all DoTs currently placed on that enemy immediately produce DMG equal to 60% of their original DMG.
• Ultimate: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 48% of Kafka's ATK to all enemies, with a 100% base chance for enemies hit to become Shocked and immediately take DMG from their current Shock state, equal to 80% of its original DMG. Shock lasts for 2 turns. While Shocked, enemies receive Lightning DoT equal to 116% of Kafka's ATK at the beginning of each turn.
• Talent: After an ally uses Basic ATK on an enemy, Kafka immediately launches 1 follow-up attack and deals Lightning DMG equal to 42% of her ATK to that enemy, with a 100% base chance to inflict Shock equivalent to that of her Ultimate to the attacked enemy target for 2 turns. This effect can only be triggered 1 time per turn.
• Technique: Immediately attacks all enemies within a set range. After entering battle, deals Lightning DMG equal to 50% of Kafka’s ATK to all enemies, with a 100% base chance to inflict Shock equivalent to that applied by her Ultimate on every enemy target for 2 turns.

The list above details Kafka’s abilities (without upgrades). As you can see, Kafka specializes in damage over time effects (DoT) combined with multiple-target damage. Her Ultimate is especially powerful as it immediately applies Shock to all enemies on the field while also dealing normal Lightning damage.

Kafka’s Skill, on the other hand, only damages a single target plus one enemy on each side of that target. Whether the Skill deals additional damage depends on whether the target enemy suffers from a DoT effect. It’s therefore important to apply a DoT first (by using Kafka’s Ultimate, for example) and use the Skill second.

Another way to apply DoT, is by using an ally’s Basic Attack – this will trigger Kafka’s Talent, resulting in a follow-up attack that always applies Shock to the target enemy. Best to avoid Kafka’s own Basic Attack though, as this won’t trigger the effect.

While it’s very handy to use Kafka’s Ultimate at the start of the battle, you may not always have enough Energy. If so, using her Technique is a good option to ensure that all enemies are Shocked straight away.

Kafka Traces

• Torture (bonus ability Ascension 2): When the Ultimate is used, enemy targets will now receive DMG immediately from all currently applied DoT sources instead of just receiving DMG immediately from the currently applied Shock state.
• Plunder (bonus ability Ascension 4): If an enemy is defeated while Shocked, Kafka additionally regenerates 5 Energy.
• Thorns (bonus ability Ascension 6): The base chance for Ultimate, Technique, or the follow-up attack triggered by the Talent to inflict Shock increases by 30%.

The list above details Kafka's Bonus Ascension Abilities. It's important to unlock all of them eventually, but especially Thorns, as this will help you reach an Effect Hit Rate high enough to forego a Relic with an Effect Hit Rate main stat (and get more Attack% instead). Torture is amazing if you use other DoT damage dealers on the team.

Likewise, make sure you unlock all Attack Boost and Effect Hit Rate stat bonuses. The HP stat bonus is not important.

As for her normal abilities, upgrade her Ultimate first, followed by her Talent and Skill. There's no reason to improve Kafka's Basic Attack, as you (ideally) won't be using it.

Kafka's Eidolon Levels

Eidolon level 4 is the most useful one for Kafka’s kit, as it will help her regenerate Energy faster – which, in turn, means more Shock application and more damage. Eidolon level 6 is also extremely powerful as it not only enhances Kafka’s Shock damage but increases its duration, but it’s obviously very costly to unlock.

As is usually the case for Honkai: Star Rail characters, none of the Eidolon levels are absolutely essential. If you don’t have a suitable Light Cone for Kafka yet, it’s arguably better to get her signature weapon instead of trying to unlock Eidolon level 1.

Best Kafka Build

Thanks to her DPS role and attack scaling, Kafka isn’t that hard to build. The trickiest thing is to make sure that her DoT application is working properly, and that her equipment as well as her stats are aimed at DoT and follow-up damage.

Here's an overview of the best Light Cones, Relics, and stats needed to create the best Kafka build in Honkai: Star Rail.

Best Light Cones

The 5-star Patience Is All You Need is the best Light Cone for Kafka, as it increases damage against DoT-afflicted enemies and increases Kafka's Speed if you manage to trigger her follow-up attacks often enough (allowing you to go for an ATK% Relic instead of a Speed Relic).

The 5-star In the Name of the World is a good alternative, but Kafka doesn't need the Effect Hit Rate (more on that below). Although Fermata and Eyes of the Prey are good too, the 4-star Good Night and Sleep Well is the best 4-star option as it offers a huge damage bonus against debuffed (Shocked) enemies. Of course, it's easier to ensure the maximum bonus if you've got additional DoT or debuff characters on your team besides Kafka.

Best Relics and Ornaments

Band of Sizzling Thunder is the best Relic set for Kafka, as she'll always benefit from the Lightning damage bonus and Skill-based attack bonus. However, Musketeer of the Wild Wheat is a good substitute if you don't have this set yet.

As for the Ornaments, make sure your Speed is high enough to hit the 120 mark. Space Sealing Station is the best Ornament set for Kafka, as it greatly increases her attack power. Sprightly Vonwacq can be the better option if it takes too long to recharge your Ultimate.

