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The Herta Build in Honkai: Star Rail Doesn’t Need Too Much Crit DMG

The Herta, the 5-star Ice Erudition version of free character Herta, in Honkai: Star Rail became one of the most powerful characters in her debut patch, and she need relatively common stats in her build. Here are the Light Cones and Relics you should prioritize for her.

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The Herta wants common attacker stats like Crit Rate, Crit DMG, SPD, ATK %, and Ice DMG. You can actually get away with less base Crit DMG with her, as she enjoys a hefty 80% Crit DMG bonus if she’s with another Erudition unit. This gives you room to give her more Crit Rate, ATK, or SPD. You should aim for at least 80% Crit Rate. Other stats like SPD depend on who you run her with. Jade, for example, can boost The Herat’s SPD, which means you don’t need to give her 134 to meet that breakpoint.

As for how to use The Herta, she plays a lot easier than it might seem from simply reading her description. The more Interpretation stacks an enemy has, the more damage they take from her Skill. Stronger enemies naturally receive more Interpretation stacks. After using an Ultimate, she can gain an Inspiration stack. If she uses her Skill while she has Inspiration, her Skill enhances to “Hear Me Out,” which deals more damage and can hit all enemies. So in other words, her Skill and Ultimate are the most important aspects of her kit.

So what Light Cones and Relics should you farm in Honkai: Star Rail for the ultimate The Herta build?

Best Light Cones for The Herta in Honkai: Star Rail

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  • Into the Unreachable Veil
    The Herta’s signature Light Cone is naturally her best-in-slot. It increases her Crit Rate, as well as her Skill and Ultimate DMG for 3 turns after she uses an Ultimate. As her Ultimate costs 220 energy, she can naturally make use of its final effect to regain a Skill Point, too. This is a great Light Cone in general, which makes it worth pulling if you have other Erudition characters you often use.
  • Night on the Milky Way
    This is a good Light Cone if you want to use The Herta in modes like Pure Fiction. It increases her ATK for every enemy on the field, as well as increases how much damage she deals to enemies with their Weakness broken. Another benefit of this Light Cone is that it’s technically free, since you can exchange for it in-game. If you want to use a 5-star Light Cone, but don’t want to exchange Starlight for it, you can also use Eternal Calculus on her.
  • An Instant Before A Gaze
    This is Argenti’s signature Light Cone, but it works well for The Herta as well. It increases her Crit DMG, as well as how much damage her Ultimate does based on her Max Energy. While The Herta has 220 Max Energy, this Light Cone caps out at 180. Nonetheless, it’s still a good option if you have it kicking around and don’t have anything else you can put on her.
  • Geniuses’ Repose
    Like with Night on the Milky Way, this Light Cone is best if you want to use The Herta in places like Pure Fiction or Memory of Chaos. It increases her ATK, and she also gets a Crit DMG increase every time she defeats an enemy.
  • Today is Another Peaceful Day
    This is the F2P version of An Instant Before A Gaze. However, it focuses on her DMG instead of her Ultimate. This makes it easier to use, in a way, since The Herta’s SKill technically doesn’t receive any bonus from An Instant Before A Gaze. The issue is that Today Is Another Peaceful Day caps out at 160 Energy.

Best Relics for The Herta

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  • 4-pc Scholar Lost in Erudition
    This is the best-in-slot Relic Set for The Herta. Not only does it give her some Crit Rate, but it also boosts her Skill and Ultimate DMG. There’s a bonus buff to her Skill DMG if she uses it after her Ultimate, which means that her Enhanced Skill will always be stronger than if you equipped another Relic Set.
  • 4-pc Hunter of Glacial Forest
    This Set is a pretty good one for The Herta, but it’s more for beginner players who don’t have access to Scholar yet. Hunter increases The Herta’s Ice DMG. After she uses her Ultimate, it increases her Crit DMG by two turns as well.
  • Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm
    Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm increases The Herta’s ATK and Crit Rate. The Crit Rate bonus technically is if she’s with someone who follows the same Path as her. However, you always want an Erudition with The Herta to take advantage of her Bonus Ability’s 80% Crit DMG boost, so you can easily meet this requirement.
  • Rutilant Arena
    Like with Hunter above, this Planar Ornament Set is more for if you haven’t farmed enough Izumo pieces for The Herta. It increases her Crit Rate. If she has a minimum of 70% Crit Rate, then she can deal more DMG with her Basic ATK and Skill. You should be able to hit 70% Crit Rate with her, since you don’t necessarily need to give her that much Crit DMG.

Honkai: Star Rail is on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. You can only pull for The Herta in Honkai: Star Rail when the “Message From Beyond” banner is live.


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Stephanie Liu
Stephanie is a senior writer who has been writing for games journalism and translating since 2020. After graduating with a BA in English and a Certificate in Creative Writing, she spent a few years teaching English and history before fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a writer. In terms of games, she loves RPGs, action-adventure, and visual novels. Aside from writing for Siliconera and Crunchyroll, she translates light novels, manga, and video games.