Best Stats

• Body: ATK%
• Feet: ATK%
• Planar Sphere: Lightning DMG
• Link Rope: ATK%, Energy Recharge Rate
• Sub stats: Effect Hit Rate, Speed, ATK%

Kafka is a DoT DPS whose attacks scale with attack power, making ATK% her most important stat. Keep in mind that DoT is not affected by critical rate, so it’s not very efficient to give her a high critical rate or critical damage stat. Furthermore, Kafka inflicts extra damage based on the enemy's existing debuffs, so it's useful to place her at the bottom of your team's attack order. For that reason, only use Speed as a main stat if you don't get it from other sources (you need at least 120 to enable Ornament effects).

Kafka’s Ultimate, Talent, and Technique have a 100% base chance to inflict Shock status on the enemy, but keep in mind that this hit rate is reduced by the opponent’s debuff and Effect Resistance, making the actual hit chance lower than 100%. Luckily for us, you don’t actually need that much additional Effect Hit Rate on Kafka once she has her Thorns Trace Ascension Ability plus her three Effect Hit Rate stat bonuses unlocked, as this increases the chance to inflict Shock to 153.4% (130 x 1.18). If you’re fighting normal enemies who are weak to Lightning damage and have an Effect Resistance of 30% or lower, this will suffice.

If, however, you’re fighting a boss enemy with a high Effect Resistance, such as a level 80+ Cocolia, your Shock hit rate is 92.04% (130 x 1.18 x 0.6). This is obviously still very high, but it's best to find Relics with Effect Hit Rate substats to make it even more reliable. Bottom line: no need to use Effect Hit Rate as a main Relic stat or important Light Cone stat, unless you haven’t unlocked Kafka’s Traces yet.

Best Teams for Kafka

Finding the best Kafka team is a bit tricky as our Stellaron Hunter is looking for rather specific qualities in her teammates, including proper DoT application, support buffs, and Basic Attack damage.

As Kafka deals extra damage based on the total DoT effects applied to her opponents, most Kafka teams need at least one additional DoT DPS. A character like Luka, who applies Bleed DoT and is capable of weakening the opponent, would be an amazing Sub DPS/Support ally. The same goes for Sampo, who can deal Wind DoT while also increasing damage from other DoT effects applied to his targets.

If you don't have enough DoT characters, you can also use two supports or one DoT expert and one support. Asta, for example, offers her teammates an attack and speed buff. Once she’s unlocked her bonus ability “Sparks”, she does have a chance to apply DoT, but her main purpose would be to buff Kafka. Tingyun is also a good support option - while she lacks DoT abilities, she can boost Kafka's attacks and help her recover Energy.

Ideally, at least one of your Sub-DPS/Support characters has a good Basic Attack. Two reasons: the Basic Attacks trigger Kafka’s Talent (resulting in follow-up attacks and Shock application), and it helps the team’s Skill Point management. An ally capable of consistently recovering Skill Points will allow Kafka to fully focus on her Skill and Ultimate.

As for a healer or shield provider, Luocha is the number one choice. Besides healing, he deals proper damage on his own and is capable of removing debuffs from allies. If you don’t have him, other healers and shield providers will suffice. Keep in mind that someone like Bailu, while normally not that useful outside of her healing ability, may use her Basic Attacks to recover Skill Points for Kafka.

With that in mind, here are two of the best Kafka team options, one focused on DoT application and one focused on buffing Kafka's personal damage.

Kafka DoT Team

This is a very straightforward and fun Kafka team composition. Kafka, Sampo, and Luka are fully focused on applying DoT, while Luocha is there to keep everyone alive and recover Skill Points. Sampo’s Skill and Luka's Ultimate will increase the damage taken by enemies. Luka is also used to recover Skill Points and trigger Kafka’s Talent with his Enhanced Basic Attacks. When your enemies are suffering from several DoTs at the same time, Kafka’s Skill and Ultimate will increase the damage taken from those status effects – there’ll be no survivors on the opponents’ side.

If you don’t have any other 5-stars besides Kafka, swap Luocha for another healing/shield support. This will give you an excellent free to play Kafka team. And if you lack either Sampo or Luka on your roster, you can use Serval instead.

Kafka Hypercarry Team

A powerful Kafka team doesn’t need two additional DoT characters though. You can also rely on Kafka’s own DoT and use Supports to enhance her damage. Some of the best candidates for such a Kafka hypercarry team are Tingyun, Silver Wolf, and Asta. Tingyun uses her Skill to boost Kafka’s attack, then uses her Basic Attacks to deal high damage (scaling with Kafka’s attack), trigger Kafka’s Talent, and recover Skill Points. On top of that, Tingyun will use her Ultimate on Kafka, boosting her Energy and further improving her damage.

Silver Wolf can use her Skill to ensure that your opponents have Lightning Weakness, while simultaneously applying debuffs. If you go for the Kafka and Silver Wolf team combo, Luocha should swap places with Bailu to improve Silver Wolf's chances of applying Lightning Weakness.

If you don’t have Silver Wolf on your roster, Asta can be used to boost everyone’s speed and attack. Her Trace ability Sparks give her a chance to apply Burn DoT with her Basic Attack – which, of course, also recovers Skill Points and triggers Kafka’s Talent.

Need more characters to build the best Kafka teams? Take a look at our Honkai: Star Rail Warp guide for more info on the Warp system and the current character banners.